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Here is today’s New Testament prayer for the church:
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
What are the key things you see in that prayer?
Thankfulness.
A desire to be with them… so as to help them grow.
Two specific prayers: growing love and strengthened hearts.
A vision that they be blameless and holy in the presence of God
Thankfulness
How can we thank God enough for you? What was Paul so thankful for and joyous about?
Chapter 1 tells of the wonderful things that had happened when Paul had preached the gospel.
1. The gospel had come not just with words but with power, with the Holy Spirit and with great conviction (v.5).
2. The Thessalonian Christians had become imitators of Paul and of Jesus (v.6). They had chosen to be like Jesus. So they imitated Paul and his team, because they were imitating Jesus.
3. They had done that despite severe suffering (v.6). This was a radical conversion.
4. But even in their suffering, they experienced the joy of the Holy Spirit (v.6).
5. They were imitating Paul and Jesus but, in the short time since their conversion, they had become models for others also to imitate (v.7). All of the believers in Macedonia and Achaia (two whole provinces) were looking to the Thessalonians and imitating them.
6. The gospel was ringing out not only in Macedonia and Achaia but everywhere. Paul says he doesn’t even need to say anything about it. Everybody was talking about their faith. And everybody was talking about the power of the gospel in their lives and how they had turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for the return of Jesus (vv.8-10).
7. They were living out their faith. Because of their faith they were doing good works; because of their love they were labouring to serve people; because of their hope they were enduring (v.3).
It is no wonder that Paul was so excited and so thankful. Paul calls them his glory and joy (2:19-20). Are you grateful for the people around you who are people of faith, hope and love? When you see people growing to maturity in their faith, do you thank God, unable to give Him enough thanks? Especially, when you see younger Christians coming to faith and growing, are your prayers full of thanks?
The desire to be with them… to help them grow
Despite all of that, Paul prayed that he might see them again “to supply what was lacking in their faith”.
Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again. Listen to the passion, the longing to be together. In Ch.2 he said that being separated from them felt like being orphaned.
Some of us are of British stock. We don’t express our feelings quite that openly. But, do you feel anything like that about being with your brothers and sisters at church? Or, can you not wait to get back to your Life Group, because these are people you love?
He loved them and his heart was always to help them grow even more – to supply what was lacking in their faith. Yes, amazing and wonderful things had happened. Yes, they were going on for Jesus in ways that inspired people hundreds of kilometres away, but there were still gaps. There were still areas where they needed to grow. Even in this letter he gives them more instruction.
I guess we can identify with that. Even those who have been Christians for decades are aware of things they still need to learn; things we don’t understand; aware of sins that we have not yet conquered; aware of the need for more Holy Spirit transformation – more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, more faithfulness, gentleness and more self-control. We know that, don’t we?
Even Paul said that he did not consider that he had arrived at the goal but he pressed on, straining towards the goal for which God had called him heavenward in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:12-14).
That is as disciples. What about as disciple-makers? Do we also identify with that disciple-making passion to see people grow in their faith that looks for opportunities to minister to people? Paul was wildly excited about their conversion and their growth but the goal of a disciple-maker is not converts but godly, mature Christians. He was excited about what had happened and keen to see more happen.
The vision: blameless and holy in the presence of God
At the end of this letter, we have another prayer that reveals Paul’s big, ambitious dream for them.
1 Thess 5:23-24
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. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
In Colossians he talks of presenting everyone fully mature in Christ. His goal is maturity, Christlikeness, holiness – thorough holiness – sanctified through and through, your whole spirit soul and body – holy and blameless. That is what Gareth talked about last week. That is a constant prayer of the apostles. If we follow their lead, we also will pray for through and through holiness, spirit, soul and body.
In chapter 1, Paul described the beginning of their journey. In chapter 5 he describes the end of their journey, holy and blameless in the presence of God. In chapter 3, he prays about his desire to help them get from chapter 1 to chapter 5. He prays for opportunities to minister to them and build them up.
Romans 1:11-12
I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
They will minister to him too. He will be encouraged by them. But his desire is to strengthen them.
If we model our payers on the New Testament prayers we will pray earnestly that our family members and our friends and our brothers and sister in our church will be sanctified through and through and be blameless and holy when they stand before God. And we will pray for opportunities to minister to them and build them up in their faith. What might God do in answer to those prayers?
Do you long to be at church and long to be with your Life Group because you long to help others grow? Or, does that sound a bit arrogant, as if we are superior and we can to train them?
No. Remember Paul said it is mutual. We help each other. The Bible says...
1 Corinthians 14:26
When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.
Each one brings some contribution. Everyone gives and receives ministry. Back to the 1 Thess 3 prayer.
V.11 repeats his desire that God will make it possible for him to be with them.
Prayer 1: increasing love
v.12 contains a specific prayer: May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else.
Notice the word “increase” there. He is not criticising them for lacking love. He has already rejoiced in their love. But may love increase. May there be even more growth.
1 Thess 4:9-10
Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more…
Their love was legendary but his goal was to present people fully mature in Christ and so he urges them to aim even higher. “More and more” is a bit of a theme in the Thessalonian letters. “More and more” is the disciple-maker’s desire. Do you want to see people “mor and more” like Jesus?
1 Thess 4:1
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.
2 Thess 1:3
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
Paul prayed that their love would overflow “just as ours does for you”. He modelled it so that they could imitate it.
Prayer 2: strengthened hearts
The last part of this prayer is “may he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones.”
That is almost identical to the chapter 5 prayer about being blameless when they stand before God. May God make you strong now so that you will reach that ultimate goal. Strength of heart – convictions, character, faith, godliness.
It is really noticeable how many of these prayers are about our state when we stand before God. That was important for Paul. Do you pray that others will be holy and blameless when they stand before God? Gareth reminded us about Isaiah’s reaction when he was in the presence of God. He cried out in dismay under conviction of sin. Various people, in the Bible, just fell on their faces in the presence of God because of their unholiness. But Paul wants the Thessalonians to be blameless and holy in God’s presence when Jesus returns. What an incredibly ambitious vision: to be holy in the presence of God. Isn’t that what you want for your children and grandchildren, for your parents, for the people alongside you now? The New Testament example is that we pray for that and we work for it; we make disciples.
I have written a prayer based on 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13. Could we pray that now and pray it regularly?
Lord, I am enormously grateful for the people around me and for the wonderful things you have done in their lives. Please give me opportunities to encourage them and build them up in their faith. Lord, may our love for each other, and for everyone, increase and overflow. May our hearts be strengthened so that we are blameless and holy in Your presence when Jesus returns. Please, help me to both be a model for others, and willing and able to build them up.
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