Joy To The World
Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
One day a certain minister was invited to speak at the chapel service at
Yale University. And so the minister decided to speak about the four letters
in Yale's name: Y, A, L, and E. So for 10 minutes he spoke about how Y stands
for youth. Then for about 15 minutes he talked about how A stands for ambition.
Then he went on for another 20 minutes about how L stands for loyalty. And finally,
he wrapped up by speaking for another 15 minutes about how E stands for energy.
At the end of the service, as the minister made his way to the back of
the chapel, he noticed that one student was down on his knees, deep in prayer.
And so the minister went up to him and said: "Why, son. Would you be good
enough to tell me what it was about my sermon that moved you so deeply.?"
And the young man said: "Certainly. You see I was just saying a prayer of
thanks to God that this is Yale. I was thanking God, because if this was the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we would have never gotten out of here
today."
Giving thanks to God. That is was this passage in the first letter to the
Thessalonians reminds us to do. To give thanks in all circumstances. But is that
what we really do?
There is a story about one day when God sent two angels down to earth.
God sent each angel with a basket. The one angel was to gather up all the expressions
of thanks that people had for God. And the other angel was to collect all the
requests that people wanted to make of God. But it seems that when the angels
returned to heaven, the basket of the one collecting requests was filled to overflowing,
while the basket of the one gathering expressions of thanks was almost empty.
The passage we listened to this morning calls on us to pray without ceasing,
to give thanks in all circumstances. Now those verses don't mean that we are
to be saying prayers out loud all the time, day and night. But what those verses
do mean is that we are to live each day keenly aware of the fact that God is
always with us, no matter what is going on in our lives. Because that is what
prayer is all about. Realizing how God is always with us.
Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were imprisoned by the Nazis during
the Second World War. They were imprisoned because the Nazis discovered that
their family had been helping Jews to hide. Corrie and Betsie were kept at a
couple of different prison camps, until they were finally taken to Ravensbruck,
which was one of the most notorious death camps in all of Germany.
At Ravensbruck, Corrie and her sister were crammed into a barracks that
was overflowing with women. They were forced to sleep on straw on a kind of bunk
bed platform among dozens of other women all crowded together. And as the two
of them laid down to go to sleep their first night there, all of a sudden they
felt something on their legs. And then they realized that it was fleas. All kinds
of fleas swarming around them and biting them.
So Corrie turned to her sister and in desperation said: "How can we
ever live in such a place?" But Betsie looked at her sister and said:
"God has shown us how. It was right there in the Bible this morning. Don't
you remember?" And so Betsie pulled out the Bible that they had somehow
managed to keep possession of and said: "Here, read it for yourself. It
was in First Thessalonians."
And so with the dim light that was coming in through the windows, Corrie
opened the Bible and began to read: "It says: Comfort the frightened, help
the weak, be patient with everyone. See that none of you repays evil for evil,
but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly,
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus."
And as Corrie read, Betsie interrupted her and said: "That's it. That
is God's answer. Give thanks in all circumstances. That's what we can do. We
can start right now and thank God for every single thing about this barracks."
But Corrie just stared at her, and wondered if her sister was crazy to
suggest such a thing. But Betsie said: "We should thank God that we got
assigned to the same barracks, so that we can be together. We should thank God
that we still have this Bible. And we should thank God for all these women who
are here with us. And we should thank God for the fleas."
But Corrie said: "Fleas! There's no way even God can make me grateful
for a flea." But her sister said: "Give thanks in all circumstances.
That's what the Bible says. It doesn't say, just give thanks in pleasant circumstances.
Fleas are a part of this place where God has put us. And so we need to give thanks
for them." And so lying there on the straw in that concentration camp barracks,
those two women thanked God for the fleas.
And it was not until several weeks later, that Corrie and Betsie realized
how in fact those fleas really had been a blessing. You see, they began to notice
that the guards harassed and beat the women from just about all the other barracks.
But for some strange reason, the guards left the women from their barracks alone.
And one day they finally learned the reason for that. It was the fleas. The guards
didn't want to get too close to those women, because they knew they had fleas.
Again this passage in First Thessalonians tells us to give thanks in all
circumstances, and to rejoice always. But the word "rejoice" is a word
that many people misunderstand. "Rejoice" does not mean that we are
supposed to be happy all the time. But when you listen to people like Robert
Schuller, they make it sound like when Jesus was hanging on the cross that he
was happy, that he was singing, "Zippety do dah, zippety ay, my O my what
a wonderful day!"
When Jesus was on the cross, he wasn't happy. But he was able to rejoice.
And this is what I mean by that. Rejoicing means knowing that whatever happens
in life, that we can ultimately put our trust in God to be our Savior. Because
when Jesus was on the cross, the Gospels say that Jesus cried out saying:
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Those are not happy words.
But really they are words of rejoicing. Because there Jesus was quoting the 22nd
Psalm, a psalm that goes on to say that even in our suffering, we know that God
is with us.
Or think about what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. He said:
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all
kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is great in heaven." When people persecute you and hate you, it's
kind of hard to be happy about that. But Jesus tells us that it is possible for
us to rejoice. To know that even in situations like that, that God is still with
us.
And there is one more thing we should notice about this passage in First
Thessalonians. And that is where it says: "May the God of peace himself
sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and
blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." God is not just there
for us for the sake of our spirits. And God is not just there for us for the
sake of our souls. But God is also there for us for the sake of our bodies. And
I think that is something we sometimes forget. That we can rejoice at all times,
because no matter whether we suffer in our spirits or in our souls or in our
bodies, God is with us.
There is a kind of saying that is often repeated in black churches. And
that saying is this: "God is good all the time, and all the time God is
good." Those are words that we need to hear. Because they remind us that
God is always with us. That God is concerned about every part of our lives. So
rejoice. God is good all the time. And all the time God is good.
Rev. Dr. C. Edward Bowen Vandergrift, PA
