The Gospel Prayer
INTRODUCTION:
Context:
This morning we are coming to the end of chapter 3 of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. We have been observing the Gospel Life Cycle as it has played out in the lives of the new-in-the-faith believers in Thessalonica for three chapters now. In our verses this morning Paul wraps up the first half of this letter in which he has been discussing his joy in Timothy’s report and his desire to see the Thessalonians again. In the second half he will address some areas in which the young believers need further clarification. Since Paul is not able to return to Thessalonica at this time, this letter will have to stand in his stead to instruct them in these areas.
The end of chapter 3 is a natural dividing point in this letter and when I looked at our church calendar for the next couple of months, I decided some time ago that we would take advantage of this natural break and set this series aside after today until January. Next week I will be on vacation in South Carolina and Pastor Aaron will be preaching here. Believe it or not, by next week we are already into December. Since we were coming up to this break in this letter, I decided to do something that I have not done before…and that is to have a Christmas series this year. During the month of December we will have a series focusing on The Birth of Jesus. I plan to again start the new year out on January 5th with our Annual Day of Prayer and Praise…and then, Lord willing, we will return to this letter and look at the second half of it in the first quarter of 2020.
So, now that you know what to anticipate in the coming weeks, let’s turn our attention back to our verses for this morning. Last week, Paul was rejoicing over the good report that Timothy brought back regarding the enduring faith of these new believers…enduring faith even in the face of persecution and suffering. Paul gushed in his joy to both the Thessalonians and, we observed last week, to God who was ultimately behind their endurance.
Preview:
In our verses today, Paul finishes his expression of joy by sharing with the Thessalonians what he is continually praying for on their behalf. Not only does Paul express joy to God about them, he also lodges petitions with God for them. We are going to look at these petitions and ask ourselves why is Paul doing this; why is he praying in this way to God? What we need to see is that Paul is convinced that his prayers accomplish something; he is convinced that his prayers matter.
Application
And friends, we need to be convinced of the same thing. We need to be convinced that our prayers matter; that they do something. Sure, I expect that we would all say that our prayers matter, but do we live as if we believe it? A lot more of us will gather for our potluck meal in a few minutes than come out for our prayer meetings on Wednesday nights. Now good food and good fellowship matters…we truly should enjoy our potluck meal today. But can we say that really believe prayer matters when we do not engage in it on a regular basis or with similar excitement?
The main lesson that we need to see in these verses this morning is that Our prayers reach One who is personally involved. Our prayers reach One who is personally involved.
Do you see those final two words? Our prayers reach One who is …let me underline it… personally involved.
Illustration
A couple of weeks ago my father called me to tell me that he was going in for testing because he was concerned that he might have colon cancer. A couple of days later he called me to tell me that the doctor had found cancer. Since then we have talked several times as he was getting an appointment with a surgeon and now this past week as he got the surgery scheduled for December. In fact, I spent time on Friday making arrangements so that I can travel to North Dakota when he has his surgery. Pastor Aaron will be covering one of those Sundays that I mentioned about our Christmas sermon series as I will be in North Dakota. The point that I am trying to make here is that my father called me about his cancer because I am personally involved with his life. He knew that I cared about him and that I would want to help him in any way I can. I am personally involved with what happens to him so he called to talk to me.
Application
Folks, our God is personally involved in our lives too. He is concerned with what is going on. He is engaged because He is a personal Being. He is not some cosmic force like some religions teach. He is not some disengaged and removed being like other religions teach. He is a personal God who is personally involved in each and every one of our lives. He is so personal that one member of the Godhead—the Son of God—entered creation so that He could be our personal Savior. This is who we are praying to when we go to prayer. We are praying to the same personal God who Paul addresses in our verses.
In our verses we will see Paul call out three areas in which the Lord—our God—is personally involved with each of us. I trust that as we recognize these areas, we will be encouraged and challenged to spend more time in prayer ourselves.
