Sermon Tone Analysis

I was in my dorm room on a Thursday afternoon in April 1994, studying for mid-term exams when the phone rang—I answered the phone, but I was not prepared to hear what I heard.

In a broken voice my mom said, “Matt, Bro.

Lynn died today.”

Bro.

Lynn was my pastor.

He was the man God used to change my family tree because it was through his preaching that my dad, my mom, my sister, and me were saved.

Bro.

Lynn was used by God to ground my entire family in the faith.

When I was little, I would dress up like Bro.

Lynn and set out my stuffed animals and preach to them just like Bro.

Lynn preached to us—he was one of my hero’s.

Bro.

Lynn was the first one to stop by when my dad lost his job.

Bro.

Lynn came to visit me when I was recovering in the hospital from a bought with Spinal Meningitis.

My parents told him that the doctors were concerned because I was not eating—so he brought me a McDonald’s Milk Shake and told me to drink it.

I did what my pastor told me to do—and my appetite came back.

Bro.

Lynn was the one who gave me my first ministry as an adult.

When I turned 18, I asked my pastor what I should do—he gave me a bus and a driver and told me we needed a bus route in Fairborn.

So, I went and did everything I could to get children and adults from Fairborn to ride the bus to church every Sunday morning.

Bro.

Lynn was the one who sat with me every Sunday evening, teaching me doctrine before the evening service because he didn’t want me to go off to Bible College without knowing the great truths of Scripture.

Bro.

Lynn was one of my hero’s—so I was not at all prepared to hear the news that I heard that afternoon.

Following the funeral, I stopped by Bro.

Lynn’s house with my youth pastor to see if his wife, Liz, needed anything.

While we were there, Liz brought me a piece of yellow legal pad paper—it was Bro.

Lynn’s prayer list.

In the very first column, near the top of the page I saw my name.

She told me that Bro.

Lynn prayed for me every day.

I can’t express how much that meant to me—but it’s been more than 24 years and I’ve never forgotten that my pastor prayed for me.

There is something special about a pastor’s heart toward the people that God entrusts to his care.

We see this truth clearly in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian church.

The first section of this letter is very pastoral—what that means is that Paul shared his heart with a group of people that he deeply loved and cared for.

Through chapter three Paul talked almost exclusively about his ministry in Thessalonica and his burden for that group of people.

In chapter one Paul said he was thankful for their work of faith, their labor of love, their steadfast hope in Jesus Christ, and the example they provided to all the believers in their region.

In chapter two Paul mentioned how he and his team ministered to them like a mother and a father care for their child.

They challenged them to live in a manner that was consistent with the salvation they had received from God.

In chapter three Paul told them how he could not stand to be away from them and out of communication with them, so he sent Timothy to find out how they were doing and report back to him.

When he received the report that they had not abandoned the gospel and they were growing as followers of Jesus Christ, Paul was encouraged and revitalized even though he continually suffered as a servant of Jesus.

As we come to the end of chapter three, Paul is about to shift from expressing his heart for the people to providing instruction to the people—and the transition in this letter comes in the form of a prayer that Paul prayed for the church.

Today, I want to take a look at a pastor’s prayer for the church.

1 Thessalonians 3:11–13

11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

One of the great blessings of God is that He moved men like Paul to record their prayers so that we can learn how to pray, what to pray for, and the necessity of prayer.

There are several prayers recorded for us in the New Testament—most of them were written by Paul—but every one of the them helps us learn and grow as we follow Jesus Christ.

The prayer we just read is important because it shows us what Paul wanted most for the Christians in Thessalonica.

When we look at this prayer, we can see that Paul was first and foremost concerned about the spiritual condition of church.

You can see that Paul did not pray that their weekly attendance would continue to climb.

Paul did not pray that their offerings would increase.

Paul did not pray for God to give them wonderful facilities.

Paul did not pray that their next outreach campaign would be successful.

Paul did not pray that they would be spared trouble and pressure that comes from being a disciple of Jesus.

