VII. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”—I THESS. v. 18.
THIS verse and the two verses that go before combine to enforce three duties—”Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.”
I. “Rejoice evermore.”
This is a strange counsel. Down here in the world are not the children of God mourners? They are far from the Father’s house, in the wilderness, tempted, afflicted, and persecuted by the world, and they know nought of the Father’s house but what they see by faith in the Word of God. All this is true. But still they are called on to rejoice evermore. Why not? They are to rejoice in the Lord. He is their portion, and the source of their joy will never run dry; it cannot even be diminished. They have the Lord as their portion, His grace for their salvation, and glory awaiting them. Surely they ought to rejoice. They are to rejoice in all cases and sets of circumstances. When they lose parents, children, the desire of their eyes, or the partner of their lives, when they are bereft of what the world calls their all, still they are to rejoice. God is still theirs, and the all of His grace.
II. “Pray without ceasing.”
“O, that spoils all,” you say, “for, if they are to be always praying, then there must be poverty, wants to be supplied, and sins to be confessed. I cannot understand how they can rejoice and pray.” There is one thing, my friend, you have yet to learn, how one can rejoice and mourn at the same time. You have only one heart, and that heart can only be exercised in one way. But these children of light have two hearts, an old heart that pours in upon the new that which causes it to mourn, and the new heart upon which shines the grace of God causing it to rejoice. It is when having most cause to mourn they also rejoice most. “They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him.” And think you, Is there no joy in that look? The very bitterness adds to the joy. “Pray without ceasing.” Can a soul be always consciously praying? I do not say that, but I do say this, we ought always to be in a praying frame. “I did something to-day when doing which I could not pray.” Very likely. If you have suspicions of yourself in the doing of a thing, you cannot be in a praying frame. It is possible, however, to go to duty in a praying frame, lift up our hearts in prayer as opportunity affords, and carry a praying frame out of the duty with us.
III. “In everything give thanks.”
“In everything” means in every place, at all times, and in all sets of circumstances. There is no case in which we can be which does not give opportunity for thankfulness. Joseph in prison, falsely charged and condemned, thou must praise there as surely as when on the throne thou rulest the whole land of Egypt. Job, sitting in dust, scraping thyself with a potsherd, with no friend near thee but the wife who counselled thee to curse God and die, and all thy children dead, even thou art called to thankfulness as surely as when thou didst rejoice in the comforts of home and children. David, in the Cave of Adullain, a wanderer away from home, family, and all the comforts and honours of the throne, thou art called there to thankfulness. The Church, as we hear it wail the Lamentations, was in a sad plight, but from the depths she could offer up the thanksgiving, “It is of the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed.” It is the will of God, the will of God in Christ Jesus, that we be thankful in everything. O well, if it be His will in Christ Jesus, we know that in Him God arranges all things according to His everlasting covenant, and that no trial can touch us but what is ordered by divine wisdom according to the behests of divine love, whether we can see it or not. It is the will of God “concerning you,” that is, you who are “in Christ Jesus.” His death was our death. His death which was the fruit of ours shall bring forth to us the fruit of everlasting salvation. And in Him, standing in His righteousness, we can be in no circumstances where thanks are not due to God.
VIII. “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works.”—Ps. lxxiii. 28.
I. What is implied in drawing near to God.
Every act of worship is a drawing near to God. Even such is the drawing near with the lips, the honouring with the mouth. One of two things must be true of every act of worship, either we blaspheme or glorify God. What a solemn alternative is thus involved in our professed acts of worship. What is implied in a true drawing near to God? We must come as sinners, in and by Christ, in the exercise of the Spirit. I must come as a sinner. It is as such that God calls me. He sent His Son to call sinners to repentance. There are three things about which a soul, in earnest seeking salvation, will be anxious. Can God be what He is and I be saved? Will He be willing to receive me if I come? Can He let me, a sinner, having nothing I can claim as my own but sin, into the holiest? In Christ alone can the sinner find these questions answered. Can God be just and justify me a sinner? Christ was afflicted for the sins of His people, and God was well pleased with the affliction of His Son, wherefore He exalted Him to the midst of the throne. In Christ mercy and truth met, righteousness and peace embraced. He magnified the law and satisfied justice: He is thus the way to the Father. In Him God can show mercy to chief sinners. Is God willing to receive sinners? Yes. He proved His willingness in the commendation of His love, the sending of His Son. He raised Him up in token of His satisfaction, and in Him shall His people be raised up. Will He let me in, a sinner, as I am? I will not come apart from Christ. He came to save sinners, and as a sinner I cast myself on Him. God’s call is “Come and let us reason together,” and resting on His righteousness, leaning on His grace, both in Christ, I shall come in to the Father. He has promised to hear the cry of the afflicted. He heard the cry of His Son in His afflictions, as we have it in the twenty-second Psalm, and that is our warrant for expecting an answer to our prayer. We are to take His Word, and say, “Here is Thy Word, O Lord, do as Thou hast said.”
II. The good which results from drawing near to Him.
This may be summed in breathings of hope, tastings of love, and glimpses of glory.
(1) Hope.
This hope is in the mercy of God. Mercy, grace, salvation. I cannot hope for salvation, except I see it as mercy to me. Salvation for sinners. If I can get a view of that as possible in accordance with the character of God I can rejoice in it. But God gives more than that. He enables His people to say, “Salvation is mine, Christ is mine and I am His.” He gives them sometimes to be assured that salvation is theirs.
(2) Tastings of love.
Sometimes only sips can be taken. When one is fevered and the lips are parched with thirst only a drop on the point of a spoon can be given. No more could be taken. Thus is it sometimes with the child of God. But at other times larger, fuller, draughts of love are given and can be enjoyed.
(3) Glimpses of glory.
These are glimpses that make us lie low. The lower we are under a sense of the glory the more we can trust it is of the right kind. There is a rejoicing in the hope of glory. This comes from such tastings of the love of God in Christ that we feel we are loved with an everlasting love, a love that has been from everlasting, and is to endure to all eternity. I, a poor worm, lying in between two eternities of love, carried through trial and affliction, kept and preserved, and made to rejoice in the hope of being for ever with the Lord.
III. The resolution of those who have found it good to draw near to God.
That is, to declare the wonderful works of God. They do this by their lives and conversation, and by speaking when an opportunity and a call from God call them to do so. They speak to God in secret. They sing a song of praise to Him. But how was the Psalmist able to declare the works of God? Hear what he says, “I have trusted in the Lord God.” Divine grace must be brought to the work of praising divine glory. God hears the heart sing when the praise is too great for the lips to utter, just as the heart prays sometimes in groaning. But our lives ought to declare to the world the grace of God. We ought so to live as to be separate from the works and cares and pleasures of the world, that men might see in us the fruit of the work of God. And we must speak for Him to men. We have not to go out of our place thus to speak. If we have been in our closet having fellowship with Him, we will come forth from it wishing to speak of the wonderful works of God to our fellowmen.