In this message I explain that God’s will for us is to be rejoicing in all circumstances and to be in prayer always to give us the strength to do so.
Introduction
Out West, a cowboy was driving down a dirt road, his dog riding in back of the pickup truck, his faithful horse in the trailer behind. He failed to negotiate a curve and had a terrible accident.
Sometime later, a highway patrol officer came on the scene. An animal lover, he saw the horse first. Realizing the serious nature of its injuries, he drew his service revolver and put the animal out of his misery. He walked around the accident and found the dog, also hurt critically. He couldn’t bear to hear it whine in pain, so he ended the dog’s suffering as well.
Finally he located the cowboy –who suffered multiple fractures–off in the weeds. “Hey, are you okay?” the cop asked. The cowboy took one look at the smoking revolver in the trooper’s hand and quickly replied, “Never felt better!”
Respect, Love, and Correct in Peace (12-15)
a. We will love our spiritual leaders.
This is sincere gratitude because of the work they put in for us. The recognition of the leader is not of the person but their work they are doing.
The word labor here means “Hard Work” or “Grow Weary or Tired.” Spiritual work is very rewarding work but it is also very difficult. It is a battle in the spiritual realm. Constant attacks from the enemy.
Not only this but when something tragic happens to a member, a pastor feels the pain. They hurt with the family. They suffer with them all. It is hard laborious work for the spiritual leaders God has called and placed where He has.
This is why we esteem their work and not them. God has gifted them, it is not the person, but God working. He gave the gift to the person but the person is the one working. We esteem them in love because of their work and diligence.
This is all spiritual leaders.
Sunday School teachers, Bible study leaders, Elders, Lay Pastors, Pastors, any who serve in a spiritual leadership realm.
Some may ask of or say of a leader, “Why is he to take the place of leadership in the church?” This is because God has gifted us all differently. Some are gifted with teaching, preaching, and leadership in the spiritual realm. Some have other gifts, but not all are gifted as leaders. We need to recognize that leaders are important and even if we do not agree we need to be at peace as much as possible.
We need to realize that not everyone can have their way. We can get to a point where there is too many bosses and not enough hands.
When this happens too many are trying to run the church by demanding their own way.
We need to stop trying to get all our own ways and seek to understand why the leaders are leading like they are. We do this by recognizing the leaders are working hard to glorify God and we pray for them and are willing to follow their leadership.
When we do this we are at peace. We are living together in a manner that is loving and caring.
We are…
b. at peace with each other
This is what this section is getting at. We see peace here and in verse 23.
Peace together is what God desires.
He does not want us at each others throats. We are to love each other and care for one another.
We see this is several places in the NT. In John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””
1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.”
1 John 4:20 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
But if we are whining and complaining we are not going to do this.
We will seek out our own desires and gripe when things are not going how we think they should.
Sometimes the problem is with us and not the leaders or other people in the church.
My Favorite Illustrations (Could It Be Me?)
If something is wrong with your church and you wonder why, the place to start seeking an answer is with yourself. Is your church unfriendly? What about you? Is it unconcerned about the lost? Are you? Is it behind on its budget requirements? Are you behind, or are you penny-pinching in your giving? Is there hostility in the fellowship? What of your attitude and behavior? You may or may not find the answers within yourself. Nevertheless, you need to be certain you are not part of the problem before you begin pointing an accusing finger at others.
we could be the problem. We need to examine and check if we are and to see if we are loving others as we should.
Like on a crew. When one person begins to complain, another is soon to follow. Before it is said and done, every person on the crew will be grumbling and complaining because of the one person who began to whine.
Paul is saying, don’t let that be you. There is no room for whining, only respect, love, peace, and correction.
a. We will correct those doing wrong.
When we are acting rightly in this manner, we will be at peace with each other and will be able to know who is in need of correction, encouragement, weak, we will be patient, and refuse to return evil for evil.
i. The unruly (idle). The unruly are those who are out of step with biblical Christian practice. People living a sinful life while claiming to be a Christian. It is the responsibility of all in the church to correct these people.
ii. encourage the fainthearted. We will see those who are fainthearted (discouraged) and build them up. When we are living at peace with others and not complaining about everything, we will see those who need extra encouragement. We will love one another and care for one another.
iii. help the weak. The same is with the weak.These are those who are struggling with their faith. They are in a difficult spot and questioning. We help them. We guide them. We do what we can so as to not make another believer stumble. We help them rather than complain and gripe about something, even if the problem they have is something that bothers you too.
iv. strive to be patient with all. Here the point is clarified even more. This word means, to bear up under provocation without complaint. We stay patient and do not fall into the cycle of the complaining. We do not become angry with them but we encourage them to let it go and live at peace together. Also, we stay calm and faithful and do not attack others. People can be frustrating, but we do not attack them. We have patience and help them.
v. refuse to retaliate. When we are not in a whining mood or complaining or angry mood, we will see that revenge is wrong. We will seek to do good rather than harm. Paul said in Romans 12:19-21 “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
God will do the avenging we need to show love, peace, and control over self. We do this when we are not in a bitter and complaining mood. We will see that love wins more than anger and frustration. We will be able to be at peace with one another better too.
We can maintain this right mood when we are…
Rejoicing in Continual Prayer (16-17)
In constant continuous prayer we will keep ourselves in line with what God desires. We will give any grievance over to Him. We will not become bitter.
We will rejoice that there are people who love us enough to do their all to proclaim the Lord and His Word for us.
