1606. Words That Frame the Story of Your Life

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Our next guest is Bob Jones. We're so grateful that we could come around your word this morning.

I know that in this room there are people who are intensely and immensely busy. And as they come now to these final days of the semester, Lord, the intensity amplifies and so I pray for them. I pray for every one of us, myself included, that you would help us to navigate these next weeks and give us good success for our efforts. I pray this morning that we would come to this text and that you would feed us and that you would encourage us by it. And we'll thank you for it.

In Jesus' name, amen. The story I want to tell you is one that perhaps some of you know. It took place 63 years ago in 1960 when two friends met together for a cup of coffee. And over that cup of coffee, these two men made a wager. They made a bet.

And the bet was for $50. These two men ended up as a result of that bet changing the course of both of their lives. The first man was a man named Bennett Cerf and the second man was a man named Theodore Geisler. Some of you may have heard those names.

Most of you, those names would have been as unfamiliar to you as they were to me when I first heard the story. Cerf actually owned a publishing house and Geisler was well into a writing career. He was a writer. And so as they were talking and as they were drinking coffee together, Cerf looked over at Geisler and said to him, I don't think that you can write a book using only 50 words. And of course, that sort of didn't sit well with Geisler and so he accepted the challenge and the bet was that if he wrote a book, a full book with 50 words, including things like the words the and and, then at the end of the process, Cerf would give Geisler $50. So it was a bet for 50 bucks and 50 words.

Well, surprisingly, Geisler went to work and he actually won the bet. And the book that he wrote went on to be a runaway international bestseller. I have a particular affinity for that book because I get asked about it all the time. The book was a book I think that all of you have read. It was called Green Eggs and Ham. How many of you have ever read that book?

Can I see your hands? How many of you have read it and wish you hadn't read it? I tell you, all my life I have been asked, do you like green eggs and ham? And I've actually had green eggs. And the answer is no, I don't like green eggs.

I do like ham. So I'm thankful for this book. But Dr. Seuss, as you have come to realize, Theodore Geisler went on to become an international author. This book actually sold more than 200 million copies in its lifetime. It's still being read today internationally and it's one of the more successful children's books ever. 50 words.

And it changed everything for Geisler and it changed a lot of things for Surf. Where do you go to find 50 words that can change your life? When you come to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 and you start reading in verse 1 and you go down to verse 5, the end of verse 5, in the language that the apostle wrote this, there are 47 words in this paragraph. And I want to submit to you that if you will let these words that the Holy Spirit inspired begin to frame up the story of your life that goes well beyond the next two weeks, that something far greater will happen in you and through you than anything that has ever happened through the writing of a book like Green Eggs and Ham. And so I want to take us to this text and I want to show you what the apostle Paul is doing here that I think is so transformative for our lives.

Let me give you a little background to the people that are receiving this paragraph. They are the Thessalonians. They are some of the earliest Christians in the New Testament. As the gospel began to go out and as the apostle Paul began taking the gospel around the world of that day, throughout the Roman Empire, he came to the city of Thessalonica. And when he came into the city, if you go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, in fact why don't you flip there very quickly, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, we find out that when he arrived and he opened his mouth and he began talking about the gospel, many in the city repented.

And here's how he describes what happened. In verse 9 he says, For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, how you turned to God from idols. And when you turned away from your idols to God, you turned in a way that allowed you to serve the living and the true God and to wait for his Son from heaven.

These were people who had been radically converted and radically transformed by the gospel. Paul is going to talk about this in the first part of 2 Thessalonians. In chapter 1 of 2 Thessalonians he says, he reminds them that God chose you from the beginning to be saved by faith through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. In verse 13 of chapter 2, in verse 14 of that same chapter, he argues that God called you through the gospel to personally share in the glory of God that was lost at the fall. And then in verses 16 and 17 he says that God is committed to provide strength so that every good work you aspire to do and every good word about the gospel will overcome anything in your life so that you will live to the glory of God. So as you come to chapter 3, Paul has been exhorting, he's been encouraging, he's been praying for these believers.

