Always - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
November 26, 2023 • Josh Ausfahl • 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18
Introduction: Good morning. Many of you know who I am, but some of you may be trying to figure me out. So from the outset, I am Joshua Ausfahl. I recently began attending this church in September. I am the last full-time pastor of Baker Creek Bible Church serving from Sep 1 2016 to Aug 31 2021. Since my resignation, we had an interim pastor for 6 months and have had people speaking including several from this church in the last year. In a complete shock to me, the elders here decided in October to ask me to preach this morning. They believed that it would helpful for you to know who I am and it would also be a wonderful gesture to our Baker Creek people. You’ll have to forgive them for being in shock right. I kept my speaking as a surprise, so some are hyperventilating. I would just ask that you keep the surprise intact for those in second service who are also from Baker Creek.
There are several other questions you have about me and a few I will answer this morning. But I want to be clear: My first and foremost mandate this morning is to bring forth the truth of the Word of God. My life passion is to let the Word of God speak for itself. Any questions of my life that are answered will be as illustrations of 1 Thess. 5:16-18.
Let’s pray and dive into the passage. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (CSB):
Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Context: As we parachute into the text, let’s briefly look at the whole chapter for context. At the start of 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul clears up confusion regarding the readers’ understanding of the Day of the Lord. The Day has not yet come as some had thought, so Paul then exhorts the Thessalonian believers to live as children of the light, not as those of the darkness for whom the Day of the Lord is designed.
Then to clarify what it looks like to live as children of light, Paul gives multiple exhortations from 5:12-22. The first commands from 5:12-15 have instructions toward ‘others,’ dealing with our regard of pastors, highlighting interactions with members of the congregation and to those in less-than-ideal circumstances, and seeking the pursuit of good instead of evil in others. You can hear it in the text of 1 Thess. 5:12-15:
Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
The next three verses (back to 5:16-18 on screen) involve a shift. First, there is a shift from a focus toward others to a focus on self. People aren’t mentioned in our text. Second, there is a clear thread of timing that unites these three imperatives--some form of the word ‘always.’ Thus the ‘who’ from 5:12-14 is replaced by the ‘when’ of 5:16-18. The timing
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words are ‘always,’ ‘constantly,’ and ‘in everything.’ Paul’s clear emphasis for the reader is to be always doing these three things. Not sometimes. Not when they feel like it. Always.
In fact, this ‘always’ concept is so important to Paul that in the original language each of these words for ‘always’ starts the verse! Proper English prefers to have the imperative start the sentence then follow with the adverb ‘always’ so our word order is different. Btw, for the record, the Russian translation does place the ‘always’ first in verse 16: always rejoice, but not in the other verses. So, some of you can brag that the Russian translation is better than English. But I digress…
But friends, it is not as simple as rejoice always, pray constantly, give thinks in everything. And we close the Bible go off home. We need to recognize that the task of ‘always’ is difficult. For example, it might be easy to rejoice when life seems good, but not when life is difficult. On the flip side, we seem to pray most when life is difficult, but much less when life is smooth. And giving thanks can be absent altogether because we forget to thank God for that prayer for help! ‘Sometimes’ we can do. Always is almost impossible.
Transition: So let’s gain some insight into what we are to always do. (1 Thess 5:16)
Principle #1: Always rejoice
A. Timing of always
Explanation: ‘Always’ was introduced to this section in the verse before in the pursuit of what is good for another. This first synonym of ‘always’ literally means ‘all then.’ You rejoice then. All of the thens. “When?” You might ask. Well…Then! And then! And then! ALL of them thens! Every ‘then’ out there in your life! The past then, the now then, the future then! All then or in English always, rejoice.
Illustration: For Paul the ‘then’ is fascinating. Paul wrote this to the Thessalonians from Corinth, in a city where God had promised him that no one would attack him to harm him (Acts 18:9-11). Pretty easy to tell people rejoice in that scenario! But as a striking example 7 years later, Paul writes an identical mandate from prison in Phil. 4:4--Rejoice in the Lord always. For Paul the situation didn’t matter. He always rejoiced. Always.
Transition: But what does ‘rejoice’ entail?
