Thanksgiving, the Spiritual maintenance [1 Thes 5a]

1 Thessalonians 5:1-18

Key verses: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

Introduction:

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with a family dinner, prayers, and thanks to God. Through today’s passage, I would like to think about the place that thanksgiving should hold in our lives as God’s children. A week ago, my son sent me a big package in the mail. In it were many fruits, cakes, and other condiments. It was sent to express his thanks for me and his mother. My wife and I were very happy, because we felt his deep appreciation for what we did. Also, we knew that our son had a strong love and trust for us, along with his respect and honor. Likewise, God our Father is happy when we give thanks to Him.

Through today’s word, I would like to explore two things about thanksgiving: what it means to give thanks to God and what place should thanksgiving have in our spiritual life in Christ?
Before we proceed, I would like to ask a couple of questions: Have you ever expressed thanks to someone? What did you do to express your thanks to them? Hopefully, by the end of this message, we will find these answers.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.

“Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.. While people are saying, "Peace and safety," destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3).

Here, the day of the Lord can be taken to mean two similar concepts: a) the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus, and b) the day we die. Both of them come suddenly and unannounced. It could be tomorrow, next year, in ten years, or 100 years. One thing we know is that we do not know when it will come. His coming is like the coming of a thief - unannounced, sudden, and unexpected!

Because the time of Christ’s coming is unknown, one may think that they can take a short break, assuming that Jesus’ coming is a long time from now. The problem is that no one knows when it will happen! What does this mean? We have to maintain our spiritual integrity and must be ready at anytime to welcome Jesus. When he comes, we do not want to be found in shame! We have to be ready to welcome him anytime!

But some have wrong ideas about the day of the Lord, so they say ‘We have peace and safety.’ Take it easy and enjoy life! Can they escape from God’s judgment or shame?

It is like a laboring woman. Once the labor pain starts, the woman cannot escape from it until the baby is born! In other words, once we are caught in the day of the Lord, we cannot escape from all the pains and hardship of the coming judgment!

So what should we do?

“But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4-5).

We are people of light. Darkness has to do with two things: sin and its consequence, death. When we are under the power of sin and death, we are in darkness, but our Lord Jesus forgave all our sins and guaranteed us life in Him, now and forever. So there is no longer darkness in our lives; there is only a bright future and victory. Any mishaps, sufferings, and pains that we have should never shadow our mind with darkness, because these are only transient and our destination and victory is clear. We must live in this light now. We have to accept one thing about ourselves: that we are children of light! We are not children of darkness!

What should we do as sons of light?

“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” (1 Thessalonians 5:6-8).

Here, ‘sleep’ is referring to rest during the darkness of the night. There are many who live morally corrupt livs, keeping the old lifestyle and living according to the ways of the darkness of the night. When our Lord comes, such deeds will be put to shame.

None of us should be found in such a lifestyle as is described in Romans 1:

“They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents” (Romans 1:29-30).

Instead of giving oneself over to the sinfulness of this world, what should we, as children of light, do?

Here, we are given a strong command - “Let us be alert and self-controlled.”  

We have to be alert and self-controlled. Here, being alert means one is not sleepy or in a sleeping mood. Self-controlled means being ‘sober’ and having a right and sound mind that is able to discern any situation. What does this mean practically?

When we are alert, we are keenly aware of things that go around us; simply, we are awake and able to see and understand things. We are also to be self–controlled, which is like being sober rather than drunk. When one is sober, he is able to discern what is good or bad. In other words, we are to use our ability to discern what is good or evil, what is beneficial or not beneficial. Simply, we are to be spiritually sensitive. As God’s people, as we look for the day of the Lord, we must discern what is good acceptable in God’s eyes, and what is bad and not acceptable to Him.

We have to discern whether we should watch movies or study, read the bible and meditate on it or spend more time on video games or sports.

Not only do we need to be keenly aware of such things and discern them spiritually, we must also put them into perspective through our decision and action. This is “self-control.” In this self-control, we must reject anything that belongs to the darkness and deliberately choose what is good and right. We do not follow the world’s desires or the desires of the flesh, with which we are born.

