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I want to invite you to First Thessalonians chapter five, and we’re going to end the book of first Thessalonians together. We’ve been going through a series in this book. In fact, this summer, if you’ve been a part of our our studies together, we’ve gone through the Book of Psalms as it relates to worship and learning how to how to worship the Lord this summer, as well as the book of Thessalonians. And as we’ve studied this book together, this is an incredible book of a church birthed out of persecution that made a tremendous impact in this world. That’s why we titled this series unshaken. As we’ve learned from this church what it looks like to pursue Jesus in our own faith journey, even when life gets difficult. And as we’ve looked at this church together, we’ve recognized Paul established this church on his second missionary journey. We study that in the book of acts, chapter 17, which, by the way, if you’re interested in where we’re going in the days ahead, we will be going through the book of acts together. We have just six books left in our in the New Testament. We’ve covered the entire New Testament in our church history. So there we go. So we’re finishing up Thessalonians one in the book of acts. But the church of Thessalonica, Thessalonica was the second church Paul established in in the continent of Europe, and it was the. This church was also established on Paul’s second missionary journey.
And you read about in acts chapter 17. Paul was only there for three weeks, and that’s when persecution broke out. Paul became concerned with the church. He left after being without church for three weeks for their own well-being. But Paul, being concerned with that church, decides to send Timothy back up to check on the Church of Thessalonica. He discovers not only as the church continue to move forward, but is actually thriving and has made an impact not not just in the city of Thessalonica, but throughout Greece and even beyond that. And so the Apostle Paul, rejoicing in that, he writes this letter of first Thessalonians to continue to encourage the church. And here we are today, learning from this church and what it means to know the Lord and to honor him with our life, to the point that even in difficult days, we see our lives thriving in him. And so we’re going to look at the conclusion of those verses today. Starting in verse 12 of first Thessalonians five. But I do want you to know, as we look at these verses, I’m actually going to pick up at the very end of the chapter, but there’s one verse I’m not going to flash up on the screen, and that is verse 26. And the other reason for that is it’s a verse that makes me uncomfortable. Right? It’s a unless you’re a single dude that makes this your life first.
Yeah. There’s no reason to do this, right. Like it says, brothers, greet one another in a holy kiss. I, like some of you guys might be this morning like, yes, I’m looking for that person. But for the rest of us, we’re just not going to do that. That’s not. That’s not how we roll here. I even for me, my comfort level, like I’ve been in some countries where, you know, they may do some, some form of kissing, others where like, you know, they make the way they make friends, even as guys like, they’ll hold hands and walk in the street and like, like I know some cultures are comfortable with that and I am not right. Like, I’ve been in places where, like, I knew that people saw me as a friend because guys were grabbing my hands, holding my hands, trying to walk with me. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t want to roll that way. Like I’m good with a hug, you know? But it’s like any more than three pats and you got it back away, okay? It’s like hug three pats and you’re done. But. But I want you to know the sentiment of this verse is important. And what what it’s saying to us is we’re welcoming people in and we want you to belong. And there’s reconciliation, right? So it’s it’s encouraging us in terms of relationship. And that’s what Paul is saying, to continue to be a body that’s welcoming one another.
But as Paul thinks about this, this church, as he gets to the end of this book, you’re going to see that these last few verses, Paul throws what I call wisdom zingers out truth bombs. That’s what he’s saying. He’s thinking about, I don’t know if he’s running out of paper. He’s like, oh, I got so much more to tell these people, you know? And he’s just like trying to get these final thoughts in. But he’s seeing this church living out successfully in the Lord, following faithfully in Jesus. And he’s continuing to give these final thoughts to them, to the to encourage them in their faith journey, wanting to see them move forward in light of who the Lord is. And so as he’s thinking about that, he’s he’s he’s sharing some really profound truth in some very concise ways for for you and for me. And when you get to the end of this letter, he says it like this, these final couple of verses, he says, I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. And here’s what he’s saying is like, the significance of knowing God’s Word in your life is you think about your own faith journey and maturity in Christ. It’s like, look like you’re obligated, right? You need to be reading this letter, not just one of you.
