Lifestyle Commands Given by God

Transcript

GRM 838
2/16/2003
Lifestyle Commands Given by God
I Thessalonians 5:14-22
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention this evening to the end of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, his first letter to the Thessalonians, I Thessalonians chapter 5. You’re aware that Paul’s letters are often divided into two major divisions. The first major division Paul lays a doctrinal foundation and then he gives what we would call a practical emphasis, which is really explaining responsibility in living out the doctrine. It is also true as he gets to the end of some of his letters, he does what we often do. We have written about the major things we want to say, but there are things we would like to cover, and we don’t feel we have time and space right now, so we end up mentioning a number of things.

That’s what happens at the end of I Thessalonians chapter 5. Paul has covered, if I can say it this way, the major material of the letter. But there are a number of things that he just wants to draw to their attention, and he does it with a series of commands. Beginning in verse 14 of I Thessalonians 5, and down through verse 22 there are 15 commands given in those few verses. Most of them don’t have much elaboration at all, some of them are simple commands and he moves on. They are taken to be self explanatory. Again, these are founded on the teaching that Paul has given already. In writing to the Thessalonians, he’s given some heavy teaching right at the beginning of the letter in I Thessalonians chapter 1. He talked about, verse 5, “our gospel did not come to you in word only, but in power, in the Holy Spirit, with full conviction.” The testimony of their faith in verse 8, has gone forth throughout the world. Paul spent a period of a few weeks in Thessalonica, and the gospel made a dramatic impact and the change in life of these people was tremendous. In verse 9 of chapter 1 he said that “they turned from idols to serve a living and true God and to await His Son from heaven who delivers us from wrath to come.” He goes on to talk about suffering and difficulty.

When he gives a series of commands like this it’s in the context of the overall framework of the theological and Biblical foundation that we have, and that is that Jesus Christ has suffered and died, and we have been made new through faith in Him. We have died to sin and made alive to righteousness. They understood this and exemplified it in their lives. When they placed their faith in the Savior, they turned from idols to serve the living God. There was a dramatic change in life and lifestyle. So, these commands are given. They are based upon the fact that in the new life we have in Christ, that is a life now lived under the control of the Spirit of God and we are to be manifesting that we are the people of God. So even the works that we do, do not make our faith a works system, but they are of the outliving of a transformed life that is all a result of our faith in Jesus Christ. We’ve been saved by faith, we continue to live by faith; we’ve been saved by grace, we continue to live by grace. We are to be a people that are more and more manifesting the character of our God. The Bible knows nothing of an unchanged but saved people. It is important because there are many people who have deluded themselves into thinking that they were saved at one time, and even though they live like the world and there is no evidence of the work of God in their lives, they are still saved. That is the same kind of system people who believe they are saved by their baptism; they’re saved by any kind of action. Saving faith changes us from the inside out. We praise God for that.

I just want to walk through some of these commands, all of them, really, but we’ll do it quickly. Since there are 15 of them, I won’t have a 15-point sermon to elaborate on each one. But they will be reminders to us of some of those things that are to characterize us. You know many of them have to do with our relationships and our helping one another, encouraging one another, rebuking one another and so on. Verses 12-13 he talked about responsibility to leaders, and then he says in verse 14, and “we urge you brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the faint hearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.” He begins to move very rapidly in his series of commands, and they are addressed to brethren. We urge you, brethren. This is the burden of my heart for you, I’m thrilled with the growth I’ve already seen in you. I’m thrilled with your testimony as it reverberates to different places in the world. I just want you to continue to grow and be everything that God has saved you to be.

“We urge you brethren, admonish the unruly.” The word unruly means to be out of place, out of order. It’s a military word, would be used of a soldier who was out of step, who was part of an army that was moving in disarray. We are all aware of the consequences of that. We train our military personnel to be disciplined, to be orderly, to function properly, to stay in their position and so on. The picture here is of a believer who is not functioning like they should as a believer. Something is not right in their life; they are not functioning properly. In the context of Thessalonians, in this letter to the Thessalonians, this may well refer to the unruly, those who are not working as they should for a living. They are living lives of idleness. Paul has addressed this matter, and he’ll address it again in the second letter he writes them.