B. Defining rejoice
Explanation: Fortunately, Pastor Andrey did all the work for me on this when he spoke in April on joy from James 1:2-4. Since all of you always take great notes of sermons and always remember every word that is spoken from the pulpit, I have no need to refresh your memory, right? Awkward silence…
But just in case even one of you might be fuzzy or were absent, I’ll review his pertinent points on joy. In James 1:2-4 it says to consider trials a great joy when you experience them. Pastor Andrey highlighted that trials will come to us. And he posited the question: Am I supposed to just smile and laugh when terrible things are
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happening in my life? His answer was spot on: “James is not talking about how we are to feel but more specifically how we are to think about our situation. How you feel about your situation stems from how we think about it. Our emotions are the product of our interpretation of our situation--not the direct cause of the situation.”
Explanation: That gets to the heart of rejoicing vs. being happy: Rejoicing is not caused by events or circumstances but occurs in spite of situations. Being happy is driven by events. Maybe that’s why they call it Happy Birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy New Year.
Rejoicing is motivated by knowledge, thinking but the emotions may or may not come along for the ride. Being happy is driven by feelings with at best a little knowledge sprinkled in.
Rejoicing is God-focused--a recognition that God sovereignly allowed each and every event whether good, bad or trial for a specific purpose. Being happy is too often self-focused, because it is based on my feelings about circumstances. If I like what’s happening, I’m glad. If I don’t, I’m sad or mad.
To clarify, it is not wrong to be happy. After all, God does not want Christians walking around as Eyores or glum, miserable people although as James said last week there are times when our joy needs to be turned to gloom. But if the life God gives us never brings us the emotions of laughter and smiles, why should anyone be a Christian?
• You should be ecstatic about the ways God provides for you as His child even in difficult times!
• You should be overjoyed at how he threads together pieces of your life into one grand masterpiece even when it hurts.
• You should be bubbling over and thoroughly excited about our salvation even though it causes loss!
• You should be the happiest people on earth because you have been chosen to have a relationship with the King of the Universe! (PAUSE) But not because you feel it. But because you think it. You know it. You have joy in the reality that God is arranging and directing every aspect for His greatest glory and our greatest good. That’s why you can always rejoice and then happiness often comes along for the ride.
Application: Again when all is going well, it’s not difficult to rejoice, to acknowledge God is in control working all things out. Smiles and laughter are often experienced in those good times as well.
But it’s in the tough times, that rejoicing always can be hard. Thoughts comes in our minds: Are you really in control God? But this is painful! It doesn’t feel good God! Can this stop? And at that moment, when you can’t put a smile on your face because you hurt so deep…
• you still rejoice for your mind knows that God is sovereignly working all things together for good even when you can’t understand it or see the end • you still have joy because God has entrusted you and you alone with this trial to mature your character like James says.
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• you still rejoice at the opportunity God has given you to be a witness to the world how to go through difficult times with God as your guide.
Illustration: In May 2004 when my wife and I said goodbye to both sets of our parents to go to South Africa as missionaries, we all attempted to pursue joy in the midst of great tears.
o Not because we were happily ripping away their only grandchild from their sight for years.
o Not because happily we wouldn’t see each other for several years. o Not because crying was our favorite past time or hobby
But because we knew God was divinely directing us to serve him in South Africa for what would ultimately become 12 years developing youth ministries and teaching in a Bible college for His glory and His kingdom. It hurt to be away at times like this week of Thanksgiving and then Christmas. It wasn’t easy to pursue joy week in and week out missing the familiar life in America while in South Africa.
Did we succeed at rejoicing all the time? Nope! We failed early and often. 6 weeks into our time in South Africa, when my one-year-old son Josiah was in the hospital twice as a 1 year old and I was very sick at home and couldn’t even see him, there was no rejoicing. I wondered: Why did God bring us out here? I wanted to go back to America on a medical leave. God got us through that and others. And over those 12 years in South Africa, not only did we get a little bit better at rejoicing, we found lots of happiness too because we were serving King Jesus.
Application: So…
• When your car doesn’t start…
• When your washing machine or water heater springs a leak and floods your house…
• When your children are yelling for the thousandth time…
• When a terminal diagnosis strikes you or a family member…
• When you don’t get a good enough raise at work or when people aren’t asking you to do work for them or your job is eliminated…
• When your spouse won’t listen and empathize with your hard day… For all those whens, then you rejoice. Always. God has got the whole world in His hands including those difficult times. You are His child and those trials are opportunities for you to rejoice and let God shine through your life.
