Give Thanks in all Circumstances. Mmmm.

1 Thessalonians 5v16-18

25^th March 2022

1 Thessalonians 5v16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

These verses have been difficult for me for many years because I was once a member of a church that so misinterpreted them that it caused a great deal of pain, frustration and unhappiness to many of the people there. It was the sort of church where you had to claim that everything was marvellous, all the time, or you were considered unspiritual. Some of my older readers may remember a time when, whenever you were asked how you were doing, you had to reply something like, "Absolutely wonderful! Praise the Name of Jesus!" and you could never admit that anything was wrong or difficult. It was so unrealistic! The Bible is full of sorrow, as well as of joy.

Have you ever experienced that horrible moment when a well-meaning Christian person asked how you were, and you said, "Well, actually, my wife's sick, my son's been made redundant, my daughters's marriage is in trouble, the car won't start, and I can't pay the gas bill. The cat was eaten by the dog, and the dog choked on the cat." And the well-meaning Christian cheerfully said, "Well, give thanks in all circumstances!" and walked away? I know how that feels. So it's not without trepidation that I write about these verses.

What can I say? Firstly, I can say that "Give thanks in all circumstances" doesn't mean that awful things don't happen to Christian people. And it doesn't mean that we can't admit that they happen. The apostle says "Be joyful always". He doesn't say "Pretend nothing's gone wrong", "Pretend nobody hurts". He's saying, "Even when things are dreadful, rejoice".

Secondly, These verses are all addressed to people in the plural, not to the singular. He was writing to the church in Thessalonica, which was going through a period of persecution, as a group of people. He was saying, "Even though some of you are being mistreated, some of you have lost your jobs for Christ's sake, even though some of you are in jail, some of you may have been killed, rejoice anyway. Rejoice all the time."

If you've had a bad week, there's something comforting in meeting with your brothers and sisters on Sunday morning, and singing praise to God together. Even if you don't feel like going to the meeting, go anyway. It will do you good. If you want to get through the suffering, the persecution, the bereavement, the unemployment, the sickness, the depression, and still be walking with Jesus at the end of it, don't do it alone, and remember to rejoice, even on the really bad days.

Romans 12v15
Rejoice with those who rejoice. Mourn with those who mourn.

We must do both.

When your brother or sister tells you how difficult his circumstances are, don't give him some platitude; weep with him. But also rejoice with him. Give praise to Jesus with him.

Thirdly, we don't always feel like victorious, triumphant, glorious Christian heroes but we can always thank God that He loves us, and sent Jesus Christ to die for us, and forgive all our sins, and adopted us as His children, and gave us His Holy Spirit. We can always rejoice that we've been promised a place in heaven for all eternity, even on the most difficult days.

We shouldn't pretend life that doesn't hurt. But we can always acknowledge that Jesus is wonderful. Both are true at the same time. There is always bad news, and there is always good news. There is always sorrow and there is always comfort. Don't forget the good news. Don't neglect the comfort.

One of the differences between being a Christian and being a non-Christian is that when something goes wrong for a non-Christian, it feels like the end of life as we know it. How can I go on? What is there to cling to? For the Christian, there is Jesus Christ to cling to, always. He's still there, and He still loves you, and He still forgives your sins, and promises you eternal life. And God gives you brothers and sisters to rejoice with, and to mourn with.

And Paul says, "pray continually".

When things seem absolutely fantastic, when all seems good with the world, when your life is how you want it to be, don't just enjoy the fleshly experience of success and pleasure. Give thanks to God for being your Father, to Jesus for being your Saviour, to the Holy Spirit for being your comforter.

When things seem awful, don't turn your back on God, or shake your fist at Him. Don't dwell on the question, "If God loves me, why did He let this happen?" because we usually don't get an answer to that question. The best we can do is accept that God knows best. Of course God loves you, and of course God knows best, and of course we don't always understand His decisions. But we do know that:

Romans 8v38-39
neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And one day, all debts will be paid, and you will be recompensed for all the suffering you have experienced.

Hold on to Jesus.

Paul explains that we should give thanks in all circumstances, "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." We shouldn't be surprised that God wants us to be a thankful people. He let the Roman soldiers nail Jesus to the cross for us. He bore crucifixion and died for us. Whatever suffering we have endured, it was worse for Jesus. He won our freedom from sin and death for all eternity, though we never deserved it. We should always be thankful.

This passage tells us to give thanks to God in all circumstances. It doesn't tell us to give thanks to God for all circumstances. I believe, though I pray this is never tested severely in my life, that it's possible to get to the spiritual place where we can give thanks to God for all circumstances, because we know our heavenly Father is perfect. We know He's all-powerful, all-wise and all-loving, so everything that happens to us must, in some way incomprehensible to us, be good. But God doesn't demand that of us. He knows most of us are not that spiritually mature.

We who are less mature can't yet give thanks for everything that happens. But we can all give thanks for Jesus, for salvation, for forgiveness, for the assurance that God will be with us every day of the rest of eternity.

God deserves our thanks, even on the days when we're hurt and bewildered. God deserves a grateful people, a praising people, a people who meet for worship just about every Sunday, whether we feel like it or not, whether we have a headache or not, whether we've had a disappointment or not, whether we've just had an argument with our wife or not.

2 Corinthians 4v16-17
… we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

You are entitled to say that your troubles don't seem "light and momentary". But these words were written by St Paul, who had been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, imprisoned, hungry. Its not as if our suffering isn't painful. It really is. But it's small compared to what's coming: glory! And we can rejoice in the glory that is certain to come, even while living in the wretchedness that's with us now.

Let us never imagine that it's wrong, that it's letting the side down, to admit that pain is painful. Let's never pretend that being deserted, bereaved, abandoned, betrayed or persecuted doesn't hurt. But let us cling to Jesus. Let us keep going. Let us give Him praise, honour, worship and trust, always.

One way or another, let us pray "Hallowed by Thy Name" every day.