16 ¶ Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19
Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise
not prophesyings. 21 Prove all things;
hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain
from all appearance of evil.
The Christians in Thessalonica are told to rejoice.
There is a lot to rejoice about in this letter to them, isn’t there? This has
come up in other contexts for us to consider.
2Corinthians 6:
9
As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as
chastened, and not killed; 10 As
sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing,
and yet possessing all things.
Philippians
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again
I say, Rejoice.
Jesus said in Matthew
5: 11
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is
your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you.
Jesus, again, in Luke
10:20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice
not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your
names are written in heaven.
Back to Paul in Romans
12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in
tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
If you believe in the promises offered in this letter
for Christians there is no reason why in whatever circumstance you find
yourself that you should not rejoice in the hope you have.
Praying, talking directly to God, is vital to the
exercise of faith. Paul exhorts the Christian to pray always and constantly to
be in a prayerful mind to God.
Romans
12:12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in
tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Ephesians
6:18 Praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and
supplication for all saints;
Colossians 4:2
¶ Continue in prayer, and watch in the
same with thanksgiving;
In the Old Testament it was promised;
Isaiah
26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Being thankful is the basis of all Christian worship.
Being ungrateful is the root cause of many sins.
Ephesians
5:20 Giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Philippians
4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God.
Colossians
3:17 And whatsoever ye do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father
by him.
When we are thankful we are in God’s will. When we
are ungrateful and unthankful we are estranged from God’s blessings.
We are warned not to quench the Holy Spirit. Quench
carries with it the idea of throwing water on a fire. In the following verse we
see the Bible define “quench,” as “drown.”
Song of Solomon 8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, neither can
the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for
love, it would utterly be contemned.
Remember before the Holy Spirit of God came to live
inside of man, in the days where the Law of Moses ruled the Hebrew’s life.
Psalm
66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear me:
Isa 63:10 But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit:
therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
But now, under the dispensation of the church, we
should still remember the principle that our willful sin diminishes our
relationship with Christ and inhibits the leading of the Holy Spirit. If you
are engaged in a sin now that is consuming you without your repentance, have
unconfessed sin in your life, will not speak to God in sincere and genuine
prayer, or permit God to speak to your spiritual heart through His Book then
you are throwing water on the fire that is that Spirit inside of the Christian.
The same can be said if you ignore meeting with other believers regularly in
worship and prayer and service (just remember, in the context of church
discipline, Matthew 18: 20 For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them.)
We must always remember to whom we belong and to not
deliberately or carelessly do things that prevent the blessings that He wishes
to give to us. We are sealed and cannot lose our salvation but how ungrateful
it is to ignore God’s pleadings through the Spirit.
Christian men and women will live together with no
intention of sealing a commitment for life in front of their church and family.
They will commit adultery in their hearts, produce children out of wedlock
having united physically with sometime to whom they have not committed their
lives. They’ll be careless with money, flirt with sin, and see just how close
they can get to the edge without embarrassing themselves, and live in such a
way as if they thought God didn’t even exist until they need something. These
are not lifestyles and attitudes that bring someone closer to God on favorable
terms, but usually result in a cry for mercy and help when everything falls
apart, if that person is truly saved.
Ephesians
4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of
God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Prophesying is preaching. It is what prophets did in
the Old Testament, either telling what was going to happen or expressing what
God wanted.
Nehemiah
6:7 And thou hast also appointed
prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem….
Christians are to prophesy although we have a
completed Bible and no call to predict something other than what is already
predicted. We are to tell forth what God has laid on our hearts through His
word in His Book.
Romans
12:6 Having then gifts differing
according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith;
We should not be contemptuous of preaching. Many
Christians go against this admonition of Paul. They are too thin skinned to be
preached at and can’t handle any kind of rebuke because they are too proud. I
know Christians who will not sit under hard preaching because it contradicts
the wonderful opinion they have of themselves. It wouldn’t hurt any of you to
have some skin preached off your back to keep you from wallowing in your wicked
sins.
One difference between preaching and the giving of
advice is that the preacher need not have “arrived,” or have done it right
himself. He is preaching from God’s word and it is God’s opinion he is supposed
to manifest so he is likely just as much preaching at himself as he is you.
Don’t be so proud that you can’t be humbled.
On that note, in verse 21, we are to “prove” or test
or compare all things up against the words of God in His Bible. Notice the
context, right after mention of prophesying.
Be like the Bereans.
Acts 17:10
¶ And the brethren immediately sent away
Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue
of the Jews. 11 These were more noble
than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness
of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
We are to prove or test and compare against the
Scriptures all things we are told and then to hold fast to those things which
are good. If a preacher told you to do something that was literally and clearly
against God’s word you can only prove it by going to the Scriptures. If you
wanted to do something but wanted to know if it was something God would bless
you can only know that by going to the Scriptures.
Then Paul says to abstain from all appearance of evil.
Let’s look at that word, “evil,” for a moment.
Evil is not just sinful iniquity. Evil is often
maliciousness, malice, an intent to do harm, and calamity and catastrophe.
God says;
Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make
peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
You aren’t accusing God of creating sin, are you?
Jesus said,
Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof.
You don’t think Jesus is saying, “well, you’ve had
enough sin for one day,” do you?
Paul said,
1Timothy
6:10 For the love of money is the root
of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith,
and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Do you honestly believe that your coveting someone
else’s wife or husband is based on your love of money?
Moses reported,
Genesis 37:20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and
cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and
we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Was this imagined evil beast intent on violence or some
sin? Are animals capable of sin? Of course not.
Finally, Jonah reported,
Jonah 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with
sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his
evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.
Would it not make more sense to say that the beasts
were to be turned from violence rather than simply equating evil with sin? It
is important to look at the context for the meaning of words. And yes, evil can
also be sin.
But, my point is that there are two things present
here. We should abstain from all appearance of sin, yes. A pastor should never
counsel a woman alone, as an example. But, we are to abstain from all
appearance of malice, as well. We are to give no one the idea that we are bent
on harm.
Romans 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you,
live peaceably with all men.
Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and
clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
In other words, don’t do anything to anyone that could
be construed as meaning to get revenge or to do them harm. In the context of
Paul’s writing here we are talking about the gossips, disputes, assumptions made,
and hostility that can occur within a church body. Don’t even let someone think
you hold anything against them. Abstain from all appearance of either sin or
malice.
No comments:
Post a Comment