Back in chapter 2 verse 9, “For you recall brethren our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaim the gospel of God to you.” He uses himself as an example. I worked hard when I was with you. Remember when Paul went to new areas, he did not accept money from those people he was evangelizing or who had just been converted because he didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding that he had come and preached to them for financial reasons. In Thessalonica he follows the same pattern. But he had to eat, so what did he do? He got a job and worked, and he holds himself up as an example of working diligently.

In chapter 4 verse 11, “we urge you brethren to excel still more and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, work with your hands just as we commanded you so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.” Now there are going to come times of need in believers’ lives. We saw in Acts Paul took an offering from Gentile churches to come help needy, Jewish believers at Jerusalem. But there ought not to be any need in a believer’s life that is a result of laziness, idleness, unwillingness to be diligent and work hard. That seems a little bit of a problem in Thessalonica. As is often with new believers and new Biblical truth, sometimes they don’t have it put together very well. Paul, in the first chapter of this letter, referred to the fact that they were looking for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. It seems some of them had taken that doctrine so literally and so to heart they decided I’m not going to spend the rest of the time I have here slaving away at a job. It won’t matter anyway, the Lord’s coming. Well, you know there is a balance. I want to live like the Lord’s coming, but I want to be doing what I should be doing every day in anticipation and that means working.

Look in II Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 6, “now we command you brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life, not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example.” Remember what we read back in the first letter, chapter 2, while he used himself as an example? “Because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you. Not because we don’t have the right to do this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you that you might follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order, if anyone will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in a quiet fashion and eat their own bread.” As he writes a second letter soon after the first, even more directly addresses the problem. You know a new life in Christ is to be a positive thing, if you will. It is our testimony before the world. It is a terrible testimony, oh yeah, I have a believer who works for me and he’s one of my lazier workers. I have a believer who works for me, and he takes off more time than anyone else. That’s a terrible testimony. People ought to like to hire Christians. Why? They’re the best workers, they’re the most reliable people, and they never murmur and complain. Because the Bible says do all things without murmuring and complaining and we obey the Bible. Our testimony is at stake, Paul is concerned. When you come back to I Thessalonians 5 and he says admonish the unruly, don’t just think he’s talking about people in sexual immorality or something. He talks about even more basic things, just about the disciplines of life, doing what has to be done and fulfilling our responsibilities.

They are to be admonished, warned, instructed, corrected. You come along side; you are not functioning as you should. You need to learn. The Bible does say here’s what you are to do. Oh well I don’t know if I want to do that. It doesn’t matter, you have responsibilities. There is to be admonishing going on in the body. That is to be balanced with encouraging the faint-hearted. The ministry is not just admonishment, correcting, warning, instructing from that side. But there is encouragement for the fainthearted, those who are discouraged, despondent. The Thessalonian church was a church under persecution, it was a suffering church. Some people perhaps experienced the suffering closer to home, experienced it more personally. They were discouraged, just found it hard to keep on. Just don’t go and beat on those people. We are a family, just like you would handle your children. Sometimes they need to be admonished and corrected, sometimes they need to be encouraged. They had a difficult day at school, they’re discouraged, they’re down. What do you want to do? You want to encourage them; you want to help them through that time. That’s the picture here.

