***1 thessalonians 3:11-13

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The World’s Greatest Virtue
LOVE
1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 (NRSV)
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13 And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
(POSB: Introduction)
When you think of your neighbors, your co-workers, strangers, even enemies—do you think in terms of loving them? How you answer this question is a strong indicator of how mature your love is for God. There are some who feel that God’s love is reserved for the “lovely”—those who are easy to love—that anyone who falls outside of that invisible line does not deserve to be loved by God nor by His people. But is God’s love that limited in scope? Certainly not! Remember: “For God so loved the world.” God’s love flows over the walls that some people build and floods the souls of the lost with His mercy.
It is God’s love that is to make the Christian believer distinctive from the rest of the people in the world.
The greatest virtue in the world is love. This is the one possession that man must have if he is to have an abundant life. Without love, man is nothing.
A Strong Love, 3:11–13
(3:11–13) Introduction: the greatest virtue in the world is love. This is the one possession that man must have if he is to have an abundant life. Without love man is nothing. Paul knew this; therefore, he went before God and prayed that the Thessalonian church and its believers might grow in love more and more. The model church will be a church that has a strong love.
1. Paul’s great prayer (v. 11).
2. The great need: love (v. 12).
3. The great result of love (v. 13).
1 (3:11) Prayer—Jesus Christ, Deity: this is Paul’s great prayer for the Thessalonian church and its believers.
1. Note to whom Paul prays. This is a power-packed point. Paul prays to both God and Christ, and in so doing, he reveals who God is and who Christ is.
a. Paul prays to God Himself: the Supreme and Majestic Being of the universe, the Supreme Intelligence, the Creator and Maker of all things, the Giver and Sustainer of life and of everything else, the Person who dwells everywhere in perfect and supreme power, knowledge, and being.
Note that this is the picture of God that some men think about when they think of God. They think of a God who is in the heavens—in outer space someplace—a God who rules and reigns but is somewhat removed and not too interested in man. The point is this: Paul reveals that God is what some men think: supreme, majestic, ruling and reigning. But note the next point: God is more, much more.
b. Paul prays to God our Father. God is a Father to us, intimately involved in our lives. He is not just in outer space ruling and reigning and being far removed from us. God our Father is right here with us; He is actively participating in our lives just as an earthly father participates in the lives of his children. Therefore Paul, as a child, approaches God our Father and asks Him for certain things; and when he asks, he knows that his Father will hear and answer. He knows because God is not only able to answer, but God is his Father.
c. Paul prays to our Lord Jesus Christ. He prays …
• to our Lord, the Supreme Majestic Ruler of the universe who has existed eternally in heaven and who loves us enough to become our Lord.
• to our Lord Jesus, the Lord from heaven who loved us enough to come to earth in the person of Jesus, the Jewish carpenter from Nazareth.
• to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus who was the promised Messiah and Savior of the world. (The word Christ means Messiah and Savior.)
The point is this: Paul revealed that God Himself is our Father and that Jesus Christ Himself is the Lord God from heaven—that both the Father and the Son have the nature of God; therefore, both have co-existed eternally. For this reason, Paul prayed both to God our Father and to our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Paul asked the Father and the Lord Jesus to direct and guide his way to the Thessalonians. He wanted both God and the Lord Jesus working to open the door for him to return to the dear believers at Thessalonica. Remember: Satan had created some terrible problems and obstacles to keep Paul from returning to the church (1 Th. 2:18; 3:7). But he longed to return; therefore, he wanted both the Father and Son working on the matter. Hence, he addressed the request to both.
2 (3:12) Love: the great need for which Paul prayed is the supreme need of every believer—the need for love, to grow in love more and more.
⇒ The word increase (pleonasai) means to abound, to multiply over and over.
⇒ The word abound (perisseusai) means to excel and overflow (Amplified New Testament).
