Encouragement Through Prayer

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Encouragement Through Prayer

1 Thessalonians 1:1-3

May 5, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Thessalonians 1:1–3

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Introduction:

Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians. He is rejoicing over them and encouraging them at the same time. And as he does this, he tells them of his prayers for them.

He tells them that he remembers them, he regularly prays for them, and that his prayers include GREAT THANKS for what he has seen in them and heard about them.

He is thanking God because they are God’s work.

He is thanking God because the work that he has carried out among them is proving to be fruitful.

He is thanking God because God is glorified by what God has produced.

A LESSON ABOUT PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING

From what Paul writes we not only get insight into the apostle’s prayer life — how he prayed for others — we learn some valuable lessons about what should characterize our own spirit in prayer.

EFFECTIVE PRAYER IS A MEANS OF MUTUAL ENCOURAGEMENT

The first thing I want to point out is the most obvious. We asked in our first study why someone would begin a letter by telling others of what he has seen in them, heard about them, knows about them. We noted how it serves as a means of encouragement, and challenge, and protection (the devil’s work of convincing people we DON’T really care about them).

Well, one of the ways that we encourage each other is by the ministry of prayer.

Is there anything more encouraging than the knowledge that we are in someone’s heart, on someone’s mind, in the most effectual way they could ever participate in our lives — prayer?

People cannot always be with us, but they can always pray for us.

People cannot always identify with our challenges, but they can lift our needs before the throne of the one who PERFECTLY knows our challenges.

People do not always have the resources to meet the needs represented in our lives, but they can beseech the one who owns all things and directs all things.

One of the greatest ways that we could ever encourage each other, challenge each other, and protect each other, is by the knowledge that we pray for each other.

EFFECTIVE PRAYER INVOLVES REMEMBRANCE

Perhaps one of our real weaknesses in prayer is that we don’t take time to remember. We fall prey to the lie that activity is more meaningful than intercession. We get busy. We get moving. We don’t really think, we don’t really reflect.

We don’t take the time to call the things to mind that SHOULD be in our prayer life, and that WOULD be in our prayer life, if we DID take time to remember.

We should say with David the Psalmist:

ESV Psalm 103:1 Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Why the exhortation not to forget? Because even God’s people forget.

Question: Have you ever had the experience of watching someone who is oblivious to things they should recognize? Have you ever witnessed someone else’s disconnect with reality?

DO YOU EVER RECOGNIZE THAT IN SOME AREA OF LIFE — THAT’S YOU?

NAS Isaiah 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. 3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master's manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand."

We are not always in the dark in the rebellious way that Isaiah describes. Sometimes we are just insensitive in a way that is neglectful, in a way that is not circumspect and aware.

One of the essential elements to the kind of prayer life that Paul knew is that we take time to remember PEOPLE.

PAUL IS GIVING THANKS FOR GOD’S PEOPLE IN OUR VERSES.

He is giving thanks for the fruit OF GOD’S OWN ACTIVITY IN THE WORLD.

QUESTION: When is the last time you thought to praise God for what you see IN SOMEONE ELSE’S LIFE?

So, effective prayer involves remembrance.

