Keeping Your Joy
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16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
25 Brothers, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
16,17,18 are for ourselves.
19,20,21,22 Holy Spirit
23,24 To God
25,26,27,28 Final exhortations, mutual intercession.
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V16 Rejoice always
*The question is asked, How does one keep joy?
*A hard situation, tough decisions, The property...
I will explain more of this later in the sermon.
*Rejoice Evermore, “How can I always rejoice?” and, therefore, the apostle appended as answer, “Always pray.” The more praying the more rejoicing.
*Prayer gives a channel to the pent-up sorrows of the soul, they flow away, and in their stead streams of sacred delight pour into the heart.
At the same time the more rejoicing the more praying; when the heart is in a quiet condition, and full of joy in the Lord, then also will it be sure to draw nigh unto the Lord in worship. Holy joy and prayer act and react upon each other.
In like manner, the note of joy is also to the Philipi Church, in , having said, Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, Rejoice. Let your moderation be known to all. Be not anxious as to anything.
The Lord is at hand. He afterwards points out the means of this—but in every prayer let your requests be made known to God, with giving of thanks.
16. The injunction Be joyful always is at first sight a little surprising coming from one who had had to suffer as much and as continually as Paul.
But he learned that affliction and deep joy may go together
( 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
), 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
;
; ) in jail he is rejoicing!
So he counsels perpetual rejoicing to a suffering church
).= And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
few things about the New Testament church are more remarkable than this continual stress on joy.
From an outward point of view there was little to make believers rejoice. But they were ‘in Christ’; they had learned the truth of his words, ‘no-one will take away your joy’
(). 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Now joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit (;- Love Joy peace , patience , kindness , goodness and self control
); 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.. it is not something Christians work up out of their own resources.
The various derivatives of joy occur with startling frequency throughout the New Testament. The word for ‘grace’, for example, is from this root, as are one of the words for ‘to forgive’, one for ‘to give thanks’, and another for ‘gifts of the Spirit’.
New Testament Christianity is permeated with the spirit of holy joy.
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Delight in the Lord, you will bear fruit.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
*Fight for your delight
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V17 pray without ceasing,
*Conversation with God is deeper and more available than any other relationship.
“Pray without ceasing.”
Prayer is good at any given time
If I am to pray without ceasing, then every second must be suitable for prayer, and there is not one unholy moment in the hour, nor one unaccepted hour in the day, nor one unhallowed day in the year. The Lord has not appointed a certain week for prayer, but all weeks should be weeks of prayer: neither has he said that one hour of the day is more acceptable than another.
All time is equally legitimate for supplication, equally holy, equally accepted with God, or else we should not have been told to pray without ceasing.
Wherever we seek the Lord with true hearts he is found of us; whenever we cry unto him he hears us.
Every place is hallowed ground to a hallowed heart, and every day is a holy day to a holy man. From January to December the calendar has not one date in which prayer is forbidden. All the days are red-letter days, whether Sabbaths or week days they are all accepted times for prayer.
Let us but send out the dove of prayer and we may be certain that she will return to us with an olive branch of peace in her mouth.
Pray without ceasing---It means, first, never abandon prayer. Never for any cause or reason cease to pray.
Pray until last moment of your life. Don’t leave prayer, go towards prayer.
If your heart is cold in prayer, do not restrain prayer until your heart warms, but pray your soul unto heat by the help of the ever-blessed Spirit who helps our infirmities
Never, never, never renounce the habit of prayer, or your confidence in its power.
While your hands are busy with the world, let your hearts still talk with God; not in twenty sentences at a time, for such an interval might be inconsistent with your calling, but in broken sentences and interjections.
if we would pray without ceasing, we must always be in the spirit of prayer. Our heart, renewed by the Holy Ghost,
*We must pursue our prayers.
Pray then without ceasing, my brother. Let your whole life be praying. You can change the method, yet change not the pursuit; but continue still to worship, still to adore.
never altogether abandon prayer;
offer yourself to prayer; be earnest in outpourings, be always in the spirit of prayer, and let the whole of your life be consistent with your prayer, and become a part of it.
Story of a man that became mayor, during his banquet he excused himself a few minutes for family prayer saying I have an important meeting with a dear friend. He prayed at that family altar and in that respect, prayed without ceasing.
Who are we meeting with this evening? Do we have a moment to say hello to a dear friend. Oh what a friend we have in Jesus.
“I have so much to do to-day that I shall never get through it with less than three hours’ prayer.
Martin Luther.
*Your other engagements will run smoothly if you do not forget your engagement with God.
