We have had a lot of emphasis upon the subject of prayer here at Beacon over the last recent weeks. It has been a strong, recent emphasis in our Sunday night preaching that Pastor Carnes has done in the Book of Revelation. Last Sunday night, a particular emphasis upon prayer. It has been a strong emphasis, not surprisingly, but nevertheless a notable emphasis in our Wednesday night prayer meetings of late. And of course always an emphasis on Wednesday night on prayer, but not always the focus of the messages on Wednesday night. But it has been lately, and now today we come to that in our verse by verse exposition through 2 Thessalonians to the final verses of chapter 1 and to another emphasis upon the importance of prayer.
Do you suppose that in all of this God is trying to tell us anything? He's trying to focus our attention upon prayer and the importance of it and the practice of it. In 2 Thessalonians 1, 11 and 12, Paul describes how he prays for the Thessalonian believers.
We've seen this kind of format before. For verses 11 and 12, though they sound very much like a prayer, a close examination reveals they aren't exactly a prayer. This is Paul reporting on a prayer, Paul reporting on how he prays.
And so we see the elements of prayer, we understand a great deal about prayer. It sounds, it looks to us very much like a prayer, and yet what it is, is Paul saying, this is how I pray for you. This is a prayer report, Paul reporting to the Thessalonians on how he prays for them. And it is the first of four prayers or prayer reports, as the case may be, some one, some the other. In the short epistle of 2 Thessalonians with only three chapters, again, we see the importance of prayer. Paul, the Apostle Paul was a man of prayer, because Paul's savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, was a man of prayer. Therefore, we too need to become men and women of prayer if we are followers of Christ, and if we are following the example of a godly follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this prayer recorded in the last part of this chapter will help us understand how we should pray. It shows us how Paul prayed, and it will help us to understand how we should pray. And so we begin by reminding you, I said this recently, the most simple definition of prayer is that prayer is talking to God.
That's what it is. There are other things we could say about it, there are other things we could say prayer is this or that or something else, but in its most simple and basic element, prayer is talking to God. And we need to talk to God. And so let's examine four elements of prayer as we see them in our text in verses 11 and 12. And we begin with what I have called the promptings of prayer.
Verse 11 says, and I'll read both of these verses again. Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness in the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. And it begins with what I've called the promptings of prayer.
That is that opening word, therefore, which we recognize as a word of connection, a word that links to the previous context. This tells us what it was that prompted Paul to pray in the way that he records his prayer here. This tells us what it was that caused Paul to feel his need to pray in the way that he describes. All of this that he said in Chapter 1, and then he comes to verse 11 and he says, Therefore, because of what I have told you, because of what I've written, because of what has gone before, therefore, we, speaking of himself and the missionary team, Silas and Timothy, therefore, we always pray. And so the promptings of prayer take us back into the context in Chapter 1.
Therefore, one translation rendered this, to this end, and another one, with this in mind. To this end, we pray. With this in mind, we pray. Therefore, we pray. Now, we could probably pick out a number of things in Chapter 1 that we could link to Paul's prompting to pray.
But I will focus on three particulars as I scan through this chapter. What were the particular things that prompted Paul to pray? They are, number one, the Thessalonians' worthiness.
If you hadn't been here for a previous sermon, that may sound strange, but I will explain that more fully. Number two, their neediness. And number three, their holiness. First of all, their worthiness, and that takes us back to verse four and five. He says in verse four, So we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that, you remember this, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. In verse four, Paul talks about the very real situation in Thessalonica of both persecutions and tribulations. Persecutions brought on by the enemies of the gospel, which made them targets of attack in a unique way, because these attacks came only toward those who were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were targets, therefore, of special suffering, special trials, unique only to the people of God, persecutions for the sake of Christ. But beyond that, there were the normal tribulations of life that we all face, sickness and death and loss of jobs and the various things that all of us face, and they had all of this. They had a lot going on in Thessalonica, and Paul commended them for their persevering faith. They were facing these trials well.
