Church for giving me this invitation. I invite you to turn with me in the Word of God to our scripture reading this evening. First Thessalonians 5 verses 16 through 18. First Thessalonians in chapter 5 verses 16 through 18. In this closing section of the letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul has been giving a series of practical instructions for how to live the Christian life. In the verses immediately leading up to this, he was giving some instructions regarding how Christians are to relate to one another, both in the church and in the world. And you could sum it up as he was teaching, in essence, that Christians are to love their neighbors as themselves. In this section that we will read tonight, verses 16 through 18, Paul is going to shift his focus away from the horizontal relationships that we have with one another and lift them vertically to the relationship that we have with God. Before we read these verses, let's go to him once more in prayer and ask his blessing. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. And we ask that you would draw near to us by your spirit right now. And we pray that you would enable the words of my mouth to be pleasing in your sight and The meditations of all of our hearts to be pleasing in your sight. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen Let's hear now God's Word first Thessalonians 5 16 Rejoice always Pray without ceasing Give thanks in all circumstances But this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you And this ends the reading of the Word of God. May He bless it. Well, the Bible tells us that we're to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. But in order for us to love God from the heart, we need to have a heart that is in tune with God. I've been a musician most of my life, and there's been A number of occasions during time I was playing with some other folks when I realized that I was playing the correct melody, but it was in the wrong key. And if you're a musician, you'll know that when everyone plays a B and you hit a B flat, it's going to be real bad. Being in tune is critical when it comes to playing music. And in the same way, if our hearts are not in tune with the heart of God, if we're not in tune with His will and His purposes, then our lives can get real bad. A heart in tune with God is joyful, prayerful, and thankful. And that's what Paul is trying to show us tonight. A heart in tune with God is joyful, prayerful, and thankful. And the amazing power of God's word to tune our hearts with his is demonstrated well in the book, The Hiding Place, by Corrie Ten Boom. Betsy and Corrie Ten Boom were two sisters from Holland who were captured by the Nazis for protecting Jews. And they were kept in Ravensbruck Women's Extermination Camp. The Germans confiscated any Bibles, but these two sisters were able to smuggle one in past the guards. And they had secret Bible studies, and they led many of their fellow inmates to faith in Christ during their time there. And they were able to see an amazing thing, that the Word of God could transform those hearts in that place that were darkened with fear and misery into hearts in tune with God, hearts that were joyful, thankful, and prayerful. And if the Word of God has the power to do that in a concentration camp, then surely it has the power to do it in our own hearts here and now. And so let's look together in verse 16. Paul gives us the command to rejoice always. This is a command for Christians living in every age. And notice the emphasis. He says rejoice always. Always be rejoicing. Paul doesn't leave us any wiggle room here. He doesn't say, rejoice when things are going well, rejoice when God is blessing your life, rejoice when things are just okay. No, he says rejoice always, whether in times of blessing or in times of suffering. This would have been a challenge for the believers in Thessalonica. As you remember, they were experiencing persecution for their faith of a sort and of a type that we don't know anything about. And yet Paul is telling them to rejoice, always. And this is something that Paul sought to practice what he preached. In Colossians 1, he says that he rejoices in his sufferings for the sake of the church. And then in 2 Corinthians 6, he describes these sufferings that he was rejoicing in. He says, by great endurance in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, we are treated as sorrowful yet always rejoicing." Of course, Paul was only following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, who endured the cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before him. The heart in tune with God rejoices always. Well, let's consider together what this joy, a godly joy, looks like as we look at first the nature of godly joy, and secondly, we'll consider the source of godly joy. There's a great difference between worldly joy and godly joy. Anyone of your unbelieving neighbors down the street is able to experience a great deal of worldly joy. As long as things are going the way that they want them to at work, if they have a full bank account, if they're enjoying good health, if their relationships with their friends are going well, if the people that they love are healthy, and if they're able to do some of the things they want to do, they're likely to be joyful. But see some of those things be taken away and the joy goes with it. And so it is for anyone who is basing their joy on circumstances because that is what