Sermon: Prayer and Our Faithful God

If I have not had the pleasure of meeting you yet, my name is Kevin McKelvy and I am one of the assistant pastors here at University Reform Church and add my welcome to Bun Benjamin's. Uh, it is my joy tonight to come to God's word with you as we turn to God's word. Would you uh, flip in your Bibles to Second Thessalonians? That is near the end. It's the start of the T section first and second Thessalonians first and second Timothy Titus.

If you get to Hebrews, you've gone too far. Um, for the past several weeks we have been working our way through this book and tonight we are going to continue as we begin Chapter three. Before we read God's word, would you please pray with me again?

Father, we ask tonight that your word would go forth and that it would receive honor. Would you reveal yourself to us? Would you help us to see more of who you are and would you use that sight to shape us into the image of your son Christ? It's in his name that we pray. Amen.

Here now the word of God from two Thessalonians three, one through five.

Finally, brothers pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you, and 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 and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God

and to the steadfastness of of Christ.

As we consider these verses tonight, what we're gonna do is we're gonna start by walking through and trying to get an overview and see how some of the pieces fit together and then in the second half of our consideration we will zoom in on some particular areas. But first I just want us to get a big picture of what is happening here in the book and here in these verses From what we can tell, Paul and his companions wrote this little book to the church

and thessalonika for three main reasons. First to encourage their suffering, encourage them in the midst of their suffering and affliction. And this is primarily what chapter one is about. Second, to speak to and correct some confusion regarding the the coming back of Jesus. And this is most of what constitutes chapter two. And now you can see here at the beginning of verse one, finally he is making a switch and introducing a new section, shifting his focus

to the third main topic which is going to be addressing idleness. It seems that some in Thessalonica were refusing to work and Paul now turns his attention to dealing with this problem. However, before he gets to the specific instructions, he asks them to pray for him and his companions pray for us. He has just finished chapter two praying for them and now he asks them to pray for him. And as we have seen throughout this book, he continues

to affectionately write to them as fellow members of God's family. And so he asks them, pray for us brothers. He spends the rest of verse one and all of verse two expanding on this request for prayer. He begins by asking that they would pray that the word of the Lord would speed ahead. When Paul here talks about the word of the Lord, he is referring to what he will call in other places the mystery of Christ or the mystery of the gospel.

He's writing this letter from Corinth and in one Corinthians 15, he summarizes the message he was preaching in the city. In this way, I delivered to you as of first importance. What I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures and that he appeared to CFUs and then to the 12

that Jesus died for sinners to be saved from their sins, that he was buried, he was really dead and then rose victorious over death and appeared to many after his resurrection that he was really alive and all of this according to the plan and purpose of God as laid out in the Bible over thousands of years, this is the message that Paul is preaching. It's the message that is still preached by Christians today and he is asking the Thessalonians to pray that this message

will spread not only that it would go forth, but that it would be honored. The idea here of speeding ahead is that of a runner making his way through a course. One commentator put it this way, Paul is asking them to pray that God's word would run like a swift athlete through the world and be received as a victorious hero wherever it goes. He wants them to join him in praying that the word would go forth and that wherever it went, it would be received

with joy like it was when it came to thessalonika. If you remember, Paul was not in thessalonika long before he was chased out of town. Some estimates three weeks, some up to three months, but in that short time the message of Jesus had taken quick and deep root in the hearts of the people that he is writing to. He's asking them to pray that it would do the same Now in Corinth where he is writing from next, Paul turns his attention from the message to the messengers

asking that the Thessalonians pray for him that he would be delivered from evil men so as not to be hindered from proclaiming this word of God. He wrote in chapter one to encourage the Thessalonian church as they face persecution. Now he asks the Thessalonians to pray for him in his own difficulty. We learn in Acts 18 that Paul's time in Corinth as was often the case for Paul, was marked by some who received God's word by faith

and some who did not have faith, who rejected the message and sought to drive Paul away.

Paul asks the Christians in Thessalonika to pray that God would spare him from these evil men so that he can go on declaring the good news of Jesus.

