1 Thessalonians 5, verses 12-22 will be our study tonight as we ask the question, What is the will of God for your life? We give ear now to God's holy, inerrant, and life-giving word. 1 Thessalonians 5, beginning in verse 12. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor amongst you, are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always. pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything, hold fast to what is good, abstain from what is evil, as far as the reading of God's word. So let's ask the question, what is the will of God for your life? This is a question that many Christians struggle with, and in fact, to some extent, we all do. To ask the question, is in and of itself a good thing, because we want to do what God wants us to do. We want to do what is right, but we don't always know what that is. Deuteronomy 29, 29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children, that we may do all the words of this law." So what Moses is getting at in Deuteronomy 29.29 is There are many things that are secret, many things that belong only to God to know, but there are things that have been revealed to us, namely the law of God. Of that passage, John Calvin would write, he, that's Moses, bids us not only to direct our study to meditation upon the law, that is the whole word of God, but also to look upon God's secret providence with awe. In other words, when we ask, what is God's will for your life? What is God's will for my life? Generally speaking, we're asking big, specific questions. We're asking questions like, where should I go to school next year? We're asking questions like, what kind of job should I take on? What kind of career should I pursue later in life? Who should I marry? We're asking these big kinds of questions that the Bible doesn't necessarily offer a direct answer to, right? If you're wondering, should I work at Publix or Culver's or Chick-fil-A, none of them are mentioned in the Bible. The Bible's not going to give you a clear, direct answer on any of those. But that doesn't mean that we're left into the dark as to what God's will is for our lives, because there are things that have been revealed to us. For example, we'll take a bigger one that's further away for you guys, but it makes a good example for this. One day you'll wonder, what is God's will for who I should marry? And now, coming up on this April, we'll be 10 years married, I know now, then it was God's will for my life that I marry Bethany Lynn Mattson. Why? Because it happened. And God solemnly foreordains whatsoever comes to pass. But I didn't know that for sure at the time. What I did know, however, is the Bible told me in several passages what a godly spouse should look like. And I found a girl that resembled those qualities, and I asked her father's permission, and he said, go for it. I asked her permission, she said yes, and here we are. So the Bible gives instruction and direction, but does not always clearly, specifically answer those big questions. So when we ask the question, what is God's will for my life? We want to make sure that we're asking it in a wise way. What are the principles that God has told me to live by and to aspire to? That is what has been revealed to us in scripture. And then, what is God's will for us to do within those specific guardrails that he lays down? That's kind of for us to figure out as it goes. So, you may wonder, what college do I want to be aiming to go to? Do I want to go to USC, or Clemson, or Anderson, or where do I want to go? I don't know. The Bible doesn't say where you should go. But it does say that you should work hard in whatever the work is that God gives you to do. So, apply to all of them. Go to the first choice that you have that accepts you, and then work hard when you're there. I can tell you that is God's will for your life. And in 1 Thessalonians 5, Paul, as he's wrapping up this letter to these Christians, gives several final instructions for this church that he loves so dearly. And so what we'll see once more in these instructions is he gives them What he says is the will of God. He uses that exact expression in verse 18. And he's used that phrase before in this letter for what is the will of God for your life. It's in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3. Could somebody on this back couch over here tell me what that verse says? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 3. Stop. The will of God for your life is your sanctification. That is the will of God for each and every one of y'all's lives. What is sanctification? Who can tell me what that is? Mr. Bailey. Yeah, the catechism answer is sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and are enabled to die more and more into sin and to live more and more unto righteousness. The will of God for your life is to use whatever the circumstances that you're in to draw you closer to himself. And so another wise question to ask when you're sorting out those big questions is, of these options, which one of them is more likely to draw me nearer to Christ? Which one is more likely to foster and develop my relationship with the Lord? So when you're looking at colleges, if you've got three that you would like to go to, and one of them has a good church that you would be excited to be a part of, and the other ones you're not sure, probably look very carefully at that first one that has the good church that you're aware of. Because that's going to, where you're at, foster your relationship with the Lord better. Same thing for jobs. Is this job going to give me flexibility to be off on the Lord's day, that I might worship the Lord with my church? And those kinds of things are what you want to look for. Amongst these things, What is going to draw me closer to the Lord? God wants to use all circumstances, all aspects of your life, to grow you closer to the Lord