1 Thessalonians 3:11–13

Christ's second coming is transformative. It gives every moment eternal significance and empowers Christians with profound hope, urgency, and purpose. Discover this compelling truth about Christ's second coming through this series in Thessalonians and see how this changes everything.

It's week nine in our series. The series is called This Changes Everything. So let's get our Bibles.

Can we in our journals? And as you're getting all that ready, let me welcome all of our campuses and locations in both Carlisle, Lamoni, of course, and Guttenberg are gathering there and Rita's home. Just glad to have you in this room and upstairs as well. Looking forward to preaching God's word to you and getting under its weight with you.

Before we do all that, just a word of gratitude to all of you. I was able to spend two days last week with our church planters. They constitute what we call the 435 network.

And every time I'm with them, I think of you in all honesty because I am reminded of your heart for God's great commission to multiply, to plant churches, to see more folks come to Christ. So I just want to thank you for the opportunity to pastor among you, but also thank you for just getting on board the heart of God to see his kingdom move forward and see churches planted and believers equipped and lost people reached. I'm really thankful that you are committed to being a church who is ready to reproduce.

You know, our goal is to see 25 churches planted in Iowa by 2035. We're up to nine. We're 16 away with 10 years.

I'm out of breath already, but I'm in. I know you are too. And so let's just continue to pray that God would equip us and empower us to chase hard after that for his glory and your good.

Speaking of churches, I'd like to ask you to consider a question today as we prepare for the text in view. That question is this, how should the church pray for one another? And when I say the church, yes, I mean collectively together, but also individually, how should the church corporately and personally pray for one another? Now, as you ponder that, be aware that there are at least 21 prayers just by the apostle Paul for the churches in the New Testament, the various cities that he went to and planted churches, Thessalonica, Colossae, Ephesus, Rome, not only him directly, but often his influence indirectly. All of these churches, many of these letters that he wrote to these churches contain his prayers for them.

So we know of at least 21 prayers in the New Testament for church. So how should the church pray for one another? Well, there's one in 1 Thessalonians 3. It is the focus of our time this morning. So take your Bibles, would you? 1 Thessalonians 3. We're going to walk through verses 11 to 13 together.

In addition to hiking through this text, I will take a few questions, Lord willing, at the end of our analysis of this text, just before we review and conclude. And of course, we're going to end with a season of prayer in which we'll practice what we see today. Also be aware that in your journals, I have reordered the sequence of things a bit.

I can't change the way your journal looks, but I did flip some messages and how you'll hear them. So find page 47. Next week we'll be back to page 43.

Just to let you know, we're not skipping sections. I just felt like this fit better this week than next week. So all of that in light of the fact that we're answering this question from our text, 1 Thessalonians 3, how should the church pray for one another? Well, here's the prayer in 1 Thessalonians 3. Follow along with me as we read God's word together.

Paul would write, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. May He make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

And the church says together, Amen. That's his prayer. And in this prayer, we really see two main things that Paul prayed for.

First of all, Paul prayed for them to experience God's providential will. Will you say the word providential with me? Providential. Paul prayed for the church to experience God's providential will.

And you see this in verse 11 in which he says, we're praying that God and Father, God our Father, and of course the Lord Jesus direct our way to you. This is at first glance, the physical aspect of his prayer. It's a prayer for God's hand in their journeys and their circumstances.

It's somewhat like when we pray for traveling mercies. You've prayed that before, haven't you? I often wonder like, what does that mean? This is kind of like that. God intervene, oversee direct in our physical affairs and circumstances.

It'd be also similar to what James commanded us to pray in his letter when he said, we should always say, Lord willing, we'll do this or we'll do that. So very similar biblical concepts and principles here. But with a deeper look into verse 11, we're going to realize this is also a continuation of verse 10.

Look at your text with me. Verse 10, it won't be on the screen. Verse 10 won't.

But here in your Bibles, notice it says that he prays very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith. So Paul is praying for God to direct their way for the reason that he can invest in them again, help complete perhaps what's lacking in their faith. I think it's a reference to his sudden departure and the fact that he had to leave quickly.

He couldn't, in his mind, at least finish what he started. He's praying for God to sovereignly oversee his path and intersect it with the Thessalonians so he can finish his ministry that perhaps he feels may have been interrupted. Now, the wording here in the text, direct our way.

In my opinion, it's language that references God's providence. Say that word again with me. Providence.

Interesting word. It's a word or a concept that many unintentionally misunderstand. So take some good notes here.

