It's 1 Thessalonians chapter
3 and the last few verses of the chapter from verse 11 down
to 13. Now God himself and our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you and the Lord
make you to increase and abound in love one to another and toward
all men even as we do toward you. To the end, he may establish
your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Our verses today, again, supply
a number of instructive insights into the apostles' care for the
young church at Thessalonica and the affection that he had
for the believers there. Paul had been telling his brothers
and sisters that he prays for them night and day and these
verses here I'm fairly sure contain a number of insights into those
prayers. It's as though he's telling us
here to whom he prays and then listing several of the matters
for which he prays. And I think that as we just touch
upon a few of them in the next few minutes, we'll all be able
to agree that they are good examples for prayer. The first thing that
the Apostle tells the Thessalonians, and by the Holy Spirit he is
telling us too, that when he prays, he prays to our Father,
just as the Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples to do. And he says, Now God himself
and our Father. And the Lord, of course, said,
when you pray, pray after this wise. Our Father, which art in
heaven. And actually, some writers have
suggested that this verse may actually refer to God the Holy
Spirit, first of all, then God the Father, and then the Lord
Jesus Christ. which would make it a very fine
prayer addressing all the persons of the Godhead individually if
it were to be read like that. Now God himself, the Holy Spirit,
and our Father, the first person of the Godhead as we say it,
and our Lord Jesus Christ. But be that as it may, it clearly
shows that God the Father is to be addressed with our requests
in prayer as also the Lord Jesus Christ. So that when we pray,
we pray to the Father and we pray through the intermediary
and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ and with of course
the help of the Holy Spirit. And the Apostle is praying that
the will and the help of at least these two, the Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ, these two divine persons, will be enlisted
to bring the Apostle back again quickly amongst his Thessalonian
friends. And this instructs us concerning
prayer for travelling mercies because that's exactly what the
Apostle Paul is doing here. He is praying for travelling
mercies. And I paused at this when I was
thinking about it and just remembered a little bit as well. I remember
as a child that my father would often gather the family together
just before we set off on a long journey and commit our safekeeping
into the Lord's care. And I can remember as a child
how solemn and reassuring that was as we climbed into our old
car. It was a very small car and it
seemed to be very small when we were small, especially amongst
some of the heavy lorries that were on the road, heavy trucks
that were on the road. But it was committing our protection
into the hands of the Lord and that's what Paul is doing here.
He is saying, may God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ direct
our way unto you. Lead, guide and direct our travelling
plans and our progress to bring us safely to you. Now, just to
continue this thought for a moment, travelling itself was a dangerous
pastime in Paul's day. Never mind the enemies that pursued
him and laid traps for him, simply travelling by land or sea was
hazardous. And perhaps as a child, reflecting
again on my own experience, when we prayed for journeying mercy,
we were doing so because the roads were more precarious and
vehicles were less reliable then. But you see what happens? When
the Lord gives us good, safe roads to drive on, and dependable
vehicles to drive in, and perhaps travel insurance to cover us
if anything does happen, and mobile phones to call for help,
what happens is that we put all our trust in those benefits and
forget the one who gave them. We would soon return to praying
for God's mercy in our travels if all those things were gone. And here's another thing that
the Apostle Paul prays for, which I think is very interesting. He prays for increased numbers
in the church at Thessalonica. And I think what a lovely prayer
that is. And I think it's a blessed lesson
for us as well. Because we are, I trust, through
and through believers in sovereign grace. But this Gospel conviction
that we have does not limit our desire to see many, many brought
under the sound of the Gospel and many saved and brought into
a knowledge of the truth. In fact, it's clear that the
apostle believed in sovereign grace too, because he prayed
to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ that the Lord make
you to increase. So he understood that it wasn't
the free will of the individuals who heard the gospel, but that
this was the Lord who opened the hearts of men and women and
caused the church to grow. Psalmist David says in Psalm
127, Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that
build it. Except the Lord keep the city,
watchmen, or preachers, waketh but in vain. And Luke tells us
that the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. And it's some of those blessed
additions that the Apostle is praying for here. He is praying
for an increase in the church at Thessalonica. Lots of people talk about that
these days. But let us remember that church
growth cannot be artificially manufactured. It can't be falsely
produced. And I'm not saying that a church
can't boost membership or increase service attendance by promoting
some celebrity or providing entertainment. But such members easy come and
