God Will Surely Do It

1 Thessalonians 5:22-28

Truth Taught- God Himself will sanctify all His people. He will surely do it!

Introduction

In this final section, often called a benediction of peace, we see the Apostle highlighting three of his main themes throughout the letter. This benediction is classic Paul in the sense of reminding his readers of what he has already taught them, telling them that he is praying for them, and asking that they pray for him as well. Paul was a man of prayer, he prayed without ceasing. He was a man of prayer like our Lord because he knew if anything was going to be accomplished through his ministry it had to be empowered by God. God’s power is available to us by prayer acknowledging our complete dependence upon Him.

Paul knew by experience that the Christian life is a life lived in complete and utter dependence on God and His grace. That’s exactly why we pray so much. We learned last time that we are to pray without ceasing, living in dependence on God 24/7. When we pray we are showing our dependence on God and asking Him to do for us what we cannot do ourselves.

The emphasis in this closing section is Paul’s prayer to God for the saints in Thessalonica that He would do something in them that they could never do for themselves. Paul prays that God would sanctify them completely.

Now the word “sanctify” here, the verb, is a common one, hagiazo.  It is used a number of times in the New Testament because this is a very common and basic principle of Christian life.  Noun forms of it appear also.  The noun form hagios translated usually by the word “holy”.  The verb means “to separate,” to separate, to set apart from.  And in this case to set apart from sin to holiness.  So when we see sanctify or sanctification or holy or holiness, all of those come from the same root.  They all have the idea of being separated, set apart.  Sanctification then is the process of being set apart from sin unto holiness.[1]

God’s ultimate priority for His people is that we are being set apart from sin and are becoming more and more like Jesus. It is His desire and will that we be sanctified.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (ESV)

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification.

Here is a wonderful example of God’s sovereignty and man’s prayers at work. Often times people will say, questioning God’s sovereignty, if God is sovereign then why do we pray? If God is going to do what He’s going to do then our prayers are pointless. To that I respond that God’s sovereignty and our prayers work together in an amazing way. It’s God’s will for the Thessalonian Christians to be sanctified. So, God wants to do this in them. He wants to make them more like Jesus. He places this in Paul’s mind and heart so that he prays for their sanctification, which is the exact thing God desires to accomplish in them. This is what praying in God’s will and in Jesus’ name looks like.

We can be sure that when we are praying for holiness and righteousness in our own lives and for other believers that we are praying in the will of God and those prayers will be answered because God desires to do this already.

John 14:13–14 (ESV)

¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Prayer is not hard to figure out. If your prayers are not answered then you’re simply not praying in the name of Jesus and for the things He wants to accomplish in and through you. If your prayers are answered then you are praying in Jesus’ name and for the things God desires.

The real issue is that our prayers are more immature and selfish. God give me something or God I don’t like this thing please take it away. Instead we should be praying for things like sanctification while seeking Christ’s righteousness instead of most of the things we pray about.

Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:23–28 (ESV)

²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

²⁵ 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.

1. Prayer for Complete Sanctification

²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

1. Who Sanctifies Us?

²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely…He will surely do it.

The Apostle is very clear that our sanctification like our salvation is not by works. We cannot in our own strength make our self like Jesus. We cannot be holy by hard work. We cannot achieve the Christlikeness by our self. So, Paul prays that God would make them holy.

His prayer is directed to God Himself. He uses a title for God here that is extremely fitting… the God of peace. The God of Peace denotes our God because He has brought peace between Himself and His people. He has taken the steps necessary to reconcile His elect to Himself.

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Paul’s Short Commands for the Christian Life (Part 2)

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22

Truth Taught- God gives us eight imperatives to strengthen our walk with Him through Jesus Christ.

Introduction

In this short section, just six verses, we have God giving us eight imperative commands to strengthen our walk with Christ. If we are to mature and be a healthy Christian these eight commands are very worthy of our consideration and application today.

How is your spiritual health? Are you growing as a Christian? Are you walking in Christ more and more each day? I pray we would all consider these imperatives and by grace seek to live them out each day to the glory of God and for our good.

