December 17 Sermon: Hold Fast
As we look at the Apostle Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, we see the emphasis on living a holy life while awaiting the return of Jesus. Paul encourages rejoicing, prayer, and thanksgiving in all circumstances. He also stresses the Holy Spirit's role in sanctifying believers, leading them to live blameless lives. Paul's assurance of God's faithfulness in completing his good work in believers provides comfort and hope.
Consider these questions as you listen to this week's message:
How can we overcome the tension between rejoicing in the coming of Jesus and feeling unprepared for personal judgment?
How can we cultivate a mindset rooted in the gospel that enables us to rejoice, pray, and give thanks in all circumstances?
What practical steps can we take to cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, avoiding quenching His fire and embracing His sanctifying work?
Transcript:
As we find ourselves now in the third Sunday in Advent, we once again see another passage of Scripture that has us looking at a passage of the suggestion of impending judgment. Now it doesn't have some of the stronger language of judgment Not the language of judgment we even saw in Isaiah 61, as we were reading from the Old Testament today, but definitely not some of the stronger language that we saw in the previous weeks. But we do find this implication of the coming judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the Apostle Paul prays that God might keep the people of God blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this thought of the return of Jesus has been interjected deeply into my thoughts over the last several weeks, because these lectionary passages, these assigned texts for Advent, continue to talk about this idea of judgment. And as I've been thinking about this idea of judgment and the coming of Christ, I've really come to appreciate the double-edged feeling we get from the idea of the second coming of Jesus and the judgment of God. On one side and in one moment we can easily think about this idea of judgment and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of history to judge the living and the dead. And it seems like a great and a grand thing to us, because there's this hope with it, right, that all of the injustice that we see in the world, all of the destruction, the depravity, the suffering, everything is going to be done away with. And there's great joy in that thought and there's great hope and peace with the idea that the covenant people of God will have every tear wiped from their eyes in that moment. What a great, what a glorious day to anticipate.
But if you're like me, you think about this idea of judgment and you go from the big, the macro, and you come to the personal, the micro, right, you get to the personal concept of judgment instead of the greater idea of judgment and you suddenly feel like there's a lot of work to do. What do I need to clean up? What have I been lax in? Now I'm not talking about concern that I will be judged and sent to hell because I'm not perfect. I have no lack of confidence in the power of the blood of Jesus to cover all of my sins and your sins. Christ is sufficient.
What I'm talking about here is that feeling of wanting to be found faithful, wanting to be found faithful to the call that God has put on our lives and, as I've drawn out many times throughout this season of Advent, this is the tension that we're meant to feel in Advent. This is how we are supposed to feel. We're supposed to feel the joy associated with the celebration of the coming of Jesus at Christmas, but also hear these passages about the Second Coming and have the Holy Spirit work in us, convict us of sin and call us to live in repentance and faith as we prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus. So as we look at this passage today from 1 Thessalonians, this is a blessed reminder of this call, and the Apostle Paul has a call and a prayer on our lives here, because he acknowledges that this is the work of God. This is what God is doing in his people and he is faithful to do this good work in us.
So let's break down this passage real quick as we prepare and look at these main points. So first, we're going to see that Paul tells us how to live. He gives us three words to embody in our Christian walk. He says to rejoice, to pray and to give thanks. Secondly, paul reminds us of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, that good work that the Holy Spirit does in our lives, and this isn't something that we do on our own. Sanctification is a work of God, it's not a work of man. It is a work of God that he does in his people. And finally, we're reminded with some assuring words that God is faithful. God is not only faithful to save, he is faithful to make his people holy, to do that good work in us. It is a promise from him and we are blessed to serve a God who is faithful and does what he says he will do. So we're gonna be looking here at this first point that Paul tells us how to live, and it would be wonderful if I would have imported it correctly into the slideshow, so you're just gonna have to either recall it or open up your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 516 to see what we have here. He tells us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstances.
