1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
¹⁶ Rejoice evermore.
¹⁷ Pray without ceasing.
¹⁸ In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
TRANSCRIPT
Our passage is taken from 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 16 to 18. Allow me to read for you. “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Today we live in whereby people are very concerned about the condition of their health. We can tell a person is healthy if he has passed a certain medical examination. But how do we ascertain the spiritual health of a Christian? How can we tell whether a person is spiritually healthy or not?
Some people would gauge a person’s spiritual health based on his knowledge of the Bible, or the amount of time he has spent serving God, or the amount of fellowship meetings he has attended, or based on the relationship he has with the church leaders and other fellow members. While all these things may be important, the best way to ascertain the spiritual health of a Christian is based on his relationship with God.
Then comes the next question: how do we gauge whether our relationship with God is right and healthy? There are certain essential attitudes that we must have, that must be present in our relationship with the one living and true God. This morning is the first day of the year 2023. Therefore, I have titled our message as: ‘Essential Attitudes of the New Year.’ There are three points in our message: ‘The Attitudes of Constant Joyfulness’, ‘The Attitude of Constant Prayerfulness’, and ‘The Attitude of Constant Thankfulness’.
I. The Attitude of Constant Joyfulness
Let us begin with ‘The Attitude of Constant Joyfulness’. Verse 16 says, “Rejoice evermore.” It is in the imperative, which means that it is a command. Why would God command joyfulness? The opposite of joyfulness is a negative attitude in spirit. And if we have a negative attitude, we are not only going to affect ourselves, instead we are also going to affect the people around us, especially the spiritual family: the church. When you think of a natural family, and someone in that family has a bad attitude, can you feel it throughout a home? Most certainly. Is your negative attitude just contained within yourself? Does it not affect everyone else? Most certainly too. It is going to affect the people around us. That is why the command is given to every believer. It ought to be a pattern – “evermore”, which means ‘always’.
Believers ought to have this biblical joy. True biblical joy is not based on the outward circumstances or some emotional response to the positive situations of life – it comes from God. True Christian joy comes when the believer is reminded of his eternal saving relationship with God. It is a supernatural joy that comes from the Holy Spirit. That is why the Apostle Paul cited joy as one of the facets of the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 verse 22. A moment ago, we sang the hymn ‘Count Your Blessings’. If it is impossible for us to count the blessings that God has showered upon our lives, then it makes perfect sense that there would be countless reasons why you and I ought to rejoice.
Let me give you some examples of why we ought to rejoice. It’s not exhaustive, just some important examples. We ought to rejoice because we believe that our God is in control of all things. As Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” And the One who’s in control of all things. The psalmist says in Psalm 28 verse 7, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” Think about this. If God is our Strength, and if He is our Shield, our Protector, and we trust Him, and He has helped us, how can we not be rejoicing?
We ought to be rejoicing each time we are reminded of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross of Calvary. Again, just a moment ago we had partaken of the Lord’s Supper, and we are reminded of a gracious, loving, merciful and compassionate God who loves us with an everlasting, perfect love. We ought to be rejoicing when we consider the wonder working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as Zechariah 4 verse 6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”
We ought to be rejoicing when we consider all our spiritual blessings. Ephesians 1 verse 3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. God has chosen us even before the foundation of the world. He has predestinated us to be His children, and thereafter redeemed us through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are they not valid reasons for us to rejoice?
We ought to be rejoicing when we consider how God has answered our prayers! Whether it be delivering us from our illnesses; or protecting our children from harm and danger, providing for our needs; saving our unbelieving loved ones from eternal damnation. Whenever the gospel is preached and souls are saved, our hearts rejoice. In Acts 15 verse 3, Paul, Barnabas and the other believers were sent by the church and went to Phenice, Samaria preaching the gospel of Christ. God saved those Gentiles and He was able to declare the conversion of the Gentiles – the moment that was done, the Bible tells us “they caused great joy unto all the brethren.”
We ought to be rejoicing when we consider the promises of God. All Christians including you and me would either be resurrected or raptured when Christ comes in the clouds to receive us unto Himself. These are just some of the reasons why we ought to be rejoicing.
Do you know why we are not constantly rejoicing? Because we are more concerned about earthly things rather than heavenly things. If we are consumed with glorifying God rather than only thinking about ourselves, when our minds are always thinking about the eternal riches and glory of Christ rather than about this present pain and material poverty, we would have every reason to “rejoice evermore.”
Some people may say, ‘It is easy to rejoice when things are going smoothly. But when trials and tribulations come, how can we be rejoicing?’ God would never command us to do something that is impossible. He would never issue a command without giving us the ability to achieve it. In Acts 16 verse 25, the Bible tells us that “at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” At that point in time, Paul and Silas were in prison. And what were they doing? They were singing praises unto God. The word “praises” is from where we get the English word for ‘hymns’. Hymns are songs of praise. Imagine singing praises while you are in prison, while you are being persecuted.