The word encourage means to cheer up, console, comfort, encourage. Isn’t it encouraging to you, isn’t it a blessing to you when you’re just down, it’s been difficult thing and someone comes along that cheers you up, that encourages you. That’s just what you needed, a friend just there to give you that boost. We’re not talking about encouraging the fainthearted, those who are always focused on themselves, which always is discouraging. People here, even believers, can go through discouraging times, times where you are despondent, you’re just down. Scripture here takes it that’s going to be part of the life of the church and the fellowship of believers. We ought to be looking for opportunities to encourage people, cheer them up. Now I want to be careful I don’t turn this around as I read this and say yeah, nobody cheered me up when I was down the other day. Again, I want to be careful I don’t turn to myself, here’s something I am to be doing to others. Doesn’t say look for others to cheer you up, it says you cheer up other people, encourage the fainthearted. Help the weak. That word help carries the idea of some sympathetic assistance. The picture here, maybe putting your arms around someone and holding them up. In fact, that’s the way it is used in Luke 16:13, of holding onto another person. But here you’ve come to help, to hold onto the weak. Who are the weak? He doesn’t go into the weakness here. Sometimes the Bible leaves these things open. The weak, well what do you mean the weak? What do you think it could mean? You list some of the ways that believers can be weak. Immediately comes to mind passages like Romans 14, I Corinthians chapter 8, the weak in the faith. They need to grow. The more mature believers are what? To have a loving, nurturing attitude toward them. You put your arms around them, you hold onto them, you help them, you help hold them up and see them through. That’s the picture. It’s a family of believers that care for one another. Sometimes there’s rebuking and admonishing, sometimes there’s just encouraging for the discouraged, cheering them up. Sometimes you just need to hold onto the weak and help them through the difficult times. An encouraging picture that he presents here. You have to be careful. You know it’s easy when you are strong. That’s why Paul is moved by the Spirit to write the passages he does to the Corinthians, to the Romans, to look at the weak with some disdain. They wouldn’t have that problem if they had grown like they should, they wouldn’t have that problem if they were stronger. Well of course they wouldn’t. You know if they were strong, they wouldn’t be weak, and if they were weak, they wouldn’t have the problems that come with being weak. We could take Romans 14 and I Corinthians 8 out of our Bibles. But it’s there. So, we have to come along and help to hold up the weak.

Now you’ll note, there is to be a sensitivity here, to know there are times when people need to be admonished. There are times when they just need somebody to hold onto them and help them through. Just the kind of sensitivity that any good parent has with their kids. They don’t treat each child in each situation exactly the same. They are too weak to do this, I need to help them through it. You see the kids in a parking lot, you see the parent holding the hand. Why? They don’t want them to fall down. They’ll make it, I’m walking, nobody is holding my hand. Let them do it. They are weaker, they need help through this. Well in the fellowship of believers there is to be that kind of sensitivity and caring going on. Just an aside, that’s why we try to break down our larger fellowship into smaller fellowships so we can be more aware of one another, more involved with one another. That doesn’t happen as easily when we meet together in a large service. But as we break the body down into smaller entities where we are able to be more involved personally in one another’s lives. Gives us that opportunity to be involved in these keyways in one another’s lives, and that is a blessing as God uses us in these ways.

We are to be patient with all men. I think it is the direction of the Spirit as it is in all the Word that this is where it is. You have to admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, and help the weak. If you’re doing those things, you know what you’re going to need? Patience, patience. Because all three can try your patience—admonishing the unruly, encouraging the fainthearted, helping the weak. Be patient, because in all three of those prior commands we’re dealing with people for one reason or another who aren’t where they would be if they were strong and so on, functioning as they should before the Lord. So be patient with all men, the attitude of putting up with people, bearing with people. This means we don’t put our own interests first. I’m looking at them, they’re struggling so I’m concerned about them in their difficulty. Even if it’s the unruly who need to be admonished, I’m concerned for them. We admonish our children, don’t we, because we want them to do better. It’s for their good they need to be admonished. It’s not just helping the weak that we’re patient with them, but with all these it takes patience. We bear with one another, and this is a characteristic of love in I Corinthians 13:4, love is patient. It is a fruit of the Spirit. Patience. You know, it is why God has put us together as a family. You know families are wonderful, but don’t families sometimes try your patience? Don’t sometimes you come to understand why Paul says you know I think it would be better for you to be single, and the reason I say this, I’d like to spare you some things. There are times you say oh if only I had known that verse. But our families are our greatest blessings, too, aren’t they? We praise the Lord for our families, and we grow and mature as we function together. That’s what we are as God’s family. We are patient with one another. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate love, to allow the Spirit to do that work in and through us.

