Corinthians 1 or it's not 1, 3, pardon me. That's where we'll be this morning. As you're turning there, let me tell you a story about a little girl. She lived in a home where they had a trapdoor basement. I grew up with one of those. Does anyone else have that? Oh, well, fair number of you. Yeah. I drove my tricycle down the trapdoor basement once, so that's why I'm not as sharp as I should be. I hit my head. But anyways, there was one of those trapdoor basements and so it was one of it was a particular style of basement where you would go down a ladder and then you could remove the ladder once you were down there or whatever.
And so little girl walked up to the edge of the basement that was open, the trapdoor that was open and and her dad was down in there, but she was standing up upstairs where it was light, but he was down in the dark basement. There was no light actually down there. And so she couldn't see it, but she could hear something. She goes, "Who's down there?" He said, "It's Dad." She said, "Well, I want to come down there." And he said, "Well, I've already removed the ladder and put it off to the side, but you can just jump down." I I'm not going to jump down. I can't see you.
So then the dad paused and he said, "Okay. I got some questions for you. Hang on a minute here. Do you believe that I'm here?" And she said, "Well, yes, I can hear you. I know that you're there." "Okay, do you believe that I'm strong enough to catch you?" She said, "Yes, I believe that you're strong enough to catch me." "Do you Have I ever told you a lie?" She said, "No, I don't think you've ever told me a lie." He said, "Do you know that I love you?" And she said, "Yes, Daddy, I know that you love me."
He said, "Okay. So, here's the reality. You know that I'm here. You know that I'm strong enough to catch you. You know that I love you and I would never lie to you. So, jump." So, with trepidation she jumped and her daddy caught her. In a far greater way, that's the reality of the God that we serve. We may not be able to see him with our natural eyes, but he's proven that he's here and that he loves us and that we can trust him and he's more than capable to do what is necessary in our lives for his glory and for our good.
This is that God and we will see him in his all his glory in this text again. Well, we can see that we can trust him based on what we read in this text today. So, I invite you to go there with me to 2 Thessalonians 3. I'm going to read the first five verses for you of this chapter this morning. Finally, brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you. And that we that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not all have faith.
But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing the will Pardon me, you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Few things before we get into the meat of this text. Up until now, what we've done is we have considered much who it is that Paul is writing to, the Thessalonian believers.
We've looked at Acts chapter 17 multiple times now. What we haven't considered as much is where Paul is writing this letter from. This is going to come into play here in this text. And so, I want to have you can keep your finger here in 2 Thessalonians, but I want us to go to Acts 18. It seems very obvious that Paul is writing this letter from Corinth. And so, I want to read to you the first 17 verses of chapter 18 here in Acts to get a sense of what Paul is experiencing while he's writing this letter to the Thessalonian believers.
Starting in verse 1 of Acts 18, we read this. After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, that is Thessalonica is part of Macedonia.
So, here's where Paul Silas and Timothy are bringing a report about the Thessalonian believers to Paul, who's in Corinth. Picking it up in the middle of verse 5, Paul was occupied with the word testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads. I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles." And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.
His house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people." And he stayed a year and 6 months, teaching the word of God among them. But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal saying, "This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law."
But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, oh Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint, but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own laws, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things." And he drove them from the tribunal. And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. So, I I've read this before, but I wanted to read it again because it's going to come into play later on in our text in 2 Thessalonians 3. This is where Paul was.
He was facing hostility, opposition, persecution, and yet also great joy in that there were those coming to faith in Christ. So, he was experiencing both realities in Corinth as he's writing this letter here to the Thessalonian believers. Also, it's important for us to understand the word "finally." That's how the ESV words it there in verse 1, "Finally, brothers." There's two things kind of at play there. Number one, he's saying this by the obvious nature of the word that he's about to wrap things up, although in typical Pauline nature, he goes on for 18 verses.
He's a wordy guy. Has a hard time landing the plane. But he But he says finally, but it also denotes that there's a transition here from doctrine to practice, as Paul pretty much always does in his letters. He will teach doctrine, and then he will teach practical reality Christian living springing forth out of that doctrinal teaching. And so, that's also being conveyed here. Now, we're going to move into this practical section here in chapter 3. That's what's being conveyed in that word. So, that now brings us to what we're going to look at in this text.
