Prayer and Doctrine
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Please take your Bible and turn to 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 as we continue in our study of this wonderful letter. I’ve previously announced that today would be the conclusion of our study. I know this will shock you, but we’re gonna need one more week!
The change is partly due to my up coming surgery. Since I will be missing the two Sunday’s leading up to Easter, there is no way that we will be able to go through the series I had intended for Easter. I’ll keep that idea on the back-burner for next year. But, also, there is something in the short text that stands out to me as something we need to do. (I’ll let you look at the text on your own and see if you can figure out what it is). And this thing would add too much time to our message — especially for the day in which we celebrate communion. So, for today we will focus our attention on Paul’s benediction — his closing prayer.
I love to study the prayers of Paul for various reasons. One of the reasons is that I learn better how to pray by looking at his prayers. Very frequently I take a prayer of Paul’s and use it as a basis of my prayers for you folks. The prayers found in Ephesians 1:17-20, Philippians 1:9-11, and Colossians 1:9-14 are the ones I most frequently use.
Another reason why I like studying Paul’s prayers is that they are filled with doctrinal depth. In our present passage, which is a prayer of benediction, we learn about the doctrine of God, the doctrine of sanctification, the doctrine of preservation, the doctrine of man, the doctrine of Christ, and the doctrine of prayer. And that is how we are going to approach this text this morning.
Let’s read our text together.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Let’s look first at what we learn from this passage about
The Doctrine of God
The Doctrine of God
In systematic theology, theologians refer to the doctrine of God as Theology Proper.
Understand that we are in no way going to be able to do a comprehensive study of the various doctrines mentioned in this short passage. To do so would potentially take weeks per doctrine. But there is a lot to learn from this passage about each doctrine.
The first thing our text states about God is that He is
The God of Peace
The God of Peace
Let’s begin by looking at verse 23.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The elusiveness of peace
The need for peace
While still in our old life we were enemies of God
For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The production of peace (violence)
and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Next we see from our text that God is
The God of Holiness
The God of Holiness
Look once again at verse 23.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The term sanctify is closely related to the term holy or holiness.
God is holy — He is completely separated from sin and evil. And He expects His covenant people to reflect their relationship with Him by the means of holy living. We will look further at this in a few moments when we consider the doctrine of sanctification.
Next we see in our text that God is
The God of Preservation
The God of Preservation
Look again at verse 23.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God preserves, protects, and keeps His own. Peter referred to believers as those
who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Next we see that God is
The God of Faithfulness
The God of Faithfulness
Look at verse 24.
Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
So far we’ve been looking at what our text has to say about the doctrine of God. Let’s turn our attention now to what it has to say about
The Doctrine of Sanctification
The Doctrine of Sanctification
1 and 2 Thessalonians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Sanctification’s Nature, Source, and Extent
Sanctification is the ongoing spiritual process by which God increasingly sets believers apart from sin and moves them toward holiness.
There are three aspects to sanctification:
Positional Sanctification
By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Practical Sanctification
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Even though believers have a responsibility in practical sanctification, ultimately, it it still the work of God. In my daily Bible reading this past week I’ve been reading through the Book of Deuteronomy. This was Moses’ farewell address in which he reiterated God’s covenant with a new generation of God’s people. Deut 7.22 reads:
The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.
As I read this it reminded me of the putting off of the things which belong to our old life outside of Christ, and the putting on of the things which belong to our new life. This is all a part of practical or progressive sanctification. God clears the way little by little — but we still have to put an end to these things ourselves.
Leon Morris wrote:
1 and 2 Thessalonians: An Introduction and Commentary 8. Conclusion (5:23–28)
There is a manward aspect of sanctification‚ in that we are called on to consecrate ourselves to the doing of God’s will. But the power manifest in the sanctified life is not human but divine, and Paul’s prayer reflects this truth.
Perfect Sanctification
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
So far, we’ve looked at the doctrine of God and the doctrine of sanctification. Let’s look next at what our text has to say about
The Doctrine of Man
The Doctrine of Man
In systematic theology, the doctrine of man is referred to as anthropology. Look again at verse 23.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Note that:
Man’s spirit and soul are eternal, but man’s body is temporal
There is disagreement among theologians as to whether man is made up of two parts — dichotomy — or if man is made up of three parts — trichotomy.