Let me see if I can walk you through understanding the word providence and thus understanding God's providential will. You see, Paul is not here indicating that God is uninvolved. He's not saying God may, you know, we're going to see if He even cares about us and involves us.

He's not saying that. But neither is he saying that God has to be obviously involved, as in miraculously involved. He's simply acknowledging that in the course of normal, usual events, God controls all things in such a manner, now watch this, that He is subtly involved.

There's no sense we're denying God's ordination of all things. But can we be frank? And I would say this to you, God usually, and more often than not, does it in a subtle fashion that many folks don't even recognize. As opposed to perhaps the miraculous.

Those are more rare. That's why we call them miracles. But this does not mean that God isn't at work.

God is always at work. He does ordain all things. He is in control of all things.

The Bible says that by Him all things consist. But in all frankness, He does this providentially, or we would say through normal, casual, often subtle means. Let me give you an example.

The book of Esther never once directly mentions the name God. You can't find it. It's absent from the Hebrew text.

But you read that short book, and God is all over it. It records a portion of Israel's history in which they just about went extinct. But God moved in such incredible ways that actually looked very ordinary.

That's providence. So a good key word would be subtle, normal, casual, ordinary. This doesn't mean that God isn't sovereign.

He totally is in complete control. But how He does it is what providence refers to. And that often He works in subtle, normal, casual ways.

And remember, this doesn't exclude the miraculous, but it doesn't mandate it or deny it either. Now, I believe this happens to us a lot more than we ever realize. But often we don't understand the truth, so we don't recognize it.

Perhaps now you'll see it more in your life because you're recognized. It's like when you buy a blue Chevy. You think no one has a blue Chevy until you buy one.

Then everyone's got a blue Chevy. Now that you understand more about providence, you're going to see it in your life more. Let me share with you two recent examples that I think you'll rejoice in.

Last week in my small group, one of our small group members chatted with me and with us, our entire group, about some things in his life that he was praying towards. Things related to relationships. I won't get real specific here.

But how he wanted to do all he could. And he was wondering, perhaps I have. Is it time to kind of maybe back off of those? Is my conscience clear? Have I really done all I can to correct perhaps misinterpretation or misinformation or assumptions? So he's going through this.

We've been preaching about it for at least two weeks. I got this text from him two days later. I'll read it almost verbatim.

I've taken the names out to protect the innocent. He says, Todd, I wanted to share with you that after our conversation, after the small group on Sunday, I got a call two days later from that very person. I also received a card in the mail from the other person.

So I take that as the Holy Spirit telling me to keep on trying to maintain those relationships. He hadn't reached out at all to those people and yet they responded. I should say they initiated something to him that hadn't been done for years.

You know what that's called? That's called God's providential will through a phone and the mail. And I love this new believer sensing this is God working in my life. Not to run, but to actually invest more now.

What a beautiful picture of His growth. Here's another example. I was speaking with a friend this week in our church and he was just relating to me about a decision he made in the past.

He said, yeah, we were debating whether we should buy an RV or a place in the country. They were approaching some retirement years and he thought one of these two would really work well for things you want to do. So he thought he would test out the RV.

He had a friend who had one. They went together for a week, but while they were RVing, a storm came and they had to stay an extra two weeks in the RV. He said after we got back, we both said to each other, RVing isn't for us.

And they bought a place in the country. That's God's providential will through a storm. Are you hearing this all right? You're tracking what providential will is now? Isn't it humbling how God providentially works to answer our prayers in ways that often appear subtle, normal, casual, and I'm going to say this with all reverence, even at times accidental, almost coincidental.

But we know there's no such thing as coincidence. Everything is sovereignic. It's not even ironic.

God is in control of all things. He ordains everything. So when something sovereignly happens that to you seems like that's the most incredible timing, we say in our home, that's quite sovereignic.

And God's providential will is working its way out in your life. Now let's make sure we don't forget the most dramatic example of God's providential will. It's the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

And I quote for you Acts 2.23 in which when Peter preached, he said this, that Christ was crucified according to the determined plan of God. And then he says this, through the hands of lawless men who killed Him and nailed Him to a tree. If you would have been alive in that day, you would have thought, I can't believe this injustice.

And it was an injustice, no doubt. You would have seen the wreckage, the wickedness of idolatrous people, hell bent on getting rid of Jesus. And you would have also been watching the plan of God before the foundation of the world unfolding.

Who else is amazed at how God works? That's the providential will of God. So if you're here this morning and lights are turning on in your head, can I say to you, it's no accident you're here this morning. Perhaps you're realizing, I thought that whole thing that happened at a crucifixion, God's plan gone awry.

