His Word Today

⁹ For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, ¹⁰ as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?” (1 Thessalonians 3:9–10 (ESV)

I wonder how often believers in Christ are culturally bound to many of the disciplines of biblical faith. Take thanksgiving for example. Giving thanks is to be a consistent characteristic of believers (Psalm 106; 107; 118; 136; Phil. 4:6-7). However, for Americans it is often culturally bound to only be outwardly expressed on the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving is a natural expression of gratitude because of blessings such as protection, or love. In the Scriptures, giving thanks is not a means used to manipulate the will of God. It is never coerced or fabricated. Rather, gratitude is to be a joyful commitment to the LORD.

“In the OT, gratitude to God was the only condition in which life could be enjoyed. For Jews, every aspect of creation provided evidence of God’s lordship over all life. The Hebrew people thanked him for the magnificence of the universe (Pss 19:1–4; 33:6–9; 104:1–24). When they received good news, they thanked God for his goodness and great deeds (1 Chr. 16:8–12). When they received bad news, they also gave thanks, trusting that he was a just God (Job 1:21),” explains the Tyndale Bible Dictionary.

“Gratitude was such a vital part of Israel’s religion that it pervaded most ceremonies and customs. Thank offerings acknowledged blessings from God (Lev. 7:12–13; 22:29; Ps. 50:14). Shouts of joy (Ps 42:4), songs of praise (Pss. 145:7; 149:1), and music and dance (Ps. 150:3–5) all added to the spirit of thanksgiving in worship. Feasts and festivals were celebrated in remembrance of God’s steadfast love throughout their history (Dt. 16:9–15; 2 Chr. 30:21–22). King David appointed Levitical priests to offer God thanks (1 Chr. 16:4). This custom was carried on by the kings Solomon (2 Chr. 5:12–13) and Hezekiah (2 Chr. 31:2) and by those who returned from the exile (Neh. 11:17; 12:24, 27).”

In the New Testament, the love of God is often the object of thanksgiving. This is the love of God expressed in the justifying, redemptive, and reconciling work of Christ. The Apostle Paul thanked God for the gift of grace (1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Cor. 9:15) and also the opportunity to preach the gospel (2 Cor. 2:14; 1 Tim. 1:12). He was thankful for spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 14:18). Gratitude for love and faith among believers dominated his letters (Rom. 6:17; Eph. 1:15–16; Phil. 1:3–5; Col. 1:3–4; 1 Thess. 1:2–3).

“Because the expression of gratitude was tied so closely to the response of faith, Paul encouraged believers to give thanks in all things (Rom. 14:6; 1 Thess. 5:18). He commanded Christians to pray with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2) in the name of Christ, who has made all thanksgiving possible (Eph. 5:20). In his teaching on how to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, Paul specified that Christians should give thanks, just as the Lord “had given thanks” (1 Cor 11:24),” explains one commentator.

In today’s text, thanksgiving (εὐχαριστίαν; eucharistian) referred to expressing gratitude for benefits or blessings. Throughout this epistle, Paul, Silas and Timothy were very grateful for the Thessalonian believers.

“Paul’s soul is flooded with gratitude to God, and this to such an extent that the consciousness of his own inability to make an adequate return to God grieves him. What has been received by the Thessalonians has also been received, in a different form, and on account of them, by him and his companions. The report of Timothy has given Paul and Silas a new lease on life. It has caused them to revive. They are deeply convinced of the fact that anything they can bring to God in return for “all the joy by means of which they rejoice” is as nothing,” states Dr. William Hendriksen.

Who are you thankful for today? Take the opportunity to let them know how grateful you are for them. You may never how much this simple act can change a life for the better.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For now, we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 3:8 (ESV)

The following is an excerpt from I Thessalonians 3:8 by Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon. He entitled his message Renewed Strength.

It is a matter of life and death to us that you should be rooted, grounded, and settled. Notice first, that some are not in the Lord. Secondly, some appear to be in the Lord, but they are not standing fast. And thirdly, that some in the Lord stand fast in the Lord and these are our life— “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.”

First, SOME ARE NOT IN THE LORD AT ALL.  

Second, THERE ARE SOME WHO PROFESS TO BE IN CHRIST, BUT THEY CERTAINLY ARE NOT STANDING FAST. 

Third, THERE ARE SOME WHO ARE IN THE LORD AND WHO STAND FAST IN THE LORD.

“These are our life! They are our life because their holy conduct fills us with living confidence. I tell you, Brothers and Sisters, when I have seen the holy generosity of members of this Church making sacrifices to serve the Lord. When I have seen the holy courage of Brothers and Sisters standing up for Jesus and bearing reproach for the sake of principle—and speaking out the Truth of God in defiance of ridicule. When, in fact, I have seen many things that I will not mention now—I have said to myself, “These are fruits that could not have been produced except by the Truth and by the Spirit of God!”

