I would have you open your Bibles this morning to the letter of Paul, the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, and we will be looking there at chapter 5. We gather together as the assembled people of God on this, our nation's Thanksgiving Day, a holiday in which our nation shuts down in order to celebrate her bounty. Christians and non-Christians alike will gather around tables for delicious meals and around televisions to watch their favorite teams. But what began with the joyful Christian celebration for God's provision and gratitude for his provision through difficult times has become in our day for many a day of excess in the name of giving thanks. In our culture, it really doesn't matter what one is thankful for or to whom one is thankful. It seems that all that is important is that one is thankful. And this was pictured sadly but truly in the comic strip Luann on Sunday's paper. There we have the picture of the family gathered around the table with steaming turkey in the middle. And the father turns to his teenage daughter and says, Luann, would you offer the blessing? So Luanne bows her head and she says, Thank you. And after a long pause, she blurts out, That's all I can think to say. And her mom turns to her and says, That's all right, honey. That's plenty. Well, is it really plenty? Is it really plenty? We're told in Romans 1 that since the creation of the world, God's invisible attributes have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that all men are without excuse. Even so, although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But this is not because all men don't experience God's favor. As was sung in our first song this morning by the choir and as Jesus taught in Matthew 5.45, Our Heavenly Father causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good and His reign to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous. And for the sake of Christ and His church, in this sense, God treats all men the same. And this is what we call common grace. But there's a difference in how men respond to this common grace. Unbelievers enjoy the bounty of God, to be sure, but they do not give glory to Him or thank Him. for his provision. To borrow an illustration from Cornelius Van Til, they are like children who want to sit on the lap of their father while at the same time they slap his face. Believers, on the other hand, respond with thanksgiving to God because they acknowledge his creation and his control over it all as good and perfect gifts from his hand. So as Christians we gather to praise and thank God not only for His common grace, which we share with unbelievers, but more importantly, His justifying grace through the gift of faith He's given us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And His sanctifying grace that He works in us by His Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of Christ. And we've turned this morning to the letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, his first letter. And at the close of this letter, beginning in chapter 5, verse 12, Paul issues several reminders to God's people about how Christians are to live lives worthy of God as they await for the return of Christ from heaven. Read together with me. We'll begin in chapter 5, verse 12, through the end of the chapter. Hear the word of God. Now we ask you, brothers, to remember those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful, always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Here ends the reading of God's Word. And in our text today, verses 16 to 18, Paul reveals how believers, how their trust in God's provision is expressed toward God. And in these three short verses, Paul issues God's command to manifest trust in Him. And he says this in verses 16 to 18, Be joyful, that is, rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Now as we consider this command, we will consider its threefold expression, its comprehensive character, and its sanctifying necessity. Although it's considered in three verses, it hangs together as a single command. And while it's true that each of these exhortations to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks, can and do often stand alone in Scripture, together they're brought here by Paul as a single command, a reminder to us of how we're to live, of how we're to manifest our trust in God for His provision. And the command begins in the shortest verse in the Greek Bible with the call to rejoice, to be glad. Now we may be tempted to hear this part of God's command as a sort of pleasant platitude, something along the lines of don't worry, be happy. But brothers and sisters, we must not think of joy as something we are able to stir up in our own hearts. We're not able to get the joy in the same way we're able to go to the store and buy a steak. Just go out and get it. The pursuit of joy in this way is what leads to what is called hedonism. The pursuit of pleasure or joy at any expense. The teacher in Ecclesiastics reports how he tried this method. He tried it out. He tried cheering himself up with wine and all sorts of folly. He denied himself nothing that his eyes desired. He refused his heart no pleasure, but in the end he found that true joy is not gained by running after it through the front door of life, so to speak. Rather, it sneaks in by the back door when we're busy at the front door with God's provision. Therefore, apart from this summary commandment in this text, the command to rejoice found throughout the rest of Scripture is generally tied to a specific report of God's doing, His provision for us. Therefore, we