As stated, the great need is to grow in love—to abound and multiply—to excel and overflow in love. But note the crucial point: the love being spoken about is not what the world means by love. This is seen in two significant points.
1. The love that we must grow in is the love that makes us love all men, not just one another. Note the verse: “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men.” The love we are to have is the love that reaches out and overflows and multiplies toward everyone. This means …
• the unattractive
• the orphan
• the sick
• the hateful
• the enemy
• the murderer
• the unclean
• the homeless
• the prisoner
• the diseased
• the spiteful
• the oppressor
• the poor
• the unclothed
• the widow and widower
• the sinner
• the opponent
• the dictator
How in the world can we love some of these people? How can we abound in love for them? How is it possible to love those who do evil to us and who treat us as enemies? Is it even practical to ask us to love all men? Is it even humanly possible? No! It is not possible for us to love those who hate us and who stand as enemies against us—not humanly possible. But there is a way. However, there is only one way. This is the subject of the next point.
2. The source of love is the Lord. There is no other source, not for the kind of love that can love all men. This is the reason Paul went before the Lord and requested such a love. Paul knew that it was impossible for him or the Thessalonians to work up the kind of love that could reach out and abound toward all men. A love that could love those who ignore, neglect, abuse, and shamefully treat us could only come from God. Note this: there are four kinds of love, the last of which is agape love, the very love of God Himself. It is this love that enables us to love all men. Agape love—the love that loves all men—is the kind of love that is to flood our hearts and lives—the kind of love that is to flow out toward every person no matter who they are (see DEEPER STUDY # 1, Love—1 Th. 3:12 for discussion).
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Mt. 22:39).
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (Jn. 13:34–35).
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12).
“Let love be without dissimulation [hypocrisy]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (Ro. 12:9).
“And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you” (1 Th. 3:12).
“Let brotherly love continue” (He. 13:1).
“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well” (Js. 2:8).
“Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Pe. 1:22).
“Beloved, let us love one other: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” (1 Jn. 4:7).
DEEPER STUDY # 1
(3:12) Love: the kind of love which the believer is to have for all people is agape love, the great love of God Himself. (See note 4, Love—Jn. 21:17 for more discussion.) The meaning of agape love is more clearly seen by contrasting it with the various kinds of love. There are essentially four kinds of love. Whereas the English language has only one word for love to describe all the affectionate experiences of men, the Greek language had a different word to describe each kind of love or affectionate experience.
1. There is passionate love or eros love. This is the physical love between sexes; the patriotic love of a person for his nation; the ambition of a person for power, wealth, or fame. Briefly stated, eros love is the base love of a man that arises from his own inner passion. Sometimes eros love is focused upon good and other times it is focused upon bad. It should be noted that eros love is never used in the New Testament.
2. There is affectionate love or storge love. This is the kind of love that exists between parent and child and between loyal citizens and a trustworthy ruler. Storge love is also not used in the New Testament.
3. There is an endearing love or phileo love. Phileo love is the love of a husband and wife for each other, of a brother for a brother, of a friend for the dearest of friends. It is the love that cherishes, that holds someone or something ever so dear to one’s heart.
4. There is selfless and sacrificial love or agape love. Agape love is the love of the mind, of the reason, of the will. It is the love that goes so far …
• that it loves a person even if he does not deserve to be loved.
• that it actually loves the person who is utterly unworthy of being loved.
Note four significant points about agape love.
a. Selfless or agape love is the love of God, the very love possessed by God Himself. It is the love demonstrated in the cross of Christ.
⇒ It is the love of God for the ungodly.
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Ro. 5:6).
⇒ It is the love of God for unworthy sinners.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro. 5:8).
⇒ It is the love of God for undeserving enemies.
“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Ro. 5:10).
b. Selfless or agape love is a gift of God. It can be experienced only if a person knows God personally—only if a person has received the love of God into his heart and life. Agape love has to be shed abroad (poured out, flooded, spread about) by the Spirit of God within the heart of a person.