You need to share this collectively as a community and learn what it means to to understand your own faith journey. Being enriched in Christ and living for his glory. Like take the Word of God. Saturate your life with it. I want you guys reading this and he’s really teaching us the importance of Scripture. Like Paul is really identifying the significance of his epistle as if it were a Scripture. In fact, in Second Peter chapter three, verse 15 and 16, Peter talks about Paul’s letters being Scripture. And he even goes on and say, and sometimes it’s hard to understand, but. But you see the precedent. The authority of God’s word made known and the need to know God’s Word. I mean, for for you and for me this morning, if we if we wear the label of Christian or we’re fond of that identity, to think about our own journey and say, look like if if the only time I spend time in God’s word is on a Sunday morning, and maybe even that, that that attendance is spotty. Can I can I just tell you your your soul is craving the power of God’s word to be made known in your life? I mean, there’s a reason God wrote His Word down for you and for me. He wants us to to know him. He wants to be known in your life. For you to have that relationship with him and to walk in light of that and the way you discover that is not even just reading God’s Word personally, but also corporately.
This is what Paul is saying is like collectively, you’ve now seen God’s Word. You know what God’s Word says in order to live it out there brings there comes accountability with that, there becomes a clear, intentional purpose direction for God’s people in that. So God’s word is vital to our life to to get in the discipline of just spending time with the Lord each day and understanding His word and and therefore understanding him, and then understanding who I am in light of that. And Paul is encouraging the church here in these, these final verses to think that way. And then and then he says this for us in verse 23. He says, well, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. I mean, there’s a couple of things here that are important. One, Paul is encouraging you and saying, look, you’re with Jesus. You belong to Jesus. You’re secure in Jesus. So no matter what your day is, hold. And as you move forward, you know you’re not going out it alone, that Christ is with you. And he’s saying, you’ve been called for this. You’ve been sanctified in this.
You’ve been set apart by God. In this you belong to him. He is yours, and and you are his. And and so that that transforms the way that you live in this world. And I love the way he identifies the idea of you as a human being. He really encompasses all of you your body, soul, spirit, all that make up who you are. You’re designed to be completely surrendered to the Lord, to walk in that light. There’s not an aspect of you that wasn’t made for him. And this becomes critical to find our identity and this as believers, to recognize God made us, to find ourselves in him. And it’s not until you’re willing to surrender all your life to the Lord that you truly discover the purpose for which you were created. You really discover the joy of the Lord in that which we’ll talk about here in the end. But God made all of you to belong to him, body and soul and spirit. It is all for his glory. And Paul is acknowledging us here. And to recognize, and God holds you in him. He wants you with him. And so as Paul comes in this chapter, he’s now talking to us about the maturity of the life of the believer. How do I know that I’m maturing in Christ? Or maybe I am mature in Christ? He’s he’s giving us three marks this morning to measure the maturity of our life in Jesus.
What does that look like for you and for me? I mean, we look at the Church of Thessalonica up to this point. We can rejoice. And in a church. That’s an incredible example for us. And now Paul is saying, and as you move forward, just keep moving forward in this sustain and in what he’s describing in these verses. And, and this becomes a measure for all of us to stop and pause and think. How’s my own faith journey going and my life truly emulating a life surrendered to Christ? Do I see the mark of maturity in my world as a believer? And what are those markers that Paul gives for us? Now, I don’t know that this is necessarily an exhaustive list, but this is a this is a great way of just thinking and reflecting on my own heart before Jesus in this world. What does that look like? Well, let me give you number one and we’ll read some more verses together. Three markers of maturity in the life of the believer. Evidence of that. Number one is this in relationships, in relationships. And Paul does this by by sharing some thoughts broadly, which I want to address here. And then we’re going to look at some some examples particularly. But when he shares this thought broadly he says like this, be it peace among yourselves and be patient with them all. He’s really thinking about two different groups of people as he’s saying this.
Be it peace among yourselves. Be patient with them all when he talks about being at peace among yourselves. I want you to know he means God’s church collectively. And sometimes we might read this and think, yeah, I need to be at peace within myself. And we think very much individually. We tend to do that with Scripture when when God often intends it to be thought of and in a plural way. But we tend to think all be at peace. Within myself, I need to sit in the lotus position and just hum, rocking back and forth this morning till till I’m there. Right? That’s not what Paul is saying in this. He’s talking about the idea of the collective community of Christ, be it peace among yourselves. And the idea of peace is really a sacred word in all of Scripture. It’s a word that we’re introduced to from the beginning of the Bible. It’s a word that we we experienced turmoil in when sin was introduced because of our disobedience to God. But God’s desire for us is to experience peace with him holistically, not just in our relationship with God, but also within all of creation. That there would be what the Hebrews referred to as shalom. And peace isn’t just the absence of trouble. The idea of peace is restorative redemption, right? So certainly there’s a component of it where there is absence of trouble.
