Sermon Tone Analysis

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.