1 Thessalonians (5.16-22)
We’ve found ourselves in another summer of sport as the Olympic and Paralympic games take centre stage and we marvel at the attitude and ability of top-tier athletes. I do however like the suggestion of a tweak to the format of the games to spice things up: in each event simply include one average participant to also compete. Pull a name from a hat and someone from the crowd emerges to line up among the world’s best: “And now on the high dive we welcome 39-year-old Luke Knight from Fort Langley, Canada…fingers crossed.” I don’t imagine I’d medal. No matter how positive my attitude, the ability required would be sorely lacking.
As we come to toward the end 1 Thessalonians, we mentioned last week that Paul is taking his time in wrapping up the letter. He cares deeply about his friends and wants them to hear some final words on how to be true sisters and brothers in Jesus. Last week we heard Paul on what we could call community-life essentials. The sisters and brothers were to: live at peace with each other; be constructive and contribute; encourage each other when we’re disheartened; help one another when weak; have long-suffering patience with one another; they won’t keep or level scores; and they’ll do good to any and all around them.
Next, Paul’s instruction turns to what we could call gathered-life essentials. In other words, what these early Christians should be practicing as a worshiping community. A little like an athlete at the games, there’s an emphasis both attitude and activity in Paul’s instruction. You need both the right attitude on the high dive, as well as some technical know-how to accomplish a high dive. So in this section of his concluding remarks Paul moves from the who and how of life together and into some of the what.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
Our passage today can be divided in two for a closer look. The first half concerns worship toward God when the community gathers, with the second half ensuring the building up of the community when it’s gathered. Let’s start with the first half.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
The first thing to note is that Paul does not pull a bunch of ideas out of thin air when it comes to the activity of a Christian gathering. This is not Paul’s church, but his Lord’s church. Paul was deeply rooted and schooled in the Jewish traditions of worship and so it’s only natural that the Psalms would have shaped his expectations and expressions. Paul’s instruction to rejoice, ask, and give thanks, then, is unsurprising given what find in the book of Psalms. We should remember that we ourselves are caught up in this same long tradition too. It’s Scripture itself we take our notes from when thinking about what worshipping together might look like. We’re not holding a concert, or a Ted Talk or aiming for entertainment value. When the people of God gather, what do they practice?
First we hear, “rejoice always”. Right away most of us hearing that have questions. There are likely many days we don’t feel like rejoicing, probably because our circumstances look less than sunny. And there are days we find it easy to rejoice, again based on how the chips have fallen. But in a way, both those approaches miss the target of Paul’s instruction. The rejoicing Paul means is drawn from a focus on the foundational truths we cling to as Christians: that there is hope, life, salvation, forgiveness, comfort in the presence of God through Jesus. As one expert puts it, the focus here is not so much on the experience (or lack of experience), but the expression of joy rooted in the truth of the gospel. Rejoicing is about focusing on what we trust in Jesus, and expressing that. And Paul says this is to be done “always”, meaning, rejoicing isn’t a circumstantial activity, or entirely dependent on mood. We know full well that the community in Thessalonica were having a tough go, facing severe opposition, with no Paul present to help bring instruction or encouragement, and some dire questions emerging within the community. We know this community was in some way grieving as some among them had died. Paul himself is disappointed he can’t visit since being chased out of town. No matter, Paul says, rejoice always because the primary posture of a Christian community is of joy and hope, because the message of Jesus is good news not bad. This doesn’t squeeze out sorrow or expressions of grief (we see plenty in the Psalms) but simply puts those experiences in context of the big picture and the whole story. If we trust Jesus at his word and the hope of gospel, we take the posture of a rejoicing community when gathered. That might be quiet or loud, exuberant or muted, on our knees or hands raised. We shouldn’t fret about the forms rejoicing takes as they vary from culture to culture, community to community, maybe even season to season. But that we rejoice and why we rejoice is Paul’s focus.
Hot on the heels of rejoicing always Paul adds, “pray continually”. By this he means depend on God and ask God for what’s needed. Space should be made to ask God together for what we need, because as just noted it would be silly to pretend that we don’t have needs or concerns. Rejoicing in the truths about Jesus, vocalizing those together, then turning together to a God who cares and supplies, is a natural movement. How much rejoicing should happen? Lots! How much asking should happen? Plenty! We don’t expect to run out of motivation to rejoice in the Lord, nor do we expect to run out of reasons to ask for help. Right away we can see the frame taking shape, where we are both told to remember and rejoice in the overarching truth and love of God irrespective of circumstance, and at the same time space is made for our needs poured out to a God who cares. You could even say that the rejoicing, already good in itself to do, also sets the stage for asking. We only ask of God because we trust his good character we’ve recalled in our rejoicing in him. Rejoice and ask.
