This morning we're looking at 1 Thessalonians 5 verses 16 through 18. Let's again listen now to the reading of God's holy word. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, for you. Let's seek the Lord's blessing on this word. Gracious God in heaven, we do rejoice and give thanks for the great truth of your holy word. And as we come to this passage this morning with these brief commands, we pray that you would open up our hearts and our minds to hear the truth that is here. And that as your spirit goes forth, as your word goes forth in the power of the spirit, we pray that it truly would find within each of our hearts that rich, fertile soil and bring about a great and abundant fruit all for your glory, praise and honor. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Well, over the past couple of weeks, we've considered the Apostle Paul's exhortations of peace to the Thessalonians, peace between leaders and the people, which was evidenced by a mutual love and respect for one another. And then, of course, last time we saw his charge for them to have peace with one another, both within the congregation as well as with all those outside the congregation, as much as depends on you. Now, certainly, The key to such pursuits of peace is ultimately peace with God. Remember, we can't truly have lasting peace with anyone unless we are first at peace with God, and such peace comes only through the gospel. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross, we have peace and reconciliation with God secured for us and then graciously given to us through faith in Him. And again, Paul has a charge that we demonstrate this gospel peace in our relationships within the church as well as outside the church. When our pastors this morning, however, were challenged to demonstrate the fruit of God's peace at work in us through not only our worship in the assembly of God's people, but also as we seek to live our lives and live out our faith and hope as a witness before all men. Paul gives here three very simple commands that can, in many ways, summarize our worship of God in spirit and in truth. Three ways that we can demonstrate before God and man that the peace of God has taken root within our hearts and within our lives. Rejoice, pray, and give thanks. And though these are things that, again, that we should be doing in our worship here inside the church, we're also challenged to do these always, without ceasing, and in every possible situation. As we'll see, these brief commands sum up God's desire for His people, even for those of us gathered here. And so first we consider rejoice always in verse 16. Now, what do we understand by rejoice or being filled with joy? Typically, we may think of great gladness. We think of someone that, you know, a smiling face and they're feeling good, feeling positive about something. But we have to be careful. that we don't mistake joy for happiness or happiness for joy. Although there certainly is much in common between the two terms, and most often people use them interchangeably, well, they aren't always the same thing. And the key difference is that joy is a reasonable and certain attitude that's going to remain in place despite the circumstances that you may be in. Whereas happiness is more often simply an emotion that's going to be shaped by the various circumstances and it's going to change and shift even as those circumstances change. And so a person can be happy, but not joyful. That is, they have this sort of outward appearance of being bubbly and happy and emotionally exuberant, but once their outward circumstances change, well then that emotion quickly fades and they become discontent and their misery is then revealed. any appearance of joy that they may have had was just shallow and it doesn't run deep. But a person can also be joyful, but not happy. That is, they don't have to put on this facade that they're enjoying or even reveling in adversity and suffering. But their faith and their confidence in the joy of the Lord is not going to be swayed by the current circumstances. It holds them firm in position like an anchor. And so, for example, you don't have to be happy about the fact that high inflation is putting pressure on your wallet. But you can actually be filled with great joy and contentment knowing and trusting that the Lord is going to provide for you. True joy then has a sense of certain and assured contentment. And this is why we're more often charged in Scripture to be joyful than to be happy. Because joy lasts, and happiness often doesn't. Now, as frozen chosen Presbyterians, as we're often referred to, we could stand to be a little bit more emotionally expressive on the outside, especially in our worship. And at the same time, to still be abundantly joyful inwardly. Now again, not calling for us to be dancing in the aisles. All things need to be done decently and in order. But true joy should mark our worship and it should be evident to those who are looking on. Now think about this. We're here to worship the one true living God, the very creator of heaven and earth. This one who so loved us that he sent his only son to suffer and die for us. In all this, we're certain. And this truth alone should stir within us a great sense of joy. It should fill us with contentment and satisfaction. We should have joy in our hearts that clearly shines not only through our worship together, but also in how we live our lives. But where does this joy come from? Well, we know because of our sin nature that remains within us, that there's nothing within us that's joyful. We're dead in our sins and transgressions, and deadness isn't very joyful. And so the source of joy must then be something external, something from the outside that is brought internally to us so that we might then express it. externally and outwardly. Well, that source is, of course, the Spirit of the Living God. Here we are, quickened by the power of the Spirit, and we're brought to new life in Christ. And this quickening unto new life brings joy