Here, we see the desire of Paul for these Thessalonian believers. And what is it that he desires of them? Well, there's a few things. Firstly, that they be prayerful. He says, "Pray for us. Finally, brothers, pray for us." And we can imagine that this may have caught the Thessalonian believers off guard a little bit. Pray for us. This is the Apostle Paul. This is the spiritual giant. What does he need prayer for?
He he's anointed by God. He was personally called by God. He's got these amazing gifts. Why do we need to pray for him? That's why they need to pray for him. Those who have been called of the Lord, who have been given a ministry, who have been given unique gifting, they need our prayer especially because what can happen because the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, the human heart can start to rely on its own strengths and giftings rather than relying on the Lord.
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before the fall, Proverbs 16 tells us. One of the ways that they should have prayed for Paul is for humility and reliance on God, dependence on God. Don't just rely on your natural gifting, rely on God. Paul needed prayer. The second thing that may have caught them off guard by this this imperative cuz it's actually an imperative here. Pray for us. It's a command. The second thing that may have caught them off guard here is that they've only been saved a short while.
They're new believers. And here is this giant of the faith, Paul, saying, "Pray for us." And you can imagine, maybe you've experienced it when you If you came to faith later in life, and you were a babe in Christ, and then someone said, "Can you pray for me?" And you're like, "I've only been walking with the Lord for a short time. Who am I to pray for anyone?" This is the wonder of the grace and goodness of our God. That his people, whether they have been his people for decades or minutes, they're called to come before the Lord in prayer, and he hears their prayer.
So, regardless of how long you have been walking with the Lord, you can pray. You know, he will hear the prayers of his people. That's a precious thing, isn't it? Is it just precious to me? I think this is precious. I can I can pray to this God, regardless of how long I've been walking with him. He hears the prayers of his beloved adopted children of of his. So, that's great. So, what does he ask them to pray for? Pray for us that, first of all, the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.
Now, the ESV is one of the few translations that uses that phrase speed ahead. Most translations uses the phrase spread rapidly. The word of the Lord may spread rapidly, as happened among you. This is something Paul has seen happen again and again and again. Let me go back to the book of Acts. All right, kids, where are you? There goes a few kids in our midst. I'm about to do something fun for you. You ready for it? Okay, we're going to go to Acts. Ready for it? Acts 6:7. That's where we're going.
If you don't know that reference, you're okay. Acts 6:7, it says this, "And the word of God continued to increase. And the number of disciples multiplied greatly in in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith." So, here we have the word of God increasing, spreading rapidly, speeding ahead. In chapter 12 of Acts, we read this starting at verse 21. "On an appointed day, Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them.
And the people were shouting, 'The voice of a god and not of a man.' Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him down and he did not because he did not give glory God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied." The word of God is spreading even in calamity here. In Acts 13, that was read to us by Michelle earlier, we see there the spread of the word of God rapidly. And so, Paul has seen it happen again and again and again, and yet he doesn't take it for granted.
He's asking them to pray that this would continue to happen. As he's there in Corinth and wherever else he's going to go, it happened among them, the Thessalonians, he's asking that it continue to spread and move forward. That that the people that hear the word of God preached would repent, turn to Christ, would exalt God as the word is given to them. That's his longing and his prayer. But he also asked them to pray that they would be delivered, it says, from wicked and evil men, for not all have faith.
He's asking them to pray for his protection. He is in the midst of hostility. Remember, this is why we read Acts 18. It was not safe. If you're going to serve the Lord and you all at the same time want to be safe, good luck. Serving the Lord is going to involve some risk at times. And here Paul is in Corinth facing opposition, facing hostility, facing those who probably want to beat him and drive him from town as was his experience time and time again. And he says, "Pray for us that we will be delivered from wicked and evil men."
And he says, "For not all have faith." He was there in Corinth and where did Where is the first place he went? As he always did in every town he went to, he went first to the synagogue. He went first to the Jews. Of all people to have faith, it should be the Jews. They had this. They had the Old Testament. The Gentiles didn't. They knew all the promises. But not all have faith. In fact, very few had faith. And they were wicked and evil and trying to put not just Paul out of town, they wanted to put the word of God out of town.