“Then have I felt very confident in the Gospel which has been so adorned by your actions. Certain of our Beloved elders and deacons passed away, to our deep sorrow, not very long ago, and when I came down from their death chambers, I did not require any further argument to prove the religion of the Lord Jesus—the Holy Spirit set His seal upon the Truth by their joyful departures. If infidels had met me as I left those choice deathbeds, I would not have argued with them for a single moment—I would have simply laughed them to scorn—for I would have felt like a man that has looked at the sun till he cannot bear the blaze of it any longer—and then hears a blind man swear that there is no sun! With what confidence we speak when holy lives and joyful deaths prove the Gospel!”

“Again, how often have I seen fears which have crept into my soul driven away by my dear people! This is a time of fear, when all Solomon’s men that keep watch about his bed had need, each one, to carry his sword drawn because of fear in the night. Yet, when I have seen God’s people steadfast, my fears have fled! Yes, I have said the Lord keeps the feet of His saints. He is as a wall of fire round about His own. If it were possible, the powers of evil would deceive the very elect—but it is not possible! The saints are steadfast and each steadfast one cheers his minister and helps him to lay aside his anxieties and to rejoice in the certainty that the Gospel will triumph!”

“The steadfast become our life by stimulating us to greater exertion. I believe that the steadfast help the minister to a high degree of usefulness. When the man of God sees his people living to God at a high rate of piety, he speaks many things which otherwise he never would have spoken. He glories in the work of God and with no bated breath or trace of hesitation, he points to his people and cries, “See what God has done!” He exults over his converts with a holy joy. He cries, “See what they used to be and what they are now! See how life has been made to spring up in the midst of death and how the Light of God shines, where before, darkness reigned.”

“Take away the living evidences of Divine power from the Church and you lower the preacher’s spirit at once—and deprive him of power to demonstrate his commission by the signs that follow it. I am sure, dear Friends, you would have a deadening influence on me if you were not steadfast in holiness. How can I preach up holiness if someone sitting in the gallery looks down and says, “Yonder is one of his members and a worse thief I do not know!” Can I preach up the glory of Grace when someone cries, “Fine talk, but I saw one of the members of his Church half-drunk the other night! Is that what is meant by the free spirit?” If behind me there is a regiment of deceivers and hypocrites, my position is horrible. Surely, I had better give over the preaching of the Gospel when you give over the living of the Gospel! My task, in itself difficult, is rendered absolutely impossible if while I preach one thing, you live another!”

“Happily, it has not been so among you and you will not permit it to be so in the future. May God of Infinite Mercy grant to me that I may live because Christ lives in you! That I may be strong because I can fall back upon you as my “living Epistles, known and read of all men!” Of godly established Christians, I may quote the words of David, “Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: he shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” The best answer to all the opponents of the old-fashioned Gospel is the godly zeal of an earnest Church. “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.” I had many things to say to you, but my time has gone. Only may God the Holy Spirit dwell with the preacher that he may preach the Lord Jesus and not himself. And may the Spirit of God dwell with you, dear members of this Church, that you may live under His influence and may bear His fruit unto the Glory of God!

“As for you that are members of other Churches, may the Lord make you to be to your own pastors, their joy and crown! It will be ill for you if, in the Day of Judgment, they have to give an ill account of you. We do not think enough about that trial which each man will have to undergo, or of that account which all under shepherds will have to render in the Last Great Day. It is written, “If the watchman warns them not, they shall perish, but their blood will I require at the watchman’s hands.” Oh, my Master, when You search my garments for the blood of souls, grant that I may be found clear of the blood of all men! What a Heaven this will be! Remember that other Word of God, “If the watchman warns them, and they take no heed of the warning, they shall perish; but he has delivered his soul.”

May every one of us take care to deliver his soul! It is my highest prayer to be able to make full proof of my ministry, that in all of you I may have an unquestioned testimony to my lifelong fidelity to my Lord and to your souls. Pray for me daily and for yourselves, also, that by our steadfastness this favored Church may be made to live and flourish till our Lord Himself shall come!

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For now, we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 3:8 (ESV)

The following is an excerpt from I Thessalonians 3:8 by Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon. He entitled his message Renewed Strength.

It is a matter of life and death to us that you should be rooted, grounded, and settled. Notice first, that some are not in the Lord. Secondly, some appear to be in the Lord, but they are not standing fast. And thirdly, that some in the Lord stand fast in the Lord and these are our life— “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.”

First, SOME ARE NOT IN THE LORD AT ALL.  

Second, THERE ARE SOME WHO PROFESS TO BE IN CHRIST, BUT THEY CERTAINLY ARE NOT STANDING FAST. 

“This is a Marah—a bitter well. This is a source of heartbreak and of sore tribulation to the servant of God in whom the Spirit of God dwells, namely, that, first, there are many over whom we rejoice who, nevertheless, altogether apostatize. Use the best judgment that you can, there will be some added to a Church who are not really the Lord’s people. They run well— “What hinders them that they should not obey the truth?” They appear to begin in the Spirit, yet, by-and-by, they attempt to be made perfect in the flesh.”