I believe that no man loves prayer until the Holy Spirit has taught him the sweetness and value of it. You will begin to pray in the streets, pray in the workplace, there will become and increase of joy and less of a burden.
*Be persistent, Heavens gate doesn’t open at every runaway knock.
17. ‘It is not in the moving of the lips, but in the elevation of the heart to God, that the essence of prayer consists’ and it is this that enables us to put into practice the injunction pray continually (cf. ; Don’t lose heart.
; Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
. ). It is not possible for us to spend all our time with the words of prayer on our lips, but it is possible for us to be all our days in the spirit of prayer, realizing our dependence on God for all we have and are, being conscious of his presence with us wherever we may be, and yielding ourselves continually to him to do his will.
*Prayers throughout Paul’s letters; prayer was so natural to Paul that it inevitably found its way into his correspondence).
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V18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Paul had learned that ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him’ (). Even in our difficulties and trials God is teaching valuable lessons (), -Suffering produces endurance
This conviction of the divine sovereignty and providence leads to the command, give thanks in all circumstances.
It may not be easy to see the bright side of a particular trial, but if God is over all, then his hand is in that trial; his own cannot but recognize his goodness and make their thanksgiving.
Perhaps we should notice that in all circumstances is not quite the same as ‘at every time’ (the two are differentiated in ).
God’s will is made known in Christ, and it is in Christ that we are given the dynamic that enables us to carry out that divine will.
V,16,17,18
1 Rejoice 2. Pray 3. Give thanks= those three texts are pictures go together representing the true christian life. Three precepts that are worn as a garment of grace. Rejoice, Pray without ceasing, give thanks.
*Pray without ceasing- its ok to pray in silence.
*Different positions of prayer
V18. For this is the will of God——that God has such a disposition towards us in Christ, that even in our afflictions we have large occasion of thanksgiving.
For what is fitter or more suitable for pacifying us, than when we learn that God embraces us in Christ so tenderly, that he turns to our advantage and welfare everything that falls on us?
Let us, therefore, bear in mind, that this is a special remedy for correcting our impatience—to turn away our eyes from beholding present evils that torment us, and to direct our views to a consideration of a different nature—how God stands affected towards us in Christ.
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V19 Do not quench the Spirit.
The Greek word for “Spirit” (pneuma) refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. The nt uses imagery of fire to describe the Spirit’s presence and activity (; ; ).
Paul uses the image of quenching to describe the idea of resisting the Spirit’s work in and among believers.
In this context, the notion of quenching the Spirit likely refers to a prohibition on prophetic activity within the Thessalonian church
quench, Is dried up, to stamp out, extinguish.
19. Quench not the Spirit. This metaphor is derived from the power and nature of the Spirit; for as it is the proper office of the Spirit to illuminate the understandings of men, and as he is on this account called our light, it is with modesty/propriety that we are said to quench him, when we make void his grace.
Don’t get bent out of shape over prophecy, this quenches the spirit.
For although contempt of prophesying is a quenching of the Spirit, yet those also quench the Spirit who, instead of stirring up, as they ought, more and more, by daily progress, the sparks that God has kindled in them, do, by their negligence, make void the gifts of God.
This admonition, therefore, as to not quenching the Spirit, has a wider extent of meaning than the one that follows as to not despising prophesyings. The meaning of the former is: “Be enlightened by the Spirit of God. See that you do not lose that light through your ingratitude.” This is an exceedingly useful admonition, for we see that those who have been once enlightened, (,) when they reject so precious a gift of God, or, shutting their eyes, allow themselves to be hurried away after the vanity of the world, are struck with a dreadful blindness, so as to be an example to others.
We must, therefore, be on our guard against indolence/ avoidance, by which the light of God is choked in us.
Those, however, who infer from this that it is in man’s option either to quench or to cherish the light that is presented to him, so that they detract from the efficacy of grace, and extol the powers of free will, reason on false grounds.
it is our part to ask from the Lord, that he would furnish oil to the lamps which he has lighted up, that he may keep the wick pure, and may even increase it.
The verb put out (av ‘quench’) is the proper word for putting out a fire (cf. , etc.); .it is an appropriate word to use of the Spirit, whose coming was with ‘what seemed to be tongues of fire’ (; cf. ), and who brings warmth and light to the Christian life.