But it’s much more than that. If all you hear is and I get, you know, difficult things away from me, you’re not going to live in the kind of peace that God has called us to. In fact, he calls us to run into the brokenness of life and see that restorative justice of God, the idea of redemption made known. And that should be primarily modeled first among the body of Christ, because we understand the reason for which Christ came for us to restore what was broken, our relationship with him, and in the Second Coming to restore all of creation. And we get to model that collectively as a community and seeing the brokenness of life restored within a community of God as we work together and what Jesus has called us to in this world. In fact, when we get to the book of acts, we’ll see this in a few weeks. But in acts chapter two, verse 41 to 47, it really gives the most in-depth description of what a church does when it gathers, especially the early church. And one of the things that says in the very beginning is that they were devoted to one another and to the Lord’s teaching and the breaking of bread, fellowship with each other. And so you see this beautiful, restorative community and in working towards shalom collectively together. And then it says this in verse 47. And the Lord added to their numbers day by day those who are being saved.
And what it’s saying is, as God’s people model the beauty of Jesus and the way that we live our lives, it not only impacts us, but it impacts the world around us. Because more than anything, what people want is they want to belong and they want to know they matter. And then when they see it in a community, a way that they’re doing this collectively, as they’re finding their identity in the Lord, it becomes invitational to to the world to, to to find and discover what they’ve been missing. In fact, one of the greatest evangelistic tools in this world is, is a body of Christ moving together in Jesus towards the shalom, this peace that Christ establishes for us. This is why Paul is saying, look, you need to read this letter because what it does is it puts us on the same page and understanding who God is and who we are in light of that. So we can collectively walk together in Jesus as we seek to see the beauty of Christ made known in our lives. So there’s this piece that God talks about relationally, but also there’s this word called patience. And I got to tell you, out of all my words in Scripture, this one’s not on the top of my favorite list. You know, I mean, you read like the fruit of the spirit. There’s some nice words in there.
Love, joy, peace. Patience. Right. You think like God? What about all the words, man? Right. Like I can say, I’m a loving person. I’m a joyful person. And then you get to the word patience. And can I. Can I just tell you one of the great markers of your own maturity in Christ is patience. And when Paul is saying this, he’s saying, look, in terms of the body of Christ, peace is critical. But even beyond the body of Christ, God calls you into this world to make a difference. And what I want you to know is you need to be a person of patience. And here’s one of the reasons why you shouldn’t expect people in this world to live like they know Jesus when they don’t know Jesus. And one of the reasons your life was transformed the primaries, when you could say your life has been transformed in Christ, is because of God’s gracious presence being made known in your life again and again. And he does this, get this patiently. It’s God’s patience towards you that invite your heart into him and to see your life molded and transformed in his image. And it’s the same thing with those around you. It’s the idea of patience that gives opportunity for the grace of God to be made known. Now get this I’m not telling you you need to be a doormat for abuse. But. But we are bridge builders in this world.
From from the Lord to people. And sometimes bridges get walked on. And when? When you. When you think about your own life and modeling Christ, when you consider what Christ did at the end of his life, he washed the feet of his enemy, Judas. He hung on the cross and said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. His life was incredibly patient towards us, even when we were maligning and attacking him. And being a follower of Jesus. God calls us to be a people of of patience. Now, let me tell you, in a world of selfishness where me becomes first, patience is something I have no need for. Why would I be patient with you when your purpose in my life is to serve me, to make me happy. There is no need for patience in that world. But. But when I understand my life is given over to the Lord and his patience towards me is what transformed him, and I find my identity secure in him. Then I discover the way that other people have opportunity is to be patient with them too. I can be honest, but I still need to embrace them where they are and love them as Jesus would love them. As I share the truth of God with them, and patience becomes an incredible tool for that. In fact, sometimes people are readily giving this this idea of being impatient up. And we’ll say that sometimes as even as Christians and I got love, joy, peace, you know, I got those things down.