Last time, we looked at the imperatives concerning how we live with and respond to one another in the context of the local Church. We saw that God is honored as we show respect to Church leaders, counsel other believers with appropriate biblical approaches, namely, admonishing, encouraging, and helping one another. So, we could categorize last week’s text how we respond biblically to people in the church.

Today, we will see how we are to relate biblically to God. How are we to be oriented toward God with our lives? How can we live a Godward life? These imperatives fix our spiritual compass, as it were, to dead north or right on God. These imperatives are not just things we do but things we do that flow from a life focused on God.

I want to pause here just a moment and say that sometimes if we are not where we need to be spiritually we shouldn’t sit around waiting until we feel like doing these things but sometimes we simply need to do them and in doing them we will meet God in a special way. What I’m saying is sometimes we just need to obey and do the things God commands whether we feel like it or not and once we begin doing them God will meet us and bless us for our obedience even if we are not entirely whole hearted in our doing them.

I desire to always be excited about God’s Word most of the time…I desire to be the man in Psalm 1 most of the time…

Psalm 1:1–3 (ESV)

1 Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

       nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

²    but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

³    He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

       that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

       In all that he does, he prospers.

What should we do in the situation when we may not desire the things of God like we should?

Here’s an example, sometimes I’m tired perhaps and just don’t feel like reading the Bible. I begin to read anyway. God works and I read something that is exactly what I needed for that day. If I lived based on feelings I would have missed what God had for me. So my desire and joy in God’s Word is restored. Here, God gives us a battle plan to remain Godward in our focus and life.

Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:16–22 (ESV)

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies, ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.

1. The Trilogy of Commands for a Consistent Godward Life

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

This trilogy of commands, which may seem, at first, three separate commands, are actually interrelated and build on each other.

1. Rejoice… Always

God commands us to always be joyful. This is an imperative that really means be joyful in times of struggle and trial. Non-Christians can be joyful when happy times come upon them but only the Christian and crazy people can be joyful during times of affliction. This rejoicing is not in life’s circumstances because if they were going to drive our rejoicing then we could never rejoice always. No, to rejoice always means we must have something admirable and consistent that is rejoice worthy. To dissect rejoicing is to discover that it is a sincere emotion or response to something worthy of joy. We cannot make our self joyful when there is nothing worthy of our rejoicing. So, it cannot be our circumstances because they forever are changing. To always be rejoicing means we have something that is joy worthy and this must always be worthy of joy.

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Paul’s Short Commands for the Christian Life (Part 1)

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

Truth Taught- As Paul closes his epistle he gives us short commands for life in the local Church

Introduction

If a Church is to glorify God and be a light in a world of darkness the people within the Church must act in godly ways. If we are to have a good reputation in our community we must seek to respond to others with love seeking restoration and peace.

Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:12–15 (ESV)

¹² We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. ¹⁵ See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

1. We Ask You to Respect the Elders

¹² We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

Recent studies have indicated that the avg tenure of protestant pastors is about 3.6 years. Some studies have a little different outcome but the bottom line is pastoral tenure is not very long at any given place.

There are different reasons for a pastor leaving his church. Sometimes there are reasons that are mostly his fault. I know pastors who simply use their church, as a stepping-stone to something that, in their mind at least, is greater. Their goal to have the big church causes them to leave. Others leave because of infidelity or some other sin. Some leave because the hardship of ministry is simply too much for them.

Then there are churches that just simply cannot be pastored. I remember early on in my ministry looking for a church. I had a few opportunities to be called to go but I thank God because as badly as I wanted a church He was protecting me and my family from crazy people and very bad churches. Sometime I’ll have to tell you some of the horror stories but for now just let me say sometimes the reason a minister has a short tenure is because the church simply refuses to allow him to lead.

Under the heading we ask you brothers we have three admonitions.

Respect those who labor, who rule and who admonish. This list is speaking of the role of elder. The term rule may be a little too direct. It really means to lead. To lead with an aspect of authority. To admonish is to warn and to at time directly confront the church member who is going astray for the purpose of repentance and correction.

If the church members respect their elders then these tasks will go much better. It’s hard enough to hear a reproach but it goes much better if it is coming from an elder you respect. It’s hard to take correction but it would be much harder if the elder is not living a godly life.

How would you accept correction? How have you accepted it? Please understand when correction comes from an elder here, it’s coming in the spirit of love and of care for your soul.

