1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Psalm 15 1 Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? 2 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; 3 whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; 4 who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; 5 who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken. Psalm 50:14-15 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” Psalm 51:17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Two weeks ago we looked at the person who is able to dwell in the tent of the Lord and on His holy mountain. The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others. We see in the Psalm the heart of the person who dwells in the tent of the Lord. How is this person to give worship to the Lord? It is to give it with a heart of thanks. “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” We are to give worship with gratitude and this is the worship that the Lord accepts. We also see: My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. Do we lack a broken spirit for which we are able to live according to God’s word? So if we need to approach God in this manner as we worship, then what was the prerequisite for gratitude? It is not lacking anything. It is having no complaint. Even if you were to lack, you would be grateful for that which you have and being content in it you give thanks to God. This is required to be grateful. Even if you had the right to complain you would not complain. Why? Because you are grateful. As people, we are filled with complaints, frustrations, anxiety, and all the things we lack. But the child of God lacks nothing. Why? Because the child of God knows that they have been given the right portion by God. When you know this then there can be nothing but gratitude. This is how we are to worship. So do we find this only in the Old Testament? In the New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Rejoice always! Do you have reason to rejoice in your lives today? We think that it is impossible to rejoice always. That is what we think, but God tells us that it is in Jesus Christ that we are to rejoice always. This is the requirement for rejoicing. If I am in Jesus Christ then I am able to live this life. If I refuse to enter Christ and stay outside of Him, then it is impossible to know what this means. The Word is clear, it is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. In today’s meditation we read the comparison of the grape vine. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” Then we must realize that if we are not bearing the fruit of Jesus it is because we are not in Him. We say with our mouths that we know Jesus and assume that the things we say and do are bearing the fruit of Him, but we are not. How many mistakes do we make even though we have good intentions? It is because we do things according to our own standards. When someone looks at me with their standards I am found to make many mistakes. Is this not so? We think that we are right to think our own way, do our own thing, eat whatever we want, but when someone sees what I do, it is not acceptable. As a Christian, there are things that we are not to say and not to do. But why do we do it? It is because I am not in Jesus. I received an email from someone which had sent me a copy of what they had seen. This was found in a hospital announcement board. A person was bitten by a scorpion. He was treated at this hospital and then released that day. A person was bitten by a snake and released from the hospital in three days. A person was bitten by a rabid dog. The person has been treated for ten days and is expected to be released soon. A person was bitten by another person and has fallen unconscious. Weeks have passed and the patient is not improving. The patient’s chance of recovery is not good. What does this mean? Do you understand? What does it mean to be bitten by a person? Did someone really bite them? They have been bitten by the words of someone else, and these words have put this person in a near comatose state. The words are more poisonous that the sting of a scorpion, a snakebite or a bite from a rabid dog. This person cannot be helped from this state of unconsciousness. The words I speak have the ability to bite anyone. You can say what you want, but the words you speak can have the effect of hurting someone and putting them in a state of unconsciousness. We are capable of making such mistakes in our lives. We think of these things as humor and do not give much thought to these examples. The Bible teaches that the power of the tongue gives life or death and is untamed. If you are able to control it then you can control your life. The tongue spits out evil and poison but we do not realize this. We refuse to listen to the Word of God and we refuse to listen to the warnings of others. We think that speech is for speaking about our feelings. But that is not it. In today’s passage: Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. We easily memorize the verses. What is the requirement? I may think that there is nothing to rejoice about. All of us here, me included, if I think about a reason for rejoicing always, there is none. But, unless, I live the life that the bible teaches, I will be living a life that has nothing to do with Jesus. If I am to be a child of God having been redeemed in the blood of Jesus, then I must live the life so that the Word of God can come to life in me. If this is so, then why