“And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Ro. 5:5).
c. Selfless or agape love is the greatest thing in all of life according to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mk. 12:29–31).
d. Selfless or agape love is the greatest possession and gift in human life according to the Scripture (1 Co. 13:1–13).
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Co. 13:13).
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A By-product of Love
UNITY
1 Thessalonians 3:11–13
(POSB: Note 2, point 2)
It is the love of God that binds us together. In a body of believers unified by love, every believer has a very special part to play in building up the church.
Dr. Halbeck, a missionary of the Church of England in the South of Africa, from the top of a neighboring hill saw lepers at work. He noticed two particularly, sowing peas in the field. One had no hands; the other no feet—these members being wasted away by disease. The one who wanted the hands was carrying the other, who wanted the feet, upon his back; and he again carried the bag of seed, and dropped a pea every now and then, which the other pressed into the ground with his feet: and so they managed the work of one man between the two.
Such should be the true union of the members of Christ’s body, in which all the members should have the same care one for another.74
The love of God will produce unity—people working as one. Are you working as an individual or as part of a team?
3 (3:13) Love—Stablish: the great result of love is to be presented unblamable before God when Christ returns to earth. This is the most glorious result imaginable. Note several striking facts.
1. The word stablish (sterixai) means to prop, support, confirm, fix, make fast, set. Note: it is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who stablishes our hearts before God. No one else has the right or power to set us before God; no one else can make us acceptable to God. (Note: the word heart here refers to the whole person or personality of man.)
2. The word unblamable (amemptous) means to be free from fault and blame; to be free from all charges (Vine). The word holiness (hagiosune) means to be set apart and separated to God. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who can make our hearts unblamable in holiness before God. He alone can free us from the faults and charges of sin; He alone can present us unblamable and holy before God. Just think about it: Who else has such power? Do you know such a person? The thinking and honest person has to answer no. And to be honest, if Christ does not have the righteousness and power to present us unblamable before God, then we are hopelessly doomed. Why? Because He is the only Person who has ever risen from the dead to never die again and to live eternally with God. If He is not our Savior, then we shall die and never arise, never live with God. Man’s only hope is Christ—that He truthfully has the righteousness and power to set us unblamable and holy before God.
3. When is this glorious presentation to God going to take place? When Christ returns with all His saints, that is, with all the “holy and glorified people of God” (Vincent). When Christ returns, He will present all believers—every single one of us—to God:
⇒ all the believers who have died and gone to be with the Lord
⇒ all the believers who are raptured when He returns
What a coronation, the glorious day of our presentation before God—meeting Him face to face and being presented to Him unblamable and holy—to be with Him forever and ever! “The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints” will take place! It is the promise of God Himself and therefore it cannot be stopped! And no man should want to stop it. On the contrary, all men should prepare and welcome it. (See outline and notes—1 Th. 4:13–5:3 for more discussion.)
“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:2–3).
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself” (Ph. 3:20–21).
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4).
“And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away” (1 Pe. 5:4).
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn. 3:2).
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Becoming More Like Christ
JESUS CHRIST
1 Thessalonians 3:11–13
(POSB: Note 3)
Have you ever thought about what life will be like when Christ returns? Sometimes we get so busy that we forget He is preparing us daily to be just like Him. Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher from another generation, had this experience:
Spurgeon received one day a copy of Andrew Bonar’s commentary on Leviticus. Spurgeon was greatly blessed as he read it. He returned it to its author with this request: “Dr. Bonar, please autograph this book, and paste your picture on the title page. Then return it to me.”
Bonar did as requested. Below the picture he wrote, “Dear Spurgeon: Here is the book with my autograph and my photograph. If you had been willing to wait a short season you could have had a better picture. When I see Christ, I shall be like Him.”41
If you are a Christian believer, take heart—God is working in you to make you more and more like Him every day!
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