Eternal Encouragement - 1&2 Thessalonians
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
July 6, 2025 :: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28
Do you want to know God’s will for your life?
Careful how you answer that. Sometimes we say we want to know what God’s will is for us, but we really don’t. We only want to know God’s will for us if it’s also our will for us, right?
“Well, give me a peek, and then I’ll decide.”
But when we are at our best, all Christians do want to know God’s will for our lives. I have Christians ask me all the time to pray with them to discover God’s particular will for them.
“What job should I pursue?
Whom should I marry?
Should I sell my car?
Am I doing the right thing here?
What is God’s will for me?”
Those are really good questions to ask and to ask God to answer. Most of the time, the particular answers are not in the Bible. This book does not say whether or not you should sell your car, or marry that guy or gal, or take that particular job.
But every once in a while, the Bible comes out and directly says, “This is God’s will for you.” This is what God wants you to be and to do. And to not do!
And when it says that, we should sit up and pay attention.
In verse 18, the Apostle Paul writes, “This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” There is no question about this. God wills it for the Church of the Thessalonians and, by extension, to the Free Church at Lanse. So we better sit up and pay attention.
We said last time that Paul has not changed the subject. In this last section of his letter, he’s still talking about how we should live in light of the return of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is coming back soon. We don’t know when, and it’s better that way. We don’t need to know when it’s happening. We need to know that it’s happening and that it’s happening for us. We need to know Who we are and where we’re headed.
We are Children of the Day, and we are headed for salvation. We are not Children of the Night, and we are not headed for wrath. We are Children of the Day and we are headed for salvation when Jesus Christ returns so that we are together with the Lord forever.
And so we wait in active patience. We patiently wait in faithful, hopeful, active love.
Remember that? How do you get ready for the return of Jesus Christ?
Three things: Faith, love, and hope. Faith, love, and hope. Every day, putting on the body armor of faith and love, and the helmet of the hope of salvation.
In the last section (verses 12-15), Paul double-clicked on the idea of love. He said that we need to love our church leaders and our church family and even our enemies.
And now, in verse 16, he turns to loving our God. Listen to verses 16 through 18 again:
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I have three points to summarize our passage for today, and here’s the first one:
#1. BE FULLY HAPPY IN CHRIST JESUS.
This is God’s will for you! Be fully happy in Christ Jesus.
The thing that jumped out at me the most as I studied this passage for this week was all times that the word “all” appeared in all these verses. Or some variation of the word “all.”
You see it in these 3 short verses: “always, continually, all circumstances.”
There’s a globalness, a fullness to these commands. It’s not partial. It’s not limited. It’s not half-hearted. It’s whole-hearted. And here it’s whole-hearted happiness.
“Be joyful always.”
That sounds so good, but it is so hard to do. It’s hard to rejoice all the time, isn’t it? Because there are so many things against us. We have enemies–the world, the flesh, and the devil. We have problems. We have struggles. We have difficulties. We are broken people living in a broken world. There is much to be sad about.
And guess what? The Bible is not saying that we should never be sad. Or mad. The Apostle Paul was sad and mad at times. The Lord Jesus Christ was sad and mad at times. God wants us to be sad and mad at the appropriate times, but He also wants us to be glad all. the. time.
“Be joyful always.” The King James says, “Rejoice evermore.”
Under and above and through all of the other emotions and attitudes that we have, there should be a deep and abiding joy. Not just a fleeting happiness that is dependent on happy circumstances, but a deep happiness that is derived from eternal blessedness.
“Be joyful always.” Because we always have something to be joyful about!
The Apostle Paul didn’t just say to do this, but he did it himself, didn’t he? Paul was a model of this.
Just a few months before he wrote this, Paul was in prison with his teammate Silas. He was imprisoned in Philippi, less than a hundred miles from Thessalonica. You can read about it Acts chapter 16.
Paul was not a criminal. He hadn’t done anything wrong. He was just preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and rescuing people from demonic oppression. And a crowd attacked him, and he got arrested, and they beat him. They flogged him severely. And they tossed him in prison.
And you know what he and Silas did that night in prison? Well, they probably cried. They probably felt sad and mad at the pain and injustice. But what Luke tells us in Acts 16 is that they sang in their prison cells!
