Warnings, Exaltations, & Instructions: More Words to Thessalonica
1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
I want to take a poll this morning as we get started. How many of you like to talk on the phone? How many of you don’t like talking on the phone? I fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes – it depends on who I am talking to whether it leans more toward like or dislike. However, I tend to be one who says what needs to be said and then I try to finish up the call.
Now, when you talk on the phone, if you pay attention to the other person, you can always tell if they like or don’t like talking on the phone. I have a former house mate that I keep in contact with regularly. He enjoys talking on the phone because it is one of the only ways he can keep in contact with his friends due to his very busy work schedule. So, when you get a call from him, you are going to talk for quite awhile. Every time I talk to him, it seems like we get to a place in the conversation where I have nothing left to say, so I go about trying to end the call. You know what I am talking about. You wait for them to come up for a breath so that you can say you have to go. This never works with this friend.
Even after you tell him you have to go or that it was nice talking to him, he still keeps talking and has plenty more to say. Most of this talk is unimportant – it’s just something to say to keep from having to be finished talking. It’s reminds me of times when I have heard the preacher say, “In conclusion” and he keeps on talking for another 20 minutes. You think he is done when in fact he is just getting started.
Paul does something very similar to this when he addresses the church at Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 5. He has said all that he has intended to say and the letter is coming to an end. In my Bible, there is a caption that reads “Final Instructions”. You can feel Paul is getting to the end of the letter and is going to wrap it up real neatly. But then, in a matter of just 12 verses, he gives about 18 tough teachings. It’s almost as if he saved the best for last and not the unimportant chit-chat that comes at the end of phone calls. Just as you think Paul is getting finished, he, in fact, is just getting started. This morning, we are going to take a look at just a few of these important instructions found in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22. Please follow along with me in your Bibles or in your sermon notes.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophesies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.
I told you – Paul had a lot to say in just a few short words. This morning, may the Holy Spirit stir our hearts as we take a look at six instructions Paul gives to the church at Thessalonica. Before we begin, let’s ask the Lord to be here in a mighty way. Join me in prayer.
Instruction #1: Be Joyful Always
As I hold up this cup this morning, how many of you would say that it is half full? How many of you think that it is half empty? Those of you who are half full people do not see that half of the water is already gone. You see that there is still half a glass of water and are glad because you still have a whole half left. Those glass half empty people are different. They look at this glass and are excited by what they see. After all, half of the water is already gone, so it is only a matter of time until the rest is gone as well.
In the real world, the population is split close to 50-50 between optimists and pessimists, and you can usually tell who is in which camp after spending just a few moments with them. An eternal optimist always has a smile on their face. They are marked by hope, and they always tell you how good their life is. An eternal pessimist, however, will be quick to point out what is wrong in their life and in the world. They are just waiting for the world to fall apart and their speech is marked with complaint.
As I said, in the world there is about a 50-50 split between optimists and pessimists. What should that split be in the church? Our verse tells us to be joyful always. How do we do that? We do that by focusing on what is good with the church. We do that by realizing we have a heavenly Father who loves us unconditionally. We do that by reading the Word of God and realizing how powerful our God is. We do that by realizing that no matter what happens, nothing can take away our reward of living eternity in paradise. These things should give us joy and put a smile on our face. They should cause us to have an expectant life in which we hang on to the hope that is in Christ Jesus. They should cause us to have an optimistic outlook for our life and for the life of the church. This is not the case.
I think that 80 percent of the Christians in church belong to the 50 percent of the world that are pessimists and this befuddles me. After all, look around at the faces of others during the church service. Don’t do it now while other people are expecting it because we can fake a smile. Do it towards the end of the sermon or during the singing and the like. We look like a group of pessimists! We focus on all the things we don’t like about the church and we know how to complain. But let me let you in on a little secret this morning. MY GOD REIGNS! HE’S ALIVE AND CAME OUT OF THE GRAVE. HE SAVED ME FROM MY SINS AND HAS PROMISED ME A MANSION IN HEAVEN. Therefore, it’s time we stop this pessimistic outlook when it comes to the things of God. We are to be joyful always and we have innumerable reasons to have and show joy in our lives. If we as Christians don’t show joy, who will be there to do it? It is time we focus on the promises of God and take joy in them. After all our God is able to immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us. If that doesn’t give you joy, I don’t know what can.
Instruction #2: Pray Continually
This week, I happened across the web site for the Guinness Book of World Records. I used to love getting these books as a child every year, so I took a look at the page. Here are some great records I found this time.