Keep in mind, all these things are commands. We’re not mentioning them because each of the ones you go through from verse 14 down through verse 22, they’re all commands. Given as imperatives. Something that is not a suggestion or would be a good idea, but something the Spirit of God says we must be doing.

Verse 15 deals with the other side of patience, it is retaliation really. “See that no one repays another with evil for evil. But always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men.” That first word see that is the imperative and it carries the force of be careful, be on your guard. Like when we say watch out, look out. We’re not just meaning look, we’re meaning be on your guard, watch out. That’s the idea of the word see here. See that no one, and it’s a command. Be on guard that this doesn’t happen, watch out that no one repays another with evil for evil. Even as redeemed people we have our fallen nature still with us. Our natural reaction is what? To retaliate. Somebody says something to us we’re back quickly. Somebody does something to us the first thing is how we would like to get back at them. That kind of retaliation. Sometimes it is disappointing, isn’t it, to see it in our lives. We’ve been believers for a while, and to see how quickly we can respond improperly. If someone does something that we believe is wrong to us, I can come back so quickly. But we have to be careful that no one repays another with evil for evil. Keep in mind, he’s writing to the Thessalonians, and they are under persecution, they are being sorely tested. Such a severe persecution that in the second letter Paul has to address the issue, some of them thought that perhaps the tribulation had started and so this is a serious matter. Now they’re being told not to retaliate.

He gives three sharp commands here and tells them to see that no one repays another with evil for evil, always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men. I’m modifying myself a little ahead of the other commands. Rather than retaliate you always look out for the good for others, you seek what is good. That word to seek is to pursue something. It’s not just passive acceptance. The Bible says I can’t retaliate so I’ll grit my teeth and I’ll bear with it. You know what he says here? I am to be in the active pursuit of doing good to others, and not just other believers, but for all men and you’ll note the word always here. Always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men. But I don’t want good for them, you know what they did to me. You see in this context, don’t retaliate. Somebody does something and I don’t retaliate, and I go away quite proud of myself because I didn’t retaliate. But I may not have obeyed scripture either. Because the scripture didn’t tell me just to remain passive like a cabbage. Told me what? To seek their good. I mean people I’d like to retaliate against, and I’m supposed to seek their good. That really stretches me. I have to be honest. Sometimes I don’t want their good. I’d like them to get a little taste of whatever I’d like them to get a little taste of. But it’s not what the Spirit produces in my life. One thing I find that helps in this, since I need to work on it a little bit, is to put them on my prayer list. Not that the Lord will change them, but that the Lord will bless them, that the Lord will do good things in their lives. If they’re believers that the Lord will bless them, if they’re not believers they’ll come to know Him. I don’t want to put them on my prayer list for things that are subtle ways for me to pray the Lord will get them. But I have to be sure, since the Lord knows the motives of my heart, that I am really seeking after that which is good for them. But my prayers can’t become the substitute for seeking actively in my responsibility for doing what is good. Most of these commands deal with something very simple. Put my pride down, get myself out of the way, and focus on the good of others. Just like the command to love one another would encompass all these things. Seek what is good for one another and for all men.

Then you have these quick commands given, and in each of these next three commands, they are very brief. In fact, we have the shortest verse in all the Bible here, in one of these commands. I’ll say more about that in a moment. The real emphasis in the command is on the modifying word. For example, verse 16, the emphasis is on always. Always rejoice. Unceasingly, or without ceasing, pray. In everything give thanks. The emphasis on the fact there are no exceptions in any of these commands. Always rejoice. This is the shortest verse in the Bible. Now we usually say Jesus wept is the shortest verse, and it is the shortest verse in our English Bible, Jesus wept. But in the Greek text as it was written, this is the shortest verse. Jesus wept in the Greek text is really three words, translated into English in two, and they are longer. If you want a trick question, what is the truly shortest verse in the Bible? It is rejoice always. Always rejoice.

