16. God At Work- 1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 (Sunday May 11, 2025)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
After a plane takes off, the pilot usually sets the autopilot to the appropriate heading, altitude, and airspeed. And then sits back to enjoy the journey. Although the pilot may intervene during take off and landing, the airplane virtually flies itself.
Unfortunately, what is true of airplanes is not true of the Christian life. There is no autopilot. Following Christ is not as simple as saying your prayers, reading a few scriptures, and then sitting back and watching your faith fly itself as you glide effortlessly to spiritual maturity.
Growing in Christ requires work. In the passage we read at the start, Jesus made no secret of the commitment required to take this life journey of faith.
33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
It all seems a bit daunting, not just for those starting out on the journey, but for us all.
Paul wrote the letter of 1 Thessalonians to a group of young Christians who were at the start of their journey with Christ. He was thankful that their work of faith, labour of love, and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ showed they had truly turned to God from idols
He reviewed with them the results of a survey report on their church from his colleague Timothy. He pointed out a few areas that needed some urgent work. The need for more practical holy living, and in for a correct understanding of Christ’s return.
Paul gave them a detailed plan for how to improve and maintain the health of their church.
All that Paul has been saying was very challenging. The Thessalonian believers may have wondered if it was really posssible for them to become the church God wants them to be.
And so as Paul signs off his letter to theses young believers in Christ with a benediction and blessing that leaves them confidence for their future. I would like today to just highlight three things in these final words that are also relevant to us today.
Faithfulness of God
Faithfulness of God
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
The first reason for confidence in the future of the church is that God is deeply interested in them.
God Himself is at work in their lives. To emphasize this truth, Paul places the word “Himself” first in the sentence in the original Greek.
God began their walk with Christ by reaching down from heaven, convincing them by His Spirit of the gospel of Christ and bringing them to faith.
And God has a final destination for them - that they would be one day be completely holy. That one day every bit of them, body, soul and spirit, would be without any reason for blame at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the meantime, until we reach that final destination, God has not put us on autopilot. The God of peace Himself is faithfully at work to sanctify us completely. To preserve us - to bring us safely through the perils of this life until the day when Christ returns and we go to be with Him.
Paul calls God the God of peace. In the Bible, peace is not simply the ending of conflict between two warring parties, although it includes that. The word, in Hebrew Shalom, has a involves the restoration of a sinful world back to its original perfect and glorious state as God originally created it. It is a state of well being and blessing with God.
The living God is not distantly watching us flounder, but is acting in our lives to equip and empower us to live holy lives. He is actively sanctifying us - transforming us to be like Christ.
We still have an active role ourselves to play in this transformation process. We will see that in verses 25-27. And Paul wrote
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It is like a parent teaching a child to ride a bike—the parent is fully committed to the child's success, running alongside, ready to catch them, but also allowing them to learn pedal on their own. God's faithfulness works similarly in our sanctification.
Paul’s first word of encouragement that we can become the people God wants us to be in Christ is that it is God Himself is constantly at work in our lives. He is working 24/7 to bring about our complete sanctification, and who will preserve us blameless at Christ’s coming.
God always finishes what He starts.
6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
God called us to Christ, and He will not rest or quit until He brings to final completion the work He began when He saved you. He will not let us go.
Sometimes we may puzzle at the ups and downs we experience in our lives. The problems and troubles we encounter. God is not surprised. He in love uses the events in each season of our life to sanctify us and bring us to be like Christ.
We will not attain complete sanctification this side of heaven; that is impossible.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
But that is the goal of God’s work in us and He will complete it at the day when Christ returns.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
Fellowship of one another
Fellowship of one another
25 Brethren, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.
The second word of encouragement centres on the fact that when we come to faith in Christ, we also become part of a new community - the family of Christ.
Each of the next three verses has the word brethren. Paul is stressing that we have brothers and sisters in Christ alongside us on this journey of faith.
Pray for us
Pray for us
And the first benefit that this new fellowship brings is that there are others praying for us. Paul has just prayed for the the Thessalonians, and now he asks them to pray to God for himself and his coworkers.
The is not a one off emergency prayer when trouble comes. Paul is saying - my brothers and sisters, keep on praying for us.
Paul knew needed God’s help. Sometimes God waits to help until others pray.
Paul does not say what he wants prayer for. But from other places in the Bible where he does make specific requests we see things like:
3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,
1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.
It is essential we pray for one another.
Greet all the brethren
Greet all the brethren
The second thing that Paul mentions about this new community in Christ is that we are to greet one another with a holy kiss.
The practice of giving a kiss as part of a greeting was widespread in the middle east. It was common in Paul’s culture, as in many cultures today, to greet friends with a kiss on the cheek. The men greeted other men this way, and the women did the same with other women.
