1 Thessalonians - Look Up As You Look Ahead

Prayer, Christian love, the Word of God, the grace of God; oh, from our hearts, there needs to arise a holy amen.

In the closing verses of 1 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul emphasizes four spiritual priorities. And these priorities are important for us individually and also collectively as a local church. 1 Thessalonians 5:25, "Brethren, pray for us." Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. Now what are these priorities? Well, prayer, 1 Thessalonians 5:25. Christian love, 1 Thessalonians 5:26. The Word of God, 1 Thessalonians 5:27. And the grace of God, 1 Thessalonians 5:28. If we'll make these our priorities, then God will be able to do something in our lives and in our local churches.

Let's start with prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:25, "Brethren, pray for us." Prayer is a priority in the Christian life and in the local church. So many churches don't do this anymore. We have plenty of time for announcements; we have plenty of time for special music; but we don't have time for prayer. And we need to take time for prayer. Now, not just on Sunday mornings, but other times as well. The local church needs prayer.

You see, the church was born in a prayer meeting. In Acts 1, you'll find that the believers were in a prayer meeting. I take it that's what they were doing when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost. They were in a prayer meeting, crying out to God and asking Him to fulfill His purposes. The church expanded through prayer. That marvelous prayer in Acts 4, when the apostles came back from being arrested and they cried out to God and said, "Oh God, you are Lord. Now bare Your arm and glorify Your name." The church expanded through prayer. And the church got victory through prayer.

Now prayer is not only important to the church; it's important to the individual believer. The Apostle Paul started his Christian life with prayer. In Acts 9, God said, "Behold, he's praying." In 1 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul says, "Night and day praying exceedingly." Now, there's a statement for you. Not just praying, but praying in the daytime, praying in the nighttime, and praying exceedingly. I wonder if I pray like that. Paul did. Prayer is important to the Christian life.

Now when they prayed for Paul, they were praying for someone who was strategically involved in the ministry of the gospel. They were praying for one whom God was using in a wonderful way. Do you pray for Christian leaders? It's easy to criticize them, easy to find fault with them. But when it comes to praying for them, that's something else. Oh, how you need to pray for your pastor, and for the elders of the church, and for the ministry of your denomination, and for those who are in leadership. Pray! That's priority number one. 

Now priority number two is in 1 Thessalonians 5:26, Christian love. "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss." May I remind you that in that time, in that culture, the men greeted the men and the women greeted the women. You did not have the men throwing their arms around the women and kissing them. Paul's not talking about something romantic here. He's talking about something very sacred. In fact, Peter calls it a holy kiss, a kiss of love. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I suppose we would say, "Shake hands all around." That's the way Phillips translates it in one of the editions of his paraphrase. Christian love.

What he's talking about here is love of the brethren. Oh, how important this is. We know we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren, 1 John 3:14. Jesus said in the upper room before He went off to the cross, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you"—there's the measure of it—"that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." Now in those two short verses, He emphasizes the meaning and the importance of Christian love.

Now all that 1 Thessalonians 5:26 implies is, number one, we assemble together. You can't greet each other unless you're there. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together because the day is approaching. It means we assemble together, it means that we know each other, we greet each other, we encourage each other, we show love to each other. Christian love. Paul prayed that their love might increase. Remember that? 1 Thessalonians 3:12, "And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another." Oh, do you pray for more love? Do you pray that the river of love in your heart might overflow and just touch more people? Christian love. 

Now the third priority is given to us in 1 Thessalonians 5:27. That's God's Word. "I charge you"—and that's one of the strongest words he could have used—"I adjure you. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren." He's talking here about the public reading of the Word of God. Now allow me to say this: not only are we neglecting pastoral praying in our church services, we are neglecting the public reading of the Word of God. In many churches, the only scripture you hear read is the short text that the pastor is using for his sermon. Now Paul said, "I'm charging you that the scriptures be read publicly in your assembly." I think we ought to get back to that. The Thessalonians had a marvelous relationship to the Word of God. They had received the Word of God in much affliction and joy of the Holy Spirit. They appreciated God's Word. Paul said, "I thank the Lord that you don't receive the Word of God like the word of men," 1 Thessalonians 2:13. You receive it as it really is in truth, the Word of God. They were sharing the Word of God. 

