The Faithful God
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. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
The passage before us concludes with an astonishing and a comforting affirmation. These two verse, coming at the conclusion of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, express his desire for the Thessalonians in the form of a prayer. Paul puts feet to his longings by presenting his desires before the Great God. It is not so much the prayer that I wish us to consider today as it is to take note of the confidence which the Apostle expressed. He was confident that God would indeed fulfil that prayer. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
Reading the text in the original language and applying the translator’s art to these verses in order to provide a foundation from which to work, we arrive at a fuller understanding. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved in entirety, free from blame, at the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; He will do it. The changes introduced register no disagreement with the text, but they do emphasise and clarify the intent of the text.
To Whom We Look For Perfecting. God is central to the Apostle’s prayer, but when introduced to the issue, He is referred to as the God of peace. It is God Himself who is at work in our lives, but particularly in His role of introducing peace into our lives. When Paul wrote of the God of peace he was employing a term which was apparently dear to him. He likewise speaks of the God of peace twice in the book of Romans, Romans 15:33 and in Romans 16:20, and also in Philippians 4:9. Note that he refers to the Lord God as the God of love and peace in 2 Corinthians 13:11 and note also his allusion to the Risen Lord as the Lord of peace in 2 Thessalonians 3:16. To the Corinthians Paul insisted that God is not a God of disorder but of peace [1 Corinthians 14:33]. It is as if the Apostle were constantly stressing to believers that peace is the sum total of gospel blessings.
Have you ever noticed that in virtually every letter Paul brings into close juxtaposition God and peace? To the Romans, Paul opened his missive with a prayer for [g]race and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ [Romans 1:7]. He began each letter to the Corinthians in a similar manner with a prayer for grace and peace [1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2]. This observation also holds true in his letters to the Galatians [Galatians 1:3], to the Ephesians [Ephesians 1:2], to the Philippians [Philippians 1:2], to the Colossians [Colossians 1:2], and in both missives to the Thessalonians [1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2]. Similar prayers are employed in his letters to Timothy [1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2], to Titus [Titus 1:4], and to Philemon [Philemon 3]. That God and peace are interrelated is likewise observed in many of the benedictions in his letters [Galatians 6:16; Ephesians 6:23]. This truth which characterised Paul is found also to be applicable to Peter [1 Peter 1:2; 2 Peter 1:2], to John [2 John 3], and to the unknown author of the Book of Hebrews [Hebrews 13:20] as well. God is the author of peace. Without God there is no peace.
It is significance that the Messiah is the Prince of Peace [Isaiah 9:6]. Neither should it be surprising that the Gospel is spoken of as conferring peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all [Acts 10:36]. It is said that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ [Romans 5:1]. God, through the Prophet Isaiah, spoke long years past:
“Peace, peace, to those far and near,”
says the LORD. “And I will heal them”
But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
which cannot rest,
whose waves cast up mire and mud.
“There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked”
[Isaiah 57:19-21].
Our world is engaged in an endless search for peace. Nations seek peace more diligently than any individual ever searched for gold. Individuals invest considerable energies and strength in the search for peace. I am struck by the fact that the more intensely political leaders seem to search for peace and the more ardently those same leaders speak of peace and the more vociferously the populace demands peace, the less of that precious commodity there appears to be available. Despite every effort of mankind to find that elusive commodity of peace, the Word of God nevertheless warns readers: While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape [1 Thessalonians 5:3].
There shall be an ever more frantic search for peace as age nears a conclusion. Yet, for all the frenetic, frenzied fury of fruitless search, peace shall prove as elusive as the will-o-the-wisp. There is no peace for mankind except that peace which is found in God alone. There is no possibility of peace until we know the Prince of Peace and have the Spirit of Peace occupying the throne of our heart. We need to hear with fresh ears the promise Christ offers the restless heart: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls [Matthew 11:28,29].
Again I urge you to hear His words spoken on the eve of His exodus from earth. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid [John 14:27]. Jesus promised His disciples peace with these words I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace [John 16:33]. Hearing is insufficient if you will know that peace. You must seize that peace through surrendering your rebel heart to Him as Master of life. Do so even now.