worldly joy is all about. Outward circumstances and the way that I feel about them. And anyone who lives their life that way will be on a roller coaster up and down. There's never any stability because the world and its desires are passing away. Not so with godly joy, which is an inward rejoicing in who God is and what God has done. Godly joy is about delighting yourself in the Lord, in all of His blessed attributes, in who He is, and in His Son, and in the blessed Holy Spirit. It is delighting yourself in Him that we find godly joy. Now rejoicing always doesn't mean that you're always happy, happy. Jesus was a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief. And sometimes that's our experience too, isn't it? And some of God's people struggle with depression and anxiety and other mental conditions. Now, in some circumstances, the reality is that there is some sin perhaps they have not repented of and it is weighing their soul down and they need to confess that sin and repent of it and be forgiven and be healed. But that is not always why. We are frail, fallen creatures. And sometimes life's hard. Our bodies don't always work right. And sometimes our hearts are burdened with life. But the difference is, is that for those who have this godly joy, who are able to rejoice always, that behind and above and beyond any of that sorrow or that depression, that anxiety that they're experiencing, they know they have delight in the Lord. They trust Him, they know He is there, and they trust that all things will work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. They have an abiding delight and joy that cannot be snuffed out. The fire of delight in Jesus Christ is always burning in their hearts. Sometimes it may be diminished to embers, but the Holy Spirit will see to it that it is never put out. And that is the nature of godly joy. The source of godly joy now is in Christ himself. Christians are able to rejoice always only because we are in union with Christ. And the Holy Spirit comes, and by His work in our hearts, He regenerates us, and He makes us one with Christ. We share our heart, our soul with Christ in some mysterious way. We are one with Him. And Christ has the most exceedingly, perfectly joyful heart that there could possibly be. We see the heart of Christ in Psalm 19, where the psalmist says to the Lord, You make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy and pleasures are at your right hand forevermore. And then the writer to the Hebrews chapter 1 verse 9 says this of Christ. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions. In other words, there's never been anyone as exceedingly, perfectly, delightfully joyful as the Lord Jesus Christ. His heart is overflowing with joy. Not only do we see this in the Word, the created world also testifies to the joy of God. Listen to what Jonathan Edwards says. When we are delighted with flowery meadows and gentle breezes of wind, we may consider that we only see the emanations of the sweet benevolence of Jesus Christ. When we behold the fragrant rose and lily, We see His love and purity. When we see the green fields and the trees and we hear the singing of birds, we may remember we only see the emanations of His infinite joy and kindness. The crystal rivers and the murmuring brooks have the footsteps of His sweet grace and kindness and bounty. In the beautiful light with which the world is filled on a clear day, is but a lively shadow of His spotless purity and happiness and His delight in communicating Himself to us. The heart that is in tune with this God is a joyful heart. And so that makes us ask ourselves, do I have a joyful heart? Do you have a joyful heart? One that rejoices always Well, I hope that you're like me and can see how poorly I meet that requirement. It sounds impossible. Rejoice always. But we must remember that what is impossible with man is possible with God. And what a comfort it is to know that there is this fullness of joy that is stored up in Jesus Christ, available to the believer by faith in Him. But how do we access that fullness of joy? How does it get communicated to us? And it begs the question. And in fact, it leads quite well into verse 17. To pray without ceasing. For it is only as we come to enjoy this close fellowship and communion and relationship with God through prayer that the music of our hearts will be in tune with His. So let's look now in verse 17. We've seen that a heart in tune with God is a joyful heart. And now we'll see that it's a heart in tune with God is a prayerful heart. Paul says in verse 17 that Christians must pray without ceasing. That means never stop praying. Well, what does he mean by prayer? The children's catechism puts it very well. Prayer is asking God to give us what he has promised in his word. We could also say that prayer is when we talk to God, when we speak to him about what's on our mind. We don't have to do it with our words, it can be done in our heart. Prayer is about relationship with God. It's about communing with Him and delighting in Him. But what does Paul mean by telling us to pray without ceasing? Well, Paul can't possibly mean that Christians are literally to do nothing else but kneel down and pray all throughout the day out loud. Nor can he mean that we are constantly to be mentally praying and praying and praying and praying because then we wouldn't be able to even hear each other or pay attention to anything. Matthew Henry puts it well. The meaning is not