Transition: Paul moves from always rejoice to always pray. (1 Thess 5:17)
Principle #2: Always pray
A. Timing of constantly
Explanation: This ‘always’ word is ‘constantly’ for it has the sense of continually, without intermission. without ceasing. Literally, it means ‘without gap.’ What’s fascinating is that this adverb only shows up 3 other times also connected to prayer:
• Rom. 1:9-10--God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in telling the good news about his Son—that I constantly mention you, always asking in
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my prayers that if it is somehow in God’s will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
• 1 Thess. 1:2--We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.
• 1 Thess. 2:13--This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.
Now you might be saying to yourself, does this mean I have to pray without doing anything else? So we just stop eating, drinking, sleeping, work and school and pray 24 hours a day kinda like monks or nuns? No! The idea is that fundamentally in all
situations, we should have an attitude of prayer, a mindset of needing God. Our default in any circumstance should bt to run to God for guidance and help, not to trust our own instincts, gut, wisdom, strengths and life experience. Always pray.
B. Defining
Explanation: This word for ‘pray’ is a generic, all-encompassing word for prayer. At the core, it’s any wish, request or a desire made toward God. Since it is constantly, continually, without ceasing, one is to always seek God’s face through all the events of life whether special or mundane, whether small or large.
Application:
• God, help me compassionately deal with this child who won’t stop crying! • God, how do I react to this cutting statement my coworker just made? • God, how do I respond to this driver that just cut me off?
• Hey there’s my friend driving down the road. God, I pray that s/he would be a light for you today!
• God, I lack wisdom in this trial I’m in. Could you give me some? • God, I pray for that person in line in front of me that they may come to know you if they don’t know you, and if they do they would grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• God, I pray for the person the ambulance and fire truck tearing down that road that this incident might bring them to a greater knowledge of you. • God, help me to put my wife before myself when I come home from work. • God, help me not to dump all the children on my husband when he comes home.
• Oh God, Jehovah Witnesses just showed up to my door, what do I say? • God, I want to rejoice always and pray constantly, can you help me? • Or my favorite one: God, help!
You have the idea. Constantly, as you walk through life, you are expressing to God your desires, asking for help no matter whether the situation. It’s an area that I have to work on constantly but especially about 3.5 years ago at the start of 2020.
Illustration: While everyone else was navigating this COVID disease, I had the added challenge of my wife changing her worldview. She had grown up in a
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Christian home and went to church faithfully. She attended Word of Life Bible Institute and then did a semester at a Bible college for a year. When we married, she was able to fulfil her dream of being a youth pastor’s wife at her home church. She steadfastly served alongside of me as a missionary having a huge impact on the lives of the girls in our youth ministry. She served wherever needed as a pastor’s wife. But as 2020 came, something changed. Fundamentally, she believed she had failed God beyond reconciliation.
• She didn’t believe she was right with God according to Phil. 3:9 where Paul talks about considering all as loss so she began gave away almost all that she had from possessions to clothes.
• Driven by the guilt she had failed to witness in the past when God nudged her and 2 Tim. 3:12 that says all who live a godly life will be persecuted, she spent countless hours witnessing in our neighborhood that spring. She stopped partly because there was no persecution.
• She left home twice in that summer wandering around Bellingham attempting to fulfil Mark 10:29-30 where Mark says that a person leaving houses, brothers, sisters, or mother or father or fields for my sake will receive 100fold more and eternal life.
I had no clue what to do especially walking around Bellingham trying to find her on those times she too off. I think everyone else had ideas for me, but what was right? Which was God’s path? How do you walk through this? God, help! Why is this happening? How do I tell my boys? (PAUSE) I was forced into praying without ceasing because of tragedy. But that’s how it should be even in the best of times. Always praying should be your phone dialed to heaven and never hanging up. Always pray.
Transition: Now Paul gives his last always (1 Thess. 5:18)
Principle #3: Always give thanks
A. Defining
Explanation: I will define first because the giving thanks is obvious and has no nuances. It is the expression of gratitude for what has been done by God or someone else.
B. Timing
Explanation: Literally, ‘in all.’ In everything. And like rejoice, giving thanks is easy when times are good. We were overflowing with thanks to God this week for our families, homes, jobs, possessions, church…
But how about giving thanks when times are hard?
Illustration: I have a friend who is thankful her husband had a stroke since because it brought her closer to God and to her husband.