Is it not strange that the demons are characterised as restless in Jesus’ revelation? When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it [Matthew 12:43]. Restlessness, the absence of peace, the failure to find that quiet confidence which is the heritage of the servants of the God of Peace, this is the mark of demonic powers; and those who find their soul characterised as restless and always seeking something more have need to inquire whether they are reflecting the spirit of the Holy One or whether they are demonstrating the rule of the wicked one.
In Port Coquitlam there were several gasoline stations near our residence which were owned and operated by members of a particular ethnic group associated with overt outward religious demonstration of their piety. These stations, in every instance, featured a sign prominently displayed somewhere near the islands which were easily read from the highway. These signs pronounced for all to read: “In God We Trust”. Often I would be with a friend who told me that he gassed up in one or the other of these stations because the owners believed in God.
Once, after my friend had pulled up to the island, I queried the man serving the pumps about his relationship to Christ Jesus the Lord. He was not a Christian! How could we think that! My friend was shocked because he had read the sign and drawn the conclusion that the owners were Christians. The sect knows little of peace because they know little of the God of peace. The most prominent feature in the public view of the sect is their constant violence toward one another and toward other individuals of the same racial origin who fail to share their religious persuasion. The God of peace will so work in our lives to create a life of peace that flows from confidence and certainty. To say they know nothing of the God of peace is to feature the obvious!
The Work God Is Now Performing. The work God now performs in the life of each believer, the work which lays the foundation for peace, is the work of full preservation, a work which frees one from blame. Confronted by religious leaders, Jesus said of God: My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working [John 5:17]. Any who contend that God’s rest following Creation is ongoing ignore the Word of God; God is at work in our world to this day. Especially is God at work in the life of His people.
Just what is God doing in our world, and what is He doing in the life of His saints? While I might speak at considerable length on the revelation we are provided in the Word of God’s work in our world today and especially of the work God is performing in the life of the believer, here Paul focuses attention to this one great perfecting work of sanctification, of being preserved for God’s special purpose. Furthermore, Paul asserts that this sanctifying work is complete for spirit, soul and body.
I am conscious that in Christ we are even now declared holy and perfect. When God looks on His child He sees that individual as perfect now! Ephesians 1:4 makes this abundantly clear. He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. When we supply the nouns represented by the pronouns, we discover that God chose us in Christ before the world was created to be holy and blameless in [God’s] sight. The import of that revelation is that we are now holy and blameless in the sight of God. This is what the theologians speak of as positional sanctification. While I may be now holy in God’s sight, I can attest that I am far from holy in my life. Even my attitudes and the choices I make are not always pure and unsullied by self. This demonstrates the need for what the theologian calls progressive sanctification, of the need to grow in grace and knowledge or the Lord Christ.
In a previous sermon I focused on the triune nature of man, noting that we possess a body and a spirit, but that we are living souls. The spirit is dead by virtue of the fact that it is separate from God, and thus the soul is separated and the body likewise has no hope of redemption from the sentence of death. We sometimes speak of those who are dying as being terminal. I am always tempted to ask, “Aren’t we all?”
The spirit is declared dead because it is not united to God. We have need of a new spirit which is alive to the Living God and which is able to fellowship with Him. At the point we believe God’s message, He gives us a new spirit, just as was promised in Ezekiel 36:26: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. We are dull and dazed and dead and in need of being awakened to the life of love. This is the meaning of those awful words in Ephesians 2:1 reminding us that all were once dead in … transgressions and sins. Born from above, God placed His Spirit in us, uniting us to His love. What a glorious verse is Galatians 4:6: Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father”! This verse iterates and complements Ephesians 1:13 which states we are marked with a seal … the promised Holy Spirit.
What I would have you see is that God has now invested His own self in your life because you are a believer. Born from above and called by the Name of His Son, and though now perfected in His sight, you shall yet be perfected in every aspect of your being. James states that there is a war ongoing in your life with the Spirit of God who dwells within longing intensely for your to conform to the image of Christ the Lord [James 4:5]. Thus, it is the spirit which receives first focus because it is now perfected.
