Paul's Prayer for the Thessalonians

Review of Chapters 1-3 and Introduction to Paul's Prayer

0:02 Just briefly, by way of review, I would remind you of the main thrust of this very personal, intimate letter of Paul to the infant church of the Thessalonians. Chapter 1 is primarily occupied with Paul's paragraph of praise to God when he thinks of what has been wrought there at Thessalonica through the preaching of the gospel. And the great lesson we learn from this paragraph of praise is essentially this, that when sinners are converted and thriving churches established, it is because God has worked sovereignly, powerfully, and in keeping with the purposes of electing grace and distinguishing love. Paul is not thanking himself, nor is he thanking the Thessalonians for their conversion and the establishment, of a strong church whose testimony had gone out into that whole area. But he starts in verse 2 by saying, We give thanks to God. So, wherever sinners are converted, and whenever churches like this are established, it's because God has done something.

1:17 And he has done it, according to verses 4 and 5, in keeping with his own electing grace and distinguishing love, and has accomplished it by his, mighty power. For the gospel came not in word only, but in power. That's the great lesson, in a nutshell, of chapter 1. Now, what's the great lesson of chapter 2?

1:40 In this chapter, particularly the first 12 verses, Paul describes himself and his fellow workers. And the great lesson there is this, that though God works sovereignly in the saving of sinners and the establishing of churches, he uses workmen, suited to the task. And so we have the mark of a true minister and a true ministry in that second chapter, particularly the first 12 verses. Then, to the end of the chapter, Paul, as it were, lays bare his heart of his great concern for these people, having been severed from them so abruptly because of persecution.

2:21 He's yearning to know their spiritual state, and he begins to move into this, this section that brings us into chapter 3, where he speaks of his great anxiety. Twice he uses the phrase, chapter 3 and verse 1, and again in verse 5, when we could no longer forbear, 20th century vernacular, when we could stand it no longer, we sent Timothy in order to know your spiritual state. Now, what is the great lesson, then, of chapter 3, as far as we've studied it? Chapter 1, when sinners are converted and church is established, it's because God did it.

3:02 Chapter 2, God pleases to do this work, or chooses to do this work, through vessels fitted for that kind of work. Chapter 3, the proof of the reality of what God has done sovereignly through fitted workmen, is that what he does continues. And so the great concern of Paul in chapter 3 is to know whether or not these people have gone on in spite of opposition, in spite of persecution, in spite of all the problems which they encountered. And we saw from our study of this section that Paul rejoiced when the news was brought back from Timothy that in spite of all this opposition, the work of God was going on. And so Paul says in verses 7 and 8, Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith, for now we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. Now, recognizing that God had begun the work and had been pleased to use him and his associations, his associates, and that God was now carrying on that work, this leads Paul to express to them something of his prayer for them and then his deep longing on their behalf. This brings us now to our study this morning, of verses 9 and 10,

Paul's Thanksgiving: Occasion and Focus

4:28 the apostles' prayer for these Thessalonians who, in spite of persecution and opposition, are going on with God, and then verses 11 through 13, which we'll study next week, God willing, his deep longing and wish on their behalf. Verses 9 and 10. For what thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy wherewith we joy, for your sakes before our God, night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. As we come to study these two verses and what God would say to us, let us pause for a moment of prayer and ask the help of the Holy Spirit in understanding the word of God.

5:23 O Lord, again we acknowledge as we take your word into our hands and set its truth before our minds that unless the same Spirit who wrote it initially is pleased to illuminate our minds, this shall be a closed, sealed portion to us. O be pleased to open our eyes that we may behold wondrous, practical, helpful things out of thy word. Speak to us now, O Lord, as we turn to thee in a conscious act of faith and in a conscious act of faith. Express our dependence upon thee.

6:01 Amen.

6:05 Now, I've suggested that these two verses are a record of the Apostle's prayer. And I say that because he says in verse 9 that whatever this matter of thanksgiving is, that it's thanksgiving rendered before God. What thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God? Before our God or in the presence of God.

6:34 And then verse 10 is obviously a record of his prayer for he says night and day praying exceedingly. Now, Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians breaks down very neatly into two main categories, thanksgiving and petition. Verse 9 is the record of the thanksgiving that he renders in his prayer and verse 10, the specific content of the thanksgiving. That is, petition.