Most commentators take the injunction to refer to the ecstatic gifts of the Spirit (such as speaking in tongues), and see a contrast with the situation in Corinth. There Paul had occasion to curb an exaggerated dependence on the gifts; here, it is said, there is the opposite; some of the more conservative believers were frowning on enthusiasts who eagerly pursued the more spectacular gifts. This is possible, but the evidence is not strong and the words are very general. ‘Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God’ () is a similar general statement, and most agree that there is no reference in that passage to the ecstatic gifts. It is possible to ‘quench’ the Spirit (or to ‘grieve’ him) by such matters as those mentioned earlier in the epistle—despondency, idleness, immorality and the like—and it is best to take the word in such a general sense. Masson acutely points out that the words refer to the Spirit, not the inspired
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V20 Do not despise prophecies,
*The Greek word used here, prophēteia, refers in this context to an utterance inspired by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the church community ().
*Some believers at Thessalonica may have felt uncomfortable with the spiritual gift of prophecy because of their past experience with idolatry (). Some religious cults—such as the cult of the Greek god Dionysus—practiced a form of pagan prophecy that involved ecstatic/ mystical trance behavior in experiences.
*Dionysus was a god of fertility and wine, ecstatic = blissful joy and mystical trance experience.
20. Despise not prophesyings.
On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
No need to say thus says the Lord as the Prophet Jeremiah but we do say I feel the Lord is saying this...
One manifestation of the Spirit’s activity is singled out for special mention, do not treat prophecies with contempt
(cf. - Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
Like some Corinthians, some Thessalonians may have thought more of spectacular gifts, like tongues, than of prophecy (see ), and Paul may be seeking to redress the balance. But there is no evidence, and a more likely conjecture is that there had been prophetic outbursts in connection with second advent speculations. At all times in history the two have tended to go together, and at all times one result has been that those not caught up in the advent speculation tend to regard prophecy lightly. Some of the Thessalonians seem to have been over-enthusiastic in their views on the parousia and others seem to have rebuked them rather tactlessly (see on vv. 12ff.). There is nothing improbable in the idea that, in the process, they had come to look slightingly on prophecy.
The New Testament clearly regards the prophets as important. They are classed with apostles (; ), and, more formally, ranked second to them (; ). Prophecy is the gift of God (; ), or of the Spirit (). Commentators regularly point out that prophets were forth-tellers rather than fore-tellers; their characteristic function seems to have been exhortation (, and cf. the notable discussion in , especially vv. 29–40). Essentially the prophet was someone who could say, ‘Thus saith the Lord’. But it should not be overlooked that this might, and sometimes did, involve foretelling the future (; ).
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V21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.
examine all things Probably refers to testing the legitimacy of the prophetic activity mentioned in vv. 19–20. In 1 Corinthians, Paul mentions the need for discernment within the church (; ).
Prove all things. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to prove all things, meaning, that although all do not speak precisely according to set rule, we must, nevertheless, form a judgment, before any doctrine is condemned or rejected.
14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
21. The verb is dokimazō, which is often used of testing metals, and may derive from this practice. It comes to mean testing in general and has the secondary meaning of approving as a result of test. Here it plainly means ‘avoid gullibility’, ‘apply spiritual tests to all that claims to be from God’.
Hold on to the good, writes Paul, and his word for good (kalos) is sometimes used of coins that ring true; they are genuine as compared with counterfeit coin. The Thessalonians should not take all claims at face value; they should test them and hold fast only (but always) to what is good.
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V22 Abstain from every form of evil.
Romans, Ephesians Col.
eidos= form, outward appearance 1 thes 5:22
3 And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”
Turn from every form of evil- God mentions Job as one who turns away from evil.
Abstain from every form of evil During the council at Jerusalem, the apostles agreed that the Gentiles should abstain from sexual immorality, from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and blood (). Paul broadens the instruction—all evil must be avoided
22. They should also Avoid every kind of evil. The preposition ‘from’ is used to emphasize the complete separation of the believer ‘from’ evil (lb ‘Keep away from every kind of evil’; there is a similar ‘from’ in 4:3, referring to unchastity). There is some doubt about the meaning of eidous (kind), and again whether evil is a noun or an adjective. Not much depends on the latter point, for, as Calvin pointed out, the meaning is much the same. Eidos may mean the outward appearance (, ‘form’), or ‘sort, species, kind’, which appears to be the meaning here. Some think it means ‘semblance’ (av ‘appearance’), but this sense is not attested and in any case it seems unlikely that Paul would be concerned only with the outward appearance. Our choice seems to be between ‘every visible form of evil’ (with no notion of unreality) and ‘every kind of evil’. The use of the word elsewhere in the New Testament favours the former, but there are enough examples of the term in the latter sense in the papyri (see MM) to make it quite possible, and in view of the context, this seems to be the right meaning. Paul is urging his friends to avoid evil of every kind (cf. ).