We will rejoice that we have people coming to church that are angry and bitter because the church is where they will learn how to handle their problems.
We will rejoice that there are those who are struggling with their faith here. We will love them and seek to draw them closer to the Lord.
We will stay faithful to all this through our continual conversation with the Lord.
When we pray always, we will know what God desires of us. We will be able to love rather than complain. We will love the weak and fainthearted.
My Favorite Illustrations (Now and Then)
In one of his seminary class lectures in New Testament, Dr. A. T. Robertson noted that in heaven all of God’s children will love one another. Then he remarked, “Since that is true, we should practice loving each other here on earth.”
That is what we will do when we are rejoicing continually in prayer. We will seek to love all in the faith and care for them all as they are because that is what Christ did (Rom. 5:1-11) and that is what we are called to do too.
This means that we must always rejoice. As Paul wrote in Phil. 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” That is what we are to do.
This means that we…
Give Thanks in all Situations and Don’t Whine (18)
Here is the meat of this whole section. If we can get this point here, we will be able to do everything already mentioned.
We are to have joy in everything regardless.
Joy in all circumstances means that whatever is going on, we do not let it wreck us. Joy is a choice.
Joy is not happiness. Joy is something that we have regardless of whether we are happy.
Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes (Joy)
Joy is the Flag that flies over the castle of our hearts announcing that the king is in residence today.
That is what joy is. We know that Jesus is in control and regardless what happens, we have Him.
Rom. 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
This is joy because the glories that will be revealed to us is what drives us, not the here and now.
Jesus is in control. Take joy in that and rejoice in all circumstances.
When we give thanks and do not whine or complain: we will have a fruitful and healthy church body. We will live together and love one another as we are supposed to do.
We will not quench the Spirit but..
i. The Spirit will Still be Aflame in You (19)
Quenching the Spirit is saying no to God. Saying no to something to which the Spirit says yes. When we are not whining and complaining and giving thanks, we will hear better and not say no. This means…
We are full of Joy. We are resting in the comforter that we have received from the Lord Jesus Christ.
We have 2 Tim. 1:7 “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
We have Him who will strengthen us and care for us.
If we rejoice always and love one another and are at peace and not complaining, the Spirit is afire in us. We have His power to thrive.
ii. You Will Hear the Truth and Apply it (20)
If we are thriving and not whining, when we hear the Word of God proclaimed, we will strive to apply it to our lives and grow.
We will not despise what the preacher or teacher says because we do not like how it landed on our hearts.
We will seek to apply what is taught but we will test it.
iii. You Will know what is Good and Bad (21)
When we are living how we should and living in peace we will have guidance from the Word of God.
We will test all things through the filter of the Word.
When we allow the Word of God guide us, and when we filter everything through what it says, life will take on a new glow.
Like the song “Rose Colored Glasses.” In this song we hear:
I don’t know why I keep on believing you need me. When you’ve proved so many times that it ain’t true. And I can’t find one good reason for staying. Maybe by leaving would be the best for you.
But these rose colored glasses. That I’m looking through. Show only the beauty ‘Cause they hide all the truth.
The difference is that God’s Word exposes the truth rather than hide it.
His Word will reveal why we need to leave a situation. It will show the beauty of the world in the right manner. His Word is not deceptive as the rose colored glasses are. His Word reveals all truth and will make…
iv. You to Avoid Evil (22)
We when we follow all the points mentioned above we will be able to avoid all evil.
We will not allow ourselves to fall into evil.
We will know what is evil and we will avoid it.
We will not allow the evil of hate, bitterness, anger, and frustration encroach on us.
We will know what God desires for us and because of that we will be able to rejoice in all circumstances and know that there is no room for whining.
Paul ends with “may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.”
When we trust in Him to do so, He will do this. We will have all parts of our life and actions sanctified by Him when we allow Him to do this. When we do His will, as taught in this section, we will be sanctified in peace and complete in Him.
Not only will we be sanctified, but when we couple the three exhortations of rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances, we have the simple recipe for God’s will for our lives. This will help us to keep all the commands listed in this section. These 16 commands that is. We can follow what Paul has laid out for us by keeping these three simple ingredients.
Conclusion
My Favorite Illustrations (Victims of Their Own Doing)
Some people approach life with an attitude that makes for hard going. They were born in the “objective case” and the “kickative mode.” They always have a chip on their shoulders and dare anyone to knock it off.Such people may claim, “God made me this way.” Well, I do not agree. Actually, they are victims of their own doing. They never grew out of the “brat” stage of childhood. They are unhappy and make everyone else about them unhappy. These people are sand in the gears of life.
God’s will for us is not to be that sand in the gears.
He wants us to be at peace with one another and give thanks in all circumstances.
We do this by not complaining and being at peace with one another. We love one another and help one another. We do not cut one another down.
We do not be that one guy who disrupts the whole crew.
We let the Lord sanctify us by receiving what we are taught but by taking that to Scripture to test it rather than our own feelings.
We avoid evil and hate and meanness amongst one another.
We give thanks we are together to worship and that we have people who have committed to bring the Word to us.
Much like home life.
We need to be thankful we have childrens clothes laying around, toys scattered, messy rooms, frustrating aspects from a spouse, a busted water pipe in the house, a broken appliance, stained floors, because we have children to love, a spouse, a home we live in.
The same is with the church. There are frustrating aspects in it for sure.
But we need to praise the Lord in all of it because it is just like the messes and appliances, we have them. We have the church and people are coming to it. This is worthy of praise and has no room for whining.