Long suffering, kindness, all those things. But patience, you know, that’s my struggle, patience. And here’s what we’re saying. I’m immature in Jesus, and I would rather be more interested in myself than the heart of someone else. That’s really what a lack of patience communicates. God has called us for a purpose in this world, far greater than to put me first in things, but rather to understand I find the purpose of my existence when my life is holistic, surrendered to him and what he desires not only to do in me, but through me. And a part of my growth is demonstrated in my patience. Jesus, how can I be a vessel for your purpose in this world? So as Paul is describing this, he’s saying, think about it in the body of Christ and think about it. Even beyond the body of Christ and the way that you’re emulating the Lord in relationships, because it becomes a marker for you to examine your own maturity. And then he gives to us really aspects of relationships to just think through. And these aren’t the only types of relationships, but Paul says it like this. In verse 12 he says, we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Be at peace among yourselves. So here’s what he’s saying is, like, there are certain positions of authority in life, and you need to honor the position. Now, it doesn’t mean like everybody. Everything someone does in those positions is always honorable. But you can’t honor the position itself. I do. In this particular passage, most specifically think Paul might be referring to leadership within the body of Christ, or the idea maybe of a pastor, elder deacon within the congregation just revering or honoring that. And I do want you to know that I don’t read this verse and thinking, this is a problem here. Like, I have loved ministry. I’ve loved being a pastor here at alpine. Like, this is not me saying to you, and you guys need to just step up your game of appreciation for me. Okay? So I don’t think that’s really a concern here. I feel I feel appreciated. So, you know but but I will say in a more broader sense to recognize even the idea of authority in life, because this eventually traces back to your own relationship with the Lord, who the Bible tells us that we are to defeat, fear, or Revere the Lord, and that in doing so, it’s it’s modeling something about our own understanding of our walk with the Lord, so our authorities in life become a greater reflection of the greatest authority. Who is God? And I know when reading a verse like this, I might sound like I am like rubbing against the culture or getting political here, but I’m just going to say it anyway because it’s truthful.
Like if you walk through life and you pass a police officer, you pass a firefighter, you pass a paramedic, a teacher, anyone in authority. I mean, just stop and say thank you. Right. Just just appreciate the idea of of someone even being concerned enough to take a position for the well-being of other people. Because many of those positions in life, when people step into those positions, they’re not like, man, the pay looks really good here. All long hours. Please sign me up. Right? I mean, the reason you step into those kind of roles in life is because you have a concern for the well-being of others. Doesn’t mean everyone does it perfectly. There can be bad apples among a group. But, but, but it’s our calling as believers just to Revere people in position. Doesn’t mean we always agree with that. But we’re honoring Christ, who made us as our life is surrendered to him. So he talks about the idea of authority. Then he goes on and says, and he says in verse 14, and we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle. So he’s saying, look, sometimes there’s the idea of people of authority, and we want to Revere those positions. But then there are other ways we can encourage people, and sometimes it’s to encourage people that might be taking advantage of when you when you look at first Thessalonians and second Thessalonians, you find one of the things that Paul is writing against.
It’s highlighted more in Second Thessalonians, is that this church believed Jesus return was going to be so soon, that a lot of them just quit their jobs. And then when they were like, oh man, I’m starting to run out of resources, they started bombing. Like, can you help me out? Jesus. Come back. It’s too much for me to go get another job. So just just help me out. Help my brother out like they start a bombing from their own community. And. And here’s what God’s saying is like, you should get a job, right? Like, you should get to work. And in fact, when being made in the image of God, a part of your opportunity to reflect God’s glory in this world is to realize he gave you hands and feet capabilities to honor him and the things that you do. So a reflection of your relationship with God is seen through your hands and feet, and work is a gift to reflect the beauty of God in this world. Now there is a sinfulness, a brokenness to this world that sometimes brings challenges. The thorn Scripture says, no sweat of our brow reminds us there’s still brokenness in this world, but you get to reflect the glory of God and the things that you do.
