Sermon 17th December 2023 – 3rd Sunday in Advent
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Every Sunday, and perhaps in your daily prayers, we
pray in the Lord’s Prayer – your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. What
is God’s will? When Jesus was on one of his teaching rounds his family came to
see him one day. A message was sent to Jesus: “Your mother and brothers are
standing outside, wanting to speak to you. Jesus replied: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are
my mother and my brothers. For whoever
does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
In the Garden of Gethsemane we hear the famous quote
by Jesus when he is struggling with the next stage of his life – being put to
death - saying Father, this cup is too much to bear please take it from me. But
he closes that prayer with the often quoted statement. Not my will be done but
your will be done.
So what is the will of God?
Many believe that the will of God is to keep all the
commandments – do all the right things – obey the law – thou shalt and thou
shalt not. The law is important – even Jesus said so. I have not come to
abolish the law but to fulfil it. But we also know that the law cannot save us.
As Paul says - if we could be made right
with God through the law, Christ died for nothing!
So what does Paul see as the will of God? Well,
interestingly enough, he says in today’s reading what the will of God is – and
it might surprise many people. He says: Rejoice
always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for THIS is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
So there were 3 things Paul highlights here:
Rejoice always.
Pray without ceasing.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
And notice that these have a permanent place in our
lives – always, without ceasing, in all circumstances.
Rejoice always.
The candle we lit today – the 3rd Candle – is often
known as the Joy candle or the Rejoice Candle. We often confuse joy with
happiness – and that’s where we can misunderstand what Paul is talking about
regarding the will of God. If Paul wanted to be “happy” he certainly chose the
wrong path: In his own words from 2 Corinthians: Flogged more severely, and
been exposed to death again and again. times I received from the Jews the forty
lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with
stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open
sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in
danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in
danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger
from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without
sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have
been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my
concern for all the churches.
And yet he says in Philippians 4: Rejoice in the Lord
always. I will say it again. Rejoice. So what is there to rejoice about? Well,
St Paul says, it’s about the victory that Jesus has won for us – that at the
end of all our days of suffering there is the joy of knowing we’ll be in heaven
where there will be no more suffering or death.
And it’s the assurance that we have NOW of knowing
that we will be in heaven that brings the joy as he goes on to say in our bible
reading: May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your
spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.
So we don’t live our lives wondering if we will be in
heaven but assured that whenever that day is that God, our faithful God,
ensures that for us. But sometimes that’s easier said than done. It’s easy to
encourage others in those times but not so easy when we ourselves are the ones
going through the difficulties. And that’s why Paul encourages us to pray
without ceasing.
Pray without ceasing.
But let us remember that praying doesn’t mean folding
our hands, bowing our heads and closing our eyes. That would be really hard to
do – especially while driving. But it means always knowing that God is with us
which is what he promised when the angel told Joseph that Mary’s child would be
called Immanuel – God with us. And also Jesus last words before he ascended to
heaven – I am with you always.
There are times when we do make that quiet time for
prayer but it is so comforting to know that God is with us in those difficult
times. Which is what Psalm 23 reminds us – even though I walk through the
darkest valleys I will not be afraid because you are with me. And it’s only
when we understand that close relationship we have with God that we are able to
give thanks to him in spite of all that is happening in our lives and around
us.
Give thanks always
Remember all that Paul went through? And yet he was
still able to give thanks to God and in fact he says that he rejoices in this
sufferings as it showed him the need for God in his life. That he couldn’t do
it on his own.
Whether we believe in God or not we cannot avoid
suffering. But when we know God in our lives we give thanks – not for the
suffering but for knowing that our suffering will end and we will rejoice in
Heaven for all eternity. And that’s why it’s God’s will that we rejoice always
– why we pray without ceasing and are able to give thanks in all circumstances.
And that all began and was made possible because of
Christmas where God loved the world so much that he sent his one and only Son
so those who believed in him would not perish but receive eternal life.
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