And there's times when I come to Scripture that I wonder about the thought process of those who are dividing passages into chapters and verses for us, because don't you come to some verses and they're like really long, like multiple sentences, and then you come to some that are less than a sentence, like. Here we have the first words of rejoice always just two words. Why'd they give that one verse? And some are really long. Well, here it's almost as if the people who are assigning the verses are saying this is a bullet point for you, this is something important to remember, so we're gonna divide it. For us, that's just how it feels. Here it's almost like we're getting a bullet point list of what the Christian life is to look like. We have a set of three verses. Here we're looking at verses 16 through 18, but really it could just be one verse. It's just one sentence, but it's divided up into these punctuated points, these punctuated points that are vital aspects of the Christian life. And so this first one is rejoice always.
And rejoicing can be difficult and challenging circumstances, right. But this isn't a statement without a deep root. Paul isn't saying to us hey, be happy for the sake of being happy, rejoice for the sake of rejoicing. He isn't telling us to fake it till we make it. Paul is telling us that our rejoicing comes from our understanding of the gospel and even amid persecution and hardship, we can rejoice. And Paul models this for us because he sees persecution as an opportunity to share the gospel. The people of God can rejoice always because we have a deep, heartfelt understanding that we've been reconciled to God, the wrath that we deserve for our sin has been poured out on our Savior, and so we have peace with God. So, in all circumstances, we can rejoice because we know we have a reason to rejoice, even amid hardships, because those hardships that we face are not the final state of affairs. That is not the end of the story. We can rejoice because we know the greater story, that we have eternal salvation.
And so, with that in mind, we see the next bullet point given to us here on this short list. It is to pray without ceasing. If we trust that God is good, that God is sovereign, we express our trust in God by praying, and Paul tells us to do this without seizing. Now, this isn't a statement telling us to go, find a spot and do nothing, but pray and eat whatever you need to to survive. That's not what Paul is suggesting here. What he's saying is that you need to be in a spirit of prayer, you need to have a trust in God's will, you need to be always ready to pray, in good times or in hardships. We have an attitude of committing everything to God. What Paul is suggesting here is a call to that mindset that we get in the Lord's prayer when we utter those words thy will be done. That mindset, that idea, is what Paul is calling us to here. And then the final bullet point. It also shows an understanding of the gospel. It also shows an understanding of God's sovereignty.
Give thanks in all circumstances, and we see Paul do this for us. We see his example. Think about the hardships of Paul. Yet he gives thanks and he finds opportunities to proclaim the gospel. The book of Philippians has Paul telling us how he is imprisoned but finds joy. He finds thankfulness in the opportunity that he has to share the gospel with people. So when we face difficult circumstances, it can be easy for us to collapse in on ourselves right To think about our circumstances, but still, if we are giving thanks in all things, we can know that even in the midst of our hardships, god has rescued us, god has saved us. And perhaps this is an opportunity to share of God's gift, of his saving work, for us, to share God's providential hand on us, how we have hope even in the midst of the hardest things of life. And all of this it comes from a mindset that is rooted in the gospel and Paul's confident that this is the will of God in Christ Jesus, for God's people.
Now, you and I, we often get this idea that there's some secret will of God out there for us that we need to figure out. We need to unlock what that is. We need to figure that out, and that's what's keeping us from being happy, that's what's keeping us from being content, that's what's keeping us from having the ultimate spiritual life that we should have. We haven't unlocked that key. But what does Paul say here? The will of God is? It's these things we've just looked at. The will of God for his people is that they rejoice, that they pray, that they give thanks. And why can we do this? It's because we've been rescued from sin, death and hell by God's grace. He has brought us to salvation, leading us to more profound joy, more profound trust and contentment in who he is and what he's done for us.
So this application for you and me today from this first section is to remember that if we struggle in these things, the call in us is to look to the gift of God that has been given to us in the gospel, because these things that we're called to do aren't some sort of magic formula. They're not magic words for contentment or for joy. Instead, they come to us as a result of this rescue that we've received in Christ Jesus. That's the heart of the Christian life, and these things spring from a gospel understanding, a gospel-centered way of life, of knowing who we are. In Jesus, we are saved people.