The change from ‘the good’ (v. 21) to every kind of evil may well be significant. The good is one, but evil is manifold; it is to be avoided in all its forms.
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V23. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
helokiros=whole, 1 thes 5:23
Paul concludes the letter with a benediction that anticipates the Lord’s return (vv. 23–24).
God of peace While the Roman emperor brought “peace” to the city of Thessalonica, the Thessalonians must ultimately look to God for peace. Compare ; .
*Sanctify, the same word hagiiasmos (GK) used in the process of becoming holy and with Paul’s concern for them to abstain from sexual immortality.
spirit and soul and body The nt understands people as a unity of material (body) and immaterial (spirit and soul).
await his Son from heaven Refers to Christ’s visible and personal return to earth at the end of the present age. Paul says that Jesus will return from heaven because it is the place where He reigns with God (compare ).
8. Conclusion (5:23–28)
Paul concluded the first main section of the letter with a prayer.
The conduct Paul has been advocating is impossible in human strength, but Paul’s prayer directs the readers to the source of the power that would alone enable them to live in this way.
He speaks of God as the God of peace‚ as he often does towards the end of his letters (cf. ; ; ; ; ). Peace (see on 1:1) is spiritual prosperity in the widest sense; it is so characteristic of God to bestow this gift that he is called the God of peace.
The prayer is that this God will sanctify you through and through. There is a manward aspect of sanctification‚ in that we are called on to consecrate ourselves to the doing of God’s will.
But the power manifest in the sanctified life is not human but divine, and Paul’s prayer reflects this truth. In the deepest sense our sanctification is the work of God in us; it may be ascribed to the Son ()‚ or to the Spirit ()‚ but in any case it is divine.
Through and through (holoteleis‚ here only in the New Testament) combines the ideas of wholeness and completeness;
The second part of the prayer runs‚ May your whole spirit‚ soul and body be kept blameless …
. Paul is not analysing the nature of man, but uttering a fervent prayer that the entire man be preserved.
The prayer is that the whole person be kept blameless‚
These epistles have a deep interest in the second coming and fittingly the prayer concludes with a reference to it. The prayer is not only that they may be kept until the coming, but that at (en) the coming they may be preserved,
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V24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
faithful The new believers at Thessalonica endured persecution even without the presence of Paul and his companions (see 3:9 and note), demonstrating God’s faithfulness.
24. The prayer is offered in the certainty that it will be answered‚ a certainty that arises because God is faithful (cf. ; ; ; ; ; ; ). Cf. Chrysostom: ‘This happens not from my prayers, he says‚ but from the purpose with which he called you’ (cited in Frame). God is the one who calls you, where the timeless present participle (not ‘called’) draws attention to God in his capacity as Caller. This is followed by an unusual absolute use of the verb do (there is no it in the Greek). This puts the emphasis on action, on ‘doing’, and this is strengthened by the ‘also’. The faithful Caller will also act.
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V25. Brothers, pray for us.
It’s ok to request prayer. Everything doesn’t have to be good.
Prayer as Hope
One of the great shaping personalities of Protestantism was Martin Luther. We sometimes have the impression that all this brilliant monk did was nail a list of protests on the church door in Wittenberg. Nothing could be further from the truth. He worked as an inspired man, preaching, lecturing, and writing daily. The complete edition of his papers runs into thousands of pages. He worked inconceivably hard, and yet in spite of all this, Luther managed to pray for an hour or two every day. He said he prayed because he had so much to accomplish. We are recipients of this hope, and in a world that is so corrupt and needy, we also need to pray.
25. We see a very human Paul in this request to his friends (he calls them Brothers) for prayer (see also ; ; ; , and cf. ; ). Although he had great gifts and was of undoubted eminence in the church‚ he needed the prayers of his friends.
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V26. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
philema= kiss 1 thes 5:26
holy kiss A kiss was a common greeting in the ancient world. A kiss exchanged upon greeting could also symbolize reconciliation (; ). In the Christian context, it expresses unity (; ).
*Greet one anther with the strongest form of affection.
26. ‘In the ancient world one kissed the hand‚ breast, knee‚ or foot of a superior‚ and the cheek of a friend. Herodotus mentions kissing the lips as a custom of the Persians. Possibly from them it came to the Jews.‘ In New Testament times it might be expected from a host to a guest (), and it was a gesture of goodwill which made Judas’s kiss so heinous ().
Not much is known of kissing in the early church, but it is usually held that men kissed men and women women, and that the kiss was on the cheek. But Tertullian (at the end of the second century) speaks of a wife exchanging a kiss with ‘any one of the brothers’ (To His Wife, ii. 4).