see in the prophet Joel that because God provided rain, Joel says rejoice. And because God provided strength in our youth, young men and women, the teacher in Ecclesiastes tells us to rejoice. And because the names of the elect are found in heaven and they have a great reward waiting in there, Jesus says to us, rejoice. See, the rejoicing that is commanded in our text today is to manifest our trust in the provision of God, what He provides us as creatures by His common grace. And more importantly, what He provides is His adopted children by special, saving grace. The command continues. with the call to prayer, to speak to God as our Father. Part of our front door dealings with God has to do with praying to Him, asking Him to meet our needs. See, God the Father has provided Jesus, the Son of God, who has gone before us into the heavenlies and has opened the way to the throne of God. Therefore, we're commanded in Hebrews 14, 16, to approach His throne, this throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace in our time of need. Because Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses and has shared our temptations without sinning, of course. He instructed us, He left instruction for how we're to go about approaching this throne of grace. It's what we call the Lord's Prayer. Now we say it together often and we say it often as a prayer in and of itself but more importantly it's to teach us how to pray. By it we learn that we're to approach God acknowledging that He's our Father for the sake of Christ in whom we've been adopted as His children. Desiring that His name would be honored by all and longing to see His kingdom extended and His righteous will obeyed on earth as it is in heaven. And by it we learn to continue to ask Him to provide our daily needs. Asking Him for continued mercy even as He enables us to show mercy to others. And asking Him to keep us from temptation and from evil. Jesus teaches us in Luke chapter 11, Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. But when we ask, we must ask in faith, as James tells us. In faith, in trust. Therefore, obedience to the command to pray here manifests trust in God's provision, trust in His eternal power and glory, and trust in His willingness and His ability to answer our prayers. And thirdly, this command is completed by the call to give thanks, to express our gratitude to God. And much like the command to rejoice, this command to give thanks, which is somewhere, some places translated, be thankful, might cause us to think that God is demanding us to work up this emotional response of gratefulness in our own hearts. But like joy, this thankfulness is something that sneaks in the back door when we're busy at the front door. When we remember and believe that every good and perfect gift comes from the loving hands of our Heavenly Father and are focused on what He has provided and on Him who has provided it, then we will find that we are thankful. Then we can begin to give thanks to our God. You see, giving thanks is not merely lip service. It's more than just saying thanks. Children and young people, today you're going to consume in 15 minutes or less a feast that it took your mother hours to prepare. How are you going to show your gratitude to her? Are you going to behave like a citizen of ancient Rome and figure out that a belt is enough that lets her know that you're content with what she's done? Are you going to say a quick thanks, Mom, as you run out to the family room leaving your dishes on the table so you can get to the game? Or are you going to say, thanks, Mom, and then show your gratitude. Give her thanks by clearing your place, helping with the dishes, cleaning up the mess which you helped make. That's a simple illustration of the difference between lip service and giving thanks. You see, giving thanks in the scriptural sense is an active response to the one who gives and to that which is given. You can't give thanks to your neighbor for the wonderful meal your mom prepares. You can't do it. And true thanksgiving, Christian thanksgiving, looks beyond the meal and it looks beyond the balm to the one and only true God who gave them both to you. Thanksgiving is always to be about giving thanks to God, our Heavenly Father. For all He provides us with, no matter what the means are that we experience it by. Now on this Thanksgiving Day, as a nation, we are going to focus on the blessing of God's common grace. But as the people of God, we're called to look beyond these blessings to those which are ours because of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus our Lord. Heidelberg Catechism Question 2 asks, what must we know to live and die in the joy of discomfort? The joy of discomfort. meaning the comfort of knowing that we belong, body and soul and life and death to Christ who's bought us. Three things, how great our sin and misery are. Second, how I am delivered from all my sin and misery. And third, how I am to thank God, that is to give thanks to God for such deliverance. And the answer to this question, this third thing, the solution is offered in the third part of our catechism, which is where we find the law of God. And there we find that giving thanks to God is by doing something. By doing good works. That which He has ordained for us to do. By means, that means that we seek to obey more and more the law of God in order to bring glory to Him. To please Him. Not to save ourselves. So we've seen here this one command to rejoice, to pray, and to give thanks is how we're to show and manifest our trust in God. The second thing we want to notice