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Alright, so today we're going to be continuing with our first Thessalonian series. We're going to be in First Thessalonians. Chapter three. Verses 11 through 13.
So as always, we're going to do a Clean scripture reading. Just let the scripture speak for itself and then we're going to go through it and talk about it.
So we only got Three verses this week. Um I'm not doing a big old block of text, so it's just gonna be Three verses that we're going to look at.
Alright, starting here at verse 11.
Now may our God and Father Himself And our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else. just as ours does for you. May He strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all His holy wants.
So, the greatest virtue we can embrace. In life. is one of love. If we want to live in abundance, We must have Love. Paul knows this.
And he prays that God may grow the Thessalonians in their love.
Now, the Thessalonians, they are a model church. That means there's a lot of stuff that they're getting right that we can learn from. And a model church will be a church of strong love.
So in this section, we don't have the we don't have obvious tenets. Or markers of what makes somebody loving, as we've kind of done with each section. If anyone's interested in that, I would point you to 1 Corinthians. 14:4 through 8. Love is patient and kind.
It does not envy or boast. It's those verses. Uh So we're just going to go through each verse this morning, looking at Paul's prayer. the need to be loving, and then the result of love.
So starting here in verse 11, Paul's prayer.
Now the whole thing is a prayer, but verse 11, we've got some key details here.
Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.
So Paul mentions God. He mentions the father. And then the Lord Jesus Christ.
So God God is the supreme being of the universe. The greatest possible being, the sustainer of life, the final cause of the universe, as Aristotle might say. All of this is true about who God is. But for some, this is All they understand about God is that He rules and He reigns.
Somewhere. in heaven, distant, perhaps disinterested in the lives of you and I. God is ruling and reigning, but he is so much more than just a disinterested deity. God Our father. God is a father to us, intimately involved in our lives, right here with us.
And Paul approaches God in prayer as a child does. It's humble, not demanding, but perfectly comfortable to ask the Father for things. Father hears and answers in the best interest of his children. And then Paul is also praying to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's break that name down for a second because there's a lot of components happening there.
The Lord, that points to the Lordship of Jesus, pointing back to his deity, that he's the supreme, eternal ruler of the universe, who was with the Father in the beginning, John 1:1. The Lord Jesus, Jesus, this is his humanity. This is that God took on flesh and was born in a manger, grew up as a Jewish carpenter. experienced suffering. He experienced temptation.
He was a man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Christ means Messiah or Savior, a title given to him on account that he died on the cross for our sins. But not only that, he was resurrected three days later. Ah, that name, it's the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's what we use to that that's what we call him, but it's a descriptor. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God, man, Savior. Paul prays to God the Father. And the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, we know all prayer is done through the power of the Holy Spirit.
So, when we include the action Paul is doing, praying, We have all three persons of the Trinity represented in this one verse. We got the Father, we got the Lord Jesus Christ, and we got the Holy Spirit assisting Paul in prayer. Ah, it's a beautiful picture.
Now, Paul asks God, clear the way for me to return to this church. But Paul said earlier Satan had blocked the way. That's verse 7.
Now, Paul doesn't know whether or not God's going to clear the way, but again. Perfectly comfortable to ask his father for the desires of his heart, and we can be too. There is no prayer too big. There is no prayer too small for us to take to God. Take everything to the Lord in prayer.
Pray for things that seem to be Miracles. God, this is a stretch, but I'm going to pray this. Lord, I need this. Please give this to me. And pray it, he is your father.
And then all the way down to What cereal should I eat for breakfast? There's nothing too big or too small. Take everything to God.
Now God might tell you that your cereal has more sugar and red 40 in it than original sin did, but at least you know.
So verse 12 We have the need for love. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else. just as ours does for you. So Paul says, May the Lord make your love increase. He's talking about a specific type of love.
Here. We know in the Greek language. There are four different words for love. Unfortunately, English, we only have one. Uh But the four words, uh one of them is eros.
That this is the intimate love between husband and wife. It's where we get the English word erotic from. There is philea, that is the love shared between friends. Uh this is where we get the word Philadelphia. Then there is uh what I got friends there.
Yeah. Yeah. It's the Oh my gosh, okay. Um I lost my place here. There's Eros, Philea, then there's Storgate.
I don't know an English word for like it or a storie. Astorie is the love between family members that holds this deep sense of commitment. And then there's one more, one more kind of love. You guys know what it is? Agape.
Agape, yes, agape. And what is agape? Godly love. Yes. Agape is godly love.
And when we say godly love, What does that mean? What does it mean... Two. For a love to be godly. What does that look like?
You know? Thankfully, God gave us a lot of really good visuals.
So to paint a picture of godly love, we're going to go to the Old Testament here for a second. I'm gonna go to the book of Hosea. 722 BC, during the reign of Jeroboam II, one of Israel's worst kings. That's something to be known for, ain't it? We're still talking about it.