Congregational Commendation

May 26, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Thessalonians 1:8–10

Paul begins this letter by telling this congregation about this congregation. He tells them how he prays for them, what he remembers about them, what he is assured of about them. He does this to encourage them. He does this to challenge them. But, as we have noted in our earlier studies, he also does this to protect them. It becomes more and more apparent as you make your way through this letter that Paul is having to offer a defense of himself and his missionary team. As we have said, one of the ways that false teachers attack the message of truth is to slander the messengers of truth. This is something Paul is very familiar with. He had the same issue in Corinth. People influencing the Corinthian congregation so that they are shut off from Paul. And how does he combat that? He combats this by offering a defense to the Corinthians in which they were the key piece of evidence. He told them that THEY were the best evidence of the genuineness of his ministry. 2 Corinthians 3:1–3 (LSB) 1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, ministered to by us, having been written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of hearts of flesh. Paul says to the Corinthian church, “You are exhibit-A when it comes to the authenticity of our ministry.” And notice that he emphasizes that they gave evidence of being the work of the Spirit of God, and that OTHERS could recognize this as well. That is the very same point that Paul is beginning to make in our verses. He is going to expand on this in the very next chapter, but he begins drawing this out right here. HE NOW TELLS THE THESSALONIAN CHURCH ABOUT HOW THEY HAVE INFLUENCED OTHERS — BUT HE MENTIONS THAT THEIR INFLUENCE IS AN EXTENSION OF HIS OWN. He is still speaking of that which testifies to their election — he is giving reasons for assurance about the work of God among them — but he does so in a way that mentions his time with them. God’s work through them is a testimony to God’s work through him. In other words, the clear fruit on display in this church provides the most powerful answer to his critics. This represents a congregational commendation. NOTE: This has never changed. Faithful messengers are not perfect messengers — but they are not frauds. It is true to say that faithful ministry can be rejected, so that the ministry offered is faithful despite the people not receiving it. But it is also true to say that when faithful ministry is offered and responded to with faith, the result will be good fruit. HEALTHY CHURCHES REFLECT HEALTHY MINISTRY. THIS CHURCH PROVES TO BE A COMMENDATION FOR PAUL’S GENIUNENESS. How? There are three ways on display in our verses. I. CONGREGATIONAL COMMENDATION BY EVANGELISM (vs.8) A transformed people are a testifying people. “Knowing, brothers, beloved by God, your election” (vs.4) Remember that Paul is giving them reasons for his confidence in them. HE TOOK THEM BACK TO WHAT HE KNEW THEY HAD RECEIVED. “FOR” - This is how the gospel arrived in Thessalonica (vs.5). HE TOOK THEM BACK TO HOW THEY RESPONDED TO WHAT THEY RECEIVED. This is how you responded to our ministry (vs.6) HE TOLD THEM WHAT GOD HAD DONE WITH THEM. This was the resulting influence in your world (vs.7).

The Self-Perspective Necessary For Faithful Service

May 26, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Thessalonians 1:8–10

Introduction: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” - A.W. Tozer (Knowledge of the Holy) That is true, but I would also add, that perhaps there’s nothing more revealing about how you think about God, than how you regard yourself. And I’m not talking about how you think about yourself FORMALLY — ON RECORD. I’m not talking about how you think about yourself PUBLICLY. You don’t have to be in a sound church for very long before you learn that pride is out of place. The result is that many learn to SPEAK HUMBLY. People learn what they believe to be the language of humility, and they use it carefully — and sometimes — proudly. “Let me put on display my commitment to a humble self-perspective.” No, I’m not talking about anything artificial or contrived — I’m talking about HOW YOU REALLY SEE YOURSELF. In the realm that no one sees but you and God. In the realm of your own private thoughts. HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF? When tempted to congratulate yourself. When tempted to pity yourself. When tempted to compare yourself with others (that pride that would set you free to be suspicious of everyone but yourself). When tempted to criticize others. When tempted to hold a grudge. When tempted to nurse your wounds. When tempted to feel overlooked or unappreciated. When given a compliment or given criticism. When you go through difficult things that others don’t have to go through. When you’re given blessings and kindnesses that others don’t receive. NOW, HOW DO YOU SEE YOURSELF? THE ONLY WAY TO HONOR GOD IN OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD — AND OUR THOUGHTS ABOUT EVERYTHING — INCLUDING OURSELVES — IS FOR OUR THINKING TO BE INFORMED BY SALVATION. WE MUST THINK IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE GOSPEL. SALVATION IS NECESSARY TO SPIRITUAL SANITY. It is true that we could express this by saying we must think BIBLICALLY. But a Bible without saving grace will never produce humility. The Bible is only accessible, in terms of its marrow, where salvation has come. Saved people can still think wrongly, but lost people, at the most fundamental level, can’t think rightly. FROM PRIDE TO HUMILITY — FROM SELF-DECEPTION AND A VEIL OVER OUR UNDERSTANDING TO SPIRITUAL CLARITY — THIS IS THE SUPERNATURAL HEART CHANGE THAT SALVATION PRODUCES. A losing of one’s life, as you once knew it, because now you see that life for what it really is, even as you have seen Jesus for who HE really is. What was once your boasting is now your shame. What you once had no regard for is now your boasting. THIS IS WHAT SALVATION PRODUCES. And all of this is CRUCIAL, not only for the Christian life, but for faithful ministry. Faithful ministry requires right thinking about God, but faithful ministry also requires right thinking about us. We see an example of this in our text today. Paul is giving a personal testimony. Paul is telling us about God’s grace to him, and why that grace was necessary, AND IS STILL NECESSARY. And as he does this, he’s telling us how he saw himself. He is telling us what he knew about himself and how that informed his understanding of ministry. Today, I want us to think about a ministry explained by mercy — a self-perspective necessary for faithful service.