Jesus. And not only to grow you closer to him, but to make you more like him. Romans 8.29 says, for those whom he predestined, he foreordains that they would be conformed to the image of his son. Second Corinthians 3.18 says that we are all being transformed from one degree of glory to the next, more and more to be like the Lord Jesus. And so as we look at this passage tonight, we're gonna see that growing to be like Christ, growing in our sanctification, includes one big thing with two parts. The one big thing it includes is being members of a local church. And good news, as far as I can tell, everyone in this room is a member of a local church, so you're doing well. And then there's two aspects that are gonna fall under that umbrella. How you relate to those people that are in your church. One is how you relate to the leaders in your church, verses 12 and 13. And then two is how you relate to one another in the church. That's 14 to the end of the passage. So we're gonna look at what God's will is in your relationship with Christian leaders, and then in relationship to one another, your peers. 14 to 22, so first with respect to your Christian leaders, and I'll read again verses 12 to 13. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And so the first imperative that he gives us is that we are to respect our leaders. clear the air, and get it out there. It's always awkward as the pastor to come up and say, the Bible says respect your leaders, because that sounds incredibly self-serving. I want to say up front, on the whole, I think you guys are doing great at this. I didn't pick this passage because I have a particular ax to grind, or I feel like I need to give y'all a piece of my mind on what I'm entitled to. I truly mean, I feel that y'all are doing well with this. I'm teaching it because it's where we're at in the world. So with that out of the way, let's just look at what it says. Who are these leaders that we are to respect? What do we know them by? What do they do? In a church like ours, it's pretty obvious to tell. It's your ruling elders and your teaching elders. It says those who labor among you. And so one thing that you wanna be looking for in your church leadership, especially those of you that are, as you're getting older and preparing to move, You want to be looking for men that lead the church that are actively involved with the people. They shouldn't be hiding off in their studies, never plugged into the lives of the people. One of my seminary professors said, your shepherd should smell like sheep. You guys follow what he means there? We should be with the people. Dr. Phillips likes to say that, that the pastor's hands should be dirty with the soil of the hearts of his people. We should be plugged in and part of your lives. We should be working among you, not above you, with you. He says, respect those who labor among you. And then he also says those who rule over you in the Lord. Now, In the Lord would apply to all three of these qualifications he gives. Those who labor, those who rule over you, and those who admonish you. But it's significant that he puts it here because he wants you to know that the rule and the authority that they have is only so far as God gives them. And in the church, that authority that we have is ministerial and declarative. That means the authority I have is to tell you, God says this. And you're to receive that insofar as what I'm saying matches what is in your Bible. and you're to treat them with respect. And then the last word that it says is those who labor among you, who rule over you in the Lord, and who admonish you. What is admonishment? What's it mean to be admonished? Yeah, that's the general connotation it has but the word in the That's that's where I would go with it in the English That is more what we tend to think of the the Greek word that's here is more general than that It's instruction it includes that so admonishment is what we're doing right now. I've got the Bible open I'm explaining what it means It's also one-on-one meetings where we're talking about, you know, if you have spiritual questions or things like that. And it does also include firm correction. So it includes all of those things. And in the Lord's kindness, He's given you leaders, not just me, but Dr. Phillips and your ruling elders and Pastor Brannigan and other ones to do that very thing for you. And we're told that in addition to respect for them, we're supposed to do something else. What's verse 13 say? to esteem them very highly in love. What's the difference between those two words? Because it almost sounds repetitive. What's the difference between respecting someone and esteeming them? Anybody want to venture a guess at that? Mr. Schwanewell? Esteem is like how you think about them in respect of like how you act towards them. Bingo. Spot on. So respect is a more general, I know who they are and they're in charge, so I'll go along. Esteem has to do more with your heart disposition towards them, right? And so it's great to adhere when you get the instruction, to adhere when you get the correction, to do that, but it's also, he's telling us that we're to feel a certain way about them in our heart. It's very, easy to get the idea that, how many of you guys here have a job? Do you do what your boss says when you're on the clock? Do you always think favorably about your boss when you're on or off the clock? Right, so there's a difference between what you do externally and how you feel internally. And what Paul is saying here is you're your behavior and your heart disposition towards your leader should be one of gratitude, one of reverence. You should not complain about them behind their backs. And before we move on from this section, I want to know one final thing about the relationship of pastors and elders to the congregation that would be very easy to miss. How does Paul address