“Oh, foolish ones, “Who has bewitched you?” They seem to be all that we want them to be, for a time, but soon they are nothing that they should be. And this does not happen merely during the first six months or so, otherwise we might set them on probation, but, alas, it has happened to men that have grown gray in the Church—esteemed and honored— and yet they have fallen till their names cannot be mentioned without sorrow! We can never feel sufficiently grateful to our Lord for allowing a Judas to be among the 12, for thus, He, Himself, bore what has been to His servants the most crushing of grief! The man that went to the House of God in company with us has betrayed, not only us, but our Master, and the Truth of God. This has often happened in the history of the Church and, therefore, we may expect it. But whenever it comes, it is a stab to the very soul! Paul, I think, if he were here, would say, “Now we die, because these men do not stand fast in the Lord.”

“Happy am I to have been so largely spared this heart-wounding calamity! Oh, my Brothers and Sisters, we live, if you stand fast in the Lord! But it is as death to us if you turn aside! But there are other forms of instability. Many do not behave in such a way that we could remove their names from the Church roll, but they decline in Grace. Far too many grow worldly and it is especially the case when they grow wealthy. Well did one say to me the other day who has risen to riches, “I almost regret that I have ever changed my position, for I find my difficulties wonderfully increased—my difficulties especially with my family. They ask for things, now, in the form of amusements which they never would have thought of if I had not become wealthy.”

“We know some who were once full of zeal, but now they are neither cold nor hot. These may seem trifles to the thoughtless, but they are not trifles to those who watch after their souls and will have to give an account! Whenever I have seen it, I have said to myself, “How much of this is due to me? How much must I blame myself for this?” And one cannot answer that question immediately. Many thoughts and searching considerations are needed, but, believe me, there is nothing which eats more like a sharp acid into a man’s inmost soul to cause him a daily grief than when he sees those that profess to be servants of Christ not answering to the processes of Grace, but acting like worldly men!”

“Brothers, stick to your work for God! If you preach, preach on! If called to teach in the Sunday school, at your peril leave your class! If God has bid you go from door to door with tracts, stick to it, and when the Lord Himself shall come, you cannot be found in a better position than in that of discharging the offices to which He has called you! He would not have us stand with our mouths wide open gazing into the air! The best position for a servant, when his Master comes, is to be found doing his Master’s will.”

“We live, if you stand fast in the Lord as to doctrine and as to holy service, and especially we live if the Lord keeps you, dear Brothers and Sisters, true in the matter of holy conversation. I call that holiness which minds its work at home. I call that holiness which makes a kind father, a true brother, an obedient child and makes me mind my daily calling and see that I make others happy and so commend the Gospel to them.”.

“See to it that your personal characters in secret before God, at home before your friends and outside in the world where eagle eyes watch to perceive your infirmities, are spotless and unblameable! For then we live! But when men can turn around and fling in our teeth, “These are your Christians, and they deal as others deal and talk as others talk,” then down goes our spirit and we wish we could die! It is life to lead a band of earnest steadfast men who know the Truth of God and live the Truth of God and are ready to die for the Truth of God! This is an honor of which we feel we are unworthy, though we aspire to it. But to lead inconsistent, dubious, half-hearted, idle people onward to some imaginary goal is a doom compared with which death, itself, is delight.”

“Now, dear Brothers and Sisters, the reason why every true minister sinks in heart when those who seem to be in Christ do not stand fast is this—unless men are steadfast, the Church is weakened. The strength of any Church must be the aggregate of the strength of all the members put together. Therefore, if you have a set of weak Brethren, you multiply the weakness of each one by the number of the membership. What a hospital is the result! If each Believer is strong, then the whole Church is strong. And that is our desire—we pine to see the Church of God vigorous in her holy calling! If Believers are steadfast, then God is glorified. Transient piety brings no glory to God! God is not honored by that religion which is taken up today and laid down tomorrow. It is only by perseverance—yes, and perseverance to the end, that glory is brought to God.”

“We live in your joy and if you miss it, we grieve for your incalculable loss, for believe me, there is no joy like the highest form of Christianity—and to lose this is a catastrophe! The beginnings of piety are often bitter—and difficult advances are often made through the sea and through the terrible wilderness—but the higher stage of piety is the Beulah land from which you look into the Paradise of God, yourself living on the borders of it! If any child of God should miss this highest joy, it is a most heavy grief to those who watch for their souls. Be you steadfast, for so we live.”

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For now, we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 3:8 (ESV)

The following is an excerpt from I Thessalonians 3:8 by Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon. He entitled his message Renewed Strength.

It is a matter of life and death to us that you should be rooted, grounded, and settled. Notice first, that some are not in the Lord. Secondly, some appear to be in the Lord, but they are not standing fast. And thirdly, that some in the Lord stand fast in the Lord and these are our life— “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.”

First, SOME ARE NOT IN THE LORD AT ALL. A solid mass of infidelity and godlessness hems us in. 