Those theologians who support a dichotomous view believe that the terms spirit and soul are interchangeable terms. Thus man has two distinct parts: immaterial — spirit and soul; and material — body.
Those theologians who support a trichotomous view believe that the terms spirit and soul are distinct from one another. In this view, which seems to be supported by this text, the spirit is the immaterial aspect of man which enables him to perceive the Divine. On the other hand, the soul is the immaterial part of man that is the sphere of man’s will and emotions. And of course, the body is the material part of man.
These distinctions are difficult for a simple minded guy like me to choose between. Men whom I admire fall on either side. John MacArthur supports the dichotomous view. One of the professors at The Master’s Seminary (the seminary MacArthur is the president of), Robert L. Thomas, supports the trichotomous view. I’m very tempted to side with Leon Morris, who wrote: “Paul is not analyzing the nature of man, but uttering a fervent prayer that the entire man be preserved.”
We’ve looked at the doctrine of God, the doctrine of Sanctification, and the doctrine of Man. Let’s turn our attention to what our text has to say about:
The Doctrine of Christ
The Doctrine of Christ
The doctrine of Christ is referred to as Christology. Look at the last phrase of verse 23.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Note that:
Christ’s imminent return is fact, not fiction
The aspect of the doctrine of Christ which is referred to in our text is His second advent (or perhaps the rapture of the church is in Paul’s mind).
The Universal Church will be raptured from the earth prior to seven year tribulation period
We garner this truth from Paul’s insistence that believers are going to be spared from the coming wrath of God 1 Thess 1.10, 5.9
and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.
For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Tribulation period is the time of the outpouring of God’s wrath
But for the believer, God poured out His wrath on Christ as He hung on the cross as our substitute! Hallelujah! What a Savior!
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
So far we’ve looked at the doctrines of God, Sanctification, Man, and Christ. There is one final doctrine which is implied in this text:
The Doctrine of Prayer
The Doctrine of Prayer
Understand that the word doctrine — a term which many are afraid of for some odd reason — in its simplest form means teaching, instruction, or system of belief.
Paul did not teach us how to pray in this text, but we learn a lot about prayer from his prayers.
We learn that we should pray for others, as well as for ourselves
We learn that we should let people know that we are praying for them
We learn that we should pray primarily for spiritual growth
We learn that we should pray in accordance with God’s promises
This morning we’ve looked at our text through the lens of doctrine. Sound doctrine is essential for the believer’s growth in Christ. But doctrine was never intended to be an end in itself. Sound doctrine must be practiced and not just discussed.
How do we practice the doctrines we’ve looked at this morning? First, we must be engaged in practical sanctification. Truly, it is the work of God, but we are to be actively engaged in ridding ourselves of the things which belong to our old life outside of Christ. And we are to be actively engaged in replacing them with things which belong to our new life in Christ. We are to be actively engaged in growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And one of the areas of engagement is intercessory prayer. We are to be praying for the spiritual growth of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let’s pray.
**********************************************
As we transition into the communion service, I’d like us to read aloud together the lyrics of an old hymn on the screen.
"Man of Sorrows" what a name
For the Son of God who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim
Hallelujah, what a Savior
Bearing shame and scoffing rude
In my place condemned He stood
Sealed my pardon with His blood
Hallelujah, what a Savior
Guilty vile and helpless we
Spotless Lamb of God was He
Full atonement can it be
Hallelujah, what a Savior
Lifted up was He to die
"It is finished!" was His cry
Now in heaven exalted high
Hallelujah, what a Savior
When He comes, our glorious King
All His ransomed home to bring
Then anew this song we'll sing
Hallelujah, what a Savior
Hopefully you all have one of the communion packets which were left for you on the tables in the back. You might want to take a moment and peal off the top layer of film and take the wafer.
Writing to the troubled church in Corinth, Paul said:
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
I’m going to ask Derek to give thanks for the bread.
And when He had given thanks, [for the bread] He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Let’s eat this together in remembrance of Him.
I’m going to ask Phil to give thanks for the cup.
In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” Let’s drink this cup in remembrance of Him.
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
Let’s stand together and sing #780 — Until Then.