Why is “avoid sexual immorality” there?

At Hope, we've been studying of the book of Acts together on Sundays since October of 2003. About a month ago, we came to Acts 15 where there was a curious decision made by the apostles. In a letter to the new non-Jewish people who were becoming followers of Jesus, the apostles asked them to observe the following:

“You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.” ~ Acts 15:29

Now, the whole food issue is obvious - it would be offensive to Jewish Christians if these non-Jewish people “paraded” their freedom from food restrictions in front of them and would put a wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile Christian.

However, why do they include the phrase “from sexual immorality”? Why not greed, or lust, or the worst sin in the bible, pride? What is it about sexual immorality that is so unique that the apostles felt they needed to include this as one of the four things to “avoid”?

During these next three weeks of February (13, 20, 27th), we are going to address this in a special message series:

The Pain of Sexual Immorality ~ why the apostles felt it was very important to ‘avoid sexual immorality’.

During this series we will talk frankly and honestly about God’s standards for sexual purity, strategies to avoid immorality, as well as how to recieve healing from past mistakes. You can click here for MP3s of the messages, as well as notes and the powerpoint slides.

Also, I will be posting some thoughts here on my blog which I would love to interact with you all about in the coming days.
Looking forward to our time together on this important issue,

Trike