7:01 So let's consider his prayer under that two-fold heading. First of all, his thanksgiving, the occasion of it, and then secondly, the focus of it. Now, what occasioned this thanksgiving to God? For what thanks can we render to God again for you?

7:21 He had been thanking God for the Thessalonians, but something triggered a repeat and an intensifying of his thanksgiving. Well, of course, it was this visit from Timothy recorded in verse 6. But now when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and love and that we have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you. The occasion of his thanksgiving in prayer was this report brought from Timothy regarding the third day of his life.

8:00 The day, the love and the desire of the Thessalonians to see the apostle and his companions. Now, we might say by way of application there's a very helpful principle here. The church of the Thessalonians had some very practical news. They apparently didn't understand the doctrine of the second coming.

8:22 As many heathen societies who did not look down with any disdain upon the matter of fornication, apparently there was some tendency to moral laxity as we shall see in our study of the fourth chapter. And apparently some were lazy and needed to be stirred up to work and to labor. But though there were problems, Timothy apparently came and at least started with the positive notes. He brought an accurate report to Paul of the state of the Thessalonians, but he brought it in such a way that he didn't turn a bright Monday into a gloomy Monday for the apostles.

9:03 His report was a balanced, accurate conveyance of the facts, and he gave them in due proportion. And there's a wonderful lesson for us here. Timothy could have come back and only told the bad things and left the good things undone. If so, Paul would not have been able to say, what thanks can we render to God for you?

9:23 He would have said, what tears can we shed before God on your behalf? And so often, Paul would say, what tears can we shed before God on your behalf? And so often, Paul would say, what tears can we shed before God on your behalf? And so often, in our reporting of the state of the work of God in a given place, we seem to magnify the problems and overlook the blessings.

9:39 It's so easy for us, many times, to misinterpret the facts, as Mary did. When they came to her in the garden, and she had this conclusion, reported in John chapter 20 and verse 2, They have taken away my Lord, and we know not where they've laid him. Well, nothing could have been further from the truth. She had a few facts.

9:59 She drew a conclusion, and she pronounced her conclusion as a sealed case. And so often we do this. We observe a problem in the life of a believer, in the life of the church, and taking a few facts, we draw a conclusion, and then we make that pronouncement. Not so with Timothy.

10:17 Sure, there were problems in the church at Thessalonica, but the fact that they were going on in the face of persecution, persevering against wind and tide and storm, the편we ization, who comes with this it report, beginning of the positive note, and causes great rejoicing to the Apostle, so much for the occasion of his Thanksgiving in prayer. Notice now, and more particularly, the focus of his Thanksgiving. He said, is this, that Timothy's report of how they were going on, standing fast, to use the term in verse 8, for now we live, if we stand fast in the Lord, Paul would say with John, as we read in 2 John 1, 4, I rejoice to hear that my children walk in the truth. 3 John 3 and 4, he says, I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear

The Focus of Paul's Joy: Continuance in Faith

11:41 that my children walk in the truth. So that Paul's rejoicing, occasioned by the report of Timothy, focused upon this simple principle, that those who began well were continuing well. Now, one servant of God has said he does not know whether the joy of regeneration or conversion is greater than the joy of sanctification and continuance in the people of God. Now why should Paul be so delighted? Well, for the simple reason that Paul was not guilty of an irresponsible fathering of spiritual children. He looked upon men as objects of the redemption work of God. And that work has as its goal not merely rescuing men from perdition, not merely that they might be converted so that their destiny will be changed, but the apostle understood that the whole goal of redemption is set forth so beautifully in Romans 8, 29, is to conform men and women to the likeness of Jesus Christ, whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed to the innermost.

12:59 He is seen as exalted by God. He had been carried in the balance. When he was defeated to faith, Paul was amazed by the glory of theדיance of his son. So that when men had a good beginning, Paul rejoiced. But in one sense he held his breath and held back a lot of his rejoicing, so he realized that the goal of redemption would not realize simply when men were converted. But it was only as they proved the genuineness of their conversion by standing fast and going on. And then his rejoicing was commensurate with the two parts, a sight of the congregant on the outside and aちは within, the 밝ness tokens of their continuance in the way of God. Now let's illustrate this from the standpoint of human parenthood. A true parent, a mother or father worthy of the name, is one who brings