Paul here is not primarily concerned with his own comfort as we see in multiple other places in scriptures, but that he would be able to proclaim God's word so that it might spread and be honored. And so he asked the Thessalonian church to pray that the message of God would go forth with power and that the messengers of God would be protected to continue their work.

In verse three, if you're following along, there is a shift from the evil man without faith to God who is faithful.

Not all have faith, but our God is faithful. Paul moves from asking for prayer to reminding his fellow believers of the nature and character of God he is faithful.

He also shifts from his own situation and returns to considering theirs. Paul is confident that this faithful God will establish them and guard them against the evil one. He has just prayed at the very end of chapter two for this church that God would establish their hearts in every good work and word. Now just a few verses later, he expresses his confidence that God will do just that because God is faithful. He will protect them against any attempts by the evil one

to uproot them and will instead keep them and establish them firmly as they seek to live out their faith.

Paul goes on in verse four to continue to express his confidence in what the Lord is doing and will do in the lives of the Thessalonians. He is persuaded about them because of the faithful God that they are obeying and will continue to obey what they hear from him. Well this may be referring back to verse one and the pray for us request command confident that they will do that. It's more likely it's looking ahead and anticipating.

Verse six, which we will look at in a couple weeks, can see verse six starts now we command you brothers. He's confident that they will do the things that he is about, to instruct them in because of the Lord.

Finally, in verse five, having asked them to pray for him and expressed his confidence in God who is faithful, he offers up a quick prayer of his own on their behalf, asking that the Lord would direct their hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Jesus Christ. There is a little bit of ambiguity as to the nature of the love of God, whether it is God's love for us or our love for him, seems most likely to be the former

that Paul is thinking of God's love for his people, but the two are inseparable since our love for God is' an outflow of his love for us, so it is certainly appropriate to have both in view as Paul prays that God would direct their hearts to this love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. The image here of directing is someone who prepares and leads down a path. Paul asked God to make the way straight and remove any hindrances, paving the way

and guiding to a deeper knowledge of God's love for them and to an unswerving and unshakeable faith even in the midst of trials and sufferings, a steadfastness that marked Jesus and is to mark his followers.

So to recap, Paul asks for prayer, he establishes his confidence in God's faithfulness and then he concludes by praying for the Thessalonians. Here's my attempt to tie all this together in a one sentence summary, Paul and the Thessalonians pray for one another that Jesus would be known and honored because God is faithful Paul and the Thessalonians pray for one another that Jesus would be known and honored because God is faithful.

Wanna take the rest of our time now to zoom in a little bit and pull that summary apart and consider three principles of prayer that can be drawn from these verses. We pray for one another, we pray that Christ would be known and we pray because of who God is

first we pray for one another. As you have seen, this section opens with a prayer request. It closes with a prayer. It's book ended with the topic of prayer and prayer fills three of the five verses. Think it's safe to say that prayer is a major theme of these verses. This doesn't however seem to be anything particularly remarkable to Paul. He assumes that the Christians and Thessalonika know how to pray and that they put that knowledge into practice.

He doesn't qualify his request at all. If you pray, please pray for us or for those of you who pray, please pray for us. It's a blanket statement. Pray for us. Likewise, after discussing his confidence in God's character and work, Paul naturally flows as he so often does directly into a prayer for his brothers in the faith For both the Thessalonians and for Paul himself. Prayer approaching their heavenly Father and Thanksgiving praise confession

and with requests is what a Christian does.

In addition to Paul, assuming prayer is a normal part of the normal Christian life, it is important to note that prayer is not a one-sided entity, but that prayer is mutual at the beginning. Paul is asking the Thessalonians to pray for him at the end. Paul is praying for them.

I'm gonna guess for most of us we have a pretty strong sense that Paul prayed for the various churches as he wrote them letters. Most of his letters to churches contain at least one prayer on their behalf and it makes sense. Paul, an apostle father in the faith inspired biblical writer, spiritual giant. Surely he will have an active prayer life and pray for those whom he cares about.

But do you also notice that Paul regularly asks the churches to pray for him? In one Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, Romans and here in Second Thessalonians, Paul writes asking the churches to partner with him through their prayers.