No, no. His death was prophesied thousands of years before it occurred. And it occurred in such specific detail, the prophecies were spot on.

His resurrection was prophesied. God's plan unfolded perfectly and at just the right time, Galatians 4.4 says. And now in light of that, God calls all men and women everywhere to repent and believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came at the perfect time, fulfilled God's perfect plan to be our sacrifice and yet in a way that seemed horrifically unjust.

But it was what God intended to save all who believe. Hallelujah for God's providential will. This is what Paul is praying for.

God's providential will. He was praying specifically that God would sovereignly direct, guide, steer His path across the Thessalonians' path. That He would reunite them in some fashion so He could keep ministering to them.

So let me ask you a question. What physical things could you be praying about today? Like healing. God can miraculously heal.

He can gift the gift of healing to any one of His believers and in a moment God can heal through that means or He could providentially heal through a thing that we call medicine. Over time, through doctors and nurses. How about opportunities and meetings and dates and decisions? Pray for God's providential will in all of those.

You heard one this morning when Ali prayed. He prayed that God would cross your paths with folks who are new to Ankeny while you're holding a bag in your hand. That there would be open doors.

That's going to seem like a normal ordinary meeting. Hey neighbor, just want to drop off a bag to you and welcome you to our neighborhood, to our community. But who knows what God is actually doing that you can't even see and that they aren't aware of.

I think it's all making sense, isn't it? And Paul is praying that this church in Thessalonica would experience God's providential will. Notice the second and final part of this prayer. It's the last two verses.

Jot this down. Paul prayed for them to experience God's sanctifying work. So in the first part he says, I'm praying that you'll know and experience God's providential will here.

That they'll experience God's sanctifying work. This is the spiritual aspect of his prayer. That God would work inside them.

In the first part of his prayer it's more the physical and the outside. Here he's praying for the spiritual and the inside. He's praying that God would cause them to engage in specific Christian and spiritual habits.

Actions that are typical and normative for those who follow Christ. And notice if you would the two internal areas as described in the text. Would you notice what he says here? It's the last two verses.

He says, I'm praying that the Lord would cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another. That's the first part. Second part is that he would make your hearts blameless in holiness before our God.

So there are two types of internal work going on here. And he's praying to this end. First of all, he's praying for a growing love for one another.

The word here for increase is the word for enlarge. Think about like a balloon. And as you, what does it do? It grows, it increases, it enlarges.

And Paul is saying here he's wanting their love to enlarge. And he's knowing and he's saying that it's done by the Lord. The Lord causes this.

I think in another epistle Paul actually says that we are taught by God how to love one another. Same idea here. And let me give you just a very practical pastoral hint how to see this happen in your life.

We typically imitate what we appreciate. Say it with me. We imitate what we appreciate.

So dwell on the love of the Lord. Focus on the unconditional, unfathomable mercy of God that he would save you. That he would providentially put you in earshot of the gospel at some point in your life.

Give you faith to believe, convict you, bring you to your knees, give you space and time to respond. And in that moment of your response, he saves you, gives you eternal life. Like all of that you had nothing to do with.

God did all of that. That's an incredible amount of love. No wonder John would write, see what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God.

When he says what manner of love, the most literal rendering of that text is see what type of otherworldly love. It's love you have no framework for. It's out of this world love.

You dwell on that, dig into that, think about that, meditate on that. Here's what will happen. Your heart will begin to express that towards others.

Because what we appreciate we eventually imitate. He also prays for them to have a blameless heart before the Lord. This is verse 13.

I think this is referencing simply a clear conscience. I talk about it pretty extensively last week on the podcast. I invite you to go back and hear that.

But what Paul is referring to here is a heart of holiness before God, a clear conscience that he's done all he can do to stay in the right relationship with people. And he sees a day that they will be together, he and the Thessalonians. So even if their path doesn't cross, if God doesn't physically direct their path that way, he knows he'll see them spiritually when Christ comes.

So he's praying, God, make my heart blameless even now in light of that day. He's praying that he'll obey today in light of that day. An obedience that proves we love and value others and that we love and value the Lord.

That's sanctification, isn't it? As our love for God grows, our love for others grows, and we treat them rightly. We are involved in righteous acts, and we do this progressively, incrementally, and often very slowly. But don't you love what God does over time? Amen.

Some of you saw me 21 years ago as a young pastor here at First Family, and you're thankful that it's been 21 years. I'm not the guy I used to be. And I say the same about many of you.

You have grown so beautifully. God has grown you. I see your kids who've been born.