about this command, however, is not just what it tells us to do, but how comprehensive it is. See, up to now all this sounds so natural, just what we would expect to hear on Thanksgiving Day. I mean, as we celebrate with an abundance of family and friends and an abundance of food, of course we're going to be joyful. And of course we're going to offer prayers to God. And of course we're going to be thankful. And many who do so will do so with the right attitude that this day is just a highlight of their year-round relationship with their Heavenly Father in Christ. But for some, this command seems unnecessary. Although it makes for good pomp and show. For them, Thanksgiving Day is an opportunity to impress their family and their friends with the abundance of their wealth. No cost is too high. No delicacy is denied. They see themselves as doing well, thank you very much. But for the sake of their reputation, they'll put on a humble face. They'll mouth the prayers and they'll pretend to give thanksgiving to God. And for others, this command seems harsh or unfair. The empty chair at the table will eclipse all the full ones. The memories of times gone by that can never be repeated will bring bitterness with the sweetness. And the sight of so much food will remind some of their day-to-day lack. For these times are hard and distressing. But for the sake of others, they'll put on a happy face. They'll mouth the prayers and they'll pretend to give thanksgiving to God. But this command leaves no room for anyone to pick and choose what he will do, when he will do it. There's no room for false faces. There's no room for playing the hypocrite. Christians are called to obey this command not only on Thanksgiving Day, not only when times are good, not even when times are bad. The Word of God is very clear. Obedience to this command is to be a way of life. We're to rejoice. We're to pray. We're to give thanks at all times and in all things. Look again at verses 16 and 17 there. We find that we're to do so always and continually. And in verse 18, that we're to do so in all circumstances. And believe me, the language in the Greek is just as absolute. But we must remember that it's clear that this command cannot be calling for all of our time and every circumstance to be filled with uninterrupted rejoicing, praying, and thanksgiving. We know from Ecclesiastes chapter 3 that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. That includes a time to weep as well as a time to laugh and a time to mourn as well as a time to dance. If Paul had lived a life of rejoicing and praying and thanksgiving that excluded everything else, he would have started a monastery instead of traveling around the Mediterranean planting churches and writing letters and teaching them and rebuking them and training them and correcting them with the Word of God in order to equip them to the good works that God has called them to do. If Jesus had lived this way, doing these things to the exclusion of everything else, He would not have wept at the tomb of Lazarus, nor would He have undergone the curse of death at the cross. You see, what is called for in this command is for all of our time and every circumstance to be surrounded by and punctuated with rejoicing, prayer, and thanksgiving. Therefore, even though Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus, He thanked God for His death so that many would believe that the Father had sent Jesus when He raised Him from the dead. Therefore, Jesus submitted to death on the cross only after praying for deliverance to His Father, but submitting to His will and looking forward to the joy that awaited Him as He would sit at the right hand of God the Father to intercede for you and for me. You see, our rejoicing, our prayer, and our thanksgiving is not to be done to the exclusion of everything else. Rather, everything else that demands our time and our attention must not stand in the way of these things. Many of these things, or many things, tempt us to neglect rejoicing and praying and giving thanksgiving. Paul lists several in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 when he recounts the trials of his life. He refers to troubles and hardships and distresses and hard work and sleepless nights and hunger. These we know, and some in this place know them very well. Other less tangible things that are just as tempting to get in the way are things that include such things as being dissed by our classmates. When others call us a phony. Or when so-called friends ignore us. These two can tempt us to neglect, to rejoice, and to pray, and to give thanks. But in each of these circumstances, we are called to rejoice. We are called to pray, and we're called to give thanks to God. Now this does not mean that we may not even must not lament the situation before our God in prayer. But in doing so, we must follow the example of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. when He prayed that the cup would be taken from Him in despair and yet submitted to the will of His Father for the sake of His people. We must be content with the will of God for us even if it overrules our own. You see, we are to so highly esteem the righteousness of Christ and the hope of everlasting life that is ours in Him that we can rejoice in the midst of these trials. Paul writes this in Romans 8, 17 and 18. He says, Now if we are children, then we are heirs and heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. We are called to consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us when Christ Jesus returns. The Scripture speaks about another