13:45 forth a child not just to have a clean bundle of soft flesh in his or her arms. I find it awfully difficult to be patient and to be silent when I see parents who seem to be so preoccupied with the privilege and the selfish indulgence, is what it becomes, of having a bundle of warm flesh in their arms, who don't realize that they are bringing forth a future father, a future mother, a future citizen, a future father. A future subject of the king of kings and the lord of lords, a future block in the house of God, a future branch in the vine of God. And any mother or father who is guilty of having lots of rejoicing because a life has been delivered, sound and sane, but who is not at the same time crushed with the sense of responsibility that this life is here, not as a result of the fact that this life is here, but as a result of the fact that this life is here, not as a result of the fact that this life is here, but as a result of the fact that this life is here, but as the beginning of a whole process of development that that life might take its place in the plan and purpose of God to bring glory to

15:06 God, such a person is not worthy of the task and privilege of parenthood. What is true in the physical and the natural is true in the spiritual. We have in our day all kinds of irresponsible fathering of children in evangelism. Whole movements from the concerned about getting people born, and then unless they're letting them drift, and in many cases they're not truly born. They're ripped from the womb before gestation has gone to its full turn, and they are still born so often. And so the Apostle Paul rejoices because, recognizing that principle, that when God saves men, it's the beginning of the process. He can't help but rejoice when there's evidence that the process is going on with blessing. I actually heard a man say before thousands of people that he would far rather get 5,000 people into heaven, even though they got there in pretty bad shape, than be concerned about developing mature, well-rounded saints and only have a thousand

16:25 people get to heaven in that shape. And this man is one of the greatest leaders in the future. He's the world of evangelism in our day. He's influencing hundreds and thousands of pastors and Christian leaders. He's not a man native to our own country. Don't try to think who it is. That's not the issue. The issue is that such a man could be raised to such a place of prominence in the evangelical world in our day, and that people would accept this kind of philosophy. I'd rather have 5,000 people, he says, get converted and make it to heaven in bad shape than have a thousand vectors.

17:02 What he's saying is that he has chosen an end of his own. Whereas God's end is to bring many sons to glory who have been made like unto his own dear son. So that the issue is not quantity as against quality, but the issue is quality in quantity. And in that order, we must never relinquish the goal of God in redemption.

17:34 Which is to remake men into the very image of the Son of God. And conversion is but the beginning of that process which goes on until they are glorified. May I say by way of application, parents, this is true of you in the natural realm as well. When the thought grips you as a mother or a father that I've brought into the world this precious little bundle of soft, warm flesh.

18:03 Not just the normal flesh, but the flesh of the Father. to have a bundle of flesh that will prove to me that I might present God and society with a material adult who can take his or her place in youthfulness and glorify God.

18:21 And it's not a matter of saying, well, I'm too busy to spend time with the kids. And it's not a matter of saying, well, we've got so many things we've got to get for the kids that we can't take. It's a matter of something that militates against bringing yourself to molding and shaping and developing that life so it comes to maturity, able to take its place to the glory of God and to the good of society. And I tell you, my heart burns within me when I see that irresponsible parents of mine rule they know nothing better than the church.

19:04 The Apostle Paul does not guilty of this. May God help us that we shall not be guilty of it, either in the spiritual or in the natural. But I must hurry on. This is not the main thrust of the message.

Paul's Petition: Characteristics of His Prayer

19:16 We've looked at his thanksgiving, the occasion of it, the focus of it. Now notice his petition. Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith. Notice in the first place the characteristics of his prayer, and then we'll look at the substance of his prayer.

19:39 Now what characterized his prayer to the Thessalonians?

19:44 His petition for them. Well, in the first place...

19:47 In the first place he says it was incessant. Night and day praying. Now does that mean he was on his knees 24 hours a day? Well, if so, he was an unusual person because he said in chapter 2 and verse 9, For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail for laboring night and day.

20:09 Now a man who can labor night and day and pray night and day, if that means in the sense that he's actually working with his hands night and day and praying night and day, he's an unusual person. What does he say? That he was found in his closet 24 hours a day? No.

20:25 What he is saying is this, that in his waking hours he has these people upon his heart. Whether he's actually in the closet of prayer or out going somewhere to preach and making tents in order to provide his own sustenance, during the waking, working hours of the day he has these people upon his heart. And he's asking God for certain things. In the night time, as he's drifting off to sleep, he has them upon his heart.

20:55 If he wakes in the night hours for one reason or another, immediately the Thessalonians and their needs, they come to his heart. So it's the picture of a man whose heart is pregnant with holy desires for these people and he carries those desires with him through the day and into the night and on into the coming day. So that his prayer was marked as to its characteristic. First of all, by being incessant.