Many of you here, your kids are born. I've watched them grow up, and now they're either in college or late high school. Man, they're a different person than they were when they were three in the nursery, right? So you think about obedience and maturity and growth, this idea of sanctification, loving others and then loving the Lord enough to make sure we had a clear conscience.

This is what Paul is praying for. God's work of sanctification in our hearts. I saw this happen beautifully this last Sunday.

One of our high school juniors came up to me after the service, and he said, Todd, I have a question for you. He said, how should I start giving to the church? High school junior. He's hearing things from his parents, I'm pretty sure.

He remembers our series in January on stewardship. He says to me now in late March, how should I start giving to the church? Then he went on to say this, I have a more regular income now because I've got a more steady job as a junior in high school. And he said, I really want to obey in this earlier than later.

He said, now I have a car and I owe some money on the car, but most of that loan is through my father. And so I just want to know like, how can I set this up and how much should I give? So I did not back away pastorally. I said to him, I think you should start at 10% right away.

Here's why the devil would love to make you think you're doing a very sacrificial thing by giving one or 2%. And then you'll never get out of that habit because debt will accrue. You'll have things happen and you'll think I just can't give anymore.

If you'll start now at 10% and let that be the framework by which you live, it will be much easier after marriage and kids. I said, it is far better. And we heard this from our elders in January.

It is far wiser and better to live on 90% with God's blessing than on 100% without it. And so he nodded his head and I said, and you can just set that up through our website and it automatically deducts and you're given notifications. So every week when you get that email, you can rejoice that you've had a chance to support the work of God.

I said, I would encourage you give to and through your church. And then I said, but if you find that it's a little too much in light of the car payment you have to your dad, go to your father and say, dad, I really want to ingrain a solid habit into my life. I want to give 10%.

I want to start that way. So I'm not struggling later. Could you lower my car payment? I said, I'll guarantee you your dad would jump on board that in a heartbeat to hear his son talking about spiritual habits.

And if he doesn't, you let me know. I'll talk to him. Right? Isn't it beautiful to watch God's sanctification, the life of a junior in high school in something as personal and as difficult at times as giving sacrificially, but that's progressive sanctification.

Now, as we think about these last two verses, I want to show you something that I think could be unintentionally overlooked. You have your Bibles there, right? Perhaps you'll see this on the screen as well in these verses, but notice that in the CSB, it looks like it's two sentences. May God cause you to love one another more.

And then may God cause you to be blameless in holiness, but they're really connected. Here's why I'm going to be very nerdy with you. Just follow along with me.

Verse 11 and verse 12, both begin with conjunctions. You see the word now, and you see the word and, but verse 13, actually in the original begins with a preposition and we call it a preposition of direction. In other words, it's designed to be a preposition that shows the end game of something.

So this version says, may he make your hearts. But in some translations, I think the translations go like this. So that, or to the end, in fact, you're making, you may have one of those.

That's a very good translation. These are really one sentence, 12 and 13, and they're connected because watch this, the first feeds the second. When your love for one another grows, then you will go to great lengths to make sure you got a clear conscience.

So Paul is connecting this. And personally, I see this as fitting the context perfectly and quite beautifully. I mean, think about the previous 12 verses.

Paul is explaining how he went to great lengths out of his love for them to make sure they knew he was blameless, that his sudden departure and quick leaving was out of his control. He was concerned for their condition, even after he left. So all of that is really Paul now modeling what he's asking them to pray.

Pray that you will love each other more and more, because that's when you go to great lengths on their behalf. And he's saying, in fact, in light of Christ's coming, we should be motivated more and more to love each other and do what it takes to stay in right relationship, correct false assumptions, make sure we align any miscommunication, because we love people and we're going to see them and be with them for eternity. Paul didn't want to dread that day.

And so he's saying, I'm praying that you'll love each other more and have a blameless heart. And these work together as we love each other. We'll find ourselves really working hard for a clear conscience before God and with others.

Now, before I take a couple of questions, let me just say this to you as well. I think I would be in double digits. Literally, I think I'd be in double digits if I told you the amount of texts and calls and emails I received just last week from many of you who have gone the extra mile in many of your relationships because you love them and desire a blameless heart.

It's God answering prayer in moving many of you to deal with things in your past or even in your current situations where there may be unintentional miscommunication, misalignment in relationships. And you're going the extra mile, sacrificing. You're praying that God is working.

I had multiple meetings this week about that. And then I got multiple small group leaders calling me or emailing me saying, Todd, our group had a fantastic discussion. We've got two or three of our members committing to this action and that action.