to God. And it brings joy to the angels in heaven. Remember what Jesus said in Luke 15, Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. So every time someone comes to faith in Christ, a sinner repents and puts their faith in Christ, there's a great celebration and an outburst of joy and gladness in the heavenly places. Friends, consider this, that the redemption of sinners brings such joy to God and the angels Well, then shouldn't salvation from sin and death accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ and graciously applied to you by the power of the Holy Spirit? Shouldn't that bring you joy? And that abundantly. Indeed, it should. Through Christ we have new and everlasting life. We've been redeemed by His shed blood. And even the sting of death has been removed from us because Christ Himself endured what we deserved. And so we have great reason to rejoice. And so not only is our worship to be filled with rejoicing, but so too are lives. Again, the Christian life should be a joyful life, and it should be overflowing and contagious. Again, I'm not talking about a superficial, bubbly, emotional happiness. And we see this a lot in some who claim the name of Christ. It's just all this sort of bubbly emotion. But that's here today, and it's going to be gone tomorrow when the circumstances change. Now, we're talking about a joy that's sincerely and deeply present all the time, regardless of the outward circumstances in which you may find yourself. As we know, Paul's addition to his charge that we're to rejoice, not just in worship, not just when things are going well, but we're to rejoice always Consider the implications of this. Rejoice always. Now, right now, I'm sure each of you could think of situations that aren't worthy of rejoicing. And yet here we're charged to rejoice always, constantly, no exceptions as to place, time or condition. How can we possibly accomplish this? It's only because of God's sovereign providence that we can do this. We recognize that God is sovereign over all things, and nothing is excluded from the reach of His power. He's decreed whatsoever comes to pass. And because of this great truth, we have the promise of Romans 8.28, a passage that if you have not already, I would encourage you to put to memory. And Paul says this, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. As we've noted many times before in relation to this verse, all things here means all things. Nothing is excluded. And if this promise is true, and we know it's true because it is God's word, Well, we can rejoice always, even in the midst of tragedy, even in the midst of affliction and persecution and temptation. You see, because we know that our sovereign God is in control and that He is working out all things together for our good and for His glory. Remember the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. Do you think Joseph was happy about what his brothers did to him? No, of course not. I mean, who would be happy about being sold into slavery by your own brothers? Who's going to be happy about being falsely accused? Who's going to be happy about being unjustly imprisoned? And then who's going to be happy about doing something for somebody and say, hey, remember me, and then they forget you. Is that going to make you happy? No, Joseph wasn't happy. Yet because of Joseph's great faith in the sovereign God, he remained joyful and content, knowing that God was in control and that even in these unhappy circumstances, that God was working out all things for his good and the ultimate glory of God, that God had a greater plan for him. even though he didn't know the details of how that plan was going to shake out. And this was especially noticeable, right? This joy and contentment and his faith that Joseph had, it was noticeable in the fact that whether he was a slave or when he was a prisoner, did he just kind of mull around? Was he a miserable person? No. He excelled at serving those that were over him. Because he was seeking, ultimately, to serve his Lord and God. That's a demonstration of his joy and contentment, even in those unhappy circumstances. And yet, the Lord blessed him greatly. because of his dedication to continue seeking to serve the Lord. And so Joseph, he didn't know how it was all gonna shake out. He remembers those dreams that the Lord had given, revealed to him, but he didn't know how it was going to come about. And yet he remained faithful. He remained content. And yes, he was even full of the joy of the Lord. Friends, how much more so then should you be filled with joy knowing that God has a plan for you through the gospel? A plan to redeem you, a plan to refine you, a plan to continue to form and fashion you after the perfect image of His Son, Jesus Christ. That's God's plan for you. And in all the things that you may endure in life, all those unhappy circumstances you may find yourselves in, you can still have joy and contentment knowing that God is working out His plan for you and for God's glory. That through those times of affliction and suffering and persecution and misery, you're going to become more and more like Christ. It was Himself made perfect through His suffering. God's plans will not be thwarted. He will bring them to completion and perfection. And so, beloved of God, knowing that God will work all things, that is, each and everything, for the good of His people, certainly is reason to rejoice always." Well, the second command here in verse 17, Paul says, pray without ceasing. Again, we'll begin by first looking at prayer. What is prayer? Well, simply put, prayer is talking with God. And it's the gift that God's given us that we might communicate with Him. We communicate through prayer, we communicate our praises, our thanksgivings, and of course we communicate the needs of others and ourselves. And let's face it, we're needy. Think about it. What do we need that doesn't come from God, either directly or indirectly? Nothing. God is the dispenser of every good and perfect gift. He showers the rain