Have you ever witnessed a young child learning how to count their numbers? With an entire lifetime of knowledge ahead of them, learning to count is one of the very first steps on that path.
I personally can remember when I was about 5 or 6 beginning to learn my numbers. I had learned my first handful of numbers up to maybe 20 by that point, but when I began to go to school I really started to progress and learn more. It took a little bit of time for me to commit my numbers to memory, as I would always be at a number such as 49, and struggle to remember what came next. But I learned them eventually, all the way up to what I thought was an astronomically large number. 100! I was so happy and pleased with my success that I would repeatedly try to count as fast as I could up to 100, each time feeling a sense of accomplishment, and that feeling drove me to want to go even further. 200. 300. 1000.
And you know, no one ever tried to stop me from counting higher. No one told me “stop” or tried to dissuade me from my learning. They were instead very supportive, and helpful, encouraging me to continue on. Which makes me wonder: what if the situation had been different, where instead of encouraging and helping me, I had been discouraged or deterred from my studies, would I have ever learned my numbers? If the fires of learning inside me had been quenched, would I have ever been able to count from 1 to 100?
And this is what our verse is about today. It is not a very long verse, but there is plenty to learn from it.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Quench not the Spirit.”
To quench, when used in this verse, means to extinguish or put out, such as a fire. Some of you may have been camping at a remote campsite, and after a day of sitting around the fire, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows you pack up everything and prepare to leave, but before you do you take a bucket of water and pour it onto the fire. You put the flames out, quenching the flames.
To quench the Spirit then means to try to put it out. To try to impede or stop someone from seeking, growing, or becoming stronger in their faith. A situation like this happened in Mark 10:13-16.
“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.
And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.”
Here these young children had been brought to Jesus to be with Him, but the disciples had tried to stop them. This displeased our Lord greatly, and He allowed the children to come to Him. Jesus loves those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6), and it is a seeking heart that we all need to be filled up with. Seeking to spend time with Christ in our prayers and personal time. Studying the scriptures and meditating on them. Helping others to grow stronger and wiser in their faith. All of these things are a very important part that we need to have in our lives as Christians, and we never want to discourage others from seeking to do God’s will for them.
The Apostle Paul wrote this same thing again in 1 Corinthians 15:58. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
Here was a great man of God who wanted the church to be steadfast in their faith, and to abound in the work of the Lord. He encouraged them to be strong and unmovable, having a faith that no one could shake.
Paul again, in Titus 3:8:
“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.”
“… be careful to maintain good works.” Words to live by. We need to be like Paul, encouraging others in their faith, not quenching the fires of the Holy Spirit. Not being a stumblingblock to others by discouraging them from learning about the things of Christ. Let them go to Jesus, let them count from 1 to 100.
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 