Hosea was called to be a prophet. A prophet, that's just a fancy word for called to speak on God's behalf. This nation was falling apart. The Assyrian Empire had swooped in and just utterly demolished Israel. Before this, Hosea saw all this coming.
Because God had called him. The book of Hosea, it's a collection of some 25 years of preaching and poetry from this prophet.
Now, chapter one through three, we have the story of Hosea. and Gomer.
Now God told Gomer That she was going to leave him, was going to cheat on him. and was going to commit adultery against him. But he was to marry her. Because this was going to be a picture of God's love for Israel.
Now imagine you're Hosea, and God's like, marry this woman. And she's gonna cheat on you, and she's gonna leave you, and then you have to take her back. He tells all of him, like, God tells Hosea this up front. Imagine you're Hosea hearing that. You know, so You're standing there.
You're getting married to this woman and you got all that. in the back of your mind. Uh You know, God said that she was going to do all these things. There you are just looking in her eyes and you're like... Is any of that true?
No, she couldn't do that. And then God's sitting there on their shoulder, like, buddy, just watch. You know it's coming, but it's kind of like buried in the back of your mind.
So you marry this woman, you guys stroll on down to the procession and get some cake, and then you stroll on down through the first five, ten years of your life with your lovely bride through one, two, three children together. You're living. This is in the back of your mind, but you're just living. And boom. It happens.
Just as Scott said it, what your world feels. Falls apart. She leaves. And it's not even under the cover of darkness, she does it in the middle of the day. You know, this other man comes to pick her up, she hands you the youngest baby, and she just walks out the door.
What do you feel in that moment? Hurt? Betrayed? Did you ever love that person? The same as when you started.
Could you ever trust that person? Again? You'd be devastated. It's ruined. It's completely over, right?
But We see Hosea Following the lead of God, goes looking for his bride. We don't know how long it was. It could have been a couple days, could have been months, it could have been a year. He's looking for his bride and he finds her at a slave auction. There ain't no telling what she's gotten herself into, but here she is on auction as a slave.
And he pays whatever it takes to get her back, to get Gomer back and bring her home. She doesn't deserve any of this, but he loves her. Agape. It's the self-sacrificial love that demands nothing. It's similar to Eros, the love between husband and wife, but it's special in the sense that the lover demands nothing from their beloved, always provides for their beloved, even at cost to themselves.
Agape. Now, Hosea shows this to his wife, this agape love who's utterly betrayed him. And we kind of think, well, what happens next? Does Gomer snap to her senses of, oh, I have been foolish. This man loves me, I'm gonna love him back, and now we're on the right track.
Does she do that? Yeah. I don't know. It kind of just ends. The story just ends.
We don't really know what happens next if she has a turnaround. You know, it's it's a cliffhanger. Why? Why don't we have the the Disney ending of riding off into the sunset? Because I would argue, whether Gomer stays faithful or returns to her cheating ways, it's really up to you.
These are real events, but it's a drama, a metaphor for God's relationship with Israel. The union, the adultery, the restoring. Union, adultery, restoring. God has made humanity in perfect fellowship, marriage to himself, and then we. walked out on him, pursuing our own interests.
God finds us in slavery in Egypt. Brings us out of it into covenant, be faithful to me alone. And then Israel goes into the promised land, takes the resources God gave, and walks out again. They go worship false idols. But instead of ending the covenant, as we all might feel.
would be just. God pursues Israel again. Purely out of love. And compassionate. He ain't getting anything out of it.
It's agape love. It's self-sacrificial. And of course, it is because there is a cost. Hosea 3:2. Hosea buys Gomer back.
for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley. All of that together, that would have been about 30 pieces of silver. The average cost of a slave. Where else do we see that? in scripture.
See, God purchased us out of slavery. Of sin by coming to the earth in the form of a man, humbling himself to death on a cross in our place. He was publicly executed and humiliated, betrayed by his own people. This was the price for his adulterous pride. Romans 7, it says, We are freed from the law, bound in newness to the Spirit.
Ephesians 5, 23, For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body of which he is the Savior.
So we got this image that Christ is the husband and us, the church, is the bride. Isaiah 62, as a young man marries a young woman, so will your builder marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, your God will rejoice. Over you. Bringing it back to Hosea, it says, 216, it will come about in that day that you will call me Ishii.
and will no longer call me Ba'ali.
Now is she means husband and Ba'ali means Master.
So it will come a day when you will call me husband and no longer call me master.
Now some translations just put it that way, but I like this because Ba'ali, master, that is a direct jab at the idol worship of Ba'al. It's saying, Why are you running into slavery of this cruel master? Don't you know I am your loving husband?
So we think, well, did Gomer stay faithful? I mean, this poor guy, he pursued her, doesn't she doesn't deserve it one bit. I don't know if I would have done that. Did she stay faithful to him?
Well, it's actually up to you, Comer. We are Gomer in this story. And what happens next, that's up to us. How we Handle our relationship with God. Agape love.
