Good morning. We are back in Thessalonians today. This really is the end of Paul’s first letter. I was going to skip it, but I just couldn’t do it. There’s 3 commands here and a blessing. They’re as important as anything Paul wrote in this letter.  

*First: Paul URGED them to pray for him. “Brothers, pray for us.”  Paul had seen the risen Lord, he was an apostle. Yet he needed prayer to get things done. And do I, and so do you! Whether you feel that deeply or not.  

It’s great to ask for prayer for your aunt, cousin, or neighbor. But YOU need prayer! The most lively prayer times I’ve experienced are when someone says, Pray for ME, I need courage, I need the Holy Spirit, I need to forgive someone, I need more joy, I WANT God to use my life…. pray for me!  

Asking for prayer demonstrates that you understand the depth of your neediness, the greatness of our struggle, AND that God helps us THROUGH PRAYER!  You must understand both your insufficiency AND God’s sufficiency.

Paul believed prayer affected whether he had words to speak or not, whether he had boldness or not, whether his work was successful or not, whether he was delivered from people who wanted to kill him or not! So he pleaded for prayer!

2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Brothers! Pray for us! That the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men”.  For the gospel to succeed, he needed their prayers. To stay alive, he needed their prayers.  

3 reasons Paul asked for prayer. 

*First: He was in a fight and he knew it. He knew MANY opposed and hated the message of Jesus. Phil. 3:17 “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” He had human enemies, spiritual enemies. But he believed he could be delivered through prayers! 

1 Cor. 1:10,11 “In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us (from the deadly peril of death), as you HELP US by your prayers. Paul’s hope was in God, but his confidence was that God would deliver him from death THROUGH their prayers. 

Rom. 15:30 “I beseech you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, to STRIVE together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea..” 

Paul said, “strive together with me” or “join my struggle”, fight with me in your prayers.  We fight on our knees. Prayer is our weapon. Prayer is pushing back against the way things are!  It is waging war on the status quo, the devil, people who hate God’s laws. Prayer is the way the kingdom of God went forward 2000 years ago, and the way it will go forward today in spite of our present enemies!  Paul pleaded for prayer because he knew he was in a fight.  

I hope you realize how badly we need to pray today! 

*Second: Paul urged believers to pray because: He knew salvation and spiritual growth were NOT natural things. These things take the ACTION of the Holy Spirit. Paul knew Satan had blinded the minds of the unbelieving.  He knew the work of shaping men and women into faithful followers of Jesus required a miracle in people’s hearts.  

We taught on this 2 weeks ago.  Paul knew HE couldn’t sanctify the believers at Thessalonica.  He knew the Thessalonians couldn’t sanctify themselves.  SO he prayed MAY God HIMSELF sanctify you completely!  It is God who causes the growth!  Col. 1:9 “Since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you, and asking God to fill you, with the knowledge of His will and spiritual understanding, SO that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in everything.” 

People don’t just walk away from years spent in darkness and sin on their own. People don’t just spontaneously grow up into mature godly people. It takes God!  And God does His work mainly through the prayers of his people. IF we want great things to happen in people’s lives at RLC, we need to be a praying church!

*Third: Paul urged the church to pray because he knew prayer is needed to do ANYTHING well or effectively, as a minister of Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 6:19 Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will boldly make known the mystery of the gospel.”  

Paul NEEDED prayer to operate at maximum efficiency. And for sure, you and I do too!  He needed their prayers to so he WOULD have the words, the boldness, the clear thoughts to explain the gospel. Colossians 4:3 “Devote yourselves to prayer and pray for us too that God may open a door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may declare it clearly, as I should.”  If you want open doors. If you want to speak, to bless and encourage and help others, ask people to pray for you! 

I’ve had the experience in teaching where I’ve had the words and clear thoughts and felt the power and presence of God at work and people seemed to respond.  I’ve taught when I felt pathetic, powerless and I left feeling people were not fed. I don’t know all the reasons for those differences but I strongly suspect much of it has to do with prayer, mine and others!

Paul’s confidence was not in human plans or strategies, or in his own personality. But in the Lord, working THROUGH the prayers of people!!  

*BECAUSE Paul knew these things he said, “Brothers pray for us!” The main point of obedience in this verse is for us to pray! Paul’s not around anymore. But we are to pray for each other, and for spiritual leaders, those who preach and teach. "With all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit... with all perseverance and petition for ALL the saints AND pray on my behalf."  Prayer is how we JOIN others in their ministry. And help them do well in their calling and gifts!

-There is a kind of back door message here. That I think is important.  Paul asked for prayer for HIMSELF to preach the gospel. He did not lay a guilt trip on these believers for NOT doing what he was doing.  He didn’t say, “What’s the matter with you guys, Get out there, sell you homes, go to Spain.  No, he said pray for me as I do that.  

There is a need for people to go to all the nations with the gospel and plant churches.  May God raise up workers for the harvest.  But Paul understood that there is great VARIETY in the gifts people have.  He’s NOT pressuring them to do what he is called to do. But he is pleading with them to pray for him so he can do that.

In the early 1800s a man named Gardiner Spring wrote a book called “A Plea to Pray for Pastors”.  “It is at a fearful expense that ministers are ever allowed to enter the pulpit without being preceded, accompanied, and followed by the earnest prayers of the churches. 

“Let the thought sink deep into the heart of every (Christian), that their minister will be very much such a minister as their prayers may make him.”  

“It is no small thing "for any “church” to have daily cries for God's blessing ascending from a hundred firesides.” 

