We are back in First Thessalonians today. Paul ended his letter to the Thessalonian Christians with 20 important instructions.

The 3 commands we’ll look at this morning are essential to a life of joy, and fellowship with God. Practice these three things and you will prosper spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically.  

Francis Schaeffer said, “True spirituality brings substantial healing of our psychological problems.”  These three commands bring substantial healing to your heart and mind and soul. MOST importantly, these 3 commands are the WILL of God! God WANTS you to live in joy, and thanksgiving and continual prayer. 

These 3 commands MAINLY help us live life with God, on the INSIDE.  David prayed, Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD.”  That’s what Paul is talking about here: things that need to happen in your heart.

You can’t control all the outward circumstances of life but  you can cultivate what goes on in your heart.  And nothing can stop us from rejoicing, praying and giving thanks. This will create a feast in side of you.  As Proverbs 15:15 says, “a cheerful heart has a continual feast.”  That’s why Paul was able to say, “Even though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”   

John Gill “the internal hidden man of the heart, (continually prospers); our souls are in good health; the comforting work of God is carried on IN us; we have sweet and repeated experiences of the love of God; we are growing in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ.”  That happens inside you! 

But ALSO, as you rejoice, pray, and give thanks, everyone around you will be blessed too. Joy IS a ministry to others.  That’s why CS Lewis said, “We owe it to one another to be as happy as we can.”  It’s very difficult to impact others for Christ with a grumpy attitude, or a sullen countenance. There’s that old saying, “If mamma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”.  A depressed or angry mom can color the emotions of an entire family. Same is true of a father.  And grumbling can pull down an entire church family. 

Does this mean we never express our pain, or sorrow or grief, or disappointment? NO! We suffer in this world. We groan! We weep!  But even in sorrow and disappointment we choose in our hearts to ALSO rejoice, pray and give thanks.  

It’s not easy.  But it is possible. You won’t do it perfectly, but you can consistently be joyful, thankful, and prayerful. And you’ve got to believe that.  Nothing will short circuit the impact of these verses more than if you simply write them off as far-fetched, unrealistic.  They would be impossible if you did not have the Spirit of God. But the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead lives in you to produce these qualities inside of you! 

Another important element in these commands is that we are to rejoice, pray and give thanks ALWAYS, at ALL TIMES, in ALL THINGS.  If Paul said to pray once in awhile, and rejoice from time to time, and give thanks now and then, then these would be among the most insignificant verses in the Bible.  Who doesn’t do that!  

It’s Paul’s insistence that we do these things continually, that rocks our soul.  It’s “the always, at all times, and in all things” that challenges the status quo of low level thinking and living.  It’s the “always” that wakes us up!

Elizabeth Elliott shared a quote that I read recently: “Why would you read a book that does not wake you up, like a fist knocking on your head.”  IE Read something that changes your life. The word of God is like that. It’s like a hammer that shatters a rock.  These three commands do just that! They come to break up bad habits in our hearts! They come to do a major renovation in our hearts.  And they will, IF we take them seriously.

Then Paul strengthens these commands with this conclusion: “For this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.”  God desires this!  He wants this new and better way of living for all who are in Christ Jesus.

Some people might say these things are just NOT my personality. Of course they’re not your personality. Your personality is fallen.  It needs to be renovated by the Spirit of God. And God will work these things into your personality whatever it is. 

Some might say my life is too stressful and busy to do these things, and they justify being upset and cranky a lot of the time.  But Paul said we are coming up against something here that is the WILL of God.  If we resist these commands we are pushing back against an idea, but against God Himself! 

Let’s go back and these commands one by one:

First: Rejoice always. Spurgeon said, “Glory be to the God of happiness who bids his children be happy”.  There ARE seasons of tears, pain, sorrow, deep grief. We acknowledge those realities in this fallen world.  But God also calls us to joy and thanksgiving, even in the darkness of life.  Whether our business is failing, or our kids have caused us pain, whether we are surrounded by enemies, whether our health has failed, whether we are suffering injustice, the Bible still says, “rejoice always”!  Spurgeon said, “There is no limit to this exhortation. It is always in season. Through fire and through water, through life and through death, “rejoice evermore.” 

What is rejoicing?  It is gladness or great delight. There’s an exuberance, a happiness in this.  Christians typically make a distinction between happiness and joy.  But the Bible does not divorce happiness from joy.  There IS a difference between a shallow, silly, frivolous kind of emotion verses a deep strong joy that rises up even in sorrow.  But there’s a danger in communicating that Christians can be joyful, but UNhappy.

Psalm 144:15 “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.  

If we strip the element of being happy in the Lord, from the command to rejoice, we take something from the power and the challenge of this to us.  

Got Questions: “If a person is joyful, then he or she is happy. There’s no such thing as glum joy. We cannot drain joy of emotion and still call it “joy.” When God’s Spirit gives us joy, then we are happy people. Christians should be joyful; happiness should characterize our everyday lives.”  

Our source of happiness is what makes our happiness different. We are happy in GOD! We’re not trying to find happiness in dirty jokes, or drunkenness, or sexual sins, or in the world’s pleasures. The SOURCE of our happiness is in the Lord and in the things of the Spirit.    

John Wesley said “holiness AND happiness” are the natural fruit of true Christian faith in this present life. The desire for happiness is godly. It is the “end of our being”. We are made to be happy in God. Ted Runyan, “one of the real outcomes of the Wesleyan revival in England was that it unleashed a sense of inward happiness which effectively freed many people from the drudgery and burden of eighteenth-century common life”.