Finally, 1 Thessalonians 5:28, priority number four, the grace of God. All of this depends upon God's grace. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." Now this was Paul's signature in his letters. If you'll look at 2 Thessalonians 3:16-17, you'll find Paul saying an interesting thing about his signature. "Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle; so I write." And here it is in 2 Thessalonians 3:18, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

Paul often dictated his letters. And when the letter was completed, he would read it and then he would add with his own signature so they would know that the letter was not a forgery. Apparently somebody had forged a letter. Paul said, "You can always tell that I wrote the letter. Here's my signature and I always tie into it the grace of God." Now think about that. The Word of God is the word of His grace, Acts 20:32. The throne of God is a throne of grace, Hebrews 4:16. Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. So when you pray, you are coming to God, access to the throne of grace, to get the grace of God.

1 Peter 5:10 tells me that our God is the God of all grace. Now there's more than one kind of grace. Well, there's saving grace, for by grace are you saved through faith. There's suffering grace, My grace is sufficient for you. There is singing grace, singing with grace in your hearts. There is speaking grace, let your speech be always with grace seasoned with salt. So when you come to the Word of His grace and to the throne of grace, you come to the God of all grace about whom James says, "He gives more grace," and more, and more, and more, James 4:6. And the last word in this letter is Amen. Now can you say amen to these priorities? Paul did. Prayer, Christian love, the Word of God, the grace of God; oh, from our hearts, there needs to arise a holy amen.

As we review 1 Thessalonians, let’s look at 1 Thessalonians 1 now. How the church was born. Here you have Paul the evangelist. He left Philippi where he had been beaten and humiliated, came to Thessalonica, preached the Word of God, and multitudes were saved. These people were an elect people, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, "Knowing, beloved brethren, your election of God," or your election by God. Their salvation was purely by the grace of God. They were an elect people. Paul knew from their work of faith and their labor of love and their patience of hope that they really belonged to the Lord. These people's lives had been transformed. 1 Thessalonians 1:9, they turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God. So many people who profess to be Christians have had no transformation in their lives. My Bible tells me that if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation; old things are passed away and behold all things are become new.

Well, they were an elect people. Secondly, they were an exemplary people. 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7, you became followers of us and of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 1:7, you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believed. Oh, how we need to be an exemplary people, receiving the Word of God, becoming imitators of the Lord, becoming examples for others to follow. They were an enthusiastic people. 1 Thessalonians 1:8, "Your faith toward God has gone out so that we do not need to say anything." Enthusiastically, they were sounding forth the Word of God. They were winning people to Christ in Thessalonica and in Achaia and in Macedonia and wherever the Word of God went, there they were sharing the message of the gospel. An elect people, an exemplary people, an enthusiastic people, and finally, an expectant people. To wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Looking for the Lord to come again. No man knows the day or the hour; it might be today. We’d better be ready.

1 Thessalonians 2, Paul looks back and remembers how the church was nurtured. Now we have Paul the pastor. And Paul pictures himself in several different ways here. He starts off as the athlete. 1 Thessalonians 2:2, "We were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict." Now that word conflict is the translation of the Greek word that gives us our word agony or agonize. It’s a picture of the runner, the athlete running in the race, just agonizing, striving, enduring, that he might reach the goal. Paul said, "When we left Philippi, it would have been easy to quit." Paul said we need the toughness of the athlete.

But don't stop there. In 1 Thessalonians 2:3-6, he compares himself to a steward. "For our exhortation did not come from deceit or uncleanness, nor was it in guile, but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." The trustworthiness of the steward. Paul's message was right; our exhortation did not come from deceit—that means error. He had the right message. And he had the right motive; his motive was right. And his method was right; nor was it in guile. Paul was a faithful steward. And those of us who minister the Word of God had better be faithful because that's what God's looking at. It is required among stewards that a man be found faithful, 1 Corinthians 4:2. Not necessarily popular, not necessarily successful in the eyes of men, but faithful to the Lord.

Thirdly, he was a loving parent. In 1 Thessalonians 2:7, he was gentle as a nursing mother. And down in 1 Thessalonians 2:11, he comforted and exhorted and encouraged them, charged them, implored them, as a father. He was ministering to them as a spiritual parent. That is a tough job. Paul had time for individuals. I appreciate the burden he had. He nurtured them. He nurtured them as a brother who loved them. 1 Thessalonians 2:17, "But we, brethren, having been taken away from you"—the Greek word means orphaned, bereaved. He said, "I feel like an orphan separated from my family. I was to you a father and a mother, but now that I'm separated from you..." Paul was driven out of town, was not allowed to come back. Paul said, "I feel like an orphan out here." And then he had to send Timothy back to encourage them. 