They were enduring them in a very exemplary manner. And he said, this is what God sees to count you worthy of his kingdom. This is not what makes us worthy of his kingdom. Christ makes us worthy of his kingdom.
But this is what reveals that we have been made worthy of his kingdom. This persevering faith in the face of trials is something that the children of God manifest by the grace of God and is a way of distinguishing true faith from counterfeit faith. Some say they trust in Jesus Christ, but when the trials come, what happens? They falter.
They fail. Do you remember the parable that Jesus told in the end of the Sermon on the Mount about the two houses, one built on the rock and one built on the sand, and one was built on the rock, and the winds and the waves, the trials of life came and beat upon the house, and what did it do? It stood because it was built upon a strong foundation. It was built upon the rock Christ Jesus, but the house built on the sand, same trials, same storms, same rain, same winds. They came, and what happened?
Bang, it fell flat because it wasn't built on the foundation. And that's what Paul is seeing here. He's saying, I see genuine faith in you. I see your persevering in trials. I see your holding on to the Lord Jesus Christ and demonstrating your faith in Him that has been given to you by God.
This is a demonstration. This is a manifestation that God counts you, reckons you, declares you, worthy of His kingdom because you have genuine faith in Christ. But how does that relate to Paul's prayers for them? Well, their exemplary perseverance and faith is evidence of their saving faith. Their persevering faith manifests their worthiness, that Christ has worked within them. He made us worthy. But Paul still makes that an object of his prayers.
In other words, so far they're doing well, but they're not home yet. So I pray that you will continue to persevere. I pray that you will finish well, not just start well, but finish well. I pray that you will continue to be worthy of His calling. That's what verse 11 says. Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God will count you worthy of His calling. That's part of his prayer.
So this is one of the therefores. This is what Paul has in mind. With this in mind, I pray for you. With what in mind, Paul? Well, this wonderful encouragement, this demonstration of your worthiness, but you're not home safe until you get home safe. And so I pray that you'll make it all the way by the help and grace of God. But I'm praying to that end.
Well, what else? Well, number two, their neediness. And I don't point to any one specific text for this, but it's the general tone of what goes on before us here and links into what I've just said. In other words, they have evidenced God's grace, but they obviously need God's grace. They have had a good measure of God's grace, but they still need an outpouring of God's grace, don't they?
They are evidencing the manifestation of their faith by the grace of God, but they still need to be upheld and protected and empowered by the grace of God. Their neediness for God's grace isn't over until they get to heaven. Therefore, I pray for you. I pray for you that your worthiness will be manifested all the way home.
I pray for you that your needs will be supplied by God's grace until you have arrived. And the third one is their holiness, that they will be glorified at the second coming of Christ, which is referred to in verse 10, when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe because our testimony among you was believed. Therefore, we also pray. So he's praying that they will be glorified at the second coming of Christ, which he has already declared will happen for those who are truly the children of God. But what he's saying when he gets into this part of the request in verse 12, that you may be glorified, that Christ may be glorified in you and you and him, what he's saying is that that which will be manifested in its fullness at the second coming of Christ may be manifested more obviously here and now before Christ comes. It isn't that we wait until Christ comes and now we manifest his glory. Now we demonstrate holiness in our lives. Now we show the fruit of sanctification. In that day, Paul says, no, no, no. If you are recipients of that in that day, then it should be already operating in your life now.
Yes, indeed will be operating in your life now and I am praying to that end that it will operate more and more and more and more and more until the Lord comes and it will be manifested in its full expression. And so what was Paul's prayer burden, his prompting here? It was for the spiritual growth of believers, what we call sanctification. And I would suggest we're talking about how this teaches us to pray. I would suggest that we need to consciously relate more of our prayer requests to the sanctification of the saints.
We are prone to have a list of petitions of needs. Oh Lord, this person is sick, please heal them. Oh Lord, this person lost their job, please provide a job for them. Oh Lord, this person lost their dear loved one, please comfort them.