them? How does he address the people? As brothers. What does that suggest to you, Mr. Trotman? He views them as like the equals. That's right. That's exactly right. Paul addresses them as brothers. There is to be respect and esteem that comes from the people to the pastor, but it's to be reciprocated because it's a familial relationship. We're brothers and sisters in the Lord. It goes both ways. And so one way I can illustrate this, it's different than other relationships. Before I came here, I worked for the great people at the Virginia Department of Taxation. And I was in customer service for them. And I worked from home. And so sometimes, my office phone would go off when I was off the clock. How many people think I answered that call? How old were you? I was 28. I did not answer the call because I was off. They were my customers. We're not my brothers and sisters. I've been, I've received and responded to gladly. I'm not complaining about this text messages from several people in this room that would be considered well after hours. And I'm glad to do that because I want to help, I want to answer those questions, I want to be there for you. That's the way it's supposed to be. That's what I'm trying to put before you. The relationship works both ways. You guys are not just people that I'm here to serve when I'm punched in, you're people I care about beyond when I'm on the clock. And so that's to work both ways. I really mean it when I say that I'm here for you guys. aside. Let's move on to verses 13 to 22 to see how we are to relate to one another. Now, the tricky thing about this section of Scripture is that there are, in these nine verses, 14 imperatives. Does anybody know what an imperative is? It's a command, right? It's something you're supposed to do. And so it would, I think, be dizzying and hard to follow if I just rattled through all of them. So what we're going to do is we're going to look at all 14 of these together and discuss how it is that we can put them into practice with one another. So the first one is that we are to admonish the idol. Idol here, if you have an ESV, you'll notice there's a footnote with an alternative translation for that word. that means disorderly or undisciplined. So what can we do as far as admonishing the idol? You guys all think everyone's super disciplined and has it all together here? Mr. Johnson, thank you for volunteering to be the bad guy. What do you got? Well, I would just say, once you build a relationship and they start pointing out what they are doing, Yeah, gentle suggestions and encouragement. Gentle is a key word there. Maybe you always sit next to somebody that's regularly known to doze off a little bit. Maybe you gently suggest, how about going to bed an hour or two earlier? It's just an idea, throwing things out there. The next one is how to encourage the faint hearted. how to encourage the faint-hearted. This should be pretty easy. We're all people, we all live in a fallen world, and we all know what it's like to be sad. And we all recognize the signs when somebody that we care about is sad. Come alongside them and encourage them. Come alongside them and one great way to encourage them is to say, how are you doing? How can I help? How can I pray for you and then actually do it? Can I pray with you right now? I won't use names, but I saw a lady out in the parking lot this evening. She's doing the devotion for the women's Bible study tonight. She was really nervous. And I said, I'm praying for you. And then I realized, why don't I just do that right now with you? That's a way to encourage the fainthearted. That's a way to encourage and build up those who are struggling. Helping the weak would be along those lines. Be patient with them all. Seventh and eighth graders, we just got back from Ridge Haven. There were opportunities to exercise patience with one another on that trip. I'm not gonna ask you to share them, but we all know what it's like. Maybe we could broaden it beyond the bounds of this youth group. Who here has siblings? Everyone but James. Is that right? I just threw that out there. And Cole? Do you have opportunities to exercise patience with your siblings in the home? Cole's here? Yeah, so Cole and James are the only children. How do you exercise patience with one another? What are specific targeted ways that you can do that? Yeah, that's a great one. Don't start yelling at each other immediately. Let it build. Let it boil in your mind. All right. What if after the fight, you thought about it, And even though your sibling's the one that started it, you thought of some way, you recognized some way that, yeah, but I escalated it. Yes, they did something wrong to start, but then I responded in a way that made it worse. What if you forgave them for starting it, didn't bring it up and just said, hey, I'm really sorry about the way I acted earlier. I was wrong. Now, Lord willing, they'll respond and recognize their fault as well, but you can't control that. But one way of exercising patience is overlooking their faults and owning what you did. And that would fall into the next one, too. Do not repay evil for evil, but do good to all. Let's move down to number seven, rejoice always. We've been talking about rejoicing in Philippians, because that's one of the big themes of the book, How are you supposed to rejoice always? We just acknowledge that life is hard. There are sad things that happen. There are tragic things that happen in our lives. How are you to rejoice always? Because notice there's no asterisk next to the always. There's no exception that's listed. There's no unless this happens, then you don't have to know. How are we to rejoice always? What does it mean to rejoice in the Lord always? You know, Paul says in Philippians 3.10 that his great ambition in life is to know Christ. both in the power of his resurrection and sharing in