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Intro
This morning we find ourselves once more in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonicans.
If you will look back in you text you will recall that in this 5th chapter of his first letter, the apostle Paul has written to the church pouring out his heart on them.
And in this last portion of his letter, are the exhortations.
The words of encouragement that he gives to the church.
We broke it down in 5 areas:
12-13a: Leadership in the Church
13b-15: General Relationship
16-18: Personal Relationship
19-21: Prophecy and the Spirit
22-28: Concluding Remarks
I sometimes wonder, what words would be written to us.
What would it say?
The beautiful thing is that these very words we read here are just as much applicable to us nowadays as they were when they were written nearly 2,000 years ago.
And that reveals something doesn’t it?
I mean how many of us could write something with such impact into the lives of indirect readers and across multiple millennia.
But God’s word transcends time.
Many of the early hymns of the church is still present today, but much of them are passing away or being re-packaged in today’s modern vernacular.
But God’s Word is always good, always relevant, always true.
We see everything changing.
I don’t know about you, but no offence to history, but I would not want to dress the way my dad did when he was my age.
Or I’m not so sure how I would feel if my wife decided to put her hair up in a beehive (something i had to google to find out).
Everything changes, technology, cars, the music, even the language we speak.
You know in March 2018, 850 different words were added to the dictionary!
Can you believe that?
850 new words!
Cryptocurrency has been added.
We now find microfinance and microcredit as new economic terms.
We even have new dog breeds in the dictionary like schnoodle, yorkie-poo, and a chiweenie.
But God’s word is always true.
And so I think the letter that we would have gotten is the one we already have.
It’s the Bible.
And in this portion of the text, we find a Christian response to Christian prophecy.
And this can
Body
Paul expresses this idea of quenching the spirit in terms of resisting the work of the Spirit in and among believers.
The word is in the context of fire.
We do not put out a fire which reminds us of how the spirit came upon the believers in the upper room in Jerusalem.
You will remember that on the day of Pentecost the sound like a violent wind came from Heaven and filled the room and tongues like fire appeared on them.
So we are reminded of that day.
And we are reminded perhaps of the reaction of some on that day.
They were perplexed and some even said these men are drunk.
They tried to dampen, to diminish, to dwindle, to desecrate, to disrespect, to despise the work of the Spirit.
God was working in the life of the believers back then and many were being convicted by the Spirit.
And what specifically is occuring?
Well this verse has a context.
And that context is not signs and wonders, but prophecies.
So let’s stay within the context of the text.
Some apparently were prohibiting manifestations of the spirit in their church and they were good.
They should not have been altogether eliminated from them.
This is not the first time that men who prophesied were silenced.
We think back to Eldad and Medad.
You of course remember them from the book of Numbers.
Moses, saying the burden was too great, was given relief by God.
So they called 70 elders and they were to receive part of the spirit of God on them.
Eldad and Medad, for one reason or another did not show up, and God’s spirit still descended on them and they began to prophecy.
and Joshua cried out stop them Moses!
But it was right.
Or the minor prophet Amos, he was just a sheep herder.
But gave him a word and people questioned him, and he readily admitted, I’m nobody.
Just a sheepherder, but when God calls, I obey.
But we do not seek to quench it to put it out.
When God speaks, we listen.
There is a danger in that some will seek to quench the spirit and to silence those who speak the words of God.
This must not have any place in God’s church, among God’s people.
We should seek to hear from God.
What other good news could there be.
What other words would bring us the life and restoration to our souls?
And what is prophecy for?
Well for some it was foretelling, but in today’s day and age God has closed that ministry.
He says prophecy is forthtelling.
Telling the words of God and with a purpose.
"But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and comfort.
…… he who prophesies edifies the church.”
“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent.
For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged.”
But....And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.”
Paul says, don’t stifle it.
It is from God, do not resist God!
And that brings up so many memories for us doesn’t it.
From the Exodus to our lives today.
Many harden their hearts against God.
But Paul is careful.
We do not just accept everything just because someone claims to be a prophet or have a prophetic word from God.
There must be order to it as well.
A pastor/preacher who declares the Bible can be considered a “prophesier” in that he is speaking forth the counsel of God.
With the completion of the New Testament canon, prophesying changed from declaring new revelation to declaring the completed revelation God has already given.
Jude 3 speaks of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (emphasis added).
In other words, the faith to which we hold has been settled forever, and it does not need the addition or refinement that comes from extra-biblical revelations.
Also, note the transition from prophet to teacher in 2 Peter 2:1: “There were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you” (emphasis added).
Peter indicates that the Old Testament age had prophets, whereas the church will have teachers.
The spiritual gift of prophecy, in the sense of receiving new revelations from God to be proclaimed to others, ceased with the completion of the Bible.
During the time that prophecy was a revelatory gift, it was to be used for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of men (1 Corinthians 14:3).
The modern gift of prophecy, which is really more akin to teaching, still declares the truth of God.
What has changed is that the truth of God today has already been fully revealed in His Word, while, in the early church, it had not yet been fully revealed.
Christians are to be very wary of those who claim to have a “new” message from God.
It is one thing to say, “I had an interesting dream last night.”
However, it is quite another matter to say, “God gave me a dream last night, and you must obey it.”
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