would He ask us to do something that is impossible. Let us take a look again: for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. So if I am with Jesus and He is with me then this is can be done. We forget this part, and always try on our own to be joyful, and this is why we are unable to live a life of rejoicing. You can study about Christ, train to be a disciple, do your daily Quiet Time, and endlessly study the Bible, but with only head knowledge these teachings will not be powerful truths in your life. When I hold onto Jesus deep in my heart and act according to these teachings and live in obedience to Him then I will be able to live a life of rejoicing. No matter what I feel and want to express, if the spirit leads me and tells me to restrain myself, to be joyful, and speak thanks, then I must not vent anger and frustration but I must obey and say things that are grateful and joyful then I will not have reason to bite the people around me. Is this not so? But we put aside these words, and place Jesus somewhere near us. Then when we pray and need Him for something we call upon Him as if He were someone who only grants your requests. This is why you may not be seeing the power of Jesus in your life. Rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. Where do you find the strength to rejoice always when you feel that you have no reason to rejoice? It is by staying in Christ. We are to be in Christ, but because we live in this world and find ourselves falling away into temptation, therefore we must pray for the Spirit to help us and give us the strength to stay in Christ. We must pray so that we can live the life that declares our belief on Christ. I can pretend to follow Jesus and live my life like Him, but unless I truly confess Him as my Lord, I will not be able to live the life that the Bible teaches us. Do you want to live a life of rejoicing? Then you must pray. You cannot learn about it. You must ask for the help of the Spirit. When the one who prays is able to rejoice in their life, then they will be able to rejoice in all circumstances. They will be able to confess that they lack nothing and from this will come the words of thanks. Why? It is because I am acknowledging that He has provided me the every thing I need in faith today. I am acknowledging His work in my life. I am living my life according to His purpose. I am taking every step in union with Christ. I am careful in my speech and my action. I am using my strength to live a life that reflect Jesus. The world may see me as lowly and without status, but if this is where God has put me, then this is my purpose and I must be grateful. If I have selfish ambitions and desires and these purposes of mine do not come to be, why do we complain? We complain because we do not get what we want. I have said before that the parts of the body that are more important are the most delicate, unseen and kept hidden. I have a small growth on the bottom of my foot. It is small but can you imagine how difficult it is for me to walk? When something touches it my entire body gets shocked. Since it is on the bottom of the foot, the medicine does not stay on too well. The bottom of your foot is not regarded with much importance, for some people it smells bad, but do you realize how important and delicate that part of your body is? If the slightest thing irritates your foot your entire body suffers. Do you know how precious it really is? We do not give much thought to it. Everyone wants to be the CEO of the company. They want to be in the highest positions. Do you have the qualifications and the ability to run the company and be in the position you desire? Are you responsible enough? Nobody wants the responsibility but they all want the pay and position. Will you get there by complaining? No. There cannot be a nation with only the president. In Korea, there are soldiers that protect the DMZ for the safety of the country. If the soldiers do not do there job no matter how difficult the circumstance then the country will be invaded and there will be major consequences. We all know this, but if you ask anyone if they will go and protect the country, nobody wants to go. They know it is important but they themselves are not willing to go. God desires to use me to show others His glory by having me in the humblest position at work or at home, so that I may live the life of rejoicing always, giving thanks in all circumstances being in Christ. Jesus has placed us where we are but rather than rejoice and give thanks we say “no” to Him. We do nothing but argue and complain. What happens if everyone was the head. We have seen pictures of two headed snakes. What happens to them? They always get caught. One part of the head wants to go left, the other wants to go right and they conflict with each other. Can they go anywhere? They get caught while fighting each other. There must only be one head, but everyone wants to be the head. If you ask any child what they want to be when they grow up, they all used to say they wanted to be the president, the general, they all wanted to be the best of the best. Then who will take the lower positions in life? How can a country function? If the church was full of only pastors how can a church function? If the company was only filled with the CEO, president and vice president then who will do the work? The company will fail. Walmart or Home Depot have people in different positions doing different things doing their best so that the