• The longest continuous volleyball game lasted 51 hours.
• The longest lawnmower ride in history lasted 260 consecutive days and went through every continuous state in the US covering 14, 594.5 miles.
• The longest time a person has balanced on one foot is 76 hours and 40 minutes.
These are some incredible records when you look at them, but each one has something in common. Even though they lasted for many days, they all eventually came to an end. Everyone had to stop sooner or later.
When I look at our Scripture this morning, I see the phrase that we are to pray continually or without ceasing. Now, most of these people in the record book had much more stick-to-itiveness than I will ever have, but they were unable to perform their abilities continuously forever. And yet, God is telling us that we are to pray without stopping. That’s quite a command. How can we possibly keep it?
First of all, it starts by developing a lifestyle of prayer. To take the first step, we must make sure that we set apart time each day to pray, and we must make it a priority. To be honest, as Christians, we should be ashamed of our prayer lives. It’s the first thing to go in our busy schedules. It’s the last line of defense when things go wrong instead of using it first. If the prayer on Sunday morning goes more than 5 minutes, we begin to drift away and grow restless. The first step, therefore, in living a life of continuous prayer is to make it our first priority. Then, once this has begun, prayer will be fresh in your mind and you will begin to seek the Lord in your free times of waiting in lines and driving to work. We will also take time to keep our ears open for what God is trying to tell us on a daily basis. Then, we automatically start to praise God in the little things as He blesses us. Remember, times of silence in the presence of God is prayer. Time in praise is time in prayer. Living a Godly lifestyle is a prayer of love to your Lord. But, it all starts by making prayer important again. Like Pastor Jim Cymbala says in our Bible study book, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, “The answer to prayer is more prayer.” When we make prayer a priority, more prayer we result from it and will result in prayer that never ceases.
Instruction #3: Give Thanks in All Circumstances
Last Thanksgiving, I preached an entire sermon on thankfulness for the community Thanksgiving service. In this service, I shared an illustration from one of my favorite commercials. In this commercial for the new “Thank You” rewards program for Citi Bank Visa, there were two women in the grocery store. One woman comes up to the other woman, places her hand on the other woman’s stomach and asks, “Is it going to be a boy or a girl.” The other woman, with a scowl on her face, responds, “I’m not pregnant.” The first woman, with a sheepish look, replies, “Thank you.” With these two little words, the two women embrace and all is forgotten. The moral of the story is that a little “Thank You” goes a long way.
Did you ever wonder what God thinks of us when we go to Him with unthankful hearts? He has given us so much in our lives and yet we keep asking for more and will not be satisfied until we get it. We live in the wealthiest and most blessed country in the world. We all woke up this morning and had breath in our lungs. We all, those of us who have accepted Christ, get to bypass the death we deserve and get to spend eternity with Him in heaven. And yet, we are often so unthankful in our every day lives. As with joy, we must focus on the good rather than the bad if we want to live a life in which we can be thankful in all circumstances.
I think back to the Psalms every time I hear the word thankfulness. They tell us that we will enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. Therefore, if there is no thankfulness, it is impossible to get near to God. This should make sense to us. How many of you have done something nice for someone and got nothing but complaints and grumblings as a result for you act? When people are unthankful, you want to avoid them, and you probably won’t do anything else for them because you no they will not appreciate it. Now, think of God and how He relates to us. When we are not thankful for all He has blessed us with, He is not going to want to spend time with us, and He will stop blessing us. It only makes sense. Therefore, we must make sure that we strive to be thankful in all circumstances. That way, we can enter into His gates and experience the wonderful blessings that His Presence have to offer us.
Instruction #4: Do Not Put Out the Spirit’s Fire
A group of natives in the jungle were once given a sundial as a present by missionaries who were ministering there. The natives thought that this sundial was so beautiful, so they wanted to protect it. To protect it, they built a building to put it in with a lock on the door. They beautified it, but no one could see it, and by keeping the sun away from it, it became useless. They made it without purpose. This reminds me of powerless Christianity. We do all the Christian things we are supposed to do, but we have boxed up the Holy Spirit when we started to do things our way in our own strength. We have put out the Spirit’s fire by doing things our way.