I just want to thank you for hearing the Lord. And I want to thank the Lord for his sanctification in our church. Amen.

And make sure you hear this church. The only way any of this happens, the only way we experience God's providential will and his sanctifying work is because of God. I know it's repetitive, but I would remind you in these three verses, in this prayer for the church, God is mentioned nine times, either in direct name, a direct noun or an indirect pronoun.

Three verses, nine times. So let us pray in faith for God's will and God's work. And frankly, if you want to see change and growth and you want to observe what God is doing, how he's working, even in the mundane and subtle and normal and casual, the place to start is by praying in faith to God.

It is our first and best action. Well, while that percolates a little bit, let me see if I can take two questions. Thanks for texting these in.

Here we go. If God's providential will is always at work, how do we reconcile that with times when our prayers for direction seem to go unanswered or they lead to disappointment? Let me just remind you that God is always at work doing something longer and bigger than what's in the moment. So in the most succinct fashion, the best answer I would give is you're going to be disappointed if you have short distance eyes.

If you'll develop long distance eyes, I think you can stave off and fight against disappointment with God. There's always more going on than what you see. Always.

He's always working longer and bigger every time. Here's my proof, and I'll be done with the answer with this. The Bible.

The Bible is the metanarrative of God's plan. But if you read it, you're like, that's a rough day. That's a great day.

That's a tragic story. But everything is designed to bring to completion the plan of God, which is Jesus Christ. So the Bible itself is an example that God is always doing more than you see.

He's up to something longer and bigger. So in your moment, try to have long distance eyes and know this, though I don't see it currently, God is doing more. Keep believing, keep trusting.

And by the way, that more is for sure way beyond your lifetime. Often what God does in your life is not even realized until your life is over and your legacies and through your children and grandchildren or work you've accomplished or things you've left behind. God is always doing more in a longer and bigger fashion than you'll ever know.

Trust him. That's one of the ways that we can then deal with the disappointment. We feel we don't see direct answers right away.

Question number two, we'll take a shot at this. Paul prays for love and holiness to grow in us, but a lot of Christians feel stuck in their faith. If God is the one who brings change, how much of it is on us when we don't see progress? Well, I'll answer that first in a very simple way.

All of it. Next question, right? But I think the heart of the question is, I don't want to be stuck. I don't want to just be the guy who's at fault, like, okay, it's on you.

Let's move on. Here's what I want you to hear. After I think about this more and he's actually, or she was actually wondering, like, how does sanctification work? If you feel stuck in your faith, but yet, you know, God has promised to sanctify you here.

Here's what I would encourage you to do. Do the next right thing quickly, because here's what's true biblically. Your sanctification is a guaranteed fact.

God will sanctify you fully at the coming of Jesus Christ. Some of you are making more progress towards that than others, by the way. But no one gets left out of sanctification.

Here's where you come into play. I believe the Bible teaches you affect the pace of your sanctification while on the earth. When Christ comes, we'll all be sanctified, glorified perfectly.

We can affect the pace of that by obedience in the here and now. So I say this a lot. You don't affect the fact of your sanctification, but you do affect the pace of it.

It is an act of God's grace, just like salvation. But in sanctification, you do participate in the pace of it. And you always grow better and faster when you do the next right thing quickly.

And when you start chain-linking a lot of next right things close together, you're going to feel like somebody poured Miracle-Gro on you. And this is the problem why many of you are stuck. You know the next right thing, but you simply won't do it.

And so you think it's God not doing His work. Oh, it's not God. He's doing His work.

He's convicting you. He's pressing on you. He sure is.

And you feel it, don't you? I want to challenge you. Obey. Do the next right thing quickly.

And as you get into a habit of doing the next right thing quickly, you're going to find that your growth will just skyrocket. That's how holiness grows in us. When we know it's God's will and God's work, but we feel like it's slow, it is on us.

And let's pick up the pace by doing the next right thing quickly. Hope that helps with the two questions. We'll just end there with two.

I'm a minute 25 in the red already. So what do you say we review and we'll wrap this up and go to our season of prayer, can we? Here's what we've seen today, that Paul prayed for them to experience, say it with me, God's providential will. And he prayed for them to experience God's sanctifying work.

And why did Paul pray this way? Here's our Thessalonian truth for the third week in a row, because people matter. That really is the underlying foundation of not only this chapter, but many of the verses in chapter two. Paul knew they mattered.

And so he ended his defense of what happened, so to speak, with this prayer. So church, hear this, people matter. And so we, say it with me, pray.

And I'm asking you specifically to pray for these two things for your church.