And so this verse is telling you as a church, you should encourage lazy people not to be lazy, right? Like the government doesn’t exist to just support you to do nothing. I understand sometimes in life we’re in a place where we just need help, and I’m thankful. In this country we have certain resources to be able to do that, but to also understand it’s disobedient just to be lazy. Like in a way, this is written for like 30 year old guys that just like to spend the rest of their life and the mothers basement holding a video game controller in one hand and a bag of Cheetos in the other. Just saying, get off your butt and do something right. Sometimes we get depressed as people because you’re made to do things. And when you connect to a relationship with God, you begin to discover that things you do reflect his beauty in this world. And if you just sit on your rear end, of course you’re going to get depressed because you’re made for more than that. And for us as a church, what he’s encouraging in is, is think through how you can help people do that. That doesn’t enable a poor behavior, but permits them to move forward in life. We don’t want to enable, but we want people to discover who they are in Christ. Now, let me just toss this out and I’ll give you a couple of examples of why this is important.
So, you know, within our own body, we have a ministry we call the benevolence ministry. The purpose of benevolence ministry is to help us in seasons that we go through. That might be difficult to help people overcome that. It’s also a ministry that we will use to just think through what’s the best means to do this? Or we’re not enabling, but we’re really helping. So within our body of Christ, you might find there’s a person in need and you might be aware of the situation and you might personally choose to help. And that’s wonderful. I think you should do that. And other times you might not be aware of the situation. You might feel like it’s out of your, your understanding and and you get this can pump that up to the benevolence ministry here at church, because we want to be a church that empowers people to represent Jesus and the things they do. You know, I’ve heard had this modeled or reminded to me many times in ministry, and there’s a few books on this. There’s a book called When Helping Hurts. There’s a book called by Tim Keller called Generous Justice. And both of those books talk about this, this kind of aspect and being a shalom community, holistic help to restorative justice and of redemption within a community of the body of Christ. The peace of God is made known.
But I remember in our history, at one point we had a lady that was a part of our church that she’s no longer here but her. Her brother was struggled with mental illness. And in that battle people would often contribute to, to, to his life in ways that they probably thought were helping but ultimately led to his demise. And what I mean by that is this particular individual had a place to stay, but he oftentimes didn’t like staying in that place because that place required him to take his medication, which stabilized his mental health. And there were periods of time where he just didn’t want to do that. And it led to him being homeless on the street and being homeless on the street. People would enable that behavior by giving to him to sustain him on the street. Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong to give to homeless people. Please don’t hear this as a blanket statement, but I do want you to know, in this particular case, on one, one, one particular night in the winter. Someone gave him some food that sustained him on the street, and when that night came, he didn’t have what would sustain him through the night, and he actually ended up freezing to death. That woman, distraught that her own brother had passed away by someone who thought what they were doing was kind, actually led to his demise. There is a way that we can help that’s enabling, and there’s a way in difficult times, we can walk with someone to say, this is not for your benefit, but we want to see you succeed.
I had a I had a friend or I do have a friend. He’s he lives in Arizona. Wealthy businessman. And he said he tells me every Christmas his family gets together and rather than give gifts to one another because of the wealth they have as a family, they don’t have need. So they sit down and they examine different groups they could give to groups they appreciate, and they decide based on the needs of those groups, what would be an appropriate amount to donate. And one of the things I found interesting, he said to me once, he said, you know, we don’t give the same amount to every group. We have a different amount we like to give to groups. And part of the way we make the decision is one based on the need, but two the size of the group. It makes no sense for a group that’s just living on a small budget to then hand them millions of dollars because, well, they’re not going to be able to work with the millions of dollars because they’ve never had a budget like that. And so it’s going to become overwhelming to them and compared it to this. It’s like giving a BMW to a homeless guy, you know, for like five minutes.
That might sound like a good idea. And for five minutes, he might be having fun until he’s got to pay for the gas and do the maintenance, in which case he can’t afford it. And what looked like a blessing all of a sudden becomes a burden. And it’s the same with us as people learning to be faithful with what God’s giving us. This is what Paul is encouraging us to in terms of relationships, as God is giving you things to steward and to learn how to use those things for his glory in this world becomes important for us. And so how can we be faithful with small things that when God gives us greater things, we continue to use those things in the right way. And sometimes we come alongside of people that have just not been taught that. And so how can we move forward for the purpose of not enabling them, but to help them thrive. And so Paul’s saying you got leadership. You’ve got you’ve got in verse 14. Those that are idle. And then he says, encourage the faint hearted and help the weak. And this is a picture of one that’s struggling internally and one that might be struggling more externally. What do you mean by that? The faint hearted is someone that just on the inside just doesn’t. They’re falling apart and they need some encouragement. It’s like this morning I could say to you, like, how many of you feel like your cup is just overflowing with encouragement? Like it’s rare to get people to raise their hands.