How can we control our desires?

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:8.

“But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” (1 Thessalonians 5:8).

There are three things that characterize the one who is self-controlled that we are to use, exercise, and seek in our spiritual lives: faith, love, and hope.

Faith is  our belief that Jesus paid for all our sins on the cross, by giving his own life. In this way, he bought us to be his own; we are not our own, but his. Since Jesus paid for our sins with his life, we should never go back to the things and sins that controlled our lives in the past. In this faith, sin has no power over us.

The next thing we are to hold to is love. Love breeds love in all circumstances, but hate breeds hate. The love that Jesus showed us by giving his own life is the source of our comfort and trust. His love  must be the driving force in our lives. When we are in His love, we can love others; his love must be at the heart of our mind and spirit.

The last characteristic of a self-controlled person is hope. When we are certain of what is yet to come, we never sway in our decisions. Our hope is in God’s kingdom. What does this passage say about hope?

Overall, we see a clear difference between the people of light and people of darkness. For us, as people of light, we must use three things: faith, love, and hope. Have you applied any of these today? Apply faith whenever trouble comes! Apply hope, apply love! See what happens!

Why should this be?

“For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9-10).

As been said here, Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection are the foundation for all three characteristics that we are to have—faith, love, and hope.

How can this be practically applied to our life among believers?

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11-15).

There is a wide range of people; from those who work hard to those who are lazy or idle. In between, are the weak, timid, and slow… we must learn to commend, encourage, urge, help, and be patient with everyone in love.

As we see here, there are many difficulties, disagreements, and problems, even in and among the children of light! What should we do?

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).  

These three are the maintenance program for the Christian life. They are not to be practiced just one time, but always, continually, and in all circumstances. Simply, these three are to be the lifestyle and basic tone of our mindset as children of God.

Joy is to be the basic mood of our Christian life because God saved us, gave us everything, and enables us to look forward to a great time in coming days. So there should not be any sadness, or gloom, but instead we should be looking forward to something good, bright, and victorious. When a man of faith was dying, many members of his family gathered around him with sadness and sorrow; however, this man commanded them not to cry or be sad, but to rejoice. He was going ahead of them to a better place — the kingdom of God. Even the threat of death cannot take away our joy!

Prayer is what we are to do about whatever our situation is now. Our present is filled with all kinds of hardship, pains, and problems of life that may be unexplainable, unbearable, and impossible to handle… all of these seem to threaten our assurance for the coming victory, hope, and bright future we have in the coming kingdom …. But how are we to handle all of these things?? It is through prayer…

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7).

How are we to handle troubles in our lives?

Give thanks in all circumstances — this is said, not about time, but rather about circumstances and particular occasions; many circumstances seem to be unique and warrant particular consideration. In such consideration, one can justify anger, rage, bitterness, cursing, and even rejection of God.

What is the worst circumstance that you have faced in the past? Loss of parents or a dear family member? Terminal illness? A tragic death of a young man? Are these terrible circumstance warrants bitterness, sorrow and grudge against God? But no matter how the particular occasion one might be worse, this is never a time for one to express his emotions and angers in unbelief.

Whatever we have and whatever we are, all of it is from God, granted by His grace and love! Moreover, when God chose each of us to be His child, He appointed us to dwell in His kingdom. Whatever hardships we have are just temporary setbacks to fulfilling His goodness and righteousness. How much more we are to be thankful for?

When Adam and Even did not give thanks, they were enticed by Satan and eventually rebelled against God! Hearts filled with ungratefulness are the hot bed for pride and arrogance against God.

But thankfulness is the sum of all of our attitudes toward God. Who is God to me? What do I believe about Him? Do I trust Him? Do I honor His justice and goodness? The answer to these questions is expressed in one thing: thankfulness.

Let’s give thanks to God both now and in all circumstances.

May God bless us through the richness of His grace!

Happy Thanksgiving!