Keep in mind he is writing to people who are undergoing such intense persecution that they thought they might already be in the tribulation. Yet they are to be filled with joy. That’s an indication. Someone wrote a book, and I didn’t agree with much of the book, but I thought the title was Biblical. Happiness Is a Choice, and it is. That’s an encouragement to me. Oh, I just can’t be happy, I just can’t have joy. I mean you know……. Why? God commands you to do things that He doesn’t enable you to carry out? He doesn’t say rejoice most of the time. Rejoice always. You understand, Lord, things are so bad here it seems like we’re in the tribulation. The intensity of our suffering, arrests, imprisonments, martyrdom. We don’t know what all is going on, tremendous difficulties. Lord, you’re telling me to rejoice always? Always? That’s the command. It doesn’t need a lot of elaboration.

We know what it is to rejoice, we know what it is to be happy and have joy. Well, that’s to characterize us always. So where should be the happiest people in the city? In Bible-believing churches. Who should be the happiest people at their job on Monday morning? Bible-believing Christians. Who should be the happiest people wherever they……..? Bible-believing Christians. Why? Because we are commanded to rejoice always and that’s a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. If I don’t have joy in my life, you know what’s a part of the problem? I’m not submitting to the Spirit. The joy that He produces when I submit to Him is not there. Clearly because if I sit down and think it through the real reason I’m not rejoicing is I’m not happy about something. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If I’m not happy, I’m unhappy, and if I’m not happy I’m unhappy about something. Preachers have great intellectual insights. Which means what? I’m unhappy with what God is doing. We talked about the providence of God; He is in control of all things and every situation and every circumstance. I don’t like it. I find it unpleasant; I find it inconvenient; I find it a hardship; I find it painful. So, I will not rejoice. We’re like a pouting child who goes and sits down and puts on the sad face. They’re not going to be happy. You try to make them laugh, you know you do things if it’s the kind of situation that doesn’t require more serious action, you do little things to try to make them laugh. Grandparents do it all the time, because we don’t have to be responsible for the discipline. We just can make them laugh. But sometimes they’re unhappy, did something that didn’t go their way and basically that’s what we’re saying, isn’t it? Not to minimize the pain that might have come into our lives, and the difficulty, but we’re really saying we don’t like it, I’m not going to be happy. It doesn’t mean there aren’t times of sadness and grief that come into our lives, but the joy of the Lord is to be an ongoing consistent characteristic of the child of God. Let me read you what one writer said. They thought more of their Lord than of their difficulties, more of their spiritual riches in Christ than of their poverty on earth, more of the glorious future when their Lord should come again than of their unhappy past. Again, I take my eyes off myself onto the Lord and put it in perspective. I am to rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing, unceasing prayer is to be the characteristic of my life. Means we live with a constant spirit of prayer. We don’t have time to look at this word unceasing. It’s used in chapter 1 verse 3, chapter 2 verse 13. Doesn’t mean you never do anything else, it’s obvious we do other things, other things that take our attention and our thoughts. But it does have the connotation we live in that attitude of constant prayer. It’s just as natural for us as anything that we talk it over with the Lord; and you know that comes in the context here of rejoice always. You know my first reaction to talk it over with the Lord, not to complain to the Lord. Talk it over with the Lord, bring it before the Lord. Lord, this is all but overwhelming to me. Lord, this is most unpleasant and discouraging. Lord, only as I remind my heart and mind that you are sovereign and it’s your good hand that has brought this into my life for purposes that I don’t yet understand, and I accept from you. God, I want to draw upon your grace before I take another step and allow my eyes to become focused on me rather than on you. Pray without ceasing, become a pattern and that’s part of my life. These commands reinforce one another. We are to be a praying people.

Then verse 18, in everything give thanks, in everything give thanks. This is just a follow through in what we’ve been saying. Paul is in prison in the book of Acts. Can he give thanks to God in prison? Would he rather if given his choice by the Lord be free to travel and preach the gospel? I’m sure he would. But he recognizes the sovereign hand of God is working all things for his good. So, can he give thanks? God, I thank you that even in this prison you are sovereignly caring for me. Whatever my situation is. Lord, in the unpleasantness of this situation and that your grace is enough for me. Your presence is here with me, your purposes for me are not being frustrated, not being sidetracked. Lord, I thank you that I am just as much your child, just as much your servant in this situation as in any other; and on we can go, so many things I can be giving thanks for, in everything. Thank you, Lord, this is going to be an opportunity for me to grow in ways I haven’t grown before. Lord, even this situation has made me aware of weaknesses and shortcomings in my life that I would not have recognized without this trial and on we go. In everything, give thanks. He is our God.