that men should do nothing but pray, but that nothing else we do should hinder prayer in its proper season. In other words, what I believe Paul is getting at and what Henry is saying is that prayer should be such a high priority in our lives is that we actually structure our lives around prayer. Instead of what I fear and what I know I have so often done is what I structure my life and then I try to squeeze prayer in somewhere when it's convenient for me. Isn't it true it so often gets elbowed out? But I have now three practical ways to suggest for each of us to move towards praying without ceasing. The first is plan to pray. Plan to pray. Each one of us should have a set time that we look at our schedule and we decide, this is the time, Lord, I believe I can devote to you and this is what I'm going to set it apart. And then we treat that time just as importantly as we would a lunch meeting with a friend or with a colleague. If you had a lunch meeting at 12 o'clock with somebody you were trying to make a sale with, I'm pretty sure you would be there at 12. Let us treat our prayers with God with the same importance with even more. Even more, for He is the Lord and He gives us this access. What a privilege! It's not a chore. And we see Jesus throughout His ministry rising early to pray, staying up late, praying all night, stopping in the middle of everything He was doing to pray. Let us seek to follow Him in that way. The second practical way, pray throughout the day. When we go through our daily lives, Don't forget that prayer is always available to us. Have you ever left the home? Maybe early in the morning you were on your way out the door and you see that umbrella laying there or sitting there right beside the front door and you think, well, maybe I should grab that. No, no, I'll be all right. Or as is so often the case with me, I leave it places. I don't know where our umbrella is right now. But we go out into the world and then all of a sudden we get caught in one of these Mississippi gully washers and we're in the middle of downtown and we have our nice clothes on and we're like, I wish I had that umbrella. We don't have it and it's too far out of reach to do us any good. Well, let's not treat prayer that way. The good news about prayer is that you can't leave it at home. It's always with you. You can speak to the Lord at any moment. And so what does that look like? When I think of something to be thankful for, how about I just tell God thank you in that moment before I forget? When I'm confused or uncertain about what to do, how about the first thing I do is ask God to give me wisdom instead of the third or fourth or fifth thing I do? When I'm facing temptation, I flee to Christ. I don't try to do it on my own. I go to Him right off the bat. Pray throughout the day. throughout the day because there's nothing in this life that wouldn't be helped and blessed by prayer. And the third, persevere in prayer. We ought to be like that persistent widow. You remember the one in Jesus' parable? She went to the crooked judge, a man who was unscrupulous. He cared nothing about the truth or righteousness, but she came back to him again and again And again, until finally he said, I'll just give her what I want to get her out of my face. And Jesus used that example to say, you should be just as persistent in your prayers. So we are called to persevere in our prayers. Dr. Doug Kelly, I'm sure some of you know him, tells the story of an elderly woman that he knew in the Scottish Highlands. He went to have lunch with her or something one day, and this woman was very excited. She'd received a letter from a friend. Her friend had written to say that she had professed faith in Jesus Christ. She had become a believer. But what this woman's friend didn't know, perhaps, was that Dr. Kelly's friend had made a commitment. See, she was a bridesmaid in this woman's wedding 53 years ago. 53 years before. And she said, I am going to pray every day for the salvation of my friend. And 53 years later, she had believed. Are there prayers you are praying and are tempted to give up on? I know the ones in my life. And there's been times I've just said, I guess this just isn't going to happen. Don't give up. 53 years, and the Lord answered. And maybe the same will be true for the prayers we're praying. So we strive to pray without ceasing by planning to pray, praying throughout the day, and persevering in prayer. So we've seen that a heart in tune with God is joyful and prayerful, And now we'll see that it is thankful. Look in verse 18. Paul says that Christians are called to give thanks in all circumstances. Now, giving thanks for blessing, we say, Amen, Paul. Yes, we are with you on that. Praise the Lord when things go well. But giving thanks for suffering? Yes, that is what Paul is calling us to do. Now, this does not mean that we are ever expected to give thanks for sin or for evil in itself, but rather the Christian, the heart in tune with God is to be so filled with the trust in Him, trusting in God that we can give thanks to Him that we know that He is going to work good through this situation, whatever it is, and that He is going to use this situation to bring about good in His kingdom and blessing in the end. Paul says to give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. And we certainly find Jesus modeling this in his life. You remember the night that he was betrayed, when he took that bread and broke it, having giving