down on the just and the unjust. And the rain, it replenishes the earth. And in conjunction with the sun, which again, God causes to rise and set even at precise times in its season, the rain and the sun are necessary to cause crops to grow. We get our food from those crops. And so this is just a basic everyday example of our neediness and our dependence on God. And so we're commanded to ask and it will be given. Whatever we need, God will give it. But we need to go through the channel of prayer to get it. Prayer is one of the most neglected gifts we have that God has given. Now, it's easy to get caught up in the cares and the concerns of our lives, right? Never taking the time, even a brief period of time, for concerted, heartfelt times of prayer to God. Now we can think of our lives and, well, yeah, sure, it may be easier to go to God in prayer when we are in a crisis, right? When we are needing immediate help. But sometimes, even then, even when we have this great need, even when we're kind of in a crisis, how often do we just run around panicking, fretting about what we should do? Never stopping to take the time to ask the one who can truly provide for us what it is that we need. And so we ought to be diligent in prayer. But prayer is much more than just asking for things. Prayer is also fellowship with God. And see, when we pray, we talk to God as we talk to a dear friend or as a loving father. And so it's relational. And just as rejoicing and joy come from Christ's atoning work, so too does the ability to pray. In our sin natures, See, we can't stand in the presence of a holy God. And so we're in need of a mediator. We're in need of someone to go in between us to stand in that gap in order to bring us to God. And Jesus Christ is that only mediator between God and man. It's exactly why we always pray in Jesus' name, because He is the only mediator to mediate our prayers. We're not gonna pray to Mary or to the saints. They're dead. They're in the grave, waiting the resurrection. We pray through Christ, our mediator, directly to God, the Father. And because of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, by faith, We then become clothed in His righteous robes and are thus enabled to stand in God's presence and have intimate fellowship with Him and the Father through prayer. Because of what Christ accomplished for us, we can come boldly to the throne of grace, laying before the God of heaven and earth all of our cares, our concerns, and our petitions. And not only are we assured that he's going to hear our prayers, we also know that he will answer them according to his most perfect and holy will. Why? You see, because we're in a relationship with him through Jesus Christ, that in Christ we are God's beloved children. And as a loving father, he listens to his children. when they call upon Him and ask Him for things. And so we see here then that prayer easily goes hand in hand with rejoicing. Prayer is our way out of sorrow and grief. Prayer brings us true joy and leads us to rejoice. Now, how does this occur? Well, if prayer brings us into the fellowship and presence of God, well then we can't help but rejoice. Consider what David says in Psalm 16, verse 11. In your presence is fullness of joy. See, prayer is the vehicle which brings us into that glorious presence. Even now in this life, we enter into God's heavenly throne room when we pray to God through Jesus Christ. We come into His presence with these hearts filled with joy because of all that He has given to us and all that He has promised us. And such prayer and joy-filled fellowship, Paul says here, should be done without ceasing. Prayer without ceasing isn't referring to how often we pray. That is, it isn't saying that we should pray often or pray a lot, but rather it means constantly, without ceasing or without end. Now, does this mean that we're to only pray and do nothing else? And so, for example, are you going to call up your boss and say, look, boss, I can't come in today or actually can't come in tomorrow or next week or ever because the Bible says that I have to pray all time and I can't work and pray at the same time. Is that what Paul is saying here? No, of course not. Because again, if we think of the context of prayer, as being the vehicle which leads us into the presence of God, well then Paul is here charging the Thessalonians and charging us to always be in the presence of God. Always talking to God. Always in close, intimate fellowship with Him. Praying without ceasing is more than, it means that it's more than an, it's more an attitude. It's an attitude and a reality of how we live than just being a religious practice or ritual. It's not that we just pray as, okay, well my religion says I have to pray. No. Prayer does something. It brings us into the presence of God. It brings us into fellowship with Him. Into His joyful presence. And so that's an attitude of how we approach life, to always, we should always want to be in the presence of God, whether we're here in worship or we're out doing our job or walking on the street, whatever it is we're doing. Now, how is this done? Well, prayer expresses our dependence on God for everything. Our dependence on Him, whether in adversity or prosperity. It involves living a life that's evidence itself as being in fellowship with God. Ceaseless prayer isn't hindered by any personal activity because our primary fellowship and relationship should always be the Lord God. We're charged in the first commandment, anything else is idolatry. We seek the Lord first and foremost. Anything else is idolatry. And so when Paul commands here, pray without ceasing, it's very similar to what Jesus says in John 15, when he says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you. Praying without ceasing is abiding constantly in Christ and in his word and in the presence of the father. Praying without ceasing isn't only talking to God, But it's walking with Him. It's finding your home, your rest, your refuge, and your strength in Him alone. And