This is God’s will for us, so I want to do the will of God. Oh, if I only knew the will of God. Well, the will of God is revealed in the Word of God, this is God’s will for you. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks. These three sharp commands go together. This is God’s will for you. We want to know God’s will for this and this. Well, He hasn’t given direct written revelation about everything regarding His will for you. But you know the secret of discerning His will in other areas—where shall I go to school, what cars should I buy, whom should I marry. Doing the will of God that is clearly and directly revealed. I have a hard time discerning what the will of God is. Well let me ask you, do you rejoice always? Do you pray without ceasing? Do you give thanks to God in everything? Have you presented your body to Him as a living sacrifice so that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? And on we go. How do our children learn more and more and to discern our will for them? By doing the things that we clearly command them to do. Then they get into other areas where we haven’t directly addressed it, but what? There’s a sensitivity. Oh, my Mom and Dad wouldn’t want me to do that. Did they ever tell you that? No, but I know they wouldn’t want me to do that. There is a growing sensitivity, right? Some people are in total confusion regarding the will of God because they are not doing what the will of God is. Simple things that He tells us to do. We want to skip that and jump right to those issues that are before us. But as we walk in the will of God then we have a growing sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit in our lives.

Do not quench the Spirit, another command. Don’t quench the Spirit. The Spirit here is pictured like a fire, you throw water on the fire, you quench it. The word literally means to extinguish or to put out, so it comes to mean to suppress something. Ephesians 4:30 talks about not grieving the Spirit, and it may be carrying a similar idea. When you quench the Spirit, you’re not open to him, you’re not submitting to him, you’re refusing to allow him to be the leader in your life. We don’t like to think we do that, but there are times we do that. We’re just unwilling to do what God says we have to do. There are some things that just won’t do. I have my pride, that’s my problem. When I put my pride above doing God’s will, I’m in trouble. Let’s face it. Most of our difficulties don’t come from not knowing what God would want us to do, most of our difficulties come from what? I just don’t want to do it. But I ought to. Don’t want to do it. Do I want to quench the Spirit, suppress him? I don’t want him to lead me in this area because he’ll lead me where I don’t want to go. Simple as that. He wants me to do one thing, I don’t want to do that one thing. In my refusal I’m telling the Spirit no. In doing that I’m quenching him. I take it basically I’m grieving him, I’m saying no. You think of the magnitude of that. I am telling the living God who dwells in me, no you cannot be in charge in this area. I’m overruling you here. Any wonder we get into serious trouble, God’s people. What do you do? You have your 6-year-old that tells you look, no. Not in this area you’re not telling me. No, I’m not going to do it. We have trouble here. You’re going to do it, just a matter of how unpleasant the situation is going to be when you do it. Quite frankly, God has to deal with us that way, in love. Sad is the child who is left to run that way to his own ruin. We are not to quench the Spirit.

The next verse even further develops this, the next command. Do not despise prophetic utterances. I think this may give even a further idea of what would be involved in quenching the Spirit. Don’t despise prophetic utterances. Despise means to set down as of no account, to treat something with contempt. Prophecy was a gift of the Holy Spirit that involved receiving truth from God and passing it on to men. The prophetic utterances would be what we have as our New Testament, that Paul would be talking about, since the Old Testament was a completed book at this time. The church is built, in Ephesians 2:20, on the apostles and prophets. They received direct revelation from God and communicated it, now we’re studying these passages of scripture which are prophetic utterances. They were given by apostles and prophets. To despise prophetic utterances and to treat them with contempt is really to disobey the Word of God, to think lightly or indifferently of any portion of the Word of God. We read this and say oh that would be terrible if the Thessalonians despised prophetic utterances God had spoken. But we read a verse of scripture, and are you doing it? Well, no. That’s despising prophetic utterances. What am I doing? I’m treating that portion of scripture with contempt, am I not? Here’s what it says, in everything give thanks. Are you giving thanks in this? No, I’m not. Why? Because I’m not thankful. Are you being Biblical? Well, I guess not. Then you are treating the Word of God with contempt. I guess so. Any wonder even believers have problems in their lives? We say I wonder what’s wrong. Well, very simple. Do what the Word of God says. Do not despise prophetic utterances.