his sufferings. And so the Lord uses even trials and hardships to conform us more to that image. And that's a matter for rejoicing because even though I don't feel great about it, I am being made more like Christ as I share in this suffering. What else? I think what both Opal and James hit on there is right down the middle, exactly right. Rejoicing in the Lord. First of all, you can rejoice always because the object of our joy is the Lord and he's inexhaustible. And it's important to keep in mind that rejoicing in the Lord does not mean pretending like it's not hard. It's not me pretending like something bad didn't happen. But it's like Opal said, not losing sight of the good that he has given you in the midst of the trial, not losing sight of the fact that he is with you even in the trial. That's the way we rejoice in the Lord. It's not putting on a happy face because we're supposed to just grit and bear it. It's rejoicing that even in my hardships, he's present with me. All right, pray without ceasing. Pray without ceasing. This does not mean that you are to pray literally 24-7 without ceasing. We know that's not the case, because Paul did other things than pray. Jesus did other things than pray. What does praying without ceasing mean? Chase. Like, grow a routine in praying, and like, it doesn't have to be the same time every day, Yeah, a disciplined cultivated prayer life every day In every circumstance remembering that that's a time for prayer So I'll give you all again. Just this is an example. That's fresh in my mind. I just came from my staff review This is a business meeting to evaluate How I did for the year and you'll see that I'm still here so it went pretty well Nonetheless That's a meeting that was opened with prayer, because we are to pray in all circumstances and give thanks in all things. So it's like Chase was saying, it's a personal disposition of the heart. I recognize that I need the Lord's help in this, and so I'm going to pray about it. I'm going to commit to doing it. Christians are to be people of prayer. Due to time, we're gonna skip down to the last couple. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything, and hold fast to what is good. So these all three fit together as one thing. And what Paul is getting at there, first of all, when the New Testament talks about prophecies and prophesying, The thing that would be most analogous to that today, because it would be the preaching of God's word. So, despising prophecies is not necessarily, though it would include, hating the sermon, dreading the sermon, being upset at the fact that you have to listen to a sermon. That would fall under this, but it is also more, it would expand to more general things. How else could we be despising prophecies, or in our context, the sermon, the preaching of God's word? What are ways that people despise the prophecy? Ethan. They dislike that it's the truth. They dislike that it's the truth, okay. Yeah, sometimes the pastor will say something that's particularly convicting, and calling you to give up something that you're not quite ready to give up yet. That happens. What else? If I went home tonight and I didn't, hug my kids and I didn't tuck them into bed and I didn't tell them I was glad to see them. I didn't do anything mean to them, but I also didn't show them any affection or kindness or reverence. That would be a form of despising my children, not giving them the love that is their due because they are my kids. In the same way, not attending to the preaching of God's word with preparation and diligence and forethought and care about it. is a form of despising prophecies. It's a form of not treating it with the respect that it's due. And so that's something I think we all need to be on guard about. It's very easy to think that going to a sermon is just something that you passively receive, but Paul says don't do that. He says actually test all of it. Test everything. Not according to your own wisdom or according to your own thoughts or what, like Ethan said, what I would prefer was true. But ask the question, is what Pastor Early is saying, is what Pastor Phillips is saying, is what Pastor Brennan is saying, does that match what the Bible is saying? He says, test it all, listen carefully, listen diligently, and then hold fast to what is true. Now, thankfully, y'all happen to be in a church where that's the overwhelming majority of what you hear from the pulpit is exactly in accord with what's God's Word. We're shooting for 100%. but still tested, still studied, still investigated. Be a Berean, right? Paul said that the Bereans tested everything that he said according to the scripture, seeing whether or not these things were so. So, in conclusion then, what is God's will for your life? It's that you would be part of a local church, that you would respect those that are over you in the Lord, that you would care for one another as peers, that you would attend diligently to his work. That's God's will for your life. And then within those parameters, those other big questions, whatever you can use, whatever you can do that would better foster those things, your relationship with your pastors, your relationship with one another, and your devotion to God's work. That is God's will for your life. Let's pray. God in heaven, we give thanks to you this day for your work. We thank you for the clear instruction that it provides. Lord, we have many questions about what you would have us to do. Father, we just pray for, I pray for all of my young friends here as they're preparing to make decisions about all kinds of things relating to this upcoming school year, that you would just grant them wisdom and clarity that you would help them to see amongst the options that are before them, what are the things that would be most used for their own sanctification? We ask in Christ's name and for his glory, amen.