What is most interesting is that the prisoners were listening to them. Can you see how our rejoicing can affect the people around us? I remember the testimony of Wang Ming Tao. I think I’ve shared this before, but I will share it again to illustrate this point. He was an evangelist in China mightily used by God. He was born in 1900. During the Communist regime, he was arrested and asked to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, otherwise he would be put into prison. In a moment of weakness, Wang Ming Tao denied the Lord and he was released. But later on, he was convicted of his sin of denial, and he went into the streets and cried out, ‘I’m Peter for I have denied my Lord. I’m Peter for I have denied my Lord.’ He was arrested again and this time he was put into prison for the next twenty-five years.
When he was released from prison, he was already an old man. Even on his sick-bed people from all over the world would come to hear him preach the Word. Once after his sharing and the visitors were leaving, Wang Ming Tao caught hold of the hand of one visitor and he said this: ‘Before you leave, can I sing you a song? When I was in prison I used to sing this song. Every day I would sing this song. Initially the guards hated it. Slowly they began to tolerate it. And subsequently they loved it so much that they would be disappointed whenever I failed to sing it. And the title of the song is ‘All The Way My Saviour Leads Me’.
My friends, the adverse circumstances in our lives cannot stop us from rejoicing. Instead they can even lead us to affect the people around us by our rejoicing, because our rejoicing is contagious.
II. The Attitude of Constant Prayerfulness
Our second point is: ‘The Attitude of Constant Prayerfulness.’ “Pray without ceasing.” We are to pray without ceasing whether privately or publicly. Most likely this is a reference to the public prayer gathering because it is only through the public prayer gathering that we can encourage and edify one another. The church is to be a family of praying people.
Prayer is extremely important because it is necessary for the salvation of a Christian. No man or woman should expect to be saved if he or she does not pray. We all believe in salvation by grace through faith, right? We ought to preach: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ But do you realise that nowhere in the Bible is it stated that a man can be saved without asking for it? No man can receive the pardon of his sins unless he lifts up his heart and prays: ‘Lord, forgive me of my sins.’ No one can do it for you. Each one must repent for himself. Each one must submit to Christ for himself. Each one must come before God and pray. You must do it for yourself. Nobody can do it for you.
Prayer is important because it is the means by which we communicate with God and know Him intimately. In this world you will never know about the people around you unless you communicate and speak with them. If a husband does not talk to his wife and communicate with her, that relationship will never be close. Likewise, we may know about God, we may know wonderful doctrines about Him, but we may not know Him, as in to know Him intimately – unless we speak to Him.
Prayer is important because God has commanded us to do so. Some people may question: ‘If God knows all things, if He knows all our needs and desires, if He loves us with an everlasting love, why then should we pray?’ Well, prayer is the means appointed by God whereby we receive what we ask of Him. Throughout the Bible we have this imperative command to pray. God never commanded us to sing without ceasing, or preach without ceasing, or serve without ceasing, or give without ceasing. But He commanded us specifically here: “Pray without ceasing.” To pray without ceasing means always, at all times, at every opportunity, in all seasons. We must live every day of our lives with this awareness that God answers our prayers. Hebrews 11 verse 6 says, “[God] is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
When do people often pray? I suppose there is hardly anyone who does not pray in times of trouble. Most people would pray in the church. They would pray before they eat a meal. But other than that, the only times they would pray is when they are in deep trouble. It is not wrong to pray in difficult times. It may be true that God allows us to experience those adverse situations so that we will pray. But the command is “Pray without ceasing” which means that all situations of life should draw forth prayers from us. When we are happy, we express our happiness to God. When we are afflicted, we commit our afflictions to God. We should pray at work. We should pray during our vacations. We should pray when we are with our friends. When we experience something good and wonderful, we immediately thank the Lord for it. When we see someone who does not know Christ, we pray for God to draw the person to Himself, and to use us as instruments to evangelise to that lost soul. So, my friends, there should be no situations in our lives whereby God does not here from us. Pray without ceasing.
If you have a child and he only communicates with you when he needs your help – ‘Daddy, Mummy, I need your help. Give me money.’ – that would be most sad. How much more a child of God bought by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he only looks to God like an ATM machine. God forbids.
Pray without ceasing also means to persist and persevere in our prayers. And if God has commanded us to persevere in our prayers, then He has a sovereign purpose for our persistency. I like the testimony of George Muller. He was well known for his love for orphans. It has been said that he cared for more than ten thousand orphans in his life. He was also known to be a man of prayer. Once George Muller was praying for the salvation of his two friends, and for fifty years he prayed that those two men would be converted. One day someone asked him why he was still praying after such a long time. George Muller replied, ‘Do you think God would have kept me praying all these years if he did not intend to save them?’ Both men were converted; one shortly before Muller’s death, the other after his death.