Because as they have lived out their faith, just like you and I live out our faith, they encounter the very kinds of things that we encounter. Difficulty, discouragement, danger, defeat or failure. All of these things are things that are part and parcel of what it means sometimes to follow the risen Lord. Here are people who were radically transformed in chapter 1 of Paul's first letter to them and by the time we get to the last chapter of the second letter he writes to them, they are in need of four important things. And I think these are the things that you and I need and Paul is going to articulate them in the form of a prayer. And so I would ask it this way, what is it that you and I should pray for when we pray for ourselves? What should you and I pray for when we go to the Lord and we talk to God about ourselves? Well Paul is asking the Thessalonians to pray about some things related to his own life and to his own ministry.

And so I think as we look at these four things, we can see what God would have us pray for as we come to our own life. The first thing that we see in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 1 is this, we should pray for the powerful success of the word of God. We should pray that the word of God would work mightily and succeed wonderfully in our lives. We should pray for the powerful success of the word of God. Notice how the apostle lays this request out. He says this, finally my brothers, pray for us and when you pray for us, here's what you should pray for. Pray that the word of the Lord may speed ahead, may have free course and that it would be glorified even as it is with you. In other words we could say it this way, Paul said pray that the word of God would run freely and that it would be received appropriately. When the word of God is loosed in our life, when we open up our Bible and when we begin to read the words that are in the chapter that is before us that morning. Or when we sit in a service or when we are listening to a podcast and we're hearing the word of God. One of the things that should be a consistent prayer that we pray for our own soul is this, Lord may the word of God have powerful success in my life. May it have free course, may it run freely. The idea here is that there would be no obstacles.

This image is the image of a runner running a marathon and rapidly overcoming and successfully navigating any obstacle that is in the way. It's also used to describe water that is being held back and all of a sudden all of that water is released and it runs freely, it flows freely to the very place where it is most needed. And that's what Paul is saying, pray that when I open up my mouth and I announce the gospel of Jesus Christ, pray that it would run freely. Pray that that word would be received appropriately, that it would be received for what it really is, the word of God. That it would be believed for what it really says and that it would be embraced by the hearers just like it was when we brought it to you.

So let me ask you a question this morning. Does the word of God have that kind of freedom in your life? When you read it?

When you sing it? We sang some scripture this morning. When you hear it in a class, when you are maybe listening as you work out and you're listening to a podcast or however it is that the word of God comes into your life, do you realize that there are obstacles it has to overcome? Do you realize, I'm sure you do because I need to realize this as well, do we realize that there are things that have to happen in us for the word of God to really have impact? God has to enlighten us, God has to enable us, God has to help us to embrace the word of God that is going on in our life.

And we need to ask God to take that word and direct it to the very place where we most need it. You know, I've discovered something over time and that is that there are two kinds of guys. There are Home Depot guys and there is everybody else in the universe. There are Home Depot guys and everybody else. A Home Depot guy loves to go to Home Depot just for the sheer joy of walking into the doors to the portal of paradise.

They walk in and they just stand there and they are, I mean, it's the closest thing they're gonna have on earth to heaven. There are tools, there are, I mean, there's just everything that kind of a guy could ever want. When that kind of a guy wakes up in the morning, his prayer is Lord, may there be some project, may there, would you break something today in our home that I could, would necessitate a trip to Home Depot? These kind of guys go to Home Depot because, you know, you go into Home Depot and you go enough times and you buy a tool and you come home and pretty soon it's, you know, you don't have to explain it anymore.

Where did that come from? Well, it's just like rabbits. It just, you know, they just multiply.

And then there's everybody else. You know, when something goes wrong, let's just say, and let me illustrate it this way. Most of you are too young to remember this, but in the days of your parents, let me just say it this way. There used to be something called wallpaper on the walls of your home. How many of you go to your grandparents' house and your grandma and grandpa have wallpaper on the wall? Can you see your hands?

All right. Wallpaper is a very interesting wall covering. And so you walk around and you look over on the wall and there's a little tiny piece of wallpaper curling up. Here's what a Home Depot guy does. Thank you, Lord.