Perhaps the equivalent in Western culture today might be a hug, or a pat on the back, or a handshake.
A request to greet one another in this standard way is at first sight a bit mundane.
But Paul adds two qualifiers that makes this a greeting have a special meaning for Christians.
The first is that it is to be a holy kiss. Paul could have been referring to maintaining proper motives while practising a kiss greeting. That might be part of it, but the use of the word holy suggests this greeting was not just an expression of friendship. But rather the acknowledgement of the new spiritual fellowship between those who know Christ. Between the holy ones - the saints.
The second qualifier is the word all. Paul doesn’t say greet your friends with a holy kiss. But greet all the brethren. No brother or sister in Christ is to be excluded. .
By giving them this affectionate request, Paul reminds the Thessalonians to express our Christian love for one another openly and visibly. We all need the care of others on our journey with Christ.
Read the scriptures together
Read the scriptures together
Up to now Paul has been dictating to his secretary or amanuensis. The secretary has been writing down what Paul says.
But now Paul takes the pen from his secretary to finish off the letter himself.
He often does this at the end of other letters.
18 This salutation by my own hand—Paul. Remember my chains. Grace be with you. Amen.
19 I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay—not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides.
He does this to stress there is something critically important that he wants them to do.
Paul by his own hand now writes “I want you to promise me something” The actual wording is I want you to swear an oath by the Lord. This is strong language.
What they are to promise is that this letter is read to all the holy brethren. Probably the ones who first received the letter were the leaders of the church. Someone had travelled 300 miles across land and sea from Paul with it. But it was not just for the leaders.
Paul knew that although he was the human author of this letter, its message was inspired from God. It was God’s voice to the church. The letter addressed many specific concerns that the church needed to hear in order for it to grow to fulfill what God wanted for it.
But God’s word cannot do it work unless it is heard. And so the initial recipients of the letter, probably the leaders of the church, were obligated to make certain that everyone in the community of faith heard its teaching.
Reading the bible together is an essential part of how God Himself sanctifies and preserves us.
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Summary
Summary
And so God has designed that one of the ways He sanctifies us and preserves us is through the new community that we are born into by the Holy Spirit when we trust in Christ. We need each others’ prayers, care, and to hear God’s voice together from the scriptures. THat is why the writer to the Hebrews wrote
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Friendship (Grace) of Christ
Friendship (Grace) of Christ
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
The final words that Paul pens is the promise that God’s grace would be with them.
Paul began his letter with grace
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And ends it with grace.
Secular letters of Paul’s day typically ended with the “farewell wish,” expressed in the form of “Be strong!” or, less commonly, “Prosper!”.
This was somewhat like the expression “sincerely” or “yours truly” that we use to close our modern correspondence.
Paul, however, indicates the end of his letters by replacing this wish to be strong and prosper with a prayer: “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you”.
We need God’s grace. In our journey with Christ we are weak and imperfect. Often deliberately choosing the wrong way. But we need Christ’s kindness and help, even though we do not deserve it. We need the grace of Christ.
But that is precisely how Christ’s grace operates.
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
We will be transformed to be the church God wants us to be because of Christ’s undeserved grace towards us.
Application
Application
God has called us to new life in Christ. He is at work in us to transform us to be like Christ.
We can be confident that God will sanctify us completely because He Himself is at work in us.
Many today enjoy restoring or upcycling old furniture. Restoration of something valuable requires three essential elements:
First, it needs a master craftsman who understands the desk's original design and purpose—someone who sees not just what the desk is now, but what it was meant to be and can be again. The craftsman must be skilled, patient, and committed to the full restoration, not just quick surface fixes.
Second, the restoration requires specialized tools and materials that the craftsman uses at different stages of the process—gentle cleaners to remove accumulated grime without damaging the wood, wood fillers to repair cracks, fine sandpaper for preparation, and protective finishes to preserve the restoration.
Thirdly, the restoration process requires grace—the understanding that even after restoration, this desk will bear some marks of its history. These aren't flaws; they're part of the desk’s unique character and story. The most beautiful restorations don't erase all evidence of the past but incorporate them into a renewed creation.
You are God’s heirloom he is restoring to your intended purpose and beauty. The master craftsman who created you is faithful to complete His restoration project.
The specialized tools God uses by His Spirit include your brothers and sisters in Christ—their prayers, their unconditional love, and through hearing God through Scripture together.
And the entire process is covered by the grace of Jesus Christ, which ensures that even your scars and struggles become part of your unique testimony to God's redemptive work.
Paul's closing benediction isn't just pretty religious sentiment—it's the encouraging promise of God's ongoing restoration work in you as you journey through this life with Christ.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 25 Brethren, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
