1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”

Do you remember the two disciples who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus the first Easter evening? They were convinced that all was lost when Jesus died. They were faithless and hopeless in their grief. Then Jesus came and explained to them why it all had to happen this way. He went back to the Old Testament Scriptures and showed them it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and die to save them. When they finally recognized Jesus as dinner began, and he disappeared, they asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

Do you remember the debate Jesus had with some of his skeptics after he fed the five thousand? They questioned his claim to be the Bread of Life from heaven and resisted his demand that they put their faith in him. “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Jesus didn’t back off. He made even bigger claims for his word. “The Spirit gives life. The flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.”

When Jesus talks, the Spirit is giving life. When Jesus talks, hearts begin to burn with faith. The way to put out the Spirit’s fire is to throw cold water on the words and message of Jesus. Criticize it. Contradict it. Reject it. The fire of faith cannot long survive without the fuel of Jesus’ words to feed it.

So Paul also warns, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt.” We tend to think of prophecies as predictions of the future. Sometimes they are. But the more general way Scripture speaks of prophecy is simply a message given to man by God. Jesus’ words were prophecy. Paul’s words were prophecy. For those who know the voice of the Good Shepherd when they hear it, the whole Bible is prophecy in this sense.

And I don’t have to tell you about the contempt our world heaps on the Bible. Much of it is moral contempt. If some word of Scripture gets in the way of their happiness, by all means, they conclude, cut it out and throw it away. We can’t have a word from God stand in the way of people finding their bliss. Of course, much less is said about the happiness that is lost by not following the divine wisdom from the deep past.

Some of the contempt is so-called historical or scientific contempt. Far be it from our world to accept a revelation from God over the speculations of some human with a high IQ. But you know, Paul isn’t writing to our world, is he. He is writing to you and me. Something in the Bible gets under your skin, just like it gets under mine. It challenges our intellect. It denies our wishes. It confronts our pride.

When we come to that place, what will we do? Will we treat the prophecy with contempt? Or will we follow Doctor Luther, and when we come to things we don’t like or can’t understand, will we grant that the Holy Spirit is more learned than you or I are? Faith depends on God’s word. Cultivating a positive view of that word is necessary if we are going to avoid evil and hold on to the good things God wants to give us.