Advent 3 (5)
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16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Concluding remarks and final instructions to the Thessalonians.
How do you conclude a letter?
Letter writing has become a thing of the past for many people. It wasn’t always like that. Before the age of text messages, Messenger, emails and even phone calls, the main way in which people communicated with others who lived at a distance was by writing letters. You know. Putting words on paper, stuffing it into an envelope, addressing it, and putting on a stamp which was placed in the mailbox to be physically delivered to someone whether it was five miles away or across the ocean.
Did you ever have a pen pal? When I was in high school and college I had several pen pals and being the saver that I am, I have many of those letters that I have received to this day. Saving letters in my family seems to be a thing. I have letters written by my great grandparents (in German) Early 1900’s, letters by my Grandpa Christian to his sweetheart, Esther, before they were married. (1925) One letter from my dad to my mom when they were dating (1955) , and letters to my mom from her brother and cousins who served over seas. (Late 1940s) I know people say I should throw them out but there is something about having the thoughts and observations that were put down on paper and the information that is found in them.
Our text today is one of the letters that St. Paul wrote to early Christian churches. His letters were much more profound and meaningful than those of pen pals for several reasons.
1.They dealt with people‘s relationship with God.
2.We believe they were inspired by God himself and therefore God’s Word.
Paul wrote other letters which have not been preserved by the church but these have been saved and for good reason. (See Peter writing about Paul’s letters and his own reason for writing the letters that he did.)
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. 15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 12 So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. 13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, 14 because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. 15 And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.
Paul’s letters would have been carefully written and would deal with an important theme. Sometimes we lose sight of this when we are given a small portion of an entire letter and focus only on a small portion of the over all theme.
So let’s quickly summarize the occasion and purpose of 1 Thessalonians.
1 & 2 Thessalonians: Verse by Verse (Purpose)
Paul had several reasons for writing these letters:
(1) To encourage the Thessalonian Christians as they underwent serious opposition and severe persecution.
(2) To explain to some who might have been upset at his hasty flight from Thessalonica, thinking that he had run away and deserted them. He felt a very special love for this fledgling church and was greatly impressed with their endurance and faithfulness to Christ in the midst of so much adversity. Especially in 2:1–12 he demonstrates how centered he was on their needs and how God-directed his time with them actually was. It is evident that he felt a special kinship with these people and considered them to be models of the deeply committed believer.
(3) To correct their mistaken eschatology. In the two letters there are three errors, and each caused a great deal of consternation.
Our text is the conclusion to that letter. Paul is wrapping up this important correspondence and he does so with thought and intensity.
How unlike some of our letters this is. Here are how some letters in my archives conclude.
“Well, that’s all the news I have so I left space for Dad to say a few words. Hi to Diane and give Betsy a big hug and kiss from Grandma”
“Hope to see you all next month.”
“Don’t know anything else so I will close for now.”
“Well, I’d better close. I’ve got to preach for a special Ascension service this Thursday night. I hope everything is going well with your family.
“Hope this finds both of you well and also wish you the best this Chirstmas and also for the New Year!”
“Guess I’d better close for now. Hope all is well and you are settled in your new life and home. Have a blessed Christmas may the Lord always walk with you.”
“If you get a chance, write and tell me how you are doing, how you are and how Diane the kids are. Even though I don’t respond as quickly as I might, I’m always interested to hear what’s happening out there. I think of you often.”
Not necessarily profound. I mean. Do you really even have to write you are wrapping up the letter? Can’t the person tell because you signed it at the end?
Paul’s conclusion is meaningful. It is a string of quick encouragements and today I want to emphasize the last two verses after summarizing the quick and important encouragements that precede it:
Be joyful always.
1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Pray continually.
34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Give thanks in all circumstances.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.
The Holy Spirit wills to impact our lives. We are not to resist those godly impulses.
Do not treat prophecies with contempt.
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Test everything and hold on the good and avoid the evil.
May God sanctify you through and through.
Our lives as Christians are described as being sanctified. We are set apart by God to live for God and to follow his will and his ways.
May you be kept blameless until Jesus returns trusting in God who is the one who keeps us faithful.
Sometimes it seems as though we put so much emphasis on what God has done to save us and that we are saved by grace and not by works, that we may become lax in our responsibility to live godly lives as though it isn’t all that important. After all, we can just confess our sins afterwards and get a clean slate and start over forgiven. This is a cheapening of grace. St. Paul encourages us to be kept blameless.
God takes up residence within a believer, he begins the process of “sanctification”—the change that he makes in all believers’ lives as they grow in faith. Jesus said, “You are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48 NLT). Believers are sanctified (set apart) by the work of Christ. It is initiated by God’s Spirit when they believe. It is a process whereby believers dedicate themselves to proper living. While perfection will not occur until believers are in heaven, sanctification is the process of moving toward that goal, moving toward Christlikeness. Believers have been set free from sin’s control, but sin is still an issue during this life. Victories can be claimed every day in every area of life, however, as God sanctifies. Romans 6–8 describes the process (see also Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:21; 1 Peter 1:2).
In order to be sanctified “through and through,” God will need to work in all areas of a person’s life—the whole spirit, soul and body. The spirit, soul, and body refer not so much to the distinct parts of a person as to the entire being of a person. This expression is Paul’s way of saying that God must be involved in every aspect of a believer’s life. A person’s spiritual life cannot be separated from everything else; being a Christian was never meant to be a “Sundays only” proposition. Instead, faith should so permeate each believer’s life that his or her whole being is coming more and more under God’s loving control. As believers walk with God, though they will still sin, they confess and forgive, seeking daily to draw closer to God who will keep them blameless for Christ’s return. Perhaps the Thessalonian believers were wondering if believers who died before the Second Coming would be able to receive this perfection from Christ. Paul explained that the supernatural process would occur for all believers. God will preserve his people.
Barton, B. B., & Osborne, G. R. (1999). 1 & 2 Thessalonians: life application commentary (p. 93). Tyndale House Publishers.Strive to live a godly life.
Confess our sins when we falter.
Trust that we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake.
Jesus is Coming
Trust in God to keep us blameless until that happens.