Transition from introduction to body:
Let’s read our verses…<read vv. 11–13>
Our prayers reach One who is personally involved. In verse 11, Paul points to the first area in which the Lord is personally involved. In this verse we see that…
BODY:
I. The Lord guides our lives, v. 11
This is probably the area of the Lord’s involvement that we think of first; we tend to realize that because God is sovereign—that He is in absolute, total control of all things—that He has influence over our lives. We are probably most likely to pray for the Lord’s guidance in our lives…which is proper because He does guide our lives.
Transition:
Let’s look at two ways in which the Lord guides according to what is illustrated by this verse. First of all,…
A. The Lord guides our lives through our desires
I will admit that I am pulling this idea slightly from verse 10 because that is where Paul expresses the reason that he is asking the Lord to direct his and Silas’ and Timothy’s ways back to the Thessalonians; he wanted to return because he wanted to…as he stated at the end of verse 10…“complete what is lacking in [their] faith.” You see, what Paul is expressing in his prayer is a desire to serve God by helping others grow in their faith. This is a God-given desire, not a self-centered desire.
Application
We tend to naturally be rather self-centered creatures concerned about our creaturely comforts. Sadly, this often comes out in our prayers as most of our petitions deal with asking God to intervene in our lives in some way. We want Him to make our lives easier rather than change our desires so that we are content with what we are going through. We want Him to remove current challenges in our lives. We want Him to give us peace and prosperity—health and wealth. Oh, wait…health and wealth is supposed to be what other churches with wrong theology are pursuing…isn’t it. I fear that sometimes our prayers for the Lord’s guidance are much closer to the false health and wealth gospel that they should be.
What we need to recognize is that when the Lord is guiding our lives through our desires, our desires will be desires that benefit others rather than ourselves. Our desires will benefit others because they will be centered on the Lord Jesus who gave His life for others.
Notice in verse 11 that Paul addresses both God the Father and Jesus the Lord as if they are equals. Paul clearly saw that Jesus was fully God, as worthy of receiving prayer as God the Father. Implicit is a recognition that desires that build up those Jesus died will be desires given by the Lord…desires for the building up of others that should be taken as the Lord’s guidance in our lives.
Transition:
The Lord, first of all, guides our lives through our desires. Secondly, we can also recognize from this verse that…
B. The Lord guides our lives through our circumstances
Paul has already expressed several times that he had wanted to return to Thessalonica, but had been hindered. Now he prays that God will “direct” his way to them at some point in the future. The word “direct” that Paul used conveys the picture of straightening out something that was bent. Back in 2:18 Paul had stated that Satan had hindered their return. He is praying for God to change his circumstances by removing Satan’s hindrances, by straightening circumstances out for him. Paul is not asking for a special sign from God; he is not seeking an emotional or miraculous experience. He is simply praying that God would arrange his circumstances in such a way that he will be able to come to them again…and he will see such arrangements as the Lord’s guidance.
Application
This is what we call providence—God directing the events of His universe through ordinary means…what we call in theology, secondary causation. We do not look for God to do miraculous things. We simply look at that ways that God has arranged the circumstances in our lives to determine his guidance. God providentially directs our lives through our circumstances.
Illustration
Take my trip to ND for my dad’s surgery. Traveling to ND in December was not on my plan for the year. Still, I can see that the Lord has guided me to go to ND this year because the circumstances called for me to try and go now for my father’s surgery and the details are falling in place to allow it happen. In all of this the Lord is guiding my life.
Application
We may not like our particular circumstances at the moment. We may not understand why God has brought these circumstances into our lives. But we can be confident that He is guiding us through them and we can pray that He will continue to do so. We can even express what we desire our circumstances might be in our prayers as long as we contentedly submit to the circumstances God has given to us.
Transition:
The Lord guides our lives. He does so, as we see illustrated this verse, through our desires and through our circumstances. We can acknowledge this in our prayers and petition God for circumstances that will conform to our God-given desires. We can do that because… Our prayers reach One who is personally involved.
Our prayers reach One who is personally involved.
Moving on to verse 12, we see a second area of our lives in which the Lord is personally involved;…
II. The Lord grows our love, v. 12
In verse 12 the focus of Paul’s prayer is love. He uses two verbs, “increase” and “abound” as virtual synonyms in order to strengthen the emphasis of what he is writing; he really desires to see their love grow.
