Well, having gone away from the
epistles for the last couple of weeks, I felt led by the Holy
Spirit to come to the first epistle of the Paul, the Apostle, to
the Thessalonians. We finished Colossians, as you
know, three weeks ago, and we pray the Lord we're indeed richly
blessed. Our meditation in these wonderful epistles. And so tonight
we'll just take the first four verses of this first chapter
in the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, which we'll
just read again. Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus
unto the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and
in the Lord Jesus Christ, grace be unto you, and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God
always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and
patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of
God and our Father. knowing brethren, beloved, your
election of God. So Paul commences this epistle,
this letter to the Thessalonians by addressing them in this way
and saying Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus and it's interesting
that he joins Silvanus and Timotheus to himself and in the other epistles
or he explains himself in greater detail, Paul the Apostle or such
like. But here we can see really the
humble position of the Apostle not wishing to exalt himself
above his brethren and hence he addresses the Thessalonians
very simply by just calling himself by his name Paul and so he says
Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus and it's good you see if none
of us try to exalt ourselves above our station in life. Paul was greatly blessed, but
he doesn't mention it here. He just comes in this very simple
way. It's a good instruction for us.
And then he goes on and says, unto the church of the Thessalonians,
which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. and really how necessary it is
today that each Church of God, each little family, as they may
be found here and there, worshipping them together, may have this
great concern and this great desire. that they are in God
the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, that God the
Father and that the Lord Jesus Christ is in them. He is the
centre of their worship. And as they gather together,
and as we gather together, may our great concern be to exalt
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's good always to desire
to come in a right way, in a God-honouring way. And so he then comes and
says, Grace be unto you and peace. Good desire, good desire surely
for the Church of God. Grace, the unmerited favour of
God and peace. that we might receive and that
we might be blessed with wonderful favour, wonderful mercy of Almighty
God. Grace be unto you and peace. And where does it come from?
From God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't produce
grace. We don't produce peace. It's
not within our ability. What a wonderful thing it is
that we have a God who freely gives His grace and freely gives
His peace. What a wonderful blessing it
is to know then and how essential it is in each true believer to
know His grace. And as you and I know His grace,
so we shall know His peace. that peace of God which passes
all understanding. It's not of time, it is of God. And what a blessing it is when
the Holy Spirit comes and grants this to us so that we can rest
indeed in the grace and rest in the peace of our Lord Jesus
Christ which he does give freely to his church. So he says, we
give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you
in our prayers. How important it is that we give
thanks to God for all the brethren, to think that we today are able
to gather together with brothers and sisters in Christ and to
therefore be found giving thanks for them, for each one of us. The Lord has brought us together. He's bound us together. And what a wonderful blessing
that is. We read in the Philippians, really,
similar statements because, of course, the apostle wrote to
the other churches in a similar vein, although it would appear
this Letter to the Thessalonians was the first letter he wrote. It doesn't appear in that order
in the New Testament but nonetheless it would seem to the Acts of
the Apostles that this was the first letter. But then when he
comes to the Philippians and in the fourth chapter and the
sixth verse he says this, be careful for nothing but in everything
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. How important it is that you
and I heed these gracious words of instruction. How easily we
can treat prayer very lightly and not really approach unto
our God in a right way. And so the Apostle here sees
fit to address the Thessalonians in a similar vein to the way
that he addressed the Philippians. And what a blessing it is for
us then tonight to come in the same vein and be able to say,
yes, by God's grace, we give thanks to God always for you
all. It's not just once a week. It's not just once a year. The
Apostle says here, always, for you all. It's not just selecting
some people that we might think are more eminent and more worthy
than others. We don't really know the needs
of each one. We know the outside appearance. God looks at the heart. And what
a blessing it is when you and I can come with a real desire
of true prayer, to pray for one another, always, always thanking
God for one another and always bringing them to God in prayer. Well, it would be good, won't
it, if you and I do this? It would have a good effect.
