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Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 (Isaiah 61:1-11) W 3rd Sunday in Advent Making a List, Checking it Twice In the name of him for whose coming
we wait with eager anticipation, dear friends in Christ: the title I gave this morning’s message is an
obvious reference to the familiar holiday jingle in which it is Santa Claus
who’s making and checking twice his list of children, both the naughty and
nice, so that he knows how to reward each accordingly. But it occurred to me that especially this
time of year, the jolly old Saint in the red suit is not the only one who’s
making lists. Children are busy
preparing their wish lists (if they haven’t done so already), and we adults are
preparing all kinds of lists for things like to whom to send cards, for whom to
get gifts, whom to invite to what gatherings, which events to attend, things to
do and to get and to prepare, and on and on.
And a lot of these lists we make function as checklists; that is, we put them together to remind us not to overlook someone or something important that would normally be not be a problem to remember; but what with the all the added stress and busy mayhem of the holidays we’ve discovered it’s better to be safe than sorry. Some of us know this from bitter personal experience, having in the past unwittingly overlooked some critical detail in holiday planning, or worse, some easily offended relative. And some of us are finding it increasingly more of a challenge to remember the things we should as we suffer from those so-called “senior moments” with more frequency than we once did. This makes preparing checklists that much more important. Of course, now I’m finding I’m having to make lists to remind me what lists to make – that, or I’ll head out the door to take care of all of the items on a particular list only to find when I get to where I’m going, I’ve forgotten to bring the list with me. Can I get an “Amen” here – or am I the only one? Now, the reason I mention all of these Advent season lists
we make is that in today’s Epistle lesson, But before we do that, it should be said that although
everything he says certainly applies to us, Paul prepared this list especially
for the church at Thessalonica, so it might be helpful for us to know a little
about their situation. Theirs was a very
young church. When Paul wrote the letter
we know as 1 Thessalonians to them, it was less than a year after he and his
companions Silas, Timothy, and very likely Luke had first preached the Gospel
there. At that time they had spent only
three or four weeks presenting the truths about Jesus to the Jews and Gentile
“God fearers” (that is, Gentiles who recognized and worshipped the God of the
Jews) in the synagogue there in Thessalonica.
Upon hearing the Gospel, many of the Gentiles and some of the Jews came
to believe in Jesus; but many more of the Jews (in particular) did not; and
these were none to happy about the conversion of their fellows. Which leads to something else you should know about the
Christian church at Thessalonica: it was
suffering terrible persecution – and not just from angry, jealous Jews. You see, these angry Jews went around and
told all their Pagan neighbors that the Christians were a dangerous new cult
that practiced wicked rituals. They said
that the Christians would cause trouble for everybody. So effective was this slander that it put the
whole city in an uproar. Soon there were
rioting mobs running around insisting that the Christians be imprisoned,
beaten, or driven out. In fact, that’s
precisely what happened: Paul and his
companions were imprisoned for a while; and when they posted bail they were
forced to leave the city – leaving behind the fledgling congregation of recent
converts very much like defenseless sheep among the wolves. And that highlights a final thing you should know about the church at Thessalonica: it was not adequately or thoroughly trained. There simply hadn’t been enough time for Paul and the others to teach them everything they needed to know about Jesus. Sure, now that they had the rudiments of the Gospel they were able to open the Scriptures and understand them in a new and glorious light; but still, understand that at this time there was no such thing as a New Testament for them to refer to, and people who are not firmly rooted in the truth are likely to have many misconceptions. Additionally, they are certainly more subject to being led astray by pious sounding but totally false doctrines – which, as it turns out, is exactly what happened later to many of the new Christians at Thessalonica. And so knowing that these dear Christian brothers and
sisters were both suffering persecution for their newfound faith and that they
were comparatively weak and extremely vulnerable to falling back or being led
astray, Paul’s list for them is what we might think of as the absolutely
critical items. There’s no fluff or
padding here; just bare bones basics – all the more reason we should make this
list our own. First on Paul’s list is his enjoinder for them to “Rejoice
always” or, another way to say it, “Always be joyful”. This, contrary to what some people think,
does not mean that Christians should forever walk around with vacuous smiles on
their faces pretending to have no other emotion than a perpetually giddy bliss
because to fail to do so indicates a lack of faith. According to this view, good news, bad news,
makes no difference: the correct
response is, “That’s wonderful! Praise
Jesus!” But that’s not it. Nor does it mean, as I hear from time to
time, “God wants me to be happy always – and since I believe this particular
sin will make me happy, I’m sure it’s what God wants me to do.” No. First, let it be
said that there’s a difference between happiness and joy. Happy is surface level thing. It comes and goes with the ups and downs of
life a dozen times a day. Joy, on the other hand, runs much deeper. You can be joyful while laughing and enjoying
the company of family and friends, or while crying your eyes out at the
funeral of one of them. You see, the
basis of Christian joy is the great love of God for his children and the
accomplished work of Jesus Christ for our salvation. God’s love in sending his Son into the world
to bear our sin and be our Savior is the foundation and central focus of the
Christian life that fills us with deep, lasting, and inexpressible joy and
wonder and that puts everything else in perspective. In reminding us to be joyful, Paul is telling
us to keep our focus where it belongs – on Christ and what he did for us – and
then, whatever happens, be it persecution, poverty, loss, or whatever, the true
joy we have cannot be taken away. Next on Paul’s list is “Pray without ceasing”. Again, contrary to what you’ll sometimes
hear, he doesn’t mean that you should walk around on your knees wherever you go
or that you should devote a certain number of hours to prayer each day. Rather a part of what he means is that you
should not give up or become discouraged when you make your specific requests
to God and don’t immediately get the result you seek, just as Jesus taught the
disciples to be persistent in prayer.