easy go. But when the Lord adds members
to the church, those whom he adds never leave. They're fixed
together like bricks in the temple of the living God. They're builded
together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, Paul
tells us in Ephesians 2, verse 22. And on this verse alone, we have
every right and encouragement to pray that the Lord will increase
our numbers and enlarge our congregation, that his people may be gathered
under the sound of his word and the gospel. Would not this be
a blessing for us as well as a blessing for those so gathered
in the increase granted? Paul had preached in Thessalonica
and he had witnessed the Lord's grace at work and he longed that
more would follow and that there would be great increases in those
early days. And there were. And we trust
that the same Lord Jesus Christ can do so again. The next thing
that the Apostle asks for is that the people would abound
in love. He asks the Lord to make the
Thessalonians abound in love for one another and for all men. Now such love is a fruit of the
Spirit and it is present in all true believers. Love for God
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Love for the brethren. Affection
and a genuine desire for all good for our brothers and sisters
in Christ. Supportively, practically, prayerfully. But he's talking too about love
for those who are yet strangers to grace. even love for our enemies
and those who despitefully use us. Not merely choosing not to
do harm to those who oppose us, but praying for them, caring
for them, and for Christ's sake and for love's sake, doing good
unto all men. The Lord called his disciples
to love one another as he loved them. And here Paul calls on
the Thessalonians to abound in love, one for another and for
all men, as the apostle had given them example by showing how much
he had loved them. And I do not doubt that in the
sovereignty of God, these two prayers in this verse are connected. Might we not link them and surmise
that it is as love is exercised amongst the brethren, and then
beyond the boundaries of our fellowship, even to our neighbours
and acquaintances, that increase in numbers results. The Lord gathers his church through
the preaching of the gospel, but he gathers listeners by the
genuine care and sincerity of his people. Let us pray for increase
and let us exercise love. And then just a few quick points
in this final verse. Our hearts need to be established. they need to be fixed and well
founded upon the Lord. And that's our aim and desire
each time we come together to worship, each time we hear the
gospel preached, is that the Lord's people, you know, people
used to say or people used to think that the gospel was for
unbelievers. No, the gospel is for believers
to establish our hearts in the things of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the things that he has done, the things that he has said,
the things that he has promised. And our hearts, as believers,
are generally fickle, easily swayed, and frequently downcast. And it takes a spiritual work
to establish or establish a sinner's heart on Christ. And it's a good
prayer for each of us to pray for ourselves and for one another
that our hearts may be dedicated to the Lord and not prone to
wander after new fashions or new threats. The other thing that Paul says
here is that we may be unblameable in holiness. And I thought that
was an amazing little phrase. And I just wanted to highlight
it. It's a powerful phrase. Unblameable
in holiness. Imagine making a prayer on any
other person's behalf that they may be unblameable in holiness
and making that prayer to no less than God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ, that a third person might be unblameable in
holiness. Now there's no possibility of
attaining such a state by nature, by ourselves. We in ourselves
are thoroughly blameworthy. for the things that we have said,
for the things that we have done, for the things that we have thought. Jude says we're spotted by the
flesh. But in the Lord Jesus Christ,
by faith, we have a holiness bestowed on us that is pure and
unchangeable. We have a righteousness imputed
to us that is divine and perfect. Paul asks elsewhere, Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. That is, it is God that makes
us righteous and accepts that righteousness as all that we
require. All that He requires. If God justifies a sinner, then
we are unblameable in holiness. and we are perfect before him,
holy and without blame before him in love, well-pleasing in
his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. You see, it's Christ that has
to receive all of the praise, all of our gratitude, all of
the glory for making us well-pleasing in the sight of a holy God, making
us unblameable in holiness because of his representative work on
our behalf, taking our sin and bringing his justifying righteousness
to us. And while we remain in this flesh,
we will not know the full experience of this holiness, but by faith
we will enjoy the comfort and liberty it brings. Because, as
Paul says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. And then finally, just a wee
reminder from the Apostle to the Thessalonians. Don't forget
about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. And this blessed fact encouraged
and inspired the Thessalonians of Paul's day and the apostles
in their own ministries and indeed the church in every age. And
it should encourage and inspire us too. Our Lord Jesus Christ
is coming back soon with all his saints. Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another
with these words, which we will endeavour to do. Amen.