They were glad! The rejoiced. They sang in prison.
Maybe something like:
“Though sometimes He leads thru waters deep
Trials fall across the way,
Thoough sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
See His footprints all the way...” [Luther B Bridgers]
“Be joyful always!” This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Are you singing in your prison? Is there within your heart a melody in all of life’s ebb and flow?
“Be joyful always!” This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Now, just because we are rejoicing doesn’t mean that things are as they should be and that we shouldn’t be doing something to change how things are. And one of the key ways we do that is to ask God to change things. Verse 17 says, “Pray continually.”
That means to keep on praying all the time. To ask for things and not give up.
Interestingly, all of these commands are plural. This is something we’re supposed to do together. We’re supposed to pray for one another and keep on praying for one another.
I don’t think that Paul envisions us all mumbling all the time. The Lord Jesus said that we aren’t supposed to just mindlessly babble our prayers.
And I don’t think that Paul is asking us to get on our knees and never get up. Whatever he means has to fit withing the active loving working lifestyle that he also tells us to do in this letter. But I do think that he’s saying that we should have an attitude of prayer all of the time.
I like think of it as like the speaker mode on your phone. When you get up in the morning, you dial the Lord and then you “hit speaker” and talk to Him all day long. He’s listening all the time anyway, right? Why not talk to Him? We should be relating to the Lord all the day long. Telling Him our needs. Telling Him our desires. Bringing Him our problems. Confessing our sins. Lifting up our concerns and cares. And not just ours but our family’s, our church family’s, our community’s, our nations.
“Pray continually.” This is God’s will for you! Are you praying?
Paul did this one, too, didn’t he? Remember back in chapter 1 when he wrote them, “We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually [same word!] remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:2-3).
Paul never stopped praying for them, and he asks them to never stop praying, as well. And while praying continually, they were supposed to thank God continually. Look again at verse 18.
“...give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Now, notice that it doesn’t say that we have to give thanks for all circumstances. We do not have to love everything that befalls us.
But at the same time, it does say that whatever befalls us, we can be grateful. We can (and should) give thanks no matter what. Why? Because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Now, that phrase, “in Christ Jesus” is very important. It means that this command to give thanks (and to rejoice always and to pray continually) comes from the very highest authority. It comes from Jesus Christ Himself Who has all authority in heaven and in earth. We need to do this. This is God’s will for us!
But I think it means more than that.
I think it also means that we find in Christ Jesus the power to obey these commands.
Because we are in Christ Jesus, we have every reason to rejoice.
Because we are in Christ Jesus, we have all access to pray before throne of God above.
Because we are in Christ Jesus, we have every reason to give thanks!
I’ve been processing some hard things recently. People I love are going through very difficult times. I’ve gotten some bad news that I have to work through. I see a lot going on in my country and my world that troubles me.
And it’s easy to get down about those things. And it’s okay to be sad and mad (in the right way). But I was reminded this week that this is God’s will for me:
To give thanks in all circumstances.
Because in all circumstances there is always something to be thankful for. Just think what we can be thankful for, no matter what:
We are saved!
We are children of the day!
We are not destined for wrath but for salvation!
Jesus Christ “died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him” (1 Thess. 5:10).
“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).
Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Because of Christ Jesus, we can be fully happy all the day.
And not just fully happy but fully holy. This is God’s will for you:
#2. BE FULLY HOLY IN CHRIST JESUS.
In verses 19 through 22, Paul urges the Thessalonians to practice discernment. He wants them to make wise choices about what they hear and what they do with what they hear.
Listen to these verses again. He’s still giving these little short staccato instructions. Verse 19.
“Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”
You can tell that Paul wants them to be careful with how they live their lives. He wants them to be holy. They are to “Hold on to the good” and to “Avoid every kind of evil.” And that means being able to tell the difference between the two.
“Test everything.” Being holy takes discernment.
Paul starts in verse 19 with the instruction, “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.”
Or probably better to say, “Do not quench the Spirit” (because we can’t put out the fire of the Holy Spirit!). The word for “quench” means to “stifle” or “extinguish” or “suppress” a fire or a light. And the Holy Spirit is pictured as both a fire and a light elsewhere in Scripture, so this is a call to not resist the work of the Holy Spirit in their church family.