They didn't want the gospel present. And so he says, "Pray for us." It's an incredible thing when you're in the We might say, "Well, it's the Apostle Paul. You know, God met him on the road to Damascus. He's Man, this guy is filled with the Holy Spirit. He's anointed. Surely, he's got no fear." He's a man. A mortal man is going to face times of fear and anxiousness. They might come across like they're calm and large and in charge.
But he's a mortal man. He asked them to pray that the Lord would protect them. I can't tell you how many times that we've done funerals here and I know I'm going to step up here and give the gospel. And whether it's I know the family is just hostile toward God as a whole, maybe it's a family from the community, or I've been here in the times when we used to be in my office was back there, and I would be standing in the doorway talking to someone, and I'd see so-and-so come in, and prominent people from the community that have influence in our community, but I also know have no love for God whatsoever.
And there's a quaking that happens. There's a There's a anxiousness that can happen in the moment. And imagine the Apostle Paul, he he's got this the gospel to bring, and he's going to bring it all the way to Rome, and yet all all the way along the way that's perilous, and it's troubled, and there's hardship. And yet this is what he's commissioned by God to do. And so he says, "Pray that the Lord would protect us." Do we see this heart in Paul more than just here? In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 19, after going through the armor of God, he says, "Pray also for me that words may be given me in the opening of my mouth to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak."
Paul was often asking the saints to pray for him that he would be faithful, and that God would protect him. And friends, I encourage you, pray for those people that you know bring the word of God, that they would be faithful, and that God would protect them in the midst of their ministry. That's an important thing, and and here's what Paul is asking them to pray for. That's a desire that they be prayerful. But he also desires that they would be trusting. The hinge verse of these first five verses is the start of verse three. But the Lord is faithful.
What an encouragement. Yeah, there's trouble. There's evil men doing evil things trying to oppose the gospel, but the Lord is faithful. And so what does he say then? He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. In his faithfulness, God's going to establish and guard you against the evil one. Notice that it doesn't say he's going to guard you from ever experiencing evil. That's not what the text says. It's not what it means in the original language.
We live in an evil world, and until the Lord returns, evil will continue to be part of this world. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 2, it says this, well, actually 1 and 2. You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following Listen to this. The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. The evil one at work in our world.
He is, according to 1 Peter 5:8, he is like a roaring lion. Make sure you understand that the word like is important there in 1 Peter 5:8. He is not described as a roaring lion. He's like a roaring lion. There is a roaring lion, the true lion, the lion of Judah. Satan's not like him, but he masquerades as a roaring lion seeking to devour. He is active in our world. And and listen, I I would love nothing more I might I My two older daughters are over here.
I would love nothing more and my wife is there. I'd like to take those three and bubble wrap them and make sure that no evil ever comes to them. Well, although you wouldn't be able to breathe in bubble wrap, so maybe maybe not bubble But you know, you get the point, right? But that's just not reality. John 17:15 in the high priestly prayer of Jesus, he says he's praying and he says this, "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
That you keep them." What does that mean? That you keep them from the evil one. While Psalm 121 gives us a bit of a clue, in Psalm 121 we read this, but the psalmist in Psalm 121 is writing the Psalm as they're ascending to Jerusalem and the the road, the physical road that they had to travel to get from where they were to Jerusalem was very dangerous. There was all kinds of cliffs you could fall off of, lots of places you could hurt your knee, your ankle, your whatever. There It was a dangerous road.
People died going to Jerusalem. And in verses 3 and 4, the psalmist says this, "He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." That is to say, you your foot will not be moved. You may twist an ankle, you may face hardship, but he will not let you slide away into a complete unbelief. That's what it's saying here. He will not let you fall altogether away.
What will he do according to 2 Thessalonians 3? He will establish you and guard you. Establish is one of my favorite Greek words in the Bible. Right here in in 2 Thessalonians 3, he will establish you. The Greek word there is steridzo. The word we get the word steroids from. That is to say, he's going to stiffen your spine and give you an unnatural strength to endure and to persevere.
