1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word on this 3rd Sunday in Advent is taken from 1 Thess. 5:16-24 and it’s entitled, “We Rejoice, Because of the One Done!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Uncertainty can breed anxiety. What isn’t yet set or determined or certain or done naturally makes us nervous. Leading by three going into the fourth quarter, knowing that one more win clinches a play-off spot, can be an anxious feeling—even if you know you’ve got three more games to lock it up. Until it’s a done deal, you can’t celebrate. As they say, “It aint over until the fat lady sings…” Waiting for results of college entrance exams means you can’t fully enjoy your senior year just yet. Waiting for results from a medical test—that’s a lot harder still. Until the lab calls with a clean bill of health, we probably worry.
3. So, in times that may be every bit that anxious—for other reasons too—it may not be easy to hear Paul’s appeal to us this morning: “Rejoice always.” In fact, with so much uncertainty in life, it may be difficult to hear a whole lot of things God says to us through the apostle in our text. Paul actually gives us quite a lengthy list of things that ought to reflect the sanctified, holy life of the Christian: three “dos” and three “don’ts.” How are we ever going to rejoice—or be anything like the holy, sanctified people we’re supposed to be—when so many things in our future seem so uncertain? Let’s see what Paul has to say.
4. Paul commands three “Dos” in our sanctification. Do rejoice always (1 Thess 5:16). Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Joy is observable and contagious. But joy isn’t easy, especially when we’re anxious about so many, many real-life, everyday uncertainties.
5. Dropping a child off at college can be a trying moment for both parent and child. The parent sincerely wants the best for his or her child and wants to give some loving advice and direction so that the daughter or son can thrive and enjoy the uncertain environment we call the college experience. In a similar manner, the apostle Paul, feeling the strain of separation from his beloved congregation in Thessalonica, offers loving and fatherly advice so they might thrive and rejoice until the uncertain time of the Lord’s return. Rejoice always! Pray! Give thanks! And more. Even abstain from those things an older and wiser father knows can be so tempting. Above all, the dear father Paul adds assurance: the God of peace is the one keeping you safe and holy (1 Thess 5:16–24).
6. Do pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). Relationships grow with communication. That’s true of human relationships, and it’s true as we exercise our relationship with God in prayer. Resultant trust eases anxiety. Knowing God invites us to bring our cares before his throne of grace is a glorious relief! But can we really be sure he answers? What if I’m too anxious even to pray?
7. Do give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:18a). The Gospel breeds an attitude of gratitude and a facility of humility. Being grateful even in adversity is evidence of spiritual maturity. But how can I be grateful when I don’t even know if I’ll have a job or my health or my best friend tomorrow?
8. Paul commands three “Don’ts” in our sanctification. Don’t quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19). Quenching the Spirit occurs when one avoids the means by which the Spirit works in us, when we keep ourselves away from God’s Word and Sacrament. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can’t comfort us if we shut him out with the gifts he wishes to give us in God’s Means of Grace. But sometimes, I don’t feel all that comforted, even when I come here for preaching and the Lord’s Supper. I still have to face Monday—and I don’t know what it will bring.
9. Don’t despise prophecies. 1 Thess. 5:20–21 says, “20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.” This can occur when we look for spectacular manifestations—special signs or messages from God, “fleeces” we lay out like Gideon in the Old Testament (Judges 6:36-40)—rather than the Word God gives us in Scripture. It also occurs when God does speak to us clearly in his Word and we think we know better. But I wish he’d just tell me how I’m going to make ends meet this month!
10. An example of asking God for a sign can be found in Judges 6 of the Old Testament. The Judge Gideon asked God for a sign to reassure him that God was truly calling him to lead the Israelites into battle. He requested that God confirm his plan by making a fleece of wool wet with dew while keeping the ground around it dry. God granted Gideon's request. But, Gideon, still uncertain, asked for the opposite sign: for the fleece to remain dry while the ground around it became wet with dew. Again, God obliged. Despite a clear revelation of God’s Will, Gideon twice puts the Lord to the test. We ask the Lord to send us His Holy Spirit so that through His holy Word our faith may be built up and strengthened. We ask God to help us to realize that in His Word along do we find the Good News of salvation.
11. Don’t give in to evil (1 Thess. 5:22). This refers to all forms of evil, including false teachers—like those on TV who promise us exactly what we’d like to hear about our futures: health and wealth, always with a big smile. Listening to such evil—promises God hasn’t promised—will ultimately disappoint and only increase our anxiety. But what does God promise me?
12. Paul declares two “Wills” and one “Done” for our sanctification. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you: your sanctification (1 Thess. 5:16–18; 1 Thess. 4:3). Sanctification means being made holy. We speak of sanctification in at least two ways: the whole person being holy, and our works (what we do) being holy. Both are God’s will for us. He wants us to be holy people, and he wants us to live lives that reflect that—doing good works, loving him, and loving our neighbor in all kinds of ways. Some of these are the “Dos” and “Don’ts” Paul lists here in our text: rejoicing, praying, avoiding evil.
13. God truly wills all these for us. He will surely do it: sanctify you completely (1 Thess. 5:23–24). What God wills, he always will do—and do all the way. See, God does this! It’s not up to us. God makes us holy! It’s not a matter of how hard we try or how confident and joyful we happen to feel on a particular day. And God doesn’t do a halfway job; he will sanctify us completely: “your whole spirit and soul and body.” Your heart, your thoughts, your physical being—it’s all holy, perfect, God’s best handiwork. All the way, through all our uncertainties about tomorrow, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, until he comes back and takes us to heaven on the Last Day. He will! That’s a sure thing!
14. But how? And how about between now and then? Well, in fact, all of this has been done (1 Thess. 5:23–24). Did you notice? Paul says our whole spirit and soul and body will surely be “kept” blameless. Not made blameless. Kept blameless. Making us blameless has already been done. We were made blameless when Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world on the cross. It is finished! Done! All people were justified. And then when you were baptized, what Jesus did—done—on the cross was made yours personally. That’s been done, set in concrete, on a date written on your baptismal certificate. Nothing can undo it. Your sins were washed away. You were made blameless, justified.
15. Now then, you see, your sanctification is a result of that. Because you are holy, you also do holy things. The fact that you are holy—and know that God will keep you that way—is the reason you rejoice; it’s the reason you know he’ll really answer your prayer; it’s the thing you give thanks for. It’s what the Spirit keeps telling you here in the Word and Sacrament, the promise he does make to you, through faithful teachers. We Do Rejoice—and, in Fact, Are Sanctified Completely—Because of the One Done.
16. You see? We do the “Dos” of our sanctification and don’t do the “Don’ts” because of what God will do because of what he in the cross of Jesus has done. All done. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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