I Thessalonians 5:16-18
I attended a wedding this weekend so was unable to post my sermon at the
usual time.
Paul has some tough demands for us.
If we think they’re tough, we need to remember that he was writing these
words to a church were things hadn’t gone as they had planned. When I first preached this sermon I used some
living commentaries. That is, I had
several people in the church speak to the themes Paul raises. Obviously, I
cannot do that here; so, I will leave it to you to think of how these
principles work in your life and the lives of fellow believers you may know.
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Paul, you’ve got to be kidding!
Just consider what Paul is asking.
He was writing to people who had lost loved ones
and who may have felt the sting of
persecution. How are you to feel joy in
those circumstances?
“Keep on
praying.” How do you do that when you
find yourself in some circumstances when God seems so remote that the loudest
shout wouldn’t reach him? I suppose if you think of prayer as a formal activity, using prayers you might read from a
book, it might be easy to go through the motions. There are some circumstances when getting on
your knees or even bowing your head and closing your eyes just doesn’t seem the
right thing to do.
Habitual thanksgiving, regardless of circumstances,
may be the most difficult of the demands Paul lays on his readers. In the middle of a busy day, when the boss is
demanding we finish a project he gave us this morning by mid-afternoon, a
project which ought to take a couple days at least, it’s hard to be thankful
when the hard drive crashes. This is a
difficult command. Difficult, yet this
"habit of giving thanks" (Williams) is God's will for us.
How can we always be joyful, always be thankful,
always be prayerful—especially in those circumstances when the One to whom we
pray seems so distant or even unconcerned?
While I want to address the ways in which these
commands apply to the individual disciple, we need to keep in mind they were
addressed to a congregation of believers.
In the Congregation We Share Our
Lives
God intended the assembly of believers, the
congregation, to be a place where we share our lives. In the profound twelfth chapter of Romans
Paul says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” When we’re going through a rough patch, we
often resent being around those who are rejoicing in one of life’s special
moments. When we’re on top of the world,
we don’t like being around those who are facing problems—we don’t want them to
dampen our enthusiasm, to bring us down.
Yet, we’re not to allow what is happening in our lives to determine how
we respond to what is happening in the lives of others.
When Paul
says “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep,” he’s
reminding his readers, “Not everything is about you.”
But, beyond this, he’s reminding us that the church
is a place of shared strengths.
When you’re part of the Body of Christ, even when
you personally feel little cause for rejoicing, you may recognize reasons for
joy the lives of others.
When you’re part of the Body of Christ, even when
you see little to be thankful for, you may come to appreciate what good is
happening in the lives of another.
When you’re part of the Body of Christ, even when
you’re speechless at the time of prayer, there will be someone with the passion
and vision to lift your needs to God.
Unchanged by Circumstances
In order to appreciate these commands we have to
remember that some things are unchanged by circumstances.
The Biblical understanding of joy underscores this
truth. Joy, unlike happiness, is unrelated
to our circumstances. Davis explains:
[Joy is] A delight in
life that runs deeper than pain or pleasure. From a biblical perspective it is
not limited by nor tied solely to external circumstances. Joy is a gift of God,
and like all of his other inner gifts it can be experienced even in the midst
of extremely difficult circumstances.
This is why Paul, writing as a prisoner of Rome,
could tell the Philippians of his great joy.
His situation was tough but it couldn’t touch his joy.
Joy isn’t the only thing untouched by our outward
circumstances. Another may be described
as the reality of our salvation or our relationship with God. That relationship with God, a relationship
which cannot be broken by what is happening to or around us, allows us to do
the difficult things Paul asks us to do in these verses.
What is prayer?
If we think of prayer only in terms of asking and receiving, we may be
disappointed when the process doesn’t seem to work when we’re facing tough times.
There’s nothing wrong with asking God for things
when we pray. Jesus taught us to pray
for “daily bread.” But prayer ought to
somehow make a difference in us.
When we were in England we visited the world famous
British Museum. You could go there every
day for a week and still not see every thing on exhibit. I still remember standing before the Rosetta
Stone, the tablet which gave the clues which enabled scholars to begin to
understand hieroglyphics. It wasn’t a
copy—it was the Rosetta Stone.
Well, the museum also has a store where you can by
all kinds of souvenirs. Imagine going
to the British Museum, shopping in the store, and leaving with the idea that it
was only a good place to get a bagful of colorful pencils or key rings. You have your trinkets but have ignored the
opportunity to gaze on the many icons of
history in that museum.
Now,I imagine thinking that prayer is a good way to
get a square meal, all the while ignoring the possibility of being transformed
by standing in God’s presence.
I found this anonymous description of prayer.
“In praying, we must
not forget that our prayers are to be answered.
Some are answered just as we wish; some are answered in a way different
from that we wish—in a better way! Some
are answered by a change in us; some by
a change in others. Some are answered by
the giving of a greater strength to bear trials, and some by the lifting of the
trials. Some at once; some in years to come; and some await eternity.”
