Advent 3: Epistle, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24                        

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

There is, I suppose in church work, like there probably is in school teaching, an unwritten rule to not have favorites among students. I’m here to confess that it is practically impossible. We’re human and we have affinities and personalities that gel and adhere to the same in our students just like any other in human interactions. I think the Apostle Paul had his favorites as well. And he cherished the Thessalonian believers. They were quick to learn, quick to radiate the love and message of the gospel and quick to obey. At the tail-end of Paul’s first letter to this young congregation, he sends off a rapid-fire exhortation of all they need to pursue in staying faithful both to Christ and the leaders that have been such fine examples.

The list really begins in verse twelve, whereas our reading begins formally in sixteen. So go back and get a head start. What you will no doubt notice is that Paul is able to give encouragement toward genuine Christian life and pursuit in such a way that there is very little need of explanation. It’s so much fun when you’re teaching anyone, no matter what age, when you see the fire and light in the eyes that portrays minds working and grasping. And Paul fires off a number of instructions with very little clarification here. Attitudes, worship, prayer, behavior. Nearly every facet of living in fellowship with the Savior and his people is covered here. But there is one thing so very critical NOT to miss. And I believe that the Spirit and Paul have tucked it in the passage with tactical precision.

Verse 19 begins with the exhortation: “Do not quench the Spirit.” Don’t douse the fire. So often the Holy Spirit is given the emblem of fire in Holy Scripture. And Paul is saying a couple things here. First, you, believer in Christ, have the ability to hinder the third Person of the Trinity in His work. So don’t. And the placement of the instruction is the second issue: realize it is by the Spirit and His working that you are able, dear Christians, to accomplish all these things. These commands would be bare “law” were it not for the call to remember the work of the Spirit which precedes and empowers all that our Lord commands. Seeing this prompting toward the Spirit sandwiched in the middle here gives the young believers in Thessalonica and us, the joy of knowing we are not alone, and that we have great personal love and power at our disposal.

It is an amazing thing that in all these “tasks” and whatever the Lord assigns, it is His joy to endorse and undergird our participation in hastening the full manifestation of God’s Kingdom. God be praised! And by the way, the Spirit of the Lord is behind the praising as well.