Sunday, May 31, 2020

Be Encouraged... by the Grace of God - I Thessalonians 5:25-28


Be Encouraged… by the Grace of God
I Thessalonians 5:25-28
Introduction: I am excited to say that next week our  Church will have the doors open for coming together in worship! For a time we’ve been meeting “virtually,” but, following proper precautions for the safety of the most vulnerable, we will meet face-to-face starting Wednesday night for our annual business meeting (with a Zoom option available for those who think it prudent to do so), and then next Sunday morning at 10:15 for a time of worship together.  We plan to continue live-streaming for those who feel they should quarantine a bit longer, and also to allow those from away who may not be traveling here this year to join us. We will be glad to make a more complete service available to you. The emphasis here, in these verses, seems to be on being together: brothers pray for us (plural: Y’all pray for us!)… Greet all… Read this letter to all… God’s grace be with you [all]… We are a body, and each member is important. We are also a family, and we need one another, and we need to benefit from each other’s spiritual gifts. Be encouraged as we come together, and may we encourage one another!
       Paul has been teaching the Thessalonians right doctrine, but also reminding them that our theology must impact how we live. Mark Howell put it well: “…No matter how high you can jump theologically, what matters the most is how straight you walk when you hit the ground.” I like that! In other words what we believe needs to make its way from our head to our heart, and then to our hands and our feet. Paul’s heart is again exposed as he brings to a close the epistle of First Thessalonians. These are the concluding words in this beautiful little letter of encouragement, let’s not miss what God has for us here…
Brothers, pray for us.  26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.  27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
The Maine* Idea: God has given us the means of grace to enable us to live by faith in this fallen world, as a part of the church. One of those means is…
I. PRAYER: We can pray for one another (25). “Brothers, pray for us.” INTERCESSORY PRAYER: We can pray for one another, and we must, because we all need prayer! Think about it, Paul, the great apostle and theologian of the 1st century, the one who, along with Silas and Timothy, planted the church in Thessalonica just a few short months before, asks these new converts to pray for him and his missionary colleagues!
       Paul prayed for them, now asks their prayer (cf. 1:2; 3:12-13; 5:23). He begins the letter saying that he is praying for them in 1:2, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers…” He then prays for their growth and perseverance in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13, 
“…and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,  13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
After encouraging them to “…pray without ceasing…” in 5:13, he again prays for them in that beautiful doxology in 5:23… This back in forth of exemplary prayer and teaching about prayer sets the stage for the request in v.25, “Brothers, pray for us…” 3 times in these final 4 verses he uses that word, “brothers” (16 times in this letter!). Clearly, he is addressing the entire church.
       Paul is not asking only the men to pray for him and his team. “Brothers” here is surely intended to include all the “brethren,” that is, the brothers and the sisters in the family of God. This is the normal usage in the Greek language, as it is in Hebrew, to refer to a mixed group of people. And so, the NLT is correct in clarifying the sense for us: “Dear brothers and sisters, pray for us.” We can all pray for our leaders, and we can pray for one another in the church. I hope you see the humility of Paul in that request. He viewed himself as part of the church, not standing over it. As the song said, “Not my brother not my sister but it’s me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer!
       This is one of the great blessings of the Church, to intercede on behalf of others, to enter the Holy of Holies and intercede on their behalf. Paul had experienced hardship, imprisonment, persecution, he faced the challenges of his ongoing ministry (cf. Rom 15:30-32; Eph 6:19-20; Col 4:3-4; 2 Thess 3:1-2). So he asks, brothers, sisters, pray for us! The Maine* Idea: God has given us the means of grace to enable us to live by faith in this fallen world, as a part of the church.
II. FELLOWSHIP: We can be encouraged in the community of faith by the love of the brethren… (26). “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.” One of the men from our Tuesday morning coffee and prayer time has been “commenting” about how we are going to handle v.26 in the midst of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic. “Greet all the brothers with an elbow bump… masks required because you’ll invade their six-foot bubble!” OK that is not funny, this is a serious matter. Every culture has it way of indicating close, caring relationships, brotherly love.
      Let’s take this apart slowly so we don’t miss the point. First of all, the admonition is to “Greet all the brothers…” In other words, avoid discrimination and favoritism. The church is a unified body, we are all “one” in Christ. No one is left out of the fellowship because God knows every believer intimately, and he loves us all. Therefore, we should love one another.
       Is this only for the “brothers,” that is, the men in the fellowship? As in v.25, this is another example of a masculine noun being used collectively for the whole congregation. Some translations say “brethren,” but the idea really is “our siblings in Christ.” In Greek, as in Hebrew, a masculine noun is typically used for mixed groups. There is no misogyny intended, no women in that context would have understood this as a “men only” statement, nor should we. Brothers and sisters pray for us.
       That’s a relief, but what is meant by a “holy kiss”? John Stott explains it like this:
“…when Christians meet each other they should greet each other, and that their verbal greeting should be made stronger, warmer and more personal by a culturally appropriate sign…” Stott, John. [The Message of 1 and 2 Thessalonians (The Bible Speaks)].
       A culturally appropriate sign. Pre-corona virus, hugs and handshakes would have been the norm in our church. In Brazil, everybody hugs, it’s how they say hello. And typically, men greet women, and women greet each other, with a beijinho, a little kiss of the air, cheek to cheek. When we were getting ready to go to Brazil for the first time a former missionary explained all of this to us. She said her husband embraced the idea, but he didn’t kiss the air, he kissed the women on the cheek! She said, “He wasn’t trying to be Brazilian, he was just an American getting in on a good thing!”