“Our heart is heavy because this great city is determined to shut its eyes to the Light of God. There are streets upon streets in which none attend the House of God and we have it on credible information that in certain districts if one man in a street is seen to go regularly to a place of worship, his neighbors mark him as a singular being. The home-born Londoner of the working classes, as a rule, has no care for a place of worship. If I were living in the country, I think I would be content with but half a wage sooner than to come and dwell in this ungodly place!”

“Our members try to bring up their children in God’s fear, but they are often compelled to quit their homes because of the filthy conduct of those who defile our streets. Yet this is not my present theme. Our greater sorrow is that there are many who hear the Gospel and are not in the Lord! We are not sorry that they should come to hear the Word of God— would to God that all Christ-less souls would hear of Christ! But we are sorry that they have come month after month, year after year, and have received no saving benefit. I still meet, here and there, with those who tell me, “I used to hear you in Park Street and Exeter Hall,” and yet I gather from them that they are undecided. I have small hope for them if 30 years of ministry have not brought them to Christ!”

“At any rate, these many years add to the dreadful probability that they will continue to make the Word of God to be unto themselves a savor of death unto death. If I could pick out of this audience, tonight, by Infallible guidance, one man or one woman and could point to that person and say, “Such a one will certainly go down to Hell to endure the everlasting wrath of God”—and if you knew that I was speaking like a Prophet from God and that it was certainly so—you would turn round and look with deepest grief upon that doomed soul! You would shudder to be sitting in the same pew! And yet though, thank God, we may not speak with that certainty, the probability grows so great as almost to amount to a certainty concerning those upon whom entreaties have been wasted, upon whom expostulations have been wasted, by whom invitations have been refused, that they will continue to harden their hearts until at last they sink into the place where mercy never enters!”

“Ah, Lord, these are heavy tidings and Your saints feel them! I know I am speaking to many who deeply sympathize with me when I say that the thought of this is a worm that makes our joys decay. I mean the thought that some of you contribute to God’s work and are, in many points, excellent—and yet you lack the one thing necessary—and after having joined with God’s people in outward acts of devotion you will be driven from His Presence forever! O Infinite Mercy, grant that it may not be so, but may these men and women, even now, be led to believe in Jesus and be saved! We die when we think of those who are not in the Lord at all! How it would revive us if we could see them saved!”

“If there is a deadening influence about the thought that some few among us are not converted, think of what the effect must be upon a minister’s mind if he shall have labored long and seen no fruit. There may be instances in which a man has been faithful, but not successful—places where, for a time, the dew falls not and the softening influences of the Spirit are not given. Then the soil breaks the plowshare and the weary ox is ready to faint. I began to preach while yet a youth, scarcely 16 years of age, but before I had preached half a dozen times I saw persons affected by those sermons. I pined to find some heart that had looked to Jesus while I had preached Him—and I have photographed upon my memory, at this very moment, a very humble clay-walled cottage which seemed to me to be a sacred spot, for I was told by a venerable deacon that it was the house of a poor woman who had sought and found the Savior through my ministry.”

“I did not let the week conclude till I had seen her, for I hungered for the joy of meeting with one whom I had brought to Christ! If I found one soul converted, I took heart and looked for more. Brothers, are you working for Jesus? Then you know what it is to feel the shadow of death when you do not win a soul! Does it not seem hard to be knocking for Christ against a door that never opens, but has fresh bolts put on it to keep it closed? Be not ashamed of yourself because you feel distressed—it proves your capacity for being used. By-and-by God will bless you and then you will understand the text, “Now we live.” You will find that your pulse is quickened, your heart’s blood warmed—you will be filled with a more Divine life as you rise nearer to the dignity of a savior of men and taste the unspeakable joys for which Christ laid down His life!”

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“For now, we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 3:8 (ESV)

The following is an excerpt from I Thessalonians 3:8 by Pastor Charles H. Spurgeon. He entitled his message Renewed Strength.

“MINISTERS who are really sent of God greatly rejoice in the spiritual prosperity of their people. If they see God’s Word prosper, they prosper. If the Church of God is blessed, they are blessed. Their life is wrapped up in the spiritual life of their people. Never is the servant of God so full of delight as when he sees that the Holy Spirit is visiting his hearers, making them to know the Lord, and confirming them in that heavenly knowledge.”

“On the other hand, if God does not bless the word of His servants, it is like death to them! To be preaching and to have no blessing makes them heavy of heart—the chariot wheels are taken off and they drag heavily along—they seem to have no power nor liberty. They get depressed and they go back to their Master with this complaint, “Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

“He revives and cheers them—and they come back to their service—but if they do not see a manifest blessing resting upon the people, they cry and sigh and are like dying men. If the Lord willed to do so, He might have made robots to preach and these would only need to be wound up and allowed to run down again! They would have known no feelings of joy or of sorrow and would have been invulnerable to the arrows of grief. We have heard of the Iron Duke. Iron preachers would have been enduring instruments and would never have been laid aside by mental depression.”

