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This morning, we’re going to go through the closing remarks of Paul’s first letter to the church at Thessalonica.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed preaching 1 Thessalonians and have been, once again, personally confronted by this letter I was already familiar with.
God’s Word is like that.
It’s a multi-faceted jewel; turn it this way and that and you see something new with each angle.
What Paul writes here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are some final thoughts, his closing remarks to his brothers and sisters.
There is some deep teaching here; these aren’t throw-away verses.
This for the church, then and now.
For the Thessalonians then.
For Rich Hillians today.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Thessalonians 5.
If you are able and willing, please stand with me as we finish out this letter.
May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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When Meghann asked what I was preaching this Sunday, I said I was finishing up 1 Thessalonians.
She said, “Oh, I thought you’d preach something Christmas-y.”
Believe it or not, I’m going to be able to connect this to Christmas.
I can get to Easter or Christmas—that is, I can get to Jesus and the gospel from any place in the Bible.
It’s like 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon, only easier.
So, we’ll have gobs of Christmas between now and the 25th, I promise.
By the way, I mentioned it a year or so ago, but it bears repeating: Christmas falls on a Sunday this year.
December 25 is 3 Sundays from today.
We will gather together here to worship the Lord, as we do every other Sunday.
Adjust your plans to be here Christmas Sunday.
Set aside time on Christmas Day to gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ to worship Christ together.
Back to 1 Thessalonians.
Paul, wrapping up this letter, includes some teaching and some encouragements.
He adds a couple of commands, some important to-dos, and ends with grace.
Paul begins his closing remarks with
A Word about Assurance
Verses 23-24 are a good reminder of what only God can do, what God Himself will do.
Paul frames this as a prayer, these two verses.
Look at them with me.
Paul is praying for the Thessalonians.
He’s praying what he knows to be true about God and about God’s work.
This is phrased as a prayer—May God Himself…May your whole spirit, soul, and body...
Paul knows God will do these things and is asking Him to do this work.
In the process of praying, he’s teaching the Thessalonians (and us) important doctrine.
The verse begins with the emphatic “God Himself” which underlines God’s action.
“God Himself,” that is this something only God could do.
God Himself, the God of peace.
Bringing peace is something only God can do.
God initiated the reconciliation of sinners with Himself and is now at peace with them.
No sinner seeks out God.
No sinner could begin to reconcile themselves with God.
Romans 3 states it plain: There is no one who seeks God.
But God seeks out His own.
God comes after those who were once His enemies.
God pursues those who are dead in their sins.
God seeks and God makes peace.
It’s God who does the reconciling.
He breaks down the barrier.
God Himself deals with our sin through the death of His own Son.
God brings people to Himself.
It’s what He does.
He’s the God of peace.
May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify.
To sanctify means “to make holy.”
It’s a very churchy word.
And sometimes churchy words get swallowed up because they’re churchy words said by churchy people and lose all real meaning, even among the chuchy.
So, we’re going to use R.C. Sproul’s beautiful definition of sanctify: “the complete mending of all human imperfection.”
“The complete mending of human imperfection.”
This is what sanctification is; this is what God does.
This is our confidence.
This is the hope that sustains our present pursuit of holiness.
We strive and strive and strive to do what God would have us, and we fail.
We struggle with temptation.
We succumb to temptation.
We sin.
But God’s doing something in us.
And will continue to work in us until we are fully like Him.
He will completely mend our human imperfection.
God Himself will sanctify us, mend us, through and through.
Entirely.
Part of Paul’s prayer—what God Himself will do for us—is that our entire being, our whole being—[our] whole spirit, soul, and body—would be kept blameless at the coming of Jesus Christ.
We don’t have to worry about whether or not we’re good enough (we don’t have it in us to make us good enough), but God can and will.
Will we be sufficiently holy and blameless at the coming of Jesus?
Don’t worry your pretty little head, Christian.
Verse 24:
We need not worry about being “good enough” when all is said and done.
We, on our own, could never be “good enough”—whatever that means.
But God Himself, the One who calls you, the One who calls you, the One who calls you is faithful, and HE WILL DO IT!
What assurance!
What God requires, He provides.
What He calls us to, He gives in abundance and perfection.
Positionally, we stand in Christ.
We, by faith in Jesus, are perfect, thanks to the imputation of His righteousness.
He took our sins, and gifted us His perfect, spotless, sinless righteousness.
It’s why Jesus came to us and died for us.
Practically, we still sin.
We still give into temptation.
We struggle and fail.
We fumble and fall.
Practically, we’re all major works-in-progress.
We can’t do it, but He’s faithful and He will do it.
Bank your life on it!
Our assurance can’t be based on our ability or goodness or performance or religious activity.
Our only assurance is God Himself, the God of peace, the One who called us and sanctifies us will see to it that we are blameless when Jesus returns, when all our human imperfection will be completely mended.
Our God is faithful.
He will do it.
That’s our sure, steady, unshakable assurance.
Paul writes about our assurance and pens
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