But we should take that one step further. Oh Lord, this person is sick, please heal them if it be your will, but in all things please sanctify them, please grow them in grace. Please cause this trial to make them more Christ-like. May it manifest more of Christ's glory in their life. That would be a prayer similar to what Paul prayed.
And likewise in other requests, they lost their job. Help strengthen their faith, help them to rely upon you, help them to trust you for their needs, help them to see your power at work in these difficult circumstances and to glorify you when you supply their needs even though they're helpless to do so at this time. You see how that ties into Paul's emphasis here in prayer? And so that's the promptings of prayer. Number two, let's talk a bit about what I will call the permeation of prayer. And I focus now upon that word always in verse 11.
Therefore, we also pray always for you. And if you've studied the prayers of the apostle Paul in Scripture, you know that this is very common. This comes up in almost all of his mentions of prayer, how he prays always, how he prays constantly. And we sometimes scratch our heads and say, how is that possible? We scratch our heads and say, what exactly does that mean? Because this is such a common description of Paul's praying.
Well, let me explain what I think this means, several things. Number one, Paul prayed regularly. Number two, Paul prayed often. You say, isn't that the same thing?
Well, not necessarily. If Paul said, I pray every Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock without fail, we could say Paul prays regularly. But if Paul only prayed every Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock, we could say Paul prayed often. You see what I mean? He prayed regularly, and his regular prayer schedule, if you want to call it that, involved frequent praying.
Obviously it did. We pray always for you. But even beyond that, what Paul is telling us is that he clearly lived in an attitude of constant prayer. He is saying, I don't need to be on my knees in order to pray. I don't need to be in my proverbial closet in order to pray. I pray while I'm sewing cloth and making tents. I pray while I'm walking the streets and running errands.
I pray as I'm going through life and noticing things around me, the things that I see, I relate to the Lord in prayer. I'm praying always. I'm praying regularly. I'm not praying every second of every minute of every hour of every day.
That's not what I mean. But I'm praying, I'm living with a constant attitude of prayer. Something that Paul had obviously cultivated, but I would suggest that it's difficult to cultivate this regular attitude of constant prayer unless one prays regularly. Unless one prays often, he will find it difficult to actually live in the kind of constant attitude of prayer that Paul is describing here.
And that's a helpful guide for us. We, too, need to develop regular habits of prayer. It needs to be part of our schedule. And we need to pray as often as we can.
Now having said that, I must also say this. In spite of the fact that this emphasis on prayer leads us to believe that it ought to be scheduled and it ought to be as frequent as possible, it's also noteworthy that nowhere in the Bible do we have, or at least in the New Testament do I know, do we have a description of anyone's schedule. We don't know what their schedules were. We know, for example, that Jesus prayed frequently and regularly and seriously. We have records in the Scriptures of at least a couple of times when he spent the whole night in prayer with his Heavenly Father. Now, did he do that seven days a week? I don't think so, unless he slept all day.
You see? Well, how often did he do that? I don't know. During the three years of his earthly ministry, we say approximately a thousand days, give or take. How many of those were nights that he spent the whole night with the Father in prayer? Well, if we go only by what's recorded, we'd say only two or three. Now, we can say that two or three is probably a sample of others, and that would be reasonable, but we don't know that. It might be two or three out of a thousand.
And it might be two or three every week or two. We just don't know, do we? We know that he did this. This shows us the importance of prayer, the priority of prayer. It shows us someone whose communion with God was such that he could spend a whole night in prayer.
How many of us could do that before we'd run out of things to say and have trouble staying awake? I mean, this teaches us a lot about Christ's prayer, but we really don't know his schedule. Likewise with the Apostle Paul. We know that he prayed regularly and often, but when did he pray? Did he pray, did he get up every day and pray at 6 a.m. and again at 12 noon and again at 6 p.m. and again at 9 p.m.? Maybe, maybe not. We don't know. We don't know what the schedule is, which I think is the wisdom of God in telling us that all of our schedules aren't going to be the same.