“But the sympathy of the preacher is God’s great instrument for blessing the hearer! If you read a sermon in a book it is good, but if you hear it preached fresh from the man’s heart, it is far more effective. There is a living fellow-feeling about it, and that is the power which God has, in all ages, been pleased to use—the power of a spirit which He has made sensitive with affection— so sensitive that it rises to joy when its affectionate purpose is accomplished and sinks to depths of grief when that purpose fails.”

“This, I take it, is what the Apostle means when he says, “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.” The people can make the pastor happy beyond expression by their being rich in Grace and happy in Christ! But they can make him miserable beyond all description if they are either unstable or insincere. Dearly Beloved, I have often rejoiced in God as I have seen the work of the Spirit among you. It is no small joy that for many years we have never been without an increase to the Church. With few exceptions we have never gathered at our monthly communions without receiving a considerable number into our membership.”

“During these years some have turned back, to our great sorrow, and some have flagged, to our solemn grief. But others have persistently carried on the work of God and have developed gifts and graces which have made them qualified for larger spheres. At this day those at home come behind in no gifts and those abroad do not forget the hallowed training of Zion. In every part of the earth some are engaged in holy service who have gone out from this Church.”

“For all this, our heart must be grateful. But these are evil times. These are times, the like of which I have not seen before, in which the foundations are removed and “what shall the righteous do?” The winds are out. The tackling’s are loosed. The mariners reel to and fro! Everything seems to be drifting. Men know not where they are!”

“Half the professing Christians of the present day do not know their heads from their heels and the half that do know seem inclined to take to their heels and run rather than stand steadfast in the faith and wait till evil days are over! It is time that we spoke to you concerning steadfastness—that you be not like idle boys that leap hedges and ditches after every nest that silly birds may choose to make—but that you keep to the King’s Highway of holiness and truth and hold fast to the doctrines and the practices which are taught us in the Word of God. I say to you by this discourse, “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.”

“It is a matter of life and death to us that you should be rooted, grounded, and settled. Notice first, that some are not in the Lord. Secondly, some appear to be in the Lord, but they are not standing fast. And thirdly, that some in the Lord stand fast in the Lord and these are our life— “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.”

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

The Apostle Paul was concerned whether or not the Thessalonians were continually living for Christ (3:1-5). Paul’s comfort regarding them came because of Timothy’s good report of their faith and love. The apostle was also blessed by their prayers of kindness and their longing to see him and Silas. The deep affection was mutual.

“Romans 12:15 features this command from the Apostle Paul: “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” With these words, Paul exhorts us not to regard ourselves as mere individuals with respect to our relationship to Christ. That is, we must not view ourselves as connected to Jesus but disconnected from others who likewise trust in the Savior. We must understand ourselves as so closely related to other believers that what saddens them saddens us and what fills them with joy fills us with joy also,” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

“We are to understand ourselves in this way because we are in fact connected to other Christians in this way. Today’s passage provides evidence of this truth. Paul reports on the update Timothy gave him regarding the spiritual state of the Thessalonians, explaining how news of their perseverance in the faith comforted him, even bringing the Apostle and his companions life (1 Thess. 3:6–8). This is possible only because of the union Christians have with one another as one body in Christ. We are “members one of another” (Rom. 12:5), and our welfare is in some mysterious way inseparable from the welfare of our brothers and sisters in the Lord.”

I recently called a friend of mine who’s grandson had tragically died. What could I say? The words exchanged between us were few. The emotions exchanged were deep and sorrowful. The love and concern Paul felt for these first century believers is the love and concern I have for my friend and his family. This is the love we are to have for one another (I Cor. 13:1-8; I John 4:7-11).

Southern Gospel composer Lanny Wolfe expressed it well in his song God’s Family.

Verse One                                                                                                                    We’re part of the family that’s been born again                                                      Part of the family whose love knows no end.                                                              For Jesus has saved us and made us His own.                                                          Now we’re part of the family that’s on its way home

Chorus:                                                                                                                      And sometimes we laugh together, sometimes we cry                                  Sometimes we share together heartaches and sighs.                                               Sometimes we dream together of how it will be                                                        When we all get to Heaven, God’s family.

Verse Two:                                                                                                                  When a brother meets sorrow, we all feel his grief.                                                  And when he’s passed through the valley, we all feel relief.                                 Together in sunshine, together in rain,                                                                    Together in victory through His precious name.

Verse Three:                                                                                                                 And though some go before us, we’ll all meet again,                                                    Just inside the city when we enter in.                                                                          There’ll be no more parting, with Jesus we’ll be,                                                  Together forever, God’s family.

Unconverted sinners need Christ. So also do believers in Christ need Christ and fellow believers in Christ. We need each other while we, and others, face the distresses and afflictions of life in this fallen world. It is when fellow believers in Christ stand firm in their faith, then our faith stands firm.  