So, he remembers 1 Thessalonians 1 how the church was born. He remembers 1 Thessalonians 2 how the church was nurtured. Pray for your pastor, pray for your spiritual leaders; it is a tough job to be faithful in spiritual ministry. And oh, how we need it today. To watch for souls, to take time to comfort people personally, to exhort them personally, to implore them personally; oh, that takes time, takes energy.

1 Thessalonians 3, he remembered how the church was stabilized. The key word here is stand, establish. 1 Thessalonians 3:2, "We sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you," get you on your feet. Why? Because in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Thessalonians 5, they have to walk. The church is born in 1 Thessalonians 1, nurtured in 1 Thessalonians 2, stabilized in 1 Thessalonians 3, so it can walk in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Thessalonians 5. Well, he looks back at the work described in 1 Thessalonians 3. He said, "I couldn't go back, so I sent Timothy." There's the ministry of our presence. Timothy just being there was an encouragement to the people. He shared the Word of God with them; he’d go back and take this letter. And Paul prayed for them. Here are three ways we can help people stand: we can go to them, the ministry of our presence; we can share the Word of God with them; and we can pray for them.

Now in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Thessalonians 5, we have a second focus. He looks within and he admonishes them. He could see the problems they were facing. And the emphasis here is on their walk. 1 Thessalonians 4:1, "Walk and please God." How do you do that? By obeying the commandments that have been given through the Lord Jesus. The word commandments in 1 Thessalonians 4:2 means a military order handed down from an officer. Paul looked upon the church as a family, but he also looked upon the church as an army. And here he said, "I've got some commandments for you. These are not suggestions or hints; these are commandments. And if you want to walk straight and walk right and be in step, then you will obey these commandments."

He describes here a fourfold walk. First, he tells us to walk in purity, 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8. "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from sexual immorality." God commands it; the Word of God demands it. We should learn how to possess our own bodies in sanctification and honor. God did not call us to uncleanness; He called us in holiness. Walk in purity. Walk in love, 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12. Brotherly love. A love for God, a love for our brethren in our fellowship. And then let that love spread out. 1 Thessalonians 4:10, he says, "all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. We urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more." And then love those outside the fellowship. Well, love. Walking in love. Walking in hope, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11. The day of the Lord means comfort and blessing and victory for the saved; and it means judgment and sorrow and agony for the lost. And he exhorts us to be alert, to be awake, and to look for the coming of the Lord. He closes the chapter by telling us to walk in harmony.

A series of exhortations here. He exhorts the leaders, and then he exhorts the people. Now you love your leaders and you follow them as they follow the Lord. That's one of the best ways to have peace in the church: follow the leaders and be sure that they follow the Lord. And then he has a series of exhortations to the problem people in the church: the unruly, the fainthearted, the weak. Then he talks about our relationship to everyone: be patient, don't pay people back—no retaliation—and remember you should pursue what is good. He closes with our relationship to the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "Rejoice, pray, give thanks." Be joyful, be prayerful, be thankful. That's your inward relationship to the Lord. And then 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21, our public worship of the Lord. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't despise prophecies. Test all things. Don't be afraid of what the Holy Spirit may have to say to you. And finally, he closes with this great prayer, benediction of sanctification.

Now his third focus is on the coming of the Lord. And then he looks up and he rejoices. He says Jesus is coming again. Every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to the coming of our Lord. And it's important that we see this. In 1 Thessalonians 1:10, he connects the coming of our Lord with salvation. These people had turned to God from idols; they were serving the living and the true God; and therefore were waiting for His Son. In 1 Thessalonians 2, he connects the coming of our Lord with service, 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20. "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy."

You may be having a rough time today, but when Jesus comes, all that toil will be turned into joy. 1 Thessalonians 3, he connects the coming of our Lord with stability, 1 Thessalonians 3:13, so that He may establish your hearts blameless. 1 Thessalonians 4, he connects the coming of our Lord with sorrow, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, that you sorrow not as others who have no hope. We do have hope. We are going to see the Lord; we are going to see our loved ones; we are going to be caught up to be with the Lord and the saints in the clouds. Therefore, don't sorrow as though you have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 5, he closes the chapter and the book by connecting the coming of the Lord with sanctity. "The God of peace sanctify you, that you might be blameless at the coming of our Lord," 1 Thessalonians 5:23. And that's what we're looking for today. Lift up your hearts; your redemption is drawing near.