so we show our peace with God in worship and in our lives when we pray without ceasing. We are walking in constant fellowship with our God and Savior. Thirdly, Paul charges in verse 18, In everything, give thanks. Now, giving thanks flows really naturally from rejoicing in prayer. What's rejoicing in prayer without thanksgiving? You see, God's given us this unshakable joy because of his sovereign providence and his power. He's given us the assurance that all things work together for our good and his glory. He's given all that we need beyond what we could possibly think or ask. He's given us food, clothing, shelter, family, friends, and fellowship with Him and with one another. And of course, He's given us salvation and the hope of eternal glory. He's given us His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself and left His high, exalted position in heaven and came in the form of a bondservant He did this so that He might then identify with His people, that He might identify with us in our suffering. Because of the curse of sin, He came to take our place and to suffer the wrath of God, making payment for our sins with His own precious blood. enabling those who believe on him to now stand boldly in the presence of a holy God. But that isn't all. Remember, Jesus also rose again from the dead three days later, thus securing for his people the final victory over sin and death once and for all, and giving us the hope that one day all the dead in Christ will rise again, their bodies reunited with their souls to stand in His glorious presence forever and ever where there's fullness of joy. Beloved of God, how can we not give thanks in response to all these things? Especially when we remember that God has done all this. even when we were his enemies and undeserving of his kindness. Indeed, we are to be thankful in everything. Now, what's included in everything? That means in good times and in bad, in riches and in poverty, prosperity and affliction, abundance and economic crisis, health and disease, and birth and death, and satisfaction and hunger, in times of peace, in times of war, in times of safety and amidst persecution, in every possible situation and circumstance that we find ourselves in, we're commanded to give thanks to God. Now again, it's obvious that we can do this in good times. But how on earth do we give thanks to God even in bad and difficult times? Again, because we recognize that God's sovereign providence is at work for your good in all things, even in those times of trouble. And this brings certain and sure joy because we know that this too shall pass. And that the good that God has in store will ultimately come. And it may come in this life, or ultimately may come in the next life. But it will come. Because God is faithful. Also, God provides you with what you need. And He teaches you through prayer to depend on Him alone. The one who created the heavens and the earth and who can do all things is the one who watches over you, who cares for you, who never fails you, who never forsakes you, and who always answers your prayers. In all this, You can give thanks for His perfect plan of redemption and the mercy and grace that He's showered upon you. Again, especially you see in Romans 5, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. And if you're reconciled and have peace with God, and God is on your side, well then you have absolutely nothing to fear. And so you ought to demonstrate that peace in your worship and in your lives by rejoicing always, praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks. Finally, the Apostle Paul concludes these charges. by reminding us, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. This is the duty that He requires. This is what He desires of us. This then is what we ought to offer up to Him. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks for His grace, for His mercy, for His love, for His goodness and His kindness toward us." Again, it's important that we remember that we aren't called to just receive these things and keep these benefits to ourselves. Our joy should be clearly identifiable. Our lifestyle of praying without ceasing, which demonstrates our walking in fellowship with God, should be evident to all. And our thanksgiving for salvation in Christ Jesus should surely spur us on to spread the gospel of peace wherever He places us, with whomever He places in our hearts, and in whatever situation He sets before us. Friends, this is God's will for your life. But note, though, that Paul says this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. And this, dear friends, is really the key to it all. You must be in Christ Jesus to receive these gifts and benefits. And if you aren't in Christ Jesus, well then the gospel of Jesus Christ calls you even now to repent and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. To be redeemed from the curse of sin and death. Do this. and to you will be granted, regardless of your circumstances, continual joy, fellowship with God, and an undying attitude of gratitude and thankfulness, both now and in this life, and forevermore, all to the praise of His glorious name. Let's pray. O gracious God in heaven, we do rejoice and give thanks for your reminder to us to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. And there is so much that you have already done for us that should stir within us great joy, that reveals to us how dependent we truly are upon you. that should motivate us to love you and to serve you with great gratitude for all that you have done for us in Christ Jesus. Father, this is your revealed will for each and every one of us here. And we pray that you would impress these truths upon each and every one of our hearts, that you would truly draw us all closer to yourself. that we might do as you have commanded us here, and that we would be great witnesses to those around us. All to the praise of your glorious name. Father, we pray for your blessing in these things. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.