God’s Will For You
10/21/07 PM
Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
“Rejoice, pray, and give thanks” sound like ordinary and desirable activities to expect a Christian to engage in; but when you add the adverbs, you have a real challenge: “Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.” The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps in constant communion with Him will see many reasons for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long. These three verses give three simple attitudes that believers need (and should want) to daily mix into their lives: joy, prayer, and thanks. When these three qualities are present, believers will be vibrant lights and savory salt to a needy world.
I Rejoice Always
A.The Exhortation to Joyfulness
1.“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4
“Rejoice always.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16
The attitude of Christian joy is essential for all believers to thoroughly understand. Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonians to rejoice always seems on the surface to be absurd and impossible to obey given life’s inevitable difficulties, but as a divinely inspired command, believers put this to work in their lives.
a)When the scriptures repeat a concept it is prudent (if not required) that we pay attention. There are at least 33 separate scriptures exhorting believers to rejoice!
2.Paul was very aware of the many injunctions to rejoice but also recognized the reality of very real human emotions like sorrow and distress.
a)He also knew believers must transcend their sorrows with a continual focus on Christian joy; they must be as he wrote of himself, “sorrowful yet always rejoicing” 2 Corinthians 6:10.
Such a focus is possible because Christian joy comes from God, not merely from an emotional response to earthly circumstances Philippians 3:3.
Christian joy constantly flows from what the believer continually knows to be true about God and about his eternal, saving relationship to Him, regardless of circumstances.
B.“At All Times Rejoicing”
1.The phrase translated rejoice always literally reads “at all times be rejoicing” and emphasizes that truly joyful Christians will always have a deep-seated confidence in God’s love and mighty power on behalf of His children, and in His providential working of all things according to His perfect plan.
a)Therefore, no event or circumstance in the Christian’s life, apart from sin, can or should diminish his true joy.
2.A biblical perspective on Christian joy provides numerous reasons for believers to rejoice:
a)Christians should rejoice always in God’s righteous character, which, even in times of trouble, He demonstrates so faithfully to believers. David declared, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him” Psalm 28:7.
Believers should rejoice always because of the spiritual blessings and redemption in Christ they possess.
Ephesians 1:3–8
Believers should have joy in God’s providence as He works everything to their ultimate good:
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
Answered prayer should always be a source of joy, as should an appreciation for the gift of God’s Word.
And finally, true believers cannot help but be filled with joy at the redeeming power of the gospel, as was the early church:
Acts 15:3 Speaking of Paul, Barnabas and their companions: “Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and were bringing great joy to all the brethren”
II Pray Without Ceasing
A.Pray
1.Believers filled with joy will be believers filled with prayer.
The Greek word used here for Pray is the most common New Testament word for prayer. It encompasses all the aspects of prayer: submission, confession, petition, intercession, praise, and thanksgiving.
B.Without Ceasing
1.This means “constant” and defines prayer not as some perpetual activity of kneeling and interceding but as a way of life marked by a continual attitude of prayer.
2.The adverb used here was used in Greek of a hacking cough.
3.The scriptures record the active prayer life of Jesus and from its inception, the early church demonstrated a Christ like constancy in its prayer life.
a)Luke wrote how devoted Christ’s followers were to prayer, even before the Day of Pentecost: “These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” Acts 1:14.
“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42.
In their role as leaders of the young church, the apostles determined to devote themselves “to prayer and to the ministry of the word” Acts 6:4.
4.The New Testament emphasis on the importance of prayer cannot be overstated and suggests a substantial list of motivations for Christians to pray without ceasing
a)The highest of all motives for believers, is their desire to worship the Lord. Jesus taught the disciples in His model prayer, “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’” Matthew 6:9–10
The desire for fellowship with God motivates believers to pray: Psalm 42:1–2 “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?”
Requests for daily needs Matthew 6
b)Gratitude for blessings past and future.
c)Freedom from the guilt of sin Psalm 32
Finally, and certainly as important as any of the motivations for Christians to pray without ceasing, is their desire for spiritual growth, for themselves and for fellow believers.
III In Everything Give Thanks
A.The Exhortation to Constant Thnkfulness
1.Paul identified unbelievers as ungrateful: “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened” Romans 1:21
But when God regenerates an individual, He produces a new heart that longs to obey Paul’s injunction and in everything give thanks.
B.In everything
1.The Greek phrase here refers to all that occurs in life. No matter what struggles, trials, testing, or troubles occur in the lives of Christians they are to give thanks.
2.Thankfulness therefore should be part of the fabric of the regenerate life, a gracious fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work within the believer’s heart
3.Paul reminded believers to express their thankfulness in order to be distinct from the ungrateful, unbelieving culture around them. “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks” Ephesians 5:3–4
Even in times of great anxiety, fear, and stress, a prayerful attitude of thanksgiving should characterize believers
Philippians 4:6–7 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Conclusion:
Paul’s statement, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus, attaches to all three commands in this passage. It is God’s will that all those who are in Christ Jesus should express constant joy, constant prayer, and constant thanksgiving. And God not only mandates those attitudes in believers, but He makes it possible for us to have them and is pleased when we do.
Invitation