Finally, Paul adds, “give thanks in all circumstances”. This third posture is not far off the first, but does bring a different colour to the picture. You could say that Paul is telling these early Christians to rejoice in God and to give thanks to God. That is a slight shift but an important one. Giving thanks to God sets within us a reminder that all life is a gift, and as created beings the activity of gratitude is only right. Notice again, however, that Paul is again not prescribing circumstantial thanks. Scholars hasten to point out exactly what is written. We’re not expected to be thankful for all circumstances, but thankful in all circumstances. Paul is not subtly gaslighting his friends into thinking that everything which happens to them is somehow good for them, really, and that they should be thankful to God about it. What kind of a loving friend would do that, especially one well acquainted with their suffering? The instruction is to be thankful in all circumstances, again, looking through challenges, into the eyes of a God who is faithful and trustworthy to bring them through.
With these kinds of postures, you can see why the early Christians became a force to be reconned with. As Rikk has pointed out for us, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and the future hope of eternity, even if you killed them, they still won. And, even if you make life miserable for them, they would still rejoice and give thanks, because nothing could supersede the hope they carried, hearts fixed on in Jesus.
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. We can also notice a theme of consistency or of never stopping in all three. So these are not things Paul prescribes occasionally, but constantly, in the rhythm of being a believing and worshiping community. And this is where we shouldn’t miss the forest for the trees. So much of Christian life today has become about what we do alone or in private as followers. But in these first Christian communities the emphasis was first communal. I think it probably is very hard to always rejoice, always pray and ask, always give thanks. But I wonder how much we apply those practices in our thinking to the more solitary expressions of Christian life. It’s hard to follow these instructions alone, probably impossible! But Christian life is not a kind of pious solidary confinement. This stuff is done together, in spaces like this, in homes together. And I don’t know about you, but there are days I turn up and I very much need to borrow from others what I don’t have in the tank. So one of the glaring applications we might make about these few words is the presumption here that the believers are gathering consistently, with strength in numbers.
It bears mentioning that if we’re Christian, wanting to follow Jesus, and we expect to do that with depth and joy and to see transformation, we’re going to need to turn up with and for one another. And consider also that the very idea of turning up is a decidedly sacrificial act of love. Being together is really important for my faith, but as we’re learning in this letter, our focus really should be on loving our sisters and brothers. I need to turn up, to rejoice, to ask, to give thanks, because of what my sister or brother might need from me. In other words, we love one another when we turn up. Think about that as you walk into church next time. Every person moving together into a space like this, with every step and seat taken – that’s an expression of love. Just like in parenting or a marriage or a good friendship – the first step in love is to turn up. So we shouldn’t diminish the importance of our contribution to the worshiping life of the community. It’s one of the reasons I love this church, because we can hear and see one another praying and singing, even if we’re off key or the prayers are a bit scruffy.
All of this is punctuated, of course with Paul saying “this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”, another moment in this letter which reminds us that these folks don’t only have strength belonging in a community, but ultimately they are secure “in Jesus”. Being “in Jesus” means a freedom to rejoice, to ask, and give thanks. It’s all under and within him.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.
Scholars have noted that Paul’s discussion on the activity of the Holy Spirit seems to come out of nowhere in the letter. But this might be to miss the fact that all the churches Paul planted appear to be charismatic, meaning, the activity and expression of the Holy Spirit is obvious. We can also note that toward the beginning of the letter Paul reminds them that “our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction” (1.5). So it’s not surprising that here in 1 Thessalonians, when talking about what should and shouldn’t be going on in their time together, we also get instruction about how to wisely handle expressions of the Holy Spirit. And it looks like some adjustment is needed in Thessalonica. Adjustment is the key word, because there is very clearly no intention from Paul here to stop or douse the Spirit’s activity among them – in fact he says the opposite. One expert says that when it comes to the activity of the Holy Spirit among them Paul’s aiming “correcting abuse, not encouraging disuse” (Gordon Fee).
Why would Paul give this instruction? Again, without stretching two far, let’s paint a picture.
Paul had been in Thessalonica to share the gospel and teaching for less than a month. The group a mix of Jewish and non-Jewish people, some of those non-Jewish believers crossing over from the daily life of pagan worship, which could include all kinds of ritual “expressions”. The ancient world was also one full of all kinds of “prophesies”, fabricated origin stories and the like. And is our world very different? Even today we see various expressions of spiritual activities as people look for moments to inspire or guide them, from substance use, to communal spaces engineered to produce various insights and highs. Some of you grew up in the sixties and seventies and are well acquainted. All to say, we don’t know what various ritual expressions looked like in Thessalonica, but safe to say, the people who made up the church probably carried with them a mixed bag of experiences and expectations from pagan temple worship. What do the Christians do when they get together for worship?