Down in verse 27 Paul will say, “I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brethren.” Because here it is a written word from God, a written prophetic utterance if you will. I want everybody to hear it and put it into practice.

Verse 21, “examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good.” Examine everything. You know when it says don’t despise prophetic utterances that doesn’t mean there is no discernment. Anybody who says they have a word from the Lord we accept, anybody who has a certain interpretation of Scripture we accept. That’s not what we’re talking about. We are to sift everything through the Word of God. Examine everything. The word examine means putting something to the test to evaluate to see if it’s genuine. Then you examine everything, you hold fast to that which is good. We hold fast to the genuine truth of the Word of God. We are not open to everything. There’s a terrible lack of obedience to this portion of the Word in the evangelical church today. Examine everything they think oh you’re being a nitpicker; oh you just are going to be critical. I was talked to by a group of pastors about whether I could attend their meeting and they said we don’t talk about doctrine. That’s going to be a fun meeting. Maybe they knew I had some doctrinal differences with some of them. I’d go there to let’s talk about them. They obviously had doctrinal differences. We both claim to believe the Bible, let’s talk about it. We have to examine everything. Some people say oh they’re Christians, maybe they are. Then examine everything.

Hold fast to what is good. Well, if I haven’t examined it how do I know what to hold fast to? It would be like children tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 4. I John 4:1 says test the spirits, many spirits have gone out into the world. There’s much deception going on. Examine everything and hold fast to what is good.

Abstain from every form of evil, every kind of evil, every appearance of evil. Everything evil we are to avoid. Abstain from it. Hold ourselves off from it, all kinds of evil. You’ll note, we’ve examined everything, we’re holding fast to what is good, and we’re abstaining from every form of evil. These things fit together in packages, even though there is a series of commands. They do fit together, groups of these commands. These last three do as well. As you examine everything, you hold fast to what is good and you abstain, hold yourself off from every form of evil. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah chapter 8, according to the law and the prophets. If they don’t speak according to this word, they have no light. That’s the standard. I don’t want to be part of it, it’s not Biblical, it’s not true to the Word of God. I don’t mean that they use Bible verses, I mean do they use Bible verses properly. The evangelical church is to be the pillar and support of the truth. This is where the standard ought to be upheld, the examination must be done carefully, and we ought to be a people holding on to what is truth.

Fifteen quick commands. I can look down and look at my life and say am I obeying them? Some better than others, some more consistently than others. Then I know where I have work to do. The work is immediately to do it. I start right in verse 14, what is here, and I work on. This builds our relationship together, gives it strength. We’re built on a solid foundation of God’s Word and our testimony is supported by our lives and our relationship together and in our living before and in the world.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, that we have a life-changing salvation. It is true if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. We have been made new creations in Christ. The old things have passed away and behold new things have come. We are not what we used to be, but we are new creatures in Christ, trophies of your grace, testimonies to the power of the living God applying the salvation provided by your Son to our sin-cursed hearts and lives. The result is we have been cleansed, redeemed, set free, made new. Lord, may we take the commands of your Word to heart. You know us as we are, you search our hearts and minds as we sit before you even today. Lord, may we be open to the ministry of the Spirit in our hearts and lives. May we gladly humble ourselves before you and your truth and be ready, desirous to do those things which by your grace you have called us to do and by your indwelling Spirit have enabled us to do. May our testimony personally and as a church bring honor and glory to the Savior that we love and serve. We pray in His name. Amen.