This is going to be great. And they go over there and they pull that piece up, praying that maybe if the Lord is willing, there might be some wood rot. There might be some massive issue that would lead them back to the portal of paradise to buy a tool that they could then engage in and fix whatever is behind that wallpaper.

And then there's guys like me. We look at that wallpaper. We lick our thumb and we push it down and we go away and we say, Lord, would you bind that paper to the wall according to thy strength and with thy might? And then if it doesn't work, the next best thing for a guy like me is to hang a picture there. Pictures solve a lot of problems. That's why if you go in certain homes with guys like me, we have pictures in the most odd places in our homes way down low. Well, that's for the cat and that one's for the kid. We are so tempted, aren't we, when the word of God comes and all of a sudden it starts exposing that little piece of wallpaper in our soul.

And we're like, God, I just want to lick it. I just want to stick it down and I just want to move on. I don't have the strength today to deal with this.

I don't have the time today to deal with this. And God says there's something behind the wallpaper and the word of God is exposing that and it's working in your heart. And if you will let me, I will help you deal with that. Paul says pray for the word of God to have powerful success. And then notice the second thing that he asked for. What happens when the word of God starts working in somebody's life? Notice what he says in verses two and three. Pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. Pray for the powerful success of God's word, but pray also for personal protection, for God's protection as the word begins to work. When God's word begins to awaken you, when God's spirit begins to take that word and begins to use it in your life and begins to change your life, you would think that everybody around you would celebrate that, but that's simply not the case. When the word of God transformed the people to whom Paul is writing these letters to, they experience relentless rejection and ruthless opposition. And when the word of God really begins to change you, you can expect the same thing. And so Paul says pray that God would protect the work that the word is doing. Pray that it would be protected from wicked and evil people. You can see that in verse two.

And pray that it would be protected from evil purposes. And behind all of this, behind the people that are opposing you, and the evil purposes that are being foisted on you, behind all of that is an evil one. And you know very well who that evil one is. You and I both know that he's been at this for a very long time.

He's been at this since Genesis chapter three, and he has an incredible trophy route full of people that he's opposed successfully. And God is saying to you when the word of God begins to work in your life, and that word begins to transform your life, and your life begins to grow and manifest grace, and you begin to see the word of God, not just as something that you read or something that you hear, but you're actually living out that sweet word that God has brought into your life. There will come opposition. There will come temptation. There will come resistance. There will come an evil one against you. And Paul says pray.

Pray for God to protect you. So let me ask it to you this way. Do you pray that way for your soul? Do you get up in the morning, and as you are getting ready for the day, do you talk to God and say, God, I want your word today to work in my life, and I need you to protect me today from the evil that is out there, from the people that may tempt me to that evil, and from the evil one himself? Or do you just go through your day not even thinking that you need that protection because you're at a place like Bob Jones University?

Or because you live in a home where you have a mom and a dad who read the Bible and go to church? Do you really understand what Paul is saying, that there is an evil one, and he is bent on our damage? He is bent on distracting us.

He is bent on destroying us. And that's why Paul says when you pray, if you want to know what to pray for, pray for the powerful success of God's word, but pray for protection from the evil one. And then notice the third thing that we're to pray for in verse four. Paul said we have confidence in the Lord about you.

Well, what confidence is it that you are doing and will do the things that we command? Pray for ongoing, persistent obedience to the will of God that is being revealed in the word of God and that the Spirit of God is enabling you to now desire. The word of God is at work.

The will of God is being revealed. Ask God for help so that you will keep obeying as you have been obeying. You know, sometimes we come to a text like this and people like me stand up and preach it and we fail to realize that for many of you, you have been obeying in massive ways. We typically look at the area of our life where we're not obeying and Paul says, before I even talk about my desire for the future, I want to acknowledge something. You have been obeying and the vast majority of you in this room have been obeying and you've probably been obeying way more than you think.

Let me give you some examples. This semester alone, you have been obeying the word of God. Many of you have had temptations that you have successfully resisted.