As we move on to our second point, we get a continuing idea of what this sanctified life looks like for us, and we understand, as we look at this, that the Holy Spirit does this work. And the first thing that is said here in verse 19 is do not quench the spirit. And the idea here is that the idea of the spirit is a fire. We get that imagery in the New Testament a lot. Well, even in the Old Testament, the idea of the Spirit of God being displayed as fire is on display as well, and the idea of not quenching the spirit is the idea that we don't put out this fire of the Holy Spirit. Now, in our time, let's be honest, we struggle to get what is being said here, because since the beginning of the 1900s, the idea of the movement of the spirit has been associated with things like ecstatic utterances and other types of outward manifestations, and Paul isn't telling us that if we don't embrace those kind of things, then we're putting out the fire of the spirit. That verse, this verse, has been used that way on many occasions, but we have to remember what is in view here.
What is Paul talking about? What does the Bible tell us is the work of the Holy Spirit To convict the world of sin and unbelief. And, as you've likely heard me say many times before, we've been conditioned to think that the work of the spirit is something loud or maybe even wild manifestations. But the reality is is that the most incredible work of the spirit is quiet and it isn't flashy. In fact, it's something hard and it's actually painful. Being convicted of our sin is hard, but that is the way that we know that the Holy Spirit is at work in us. This other stuff that we can attribute to the spirit can often be a distraction and a detriment to us, because what does it do? It focuses to look outside of us, to look for something external.
When the work of the spirit is in you and I, it's when we're convicted of our sin, when we hear the word and we get this idea from the words of Paul, because he also says that we shouldn't despise prophecies. And again, we need to get the ideas of early 20th century Pentecostalism out of our heads. That has been implanted so deeply into us that when we hear the idea of prophecies, what do we assume? That somebody is predicting the future or that somebody is calling somebody forward and they're speaking something over their life. They're making a prediction.
But in the Bible, what were the prophets doing? Yes, they were predicting the future, but what they were doing was they were proclaiming the word of the Lord. Primarily, read the Old Testament prophets. What were they doing? They were saying the Lord says, and it was a call to repentance, it was calling the people of God back to Himself. That's the prophetic word and primarily in the New Testament, when it speaks of prophecy, it is the proclamation of the word of God, essentially the prophecies in the New Testament that are being spoke of. It's preaching and calling people to repent, to return to God.
And so the statement here in 1 Thessalonians is don't put out the fire of the Spirit by ignoring the work being done in you of the conviction of sin and by your hearing of the word of God, and if you don't listen to the proclamation of the word, that's what you're doing. By avoiding the word of God, you're quenching the Spirit working you, because you need to hear the word to be convicted of sin. This is the fire that we don't want to put out, and in doing that, it says that we are to be discerning. In other words, we need to assess what is being said in the name of God. When you come here, don't assume I'm being right. Hold it against Scripture. Don't assume that because I'm standing here in front of you, I've got it all figured out or I'm always going to faithfully proclaim the word. Discern, trust God's word, trust the Spirit to be at work in you. That is what is being said.
We need to discern this. We need to be sure that what we're hearing is from God and the convictions that we are going to feel are going to push us in the direction of God. And we read that we need to hold fast to what is good and abstain from every form of evil. This is what God calls us to do. This is the call of holiness in our lives, we're to seek the things of God. We are not to look like the world. Remember back when we were in the Ten Commandments earlier at the beginning of this year, one of the points that I was continually making and driving home was that the law of God pointed to the character of God and how God was different. He was other. He wasn't like the deities worshiped by the pagan neighbors of the Israelites. God is other and so his people are called to be different from the world around them. That is the call upon our lives. When we are holy, when we are following the law of God, we are reflecting his character. We're different.
And we see, as this passage continues, that Paul has a prayer for the people of God about this pursuit of holiness. He prays that God would sanctify them completely. You see, the Holy Spirit is at work here. Paul doesn't say, hey, do all these things I'm telling you to do to sanctify yourself so that you can be good enough for God. That's not what he's saying. He's not putting it on them. His prayer instead is that God would do this good work in his people. And what a blessing that is for us as the people of God. We've not been left to our own devices in the process of growing in our faith. We have the Spirit. We have the Word and the promise of God doing this in us. And notice what else Paul says in this text about this. His prayer is for the whole Spirit and soul and body to be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's clear there is a coming judgment and we are prepared. We are to be considering it, but he says that God is doing this good work in you.