Don’t do something (don’t do anything) that resists the work of the Holy Spirit to make you all holy!
For example, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you of some sin in your life–perhaps joylessness or prayerlessness or ungratefulness (the opposite of verses 16 through 18), then don’t ignore that conviction! Don’t stuff it down. Don’t put your fingers in your ears. “Don’t quench the Spirit.”
Is there something that you know is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus that you are actively rejecting?
“Not right now, Spirit. I don’t have time to work on that right now. Life is hard. Leave me alone.”
Paul says, “Don’t do that. Do not try to put out the Spirit’s fire. He wants to make you holy. Let Him!"
Last week, Jim Panaggio told us about how the Holy Spirit is in the business of transforming us into the image of Christ. He’s making us more and more like Jesus. Don’t try to get in His way!
Paul says in verse 20, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt.”
The Holy Spirit was trying to speak to the Thessalonians through prophecies, and Paul says, “Do not put your fingers in your ears.”
Now, I don’t think these prophecies were Old Testaments prophecies like Jeremiah or Daniel. And I don’t think they were New Testament Apostolic prophecies like the book of Revelation or what Paul predicted in chapter 4.
In New Testament times before the Scriptures were completed, the Holy Spirit sent words of “strengthening, encouragement and comfort” through prophecies given to church members (see 1 Cor. 14:3). You can read about that in the Book of Acts and especially 1 Corinthians chapter 14.
Paul taught the Corinthians that those prophecies needed to be carefully “weighed” (see 1 Cor 14:29).
In verse 21, he says, “Test everything.”
The Thessalonians were not supposed to be gullible and fall for everything that came down the pike under the name “prophecy.” Notice that word “everything.” There’s that “all” word again! “Test everything.”
But even though they weren’t supposed gullible, they also weren’t supposed to be cynical. God was still speaking to them, and they needed to stay open to the Holy Spirit and not treat prophecies with disdain and contempt.
Now, Christians today disagree on whether or not God still sends prophecies now like He did then before the canon of Scripture was completed.
If He does, they need to be carefully tested when they come. Are they compatible with the Scriptures? Do they properly glorify the Lord Jesus Christ? Because the Holy Spirit is all about glorifying Jesus and never detracting from Him. Do they strengthen, encourage, and comfort? Do they help us to become holy or do they bend us in the wrong direction?
“Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”
When we get to 2 Thessalonians, we’re going learn that some people were prophesying in Paul’s name[!] that the day of the Lord had already come (see 2 Thess 2:2). Which was a flat-out lie. And if believed, it was going to do all kind of damage to the spiritual lives and holiness of God’s people in Thessalonica.
That kind of prophecy needed to be avoided at all costs. And there is a lot of that kind of “prophecy” out there in the world today. Beware. Test everything.
But notice that Paul does not say, “Because prophecy can go wrong, we should avoid it all together.”
No, he actually said, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt.” Just test everything. And that’s true whether or not the Holy Spirit still sends prophecies in the exact same way that He did in the first century. Regardless of that, the Holy Spirit is still speaking to us today, and we need to listen. We just need to listen with discernment.
We need to pray continually and we need to search the Scriptures diligently to test everything we hear.
And that includes everything you hear from me in this pulpit! In Acts 17, after Paul left Thessalonica in the middle of the night, he and his team went to a little town called “Berea.”
And he planted a church there, but the Bereans never took Paul’s word all by itself. Luke says that the Bereans were “noble...for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11).
Now, if they had to do that with the Apostle Paul, then you need to do it even more when it’s me!
“Test everything.” Including Pastor Matt’s teaching.
That’s why we need to study our Bibles and know our Bibles. That’s why we have Family Bible Week because we don’t just listen to our spiritual leaders (though we learned in verses 12 and 13 that they are supposed to work hard at admonishing us).
But we also need to check on everything they teach.
“Test everything.” Why? So that people feel tested? No, so we know what is good and we do that. V.21
“Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”
There’s another “ALL” word. “Every kind of evil.” Avoid it. Run from it. Abstain from it. Let go of it. “Avoid every kind of evil.” Be fully holy! This is God’s will for you.