Like we can always use more encouraged than we. We thrive on encouragement as people, right? So if you’re sitting next to someone today, just know that person next to you. You could just use some encouragement. And part of looking at the faint hearted is to say, look, if you want to make a difference tomorrow, think about encouraging someone today, because that’s what it helps someone develop courage to be able to move forward into the next steps God has called them to. And all of us have struggles. All of us feel faint hearted in some area of life. So speaking encouragement the lives of people becomes important. And not only that, the idea of weak. So it’s saying not only on the inside can we battle, but maybe even on the outside we might have an ailment that’s taking a toll on us. We have some sickness, maybe we have some addiction, but just encouraging people where they are to help strengthen them, to move forward. So we holistically experience that. Shalom. And finally he says this. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. What he’s saying is, here’s here’s just a blanket statement. The way you compose yourself in Christ matters. And so someone might do something ill intended to you.
And it doesn’t mean you can’t call the law like you have. We have laws for a reason in our country. But here’s what it’s saying is. And you you’re not called to bring revenge. The Bible tells you in Romans 12. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. And so saying, that’s not your weight to carry. You can call, you can call the law. When one law is broken, that’s fine. But being a vigilante or just seeking revenge, it’s not what God calls people to do. God’s got so much more for you in life than to get caught up into that. Looking forward to what Jesus calls you to in this world is far more important, and how you can make impact in relationship. But as Paul thinks through this, he’s just describing different areas of relationship for us to say. And how is your maturity in those relationships doing? Because it becomes a great demonstration for you to reflect on how you’re growing in Jesus. And it’s not just in in relationship. Paul goes on from there and he says, how about this point number two? How about your rejoicing? A great measure of maturity in the life of the believer is seen in their rejoicing. And when you read the the book of Thessalonians, what you find is joy is actually a beginning marker of this book, and it becomes the end of this book. It’s like Paul is making a joy sandwich in the way he writes this.
He starts in joy and he ends in joy. And when you read chapter one, verse six. Paul talks about the joy that the church had. He said it like this. He said, for you receive the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Now here’s a church that faced challenges, but they didn’t let the circumstances dictate who they were. Rather, they discovered something deeper in Jesus which could never be taken away from them. And that’s what they chose to sustain them in every circumstance of life, even in affliction. And so this idea of joy becomes critical for you and for me, because it’s saying my posture as a person is much deeper than the circumstance of a moment. And if I just if I just discover myself in the emotions of a situation, I’m going to find myself chasing after emotion all my life. But rather than just pursue that, I want to find something deeper of who I am in the Lord. And that’s what it’s talking about, this idea of joy. It’s a this deep richness of your identity that is sustained by something greater than the temporal of life. In fact, when you look at verse 16 and you look at verse 18, these two verses are interconnected but also critical to understand their distinction. Right. He says, rejoice always. This is the life of the believer.
He’s saying, look, root yourself in this identity. In chapter one, verse six of this page or this, this book, the reason that the Thessalonians were successful in seeing such a tremendous impact in this world is they found something that sustained them beyond the circumstance, and that was the relationship in Christ. The joy of the Lord. And Paul is saying, not only has that helped you to this point, but it’s going to carry you forward. Your joy in the Lord is critical. So much so that he also talks about giving thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for your life. These words are very similar, but their distinction becomes important. And the way I would explain it is like this. Ever drive down the road? Turn on the radio. You hear a new song. But that new song, the words, It’s like, man. It’s like they just took it off my heart. It becomes this song. It’s like my soul song. You know, they ever get those, like, southern, raspy singers? Sometimes I sing. You’re like, yeah, you got me deep, right? I guess that’s that’s the idea of joy. That’s what it’s saying. It’s like the core of who you are. Discovered in this. This was sing in Christ and rich yourself and the depth of Jesus. Understand his word. Let this become the core of your identity, so much so that it becomes the praise of your mouth. It’s like a wells up within you that you celebrate it with Thanksgiving.