Jeremiah 31:13 describes the Lord’s future plan for our joy.  “Then shall the young women rejoice with dancing, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” That’s God’s ultimate end for us and He wants us to partake of that now.  

Okay but HOW do we rejoice always? 

First-Set your mind on things that produce joy! (joy-producing realities)  In Romans 5 Paul said we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  We see the goodness and glory of God every day! And we rejoice in his goodness every day.  But the future glory God has for us is the unshakable rock of our joy.  Jesus said, “rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 

Our joy cannot ultimately be tethered to our accomplishments and victories here on earth.  That is just way too insecure! Our joy must be anchored to the future glory of heaven. Years ago when Oprah began to see success exploding in front of her, she said, “The future is so bright it hurts my eyes.”  I’ve always felt that is something Christians should say!  But our joy is not ONLY rooted in the future...

Every single blessing of the gospel is a joy-producing blessing!  Our sins are canceled, we are not under condemnation, we are accepted, beloved and adopted as God’s children, right now!  The love of God has been poured into our hearts.  We have the Holy Spirit! God is working all things NOW together for our good.  IF these things matter to us, we will have a continual feast for our soul. 

Second-Trust in the Holy Spirit.  Joy comes from the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit is like a mighty river flowing within you.  He is advocating for joy in your inner being.  When I can’t seem to find my joy, I trust the Spirit to restore it.  

Third-Choose to rejoice in the Lord always as your way of facing life.  Set your will to live this way. David said “I will rejoice, I will bless the Lord, I will lift my hands in your name!”   I will, I will.  He chose that!  And you can too. 

Last-Express joy! Go ahead. Sing. Make a joyful noise. Clap your hands. Lift your hands. Shout out a praise to Him.  That is not fake! It’s adjusting your heart to it’s rightful place of rejoicing in the Lord, then expressing it on your face and with your actions.

Next command: *Pray without ceasing. Prayer is talking with God or communion with God. Prayer is developing a continual conversation with God in your inner person.   

Alexander Maclaren  “the essence of (prayer) is to have heart and mind filled with the consciousness of God’s presence, and to have the habit of referring everything to Him, in the moment when we are doing it. That, as I take it, is prayer.”

We can pray on our knees, or with eyes closed and our hands folded. Paul said men should pray, lifting holy hands. These are all Biblical positions of prayer. But ultimately we pray in the Spirit. We fellowship with God in our spirit.  And we do that working, walking, driving, even while carrying on a conversation with someone! 

While Nehemiah was talking with king Artaxerxes, the king said to him “what is it you want?” Nehemiah said, “Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king”.  Between the kings question and his answer, Nehemiah prayed! And I don’t think there was any delay in the conversation!  If we understand what prayer is that makes perfect sense! 

Prayer is the way we communicate to God our desires, our emotions, our needs, our love, and gratitude and our worship.  It’s bearing your soul to God. Psalm 62:7,8 “Trust in Him at all times.  Pour out your hearts before Him.”

Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, ask whatever you wish.”  I read about an older lady who was told she shouldn’t pray for parking spaces.  Her response was, “How else would I get one?  When I am driving around with my grandchildren, that how we always get a parking space.”  That grandma probably knew how to pray without ceasing.    

We learn to pray without ceasing when we recognize our neediness and God’s heart to supply our every need. Paul Miller said, “We don’t need self-discipline to pray continually; we just need to be pour in spirit”.  

Third command: In everything give thanks. This is absolutely essential!  Col. 2:6,7 “Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” 

Of course BE thankful in your heart, but the command is to GIVE thanks. Say it. Tell God thank you!

Philippians 4:6 “WITH thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Even though you have problems and anxieties, you MIX them with thanksgiving as you let God know what you want.  That is essential to experiencing the peace of God Paul promises from that verse!

At some point in your Christian life you have to wake up and realize that God is NOT okay with you living in grumbling and complaint. This verse that could do that today, like that fist knocking on your skull to wake you up! Will you let it do that!  

You might think this verse would really be good for someone who is suffering.  It is. But so often I’ve seen people whose outward circumstances are really good, and they just can’t seem to see how blessed they are! And they speak words of complaint a lot of the time.  So we all need this, don’t we.

And it does say “give thanks in all circumstances”. There are hundreds of good things to give thanks for every day. But we are also to give thanks in painful or bad things.  I don’t think you can do that without a bold belief in Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”   What is happening to you, what has happened to you, it IS all working for good.  

So we are safe. We are secure. Nothing can ultimately work against us. Everything is going to be alright!  And we live with overflowing gratitude because of that.  

We could have made these 3 commands into three separate messages. But it seems, the Holy Spirit, had a purpose in grouping these commands together. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  They go together. Taken together, they are God’s medicine for your heart. They are God’s will for you.  

How would your life be different, if you seriously committed in your heart to follow these 3 commands?   How would your attitude be different, how would your countenance be different, how would your words be different, if you seriously committed in your heart to follow these three short commands?   Do you want that? Don’t be satisfied with anything less! 

Pray: Father we want this!  We want to live rejoicing, giving thanks and praying without ceasing. We thank You that You want this for us!  We thank you for the Holy Spirit you have given us to work these things into our hearts.  Do this work in us, we pray, in Jesus name.  Amen.

Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom belongs the glory forever and ever, amen.