Paul is sure of that, and he even prays for it. In verse 23, Paul switches from commands to prayers. He gives a benediction or a blessing where he writes out his prayer for the Thessalonians.
And it’s a prayer for total holiness. Look at verse 23.
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
What a beautiful prayer. How encouraging that must have been for the Thessalonians to read! Because they might have been daunted by the call to “Test everything...[and]...avoid every kind of evil.” That’s hard to do. So Paul prays that God Himself would make them holy!
That’s what it means to “sanctify.” That’s the word we use to mean “holy-fy.” To sanctify something means to set it apart as holy.
And Paul prays that God Himself would make them holy.
How holy? “Through and through.” ESV says, “Completely.” NASB says, “Entirely.” Those are “ALL” words, aren’t they?
He goes on pray, “May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” There’s another “ALL” word. “Whole.”
And he includes the spirit, the soul, and the body, not because we are made of three parts, but to say every part of us. Paul prays that every single part of us would be kept or protected blameless for that coming day when Jesus Christ returns.
There He goes again, talking about the Lord’s return! Paul prays that God Himself would make them fully holy on the day that Jesus Christ comes back for His people. “Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
And here’s the most encouraging verse in this entire section. Verse 24.
“The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
There’s “eternal encouragement” for you! The Apostle Paul says that God Himself is trustworthy, and He Himself will make them holy.
That must have been so encouraging for them to read. And it is for us, too, right?
This is God’s will for you:
#3. BE FULLY HOPEFUL IN CHRIST JESUS.
We don’t have to save ourselves. We don’t have to sanctify ourselves. Not ultimately.
It is God's will for us, and it is God's work in us that saves us and sanctifies and makes us holy.
Our hope is not our own efforts. Our hope is the One who calls us to all of this. Yes, He’s calling us live this way, and it’s not easy. It’s not easy to be fully happy in Christ Jesus. We have reason to be sad or mad and not just glad. It’s not easy to be fully holy in Christ Jesus. It’s hard to avoid every kind of evil.
But ultimately, it’s not up to us. It’s up to the One calling us to accomplish it in us.
And “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
Put your hope in Him.
Put your hope in His work.
Put your hope in His faithfulness.
Put your hope in His return.
Earlier in the service, we proclaimed our unity in Article 9 of our statement of faith. “We believe in the personal, bodily, and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission.”
He is our hope! We fully hope in Him.
In the last four verses, Paul has a few final requests to make of the Thessalonians.
First he asks for prayer. Verse 25.
“Brothers [and sisters], pray for us.”
While they are praying continually, Paul asks that they pray for him and his team in particular. He prays for them. He asks that they make it mutual.
And he wants them to greet each other. Verse 26.
“Greet all the brothers [and sisters] with a holy kiss.”
Make sure it’s holy! This is a sign of family love. Treat each other like the spiritual family that we are with culturally appropriate signs of affection. For us it might be hearty handshakes and fist bumps.
Notice he says, “all” the brothers though. There’s that word “all” again. That includes the idle and the weak and the timid from verse 14. We don’t just greet the church family we like or gravitate towards. We greet them all. Who do you need to go out of your way to greet today before our time together is over?
Paul uses the word “all” again in verse 27.
“I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers [and sisters].”
That’s pretty strong words! To insist that his letter gets read he must believe that it is from the Lord through him. And we believe it, too! This letter is holy Scripture. And so we read it to all here this morning. Here we are obeying verse 27 in this very room! This is the Bible. And we accept it, not just the words of a man, but “as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in [we] who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).
And Paul concludes (v.28):
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
And that’s exactly what we need. We need the grace of Jesus. Our hope is in Him.
This is God’s will for you and me in Christ Jesus.
Let’s sit up and pay attention.
Messages in this Series:
01. "To the Church of the Thessalonians" - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
02. "We Loved You So Much" - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
03. "You Are Our Glory and Joy" - 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13
04. "Do This More and More" - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
05. "Encourage Each Other With These Words" - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
06. “We Belong to the Day” - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
07. "To Each Other and To Everyone Else" - 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
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