We have done a lot of “squenching” in our time. A friend of pastor Vance Havner once coined this word by putting the words squelch and quench together. This pastor then went on to use this word in his preaching. He said: “We ’squench’ the Spirit in more ways than we suspect. We do so when we stifle the desire to speak or act for the Lord. When we criticize or discourage others by an unspiritual attitude, we ’throw cold water’ on their inner fire. We have the Holy Spirit as an honored Guest in every Christian gathering, and He can be grieved very easily. A frivolous attitude, a rebellious frame of mind, or a fed-up complacency will do it. In a cold and dark world we need the light and warmth of the Holy Spirit. Why would we want to squelch it?” That’s a good question, but we do. When we go after what is safe, comfortable, and ordinary to keep us happy instead of going after what the Holy Spirit wants to do which will blow our mind, we put out the Spirit’s fire. When we put our wants and desires over those of God, we put out the Spirit’s fire. We need to make sure our actions and thoughts feed the fire of the Spirit and not quench it if we wish to have the church that God desires us to have.
As winter approaches we read all kinds of suggestions of utilizing fuel and making our dwelling places warm. Here are a few pointers for keeping warm in church:
* Rush to the front of the church to avoid the draft in the rear.
* Invite your neighbors and friends and sit 10 persons to the pew.
* Seat yourself near the pulpit; much hot air is emitted from that area.
* Fuss and fume when you don’t like what the preacher says.
* Wait for an unfamiliar song and then watch the sparks fly!
* Let the Holy Spirit fill you, it will warm your heart and body.
Let’s try the last one!
Instruction #5: Treat Prophesy Properly
Our passage tells us two things that we need to do when it comes to prophesy, but I think we first must take a look at what this passage is talking about when it comes to prophesy. This passage is not necessarily talking about the gift of prophesy that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians or in the Old Testament when it talks about having the ability to predict future events or deliver a message from God. The word translated here as prophesy actually refers to any message given to you by a pastor or teacher that relays the Word of God to you. This would include yours truly, but it would also include people such as Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders. It covers those who relay the Word of God onto the people of God through sermons and lessons. So, now that we know what we are talking about, let’s see what this Scripture has to say about the message.
The first thing we are to do is that we must make sure that we don’t treat the words of the pastor or teacher with contempt. After all, we should trust that they are relaying to us the Word of God even if what they say does not always go down easy. The Word of God can be a powerful thing especially if it goes against what we prefer and are comfortable with. Sometimes, instead of letting the Spirit convict us through the Word of God, we become defensive or apathetic toward what the preacher or teacher is saying. These words are meant to change our behaviors – not to put us off and cause us to tune out the pastor. Once again, I remind you, this is the Word of God speaking and not just Doug Henry. We must treat God’s Word and his messages to us with the utmost respect and authority.
However, I do not get off the hook easy. The very next line tells us that we are to test everything. This may seem like it is a contradiction but it is not. After all, how can we trust the pastor if we are testing everything he says? How can we not seem like we are treating God’s Word with contempt if we are always checking up on the pastor? Well, this is how. I want and encourage you to test everything. If what I tell you lines up with the Word of God, you need to take action and make sure you make the changes to line up your life with it without grumbling and complaining. However, if you find I teach you something contrary to the Word of God, I need to be taken to task on that. I want you to come to me so that we can work it out and I can be corrected if need be. I challenge you to take a closer look when you get home of every message I preach. This will help you grow in the Lord and will keep the devil from gaining a foothold in our church through false preaching.
Instruction #6: Hold On To Good and Avoid Evil
I just want to touch on this briefly because I know our time is short, but I do not want to skip this because it is important. Faith, every Sunday, pours water into this cup for me. So, when I drink it, what comes out of the cup? Water is. What we put into the cup is what comes out of the cup. The same is true with our bodies. What we put into our bodies through our eyes and ears is the same thing that is going to come out of our bodies. If we put good in, good will come out. If we put filth in, filth will come out. If we put evil in, evil will come out and so on. We must make sure that everything we are putting into our bodies is good or else we will be affected in a negative way.
I also want to say that we have to be careful who we congregate with. You are who you hang out with! If you are always hanging around with people who are critical, you will become critical. If you are hanging around those who constantly delve into sin, it will not be long until you are there as well. Our passage says it best when it tells us to cling to what is good and to avoid every kind of evil. That cannot be emphasized enough.
I told you there was a lot in these few little passages of Scripture. Now, what are you going to do with these words? Will you make an effort to be more joyful and thankful? Will you make prayer a priority and take the necessary steps to living a life of continuous prayer? Will you do all you can to fan the flames of the Spirit instead of putting them out? Will you listen and heed yet also test the words of myself and other teachers of the Word? Will you cling to what is good while avoiding the evil? The Holy Spirit wants to work in your heart and life this morning if you will let Him. Open your hearts to Him this morning knowing that the altar is open as we pray and sing. Let’s pray.