That's what it means to when God says he's going to establish you. Spiritual steroids. He's going to strengthen you. He's going to keep you. It says he's going to he's going to establish you and he's going to guard you against the evil one. The evil one's going to come. He's going to press. But God's going to guard you. I'm reminded of what we read in Luke chapter 21. If you want, you can go there with me. This is quite a moment in Peter's history.
And Luke 22, pardon me. Here is Jesus talking to Simon Peter. And in verse 31, he says this. Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat. If you just If it just ended right there, that would be a depressing verse. But praise be to God it doesn't end there. Verse 32. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
And when you have turned again, notice that it's not a matter of He doesn't say if you turn again. When. God is guarding him. When you turn again, strengthen your brothers. So Peter's going to go through some trial. As we know what happened If you're a believer, you know what happens to Peter. He ends up denying knowing Jesus three times. But when he turned again, he strengthened the brothers because God was guarding him. This is the promise here that we can trust God because he's faithful. Yes, there's an evil one.
Yes, there's evil in our world. But God, this God who's faithful, will establish you. He will put steel in your spine. And he will you. He will protect you. You may face the hardship and trial, but in it God is with you. So, he says, "Trust him. Trust this God." So, he desires that they be prayerful, that they be trusting, and also that they be obedient. Look at verse 4. And we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing and will do the things that we command.
In chapter 2, verse 15, Pastor Bryce was walking through this passage last week and he pointed out this verse where it says, "Brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us either by our spoken word or by our letter." And here he Paul says, "I'm confident actually. I We have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing and you're going to carry on in doing the things that are commanded from God." This is important. It is the mark of the person who's truly in Christ.
Now, let's let's be honest Let's understand something here. We are not saved by our obedience. We are saved by the obedience of Christ. If you don't know what that means exactly, I'll just take you to a couple verses. John chapter 6:38. Listen to the heart of Jesus here in John 6:38. He says, "I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me." And in Philippians 2, what do we read in Philippians 2? That he became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
That's how we find our salvation, by the work of Christ through the obedience of Christ. So, we're not saved by our obedience, but our obedience is an indicator that we are saved. It's a marker of our salvation. It reveals the heart. When we examine the fruit of my If I examine the fruit of my own life I there's an assurance of salvation that comes in knowing that I'm in Christ because while I'm far from perfect, I am growing day by day in my desire to obey and my longing to follow him. These are markers.
The spirit-indwelled believer will obey. And when they disobey, there will be conviction brought by the spirit. They will repent and continue to grow in obedience. This is the marker of a believer. First John is given to us in scripture I think in large part to assure us of our salvation and to remind us of what that person looks like who is following the Lord. In 1 John chapter 5, we read this in verses 1 to 3. Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.
And everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not burdensome. Great joy. It honors the Lord that we obey him. And he says we're confident that you are obeying and that you will continue to obey. I look around this room and I see a lot of folks who I'm confident are obeying the Lord.
I praise God for that. Press on. Press on in obedience. Read the word of God and obey. What's the old song say? Trust and obey. For there's no other way to be happy in Jesus that you then that you trust and obey. He also desires here that they be growing. Look at that last verse of our passage in verse 5 there. It's a it's a bit of a benediction given in the midst of this and he says, "May the Lord direct or or point your hearts toward the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
God is love, 1 John 4:8 tells us. He is love. Make sure we understand that. God is love. It's not the other way around. It's not love is God. God is love. It's a very important distinction because as soon as you invert that and make it the other way, I get to determine what God is. Love, whatever I determine love is, is what God is. And so, I define love this way, ergo God must support that.
No, no. God defines love. And God is love. His teaching on what love is, that's what love is. And so, he says here, "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God." How rich and pure, how measureless and strong, as we sang. The love of God is enormous. Nobody has loved you the way God has. Nobody. You might have a wonderful spouse.
You might have had great parents. You might have a best friend that, oh, man, they just shower me with love. And that's great. Those are good things. But nobody has loved you like God. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For the one who says, "I just I don't know if God loves me." Look at the cross. He has revealed his love to the point of death for you and for me.