And so it’s. And the idea of a song, it’s like you’re going down the road and you hear this song and all of a sudden no one even has to tell you. You just start singing the words, right? You’re just like this idea of thankfulness, this song connected to you in that way. But but more than that, it’s saying this. This is what it should look like in Jesus. When you truly understand the richness that you have in Christ, the depth of your soul, acknowledging that to the voice of your mouth, reflecting the rejoicing with Thanksgiving. Maybe we could ask that question. How? How is your rejoicing going? And then I think he really connects these two, these two verses with, with this idea of pray without ceasing. And really, this becomes the point of how, how the joy of my life becomes the praise of my life through. Through this prayerful attitude that I’m carrying before God and gratefulness and and so this pray without ceasing, I would say, even in church history, some people have taken this to extreme like they think, or they might think you just wake up in the morning, you start praying and you don’t stop till you go to bed, right? It’s like someone tries to say something. You’re like, hold on, just, just hold on. I’m just. I’m just in the middle of prayer here.
Like pray without ceasing. Rather, here’s what it’s saying to you. Recognize the importance of having Jesus with you wherever you go in life, and live your life in relationship with him, as if a friend is going with you on this journey. I mean, you think about the gift of what it is as a believer to have a relationship with Christ. The Bible tells you in first Corinthians 316 and first Corinthians 619. You become the temple of God. And this means the presence of God is with you wherever you go. That is saying to you. Look, it’s not about showing up to the building that makes your relationship with Jesus more important or special. It’s about realizing that that that special relationship with God is with you wherever you go, because God’s presence is with you wherever you go as a believer. It’s also the reason why we as Christians don’t build temples. The reason we don’t build a temple is because it’s an affront to God. The idea of you being called a temple is saying the sacrifice of Jesus is sufficient for your life and for mine. And because of that, we get to have access to God wherever we go. We literally become the temple of God, the presence of God because of the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice all my life. It’s why in Hebrews chapter four verse 14, it tells you, come boldly to the throne of grace, that you can find help in your time of need or mercy in your time of need.
You get to come before the Lord anytime, anywhere because of what Jesus has done that should cause our soul to rejoice in thankfulness. That there is something deeper about who I am because of what Christ has done for me. Marks of maturity. Your relationships reveal it. Your your rejoicing reveals it. And number three, it’s in refinement, the refinement of your life. And. And here’s how he ends. I’ll explain refinement that’s a little bit ambiguous. So let’s let’s do this. He says verse 19, do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. He is saying, really? The posture, the desire of your heart should long to want to be near Jesus and continue to grow in Jesus. And he describes this as do not quench the spirit. Now there’s another verse in Ephesians chapter four, verse 30. It’s a similar verse, maybe a twin verse, that says, don’t, don’t grieve the Holy Spirit, which means walk in disobedience, but rather the idea of quenching is saying this, that the Spirit of God wants to move in your life. God wants to work. You’re the temple of God. God’s presence dwells there, and God wants to keep moving in your life. And so don’t, don’t, don’t hinder the idea of God wanting to move in your life. And and if I just attach for a moment the idea of joy, rejoicing the Lord to the idea of quenching can can I tell you when you read Scripture, one of the things you discover is that the idea of obedience and joy are not disconnected.
In fact, they’re interconnected to one another. Obedience and joy are interconnected to one another, meaning one of the things that God desires more than anything out of you today is is your life. He desires your heart. He created you for that. This is what makes refinement so important here, because when you look at relationship, you look at rejoicing. You can just leave here and see that as a task. I better get better at my relationships. You know, I better get better at rejoicing. You know, you could just kind of ho hum that thing and walk out of here, like. Like you’ve just been guilted into that. But can I tell you one of the things that helps all of that is understanding your own personal refinement and your relationship with Jesus. God wants your heart. God wants your life. And in so doing, those other two areas of your life will will grow in Jesus as you grow in Jesus. And the idea of of quenching the spirit is saying, look, you can really walk contrary to that, living and disobedient with God. But but if you really want to find your joy in the Lord, can I tell you it doesn’t happen until you give all of your life to God? And sometimes I will meet people that want to carry the label Christian or identify themselves as Christian.