Perhaps you have been praying for your unbelieving loved ones, your grandparents, your parents, your sons and daughters, and they have been rejecting the gospel of Christ. You are discouraged and disheartened. Please do not give us. Press on and obey this command. Pray without ceasing. God has His sovereign purpose for our persistence.
III. The Attitude of Constant Thankfulness
Our third and final points is: “The Attitude of Constant Thankfulness.” Look at verse 18. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” “In every thing” means in all circumstances, because we believe that nothing happens by chance or coincidence but by the providence of God. Providence is the means by which God directs all things toward His sovereign purpose. As Ephesians 1 verse 11 says, “according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will”.
You may be thinking, ‘But that is a very high standard to achieve. To be constantly joyful, to be constantly prayerful and to be constantly thankful.’ Notice the Apostle Paul closed this section by saying, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” It is only possible in Christ Jesus. And if you are a true believer bought by His precious blood, you are in Christ Jesus, and it is possible for you. Remember, God would never give a command that you and I can never achieve or attain. When we humble ourselves, when we submit ourselves to Christ and we are filled with the Holy Spirit, it is possible in all circumstances. It is God’s will that all believers should live such a life in constant joy, in constant prayers, and in constant thankfulness.
Are you a thankful person? Do you recognise that it is God’s will for you? When we talk about thankfulness, we acknowledge that people have all kinds of attitudes towards this matter of giving thanks. Some people think it is unnecessary to give thanks. They are not thankful, simply because they think that they deserve every good thing that they have, or they deserve even more.
A classic example in the Bible is the parable of the rich fool. He was not only a wealthy farmer, but he was also presumptuous as well about his future prosperity, so much so that he was ungrateful about his past prosperity. As he looked around, he realised that his land was so productive that there was no more room to store all his goods. So, he decided to build bigger barns. After that he said to himself, “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” (Luke 12:19). He did not take God into consideration. He did not give any credit to God for his blessing. He saw no reason to give thanks. Because of that presumptuous ungratefulness, God said to him: “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” (Luke 12:20).
The problem with this rich fool was that he did not realise that he had no power of his own to produce the crops, neither has he the power to protect the crops. And he did not consider the One who has sovereign power over all things, including his life. But how many of us have behaved like the rich fool? Today we may be enjoying the best of health. We may be blessed with great wealth. We may have made some good investment plans. But have we forgotten that is the Almighty God who has blessed us so abundantly? Let us be mindful that even the breath of life we have this morning cometh from Him.
Some people’s attitude toward gratefulness or thankfulness is so horrendous. Let me give you an example. On one occasion to His way to Jerusalem, Jesus healed ten lepers. You are all very familiar with that account. But only one returned. He fell on his face and gave thanks to God, and he was a Samaritan. He knew he was helpless; he did not deserve to be healed. It was entirely the grace of God. So, he returned and gave all glory and honour to God. He was genuine and Jesus said to him, “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke 17:19). But what happened to the other nine lepers? They were just as helpless; they were just as undeserving. But immediately after they were healed, they walked away and forgot that it was entirely the grace of God.
It is a terrible sin when people do not acknowledge the hands of God working in their lives. How often have we forgotten to give thanks to God? When we are stricken with an illness, when we are in need, when we have lost our jobs, when our children are in trouble, we cry out to God. But when the time comes for us to give thanks, how many can be found to give thanks to Him?
Life is filled with different challenges and issues. Some of those challenges can be most painful, yet the Bible says, “In every thing give thanks”. To be thankful in everything is to acknowledge God’s sovereign control, not just of our lives but in every single detail of our lives too. Earlier this week on Tuesday, a dear sister in Christ, Bernice Chong, the daughter of KP and Sue Chong, passed away. She had a severe asthma attack, and the Lord took her home. Her father KP Chong had passed away last year, and ever since then both mother and daughter had only each other for support. It is an understatement to say that she was extremely devastated and sad. One of the most painful experiences in life is for parents to bury their children.
But yesterday when we were at the funeral parlour to discuss the funeral arrangements, the mother said to me that her initial plan was to check herself into the elderly home, leaving her daughter to stay in their family house. But she knew that if that happened, she would get worried; if her daughter who had many other medical issues were to live alone. She may have her plans, but God has higher plans. And the mother said, ‘It is the Lord’s will to take her home to a better place.’ And the amazing thing was that at the funeral parlour, she saw her son whom she had not seen for many, many years. It was so amazing that we were able to contact him, and he immediately came to help the mother and to attend to the sister’s funeral arrangements. My friends, even in the most painful experiences that one can encounter, there are still sufficient reasons for us to give thanks to God.