company can function the best from management to the cleaning people. The family is the same. The husband must be the best husband and fulfill his duty as a husband. He and his wife should be of one mind and work together. But we do not. Rather we bring division in the home by trying to manipulate the children to one’s side. We do not raise the children to be in Jesus, but we raise them to please us. This will bring disaster to your home. What is the life of always rejoicing, praying continually and giving thanks in all circumstances? It is the life of becoming like Jesus. It is surrendering all of this world and becoming like Him. Then I can rejoice, pray and give thanks in all circumstances. But we are not doing so. Where must you go to be like Jesus? You must go and die on the cross at Calvary. It is not dying for me, nor is it to lift myself up, but it is my death as a husband for my wife, a wife’s death for her husband, a parent’s death for their child and a child’s death for their parents, so that the family can be one and follow Jesus. Rather than die like Jesus, we want to be lifted up, we want to be glorified, and we want our desires to be satisfied. That is why there is strife and misunderstanding within the family. Because there is no peace in Jesus, there is no choice but to leave the home and go find comfort in the world. To be in Jesus means to live a life that is becoming like Him. As Jesus died for me, I must die to those around me so that Jesus may be glorified in my life. If I do not acknowledge that this life is the life of death then there can never be rejoicing in this life. During His time in the ministry, did Jeusus ever describe clearly what heaven is like? He always used parables to describe heaven. He said let those who have ears hear. Heaven is not something that is obvious and it is not something that we can easily interpret and understand. Heaven can only be grasped by those who have ears to hear and the Spirit to accept and understand. It cannot be understood with the knowledge of this world nor can it be accepted by only listening. I will never understand the truth about heaven unless I lay down all before the Lord and live a life led by the Spirit in obedience. I will never be able to attain heaven as Jesus teaches. But we decide for ourselves what heaven is like and how we can get there. Because of this, different groups and sects have formed. If we do not follow the Spirit in obedience then we can never get to heaven. You cannot get to heaven with short cuts. It is a step by step climb. As you grow in your walk it is a step by step, moment to moment transformation that happens according to the Word, then you can draw close to heaven. You can try to be like the tortoise and the hare, who suddenly gets up and makes a mad dash right before the end and try to win the race. Yes, you may achieve the goal but it will be an embarrassing victory. What will you have to show for your faith in heaven? There will be nothing. Jesus has told us that when we get to heaven there will be reward and gifts. Let us say that you will live to one hundred. If I have lived my hundred years faithfully then there will be a reward for the hundred years of this life. If today I do not live it faithfully, then the days reward will be taken away from the rest. So from a hundred, to ninety nine, to ninety eight, until I barely get anything. We are told that we are priests. Worship is not about coming once a week to service in your nice clothes. As Peter said, it is your daily lives that you offer to God as worship. If Jesus is the Holy Priest, then I must offer up my life to Him as a sacrifice daily come to Him in repentance and live that life. Do we live this life? You cannot be like Judas who sells Jesus for profit. If you do, will God accept your life and worship? You cannot live like so and then come once a week telling God you are sorry and expect Him to cleansed when you have no desire to stop sinning in your life. Live like a priest. Be holy. Then when you make a mistake come and be cleansed. But you refuse to live this life and therefore there is no reason for you to rejoice and be joyful. There is no work of Jesus in your life. There must either be a longing prayer that desires to repent for not living this life or a desire to seek help to overcome the temptations in your life, or a prayer of gratitude, or some prayer that will allow you to overcome the spiritual temptation so that you can live the life of rejoicing always and giving thanks in all circumstances. There is no connection in your life and that is why you still live in temptation. You decide. If today there is something that is tempting you or making you angry, at that moment rather than getting angry you give glory to God. When there is no reason to be joyful but you rejoice before the Lord in prayer, then as you receive the help you can give thanks. You can rejoice. Usually we do what we want and when we feel we have made a mistake then we go to God and say that we are sorry. When something goes well, even though it is not what God desires, we give Him thanks anyhow because we think that things are well. Will God receive such thanks? Will He? Jesus says to humble ourselves, but we think that because we are lifted up that things are now great. The person who is to serve is now gone. In humble service we were to give God thanks, but we give thanks for being lifted up, how can God receive this? He cannot. God’s will and my will are