Let us note that there are certain pastoral issues that call for urging,
or insisting.
A good example is found in this very letter, in 1 Thessalonians 4:3–8, where Paul deals with the issue of sexual immorality. One should understand that the society in which the Thessalonian believers lived was particularly immoral in this regard. It would probably have taken fairly extensive teaching for them to understand the Christian view of sexual purity, and to reject the norms with which they had grown up. In light of these realities, Paul uses very strong terms to communicate the norms of the Christian life:
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you" (1 Thessalonians 4:3–8, emphasis added).
Sexual purity is not an optional matter for the disciple of Jesus; it is utterly essential. Sometimes we need to speak in these terms as we guide people in the life of faith.
11 For you know how, like a father with his children,