If you saw someone such as a child or young adult beginning to learn how to do things such as how to add or subtract, or how to properly spell and pronounce words, would you go up to them and say, “No, no, no, don’t do that.”? Hopefully not, because what they are trying to do is learn how to become better at those subjects and gain knowledge. It’s not like they were doing something wrong or evil that would be harmful to themselves and others, they are simply doing something that will only benefit them in their life.
How about someone in the church, if they were doing something that God has called them to do like preaching or studying the Word of God, would you be someone who would try to prevent them from following their calling from the Lord? Once again, hopefully not, because we should never stand in the way of the growth of someone’s faith in Jesus. If someone is following the commands of the Lord in their life, let them do it! Let them serve Christ to the best of their ability, and exhort them to continue on with it.
You know, there is a passage in the Bible that tells us about a time when the disciples had seen someone casting out devils in the name of the Lord, but because that person was not among the disciples following Jesus they had told him not to do it.
Luke 9:49-50 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us.
And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
What the disciples had been doing essentially was quenching the Spirit from being spread by that man, but Jesus told them to not do this as the works that the man was doing would only further the work of the Lord, and this brings us to the main verse that we are studying about today, and it is about not quenching the Spirit of God.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.
This is quite a short verse, so to understand the meaning we need to learn what the word “quench” means, and it means to “extinguish, put out, or stop.” You will often use these words when referring to fire, as you might extinguish a flame, or put out a candle. You stop the burning. Coincidentally, the phrase “lighting a fire under someone” means to encourage or motivate someone to do something or move faster, which really is what we as Christians should do for each other by encouraging and exhorting one another to do the will of the Lord.
It can be kind of disheartening to have yourself shut down when you are doing something that is important to you and that you feel is your calling from the Lord to do, so we should never do this to others when they are doing the will of God. The Apostle Paul was very good at exhorting others, which he did to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13-16:
Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Paul wanted Timothy to continue to grow and flourish in his faith, as well as to continue to help others come to the knowledge of the truth found in Christ. He wanted people to hear about the love of the Lord and to come forward to receive the gift of everlasting life, and did not put out the fire of the Spirit in others. And neither should we.
In Christ
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 