rejoice always;
The letter ends with a run of short commands. The first asks for joy that never stops. Where does a believer find a supply of joy that lasts?
Joy, prayer and thanksgiving stand side by side here. One writer treats all three as ordinary Christian life, not rare heights, and then asks the reader how much of it he really knows.
In these verses we have the normal state of the Christian: perpetual joy, perpetual prayer, and perpetual thanksgiving. What do we know of perpetual joy, of a joy that never wanes? If these three things marked us more, what a different people we should be!
A command needs a source. The same writer notes the order — joy before prayer — and points to Paul in prison and to the way the Lord Himself lived.
In the order in Thessalonians, joy comes before prayer. So where does true Christian joy come from? The joy of the Lord is our strength — how do we keep it up? Paul had this joy in prison, and he told the Philippians to rejoice always. We find it only where the Lord Himself found it. He found it through obedience, and as we obey we shall prove it too… Only conscious communion with the Lord can keep a person happy. If you meditate on the Lord, even through a heavy day's work, you will find joy.
The command does not ask believers to pretend that sorrow is not real. One writer puts the deepest grief and unbroken joy side by side in the same Person.
The world is full of sorrow. In such a world the Lord was the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Yet His joy in the Father, and in the prospect before Him, was unbroken. So in the darkest hour of His rejection we read that He "rejoiced in the Holy Spirit" (Luke 10:21). In the same way the believer is called to "rejoice always."
(Older translations render Luke 10:21 "Jesus rejoiced in spirit.")
Why should this joy last? One writer asks what has changed since Christ went to heaven. He also warns that a gloomy believer gives a false picture of God.
Nor should the Christian give a bad impression of his God and Father, or of the portion he already has in His grace, any more than of his prospects. With what joy the disciples came back even as their Master was leaving for heaven! And the Holy Spirit came in due time to make the joy unfailing (John 4:14). What has happened since to dry up the spring? "Rejoice always."
This is not advanced ground for mature Christians only. The first readers had believed only a short time before, and they still get the whole call.
Even the Thessalonians, young believers as they were, get this call: rejoice always. And the call goes further — not only pray without ceasing, but in everything give thanks, for that is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning them.
The three commands are not separate items on a list. One writer sees them feeding each other.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances." These three are more closely linked than our souls usually admit. Joy will always rise in proportion to prayer and thanksgiving.
There is a public side to this. Good news carried by miserable messengers argues against itself. The world watches and draws its own conclusion.
Rejoice at the news: glad tidings and sad hearts do not go well together. When we see someone heavy and sorrowful, we ask what bad news he has heard. Christian, what bad news has Christ brought from heaven with Him, that makes you walk about with folded arms and a gloomy face?… Christians, let the world see that you are no losers in your joy since you came to know the gospel. Do not let your unhappy walk make them think that becoming a Christian means saying goodbye to all joy.
- Source. We find joy only where the Lord Himself found it — in obedience and conscious communion with Him.
- Pattern. The Man of sorrows kept unbroken joy in the Father, even in the darkest hour of His rejection. The same call comes to every believer.
- Supply. The Spirit came to make the joy unfailing, and nothing since has dried up that spring.
- Company. Joy, prayer and thanksgiving belong together. Joy rises in proportion to the other two.
- Witness. Glad tidings and sad hearts do not match. A gloomy believer tells the world that faith means the end of joy.
pray unceasingly;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.