These churches were at various points of Christian maturity. Certainly all of them were in some manner younger than Paul himself in the faith, but as Paul asks them to pray for him, this humble example helps us to see that prayer is not one directional. There is no rule that the person who has been a Christian the longest or is the oldest always prays for the one who is younger and never the other way around. No, we pray for one another.

No one is above or beyond the need to have people praying for them and no one is too lowly or young in the faith to pray for others. So prayer is a regular and normal work of the Christian and it is a mutual work in which we partner with one another. As we pursue walking in faith,

is it normal for you to pray, to pray for others, to ask others to pray for you? Are there people you regularly pray for? Are there people who regularly pray for you?

Good questions perhaps to consider.

We're gonna turn now to the content of the prayers In these verses we pray that Christ would be known and honored. What is it that Paul and the Thessalonians pray for one another? Paul's request is that God's word would spread. This may seem only tangentially a prayer request for Paul himself, but it is his great desire throughout his letters that the message of Jesus would be proclaimed where it has not yet been heard

and having been proclaimed it would be received. Having been received, it would be obeyed. The second half of his request that they would pray for His deliverance demonstrates that he is asking for prayer generally for the spread of the word of God and specifically for his role in the advance of this message. So prayer, Paul asks for prayer that the message of Christ would go forth, would not be hindered and would be received with favor and honor.

What is it then that he prays for the church? He prays that God would direct their hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. This word to direct has the connotation of leading in preparing the way. Think of a a trail guide who has gone ahead to mark the path clearly to clear the path of any obstacles. Paul is asking that God would clear the way for the Thessalonians to know more of God's great and unchanging love for them in Jesus

and that they would be shaped by that love in such a way that they would become more and more like this Jesus, That their hearts would be led to dwell on and rest in the love of their faithful God and the work of his son Jesus. To be strengthened by that knowledge and to live out their faith with love to God and imitating the fixed devotion of their savior.

Paul is not interested in spreading the seed of the word only to have it land on rocky, shallow soil where it springs up quickly and where it wilts just as quickly today. We might say that Paul is not simply interested in conversions that he can count, but that he longs to see new Christians grow up to be mature Christians day by day, year by year. He desires to see the word of God take deep root in hearts where it will flourish and continue to grow

and bear fruit for the rest of their lives and into eternity.

Both of these prayers, what Paul requests the Thessalonians to pray and what he prays for them are essentially the same thing. That the knowledge of God and his word would go forth and would be received with honor in Paul's work. This meant that people heard the word for the first time and accepted it in joyful faith for the church. This meant growing in their knowledge of God and his love and responding with increased obedience

and stead fastness in the hearts of those who were both already Christians and not yet Christians. Paul's desire and what he prays for is that they would hear and receive God's word. In faith, this desire of Paul's is simply a reflection of God's own heart. God is at work to save sinners and then to grow those who have been saved in knowledge and holiness. We already saw earlier how prayer is one way we can partner with one another, but in prayer you also have the privilege

of partnering with your God in the work that he is doing in this world, saving and sanctifying a people for himself.

Here are a few more questions to consider. Do you ever feel like you aren't sure what to pray for? These verses give you something that you can always pray in general or for particular people? Do you desire that Jesus Christ would be known and worshiped? Do you long that the hearts of his people would be directed to God's love and to the steadfast faithfulness of Christ?

Do you pray towards those ends?

That is what both Paul was asking for and what he was praying for as he interacts with this church.

Finally, I want to turn your attention to the God to whom we pray. We pray because of who God is. As I mentioned before, prayer is certainly the general theme of these verses, but the specific and central focal point is the nature and character of the God to whom we pray. Paul's request for prayer and his appeal on their behalf in prayer are sandwiched around and built upon the declaration in verse three, but our God is faithful.

That little word but is so often a game changer. It reorients the way we see the world in our circumstances and it does so here as well. He's saying we may be facing adversity and obstacles to the word of the Lord going forward, but our God is faithful. So pray for us. I am writing to help guide and direct and correct you regarding some things that I am hearing, But our God is faithful, so I will pray for you and I'm confident concerning you.