They can't be. But in conformity with your life, with your schedule, it's important that you find times to schedule prayer. You manage to find time to do the things that are important. You manage to find time to eat.
Anyone who hasn't eaten for the last three or four days, raise your hand. Somehow you did it. You're busy, but you did it.
You found time to do it. And the things we find important, we find some way to work into our schedule, no matter how busy they may be. And if we will accept what the Scripture teaches us about the importance of prayer, then we will give it priority. We will honor the Lord by including that in some kind of a schedule, but we're not going to become... What term should I use here? We're not going to become legalistic about it and say, if I don't pray all night every night, then I've failed the Lord.
I beat myself up, you know, that type of thing. The schedule isn't given because the schedule isn't what's important. We're giving it priority that we're cultivating and developing a prayer life, and that is teaching us to, in what is most important here, live in a constant attitude of prayer. It permeates our whole life. Now, I have known people who have taken this idea of, well, I just pray as I'm driving, and I pray as I'm working, as if that fulfills the whole responsibility, and they don't really have any time where they really get into their proverbial prayer closet and spend time with the Lord in prayer. And though that's better than ignoring prayer altogether, I'm a little skeptical about that.
I really wonder how much of an attitude toward prayer you can have if you don't have times of closet prayer. But the real goal is to develop constant prayer, an attitude of constant prayer. And if we'll develop that, living all of life in an attitude of prayer, which means committing each day to God in prayer when we get up in the morning, relating every rising event that comes along in the day to God in prayer, committing every concern that comes into our mind. It may not even be an event in our life, but the things, the thoughts that come into our minds throughout the day, immediately committing those to the Lord in prayer, living all of life in an attitude of prayer.
And as we do that, this will help us guard against sin, and this will help us live each day to the glory of God. So let's understand this permeation of prayer that's so important. Number three, the petitions of prayer. The petitions of prayer.
We've seen the promptings, the permeation, and now the petitions. And there are two things primarily that Paul is praying about there in verse 11. Therefore, we also pray always for you that, here it is, that, in order that. Number one, God would count you worthy of his calling.
We've already touched on that a bit, but we'll expand on it in a moment. We pray that God would count you worthy of this calling. And number two, fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness in the work of faith with power. The two petitions of prayer that Paul describes in his prayer for the Thessalonians is, number one, that they may become worthy of their calling, and number two, that they may become effective in their labors.
They tie together, but we look at them separately. To become worthy of our calling, that our God would count you worthy of this calling. What is this calling? I think you know, but not everybody does. But Paul frequently identifies Christians in terminology like this, according to their calling or the call of God upon them. Now, we normally describe Christians in terms of their exercise of faith toward God. We talk about believers. We talk about people of faith and so forth.
Nothing wrong with that. That's considered as well. Paul mentions that in verse 4. We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith. That's their faith in God. So there is this human exercise of faith.
But again, it's a matter of balance. We tend to ignore this divine designation that Paul so often uses, the calling, to identify God's people. They are the ones who are the called of God. How often do we talk that way? How often do we talk about believers as those who are called, those who are the elect of God?
That's the kind of language that Paul uses. But we tend, like so many people, to instinctively go to the human activity, the faith that people exercise in the Word of God, which of course is part of it as well. Because we know that faith is the result of God's work in our lives. Those that God calls do exercise faith, right?
Of course they do. In fact, it's because of God's calling that they do. Human action is the result of divine activity.
But Paul starts back a step or two before we tend to. And he says, I'm praying that God will make you worthy of this calling, this call of God upon your life. One of the most favorite verses that all Christians have, whether they understand what I'm talking about at this point or not, but one of the favorite verses that nearly all Christians have is good old Romans 8.28. But what does it say? And we know that all things work together for good, for whom?
To them who love God, that's the human action. But what's the other one? To those who are the called according to God's purpose. That's the other side.
They both go together, don't they? Those who love God, and how does anyone love God? We love God because he first loved us. How does anyone love God? Because they are the called according to God's purpose.