It will really bind us together as we pray one for another. bearing
each one before God at the throne of grace, praying that they may
be blessed indeed. And then he says, remembering,
remembering without ceasing. He said previously, giving to
God always, and now he says, remembering without ceasing. And what are we to remember without
ceasing? Word he tells us. First of all,
your work of faith. Secondly, your labour of love. And thirdly, patience of hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the sight of God and our Father. So it's important that God gives
us grace to remember without ceasing the faith that God gives
one to another. And it's important to have faith
in a right way. The Apostle James, he brings
to our attention the reality of true faith. And he sets it
before us in the second chapter of his little epistle in the
18th to the 20th verses. This is what he says. Yea, a
man may say thou hast faith, and I have works, show me thy
faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by
my works. Thou believest that there is
one God, thou dost well. The devils also believe and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead? James is very pithy in the way
he sets things before us. And so we see here this very
clear statement. There is an outworking of God-given
faith. It doesn't just lie dormant. there is an effect, and the effect
is a fruit of the Spirit, and the effect brings glory to God,
and the effect is a strengthening and a help one to another. So let me just read that statement
again. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works
and I will show thee my faith by my works thou believest that
there is one God you see no doubt we think yes that's true we do
believe there is one God and then this solemn statement the
devils also believe and tremble. They know there's only one God,
and they tremble. So just making that statement
by itself needs to be joined together with those works, the
works which are the fruit of the Spirit. But, he says, wilt
thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead. So we should be concerned in
our little lives to show forth our faith by our works. And then he comes and says, and labor of love. Labor of love. You see, we can
easily just say, well, of course, I love God and I love this one
and I love that one. But is there any labour to clearly
demonstrate it. You know, the Word of God tells
us this, we are to love our neighbour as ourself. And the Word of God doesn't qualify
our neighbour. Although the Lord Jesus clearly
spelled out who our neighbours are when he set forth that parable
of the Samaritan. we are to not pass by those who
have need. Labour of love, love one to another,
love to the Church of God, love to those that we come in contact
with. It sets forth the true Christianity
in a true believer. And so therefore, the Apostle
speaks like this, and labour of love. Yes, it's good, isn't
it? If we do indeed have love. And then he comes and he speaks
about patience. Patience of hope. Well, hope is something which
is not really very tangible. You can't pick it up and grasp
it. But it is that which God gives. That living hope. And as the
Apostle says when he wrote to the Roman Church in the eighth
chapter, verse 25, but if we hope for that we see not, then
do we with patience wait for it. There is a waiting upon God. And we are to not be impatient. The verse which I often quote,
which I think is so very appropriate so very often, to us in our lives,
and that's the first verse in the 40th Psalm, the Psalm of
David, and it spells it out really so very well when he tells us,
he says, I waited patiently for the Lord. Why does he say that? Because we are often impatient.
The Lord says, your time is always, but my time is not yet. God has a perfect time and God
has a right time. And yet David says, I waited
patiently for the Lord. He didn't stop there. See what
he says. And he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. Testimony, wasn't it? David had
passed through. He was able to praise God for
giving him that patience and so now Paul addresses the Thessalonians
and says that we are to remember without ceasing patience of hope. It's a good thing isn't it to
have this hope and The Apostle, when he wrote to the Ephesians
in the first chapter, in the 11th and 12th verses, he said,
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his will, that we should be to the praise of
his glory who first trusted in Christ. Why does the Apostle
therefore come on to this and say, patience the Lord Jesus
Christ, in the sight of God and our Father, knowing brethren,
beloved, your election of God. This is what brings forth glory
to God. As the Lord gives us to know
his great and wonderful grace toward us in calling us out of
darkness into the glorious light of the everlasting gospel as
he's given us faith and hope to trust in his name and therefore
to come to this position then as he says knowing, knowing brethren
beloved your election of God. See as we are able to trace out
the work of God in our hearts, it's the evidence that we are
indeed amongst those whom he has loved with an everlasting
love. There are really several points
we could just mention. First of all, all those who in
the fullness of time are effectively and effectually called and are
sanctified were from eternity elected and chosen to salvation. It all emanates from God. That's why we have to say, to
God be the glory, nothing in flesh, to God be the glory. And then secondly, the election
of God is of his own good pleasure and mere grace, not for the sake
of any merit in those who are chosen. No, we have nothing in
ourselves that can claim any merit. Now, when the Holy Spirit
shows us the blessing of His love and mercy and joy, all we
want to do is to thank and praise Almighty God. The election of
God may be known by the fruits thereof, That's the evidence
that we are chosen. God gives us faith and hope,
and the fruits of the Spirit demonstrate that we are amongst
those whom God has loved with an everlasting love. Wherefore,
Fourthly, says the writer Fourthly, whenever we are giving thanks
to God for his grace, either to ourselves or others, we should
run up the streams to the fountain and give thanks to God for his
electing love by which we are made to differ. Come and consider. Go to the fountainhead. Go to
the beginning. It's all a grace to the honour
and glory of God. Well may we truly bless God for
his electing love and as the Apostle says to the Thessalonians,
knowing brethren, all God's children by his grace know this great
and wonderful blessing. So just reading these four verses
again, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of
the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God. Remember, thanks to God always
for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labour of love and
patience and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of
God and our Father. Knowing, brethren, beloved, your
election of God. Much to ponder and think upon. May God bless his word to us.
Amen.