21:23 Night and day, praying. Now this whole matter of importunity or repetition in prayer is a very delicate thing. For we know on the one hand that Scripture says we're not to be like the heathen who think they shall be heard for their much speaking. So God condemns merely repeating prayers for the sake of repeating them.

21:47 On the other hand, our Lord encourages us to continue to ask over and over again. Remember he gave the illustration of the man who came to his friend at midnight in Luke chapter 11 and he knocked on the door. He remensed. So he knocked again.

22:02 He said, my kids are with me in bed. Don't bother me. He just kept right on knocking. And the Lord says, I say unto you, keep on knocking.

22:09 Luke 18, the same example. That widow met that judge every time he turned a corner from his house and came out the gate in the morning. There she was, grabbing onto his coat, saying, Look, avenge me my adversary. Go away, woman, I've got no time for you.

22:22 The next morning, there she is. Avenge me my adversary. Go away, woman, I've got no time for you. Morning after morning, finally, the guy says, no use.

22:30 This woman doesn't understand. No? What's your trouble? She says, well, my trouble is this.

22:35 All right, all right. I don't care a hoot for you and I don't fear God, but to get you off my back, I'll give you what you want. That's a 20th century paraphrase. It's being true to the whole spirit of it.

22:47 Now, the Lord says, The judge said, And I say unto you, shall not God avenge his own elect? Which one? Cry unto him, day and night. Now, how do we fix this together?

23:01 On the one hand, we're told to avoid vain repetitions. On the other hand, we're told to cry to God day and night. Here's the apostle. Night and day, pray.

23:11 Well, I believe the principle is this. That the language of unfulfilled desire is what? Repetition. The language of unfulfilled desire is repetition.

23:28 The man's in love with a young woman and he wants her to marry him and she says no. Well, he can't come up with a different speech. He still wants her to marry him. So when he asks her again, there's only one thing he can say.

23:38 Will you marry me? And she says no the second time. Well, he doesn't want to say, will you shine my shoes? Or will you polish my fingernails?

23:45 And he can't change his request. If he loves her and wants to marry her, there's only one thing he knows to say the next time. Will you marry me? You see, the language of unfulfilled desire is what?

23:56 Is repetition. It's repetitive. So that unlike the heathens, who think that somehow their repeating of their prayers will pile up enough weight in the scales to tip the disposition of God's heart to give them what they want, there's no sense of that here. It's just that when the heart is set upon a blessing from God and that blessing is delayed, as long as the desire for the blessing is there, we must continue to ask.

24:24 And so that's not vain repetition. That's the kind of insistence in prayer that the Lord Jesus commends and encourages people, encourages his people to have. And that's what marks the prayer of the apostle for these people. The characteristic of his petition?

24:43 Incessant. Secondly, it was intensely earnest. Night and day, praying. And this next word is a very unique word.

24:52 Praying exceedingly. It's used two other times in the New Testament. It's the one used in Ephesians 3.20 and translated in the following way.

25:04 Ephesians 3 and verse 20.

25:11 Now unto him that is able to do, and here's the one word translated with the following three words, exceeding abundantly above. The word as it stands alone, means abounding. Over and above what is necessary. Added to it are two other prepositions.

25:32 So it's a compound word, translated in Ephesians 3.20, exceeding abundantly above. And then it's used again in 1 Thessalonians 5.13.

25:43 So it's the idea here, that Paul is praying, not only incessantly, but with intense earnestness. Night and day, praying, with exceeding, abounding, abundant, abounding, petitions. So whatever he's asking of God with respect to the Thessalonians, he's sure enough in dead earnest. He's not foolish.

26:10 He wants the blessing for which he seeks God. Well, so much then for the characteristic of his prayer. What was the substance of it? We've looked at how he prayed.

Paul's Petition: Substance of His Prayer

26:19 Now let's look at what he prayed. Here it is. Two things. That we might see your face, and, might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.

26:31 Two things that he was praying for with this incessant, intensely earnest kind of praying. Number one, to see them face to face. Number two, to perfect their faith. Now why did he want to see them face to face?

26:48 Well, for the simple reason that's the longing of love. Love is never satisfied with anything less than face to face prayer. Love is never satisfied with anything less than face to face communion with the object of its love. Isn't that why you long to go to heaven?