       When our daughter was in college, we flew her fiancé, Ian, down to Brazil so that he could see where Sarah grew up. One of the events we attended was a Brazilian barbeque, where most of our missionary team, and some Brazilian colleagues, were present. Everyone greets each other at such events, and our future son-in-law followed Sarah down the line. He watched how Sarah greeted everyone, and when she did the little “kiss the air” greeting with a man, a Brazilian colleague in the group, Ian followed her lead and did the same! The guy was gracious about the mistake, and Ian was a good sport when we teased him about it. We are still laughing about that one! Oh well, I had my share of cultural miscues as well! The point is, we want to greet each other, personally, directly, making eye contact, and with a culturally appropriate sign. I. H. Marshall makes the point in his commentary,
What is important is that the members of the church should have some way of expressing visibly and concretely the love which they have for one another as fellow members of the body of Christ.
I’m still not sure about the elbow bump thing, but you get the idea!  The Maine* Idea: God has given us the means of grace to enable us to live by faith in this fallen world, as a part of His church.
III. THE WORD: We can be built up and equipped by the Word of God… “I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.” (27).
       Paul knew he was bringing the Word of God… This is one place in the letter where he is clearly evoking his apostolic authority. How else could he feel that he could put them “…under oath before the Lord…”?   He required them to read the letter to whole church! Why? He knew it was God’s word.  So also, in 2 Peter 3:15-16, Peter wrote,  
15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,  16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
The apostles understood their calling and authority. They saw themselves as the Lord’s spokesmen, bringing His Word to the people of God. This quote shows Peter recognizing Paul’s letters as being on a par with “…the other Scriptures…
      This was a message for the church, and the leaders who received it were expected to have it read before all. It seems we are getting a glimpse here of the earliest stages of formation of the canon of the New Testament. As I see it, I Thessalonians was likely the first of the epistles written, and already the author understood that the message needed to be shared with the entire assembly of believers, they were to “…have this letter read to all the brothers…
       The Word is for all the brethren… We all have access and have the right to read the Bible. I grew up in a tradition where, at that time, laymen were not encouraged at all to read the Bible. That was for the professional clergy, the priests, who could give the authorized interpretation of the church. But God has given his Word to all of us. For the one who hears the Word for the first time and receives it by faith it is the way to life: Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. And from then on it is the Bread of Life, the nourishing, soul satisfying, life-giving Word of God by which we live! And so, we need to be serious about hearing, reading, and studying the Word.
       Too often, believers can begin to neglect time in the Word. We don’t so easily forget to eat, but our Bible can stay closed, unread. God has spoken! This is His Word written! Someone said, “Dusty Bibles often lead to dirty lives.” And from the opposite perspective, “A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t!” I heard the story of a little boy who was turning the pages on a big family Bible, when suddenly a large autumn leaf fell out from where it had been pressed between two pages. He let out a surprised “whooaa!” His mother asked, “What did you find dear?” He said, “I think it might be Adam’s underwear!” Oh well, a little more time in the Book would be good! For me, early morning is best, but whatever works for you. The point is, be in it, and let it be in you. As Paul told the Colossians, “Let the Word of Christ dwell richly within you…” The Maine* Idea: God has given us the means of grace to enable us to live by faith in this fallen world. Pray for us, greet one another warmly, receive the Word… and so experience…
IV. GRACE: God’s grace in Christ is the ever-present empowerment to live by faith in this fallen world… (see 1:1). “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (28). Paul begins and ends the letter with an appeal to the Grace of God. First, he desires grace for the Thessalonians. God’s unmerited favor. In this letter, Paul only uses the word twice, here, as a benediction, and in the greeting. This letter is not primarily defending or presenting the doctrine of salvation, it assumes it, the Thessalonians are clearly believers!  But grace is not just the means by which we are saved, it is God empowering us to live a “sanctified” life. It is God’s favor enabling us to live as His children in this fallen world. Grace is the basis of our standing before God. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:5,8 “by grace you have been saved…” Mark Howell comments, “For Paul, grace was not merely an invocation and a benediction—it was his life.” Remember that line in the Hymn, Amazing Grace, Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. ’Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home!” We are saved by grace, kept by grace, changed by grace, and ultimately, we will be glorified by grace. Paul said it clearly in that powerful conclusion to Romans 8…
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.  35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered."  37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is God saying to me in this passage? The Maine* Idea: God has given us the means of grace to enable us to live by faith in this fallen world, as a part of His church.
What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Let’s resolve to avail ourselves of the means of grace God has given. Prayer is not something that should be reserved for those moments when we are in desperate need for immediate intervention, like Peter when he started to walk on the water, and then got his eyes off of Jesus and became fearful of the wind and the waves: “Lord, save me!” We must pray at those times, to be sure, in fact it is our natural response in times of crisis! Praying for our needs or wants is something that we are quick to do, but praying for others, that is something about which we need to be intentional. It is something that we grow in doing, that becomes more natural to us, when we grow in love for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Their needs become more personal to us, and we stand more ready to look to the Father for help. Paul prayed for the Thessalonians, and asked them to pray for him and his team. Our time in the Word also becomes more personal, more… c h e r I s h e d.  We’ve had the grandkids with us for a couple of weeks at a time this spring, and it’s interesting to see their time on Skype with their parents. They want to tell them everything that they have been doing, and show them what they have learned.  Do we long for time with the Father? He is ready, willing, and able, to meet with us… to hear from us… Prayer, Bible, loving fellowship, grace… And so hear the Word of the Lord…
Brothers, pray for us.  26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.  27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you [all].
AMEN.

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