The Most Profound Cause For Thanksgiving

May 12, 2024 • Richard Caldwell Jr. • 1 Thessalonians 1:4–7

It was, perhaps, in the summer of the year 50 A.D. that Paul, Silas, and Timothy, arrived in the thriving, cosmopolitan city of Thessalonica. It was a city located on the Via Egnatia, the famous Roman road that connected Rome to the East. That road stretched from what is today, Albania, to Constantinople, Istanbul. It was a harbor city, and the only port that existed on this road, and so the city was very influential. It was a free city, allowed to manage its own political affairs in a way that few Roman controlled cities could. Fewer taxes, rulers that they chose for themselves, and a population that included all kinds of people. It was truly an international commercial city. It was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire and the capital city of the Macedonian province. Population estimates for the time of Paul’s ministry range from 100,000 to 250,000 people. The missionary team that arrived in Thessalonica had just been beaten and imprisoned at Phillipi. God had miraculously delivered them from that prison and marvelously saved the jailor and his household through that deliverance. Earlier, Lydia had been saved, and there were others, but Paul was asked to leave town. NAS 1 Thessalonians 2:1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, 2 but after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. So, when he arrived in the city of Thessalonica, he had traveled 100 miles, shortly after being severely beaten. He had every reason to be timid and afraid, especially when trouble began to raise its head in this city also. Thessalonica, unlike Philippi, had a large enough Jewish population to have a synagogue. Paul began his ministry there. He reasoned with them for 3 weeks, and as a result, there Jews converted. But then his ministry moved outside the synagogue into the Gentile population, and there were many Gentiles converted. That sparked Jewish jealousy, and the conflict was on once again. Paul was torn away from them (ESV 2:17), and they were forced to flee the city (Acts 17:10). We can’t be certain of how long Paul was in Thessalonica, but several considerations indicate that it was longer than his 3 weeks reasoning in the synagogue. The Philippians sent support for him more than once (Phil 4:16). But regardless of how long he was with them, it was a relatively short amount of time, and he couldn’t give them a lot of teaching. Paul left Timothy and Silas in Berea after they were run out of Thessalonica, and he went on to Athens. Sometime after Paul was in Athens, Silas and Timothy met him there, and out of concern for churches Paul was willing to be left alone in Athens and dispatch them to find out about the churches. ESV 1 Thessalonians 3:1 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, It was after Paul was in Corinth, and reunited with Timothy, that this letter was written in response to Timothy’s report and Paul is rejoicing at what he has heard. Chapter 1 is a record of his rejoicing, as he tells them about what he has seen in them and heard about them. Chapter 2 is a reminder of his ministry among them. Chapter 3 is an explanation of his affection for them, why he sent Timothy to them, and his reaction to Timothy’s report. Chapter 4, he exhorts them to live holy lives, and follows that exhortation with comfort considering a true understanding of the return of Jesus Christ. Chapter 5 begins with explanations about the day of the Lord, and then ends with closing exhortations and a final desire for their blessing. Today we begin looking at this first chapter, and the chapter is amazing. The chapter can be divided into 5 sections. Verse 1 – How we regard you (Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy). Verses 2-3 – How we pray for you. Verse 4 – What we know about you. Verses 5-7 – Why we are certain about you. Verses 8-10 – What has become of you. We are going to look at each of those five sections, but as we do we need to notice what this chapter represents. It is Paul, on behalf of Silas and Timothy, telling this church what he believes about them and what he and others have seen in them.