But. But then when they walk away, they live like the world the rest of the time. And can I tell you, that’s one of the most miserable ways you can live your life? Because true joy in the Lord is not really discovered until your life is really given to the Lord. That’s why Psalms 37 verse four says, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Because when you’re delighting in the Lord, the desires of your heart change and your joy becomes his joy. In fact, in the book of John, chapter 15, verse ten, Jesus said it like this if you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you. And get this, your joy may be full. And what he’s saying is, look, giving your life to the Lord, following the Lord. That’s where the depth of joy is discovered and your joy in him overflows. It grows and it overflows. So it’s not until your heart’s given to God that you discover that. So don’t quench what God wants to do in you. In fact, he says, don’t despise prophecies, but test everything. This is. This is him saying, sometimes we read the word prophecy and we just imagine what it’s saying is predicting the future.
But there’s a far richer word for prophecy than just predicting the future. It’s really truth telling. There’s foretelling and foretelling, and I think the predominant way that the word prophecy is used in the New Testament is foretelling. It’s like this. It’s saying the truth word that you need to hear that pierces your heart. And he’s saying, don’t, don’t let that go away. Let that have its way in your heart. Let that transform you. Don’t quench the Spirit’s work in your life. And in fact, when you think that truth is being delivered to you, test it. And the way that you test it, get this is you. Look at God’s Word to see if what’s being taught is what God’s Word says. Is it align with what God’s Word says? You don’t want to just believe everything that’s told to you, but rather God gave you his word for a reason. And as you get into His Word, you discover the heart of who God is. And as you discover who God is, you discover who you are and therefore what God’s called you to in him. So refinement in Jesus becomes critical, and maybe we could save when it comes to your own mark of maturity. What does that look like in your life? Do you meet with Jesus? Do you seek him out? Do you rejoice in him? And he says, abstain from every form of evil, which is the last verse we’ll look at here.
But here’s what he’s saying is there is what we call in our culture reputation. And there is character. Reputation is who others think you are, characters who you truly are. And sometimes we can be good at putting on a show. People might think you have a good reputation, but behind the scenes you might have terrible character. And can I just tell you, this last verse is reminding us God sees it all, and sometimes we can put up with things in our own life that we even forget that it’s really contrary to the Lord, and we just get so much in the habit of doing it that we don’t care, because what we care about is ourself. But more than anything, what God wants is the refinement of your soul. God wants your heart. And so he’s encouraging us to think about those things that tear it who we are and take away from the joy of our own relationship with him. I’ll close with this. In 1906, there was a train that derailed in Atlantic City, new Jersey. And this was actually the first time in history a press release was made. It was it was made because of this train wreck. I found it interesting when I was looking at this train wreck this week, because this this happened in what was referred to as Thoroughfare Creek.
And then when I looked at the picture like there are boats on this creek, and then it reminded me, oh, yeah, there’s a big difference between what people call a creek and a river on the east coast versus a creek in the river on the west coast, because it’s my first time going across a river in Utah, like we call all rivers and Utah creeks, because they are. These are like, you can just go past a trickle. I’m like somebody can urinate that much. That’s not that is not a river. I’m sorry. Like that is I shouldn’t use that description. But but there are rivers on the east coast are real rivers and creeks. While they call this a creek, this is Thoroughfare Creek. But on this particular day, the conductor had worked a double shift and he was tired and going across the bridge. He failed to see the warning sign that acknowledged to him that the bridge had been raised in order to let a boat go through, and in missing that warning sign, the train plummeted into the river and 53 people died that day. If if we were to interview that conductor today, he’s definitely, definitely past because this was 1906. Unless he’s like 150, maybe he’s alive. But but I can tell you that conductor, he would say to us, you know, I never had any ill intent for these people. I never wanted to harm anybody.
I just had a job to serve people, to help them get from one point to another, to to help them move through their day. It’s a way I honor God with my hands. But yet, because I fell asleep, it led to destruction. Guys, can I say it’s really the same thing in our own faith journey with the Lord? God’s got so much for you. And sometimes we just get lulled to sleep by the enemy, and we choose to believe lies rather than the truth. And we choose to to walk for any other purpose rather than God himself. And and the result of that is it’s not only causing us to miss the joy of the Lord, but but it also harms the relationships around us. And it may not even be a plan of ours, but it just becomes the result because we’re not truly living out what God has called us to in him. But when a life is given over to him, and you see the richness for what you have in Jesus, it’s not a moving forward out of guilt, but it’s a moving forward out of freedom and grace and joy because of what God has done for you and for me. It is a privilege and a gift to honor God with our lives. But it’s not until the refinement of a soul takes place that we discover.