That tension that I spoke about earlier, of longing for the restoration of all things, but then there being a concern with whether or not we are personally prepared, comes to mind here for us To be ready for the coming of Jesus. We lived mindful of the work that the Spirit is doing in us and we don't quench it. We need to be sure that we do not reject the conviction of sin and we need to be sure that we are hearing the Word of God. These things do the good work of sanctification in us, and we do this with joy and with thanksgiving because we know that when we are in Christ, we will in fact be found blameless. At the day of Christ, when he comes, we will be found to be blameless. Why? Because we're not resting in our own righteousness. Instead, we know that the perfectly righteous one paid the price for our sin, and he has given us perfect righteousness. Our crucified, risen, ascended and returning Lord is our judge, and it's His righteousness that we trust in, not our own. And so we have absolute confidence that at the day of Christ, we will be found to be blameless, because we are united to Him. And he has made us this way, and this is the promise for God's people. And we see this as we close up and we find our final point in verse 24.
Now, right here, in this last verse, it says "'He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it'". That's just eleven words, and I don't know if I could come up with a better way to say that God is faithful to the promises that he gives to his people. Just eleven words, straightforward and simple and to the point. You see, paul has called the people of God to live a holy life, and he has let us know that the Holy Spirit is the one who does this work in us.
These are great truths, but what's our natural response? To throw it back on ourselves, to think that we have to earn our salvation, that we have to do something to merit this holiness. Before God, he believed that, yes, god saved me because I have faith in Jesus, but now the rest of the journey is up to me. He got me on the salvation bus, but now I'm driving. That's how we think, and one of the greatest gifts as believers is the persistent reminder that we get from Scripture is that God lays hold of us and he doesn't let go. We were in desperate need of his salvation because we were dead in our sin, and he called us to himself and he resurrected us to this newness of life that we have in Christ.
But he doesn't say okay, it's up to you, on your own, now Get it together. Instead, what does he do? He gives us a gift. We have the indwelling Holy Spirit and we have the promise that he will, in fact, keep us to the day of Christ. When it comes to salvation, the God who called you is faithful. He will surely do it. When it comes to your growth in holiness, the God who calls you to this life is faithful, he will surely do it. Take that promise to the bank, believe it.
And so, in your struggles with sin, don't give up. Believe that the conviction that you have in your sin is a gift from God. Don't give up, don't quench that conviction of sin, that work of the Spirit of you. Instead, fan the flame by confessing your sin and going to the Word of God and continually hear that call to repentance when it feels like there is no progress in your spiritual life, remember that the Spirit is at work in you, but God is a God who keeps his promises. Put yourself in a position to hear the Word, to be in the Word, and then trust the good work that it will do in you because you are God's own.
So, as we consider the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of history, it's a privilege to be able to stand here in front of you and proclaim this to you, because I stand before you proclaiming the coming judgment. Judgment is coming, but I'm not telling you live in fear and get it right. What I'm saying is this is a beautiful call to repentance, that God is at work in you, and so turn from sin, knowing that God is at work in you, knowing that he is faithful to you and that he is doing something good in your hearing of the Word. When you feel those feelings of wondering am I ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Know that that's the Spirit at work and turn to him in repentance and faith, knowing that he has saved you.
And, as we approach Christmas, may this coming of Jesus drive us to Scripture that we might continually be turning from our sin and trusting in the good work of sanctification that God has promised for his people. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Amen, let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God. We thank you for the gift of your Word and we thank you that we have the work of the Spirit in us, that when we hear your Word we are convicted of sin, and we pray, lord, that that Word would continue to do that work in us and that you would, by your Spirit, motivate us to turn from our sin and live in repentance and faith, knowing that we can have confidence that we will stand righteous at the judgment because of the gift of salvation that you have blessed us with in Christ Jesus. It's in his name that we pray. Amen, we can pray.