“Timothy brought news of the faith and love of the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 3:6). This refers to their continuing trust in Christ and the fruit of this trust in their love for God and for one another. Timothy’s update assured Paul that the gospel was bearing fruit among the Thessalonians, for faith and love are of the essence of salvation—faith because it alone connects us to Jesus, and love because it is proof of that faith and thus of our connection to the Lord (Rom. 4:5; James 2:14–26),” states Dr. Sproul.

 John Calvin comments: “In these two words [Paul] comprehends briefly the entire sum of true piety. Hence all that aim at this twofold mark during their whole life are beyond all risk of erring.”

Continue to stand fast in your faith. Remember those in your life who stood firm and fast in the faith and helped you to do the same. Realize someone, you may not even know who, is watching you. They’re encouraged by you. They’re strengthened in their walk of faith because of you. They’re praying for you and thanking God for you. We need Christ and we need each other.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

⁶ But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— ⁷ for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. ⁸ For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 3:6–8 (ESV)

Often at His Word Today, the subject of faith is explored. You have read many times the succinct phrase explaining the doctrine of justification. Justification, God’s declaration the sinner is righteous before Him, is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone, according to Scripture alone for the glory of God alone.

In April 1996, the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals conducted its first meeting of evangelical scholars. They comprised The Cambridge Declaration. The document “is a call to the evangelical church to turn away from the worldly methods it has come to embrace, and to recover the Biblical doctrines of the Reformation. The Cambridge Declaration explains the importance of regaining adherence to the five “Solas” of the Reformation.”

The five affirmations of the “solas” of the Reformation are as follows:

Thesis One: Sola Scriptura.

We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian’s conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

Thesis Two: Solus Christus.

We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father. We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ’s substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.

Thesis Three: Sola Gratia.

We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.

We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our un-regenerated human nature.

Thesis Four: Sola Fide.

We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice. We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.

Thesis Five: Soli Deo Gloria.

We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God’s glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone.

We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.

In today’s biblical text from I Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul again affirmed the faith of the Thessalonian believers in Christ. The faith of these followers of Christ is found throughout this epistle (1:3; 3:2, 5-7, 10). True, saving faith is a trust in, a dependence upon, a commitment to, and a worship of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

“The faithfulness of the evangelical church in the past contrasts sharply with its unfaithfulness in the present. Earlier in this century, evangelical churches sustained a remarkable missionary endeavor, and built many religious institutions to serve the cause of biblical truth and Christ’s kingdom. That was a time when Christian behavior and expectations were markedly different from those in the culture. Today they often are not. The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and missionary zeal,” explained Dr. James Montgomery Boice in the declaration.

“We repent of our worldliness. We have been influenced by the “gospels” of our secular culture, which are no gospels. We have weakened the church by our own lack of serious repentance, our blindness to the sins in ourselves which we see so clearly in others, and our inexcusable failure to adequately tell others about God’s saving work in Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Boice concluded, “We also earnestly call back erring professing evangelicals who have deviated from God’s Word in the matters discussed in this Declaration. This includes those who declare that there is hope of eternal life apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ, who claim that those who reject Christ in this life will be annihilated rather than endure the just judgment of God through eternal suffering, or who claim that evangelicals and Roman Catholics are one in Jesus Christ even where the biblical doctrine of justification is not believed.”

Arguably, the call today is for the 21^st century church to resemble the 1^st century Thessalonian church. This was a church known for their faith and love and the comfort such faith brought to other struggling believers. May our faith in Christ be spoken of similarly.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

⁴ For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. ⁵ For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.” (1 Thessalonians 3:4–5 (ESV)

A biblical pastor does not tell his congregation what they “want” to hear from his wisdom. Rather, the biblical pastor tells his congregation what they “need” to hear from God’s Word. In other words, the biblical pastor is not audience driven but obedience driven. He proclaims to the congregation what God’s Word says, what it means and how it may be applied in their lives.

When writing to his young protégé Timothy when he was pastoring the church in Ephesus, the Apostle wrote the following in his second letter to his beloved son in the faith.

“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵ As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1–5 (ESV)

Paul was consistent. What he wrote to Timothy he also communicated to the Thessalonians. It was the same encouraging message from the same biblical God of truth.

Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand that believers in Christ are destined to suffer afflictions for their faith in Christ. To suffer affliction (θλίβεσθαι; thlibesthai) means to encounter distress or oppression. It also means to press down hard upon an object. Affliction carries the concept of being pressed down into a narrow confinement. Oppression for their faith in Christ occurred in the church’s past and in its present circumstances.

It was with this knowledge of their past and present distress, the Apostle Paul personally wanted to know their spiritual and physical well-being. He could bear it no longer not knowing, he sent Timothy to establish and exhort them ((I Thess. 3:2).

“Paul had told them to expect him to suffer as he had already suffered before his Thessalonian experience (2:14–16; Acts 13–14). During (Acts 17:1–9) and following (Acts 17:10–18:11) his time at Thessalonica, Paul also knew tribulation,” explains Dr. John MacArthur.