But more than that, Paul’s thought is you should make your whole life a
conscious conversation with the Lord.
The idea is this: you’ve got this
gracious God who loves you so very much, and who (quite beyond reason) wants to
you to have an ongoing and fulfilling relationship with him. Now, through the Gospel of Jesus and the gift
of prayer he makes himself available to you twenty-four seven, and he invites
you to share your thoughts, your hopes and dreams, your fears, even your jokes
and foolishness with him, just as a child might with a loving and caring
parent. And the point is that this
conversation can be ongoing. You don’t
have to stop and fold your hands and close your eyes to communicate with
him. He’s always there, and he knows
your every thought. And constant prayer
helps you to realize that and live accordingly. Item three on Paul’s list is “In everything be thankful”. Here’s one we often forget, preferring
instead to complain and be negative about the way things are. But the fact is that everything we are and
have came from the Lord’s hand, and if we made it a point to count blessings
before things to gripe about, we’d never get around to counting the
latter. Being thankful keeps us mindful
of that, and it also keeps our focus on the giver and helps us to appreciate
the lavish love he has for us that much more.
And recognizing his love also helps us to understand that we can be
thankful even for the things we might otherwise complain about. We know that because he loves us, everything
that God gives—even the trials and hardships, or that he withholds, he intends
for our good. Number four is “Don’t extinguish the Spirit”. The word Paul uses here makes it sound as if
the Holy Spirit is like a fire – and if you remember the story about the day of
Pentecost, that’s exactly how the Spirit first appeared in the church. Now, it happens that sometimes we’ll hear
people say that they are “on fire for the Lord”, and what they mean is that
they are really excited; but usually that excitement is a more show than
genuine heat and light, and it isn’t what Paul means here anyway. Fire is for purifying and for burning up
what’s to be consumed. And a big part of
the Spirit’s work in our lives is to purify us by revealing our sin and our
constant need for repentance. This is a
fire we are to feed so that it gets hotter and burns ever more of the sin and
corruption in our lives; but sometimes we pretend not to hear the voice of
God’s Spirit speaking through the conscience.
We like our cherished secret little sins and want to keep them in our
lives – and to do it, we have to deliberately harden ourselves against what God
says. That’s what extinguishes the
Spirit: our willful refusal to hear and
to repent. Paul warns us not to do that
because it’s the opposite of growth in the Christian faith, and if we keep it
up, the flame may go out completely. Next on the list is “Do not despise prophecies”. Usually when we think of prophecies we have
in mind certain revelations of future events that we find here and there in
God’s Word; but to prophesy simply means to speak on behalf of someone
else. In this case, Paul means that we
are not to reject God’s Word either through disagreement with it or neglect of
it. Now we, of course, have the Word
written down for us in the Bible – something the Thessalonians did not have so
ready access to; so it will be good for us to know that what Paul primarily has
in mind here is the preaching and teaching the church receives through the
Lord’s appointed spokesmen. I know that
it may sound self serving for me to say it, but what Paul is saying is listen
to your Pastor, don’t avoid the public worship of the church, don’t stay away
from opportunities to grow in the Word, and so on. But then he goes on to say, “Test everything.” That is to say your job is not over once
you’ve heard what I or some other pastor has to say. You have a responsibility to verify that
those who have been called to speak for God are doing it correctly. It’s worth noting that after leaving
Thessalonica, Paul went to a city named The final item on Paul’s list is this: “Avoid even the appearance of evil.” In a world that is inherently hostile to the
Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel of salvation, people outside the church are
always looking for reasons to point their fingers and say, “Oh, those
Christians: they think they’re better
than everyone else; but see: they’re
just a bunch of hypocrites.” Some even
go farther, accusing religion in general and Christianity in particular of
being the cause of most of the world’s ills – a ridiculous charge that has
unfortunately been repeated so often that it’s gained wide acceptance. Now, to be fair, there’s no question that
great evils have been and continue to be committed by Christians, sadly,
sometimes even in the name of the Lord.
Obviously, such things should not be; but what Paul is saying here is
that we need to go the extra mile. Not
only must we strive to live as the Lord would have us do, to be his salt and
light, showing forth his love in the world; but we must also carefully avoid
giving our detractors even cause to suspect that we might be doing something
inappropriate. What Paul is saying is
that we need to bear in mind that in all we say and do we represent Christ to
the world – after all, we carry his name – and so it’s not enough just to avoid
evil itself, but also what might possibly be construed as evil. So, to recap: Always
be joyful. Pray without ceasing. In everything be thankful. Don’t extinguish the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies. Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. Avoid even the appearance of evil. This is Paul’s spiritual checklist for us to
keep ourselves prepared for the Lord’s coming, and I commend it to you as one
to use once or twice daily in the weeks and years ahead. I commend it to you knowing that you will
find it fruitful, because Paul concludes the list with a blessing – a blessing
that explains what the Lord will do for you as you apply these spiritual
disciplines to yourself. He, the God of
peace, will sanctify you through and through.
He will keep your whole spirit, soul, and body blameless at the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And you can be
sure of it, because the One who calls you is faithful, and he
will do it. In his holy name. Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! |
