Do Not Quench The Spirit
1 Thessalonians 5v19
1st April 2022
1 Thessalonians 5:19
Do not put out the Spirit's fire.
In verses 12-22 of 1 Thessalonians Chapter 5, Paul gives us various instructions for healthy Christian living. Last week, we looked at verses 16-18, which encouraged us to hold on to our joy, to keep on praying, and to give thanks in all circumstances. The Thessalonian church was being persecuted at that time, and they needed to understand that holding on to God is what keeps us going through difficult times.
So many Christians make the mistake of withdrawing from God, and from church, when things are difficult or painful. But that's when we most need to hold on. That's when we most need to pray, most need to come to church meetings, most need to hold on to the joy of our salvation. Our enemy, the devil, seeks to use our circumstances to destroy our faith, our joy, our love for God. He seeks to make us unproductive in God's work. Don't give him the satisfaction!
God doesn't take away all our problems. And when a problem does go away, another one usually takes its place. Instead, God intends to walk with us through all our problems. And we will live happier and better lives if we let Him walk with us, if we continue to engage with God, and even increase our praise and our prayer, in the darkest days. As Job said:
Job 13:15
Though he slay me, yet will I hope [or trust] in him.
This may seem all too spiritual for you. You might think that's asking too much. But I can tell you that it works. Holding on to Jesus is what gets us through our troubles and pain. Turning our back on Jesus makes everything worse. Always.
Paul now turns to another instruction, which I believe is also particularly important when things are difficult. It's a continuation of the previous ideas. The NIV translates it as "Do not put out the Spirit's fire" but a better translation is, "Do not quench the Spirit." the Holy Spirit gives both light and fire, and both can be extinguished, or quenched. To quench is like snuffing out a candle, or damping down a fire.
The Holy Spirit comes to give us light – understanding. And He comes to give us power. We need both. We only really understand the Bible because the Spirit explains it to us. We only change as people because the Holy Spirit grows godly character in us. We only change the world because the Holy Spirit gives us power to do so. And often, we can help each other both by doing practical and kind things for each other, and also by using spiritual gifts for each other's benefit.
I have every good reason to believe in the miracle power of God. I was healed of a very bad back problem 40 years ago, because one Christian had the courage to believe that God heals, and prayed over me. I was healed of profound depression a few years ago, when a friend prayed for me. I have been saved from deep unhappiness when people have prophesied over me. I thank God for spiritual gifts; they've transformed my life.
The church without the Holy Spirit is a well-meaning social club. The church where the Holy Spirit burns bright, bringing both light and fire, glorifies God and changes the world. As G. K. Chesterton once wrote, "We do not want a Church that will move with the world. We want a Church that will move the world." We cannot move the world by our own efforts. We need the Holy Spirit to help us.
Some Christians resist – quench – both the light and the power of the Holy Spirit. Probably, we all do, to some extent.
We resist the light of the Holy Spirit because we've been taught what the world calls "rationalism" but which isn't really rationalism at all. When the world speaks of rationalism, it means writing God out of all our thinking. That's the most irrational thing anybody can possibly do. God is real. God is the creator of the universe. God is the Saviour of the world. It cannot be rational to ignore Him.
Somebody might say, "Ah, but I don't believe there is a God". Then they're being irrational!
Romans 1:19-20
... what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain
to them.
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power
and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made,
so that people are without excuse.
Again, somebody might say, "I don't believe what's written in the book of Romans" but that doesn't make it wrong. And the passage I just quoted is patently true. Anybody with an open mind, who takes time to meditate on creation: on a sunset, or the ocean, or the mountains, or the forests, or a baby's face, will know that it was fashioned by a divine hand.
And even if somebody is so stubborn as to deny that, and to proclaim that we can't prove the existence of God scientifically, I respond that we can't prove the non-existence of God scientifically. And to exclude from your thinking the possibility of God, when you can't prove there is no God, is irrational, because if there is a God (and of course there is) that changes everything.
Anyway, Satan and the world hope to train us to think in the irrational ways that they describe as rational. They hope that we don't read the Bible. Failing that, they hope that, if we do read the Bible, we dismiss all the miracle stories as irrational, we dismiss all prophecy as irrational, we dismiss the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection and the Ascension of our Lord as irrational. They want us to think it's irrational to believe those things happened, because you'd need God to be involved for them to happen. But that's the whole point! These things happened because God is involved!
So theirs is a circular argument. There is no God. Therefore the Bible is wrong. Therefore there is no God. Alternatively, we can choose to believe the truth. There is a God. Therefore miracle stories are easy to believe. Therefore there is no difficulty believing the Bible. And the Bible teaches us more about God.
So it's vitally important that we allow the Holy Spirit to help us understand and believe the Bible.
There can be nothing more rational than trusting God.
Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.
It's also vitally important that we accept that the Holy Spirit can perform miracles and can give us prophecies. Do not quench the Spirit. Of course, if we believe the Bible, then we will believe in miracles, prophecies, and all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible. We're charismatic because we're evangelical.
The Holy Spirit, who performed miracles for hundreds of years in Bible times, has not lost the ability to do so. And He has not lost the desire to do so. God loves His people just as much today as ever he did. So the Holy Spirit continues to perform miracles, and continues to give prophecies today, just as He did the days of Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus and Paul. The Holy Spirit is the same yesterday, today and forever, just as Jesus is.
So why do we see so few miracles today? Why do we hear so few prophecies today? The answer, of course, is that we quench the Spirit. Let's face the fact that this is a tragedy. How many people would be healed if we prayed for them? How many Christians would be protected from really bad decisions, would find their calling in life, would find emotional and spiritual healing, would find repentance, if we were willing to prophesy to them, bringing God's comforting and encouraging word, or if we would speak what 1 Corinthians 12:8 calls "words of knowledge" to them?
As I've said, we're infected by the false rationalism which is not really rationalism at all, but atheism. Also, we're afraid of spiritual power. We're afraid of using it badly, of getting it wrong, and we're afraid of how God might change things if we didn't quench the Spirit but instead gave Him free reign in our lives and in our church. Aren't we? Do not quench the Spirit. It's sin to quench the Holy Spirit.
I know that some problems have arisen because people have misused spiritual gifts. But I also know other problems remain because we neglect spiritual gifts. There must be a middle way – a healthy way – in which we use spiritual gifts but don't abuse them. Please, in Jesus's name, do not quench the Spirit.