Paul prayed specifically that the people in the church at Thessalonica would grow in faith and that they would grow in love.

Now, we should not look at this prayer and assume that things like weekly attendance, faithful giving, having a place to meet and a plan to reach people are not important—because it’s all important.

However, wouldn’t you agree that some things are more important than other things?

Let me see if I can illustrate this—let’s say you have two children—one comes to you and tells you she’s hungry while at the exact same time, your other child falls, cuts his head and is bleeding everywhere.

As a parent you are concerned about both children—but caring for the bleeding child is more important than fixing a sandwich for the other child at that moment.

Or, let’s say you’re building a house.

Both the foundation and the roof are important parts of the home—so much so that none of us would want to live in a house that does not have a solid foundation or a functioning roof.

However, when you’re building a house, what do you give your attention to first?

The foundation.

Why?

You pay attention to the foundation first because if the foundation is not right, the entire house will not be right.

So, I think it would be wrong to say that Paul was not concerned about church growth, the generosity of the believers or any other thing.

All of these things are important, but Paul knew, and we need to know that all of these other things will be what they are supposed to be only after we get the most important things right.

This is why Paul prayed they would grow in faith (v.11)

The first concern of any pastor for the people God entrusts to his care is their spiritual growth and we see this at the beginning of this prayer.

Notice, Paul wrote “May God…direct our way to you”.

Now, you might look at that and wonder how that phrase means that Paul was praying for their spiritual growth—but look at what Paul wrote in verses nine and ten:

1 Thessalonians 3:9–10

9 For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith?

Paul said that he and his missionary team prayed constantly and passionately that they might be reunited again so that Paul could continue to instruct them because they needed further instruction—they needed additional training in the faith.

The term, “may perfect” or “may complete” simply means to make adjustments to what they know and how they practice their faith.

Paul prayed desperately to be able to connect with them again so that shortcomings in their faith would be corrected so they would not continue to struggle with some issues.

However, getting to them was not easy.

In chapter two, verse 18, Paul said that they had tried to come back several times, but they were prevented by Satan from returning.

So, Paul turned and God and asked for God the Father and the Lord Jesus to direct their way to Thessalonica.

Let me tell you what Paul was asking God for—he was asking God to clear the path for them to return to Thessalonica.

Paul was praying that nothing would hinder their plans—nothing would get in the way that would keep them from returning to the people they loved.

Is there anything more frustrating than needing to get somewhere but not being able to get there?

Fortunately, our phones today have apps like Waze or Google Maps—the great thing about these apps is that they not only give us directions, but they also tell us when traffic isn’t moving.

Sometimes the app will even tell us there is an alternate way we can take to avoid the slowdowns and make it to our destination on time.

This technology is valuable to us because we often need to get to a meeting, or to a child’s ballgame at a certain time and we don’t want anything to slow us down or prevent us from making the appointment.

So, it is important that we understand that Paul’s prayer request was not a only a request to be reunited with his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica.

Paul was really asking God to make the way clear for his return to that church so that he could continue to instruct them so that they would grow in the faith.

Paul’s concern and prayer was that they would grow in faith.

But we also see that Paul prayed they would grow in love (v.12-13)

This was more than just a simple request—Paul’s great desire and wish for his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica was that they would grow in love.

Paul’s great desire and wish for his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica was that they would love to their full capacity and even beyond their capacity.

But notice who Paul prayed for them to love to a greater degree—he prayed they would love each other beyond their current capacity to love.

Not only did Paul pray for them to love each other, but then he prayed that they would love all people.

Now, loving other Christians in the church is challenging enough—but was Paul really praying that they would love people outside the church also?

Yes!

Paul’s prayer for them was that they would follow his example and love others in the same way Paul loved them and the way Paul loved those who drove him out of town and persecuted him.

But why would Paul pray for this with such urgency and conviction (night and day-v.10)?

Paul prayed they would grow in love for each other and for all so that they would live according to their identity as those who had been set apart unto God.

In other words, because you are loved and because you have been saved, you must be committed to love.