Rejoice. Pray. Give Thanks. God is Faithful.

Rejoice. Pray. Give Thanks. 3 simple, straightforward commands. As far as instructions go, rejoice; pray; give thanks are rather painless and unsurprising. There is nothing revolutionary, novel, or even beyond our reach in a call to rejoice, pray, and give thanks. In fact, you do these things without being told. Who can hear real good news without instinctively rejoicing? Who among us is not prompted to prayer when we face troubles in this life? When we receive (Js. 1:17) good and perfect gifts from our Father of the heavenly lights, we don’t have to be told to give thanks, we do so almost instinctively.

But as they say: the devil is in the details, which, at least today, is not really a theological statement at all. When we say the devil is in the details, we are recognizing that why something may seem simple from afar, when you get down to it, when you take a real, hard look at how it works, you see that it is more difficult, more complicated, and even more prone to problems that you initially realized.

When we look at the details of Paul’s three-fold command to rejoice, pray, and give thanks, we notice that they come with some qualifiers. Two adverbs and then a prepositional phrase. But you likely noticed what they have in common. They have a time quality and a timeless flavor. Rejoice ALWAYS. Pray CONTINUALLY. Give thanks IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES.

It may be easy to rejoice for us at certain moments, but not always. It may be appealing to us to pray in times of trouble, but it seems overwhelming to pray continually. It may be natural to give thanks when we are being showered with blessings from above, but there are some circumstances where giving thanks feels forced. Fake even.

How can we be expected to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful when life is full of so many trials, troubles, and tribulations? How can our hearts and minds and voices burst into prayer, praise, and songs of thanksgiving when we’ve been pierced by sadness, when we’re carrying a heavy load of grief, or when we feel like we’ve been pushed to the breaking point?

Perhaps in a year like this it seems strange to say we should rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances. It may be in a time like this you’re more inclined to give God a piece of advice, or even your mind, or give up entirely on things, than to give thanks. Yet, most of us would readily admit that there are others who have been hit harder during this pandemic. We’ve been more inconvenienced that we have been incapacitated. The things we’ve lost can be recouped or rescheduled. There are people who have lost everything. People who have lost those they hold most dear. It could be that when we compare ourselves to them, we feel a little more inclined to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful.

But what if you cannot find anyone who is struggling more than you? What if there isn’t another who is suffering as badly as you are? Well, Paul doesn’t say rejoice, pray, or give thanks because things are worse for others. He says this is God’s will for you. This is what God wants for his children in all circumstances, continually, and always.

And that is where we struggle. We may feel more inclined to rejoice when we see someone who is really struggling. We may feel more like praying when we see someone who doesn’t know God at all and it overwhelmed by life in this world. We may feel more like giving thanks when we meet someone who doesn’t have a steady source of income, doesn’t have a good marriage, or doesn’t have their health. But that is unsustainable and insincere. And worst of all, it isn’t God’s will for us. It isn’t what he is commanding when we calls us to rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances.

Instead of rejoicing always, we consistently find reasons to grumble and complain. We complain about the things that God has given us, when they don’t seem to work the way we want them to, when they fail in moments that we consider inconvenient, or when they cause us more grief than we think they’re worth. We grumble and complain about the people around us, when they’re slow or when they’re impatient, when they’re in our way, or when they’re not around for us, when they give us unsolicited opinions or when they don’t return our phone calls. We complain about people who are too cheery and people who are too glum. We complain about people who are too foolish and people who are too smart. There isn’t a type of person that, in a certain setting or moment, we can’t find a reason to grumble or complain about. Even ourselves. We grumble and complain about what we are or what we aren’t. It may be physical, mental, emotional, financial, but even when we look at ourselves we find things that are not sinful that still leave us dissatisfied. Instead of rejoicing always, we constantly find ourselves grumbling and complaining without even realizing it.

Instead of praying continually, we prefer to take complex matters completely into our own hands. When we face problems our first thought is what am I going to do to fix this? not What is God’s will and how can I glorify him in this moment? Time and again, we do everything within our power to make sure that things go according to our own plans. Instead of folding our hands in prayer, we prefer to take matters into our own hands.

Instead of giving thanks in all circumstances, we give ourselves too much credit when things go well, and, when things aren’t going well, give ourselves too much permission to feel sorry for ourselves. When things are going well, we quickly identify all the thoughtful planning we did, all the important sacrifices we made, all the challenging hurdles we overcame, all to get to the success we’ve achieved today. We easily overlook all the gifts that God equipped us with, all the expertise we’ve benefited from, all the development and patience we’ve received, all the moments he made for us, and all the helpful and supportive people he surrounded us with in order to gift us with this opportunity for success. When things aren’t going well, when it feels like all the good things are being taken from us, financial security, physical health, people who love us, experiences that we’ve enjoyed, we focus only on what has been taken from us, not what God continues to provide us with.

