"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Part 1
Today: Personal Command for Believers – Continual Rejoicing
As Paul is teaching believers about Christian life, he shares three personal commands with God’s children.
“These exhortations—dealing with attitudes—are addressed to believers as individuals concerning their personal lives before God” [1] (BKC).
The first command is to –
“Rejoice evermore.”
This command is easy to understand, but it is not always easy to do. Due to our lack of faith and sinfulness, we may make this harder to obey than we ought to.
“… Paul knew human nature well enough to sense the need for a reminder to rejoice at all times…. This is a command. A Christian’s joy does not spring from his circumstances, but from the blessings that are his because he is in Christ” [2] (BKC).
“Christians have grounds for joy in both their experience of salvation and their hope of what God will do in the future…” [3] (NBC).
But despite everything God provides for us, some Christians seem to not get this message and always seem to be depressed and tend to drag down the spirits of other believers.
“Every church family has its Doubting Thomas or its Gloomy Gus. To see them and listen to them is like witnessing an autopsy or diving into a cold lake on a winter’s day. God wants His family to be happy, and that means that each member must contribute to the joy.” [4] (Wiersbe).
“The Christian who remains in sadness and depression really breaks a commandment: in some direction or other he mistrusts God—His power, providence, forgiveness” [5] (BKC).
In short, to not be rejoicing for the believer is to sin. When our circumstances seem to come in and bury us, we must keep our focus on our God and his love for us. God’s Word helps us to look beyond our circumstances to God and His graciousness to us. Christians can be seen rejoicing through all kinds of situations and hardships that they must deal with in their lives.
Rejoicing in salvation –
“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).
Rejoicing in God’s kingdom –
“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17).
Rejoicing in persecutions –
“Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12).
“And to him, they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:40-41).
“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer” (Romans 12:12).
Rejoicing in trials and life’s problems –
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2).
Rejoicing when life is hard –
“As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Corinthians 6:10).
Rejoicing in Jesus…
“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe” (Philippians 3:1).
“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).
“For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
“To rejoice always is to see the hand of God in whatever is happening and to remain certain of God’s future salvation. Without such conviction, joy would not be possible in the face of affliction, suffering, and death” [6] (Charles A. Wanamaker).
Believers search God’s Word and see why we always rejoice in the Lord. Come back tomorrow when we look at the believers’ command to pray.
Quote: “He is our joy and our happiness, even as He is our peace. He is life; he is everything. So avoid the incitements and the temptations of Satan to give feelings this great prominence at the center. Put at the center the only One who has a right to be there, the Lord of Glory, Who so loved you that He went to the Cross and bore the punishment and the shame of your sins and died for you. Seek Him, seek His face, and all other things shall be added unto you” [7] (Martyn Lloyd-Jones).
[1] BKC, Constable, T. L. (1985). 1 Thessalonians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 708–709). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] BKC, ibid.
[3] NBC, Marshall, I. H. (1994). 1 Thessalonians. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st-century edition (4th ed., p. 1284). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, pp. 188–189). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] BKC, ibid. Mason’s quote is borrowed from, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, in Ellicott’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, vol. 8, p. 145).
[6] CSB, Davis, J. F. (2017). 1 Thessalonians. In E. A. Blum & T. Wax (Eds.), CSB Study Bible: Notes (p. 1908). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Lloyd-Jones’ quote downloaded: November 3, 2021. From: https://lookingupward.org/2020/04/23/10-encouraging-quotes-on-biblical-joy/. This is from his book Spiritual Depression.