thanks. And I wonder how it was to give thanks for something He knew what that bread represented, His body broken for us. He knew the words of Isaiah very well that He was soon to be so marred that He would be beyond human semblance. He was going to be so torn apart by the experience He had that you wouldn't even be able to tell He was a man. And yet we see Him giving thanks to God. And in the same way, He took the cup. He knew that the wine represented His own blood, shed for sinners, poured out into the dust, and He gave thanks. He was able to do so because His heart is perfectly in tune with the Father. And He knows that the Father does all things well. And He knew also that the suffering He was about to endure would bring a blessing for many. As Isaiah says, But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him the chastisement was laid that brought us peace. By his wounds we are healed. And out of the anguish of his soul he sees and is satisfied. Friends, do you have a thankful heart? I remember a sermon I heard years ago. And this preacher just kept asking us over and over again, do you have a heart that is humbly grateful or grumbly hateful? And it was a simple little line, but he said it over and over again, and I've never been able to get it out of my mind because it convicted me. So I know how often my heart is grumbly. and hateful. And isn't it true that when suffering or difficulty comes, that we often begin to grumble against God, almost like second nature, like it's born within us. And then we become hateful of those around us. Yes, our hearts can be so grumbly and hateful. And maybe there's something that you're facing in your life right now. And that you hear these words that Paul says, give thanks in all circumstances, and you're saying, I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if even God can make me thankful for this, whatever this is. We all need to be reminded that sometimes the Lord appoints suffering to bring blessing. You remember I told you about Corey and Betsy Ten Boom at the beginning of this message. So they were taken by the Nazis to Ravensbruck. And the sisters were placed in this large dormitory-style room. It was designed to hold 400 people. They had crammed 1,400. They had eight toilets to share, all of which were backed up with sewage. Their beds were wooden platforms that were stacked on top of each other. They were covered with rancid straw that was crawling with lice and fleas. And so, of course, when Corrie saw this place, she began to despair. How can I live in this place? And her sister Betsy looked at her and reminded her of what they had read in the Bible that morning. Do you know what it was? 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. Give thanks in all circumstances. And so Betsy said, Cory, we need to give thanks to God for this place. And so they began to give thanks to him for all of these things that were just so awful. But then when Betsy said, we're going to give thanks now for the fleas, Cory. And Cory said, no, there's no way even God can make me thankful for a flea. But that's what they did. They gave thanks to God for fleas. Now, Cory didn't really mean it at first. I think she admits that in the book. She wasn't thankful for those insects, but she was trying. But then something amazing happened a few weeks later. They needed a German supervisor to come into the room and check on something they were doing for the work. And so Betsy had asked the supervisor to come in and the supervisor said, oh, no, no, no. I'm not coming in there. In fact, none of the guards will ever come in there because of the fleas. You see, the reality is they have been able to give Bible studies unhindered for weeks, during which time who knows how many of those women came to faith in Christ because the fleas kept the guards out. And I wonder how many women are in heaven right now because God appointed that suffering and used those sisters who gave thanks in all circumstances. So the heart in tune with God is joyful, prayerful, and thankful. But as with any instrument, we have to work to keep it in tune. We have to stay on top of it. Maybe your heart has been out of tune with God for a while now. And I want you to hear what the Word says. It doesn't have to be that way. The Father has infinite stores love and mercy for you. And if you've been struggling to have joy, I ask you when is the last time that you really gazed upon Christ and you beheld his beauty, even whether in the word or on a beautiful day, and you just delighted in him and in his infinite beauty and glory. When we gaze upon Christ, we are transformed into his joyful image from one degree of glory to the next. If you're struggling with prayer, Remember, don't act like it's an umbrella that you leave behind. It is always available to you, and you make use of it. And if you're struggling with having a thankful heart, let us remember the lesson we've learned tonight, that through our relationship with Christ and through grace, we too can give thanks in any circumstance. The heart in tune with God is joyful, prayerful, and thankful. Let us all ask him to give us a heart like that. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you so much for this word. Father, we confess we don't measure up. We pray that you would forgive us for when we fail and that you would cause each of us here to be transformed from one degree of glory closer into the next, into the image of your son. Fill us with joy.