One commentator explains, “When I was young, I worked at a steel plant. My responsibility was to check the temperatures on these engines that would come in these big blocks of steel. They would have to be heated so that they could be rolled out into what were called “slabs,” in preparation for rolling them out into metal that would be used in automobiles. We had to watch the temperature closely because if it got too hot it would melt, but if the steel remained too cool it would ruin the roller when we tried to roll it through the mill. There was a balance that needed to be kept.”

“This is similar to how God applies pressure to us. We need enough pressure (heat) to make us pliable, but if there is not enough, we remain hard and brittle. But God is in control. He knows where to set the pressure gages for each of us. Sometimes we may think that we are melting, but then we are reminded that He is in total control, and He knows how much pressure we need.”

“God’s testing makes us pliable. It isn’t something strange that is happening to us. It seems that sometimes believers think they are being punished if they are experiencing trials in their life. But that is not necessarily the case. God has a plan that is preparing us for glory, and that includes ” afflictions.” Not only that, but Paul said he had warned them “in advance.”

1 Peter 4:12 says, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you.” Peter says we are not to be surprised at our “fiery ordeal.” 

Finally, Paul was also concerned Satan had tempted the Thessalonian believers to sin thereby making Paul’s, Silas’ and Timothy’s ministry useless.

“Satan had already been characterized as a hinderer (2:18) and now as a tempter in the sense of trying/testing for the purpose of causing failure (cf. Matt. 4:3; 1 Cor. 7:5; James 1:12–18). Paul was not ignorant of Satan’s schemes (2 Cor. 2:11; 11:23) nor vulnerable to his methods (Eph. 6:11), so Paul took action to counterattack Satan’s expected maneuver and to assure that all his efforts were not useless (cf. 1 Thess. 2:1),” concludes Dr. MacArthur.

This is a wakeup call for believers in Christ. Christians need to be willing to do whatever is necessary-working, strengthening, encouraging, or whatever else in order to help other believers become strong in their faith in Christ.

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

“Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, ² and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, ³ that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.” (1 Thessalonians 3:1–3 (ESV)

“Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It’s about one life influencing another.” John C. Maxwell.

“A call to leadership in the church is a call to a life of willing sacrifice and service.” Paul David Tripp

“Leaders are trusted when their lives are in alignment with their convictions.” R. Albert Moeller

“Jesus defined leadership as service, and His definition applies whether a leader works in secular or church organizations. The true leader is concerned primarily with the welfare of others, not with is own comfort or prestige. He shows sympathy for the problems of others, but his sympathy fortifies and stimulates; it does not soften and make weak. A spiritual leader will always direct the confidence of others to the Lord. He sees in each emergency a new opportunity for helpfulness.” J. Oswald Sanders

Paul, Silas and Timothy were servant leaders; each of them. Take notice of the personal pronoun “we” in today’s text. They were a team, looking out for each other and for other believers in Christ. They cared more for the eternal comfort of other believers than themselves (Matthew 23:11-12).

 These three men evidenced servant leadership by being willing to be left alone in Athens so the Thessalonian believers would not be alone where they lived. The church needed mentoring and discipling. The three leaders could not bear (στέγοντες; stegontes) or endure any longer the thought of these young believers lacking spiritual teachers and mentors.

Therefore, Timothy came back to the Thessalonians, not for the purpose of gain but rather to establish and exhort these believers in their faith. This was especially imperative because of the afflictions the church was experiencing.

Paul called Timothy a brother and God’s co-worker (συνεργὸν; synergos) of the gospel. This young man belonged to God alone. Timothy was faithful (Phil. 4:3). He was committed, dependable, trustworthy and honorable. Paul had no reservation in sending his young protégé back to the Thessalonians.

“Paul was in Athens when he sent Timothy to the Thessalonians, Timothy and Silas having joined him there after they made a stop in Berea (1 Thess. 3:1–2; see Acts 17:10–15). In any case, Paul’s choice to send Timothy is noteworthy because it reveals the Apostle’s tremendous love for the Thessalonians. Paul refers to Timothy as his “brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ” (1 Thess. 3:2). This reference indicates that Timothy was particularly important and useful to Paul, as is confirmed by other passages in Paul’s epistles (e.g., 2 Tim. 1:2). Paul’s love and concern for the Thessalonians was so great that he was willing to part with one of his key co-laborers to make sure that the Thessalonians would be exhorted and established in the faith (1 Thess. 3:1–2),” explains Dr. R. C. Sproul.

“Timothy is called a brother (cf. 2 Cor. 1:1; Col. 1:1), that is, a fellow-believer, one who by sovereign grace belongs to the family of God in Christ. He is our brother, the word our being probably inclusive: brother of the Thessalonian believers as well as of the missionaries,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.