When trials and difficulties come into our lives and we start to murmur and complain, in reality we are questioning God’s wisdom, love and most importantly His sovereignty. In fact, do you realise that even in this matter of thankfulness, it will reveal to us our spiritual maturity? Allow me to explain. We can be thankful whenever we are blessed. Perhaps this is the easiest thing to do. When things are going well, when you have gotten a job, when you have found a life partner, when your children are healthy and doing well in school, everything is good. You give thanks you God. Relatively easy. It requires little maturity to give thanks at such times.
The second level of thankfulness is slightly more difficult. It is to be thankful when the blessing and victory is yet to come. Thanking God before a blessing comes surely is more difficult than thanking Him after you have received it. I wonder how many of our children would say to us, ‘Daddy, Mummy, thank you for the present that I am going to receive from you next year, and the year following that.’ To give thanks for something that you are yet to receive but are anticipating it, surely is more difficult because it is something you have not seen nor experienced. It takes certain spiritual maturity to trust and believe God that He will answer my prayers, that my God is faithful, and He will grant to me what is best for me.
The last level of thankfulness is the most difficult because it involves thanking God in the midst of trouble. Even when we are still undergoing difficulties, pain, sufferings. Even when it looks as if the whole world is crashing down on us, we still give thanks to God like our dear sister who has lost her only daughter, the one she clings onto and yet she gave thanks to God. And she acknowledged that it is the will of the Lord to take her home to be with her forever and ever.
Dear friends, if we can only thank God when things are going well, when things are good, it shows very little of our faithfulness. If we can thank God in anticipating when God will do in the future, that He will surely answer our prayers, we do show more spiritual maturity. But to be able to thank God when we are still in the midst of our pains, sufferings, trials, it shows a level of maturity that few Christians seem to know. But that is what our heavenly Father wants us to be. He wants us to grow even in our giving of thanks.
“In every thing give thanks” does not means we give thanks for sin. When we hear of someone’s adultery, when we hear of someone propagating a false doctrine or a church being divided, we do not give thanks for such things – those were terrible sins. The Bible says, “for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” which means it must be consistent with Jesus Christ, who He is, what He has done for us. The righteousness of Christ is contrary to sin. We do not give thanks for wicked things or sin. But rather we give thanks to God for being God in the midst of trouble.
I would like to end this message by drawing your attention to the word, “give thanks”. The original word for give thanks is very interesting. It comes from the term whereby we get the English word for ‘eucharist’. The eucharist is used to refer to the Lord’s Supper. It involves giving thanks for Christ’s atoning death and the shedding of His precious blood on the cross of Calvary for our sins. My friends, this morning if you are overwhelmed with the loss of a loved one; if you are afflicted with pain that words cannot express; if you are troubled with some emotional relationship struggle that no one can fathom and you cry out, ‘How can I ever give thanks?’ Yes, you can.
When you look to the eucharist. When you look to the cross and you see your Lord nailed to that cross for you. He died for you. He shed His precious blood for you. He was buried because of you. And he even rose again from the dead because of you. And you can say in your heart, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” So, the question is not, ‘How can I give thanks?’ but rather ‘How can I not give thanks?’
As we enter into the new year, let us consider these three essential attitudes and pray, ‘Lord, I do not know what is ahead of me. There may be pain. There may be sufferings. The economic uncertainty may be lurking just around the corners. Troubles. Even persecutions. But one thing I do know: you are in sovereign control of all things. And you have taught me that I ought to enter into this new year with these three essential attitudes. I’m going to obey your command. Help me to have the strength that I will always be in constant joyfulness, in constant prayerfulness, and in constant thankfulness, because this is the will of the Lord in Christ Jesus concerning me.’ A blessed new year to all of you. Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for this opportunity for us to come together to consider Thy Word even as we embark on this year 2023. Thou who has seen us through past years, even during the pandemic we have seen Thy hands of protection, provision, Thy providence. Indeed, Thou art so good. We are just like the lepers, helpless, undeserving, it is entirely the grace of God – we acknowledge this. And Thou has taught us too that we need Thee at every moment of our lives. So even as we enter into the new year, help us to cultivate these three essential attitudes that Thy people will always be in constant joyfulness, constant prayerfulness, and in constant thankfulness because we know that this is Thy will for us in Christ Jesus. Blessed be Thy name. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
SERMON OUTLINE
- I. The Attitude of Constant Joyfulness
- II. The Attitude of Constant Prayerfulness
- III. The Attitude of Constant Thankfulness
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30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #4: The Church and the Prayers30th Anniversary Seminar - Message #4: The Church and the Prayers1 Thessalonians 5:17
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