Continual prayer, despite our circumstances, allows
us to remain in touch with the One who can change our circumstances or change
us.
Part of
that change in us may be a deeper appreciation of our need for God’s
grace. It shouldn’t happen, but when
things go well for a long time, it’s easy to begin thinking that we can handle
everything on our own. Paul would have
us recall that we never outgrow our need for prayer. Genuine prayer helps us live in light of our
dependence upon God for direction and protection.
At the
same time, no circumstance is so severe that prayer is unable to make a
difference.
Perhaps the toughest thing Paul asks is for us to
give thanks in all circumstances. Maybe
that’s why he underscores what he asks by saying, “this is God's will for
you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
Remember what Paul is asking us to do “… give thanks in every circumstance.” Montgomery’s translation is important. In fact, English translations almost
universally see that the thanksgiving is not "for" the circumstances
but "in" the circumstances.
(NJB and Williams are exceptions.)
The difference may be small but it is important. This allows us "no matter what
happens" to be thankful because God is God, unchanged by the event which
assault us, and continuing to work out his will in our lives as Christians.
This understanding keeps
us from the foolish suggestions that we ought to give thanks for cancer, that the believer facing tragedy or loss
ought to give thanks for the learning experience, or that wishing things could
be different is somehow an affront to God.
At the same time, there
is a place for thinking through a tough situation to discover grounds for
maintaining “the habit of giving thanks.”
I appreciate the way Matthew Henry displayed this quality. Henry was a popular Bible teacher in
eighteenth century England; his
commentary is still used today. He was
once robbed on the streets of London.
The next day he listed several reasons for giving thanks as he wrote in
his diary: “I thank Thee first because I
was not robbed before; second, because although they took my purse they did not
take my life; third, because although they took my all, it was not much; and
fourth, because it was I who was robbed, and not I who robbed.”
Such an attitude of
habitual thanksgiving keeps in mind that “God is with us whatever befalls us,”
as A. T. Robertson says.
Habits of the Soul
Several years ago I read
that you have to repeat an activity more that twenty-five times before it
becomes a habit. For example, if you
resolve to follow the advice to take an aspirin every day to help your heart,
you’ll have to do it for almost a month before it really becomes a habit. This may explain why so many people start out
well in some attempt to do the right thing for their health but ultimately
fail—they just don’t persevere.
I can’t help but wonder,
are there “habits of the soul?” The
cultivation of joy, the exercise of prayer, the expression of thanksgiving are
difficult “habits” to develop.
They require hard
thinking—to see God at work beyond our circumstances.
They require stubborn
faith—to resist the temptation to surrender to the power of the moment instead
of seeing everything in the light of eternity.
They require shameless
devotion—to maintain our commitment when everyone around us believes we’re
being hopelessly naïve.
What’s the result of
developing these habits of the soul?
Paul doesn’t spell it
out but he may trust that this interaction with the tough circumstances
will make us more like Jesus.
Years later, when he
would write to the Romans, he seems to have this in mind. He tells them that whatever may come into our
lives cannot keep God from carving the image of Christ from the living block of
marble we bring him. The passage is one
of Paul’s best-loved statements: “We
know that, for people who love Him, God blends all things together for his good
purpose—making them just like His Son.”
God’s goal is for every
believer to become like his Son. At some
level, we may know joy, we may pray with confidence, we may be thankful because
we are sure nothing will trump that intent.
Conclusion
Some of you will
remember the movie A Man Called Peter, based on Catherine Marshall’s
biography of her husband Peter Marshall, the chaplain of the U. S. Senate in
the 1940s. On one occasion, a hungry
Marshall sat down at the dinner table and eagerly lifted the lid from the dish
to see what his wife had made. His
disappointment was unmistakable.
Marshall said,
“Catherine, I’m afraid you’ll have to ask the blessing. The Lord knows I’m not grateful for turkey
hash and I can’t fool him.”
Now, Peter Marshall
could have found reasons to be thankful despite the hash but we have to admire
his honesty.
When we struggle with
knowing joy in tough times, being prayerful in difficult circumstances, or
giving thanks when things are hard, we face two choices.
We can try to fool
God. Or, we can approach the God of
grace with absolute honesty.
And, when we recall that
God is a God of grace, that may very well inspire our joy, our prayers, and our
thanks.
When I originally preached this message I asked my
hearers apply the verses to their lives by answering these questions.
Has there been a
time, in the midst of what most would consider difficult circumstances, when
you’ve been able to feel genuine joy?
Has there been a
time, in the midst of what most would consider difficult circumstances, when
you’ve been comforted by the privilege of prayer?
Has there been a
time, in the midst of what most would consider difficult circumstances, when
you’ve found reason to be thankful?
If you’ve been
able to say yes to these questions, God’s grace has been at work in your life.