Timothy had the responsibility of establishing and exhorting the Thessalonian believers in their faith in Christ. To establish (στηρίξαι; sterizo) means to strengthen and to make firm. To exhort (παρακαλέσαι; parakalesai) means to urge and encourage. The Christian life begins at conversion but conversion is only the beginning. What follows is strengthening from God’s Word and encouragement from God’s people. This important discipleship cannot be neglected or ignored.

The importance of mature believers strengthening and encouraging younger believers in Christ is especially significant when those who are immature face trials and afflictions for their faith in Christ. This was what was occurring in Thessalonica. Paul did not want these young disciples to be moved by their afflictions.

To be moved (σαίνεσθαι; sainesthai) means to be shaken in one’s belief and faith in Christ. Afflictions (θλίψεσιν; thlipsesin) refers to suffering and persecution. Timothy’s ministry of establishing and encouraging the Thessalonian church in the faith was crucial because of the persecution they experienced for their faith. They needed to know suffering afflictions was their destiny as believers (John 15:18-25; James 1:1-5; I Peter 1:1-9).  

“One of the things Paul sent Timothy to do as part of his ministry to the Thessalonians was to remind them that believers have been ordained by God to face affliction (1 Thess. 3:2–3). The Thessalonians were facing many trials and persecutions, and Paul knew that they would be tempted to renounce their faith to escape them. A reminder that suffering was one of the things they signed up for when they committed themselves to Christ would be an encouragement for them to persevere. But Paul also includes himself in this, saying that “we” were appointed for suffering, and he thus set himself implicitly before them as an example to be followed. As the Thessalonians saw Paul their pastor persevering in suffering, they would be inspired to do likewise,” concludes Dr. Sproul.

John Calvin comments: “We are . . . stimulated by the examples of those by whom we were instructed in the faith, as is stated in the end of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb. 13:7). Paul, accordingly, means that they ought to be fortified by his example, so as not to give way under their afflictions.”

Who has established and exhorted you in your walk of faith in Christ? How have they strengthened and encouraged you while in the midst of your afflictions? Have you thanked the Lord, and them, for their ministry? Today would be a good day to do so.  

May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.

Soli deo Gloria!

Praying, the Lord’s Prayer, the 10 Commandments, and the Creed.
A Letter to His Barber, Master Peter Beskendorf, Spring 1535

I will tell you as best I can what I do personally when I pray. May our dear Lord grant to you
and to everybody to do it better than I! Amen.

First, when I feel that I have become cool and joyless in prayer because of other tasks or
thoughts (for the flesh and the devil always impede and obstruct prayer), I take my little psalter, hurry to my room, or, if it be the day and hour for it, to the church where a congregation is assembled and, as time permits, I say quietly to myself and word-for-word the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and, if I have time, some words of Christ or of Paul, or some psalms, just as a child might do.

It is a good thing to let prayer be the first business of the morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false, deluding ideas which tell you, “Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour; first I must attend to this or that.” Such thoughts get you away from prayer into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing comes of prayer for that day.

It may well be that you may have some tasks which are as good or better than prayer, especially in an emergency. There is a saying ascribed to St. Jerome that everything a believer does is prayer and a proverb, “He who works faithfully prays twice.”

This can be said because a believer fears and honors God in his work and remembers the commandment not to wrong anyone, or to try to steal, defraud, or cheat. Such thoughts and such faith undoubtedly transform his work into prayer and a sacrifice of praise.

On the other hand, it is also true that the work of an unbeliever is outright cursing and so he who works faithlessly curses twice. While he does his work his thoughts are occupied with a neglect of God and violation of his law, how to take advantage of his neighbor, how to steal from him and defraud him.

What else can such thoughts be but out and out curses against God and man, which makes one’s work and effort a double curse by which a man curses himself. In the end they are beggars and bunglers. It is of such continual prayer that Christ says in Luke 11, “Pray without ceasing,” because one must unceasingly guard against sin and wrongdoing, something one cannot do unless one fears God and keeps his commandment in mind, as Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is he who meditates upon his Law Day and night.”

Yet we must be careful not to break the habit of true prayer and imagine other works to be necessary which, after all, are nothing of the kind. Thus, at the end we become lax and lazy, cool and listless toward prayer. The devil who besets us is not lazy or careless, and our flesh is too ready and eager to sin and is disinclined to the spirit of prayer.

When your heart has been warmed by such recitation to yourself and is intent upon the matter, kneel or stand with your hands folded and your eyes toward heaven and speak or think as briefly as you can:

O Heavenly Father, dear God, I am a poor unworthy sinner. I do not deserve to raise my eyes or hands toward thee or to pray. But because thou hast commanded us all to pray and hast promised to hear us and through thy dear Son Jesus Christ hast taught us both how and what to pray, I come to thee in obedience to thy word, trusting in thy gracious promise. I pray in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ together with all thy saints and Christians on earth as he has taught us: Our Father who art, etc., through the whole prayer, word for word. Amen.

May the Lord’s truth and grace by found here. Have a blessed Lord’s Day.

Soli deo Gloria!