26:59 What does the scripture hold forth as the great blessing of that day when the Lord Jesus comes again? We shall be like him, for we shall what? See him as he is. I remember a blind man, a fine, godly Christian man, who lost his eyes as a seventeen year old fellow in the hold of a ship on his way to one of the battles in the Second World War.

27:05 And he said to me, You know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, the Lord Jesus. And I believe Sparky meant that. You see, the longing of the love of his heart was to look upon his Savior. That's the longing of love. That's not only true

28:05 with regard to our relationship to Christ, but it's true of personal relationships. And Paul had been wretched so suddenly from these dear people, and now he says, I'm crying to God day and night with this superabounding, incessant praying that I might see your face. You say, that's kind of selfish, isn't it? No. You see, God's delighted with the longings of our hearts that are the fruit of his own work of grace in us. Why would Paul want to see these people? Why, before he was converted, he couldn't have cared less for these people, unless it was to grab them and lay hold of them and put them in prison. But the Lord changed them, and by this we know we've passed from death unto life. Why? Because we love

28:52 the brethren. And here was the sanctified longing of his heart. And we need not be afraid of these sanctified longings. And I've desperately needed this doctrine of Scripture. Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Sanctified longings to see certain saints. There's nothing wrong with that. And we have rights, scriptural grounds to pray that God might be pleased to let us have those longings satisfied. And so this is his longing, that he might see them face to face. And in the original, it's very clear that he's not saying to see you face to face in order to perfect your faith. In other words, seeing them face to face was not primarily a means to an end. It was of itself an end. He longed to be back with these people and

29:46 to delight in their God together. And he says his second longing, which formed the substance of his prayer, was that he might perfect that which was lacking. In their faith. Now this word perfect means to readjust, to restore, to mend, to render fit, sound, or complete. It's the word used of the apostles before they were apostles when they were by the seashore mending their nets. There was the net, but it had some imperfections and they were fixing the imperfections. That's the word he uses here. He said, I want to mend. I want to perfect that which is lacking. He said, you've got some shortcomings. You've got some shortcomings. And I want to make up those shortcomings. And he says those shortcomings were in their faith. Now this word faith, of course, is used with great latitude in scripture. Sometimes it refers to what is believed. Sometimes to the truth of what is

30:50 believed. Sometimes to the actual act of believing. In this case, it no doubt refers to at least two things. The matter which they believe.

31:01 There was something defective in their faith. They did not understand clearly the doctrine of the second coming. Someone had apparently started the rumor that if you were alive when the Lord came, why, you'd have sort of a five-yard head start on those that had died. And so they were despising some that had died. And here's some dear saint who says, but wait, my wife loved the Lord and she's died. Is she going to have a, am I going to have a niche on her when the Lord comes back again? So Paul writes in the fourth chapter, and he says, now look, I want to straighten you out. We who are alive and remain are not going to go before those that are dead. In fact, when the voice of the archangel sounds and the trumpet of God sounds, the dead in Christ shall rise first. If anybody has the head start there, they shall rise first. They've got to get up to where we are before the Lord will take us. See, we want to be right together. See? And the idea was, we who are alive, by

31:58 the time they come out of their graves and the body and the body of the Lord will be the soul and the spirit that join to the body. Why, we've got a head start and we'll make it before them. He says, oh no, we're going to stand right still till the graves are open and they come out and then we shall be what? Caught up together. It's going to be dead heat. Nobody's going to make it first. It's going to be a full day of finish. Dead heat, you see. So he had to straighten them out in their thinking about the second coming.

32:24 There was something defective in their faith. First of all, as to the matter of what they were believing. And then secondly, as to the fruit of how they believed it. There was obviously some tendency to immorality, some tendency to laziness. This will come out in our further exposition.

