Sermon Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
February 2, 2003 – The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
DRIVE HAPPY WITH THE SPIRIT
A rental car company has as recent sales pitch: Don’t Worry, Drive Happy. The slogan implies if you rent from this company, you’ll have no worries, and your business trip or vacation will be filled with nothing but joyful memories. This means you must have a reliable vehicle. It wouldn’t be a happy drive if one got behind the wheel and turned on the car only to find the tank empty or the engine light on.
In the same way, the Holy Spirit wants us to drive happy. He wants us to have a confident and joyful faith as we travel through this life. We’ll see how the Spirit accomplishes this task, how we DRIVE HAPPY WITH THE SPIRIT. We’ll consider first that we need: The Holy Spirit’s Work; and secondly, that we need: The Holy Spirit’s Test Drive.
1) With the Holy Spirit’s Work
Ever get into the car only to find it doesn’t turn over? Usually, the reason is that it is lacking something, a spark to the ignition or fuel in the line. The Bible states: “Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.” That has not changed one bit. Without holiness, we do not drive with the Lord—rather, we steer away from him. Without holiness, we will not offer pleasing sacrifices to him. Without holiness, we do not honor the name of our Father in heaven—rather, we shame it, and show how little we want to be his children.
God isn’t content with a little bit of holiness on our parts. No, He says “Be holy, as I the LORD Your God am holy.” Jesus Himself says, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” We need a true holiness, a thorough holiness. Yet, if it relied on us, the constant question would plague us: “Have I been holy enough?”
But our holiness is not dependant on us. It is the work of God the Holy Spirit. It is a necessary work, and a thorough work: “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.” None of us could ever sanctify ourselves through and through. We can perhaps give ourselves a buff and shine. We can appear to have an outward holiness, and give the impression that the engine is running well. But there are those hidden cracks in the head gaskets and fractures in the engine block of every sinful heart that none of us ever get to see. The prophets and psalmists say it: “The heart is deceitful above all things, who can understand it?” And day-by-day, where one piston has been cleared of sin, another becomes blocked and misfires. We just don’t have the tools to do the repairs. Our own thinking, choosing, meditating, working can never fix the problem or provide truly thorough, truly complete, truly lasting holiness. But thanks be to God! He takes our holiness into his hands. He himself is the one who must and does sanctify us through and through: “The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”
How does God do this? We know the tools he uses: His means of grace, his Gospel in Word and Sacrament. His forgiveness preached to us, His forgiveness poured on us in baptism, His forgiveness fed us in the Lord’s Supper – these are the tools of our spiritual mechanic. That’s why Paul, here, in his final instructions to the Thessalonians, bids us all to love and honor that Word of God. He writes: “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt.”
There are two ways to put out a fire: one is to quench it, to starve it of oxygen. Pouring water on it, smothering it, covering it with that fine powder from fire extinguishers, all stops fire the same way—by starving fire of oxygen. Certainly, resisting the Holy Spirit through unbelief and rebellious sin starves that flickering fire of faith of its oxygen. But you can also put out a fire by robbing it of its fuel. Don’t put any more wood on a fire, and it will go out. Don’t put any gas in the tank and the car won’t run. The fuel for the fire of faith is God’s Word. And starving our faith of that fuel will put out the Spirit’s fire just as well as unbelief and rebellious sin. So, “do not treat prophecies with contempt.” Don’t say God’s Word is useless; don’t treat it as something worthless, unnecessary. Don’t come up with lame excuses to despise his Word. We must be people who are in the Word of God, growing in it, learning from it, and living according to it. If not, then the fire will go out. And we will be left stranded in the cold of unbelief and spiritual apathy.
Imagine you were planning to travel to Jackson, MS, and so you pull over to fill up with fuel. You know that you have several hours of driving ahead of you. Would you only put in a couple of bucks worth of gas or would you fill up the tank? You might be tempted to think, “Why all that fuel? I can stop along the way for more.” But when the drive lingers, and the gauge falls to “E” because someone didn’t fill up the tank, you realize yes—you needed all that fuel. This is especially true when there’s no exit in sight. So it is with God’s Word. Often times, we’re just filling up for a later drive. But believe you me, we’ll need it. Catechism class, Sunday school, weekly sermons, daily devotions, Bible classes—when there are passages to learn, learn them. When it’s time to be gathering this fuel, pouring it in our hearts and minds, ready to keep our faith going, get it. When God’s Word is given to us, the Holy Spirit’s saying: “Hey, get to the filling station, start pumping, and filling. I’m going to want all this fuel to keep your faith running through the long drive ahead.”