This is our God. And he here longs for them to have their hearts directed toward that. May you understand this love. May you be growing in it. And the steadfastness of Christ. That That is the patient endurance of Christ. Think about this. He is patient and enduring and and persevering and and saving us and sanctifying us and enduring with us when we fail. And he continues to love us. The steadfastness of Christ. He never fails. He never changes.
This is who he is. And he And Paul here is saying, "May your your hearts be directed that way that you keep growing." Any of us who have ever been parents May Maybe this wasn't you, but I imagine most parents are like this. I was certainly like it. I remember for all three of our girls when they were little, like teeny boppers and especially when they got to that stage 8 9 months, their personality's coming up, but they're not quite mobile yet. That's a blessed time. But they're smiling and they're giggling and they're you know, whatever all that stuff.
And we would say I would I think Carl would probably say it, too. Oh, I wish they would just stay like this forever. Wish they would just stay little forever. And maybe if you're a parent, you think that would do. Oh, I wish they could stay at this stage forever. No, you don't. You might feel that. But if your child turns 30 and they're still act like a 2-year-old, that would be considered an abject failure. Right? We want our kids to grow. We want them to be nourished. We want them to be mature.
We want them to learn to live life well, to become wonderful adults in society, to to love God with a deeper heart than they did yesterday. That they're longing to know this God because they're growing in him. In the same way, we should strive for growth and maturity. That we should move from milk to solid food. And here that's Paul's heart for him for them here. May the Lord direct your hearts. May you grow in the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ.
So, what are some application points? Let me just give you three. There's a lot There's been some applications sprinkled throughout, but let me give you three key points to take from here. Pray specifically for those you love and do not take anything for granted. Paul here is asking them to pray taking nothing for granted. We should pray for those that we care for. Pray that God would if they're not believers, pray that the Lord brings them to faith. If they are in Christ, pray for your loved ones that they would grow in their faith. That they would have steel in their spine.
That they would live for God in this world well. That the Lord would protect them. That the Lord would use them as his mouthpiece to a lost and broken world, etc. Etc. Etc. Pray. And pray specifically for people. Secondly, I would say this. Trust God with those matters that worry you. We all have those things that cause us some fret and some anxiety. But the Lord is faithful. That's what the text says, but the Lord is faithful.
Whatever your trial is, whatever your hardship is, whatever your difficulty is, and some of those things are significant. Remember that the Lord is faithful. So, this week I want to give you this as an assignment. When you find yourself worrying, or if you find yourself worrying, I want to urge you to go to Matthew 6 and You could read the whole chapter, but specifically 25 to the end of the chapter this week. That's the passage where we read that God's eye is on the sparrow.
That we needn't worry because God's in control. So, when you find yourself worrying this week, go to Matthew 6 and remind yourself by reading Matthew 6 that the Lord is faithful. The Lord is faithful. The Lord is faithful. And finally, and I I would say this is zero in if if you're wondering, "Well, where do I start obeying?" Zero in if need be on one thing that you can read in the word that oh man, I need to obey that, then obey that. Don't just study it. Don't just memorize it.
Obey it. Live it out. Practically obey what the word says. And so, honor the Lord. So, friends, this is an encouraging text. Paul's love for the saints is very real. He loves them with with an enduring love. And here he's trying to bless them and encourage them that, "You know what? You can pray. And I want you to pray." And he's saying here that they they can trust God because he's faithful. He's reminding them that obedience matters and that they should while they are in doing in obedience, press on in obedience and keep growing in the Lord.
And as they do those things, they will only become stronger and more faithful Christians, all to the glory of God. Praise His name. So, let me pray. Father, I thank you for this encouraging text. Thank you for the Apostle Paul's love for this church. And Lord, I I pray that we too would would understand these truths and that would it spur us on to trust you all the more. To be a people of prayer as we come before you, the great God who can do all things. That we would obey. That we would continue to grow. And Lord, that through all of that, you would be exalted above all else.
Your glory matters most to the heart of the believer. So, Father, fix our hearts on the glory of God today. And may you be pleased to exalt yourself through us this week. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand together and sing.
Transcribed automatically from YouTube captions, so names and words may be misheard.
