God’s Will for Us
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Preached at Church of God December 2019
INTRODUCTION:
We all share a faith in the God who made us, and saved us, and who has a plan for each of us. Because of that we often ask ourselves how can I do God’s will?
We ask, what is God’s will for my life? What is God’s will for my family? What is God’s will for my church? And when we think about God’s will, we often picture doing something really impressive, or working hard to do something extremely difficult, or making some painful sacrifice.
Well, sometimes God‘s will does include something that’s impressive. or hard to do, or that requires us to sacrifice our time or money or energy. But we actually don’t have to wonder what God’s will is. There’s a verse in the Bible where God tells us exactly what His will is:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
What an amazing surprise. Our loving Father does not command us to impress him by doing big difficult painful things. Instead God commands us to be happy, to talk to him all the time, and to live a life of thankfulness.
When we do these simple things, we are fulfilling God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.
REJOICE ALWAYS
Being here with you all today, I’ve seen a lot of happy smiling faces. That is a sign of a church that is doing the will of God!
There’s something so attractive about people who are full of joy and enthusiasm! If you think about the place where you work or the school you go to or the neighborhood you live in, you probably realize that the quality of rejoicing is rare.
If you are that rare person who is always rejoicing, you will shine the light of Christ in everywhere you go.
PRAY WITHOUT CEASING
Now that’s interesting… how can we do anything without ceasing? I try to exercise at least 5 times a week, but I can’t say I exercise without ceasing. I’ve sure never been able to diet without ceasing. It’s hard to practice any good habit without ceasing.
But you know what is easy to do without ceasing? We all do it. BREATHING.
A Christian named Edwin Keith said this about prayer: “Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the Spirit of God.” When we breathe we inhale oxygen (demonstrate) and we exhale carbon dioxide (demonstrate). In prayer we Inhale spiritual energy and we Exhale the things that need to be cleared out of our lives.
The Greek word for “without ceasing” is adialeiptos. It doesn’t mean “non-stop” but actually means “constantly recurring.” In other words, we can go through our day communicating with God about everything. We can include God in all our thoughts and concerns and plans every minute of every day. This is what Jesus invited us to do when he said, “Abide in me.” (John 15) This is how we can have the Abundant Life He promised us.
To pray without ceasing is to invite God into every moment of every day. This is what gives us the ability to rejoice! In fact, we are able to REJOICE ALWAYS, only if we are Praying without Ceasing.
GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
Every day we experience circumstances that are wonderful …and circumstances that are horrible. Things happen that make us feel good and things happen that make us sad … or that irritate us or that disappoint us.
According to first Thessalonians 5, God’s will is for us to focus on the things that are good. That’s what we can think about.
As for the things that are not so good, we can just look the other way or brush them off. We don’t have to focus on them.
Before coming here today, I looked up some information about Nigeria, because I know that is a place that a lot of you have in common. For one thing, Nigeria has the biggest population and the biggest economy of any country in all of Africa.
We could also be thankful that it’s the second to largest country in Africa … even bigger than Texas! And Nigeria is blessed with spectacular scenery of all kinds. We can also be thankful that almost half of Nigeria’s population are Christians.
But there are other circumstances where it is more difficult to be thankful. Christianity is under attack in parts of Nigeria. I read that in a period of just one month last year, more than 250 Christians were murdered by Islamic terrorists.
When Paul wrote the book of 1 Thessalonians, Christians were facing those kind of dangers and persecution. Those are the circumstances Paul included when he said, “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Even when the bad things are so overwhelming that we can’t ignore them ... even when circumstances are as bad as it gets ... even then we can be thankful because God is going to work good out of evil.
There is nothing that we ever face that takes away our hope in Christ. We can always give thanks because “ we are convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39
CONCLUSION
I’m thankful for this church and that were able to meet here freely and without fear. I’m thankful for the connection that I’ve been able to have with your church. I’m thankful that Papa K worked next-door to me for a little while and that we talked to each other out in the front yard and found out that we share the same faith in Jesus.
I’m thankful that God has told us this is His will for us: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances ... for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