Notice, in this verse Paul is now actually addressing the Lord Jesus alone. Jesus showed His great love by dying on the cross. Now Paul prays that the same Lord would cause these new believers to increase and abound in love as well.
We too, need to increase and abound in love if we are to increasingly resemble our Lord. I would submit that we too need this prayer for our own lives.
Transition:
Our love, according to our verse should go in two directions. First of all, we see in verse 12 that…
A. The Lord grows our love for each other
The first immediate recipients of our increasing and abounding love should be the people sitting around you at this moment. Remember, our Lord said in John 13:35 that our distinguishing characteristic as His disciples should be our love for each other. It should be obvious that we love one another.
Remember what the Thessalonians were going through. These are men and women who because of very recent professions of faith suddenly found themselves cut off and isolated in their society. A few months earlier they may have fit into the culture of their day, but now they were outcasts. In fact, now they were the focus of hostility and persecution. Their own families would have rejected them because of their faith in Jesus. They needed each other. They needed to experience, real tangible love from one another; things like provisions of food, lodging, jobs, clothing, and safety could have very well been on the list of the things they needed.
Application
We can truly rejoice that the Lord has allowed us to live in a country where faith in Jesus does not…at least not at the current moment in time…bring those kinds of trials with it. Such is not the case in many places in the world. I guarantee you that we have immigrants living around us from places in which faith in Jesus brought real danger with it.
We don’t have that challenge, but we still have the real need to grow in our love for each other. Inevitably faith in Jesus causes previous friendships with unsaved people to fade away. Faith in Jesus strains relationships with family members as well. I am sure several of you will face such strained relations this next week as you celebrate Thanksgiving with unsaved family members. What we all need is to know that here is a place where we find genuine love. Because of our common relationship with Christ, we love each other. And that love must show itself in ever increasing ways. Are you opening your home to others in this room so that they can share a relaxed and enjoyable…rather than strained…meal with you at different times during the year? Are you sending a text to someone who you know will have a difficult time with family this week assuring them that you are praying for them? Are you increasing and abounding in your love for each other? This is what the Lord does in His children; we should all be praying that He will do it in our lives.
Transition:
The Lord first of all grows our love for each other. Secondly, we see in verse 12 that…
B. The Lord grows our love for the lost
Paul says that He is praying that they would “increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people.” That “for all people” part extends his prayer to include the fact that our love should grow to those outside the church too—the lost whom God has placed around us.
Application
Two weeks ago now, we were in the middle of the Exchange Seminar. One of the points that Jeff Musgrave made repeatedly is that for us to be effective at communicating the gospel message to people, we had to genuinely love them. We are most effective gospel ambassadors as we draw people to the message of the gospel as the love created by the gospel in our lives flows from us to them. We must genuinely care about people; not just try to get another notch on our gospel belt we forced someone to listen to a gospel presentation. Our goal is not to be able to share a new name every week of whom we quote, “gave the gospel to.” Our goal is to love someone each week so that we can share with that person how the gospel speaks to the real deep needs that they are experiencing in their lives…needs that they share with us because we have shared our love with them.
And prayer comes into the picture as we pray that the Lord would help all of us to increase and abound in this kind of love for the lost.
Transition:
The Lord grows our love. He grows our love for each other and He grows our love for the lost.
Remember: Our prayers reach One who is personally involved. As we pray to Him, the Lord grows our love.
And then, lastly, in verse 13 we see a third area of our lives in which our Lord is personally involved,…
III. The Lord grips our hearts, v. 13
Paul prays that the Lord would “establish” their “hearts.” The heart is that metaphorical place where the hidden motives of our lives are stored. It is the place where our conduct takes place because our desires and motives are brought to bear upon our circumstances in the depths of our hearts…and then out of our hearts comes our actions. So Paul prays that the Lord would establish their hearts. What Paul is really praying is that the Lord would grip their hearts for His purpose.
Transition:
We, of course, need the same thing to happen to us—we need the Lord to grip our hearts so that He adjusts our hidden motives and influences the actions that come out in our lives.