He will not abandon you but will continually guard and keep you.

I wanna just spend a minute thinking about who this faithful God is. He is creator and he is redeemer. He is almighty, infinite, just gracious, loving, good, unchanging, and all wise.

If you put your trust in yourself, you would have no reason to be confident. You are weak, he is strong. You lack understanding. He knows and comprehends all things you have needs. All things belong to him. You are fickle. But our God is faithful depending on man makes no sense. Turning to God in prayer and looking to him for confidence makes all the sense in the world because our God is faithful.

One author that I read this week, I think rightly stated that Paul understood as few of us do how totally dependent Christians are upon the grace of the Lord. Jesus. Prayer is depending on God who is faithful. Another author said that prayer is the translation into a thousand different words of the single sentence which Jesus told his followers in John 15. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Prayer makes sense because of who God is

and because of what he is doing, because he is faithful and at work in our world and in our lives because apart from him we can do nothing but with him all things are possible. Prayer makes total sense. If that were not who God is,

prayer would be meaningless.

Do you believe that apart from God you can do nothing?

Do you believe that whatever is happening in your life or in the lives of those around you are God is faithful?

Do you run to him in prayer, in need, in sorrow, in joy when you are discouraged, when you are fearful, when you are run overwhelmed or when others are?

Or is it often a last resort when you have tried everything else you can think of and you don't know what else to do?

God wants us in his word to see that because he is faithful, we can come to him in prayer with confidence and with eager expectation.

As we come to conclude our time tonight, I, I know that it is easy to feel sort of perpetually guilty about how much or how little you pray Wrestled this week, how to address the topic in a way that doesn't just make us all feel bad, that we don't pray more because I think you'll agree if you look at these verses, that is not Paul's tone. He's not saying, I, I know this is hard. I know nobody knows how to feels like they know how to pray

and nobody feels like they pray enough. None of you want to do it, but come on, buck up. We just, we need you to do this for us. I'll return the favor. I'll find a few minutes to pray for you. That's not at all the tone of what Paul is writing. It is with eagerness and tenderness that he communicates. God is faithful and God is at work. Therefore, pray and ask him to send forth his word that more may know and we will pray for you that you'll know him more

and stand more firmly in him.

So it is with that tone that I want to encourage you tonight to pray. Here are just a couple of ideas of, of how you could do that. Pick some people to pray for and pray for them.

This passage would be a great passage. Paul's request to pray for any of our missionaries. Pray for family members, kids, spouses, pray for your friends. Pray for the elders or the leaders of this church. Pray for your small group. Pray for neighbors. Pray for those that maybe you struggle to get along with. Not directly related, although tangentially related. I was thinking this week, kids, what if you prayed for your brother or sister regularly?

I know they can get on your nerves. I know it can be challenging, but what if you just decided, I'm gonna, I'm gonna pick something and I'm just gonna pray for my brother or sister.

There are lots of things you can pray for, but if you aren't sure what to pray, the advance of God's word and its growth in people's hearts is a great place to start. Look for opportunities to pray with others as you're interacting with each other. As you're talking and something comes up, stop and take a minute to pray. Ask people to pray for you. We have a prayer chain at church that many of you utilize. You can do this in person, can be somebody

that you regularly are communicating with. Would you please pray for me? It could be somebody that you just, a Lord happens to put in your path when you're thinking about it. Let's be willing to be people who ask others. Give people the privilege of being involved in our lives and partnering with us in prayer. Use scripture to pray. Join with what God is doing and meditate upon your faithful God. Remembering who it is that you pray to.

Here in chapter three, Paul is shifting his focus to deal with idleness in the church. He begins by giving them a good work to do. God's word does the same for you tonight. Don't be idle, pray. Pray for one another. Pray that Christ would be known and honored. Pray because our God is faithful. Would you pray with me now?

Father, would you direct our hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ? Would you give us the privilege of being a part of your work, of having your word speed ahead and be honored? Would you use us? Would you use us in the labors of our hands and would you use us in the labors on our knees as we seek you in prayer? Would you be honored as we more and more draw near to you? We ask these things in the name of your son Christ. Amen.