The soul shall be sanctified. Few of us would be so foolish as to claim that our desires reflect in a perfect fashion the will of God. Those who make such claims are soon disabused of such assertions by the rough-and-tumble of daily life. John Wesley, the godly founder of Methodism, on one occasion met a man who professed to be perfect in his desires before God. Wesley offered the man his horse if he could pray for ten minutes without permitting his mind to stray. Immediately the man dropped to his knees and began to pour forth a stream of petitions supposedly for presentation before the Divine throne. Suddenly the man stopped his petitioning of the Great God and looking up to Wesley inquired, “Does that include the saddle and blanket?” I rather suspect that you and I are in the same condition as that individual.
My soul is tainted, contaminated with the virus of self, which is the essence of sin. Purification, being set aside for the purpose of God, is the work of sanctification. Though I am responsible in time to work at cultivating my intellect and my emotions, I do so with the knowledge that this work will continue throughout time, being completed only at the return of the Lord Christ. This is the reason for the instruction to believers given in Philippians 4:8,9. [W]hatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
The individual who invests energy and attention on whatever is false, whatever is ignoble, whatever is wrong, whatever is impure, whatever is unlovely, whatever is distasteful, is certain to be outwardly effected. When you listen to garbage, whether in the form of salacious stories or music, when you watch ribald and lascivious movies or television shows, when you fill your ears with gossip, when you promote evil, you are being outwardly conformed to such trash. Likewise, when you feed the soul on that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable, it has an impact on the soul and outwardly you are effected. This is the reason pastors throughout the centuries have instructed parishioners to invest in good literature, to treat their musical selections with care, to exercise caution in attendance at the theatre. Do right to be right.
Obviously, where I invest my mind will have an impact on how I live my life. Perhaps you have heard the old saw: sow a thought, reap a deed? Though not Scripture itself, as is true for many of the old sayings of years past, this adage reflects a scriptural principle. Jesus cautioned against the lustful look [Matthew 5:27-30]. It is not the casual, unguarded look which brings danger; it is the lingering, longing, lustful look which imperils the life of an individual. Later, in the same sermon, our Lord stated the principle in clearest terms: [W]here your treasure is, there your heart will be also [Matthew 6:21]. In effect, Jesus is saying that that on which we feed our minds is reflected in our actions. Where we park our mind is where we will shortly live. At what level you occupy your thoughts, there you shall shortly reside. What you are inside must shortly be revealed through your actions. All these are restatements of the principle.
I do not believe I have ever heard a message on the two verses which follow that statement, but Matthew 6:22,23 is highly significant in the context of this message. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! It is but an exposition of this principle. Dieticians sometimes say, “You are what you eat.” The principle under scrutiny now warns that where you feast determines what you will become. Study of the Word and time alone with God will likely result in a life dedicated to Him and to His glory. Study of the local newspaper and time alone with the entertainment medium of this age will result in a life dedicated to self. The diet of the soul, the diet of the intellect, the diet of the mind, the diet of the emotions, will be reflected in the expression of the body.
God now works perfecting spirit, soul and body. The conscience will never be scrutinised by medical science; yet it is that organ of the soul which either condemns or commends us now. The conscience is, if you will, a reflection of the health of the soul. For the believer, God employs that unseen organ to direct His child into paths which honour Him. Beware, however, lest yours become a conscience seared as with a hot iron [1 Timothy 4:2]. The conscience which even now bears witness so that our thoughts … accus[e] or … defend [Romans 2:15]. I urge you to honour God through walking in the Faith and through feeding the soul on righteousness which leads to love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith [1 Timothy 1:5].
To reject this counsel is to make shipwreck [of our] faith [1 Timothy 1:19]. Of such who reject the ongoing work of God the saying recorded in Titus 1:15 is confirmed: To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
The Certainty of God’s Perfecting Work. As Paul concludes the prayer he is inspired by the Spirit of God to make a bold and beautiful affirmation concerning God’s ability and concerning God’s intent: He who calls you is faithful; He will do it. The statement anticipates the later benediction with which Jude concludes his letter: To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Saviour be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen [Jude 24,25].
God is able is Jude’s confident affirmation matching Paul’s comforting statement. When Jude makes this statement we may perhaps miss something of the certainty inherent in his words. To him who is able translates the Greek Tw'/ deV dunamevnw/. That word translated by the phrase him who is able is the root word for our English word dynamite. There is a sense in which that bit of information is a tragic shame. People tend to hear the preacher make reference to that fact and they think of the Gospel in terms of a power which was never thought of when the word was employed.