In addition to respecting your elders, the Apostles writes that elders should be esteemed.

esteem them very highly in love because of their work

John Calvin notes that the esteem is not so much for the benefit of the leaders, but for the sake of the whole Church that those who govern faithfully should be held in esteem. The word esteem, here means to value and honor.

It’s important that we understand that the esteem is not only on an intellectual level but in love as well. This esteem should have connected to it a relational aspect as well. The bottom line here is this, congregations grow to maturity best when they respect and esteem their elders.

You have the responsibility to show your leaders respect and esteem and we, as your leaders must also strive to earn your respect and esteem. We also have a great responsibility to not be abusive, negligent, lazy, truthful ect.

Be at peace among yourselves.

Seek to love all within the church body. Love your leaders as they love you. Honor them by obeying heir counsel. Seek to live at peace together as God’s Church.

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Concerning the Second Coming

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Truth Taught- Jesus is returning suddenly and unexpectedly so we must always be ready for that day.

Introduction

Last time we looked at the Second Coming of our Lord in the context of what happens to those who are in Christ who have already died and are buried when Jesus returns. We learned that God will never forget any of His beloved elect. From Adam to the last death all will be raised when Jesus returns. The Christians who are alive at that time will also be changed and we all will me Jesus in the air at His return.

Now, the text before us today, Paul addresses what we should be doing and not doing while we wait on the Lord Jesus to return. While last week’s passage dealt with how we should understand what happens to the dead in Christ, today’s passage is concerned with what we should be doing as we anticipate Jesus’ return.

Prayer

1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 (ESV)

5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. ² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. ⁴ But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. ⁵ For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. ⁶ So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1. The Return of Christ will be Unexpected and Sudden

5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. ² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

Here we see that Paul had already spoken to them while he was there about the Lord’s return. He says things like…

you have no need to have anything written to you.

For you yourselves are fully aware

So, he has already taught them the basics about the Lord’s return and now explaining what they need to do. What should our mindset be? How should we conduct our lives in this fallen world?

Probably, when Timothy returned and told Paul about the Thessalonian’s great strides in sanctification he also reported that some were asking specifics about when Jesus would return. Notice that Paul immediately moves from the topic of date setting. Here, he actually quotes or at least alludes to Jesus’ words at His ascension.

Acts 1:6–7 (ESV)

⁶ So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” ⁷ He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

Jesus told His followers it’s not in God’s plan to fill them in on when Jesus would return. We are not meant to know the date or even the approximate time because if we knew, as sinners, we would not be prepared until the day before He was to come.

Matthew 24:36 (ESV)

³⁶ “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

Man’s obsession with date setting stems from his sinful condition. We would rather live life on our terms then at the last moment, right before Jesus returns, shift gears and live obediently for a day or two and then Jesus comes back. That is the only reason we would be concerned with the date of His return.

So, how should we live? How should we view the second coming? Paul gives us two points here…

Unexpected– ² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night

Here again, the Apostle recites what Jesus had already said.

Matthew 24:42–44 (ESV)

⁴² Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. ⁴³ But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Jesus’ return will be unexpected. The thief is only successful if he breaks into a home where the owner is not expecting to be robbed. Either the owner is away or sleeping. Either way the thief breaks in unexpectedly. So Jesus is teaching that His return will also take place on a day when no one is expecting Him to return.

His return is also going to be Sudden–

³ While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

No one will have time to change his or her life, get saved, share the Gospel, or do a good deed that you’ve been meaning to do. There will not be any time then because His return is sudden.

1 Corinthians 15:52 (ESV)

⁵² in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

You know I think there have been different eras both in our nation’s history and in western history and even over the course of the last two thousand years where our culture and other cultures have been more attune to the reality of the return of Christ. But we live in a time — and don’t you feel this in the air? We live in a time where there is a pervasive carnal security. Very few people in our culture, outside of the churches, have any kind of anticipation of a reckoning with God at the end, a real belief in a returning Savior who is going to judge. And there’s a certain poison in our culture that seeps into our souls — unbelief that this coming is really going to happen.[1]

What we should do now is ask the question, Since the time and season of Jesus’ return is unknown and since He is returning unexpectedly and suddenly what sort of people should we be?

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