32:43 All right then, in summarizing the substance of Paul's prayer, what is it? He wants face to face communion and he wants to help them with the defects of their present spiritual condition. Now, he was very honest when he said, what you people are causes me great rejoicing. He was just as honest when he told them, there are certain things lacking about you and I'm coming by God's grace to help you. Now, that's pretty frank and honest, isn't it? Honest when he commends them, honest when he reproves them and exhorts them. So much then for his prayer, both the thanksgiving part and the petition part. Now, what lessons are there for us in this prayer? May I ask

Lesson 1: Biblical Praying

33:32 you, may I suggest that there are at least four areas where there are practical lessons for us today. I hope we have time to get over them. First of all, there is a very practical lesson regarding biblical praying. Not all that passes in the name of prayer is biblical prayer. Sometimes scripture calls prayer vain prayer. Sometimes God says it's prayer that disgusts him in Isaiah chapter one. So the concern of every Christian is that prayer should be, is my praying biblical praying? Well, if it is, it will be something like Paul's prayer. First of all, notice the necessity of prayer. If we were to come to Paul and say, Paul, do you believe God's on his throne? He'd say, of course he is. Long before you and I were here, he was on his throne. And simply because he made the world and men doesn't mean he's going to abdicate his throne. He has been, he is, and ever shall be on his

34:29 throne. Paul, do you believe God is sovereign? Absolutely. Well, then why are you praying?

34:34 If God is on his throne, and nothing you or I do can alter his eternal decrees and purposes, Paul, what do you pray night and day for? Paul would say, because God commands me to. Explain it to me. He'd say, it's not my business. I'm not called upon to be an explainer. I'm called upon to be a follower. So the first lesson we learn about prayer from Paul's prayer here is the necessity of it. Let's not be afraid to follow, follow God when he takes us by the hand into the inner sanctuary of that glorious truth that God is sovereign, that he's on his throne and nothing can thwart his purposes. But let's not be reluctant to follow that same Paul when he takes us by the hand into his prayer closet and bows before that great eternal sovereign God and pleads day and night that God might do something for which he longs as a servant of God. So we learn, regardless of what we pray, the necessity of it. We presume if we hope that God will bless and God will work if we do not pray. For he has commanded us to pray. He has surrounded the praying

35:48 saint with exceeding grace and precious promises. Then learn something about the nature of biblical praise. In the first place, it is always permeated with praise and with thanksgiving. What thanks can we render to God?

36:05 For the joy wherewith we joy in his presence or before our God. Paul obeyed his injunction of Philippians 4, 6 to 8, in nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. May I say something in a very blunt way that I hope will stick in our minds? You and I sing in praying if we are not found praising. Our praying is tainted with sin if it is not permeated with praise and thanksgiving. For in praising God we glorify him whosoever praise glorifieth me. In praising him we strengthen our faith for present mercies and for future necessities. So biblical praying will be permeated with praise.

37:07 Now Paul longed to see these people. He said, night and day I'm praying that I might see you. He longed to see their faith perfected, two very legitimate things, and yet he does not make legitimate needs to stand before the duty of praise. Let us learn the lesson of biblical prayer, that in its nature it is permeated with praise.

37:29 Secondly, it is persistent in asking desired mercies. It is night and day praying exceedingly. Biblical praying is not ashamed to repeat its longing. It cries to God again and again and again.

37:50 And then thirdly, as far as the nature of prayer is concerned, it's pointed and specific in its request. Paul wasn't saying, oh God, do something somehow, sometimes, for the Thessalonians and in some way use me.

38:05 He'd never know whether his prayer was end. He said, oh God, I want two things. I want to see face to face, and I want to perfect that which is lacking in their faith. And he said, night and day, I'm praying specifically for those two things.

38:19 So if God hasn't answered, I'll know it, and keep on praying. When he does answer, I'll know it, and I'll begin praising. Now, true biblical praying is willing to run the risk of unanswered prayer. Some of us in our praying, we never run the risk of unanswered prayer.

38:35 Our prayers are so dangerous. Our prayers are so dangerous. Our prayers are so vague, we'd never know whether they were answered or not. But not so the Apostle.

38:42 And so the nature of true prayer is permeated with praise, persistent in its asking, pointed in its request. Need I tell you the very relevant application of this to us? I believe the Spirit of God, if I sense anything of what he's saying to the Trinity Church at this time, is impressing upon us the need of being established in our own land and building, we'll have a report tonight of the specific steps that are being taken in that direction, that we should as a congregation be specific and pointed and persistent in storming the gates of heaven, but not without praising him for past mercies. Praising him for the way he's led us in the past year and a half.

Lesson 2: The Christian Ministry

39:25 Praising him for the things he's done for us, so that our faith is strengthened as we persist in these pointed requests for present needs and future mercies. Then, not only does this prayer of Paul have a wonderful lesson about prayer, but it contains a wonderful lesson about the Christian ministry. Paul says in his prayer that he longs to be with them face to face. And the principle is this, there is no substitute for face to face encounter with people.