Here in 1 Thessalonians Paul refers to prophecies, and again we’re helped with thinking of Paul and the whole story as grounded in Israel’s Scriptures. When it came to prophesies we see in the Old Testament that a prophet tended to be a predictor, someone who spoke to God’s people about a coming judgement or salvation (Fee), a rare and sometimes singular voice in a generation. But a prophet was also tested, in that if their predictions didn’t come to pass they’d be held to their word. And in some instances that accountability was very serious. In other words, you couldn’t just go around saying that God had told you something without consequences if what you predicted didn’t turn out.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, we read in Acts, the Spirit of God had now been poured out and available for all people, thus messaging from God was no longer limited to one or a few. Set that now in context of a church with a range of expressions of ritual worship (pagan and Jewish), with the Holy Spirit potentially available to speak to and through any and all gathered. And remember Paul has already felt it necessary to give instruction on what the future holds for Christians and the “day of the Lord” and some concerns about the future. A picture comes together for us. The church in Thessalonica is probably a community full of the activity of the Spirit, and maybe there are some freewheeling predictions causing distraction, maybe even fear. Should anyone get the floor? Should they shut it all down?
What does Paul say? Well, don’t pour water on it, we expect the Spirit can and will speak through us. But test it. We don’t know, but we might imagine Timothy modeled this when present, Paul reinforcing things via the letter. The testing Paul refers to gets better explanation in other letters, but basically he means testing against what they have already been taught. Is any “message” shared in line with the message of the Gospel they’ve already received from him? The other testing we know Paul applied elsewhere is discussed in 1 Corinthians 14 where we hear that what is shared in the Spirit is given to encourage, exhort and comfort – in other words to be helpful to the community, another expression of love. That’s the basic outline of testing we get from Paul. Does it line up with what has been taught already? Does it build up, encourage and comfort? We can apply those same expectations today.
When I was a teenager we gathered in a big church service on a Friday night, a few hundred kids with music, prayer, and a lot of excited, hormonal, students with yet to be fully developed brains raring to go for the weekend. What do you think happened? Lots of stuff happened! Sometimes people shared things that were encouraging and built you up, and when it was from the front the leaders made sure it was in line with the Bible. But other times, among hundreds of teenagers, at various places on the Christian journey, kids would mill about sharing things, like “God told me we’re going to be married” – stuff like that (and you never did heard it from the person you wanted to hear it from). Anyway, one night I remember someone getting pretty upset because someone had told her that God told them that their parents were going to die soon. Well, not exactly an encouraging message for a youth night. I don’t know how, but somewhere along the line we had been taught this basic Pauline structure of testing and knew that if something created confusion or fear, wasn’t in line with Scripture, or didn’t build up or encourage, we should just leave that to the side. And so we did. I think we reassured her saying something like, “That doesn’t really sound like it’s from Jesus” and moved on. We did some discernment and applied some wisdom.
No doubt some of you have similar stories. The point is, it’s not rocket science. Set that now in the context of sisterly and brotherly love. Caring for one another means we’ll actually take responsibility for our words because of their power. So in our times together we expect the Holy Spirit will bring messages and pictures for our community, and that some among us might hear those things loud and clear. So if that every happens in a gathering like this, let’s not snuff that out. If you ever sense there is something for our community to hear from the Lord as we’re in music or prayer together, the encouragement is to simply come over and share that with someone on the team who can partner with you in determining what to do about it. Over the years people have come with such grace and humility and said something like “I sense God saying this, what should we do with that?” And very often they share that with the community. This is good for us, we do it together, and we should expect it. And I’ve always appreciated phrases like “I sense God saying or this” or “I think I have this picture from the Lord”, which makes room for discernment together, which sounds very different from “God told me we’re getting married” doesn’t it?
In closing we hear Paul say “hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.” Though this again has been pulled out as a snappy quote, it applies more naturally to what we’ve just read. There’s a lot of messaging swirling around out there, all kinds. There’s only one right and good message in Jesus, so hold on to that.
Let’s finish with another wider look at what Paul has put on the table for the sisters and brothers in Thessalonica over the past two weeks. He’s shared both community-life essentials, and gathered-life essentials. Isn’t it incredible, that as removed culturally and historically these folks are from us, the picture painted here of what a community of sisters and brothers should look like is still so incredibly applicable and transformational for us today?
As a community of brothers and sisters in Jesus we are (5:12-16)
- At peace with each other, being constructive and contributing as able
- We encourage and help one another if disheartened or weak
- We’re deeply patient with one another
- We don’t keep or level scores
- We do good to one another, and everyone beyond the community
When gathered together we: (5:16-22)
- Always rejoicing in the truth and hope of Jesus and his gospel
- Constantly praying and asking for what we need in trust
- With a general tone of thankfulness to God at all times
- Where the Spirit is active and speaking through us, to bring encouragement, edification and comfort (present to build up the body in love); and that when messages do arise, we don’t blindly affirm any and everything shared, but ensure it’s tested
Luke Knight 