The New Testament does not connect it with liturgical practices‚ but the kiss would naturally be exchanged when Christians came together to worship‚ and it is not surprising that in time it came to be included in the service of Holy Communion (though not confined to this). Clement of Alexandria complains of those who ‘make the churches resound’ with their kissing, and goes on to say, ‘the shameless use of a kiss … occasions foul suspicions and evil reports’ (Instructor iii. 12). Such abuses led to restriction and‚ for example, the Apostolic Constitutions (4th century, but containing older material) direct men to kiss men and women women.
Paul means ‘Give all the brothers a kiss from me’ (cf. ‘My love to all of you in Christ Jesus’, ); it is his warm greeting to his Thessalonian friends. There are other references to such a ‘holy kiss’ (; ; )‚ and to a ‘kiss of love’ ().
Much is sometimes made of the fact that Paul says Greet all the brothers and not simply ‘Greet one another’ (Introduction, p. 33). But probably no great emphasis should be laid on all‚ for the word is not in an emphatic position. If Paul is not directing them how to greet one another but sending his own greeting to the church‚ it is natural for him to refer to all the brothers.
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V27. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
27. The strength of the language here is surprising. I charge you before the Lord means ‘I put you on your oath as Christians’, the verb being enorkizō, apparently a strengthened form of horkizō (we would expect something like ‘See that this letter is read to all’). The use of ‘I’ (not ‘we’ may also be significant, though it perhaps means no more than at this point Paul took up the pen to add a few words himself.
It is not easy to explain such a strong charge. Some see in it a reference to a divided church‚ with some members not wishing to have others hear the letter, or perhaps not wanting to hear it themselves. But, while there were some tensions in the church (as we have noted in the commentary)‚ there is nothing to indicate that the church was as seriously divided as this. We cannot imagine Paul praising it so highly if it were so seriously split. It is much the same with the suggestion that this is one of the earliest epistles and the custom of reading it to all was not yet established. If this were all, there seems no need of ‘I adjure’! Lightfoot suggests that Paul may have had a presentiment ‘that a wrong use might be made of his name and authority. Such a suspicion was entirely justified by subsequent occurrences ().’ Perhaps. But it is dangerous to appeal to possible presentiments to explain passages we find difficult.
The best explanation seems to lie in the intense desire of Paul and the Thessalonians to see each other again, together with the impossibility of that happening in the prevailing circumstances. Paul uses strong words to make sure that his message comes before everybody and is plainly seen to be meant to come before everybody. This makes clear that his continued absence was not his fault. Possibly also he is moved by special concern for the bereaved who might be absent when the letter was read. He makes it certain that they will not miss the comfort he is sending them.
The word read (anagnōsthēnai) means ‘read’ or ‘read aloud’. Some hold that reading was always aloud in antiquity‚ but Lake and Cadbury maintain that it is ‘surely incredible that educated Greeks and Romans had not learned to read silently’ (on ). Milligan cites examples of the use of the word in the sense of reading as well as of reading aloud. Here it clearly means ‘read aloud’. Reading during public worship is not implied, though in time this became usual, and Paul’s letters were read in church as sacred Scripture.
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28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
28. Instead of the customary secular ending ‘Farewell’ (errōso, errōsthe)‚ Paul always has a prayer for grace. This verse is the typical form, which was sometimes expanded (e.g. the trinitarian form, ), sometimes shortened (; and the Pastorals). It was Paul’s habit to pen the concluding portion himself after an amanuensis had written the main body of the letter (). The precise point at which he took the pen seems to have varied (cf. ); the use of the first person singular makes it likely that in this letter it was by verse 27 at any rate.
The question remains, How do I keep my joy?
Jesus said to me, would you do it for me again?
“Jesus wept” () is the shortest verse in English. In English it is 9 letters long. But in Greek it is 16 letters long (Ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς).
For a long time I have known that there is a shorter verse in Greek. That is , “rejoice always,” which is only 14 letters in Greek (Πάντοτε χαίρετε).
Delight in the Lord, you will bear fruit.
He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he bears fruit in due season.
*Fight for your delight
Rejoice Always,
Pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances, knowing Christ is with you.
love the kingdom of God being prepared
for his second coming.
Said the great and devout scientist, Sir Isaac Newton: “I can take my telescope and look millions and millions of miles into space, but I can lay it aside and go into my room, shut the door, get down on my knees in earnest prayer, and see more of heaven and get closer to God than I can assisted by all the telescopes and material agencies on earth.”
Isaac Newton