The lover provides for their beloved at great cost, as God has done for us. We call it godly love. not because it's alien, not because it's some superpower that we get from some radioactive bug when we become Christian. You know, we don't become Christian and then we have this superpower of agape. No, we we call it godly love Because God embodies the definition of sacrificial love.
He fits the definition perfectly. And he literally Embodies. Becoming a man to die for his bride, agape love. That's why we call it godly love.
Now we look at this event of Hosea and Gomer, and I think, man, could I do that? Could I love somebody? Like that, you know, they cheat on you, they utterly disrespect you and your kids, run off with some other man. With your money. And I just take her back at cost to me again?
Could I do that?
Well, it's certainly not natural for us, is it? No, I love you and you love me. Tit for tat, that's natural for us. But what is natural for us? It's sad.
Now, that's not how God loves us, and He calls us to love the world and one another with. Agape love. Agape love is not natural to us, so we don't see in this section that he lays out tenets, you know, and an IKEA instruction manual for how to build strong love. It's not there. When talking about strong love, Paul gives them a prayer.
It's a prayer. May God increase your love and overflow because. If God wants me to love the way He loves me. God has to move me to love like that. It's not in me.
It's not natural. If God doesn't move me to love in this way, it's not happening.
So we pray, God, move me to love like you love. Let that be your prayer this morning. God, move me to love like you love. Say that with me. God, move me to love like you love.
Because what is natural to us is a twisted version of love called a. Transaction. You give me this I will give you that.
Now transactions are fine for the economy. We're playing a game with other people and the thing that everyone can agree of is, well, my needs and wants are the most important.
So greed and selfishness and the desire to get what you want is a predictable metric for the economy to run on. But for us as Christians, when it comes to intimate relationships with our friends, with our spouse, when it comes to witnessing, and even in business, it's got to be more than just a transaction. The world will know us by our agape love. God must move us to love like this, and He does. And the closer we situate ourselves to God, the deeper we will understand agape love, and the more it will outflow from us.
to others. Paul says it overflows for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. Everyone. The word everyone, is that an inclusive or exclusive word. Inclusive or exclusive?
Inclusive or inclusive. Inclusive. That's right. Yeah, because to love everyone has to include Everyone. Love everyone.
Who is everyone?
Well, It's the sick. It's the shut-ins that we have. It's the North Carolina hurricane victims. It's the Muslims who meet at mosque in Lynchburg. It's the homeless.
It's the hateful. It's the homosexual. It's the rich. It's the poor. It's the prostitute, the liar, the murderer, the orphan.
It's everyone. We're to love Everyone. Our love is to be inclusive. That's because the gospel is already exclusive and offensive enough as it is. What do you mean there's only one way of God?
What do you mean I have to give up my sin and follow God's lead? The gospel doesn't need our help. It already is challenging enough for people.
So our love has to be welcoming and inclusive.
So All of the law and prophets hang on the two commandments. Love God. Love others. That word in the Greek is the same, agape, sacrificial love for God. and for others.
Anything when you hang a picture up on your wall, Natasha and I just hung up a bunch of pictures this week, so I got this metaphor in my head. When you hang up a picture, it's beautiful, you hang it up because it's pretty, you want to look at it. But it's hung up on two nails. And without those two points, all of it just calls just fumbles just falls to the ground. And it's the same thing with the law and the prophets.
The moral law of God hangs on the two points. Love God, love others. Agape. You have to have both. And without those two points and just It just doesn't work, it just falls to the ground.
And with this we have the great need for our church to be loving. Everything hinges on agape. Love. All right, verse 13. May he strengthen your hearts.
The ideal result for love is that we be presented blameless and holy to the Lord on the final day when Jesus returns. Strengthen your hearts. Again, it's a prayer, it's not a how-to guide on how to be strengthened. Our strength. is God's strength.
Now, any other time when it comes to strength, it's like, alright, how do I run a marathon?
Well, you can't just show up there and expect to do all right. You know, man, you can't even get out of your khakis. You have to have a plan. To run a marathon, you have to train hard and get stronger. It's not like that when it comes to spiritual things.
In fact, our strength is when we recognize our deep and utter weakness, our deep and utter dependence on God. Because our strength is God's strength.
So it says, and you will be blameless and holy. Blameless is free from guilt. Holy is to be separated and set apart from God. Only Jesus can accomplish that. Only Jesus can make us blameless, and only Jesus can pluck us from the herd.
So when the Lord Jesus comes with all His holy ones, Oh, this is our first glimpse here of the end times. I can't wait to get into this more with you guys. Come March, we're going to really get into end time stuff in Thessalonians. On this day, we're going to meet Jesus face to face. Be blameless and holy, and we will be with him forever.
That's Jesus' promise to you. Yeah. The Holy Ones, that is commonly understood to be the saints. The believers who have passed, and on the end day, those who are taken up when he returns.
So great. When is he coming? When's it coming? I heard it out there, he actually told us when he's coming. Revelation 22:20.
I am coming.
So