Looking quickly at this verse, we can see two ways that the Lord grips the hearts of his people to produced these transformed lives. First of all,…
A. The Lord grips our hearts with His holiness
It was the holy Son of God who took on human flesh in order to die on the cross as our Savior. As we remember annual through our Christmas celebration, the Baby in Bethlehem was God in flesh. Weekly, we worship on Sunday because that grown Baby rose from the grave, demonstrating His holiness. And the NT is filled with teachings that inform us that He is imparting that holiness to His children balanced with instructions that tell us to pursue that holiness. Here we see Paul praying that the young believers in Thessalonica would experience the Lord gripping their hearts to the point what they live without blame before God the Father.
Application
Folks, the holiness of our God should grip our hearts. The holiness of our Savior should grip our hearts. The sacrifice that our Savior made so that we could be declared holy should grip our hearts. The Holy Spirit that was sent so that we could become increasingly holy should grip our hearts. As Jeff Musgrave mentioned a couple weeks ago, when we sin what we are really experiencing in a holiness problem. We are failing the particular moment in time in which in our inner hearts we are choosing that particular sin to be gripped by holiness. We have pushed all the knowledge and experience of holiness aside so that we can grab our sin.
But I am sure that you experienced feelings of guilt and shame after choosing and yielding to your particular sin…I know I have. That feeling of guilt and shame…that is the griping of holiness in our hearts by our Lord. The Lord will not let us have our sin; rather He will grip our hearts with His holiness and draw us back to Him through repentance. Sometimes it takes a long time for that to happen…and we are miserable the entire time we fight the process…but the Lord will grip our hearts with His holiness if we are His children. That is our Lord!
Transition:
The Lord grips our hearts with His holiness. He also…
B. The Lord grips our hearts with His return
The return of the Lord is a bit like the carrot and the stick…the carrot is held out in front to draw while the stick beats from behind. When we are in sin, the fact that our Lord will return grips our heart with fear…we do not want to stand before the One who died for us and explain why we valued our particular sin and its momentary pleasure more than we valued His bloody sacrificial death to break the bondage of our sin. Yet when we are standing in holiness, the coming of the Lord gives us courage to face any obstacle…any trial…for His sake because we know that whatever we suffer now will be minor compared to the glory and joy we receive when we stand before Him.
The reason that we get distracted by the things of this world…pursuing things like money and ease…is because we have pushed the return of the Lord to a back corner of our heart. We need the Lord to grip us with His return. He is coming again. When that fills our focus; we will change what we do.
Illustration
I don’t mean to keep using my dad’s cancer as my only illustration today, but his situation does illustrate this idea very well. This week, because he is facing a serious surgery, he wanted to make sure that he had a conversation with both my brother and I as to how he wanted our mother cared for if things did not go as hoped and he did not make it through the surgery. A month ago such a conversation was not important to him; now it was very important because he was gripped with a different focus.
Application
We need to be gripped by the reality that our Lord is returning. He is coming again and that fact should be the number one driving concern of our lives. The good news is…gripping our hearts with that reality is one of the things our Lord is happy to do…it is something we should be praying to happen to ourselves and in the lives of each other.
Transition from body to conclusion:.
The Lord grips our hearts. That is the final area that we find in our verses this moring in which the Lord is personally involved in our lives. And that involvement increases as we pray. The Lord uses our prayers to grip our hearts.
CONCLUSION
Our prayers reach One who is personally involved. Our prayers reach One who is personally involved.
This morning we have looked these final verses that wrap up the first half of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and in them have identified three areas in which the Lord is personally involved in our lives—areas in which our prayers are used by our sovereign God to make a real difference.
One, the Lord guides our lives. Our prayers reach the One who is personally involved with guiding our lives. He guides through our desires and our circumstances.
Two, the Lord grows our love. Our prayers reach the One who is personally involved with growing our love. He grows our love for each other and for the lost.
Three, the Lord grips our heart. Our prayers reach the One who is personally involved with gripping our hearts. He grips our hearts with His holiness and with His return.
Our prayers reach One who is personally involved. Are you spending time praying to the One who is personally involved in such a way that your prayer life communicates that you believe this truth? Our prayers reach One who is personally involved.
