PRAYER AND THE GOD WHO KNOWS YOU

1 Thessalonians 1:1–5 ESV

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. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

I. PROPERLY LOCATING THE CHURCH

A. What do I mean by properly locating the church?

B. Paul opens this letter by writing,

C. 1 Thessalonians 1:1 (ESV) — 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.

1 Thessalonians 1:1 ESV

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.

D. “To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…”

E. In this greeting, Paul says something that should bring us encouragement, peace, and a sense of security – we are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, we are united to them.

F. We are in them and they are in us.

G. John 17:20–21 (ESV) — 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

John 17:20–21 ESV

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

H. Locating the church, the many membered local body as well as the universal church, in the Father and the Son is the answer to Jesus’ prayer.

I. Locating our assembly rightly as being in the Father and the Son allows us to find purpose as stated in Jesus’ prayer – “…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Purpose: “…so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

J. In recent weeks I find the materials I have been reading are dealing with the providence of God.

K. John Piper’s new book by that title, the February issue of TableTalk magazine, Paul Tripp’s Lenten devotional on Day 10 had a section recognizing providence.

L. Even the insert in your bulletin Pray Because God is Sovereign deals with it.

M. I mention this only because it has stunned me to realize the immensity of what God is doing in bringing His purpose to pass.

N. Daniel 2:21 says that God “removes kings and sets up kings.” Few things are more directly relevant to the outcome of history than the world’s rulers. The rising and falling of kings constitutes one of the extraordinary things that must happen precisely according to God’s intent in order for His plan for history and for His people to be achieved. We will consider the ascension of King Cyrus the Great to the Persian throne in 538 BC to help illustrate this.

O. Two hundred years earlier, long before Persia was a major player on the world scene and before Cyrus was even born, before the exile of Judah into Babylon, the prophet Isaiah predicted that Cyrus would rise to power, conquer, and set the Judean exiles free to return to their homeland (Isa. 45:1–13). But of course, for this to happen, a vast number of events and decisions had to go in a particular way for Cyrus to become leader of Persia and rule in such a way that the Jews could go home. First, the Jews must be exiled to Babylon. But this can happen only if Babylon conquers the seemingly all-powerful Assyrian Empire, the reigning world power in Isaiah’s day. But Babylon does this only if the Assyrian emperors make a number of poor decisions and the Babylonians become more effective than Assyria on the battlefield. For this to happen, the right strategists have to come to prominence in Babylon and the Assyrian king will have to follow poor counselors or make bad decisions on their own. But you cannot have the right strategists in Babylon without those strategists’ receiving the right education and experience, which requires the birth of these strategists into the right families who can provide that education and experience. Then, these families are formed only by the right marriage decisions, and so forth. On the other side, getting poor counselors into place in Assyria requires a similar chain of events.

P. For Cyrus to come to power, he must first exist, so the right couple must come together to produce the child. To get to that point, two families have to agree for Cyrus’ mother and father to get married. Each parent must make it to childbearing age for Cyrus to be conceived, so his mother and father must each be protected from accidents, illnesses, and more that could kill them before Cyrus is born. And for that to happen, Cyrus’ grandparents must make the right decisions in caring for Cyrus’ parents as they grow up, which means that Cyrus’ great-grandparents have to make the right decisions in raising Cyrus’ grandparents, and on and on.

Q. I am simplifying things here, but the point is that God can by no means ordain and control the rise of someone such as Cyrus and the release of the Jews apart from governing innumerable small details such as parental decisions and personal histories. This has to get down into even the genetic level, for Cyrus can come to power only if his immune system keeps him alive long enough for him to take power. If even the tiniest thing goes wrong at any point—say, he inherits a genetic proclivity to a fatal disease—then all is lost. God’s Providence Revealed In Scripture Robert Rothwell February 2021

R. You are in the church according to God’s purpose. Can you begin to fathom His providence in bringing you into the body of Christ?

II. PRAYING FOR THOSE IN CHRIST

A. 1 Thessalonians 1:2–5 (ESV) — 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

1 Thessalonians 1:2–5 ESV

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

B. The unity that comes from being in the Father and the Son gives the basis for our prayers for one another.

C. It focuses us on the things that evidence the life of God in the church and in each other.

D. For Paul it leads to thanksgiving. Thanking God for the people.

E. I’m challenged by the understanding that we are joined to one another in Christ, which is an eternal reality, and it should lead us to over thanks for one another or earnest prayer for one another, intercession if we see someone straying.

F. Paul said he and those who labored with him constantly mention the Thessalonian church in their prayers.

G. We lost someone who constantly mentioned us his/their prayers last week. I’ve lost others who I know constantly mentioned me in their prayers and I rejoice that I know some who still are mentioning me, but the focus this morning is the individuals that make up our church family.

H. Do we constantly mention one another in prayer?

I. I like the way Paul expresses it in verse 3:

J. 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

K. Their praying was in the presence of God the Father and they were remembering before Him the faith, love, and hope the Thessalonian church had in the Lord Jesus Christ.

L. Have you ever gotten together with some old friends and remembered some events from your past?

M. Paul’s time with the Father brought up memories of faith, love, and hope in Jesus Christ.

N. Do we reminisce with the Father about our brothers and sisters in Christ?

O. The life of Christ in us is going to unite us in this kind of praying.

P. May He give us the eyes to see more clearly in our body the work of faith, the labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and may we remember before our God and Father each other in our prayers.