Why would the Holy Spirit do this work, this hard work, of thoroughly making stubborn sinners like us “holy?” We never earn our keep, nor do our fair part of the labor. It’s a constant chore on his part to keep us motivated, fill our tanks, and get us going in His Word. We don’t deserve to have this God of Peace do such work in our hearts. But as with all God does for us, it is never because we deserve it. Rather, it is because of his grace, his undeserved love for us. That’s why Paul begins and ends this letter with grace: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. We have not earned a single moment of joy and peace from the good news of Christ’s work of salvation. None of our behavior or thoughts can help us to heed the Shepherd’s voice: “Be of good cheer! Your sins are forgiven!’ It’s all by God’s grace that God does anything for us. It’s all by God’s undeserved love that we have faith in the first place. It’s all by God’s grace that we will be preserved in faith to the last day. Yes, even this sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is only because of His grace. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
2) With the Holy Spirit’s Test Drive
Let’s say my car is giving me trouble, and so I drop it off at the garage. I’m not going to hang around all day and see if the mechanic lifts up the hood and starts messing around with the engine. But later in the day, when they call me up and say “Hey, you’re car’s done,” it’s very easy to determine whether or not they actually did any work on it, and whether or not they did good work on it. All I have to do is start it up and drive it. If it runs well, their work was good, and it was truly finished! If not, then they’ve got more work to do on it. You may not see the work, but you know whether it’s done by the results.
The Holy Spirit is unseen. His workplace is our hearts. We won’t ever see him doing the labor. We can often see when he’s got his tools out, though: an open Bible here, the altar set for communion. That’s his open toolbox. Unlike earthly mechanics, the Spirit won’t send us a bill, or give us a scheduled receipt. But there’s also a way for us to know whether or not he’s done any of that sanctifying, holy work in our hearts.
Paul urges us to take our hearts for a test drive as we leave the Holy Spirit’s workshop here. If the work’s finished, the result will be a love for God, and a love for others. Paul starts out speaking about things that show a love for God—primarily, a love for his Word. Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.
Paul, as an Apostle, does not demand respect or love. Rather, he “asks” them to do this. He speaks to them as people on equal level: as “brothers.” Authority among Christians is never a matter of “because I say so.” Rather, it’s “for the sake of Christ, who says so.” And this respect and high regard is not to be in fear or in terror, but rather in love. All for the sake of the minister’s work: which is entirely about teaching, preaching, sharing, and defending God’s Word. A love for faithful ministers is really a love and high regard for the Word of God. If we were to leave this place harboring hatred towards those who stand before us and admonish us with God’s Word, then we’ll know that the work has not been done. We need the Holy Spirit to finish his work in our hearts. On the other hand, if we leave a church service with a love and respect for those who may have even had to admonish us by God’s Word, we can know: the engine’s running well. That’s how it’s supposed to be. The Holy Spirit has done his job, and we will be ready to meet the Lord.
Love for God’s Word will lead us to have a healthy love for others. Paul addresses this when he pleads: Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. He asks for prayers. And so ought every minister, ask for the prayers of others. We need them. It’s not just people in parishes who get lazy or idle, or timid and broken hearted, or weak. It’s people in pulpits, too. That “greeting with a holy kiss,” was a common way of greeting. I’m not suggesting we re-introduce it among us, but rather let us note well the love and concern here on Paul’s part for these Christians. He called them brothers, they were family; the very people you greet with hugs and kisses. When this whole matter of church, and synod, and mission work, and fellowship, becomes one of personal preference or convenience or a matter of fund raising rather than one of family—then we’ve lost something, something very precious. To be family requires patience. And the Bible word here literally read says, “Be long suffering.” Patience involves more than sitting comfortably as we drive by other in life. There is suffering involved with the kind of patience listed here. We help each other through this long, dreary night drive of life.
It hurts to deal with someone who is so stubborn that they remain idle in their worship and instruction of God’s Word. It hurts to deal with someone who is broken in spirit; their sadness and troubles bear also on you. It hurts to hold on to, to help up, to always be bearing up the weak in faith. But it’s not called “long waiting,” its called “long suffering.” That’s the kind of patience the Holy Spirit works among Christians -- for each other, to put up with each other for a long time. Compared to eternal life, however, it really isn’t that long. The Lord promises the drive will come to a blessed end for those who keep the faith.
Know the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of God’s people. He works through the Gospel. As you leave here this morning, and go about your life this week, consider that your “test drive.” Is your heart and soul and body driving well over the bumpy road of life, loving God and loving others? If not, then come back again, or even call upon him for a house call: open a Bible by your bedside, call upon him in prayer with tears and broken heart. Know that God will hear you. He will give you a spiritual “tune up.” He’ll remind you of his grace and goodness. And he’ll keep you driving happy. Amen.