I know there are many here who pray for this church and its leaders. That is SO important.  We ALSO need to do that AS a church family.  We have to overcome the discomfort, and our self consciousness, and pray AS a church.  The church began in the upper room with 120 people, the apostles, together with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus and Jesus’ brothers.  All these in one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.    

*Next command: SHOW affection for one another. Verse 26 “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.”  This verse draws giggles and pastors love to make jokes about it. And that’s a shame, if we leave it at that. Paul was completely serious. It’s one of the last instructions he leaves with the church. 

Five times we are commanded by the apostles to greet one another with a holy kiss. Or 1 Peter 4:14 “Greet one another with a kiss of love.” The apostles wanted an affectionate church. Paul wanted believers to SHOW they love each other!    

Paul dearly loved the men and women in the church at Thessalonica. He came to them with the gentleness of a nursing mother, loving, and teaching, and caring for them like  a father cares for his own children. He appeals for them to continue that kind of affection in the church after he is gone. 

Of course our expressions of love are to be holy, godly, nothing inappropriate. But holy affections EXPRESSED to one another are absolutely essential to the well-being of the church. 

Josh pointed out the difference between gratitude and giving thanks. And I’ve never forgotten it. If you ask people “are you a thankful person?” most will say yes.  But do you GIVE thanks? Do you SAY thank you, out loud and often. Paul said GIVE thanks in all things.   In the same way most people say I love other people. BUT do you express it? Do they have any tangible evidence of your love?  Do they see it and feel it in your words and expressions and interactions with them.

One of my pet peeves is Hallmark cards that say I know I don’t tell you “I love you” as often as should, but I really do. I determined years ago I would never buy a card like that for my wife. Rather than buy that card I’d rather say, I love you more often so I don’t have to buy a card like that. Your wife shouldn’t have to guess if you love her or not. Other believers should not have to guess if you have warm affections for them or not.

Other believers should HEAR and FEEL and SEE the love you have for them.  In the warmest ways possible greet one another, whether with a touch a handshake, a hug, a smile, a word, or a kiss.  Imagine all of us coming to church and greeting one another with a holy kiss.

Tertullian wrote that unbelievers observed the early Christians and said, “See how they love one another”.  We should greet each other in a way that outsiders would go away talking about how those people at RLC love each other!

*Third command: Verse 27 “I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to ALL the brothers.” Paul wanted this letter read and to every single person in the church.  “I put you under oath! Before the Lord!” This letter was of utmost importance because Paul regarded it as “the command of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Earlier he said, “You accepted our message for what it really is, the word of God!”  He wanted them to give the SAME weight to this letter that they gave to the message he preached to them.

Reading scripture to the church matters! Paul told Timothy Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, 1 Tim. 4:13 We should give utmost priority to scripture in the church. When we read the scripture here on a Sunday morning before the message that’s not a throw away part of the service!  We are under the oath of the Lord Jesus to read these letters. 

It wasn’t that long after Paul wrote these words that the idea arose that the Bible should be taken out of the hands of the people.  Through many centuries the reading of scripture was forbidden except for those in the church hierarchy. And it’s obvious they didn’t read it either! 

Pope Innocent III said, “they shall be seized for trial and penalties, who engage in the translation of the sacred volumes (into the language of the people). He “declared that as the beast touching the holy mount was to be stoned to death, so simple and uneducated men were not to touch the Bible or venture to preach its doctrines”. Phillip Schaff 

How different from Paul’s passion “I put you under oath before the Lord, to have it read to ALL the brothers.”  

There’s a guy on Twitter who asks every week, ‘What book of the Bible did your pastor preach from today?” The question is meant to wake up Christians to how few pastors preach from the text of scripture. Was the teaching at your church based on the Word.  Can you say what text it was?  Should be able to!

Paul’s final word to the Thessalonians is a blessing. 

*Verse 28 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Grace is the total blessing that God has freely given us in Christ.  Obviously the grace of Jesus is always with us. But Paul wanted them to experience and enjoy this grace.

He is not saying grace “as a concept” be with you. He is saying grace as “a present reality” be with you.  Grace be known, felt, enjoyed, in your spirit. 

The words of Jesus in John 14:27 help us grasp this "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”  Peace is something Jesus is LEAVING with us, GIVING to us.  His peace is a real thing, a spiritual presence from God that puts our hearts at rest. It is the same with grace.  

Cambridge Bible Commentary: “Grace is the sum of all blessings that God bestows through Christ. It is something we receive and experience. This blessing contains all spiritual good that one Christian can wish another. Such grace is WITH us, it forms the atmosphere we breathe, the light by which we see, the guiding and sustaining influence of our whole lives.  Grace constantly attends us.” The word attends means “to stay with us as a companion, or nurse or helper.”  

Whatever your heart needs this morning, grace is the answer.  Hebrews 13:9 “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.”  IE When you feel weak, or needy, DON’T look to some new wind of teaching that is making it’s way into the church. Or some special diet.  INSTEAD let God’s goodness and grace in Jesus Christ strengthen you.  Be strengthened by all the blessings you have in Jesus, love, acceptance, pardon.

So we should not ONLY greet one another with a holy kiss we should bless one another with grace. You can pronounce this blessing of grace upon other believers because God the Father has already given it to us through His Son.  

As we close I would like to return to Paul’s first instruction. Brothers, pray for us! Would you pray for the work of the Lord at RLC?  Would you pray for each other, to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord?  Would you pray for your pastors, those who labor among you, your spiritual leaders.  Not is some way to wrongly elevate anybody.  But because we need it, to do their work effectively, to preach and teach well and in a way that feeds the body.  And your brothers and sisters need it to grow and thrive and live in a manner worthy of the Lord.