39:59 Now you folk know that we here at Trinity Church believe in the ministry of books, the ministry of tapes, the ministry of radio, and we receive very encouraging reports of this radio broadcast that I've been on in the West Coast for some fifteen weeks now, every encouraging sign that it's receiving a good hearing, but books and tapes and radio are all servient peripheral ministries. There is no substitute for the face to face encounter, man to man, communicating the message of God. No substitute for it. You remember that illustration of this principle in the Old Testament, where the boy lies dead, or sick unto dying, and the prophet's servant is down with the staff, and he touches him with the staff, but there's no light. So when the prophet comes, it is said that he stretches himself upon the boy, limb to limb, mouth to mouth, body to body, and there is that warmth of the body of the prophet, and the breath of the body of the prophet in face to face flesh encounter with this young lad, and life is imparted by the power of God. A beautiful analogy of what the Christian ministry is, whether it's the ministry of parents to children, or neighbors to their fellow neighbors, whatever realm we stand to minister to others,

41:24 no substitute for a face to face encounter, life with life. And how we need desperately to remember this, for even psychologists and sociologists are greatly disturbed about the depersonalizing of humanity in the mechanized twentieth century, where everything's run by computers, where whole classrooms now and colleges are being taught via the TV. As one man said, as a joke, I don't think it was supposed to be true, that this college professor was going away, and so he put his lectures on tape, thinking that when he came back he'd find all the students there, sitting before the tape recorder, taking notes, but when he happened to come back to the classroom, what did he find but his tape recorder playing into about twenty other tape recorders while the students were out somewhere else. So you see, it emphasizes this whole principle, that in a mechanized age we can depersonalize face to face encounter. The TV has been a great curse this way. You can have twenty people in the house, they might as all well be in one room alone with that thing, because the only line of communication is between the individual and the TV.

42:35 And there's no personal communication, so that we have forgotten in great measure how to communicate face to face with people. We feel awkward, we feel embarrassed, because they might really get to know us. And we're afraid if they know us, maybe they won't love us. And we need to get over that hump to where we realize in all the ministry of Christian fellowship, whether it's preaching or pastoral ministry, there is no substitute for face to face communication.

Lesson 3: Human Relationships

43:04 Well, the third principle that I see, a lesson here, is in the whole matter of human relationships. The acid test of the depths of one's spiritual state is his human relationships. It's very easy to really think ourselves into quite a spiritual state, and say, you know, I'm really going on with God, I must really be making strides. But then the terrible reality of the fact you can't get along for three hours with your own wife brings you down out of that ethereal world into the world of reality.

43:38 If you can't go through a day without barking at your kids, and snapping at your wife or your husband, or getting irritated with some friend, then all that professed spirituality, that's all it is. It's a big melange. And it's the realm of human relationships, interpersonal relationships, husband to wife, parent to child, child to parent, pastor to flock, sheep of the flock to each other, it's in this age that our spiritual life is put to the acid test. Now notice the tremendous wisdom and tact and grace with which the apostle communicates in this record of his prayer.

44:21 He says that we give thanks to God for you. There's so much praise worthy, and I want you people at Thessalonica to know I recognize it, I'm grateful to God for it, and I thank Him for it. In His very presence, I'm found praising Him. But, you haven't made it yet, and I want to come and see you to perfect what is lacking in your faith.

44:44 He's honest in His praise, and He's honest in His bold rebuke and exhortation, and how desperately we need this frankness balanced with kindness and the milk of human compassion. Have I told you about the man that met me one day at the door in Wisconsin? I can't remember what I say where. You forgive me if I repeat some things, because I have to keep a book, what I say in one place and not in another.

45:17 He met me at the door on a Sunday morning and shook my hand, and when I asked him, How are you doing? He said, Terrible. And I said, Why? He said, The worst sermon you could have ever preached.

45:27 And you know, I was grateful. At least I knew that man wasn't just giving me the polite, Thank you, Pastor.

45:34 I admired the man for being honest. At least I could trace him down the street as he started to welcome me and say, Brother, listen, let's talk it out. If something bothered you, if we weren't scriptural, let's talk about it. Now, I don't say that our frankness needs to go quite to that extreme.

45:55 But I think that's far better than wondering, Well, really, what do they think? And I bear my heart before you at times. Honestly, there are times when I really wonder about some in the Trinity Church. I wonder what they really think.