Instead of rejoicing always, praying continually, and giving thanks in all circumstances, we act like fair-weather fans of God. If we only rejoice, when God gives us temporal joy that we are only fair-weather fans of the Sovereign Lord. If we only pray to God when things are beyond our control, we are acting as if we don’t really fear, love, and trust in God. If we only thank God when we can see the good in his gifts, we are merely fair-weather fans of our Heavenly Father. If we only love God when life is lovely, we are no better than fair-weather fans of the living God. If we are merely fair-weather fans, we cannot be counted on. We are untrustworthy. We have become faithless.

Paul tells us why. It is because we have not held onto what is truly and eternally good—the Word of God. We have treated the Word of God with contempt and we are—in effect—quenching the Spirit.

But the God of peace is faithful. He will do what he has promised. He himself will hold on to you. Through his living Word, he himself has called you to repent over your sins of grumbling & complaining, of self-sufficiency & entitlement. God rebukes fair-weather fans of the faith and makes this promise: (2 Tim. 2:13) When we are faithless, God remains faithful. This is why God willed to send his Son to save us from our sins.

Jesus lived the life that we know we ought to, but sadly do not. As we study the Gospels, we see that the Son of God was really into the details. He rejoiced frequently. It brought him great joy to see God’s plan of salvation being revealed to and through his disciples. It brought him great joy to see lost sinners be brought to repentance. It even brought him joy to earn our salvation through his suffering and death. We are told (Heb. 12:2) For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame. Jesus rejoiced over his disciples, even though they were frail and foolish men. He rejoiced that God loved, called, and equipped them to be witnesses of his glorious Resurrection. Instead of complaining about them or the things he had to do for them, he wanted them to have his joy. It brought Jesus joy to see the will of God being done in and for this world.

But as he looked at this world, he recognized that there was much wrong with it. Of course, he knew that before he took on flesh and blood. But as he lived in this world, Jesus prayed regularly. While he was doing everything it took to meet the demands of the Law, to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament, and to take away the sin of the world, Jesus made a habit of praying. He prayed early in the morning and late into the night. He prayed publicly and privately. He prayed for God’s will to be done for himself, for his friends and family, for complete strangers and for abusive enemies. He prayed for the world he lived in and the one we now inhabit. Even today, Jesus is interceding fervently on our behalf.

But as he looked at this world, he recognized that there was much wrong with it. Of course, he knew that before he took on flesh and blood. But as he lived in this world, Jesus prayed regularly. While he was doing everything it took to meet the demands of the Law, to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament, and to take away the sin of the world, Jesus made a habit of praying. He prayed early in the morning and late into the night. He prayed publicly and privately. He prayed for God’s will to be done for himself, for his friends and family, for complete strangers and for abusive enemies. He prayed for the world he lived in and the one we now inhabit. Even today, Jesus is interceding fervently on our behalf.

Jesus was no fair-weather fan of our salvation. He was faithful. He rejoiced frequently, he prayed constantly, he gave thanks in all circumstances and, most importantly, he rejected evil so that, by grace through faith, we might be found blameless at Christ’s second coming. He was faithful in all the ways we have been fair-weathered and faithless. He is our perfect Substitute, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and brings everlasting joy to this world. And God has communicated all this to us through his good Word, the Holy Scriptures. What we have here in our hands, is what is truly and eternally good. Here we learn of God’s love, his gracious plan of salvation. In the Bible we learn why we can rejoice, all we have to be thankful for, and God’s gracious invitation to us to cast all our cares upon him. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Here’s how the Apostle Peter describes it: 1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

This is the gift God has given to us in his Son. Because we have Jesus we have every reason to rejoice. Because we have Jesus interceding on our behalf, we pray with boldness and confidence. Because we know that God did not spare his one and only Son, we have every reason to give thanks. We know that our Heavenly Father isn’t holding back any good or perfect gifts. Rather he is magnanimous and gracious and active in our world, working out everything for our eternal good. So rejoice always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances. Hold onto what is good, because your God has been faithful to all his promises.

What does this look like? Rejoicing always doesn’t mean that Christians walk around with a smile on their face at every moment. That’s psychotic, not spiritual. To rejoice always means to find joy in your relationship with God in all moments. Just as a husband or wife wears a wedding ring to remind them of their spouses’ love and commitment—remember that ring was a token from their spouse, not a self-imposed shackle—so Christians go about their business assured of God’s love and commitment to them, through thick and thin. Nothing could bring us more joy than knowing we are not alone. What does it mean to pray continually? It doesn’t mean that every moment we should be folding our hands or mumbling a prayer under our breath. But think of prayer like your cellphone. You bring it with you everywhere. You’re checking it constantly. Some of you cannot imagine 20 minutes without it at your side. Don’t you see you have a direct line to the Sovereign Lord? Bring it with you to school, to work, and to the doctor’s office. Bring cares big and small to his feet and know that not only does he care, but he is involved. Nothing slips through the cracks. Nothing sits on his desk. He is faithful and he will do what is in your best interest. And then open your eyes. Search your life high and low for reasons to give thanks. Life may not be everything you dreamed of—but eternity will be better than you could imagine. This life has been designed by your Lord to bring you to be with him in heaven. So give thanks in all circumstances, because nothing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus your Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 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. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.