set of circumstances that are dangerous to our obedience to this command. Great wealth and power, the high esteem of men, and the enjoyment of good health. In these circumstances, when we have eaten and are satisfied, We are tempted to forget God. Forget that it is He who gives us the ability to prosper. Consider the parable of the rich fool who was so blessed. He had so much. He built barns so he could store it away and he could enjoy it for the rest of his life. He'd live easy. He'd eat, drink, and be merry. And what did God say to him? He says, you fool. This very night your life will be demanded of you. consider the rich young ruler who was highly esteemed by men, in fact, highly esteemed by himself, it seems, but who did not know his indebtedness to God and who did not trust Christ in his command to sell all that he had and to come follow him. And consider the ten lepers that Jesus healed. Nine of them were content to obey Jesus as long as it got them what they wanted. but as soon as they had it, they never came back to give thanks. In each of these cases, men were tempted to trust in themselves. And because they did not trust in God and His provision, they didn't rejoice. They didn't pray and they didn't give thanks. By now you might be thinking, well, then who can keep this command? Who can rejoice and pray and give thanks at all times and in all things? Of course, the answer is no one. No one save Jesus Christ, our Lord. Therefore, the last thing we need to see in this command is sanctifying necessity. As with all the commands of God in Scripture, it presupposes a fault that lies in fallen men. This command, in particular, presupposes that if left to ourselves, we would grumble rather than rejoice. We would trust in our own resources rather than pray to God for His. And we would seek to enjoy the bounty of God's common grace while all the time slapping Him in the face rather than thanking Him for what He's done. Therefore, in order to have this command obeyed, the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, so that a man, the perfect man, the God-man, would always rejoice in the provision of His Father, would always pray to His Heavenly Father, and He would give thanks in all circumstances, even those that He did not deserve, those that He carried on behalf of His people. Jesus manifest perfect trust in the provision of His Father in heaven. And He did this for all who trust in Him for their salvation. This command then comes to believers as a means by which we can glorify God in our obedience, but also for our own good and our own sanctification. In our fallen condition and our finite state, our understanding of things is incomplete and imperfect. Therefore, God calls us to manifest our trust in His provision as the one who has comprehensive knowledge, who has perfect understanding, and who has control of all things at all times. As we trust in Him with the faith which He Himself gives us, we are enabled by the Holy Spirit more and more to express our joy to pray our prayers and to give our thanks to God. As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9, verse 8, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. And those good works include abounding in joy, in prayer, and in thanksgiving. It is, as God revealed in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 3 and 7, it is God's will that you be sanctified, Paul says. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live holy lives. And toward this end, God provides all that we stand in need of. Not only is common grace that we share with unbelievers, but also the justifying grace that for the sake of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forgives us of our sins and clothes us with the righteousness of Christ as well as the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who works within us to will and to do that which pleases God. And it's by His grace alone that we can please Him today this Thanksgiving day and every day as we grow in obedience to this command to be joyful always to pray continually to give thanks in all circumstances because we know from verse 18 that this is God's will for us in Christ Jesus we can receive by faith Paul's benediction in verses 23 and 24 which we will close our service with today so I'll repeat it again then but hear it now Now, Paul's benediction, May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The One who calls you is faithful and He will do it. Let's pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, You have laid before us this day from Your Word a command that in our own fallen creatureliness, Lord, we cannot attain to. You knew that we couldn't. We thank You that You've provided for us Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come and to fulfill this command perfectly. Rejoicing always. Praying continually. Give Him thanks in all circumstances. And we thank You, Lord, that He did this for us. Even enduring those circumstances which were not His to endure because He earned them. But He took them upon Himself. He took our sin upon Him. He took the death that we deserve upon Himself. And by the gift of Your grace and faith, we receive His righteousness. And forgiveness of sins. Lord we pray that this day. This Thanksgiving day. We would be mindful of your provision. Not only in that we see before us. For family and friends. And provision on the table. But Lord we would manifest our trust. In your provision always. Rejoicing. Praying and giving thanks. In all things and at all times. By the power of your spirit. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.