And God's purpose is to enable them and to prompt them and to develop within them a love for God, which otherwise none of us would have. We don't naturally love God like Martin Luther came to realize. He said, I love God, I hate him. He's looking at the commandments, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength. And he was honest, more honest than most people. He was religious when he said this.
He was, we would say, a clergyman, a minister when he said these words. Love God, I hate him. At least he'd come to understand the truth of his own heart and soul until he was converted and until his heart was changed, until God did a work of grace in his heart. He didn't love God. He couldn't love God. His sinful rebellion caused him to hate the God who was holy and demanded holiness in his creatures. And Martin Luther didn't have that desire or that ability because like all men who love darkness rather than light, he loved darkness rather than light.
And he couldn't make himself love God. And yet, all things work together for good for who? To those who love God.
Where do they come from? To those who are the called according to his purpose. That's what Paul is doing here. He's understanding in terms of this calling. Divine calling enlarges our perspective.
I know some people who, though they believe the things I'm saying now, are very reluctant to talk about them because they know that some people don't like it. That's what it really boils down to. But we need to talk about them. We need to talk about them.
There's a purpose for them. It shapes our thinking in the right ways. It gets us away from this proud, self-centered perspective and puts us in a humble, God-centered perspective, which is what we need. We need to understand the sovereignty of God and salvation. That'll humble us.
That'll put us in our place. What did Paul go on to say after Romans 8-28? For whom he did foreknow, them he also predestinated.
Well, there's another one of those words. To be conformed to the image of his son. Them he also predestinated. And whom he predestinated, them he also called.
There's called. It's right in the middle of this chain of five things. Those whom he called, them he also justified. And those whom he justified, them he also glorified. Five links in the golden chain of salvation.
Foreknowledge, predestination, we'd call that election. Calling, God calls those whom he has chosen. And then he justifies those. He says, wait a minute, he doesn't justify them until they believe.
That's right. We are justified by faith. But, you know, in the understanding of salvation, faith is, it's not insignificant, it's not negligible, but honestly, folks, it's just not that, it's not the most important thing. The most important thing is the foreknowledge and the predestination and the calling and the justification and the glorification.
And, of course, those whom God calls will believe and those who believe, truly believe, will be justified. I mean, you can insert other things in here and important things as well, but what I'm showing you is that so many times when Paul is talking about the people of God, he's not even thinking about these human activities. He's just thinking about what God has done. Because, ultimately, there is no salvation except when God does something. And when God does, there is. And when God doesn't, there's nothing we can do.
So we better run to God. So Paul is praying that, what did I say here, got to get back to it now, that they would become worthy of their calling, that God would count you worthy of His calling. And thinking about that aspect, the God-word side of all of this, elevates our spiritual priorities.
Now we're not thinking about what I did. Well, bless God, I walked an aisle, I prayed a prayer. Now what did God do?
God humbled me, God called me, God drew me unto Himself. But what that takes us to is beyond that, why did God call us to Himself? To answer, to reverse our Adamic fallenness and to enable us to glorify Him. We can't do that until that sinfulness that we inherited from Adam and we have multiplied many fold in our own sinful activities.
Until that's dealt with, there's no way we can glorify God. But God created us to bring glory to Him. So what's He doing in salvation? He's dealing with the effects of the fall so that we can do what we were created to do. That's what God's doing. That's why He's calling us to Himself. How can we fulfill such a high calling?
Our purpose for being is to bring honor and glory to God. How can we do that? Only by God's grace and power, hence the need of prayer. We have to pray that God will enable us to do what otherwise we cannot do.
Right? Some of you are getting it. I hope all of you are. And so Paul's first petition is that they would become worthy of their calling and the second one is to become effective in their labors and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and work with faith and power. Thomas Constable rendered this, that God would bring to full expression every good purpose of theirs to glorify God and every act motivated by faith in God. That God would fulfill, to put it this way, every holy desire and every proper endeavor.