Illustration: Betsie, with her sister of Corrie Ten Boom who wrote The Hiding Place was imprisoned in a flea infested concentration camp in WW2. Corrie stated: there’s
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no way even God can make me grateful for a flea. Over time they came to the realization that the guards would not enter such a flea infested barracks. They began to thank God for the fleas because they had freedom to read and discuss the Bible in a place where Bibles were banned.
Application: Totally hypothetical, but imagine you were in a church where children were fussing during the message. Maybe one is really balling or shrieking. For some, it might be an opportunity to get frustrated or complain. But no! isn’t it great to have young children in the church? Isn’t it wonderful they have the ability to
communicate instead of being mute? Aren’t you grateful you have the ability to hear them at all???
Explanation: Yet, I think its critical that Paul says ‘in’ and not ‘for everything.’ I’m convinced we given things in any situation, but I’m not convinced that we are to give thanks for everything. Can we be thankful for sins and evil crimes? Holocaust? 9/11? War in Ukraine and Israel? Murder? Divorce? Adultery? Should I be thankful for the fact that my wife wrongfully moved out of my house about three years ago just because I follow God’s direction to teach the Bible? I doubt it.
Quote: John Stott in his commentary on Ephesians1 says: We cannot thank God for…blatant evil…that a husband should praise God for his wife’s adultery and a wife for her husband’s drunkenness; and that even the most appalling calamities of life should become subjects for thanksgiving and praise. Such a suggestion is at best a dangerous half-truth, and a worst ludicrous, even blasphemous. Of course, God’s children learn not to argue with him in their suffering, but to trust him, and indeed to thank him for his loving providence by which he can turn even evil to good purposes (e.g. Rom. 8:28). But that is praising God for being God; it is not praising him for evil. To do this would be to react insensitively to people’s pain (when Scripture calls us to weep with those who weep) and to condone and even encourage evil (when Scripture tells us to hate it and resist the devil). God abominates evil, and we cannot praise or thank him for what he abominates.
Explanation: I will contend we need to do a better job of thanking God for and in the tough situations we do not like, but when we get close to the line of sin, our focus might simple be just in the challenging circumstance.
Application: So the girl in my class who’s parents are going through divorce should focus on areas she can be thankful for in spite of divorce that God hates.
Illustration: I didn’t want to leave South Africa over 7 years ago to be a senior pastor. I didn’t want to resign the pastorate over 2 years ago because I couldn’t shepherd the church properly with my wife in her state. But I’m so thankful that I have opportunities to impact the lives of 83 middle schoolers every. single. weekday. No church affords that opportunity. In November alone, I have shared the
1 “Ephesians” The Bible Speaks Today, pg. 207.
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gospel twice to one Math class. I have shared the gospel to another individual in another class highlighting whether he is actually a Christian. Wow. Even though I cannot thank God for my wife living away from our family in her wrong, I can definitely find ways to thank God in the trial.
Application: Find ways to give thanks in every situation especially the horrible events for that will keep you from bitterness and resentment toward God and toward others.
Conclusion: For this will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
A. Will of God
Explanation: Romans 12:2 tells us to renew our minds to discern the perfect will of God. Ephesians 5:17 commands us to understand the will of Lord. Paul prays in Col. 1:9 that those believers be filled with the knowledge of His will. But where in Scripture does it come right out and say: The will of God is… in very few places2 but this is the clearest. So if you have wanted to know what the will of God is: Always rejoice. Always pray. Always give thanks.
B. In Christ Jesus (Greek puts this first)
Explanation: You cannot do the will of God without Christ Jesus. This morning if you have not repented of all your sins and placed your total faith in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross to pay for the eternal penalty of your sin and believed that he
rose again to give eternal life, please talk to one of the elders of the church this morning.
C. For you
Explanation: This is directed to you. And you. And you. The will of God is simply this: always rejoice, always pray, always give thanks. Not rejoicing and giving thanks when its only easy. Not just praying when its hard. Always.
Application Questions:
1. Am I always rejoicing or just when life feels good? Is my rejoicing motivated by my understanding that God is working for His greatest glory and my greatest good? 2. Am I always praying for guidance constantly or do I come to God as a last resort when I am at my wit’s end and my strategies cannot bail me out?
3. Am I giving thanks in every situation I encounter or merely the ones where it is easy and comfortable?
Let’s pray.
2 1 Thess. 4:3-This is the will of God, your holiness. 1 Pet. 2:15--by doing good you should silence the ignorance of people.
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