The power of which Jude speaks is the power to perform a work so much greater than mere destruction or the tearing apart of a life. The power is better spoken of as ability. Man promises so very much and delivers so very little. God promises greater acts than the imagination of man can conceive—and God delivers. God promises to save the soul that comes to Him in faith, to set that individual free from the penalty of sin and to ultimately deliver that one from the very presence of sin. This is incomprehensible. However, in these verses, both in Jude’s letter and in Paul’s Thessalonian letter, God is said to also be capable of delivering His child from the power of sin—now.
Jude states of God that His ability insures that His child will be kept from falling utterly, regardless of how dark the times may appear. Consequently, that keeping may be exercised through removal of His child from the earth if the child is callused toward godliness and rebellious toward the will of the Father [1 John 5:16; James 5:19,20]. Jude expands that revelation of the keeping power of God by assuring us that God is also able to present us before Him without fault and with great glory. Paul attests that God will sanctify … through and through, all the while insuring that we are kept blameless.
When Jesus comes, the whole of the redeemed church of God will be presented before Him. Paul speaks of that day in Ephesians 5:26,27. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. Think this through with me. In the sight of God we Christians are now holy and blameless because Christ Himself has cleansed us and we shall yet be presented to Him as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
When we are presented before Christ, no one will be able to say: “Well, Lord, You saved me, but I had to perfect myself. I made myself pure and holy for You; I kept myself. I do praise you, Lord; but I also deserve some credit.” No! No! Instead, together with all the redeemed of God, sing a new song recorded in Revelation 5:9,10:
You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God,
and they will reign on the earth.
It is the Lamb who purchases men for God. It is the Lamb who makes us to be a kingdom and to be priests to serve our God. It is the Lamb who cleanses and purifies.
When Paul wrote the Philippians, he began with a prayer of thanksgiving. In that prayer he mentioned, as is so often true of the Apostle, of his confidence toward them. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus [Philippians 1:6]. If Christ has begun a good work in you, you may be assured that He will carry it on to completion. Yet, if somehow you have never seen that good work begun in your life there is no prospect of completion. In fact, the sole prospect you face is the prospect of eternal separation from the grace of God.
Long years ago a puritan divine wrote words which speak to this dire thought. Poor soul, how shall you live if the Sun of Righteousness be not risen within you? For if the second birth be not accomplished in you, then surely the second death shall prevail. This is the sorrowful conclusion for all outside Christ. All that awaits you is judgement and condemnation; and just as the grace of God is certain toward all who look to Him in faith, so the wrath of God is certain toward all who have refused His grace.
The offer of the Word today is an offer of grace and glory for each individual. Christ Himself has provided life for you, and God Himself is pledged to bring to completion all that the Son begins. This is the message of life we bring—to believe that you are unable to make yourself good enough to be acceptable to God; to believe that God in mercy has provided a means by which you may stand perfect in His sight; to believe that God will fulfil His promise to all who look to Him for grace. That grace and that mercy is revealed in the person of Jesus, the Son of God. He died because of your sin, He took the penalty of sin for you. Now the call is for you to believe this Good News. Then, looking to Jesus in faith, submit yourself to Him.
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].
And that is our invitation to you. To trust Christ as Master of life; believe this Good News and be free of condemnation; believe this message of grace and be delivered from the penalty of sin; believe Jesus and be empowered to resist sin and please God. Some have perhaps trusted Christ and yet have somehow failed to obey Him through believer’s baptism. Our invitation to you is to now come and be baptised as Jesus commands. Some need perhaps to come to unite with this church, transferring your church letter or uniting on a statement of Christian experience. Our invitation to you is to now come and stand together with us to do the work God has assigned in this day and in this place. Some need perhaps to come to renew commitment, to confess sin before the Lord Himself, to declare in a fresh way fellowship with Christ. Whatever the Spirit has spoken to you and whatever He has declared to you, come now, while we stand and while we sing. Angels attend you in the way and God give you strength to honour Him. Amen.