That's what Paul is praying for. That God would fulfill, that is to bring to expression with power, His power, every good purpose, that's our motives, our desires, and every act prompted by faith. Every desire that's good and every endeavor that's based upon faith, that is believing the word of God. In other words, both inward desire and outward activity that God will empower all of the inward desires and outward activities that are in line with faith.
Every desire to be and do good. Keeping in mind, as Jeffrey Rilson said, God implants the desires and God enables the accomplishments. We wouldn't have any good desires if God didn't give them, God gives them and then He enables us to fulfill them.
He gives us these desires and they become ours. I want to please the Lord, I want to serve Him. Paul says, I'm praying that God will enable you to do that. I want to accomplish this for the kingdom of God.
That's a good desire. Paul says, I'll pray that God will enable you to do that. That's Paul's prayer. And finally, we're going to have to hurry, but the fourth one is the purpose of prayer. So we have had the promptings of prayer, the permeation of prayer, the petitions of prayer and now the purpose of prayer. Another that, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and you and Him. The glory of Christ. This is the ultimate purpose of prayer. To bring glory to Christ, to pray that God will enable us to bring glory to Christ.
That's it. That the name of Christ, the name of the Bible is the person, the character, the conduct, the reputation of the person who is named. That the name of Christ may be glorified. What does it mean for Christ's name to be glorified? It means for His person to be praised.
It means for His reputation to be enhanced. It means that we show others what He is truly like. A lot of people have mistaken opinions about Christ.
A lot of people have very detrimental and wicked opinions of Christ. What's our job? To manifest the true Christ. To demonstrate and declare His glory, who He truly is, what He's truly like.
That's our job. And He is glorified when the full impact of who He is is recognized and worshiped by others. He's making worshippers.
That's what He told the Samaritan woman. God is looking for those to worship Him. And every time He saves a soul, He makes a new worshipper. And so our job is to worship Him. And our job is to lift Him up before others if they can see who He truly is. As we pray, God the Holy Spirit will cause them to want to worship Him as well.
That He will be glorified in you, in you. This is how His name is glorified. And this takes place ultimately when Christ returns. He's going to really be glorified in us in that day. But again, like the sanctification, it's going on now. We are glorifying Him now.
Not to a perfect degree. Shame on us. We rue the fact that we can't glorify Him as fully as we know we should and want to. But we are doing it by His help and grace and power. Even in our incomplete sanctification, even in wrestling with our Adamic fallenness, the remnants of our Adamic fallenness, we still, because we are His children, we are enabled to glorify Him, to lift Him up, to praise Him, to magnify Him, to represent Him before others for who He truly is and to call others to worship Him. So the purpose of prayer is to bring glory to Christ. The purpose of prayer is to pray for the sanctification of God's people.
He'll be glorified in you and you in Him. And the purpose of prayer is to exalt God's grace. All of this according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. These petitions of Paul are accomplished only by God's grace. A grace that flows equally from Father and Son. One article for both God and Lord in this text, two titles for one person. The glory goes to God because it is accomplished only by Him, by His gracious power.
Now, that brings me to this conclusion. Prayer should be these things, five things. Prayer should be regular. Prayer should be often.
Prayer should be, number three, life saturating, always. Prayer, number four, should be God glorifying. Relate every petition to the glory of God.
Show how that petition can bring glory to God. Include that in your prayer. And number five, our prayers should be saints sanctifying.
Pray how this trial, pray how this need will be used to further sanctify God's people. Prayer should be regular, often, life saturating, God glorifying, and saints sanctifying. And if we'll learn to pray like that, we'll be praying like the Apostle Paul. And if we pray like the Apostle Paul, I think we'll be praying pretty good, don't you? I think so. The disciples said, Lord, teach us to pray.
He has. Here it is. So let's get busy. Will you pray? Father, teach us to pray and help us to pray. In Christ's name, amen.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-08-23 13:14:00 / 2023-08-23 13:28:12 / 14