Some of you have found yourself in a place where a lie would have served you well and you told the truth to your own hurt. Some of you found yourself desperately needing an answer to a test because maybe a scholarship rested on that grade and instead of cheating, God helped you to be honest. Some of you have done even harder things than that and you've done it quietly, you've done it without any fanfare, you didn't stand up and tell the world, look how I obeyed today. You just got up and with God's help, you obeyed and the apostle Paul noted that and somebody far greater than the apostle Paul has noted your obedience all semester. And Paul says, listen, when you pray, don't just pray for the success of the word and don't just pray for protection as the word does its work.

Ask God to help you keep doing what you've been doing. Paul said, I'm confident that just as you have obeyed, you will continue to obey and that brings me to the last thing and that is this. What is strong enough to do all this?

What's strong enough to do all this? Paul's gonna describe it this way, may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. Pray for the progressive growth of your life as you walk with God. Pray that God will enable you to walk with him and there are two things that he points you to. One of them is this, the intense love of God. Paul says, I am asking you to think about something when you pray.

Pray that the Lord would direct your heart, that he would sort of clear out anything that's in the way and he would just direct your heart to some amazing truth that overshadows anything else that's going on in your life and that truth is this, the love of God for you. You know, stop and think about this for a minute. How many of you have during your time here watched people fall in love? You've actually watched it. You've watched a roommate fall in love.

Can you see your hands? You've watched somebody fall in love. All right, so you know the process, right?

How it starts, how it progresses, the ups and downs of it. How many of you have ever had the experience of watching two people fall in love and it makes zero sense to you? Man, everybody's hand went up like so fast. It's like I understand why you like her but for the life of me, I don't understand why she likes you. And pal, you better hurry up because the minute she gets her eyes checked, it's done. It's over. Or you see two people and they're just walking along barely avoiding getting run over by cars because they're looking at each other and you're going, I do not understand that.

That makes zero sense to me. When I fall in love, it's going to be different. Yeah, you can take that to the bank. We have categories for all kinds of love. I have a category for what it's like to love my son and my daughter.

I have a category for that. I have a category for what it's like to love my wife. I have a category for what it's like to be loved. I have a category for the kind of love that my Mom and Dad have for me or that I share with close friends. I have categories for all of that but there is a category that I don't have. I don't have a category for the kind of love that God has for the son and that the Son has for the Father, and that the Spirit and the Son and the Father all share.

I don't have a category for that. It's the most intense, amazing love in the universe. And God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Spirit decided to share that love with you. And Paul says, as wonderful as all the little loves on earth are, may God direct your heart to that amazing love and to how it happened. It happened through the perseverance, the endurance of the Son. The Son of God is how the Father was able to display that love to you, and the Spirit of God is what lives in you it's the person who lives in you that sheds that love abroad in your life so that you actually experience it. And that love, the experience of that love in your life is the only thing big enough to cause you to say to the Lord I want you to take my life and I want you to do anything you want to do with it.

And here's the application. When you pray these four things, 47 words, the Spirit of God over time as the word of God becomes real in your life, and you begin to see this amazing stupendous love that God has for you, that changes a lot of how you look at life. And 40 years from now when we meet you, you're gonna have spent your life doing something for the Father in the strength of the Spirit related to the Gospel of His Son.

And when you get to the finish line that's way down the road for some of you, way further down than just nine and a half days, you will be so glad that you did this. So pray for the power of the word to work in your life. Pray for success, pray for protection, pray for ongoing obedience, and pray that the Spirit of God would open your eyes so that you would experience the immense love that God has for you. Lord, thank you that we could come to this text. Lord, may it not just be a text that we file away, Lord, may your Spirit take these ideas that you put in this text for us, and Lord, may you use these ideas to change us into the image and for the glory of your Son. In whose name we pray, amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Sam Horn, who is a BJA Seminary professor and is also pastor at Palmetto Baptist Church in Piedmont, South Carolina. Thanks for listening, and join us again tomorrow as we study God's word together on The Daily Platform.