It's interesting that Paul is concerned with the combination of growing more and sinning less in this passage. I think we can subtley confuse this idea: that if I'm being tempted less or sinning less then therefore I'm growing more. Or practically, we might say I don't stumble over TV as much as I do so therefore I'm being more holy. Sinning less and watching less TV are probably indications that God is working in you and convicting you with those things that tangle you up. But this passage says that the growth that Paul is concerned with integrates both that there is a: growing more and sinning less. It say's (v.1):

Finally then, brethren,
we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus,
that as you received from us instructions as to how you ought to walk and please God
(just as you actually do walk), that you EXCEL still more.

NOTICE: He says in order to please God - as you are walking now - EXCEL still more.
What does that mean? Keep growing. And Peter would reason with you, in 1 Peter 1:16 it says: because as it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy. God's standard of growth is holiness. Although we will never attain the standard of holiness in this life because of our flesh - we are still exhorted to excel still more! I'm sure the church of Thessalonica had some resistance to this idea: excel still more??? What? What do you mean? Are you saying I'm not growing? Paul responds you are walking but you need to grow more. And it's nothing you don't already know (v.2): For you know what commandments we gave you (and it's not us but) by the authority of the Lord Jesus. You know the commands. You know that they are from the Lord - these are the Lord's commands to you. It's with His authority I say this to you. Excel still more! Keeping growing!

Why? Because God's will for you is your sancification. He demands that you will grow in Christ-likeness. It's His will. And specifically related to this is His will in regards to sexual sin -> you need to abstain from sexual immorality.

It says (v.3):
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that is that you ABSTAIN from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel (wife - weaker vessel) in sanctification and honor not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things just as we told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but God who gives His Holy Spirit to you


NOTICE: The conjunction "for" brings everything he just said in v. 1-2 together with the sanctifying filled verses of v. 3-8. It's as if he was saying: by the authority of Jesus excel still more and abstain from sexual immorality. This is God's will for you. If you want to know how to live and grow more do both: EXCEL & ABSTAIN.

Notice the next "for", it says: For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity. God did not save us so that we can keep living in dirt. He's called for the purpose of sanctification (the cleansing/washing of Christ's bride). Peter says: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance but like the Holy One who called you be holy yourselves also in all your behavior (1 Petere 114-15). We are to be "obedient children" that are called to holiness. We must strive for this!

Paul solemly warns them again that it is not him that is speaking, he says: if you reject this you are not rejecting me - you are rejecting God who has given you the Holy Spirit.

We can't excuse ourselves from listening to this instruction - this is God's will. And God's will is that we continue to grow more and that we continue to sin less. Simply said = We must excel stil more and abstain from sexual immorality.

M - MOVE into a useful activity away from idleness and other vulnerable behaviors. Lust grows fast in the garden of leisure. Find a good work to do, and do it with all your might. "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord" (Romans 12:11). "Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58). Abound in work. Get up and do something. Sweep a room. Hammer a nail. Write a letter. Fix a faucet. And do it for Jesus' sake. You were made to manage and create. Christ died to make you "zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:14). Displace deceitful lusts with a passion for good deeds.

E - ENJOY a superior satisfaction. Cultivate the capacities for pleasure in Christ. One reason lust reigns in so many is that Christ has so little appeal. We default to deceit because we have little delight in Christ. Don't say, "That's just not me." What steps have you taken to waken affection for Jesus? Have you fought for joy? Don't be fatalistic. You were created to treasure Christ with all your heart - more than you treasure sex or sugar. If you have little taste for Jesus, competing pleasures will triumph. Plead with God for the satisfaction you don't have: "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days" (Psalm 90:14). Then look, look, look at the most magnificent Person in the universe until you see him the way he is.

H - HOLD the promise and the pleasure of Christ firmly in your mind until it pushes the other images out. "Fix your eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1). Here is where many fail. They give in too soon. They say, "I tried to push it out, and it didn't work." I ask, "How long did you try?" How hard did you exert your mind? The mind is a muscle. You can flex it with vehemence. Take the kingdom violently (Matthew 11:12). Be brutal. Hold the promise of Christ before your eyes. Hold it. Hold it! Don't let it go! Keep holding it! How long? As long as it takes. Fight! For Christ's sake, fight till you win! If an electric garage door were about to crush your child you would hold it up with all our might and holler for help, and hold it and hold it and hold it and hold it.

T - TURN the mind forcefully toward Christ as a superior satisfaction. Saying "no" will not suffice. You must move from defense to offense. Fight fire with fire. Attack the promises of sin with the promises of Christ. The Bible calls lusts "deceitful desires" (Ephesians 4:22). They lie. They promise more than they can deliver. The Bible calls them "passions of your former ignorance" (1 Peter 1:14). Only fools yield. "All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter" (Proverbs 7:22). Deceit is defeated by truth. Ignorance is defeated by knowledge. It must be glorious truth and beautiful knowledge. This is why I wrote Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ. We must stock our minds with the superior promises and pleasures of Jesus. Then we must turn to them immediately after saying, "NO!"

N - Say NO to every lustful thought within five seconds. And say it with the authority of Jesus Christ. "In the name of Jesus, NO!" You don't have much more than five seconds. Give it more unopposed time than that, and it will lodge itself with such force as to be almost immovable. Say it out loud if you dare. Be tough and warlike. As John Owen said, "Be killing sin or it will be killing you." Strike fast and strike hard. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" ( James 4:7).

A - AVOID as much as is possible and reasonable the sights and situations that arouse unfitting desire. I say "possible and reasonable" because some exposure to temptation is inevitable. And I say "unfitting desire" because not all desires for sex, food, and family are bad. We know when they are unfitting and unhelpful and on their way to becoming enslaving. We know our weaknesses and what triggers them. "Avoiding" is a Biblical strategy. "Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness" (2 Timothy 2:22). "Make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires" (Romans 13:14).

I personally enjoy watching a good fight. I'm actually looking forward to see who wins the De La Hoya & Pacquiao fight! The endurance and the training that these men go through - prior to a major fight shows how they will ultimately do in the ring. But what is interesting is the the songs/anthems that they come down the ring to. They are usually picked by the fighter - to either describe the fight or to simply energize the fighter or the crowd. I think Rocky, BJ Penn, and Pacquiao have some of the most memorable songs/anthems I've heard. There's nothing like the Eye of the Tiger!

With that said, I think there is one other ANTHEM that needs to be mentioned here. This is the battle anthem of John Piper in how he fights lust. And ANTHEM is a simple acronym that is designed to help us use God's Word to effectively war against wrong desires - desires that all men and women are being defeated by.

This is what he says:

For men it's obvious. The need for warfare against the bombardment of visual temptation to fixate on sexual images is urgent. For women it is less obvious, but just as great if we broaden the scope of temptation to food or figure or relational fantasies. When I say "lust" I mean the realm of thought, imagination, and desire that leads to sexual misconduct.

May this ANTHEM help you and me get in that ring and fight with the enduring Word of God and the dependence on the grace of God.