different, God’s thoughts and my thoughts are different. We must realize this and do our best in the place that God desires to put us, so that we can be true Christians, and so that we can rejoice always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances. But we do not do this. Sometimes in life there are times when good things happen to us. King Hezekiah was about to die. He was given another 15 years to live. What a great gift. How did he give thanks? He thought that it was his righteousness that granted him life. Because of his pride he brought a curse upon Israel. In your life when you have reason to rejoice, how do you give thanks? Give thanks like Job. Job gives thanks that God is the one who gives and takes away his purpose is only to give thanks. True thankfulness is being grateful even if everything is taken away from us, but we complain when even the slightest things do not go our way. This is not being grateful. When we see the lives of those who have gone before us in the Bible, we must see what kind of life that we must live. When our prayer have been answered, and we are given spiritual powers, we take that as a sign of our righteousness and then like King Hezekiah, we can be used by God but my life will end in disaster. We must be careful of the words that we speak. To whatever extent that God desires to use us, we must give thanks and always be awake in the spirit. But we think that prayer is not important but being used by God and seeing the result of our works as important. It is the life for our satisfaction. We can receive the destruction from God if we do not realize this. It is possible that when god desires to use me that He may keep me in low places. At other times He may place you in positions higher than you have ever imagined. But if I am the one who decides what that level is, usually you will be placed lower than that position you desire. If I submit to the Word of God and lay everything down at His feet in humility then God can lift me up and use me. But if I desire to be in a place higher than that which God desires for me, then because of my pride, God will humble me and bring me down. How should you pray to God? Your prayer and the answers to your prayers depends on your heart and attitude. The path that leads to being used by God is a different path. It is not a path that everyone can go through singing and rejoicing. It is very difficult to go this way. You never know what will happen in this path. You must always be awake in this path always alert. There can be temptation. There can be blessings. Not only will there be blessings given to you by God, but there can be great temptations given to you by Satan. There can be difficult times, because God is desiring that you humble yourself even more and seek Him more earnestly. You must be a person of prayer that can see the truth as to what is going on around you, then you can be a one who rejoices always. When you can see that in your hardship that God has His hand on you then even in your difficulty you can rejoice. When you are able to see that the devil is tempting you with great gifts, then you can fight off the temptation and give thanks and rejoice for having the strength to do so. When you pray to find this joy, you will be grateful in low places or in high places. When you are in Christ. This is the life you have in Christ. This will be when you commit yourself to Jesus and follow Him with perseverance. You will rejoice from within. When you desire to be raised up, and you want yourself to be recognized before others, then you must first restrain the poisonous word that you speak and this must start from within your own homes. You must always be awake and make sure that no evil words come from your mouth that will hurt others. You must be determined to do this. You cannot do this on your own. You cannot do this without Jesus. Without the help of the Spirit you cannot live this life. The true life of following Jesus Christ, the life of offering yourself up as a living sacrifice, is the one who in Jesus Christ does the will of God. It is through this life that God will lift you up so that He will be glorified. In order to keep raising you up He will continue to refine you by fire. The more you are purified by fire the better the quality of the product. It is not the the physical life but the spiritual life. The follower of Christ cannot desire the things of this world that are fading away. We have been called to be children of God and to keep our eyes on the things of the Spirit. When you realize that God desires to use you in this life whether you are in high places or low places, then you will be able to rejoice and give thanks no matter your position. You must not be seen but it must be Jesus who is seen in your life. In order to use you where you are, God will provide you everything that you need to overcome your circumstance. When you receive His strength and power and pick up the cross, then your life can be one that shows those in your family and those around you the life of Jesus. This is the reason God will give you strength and power. This is why He will grab a hold of you for His glory when you surrender to Him. When you die to Him, He will give you the power of the resurrection, a new strength, and lift you up so that you will be able to live a life content on earth and also live eternally in heaven with our Lord. May you be determined to live this life. Sermon by Pastor Howard Park Traslation by Miguel Park