Peter Barnes: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
SERMON NOTES: REJOICING, PRAYING, GIVING THANKS (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Notice the ‘all’ language in each of the three verses. In all things, we are to be a people who rejoice, who pray, and who give thanks.
- Rejoice always.
– 5:16. Paul was a rejoicing man – 1:6; 2:19-20; 3:9; Phil.4:4; Acts 16:22-25.
– Joni Eareckson Tada as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair for fifty years: ‘I wouldn’t change my life for anything.’
– John Trapp: ‘It is not less a sin not to rejoice than not to repent.’
- Pray without ceasing.
– 5:17. Martyn Lloyd-Jones advised us to never resist an impulse to pray.
– James 4:2b. Both Jonathan Edwards and Andrew Bonar used to practise short prayers throughout the day to keep themselves in the spirit of prayer, so it was not just a morning and evening practice.
- Give thanks in all circumstances.
– 5:18. Compare Rom.1:21 and Psalm 103:2.
– Paul is a thankful man – 2 Thess.1:3.
– 5:18b. We know the will of God because He reveals it e.g. 1 Thess. 4:3, 8. Rejoicing, praying and giving thanks always constitute part of that will.