46:07 I really wonder. Why don't you tell me and be honest? Respect the office, but tell me and be honest. See, I think you're just all mouth.

46:16 And a big foreflusher. I'd like you to tell me that if you think it. Then I'd ask you why. And if there's some valid reason, by the grace of God, I'd like to deal with it.

46:27 But this insincere, smooth, polite, 20th century, sophisticated grin that has beneath it all kinds of envy and jealousy and bitterness and suspicion, it's abomination to God. And it keeps us from true fellowship. If my nose is crooked, you ought to tell me. And if yours is black, I ought to tell you.

46:49 And the apostle does that here. Not in a way that he runs roughshod over people, but he does it nonetheless. We thank God for you. We want to perfect what is lacking in your faith.

Lesson 4: The Christian Life (Faith is Never Static)

47:01 Tremendous lesson about personal relationships. And then, the clock has beat me so I can just suggest the fourth lesson in this passage is a very vital lesson about the Christian life. And it's simply this, that true faith is never static. All of the tremendous things he could say about the Thessalonians, you'll remember them as we expound in chapter 1.

47:26 Labor of love, patience of hope, work of faith, the gospel sounding abroad through them, patience in affliction, all of these tremendous things. You said, boy, if we could be a church like that, we would really have made it. Nothing for the Lord to do but come and take us home. And yet, to a people like that, he says, I ought to come and perfect that which is lacking in your faith.

47:49 You haven't made it. Faith is never static. And the fruits of faith are never static. And so, this is a vital lesson of the Christian life that the moment we feel that we're resting on our oars, we're caught in a terrible whirlpool of deceptive complacency.

48:06 And it's time to pull harder on the oars at the very point when you think you've got some reason to relax. It's just at that point that God says, Wherefore let him that thinketh, he standeth. He that thinketh, lest he fall. True faith grows or it dies.

Exhortation and Closing Prayer

48:28 Well, there's much more that could be said, but I trust that these lessons will be helpful to us. As we close this morning, may I bring a word of exhortation to some of you who sit here. You can't pray at all because you have no spirit of prayer. Rather than being the occasion of joy to a servant of God, you're the occasion of heartbreak.

48:52 For you've heard the word, some of you young people, children, adults, week in, week out, year in, year out, and not one shred of evidence of a vital faith in Jesus Christ. If Paul were writing to you today, he would not write, What thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy? For with me joy for your sakes. He would have to write as he did in Romans.

49:17 For what grief can we express before God? For all the sorrow. Wherewith we sorrow before God for your sake. Every one of you here this morning, young and old, are either the occasion of grief to the servants of God, or an occasion of joy.

49:36 And to the extent that I as a pastor know your true state, to that extent, I'm not God, but to the extent, as Paul knew the true state of the Thessalonians by the report of Timothy, to the extent that I understand your true state, you are either a source of great joy or great grief to my heart. Which are you? When I pray for you people, can I say, O God, thank you for the obvious fruits of faith in so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so? Or do I have to say, O God, how long will it be before there be some fruits?

50:16 And then to those of us who are the children of God, let us take the lesson from this passage and seek to discipline ourselves, for this is what it takes, never to start asking until we begin by praising. If you don't think it's hard, just try it. You just find that you can dispense of your praise in about three seconds sharp. It's so difficult to render thanks to God.

50:41 It's a proof of the remaining corruption within that we can ask so fervently at times and be so niggardly in our praise and our thanksgiving. Let's seek to order our prayers by the standing of God, by the standing of the Word of God. Let's seek to learn this lesson of the ministry. Nothing substitutes for face-to-face communion.

51:00 Let's seek to learn this lesson of human relationships and be open and frank and honest and tender in our dealings with each other. And by God's grace, let us learn this principle of the Christian life that when we think all is well, that's when all is not well, that faith is not static but ever-growing, ever-growing. And if we can learn and apply those lessons from the prayer of Paul, I'm sure if he sees us from heaven this morning, he'd be delighted, and his own heart would rejoice again that he was moved by the Spirit. And where he cannot see, we know one who does see and who's delighted in the obedience of his own children.

51:43 May God help us with an eye single to his glory to please him by walking in the light of this, his holy Word. Let us unite in closing prayer. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

51:53 Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

51:57 Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.

52:01 Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna. The 티켸 ^^ Theлиvals hề لي 합니다 Look at that, he's excited. q distorted Call the 300!