More Gospel Affection

Well, let's take our Bibles and let's turn to the epistle of 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2. I'll begin reading in verse 17. 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 17 to the end of chapter 3. but since we were torn away from you brothers for a short time in person not in heart we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face because we wanted to come to you I Paul again and again but Satan hindered us for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming is it not you for you are our glory and joy therefore when we could bear it no longer we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone and we sent Timothy our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ to establish and exhort you in your faith that no one be moved by these afflictions for you yourselves know that we are destined for this 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 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.

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. For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord.

For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints Let pray Father once more we ask that you open your word to us Make this not just words that are on this page, but as they really are, the living words of God intended to change us, intended to bring things to light that we're not even aware in our hearts. And yet, Lord, not just to convict us but to encourage us in the way of Christ in the path of Christ would you work in our hearts today would you father take these words and make them alive for us that we might glorify you and that we might find the great satisfaction and peace that come as we walk in obedience to you help us to that end now we pray in Jesus name amen affection that's an interesting word isn't it affection it means a fond or tender feelings you have towards somebody or something it's a feeling that grows into something that's deep and robust as you realize we are in this together and our text beats with the heart of affection as you read the words of the Apostle Paul to the brothers and sisters he has left behind in the city of Thessalonica.

But this is no ordinary affection. This is gospel affection. It is an affection that grows between those who have been rescued by the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's an affection that grows as you labor together in the gospel. It's an affection that deepens as you stand together for the gospel. And as we saw last week, true gospel affection produces godly delight in one another, chapter 2, verses 17 through 19, and godly concern for one another, chapter 3, verses 1 through 5.

Now, as we look at our text this morning, you're going to see that Paul ends his reflections on the note of gospel affection. Now remember, the first part of this book, the first three chapters, are all Paul reflecting on the ministry that he and Silas and Timothy have had amongst the Thessalonians. And he reflects on this team relationship with that church for the purpose of cheering them on to the finish of encouraging them of helping them of motivating them to finish well You remember that Paul Silas and Timothy had left under a cloud Trouble, riots, legal complications had forced them to leave town.

And that left this congregation suffering. The tormentors of the team, those who had turned their anger against these missionaries, after they left turned their anger on the the band of Christ followers that they'd left behind and so in this letter he calls attention to the ministry the three had among them in order to encourage them to help them to motivate them to stand for the faith now he was alone in Athens as we just read he was alone in Athens at the time and he just received the good news from Timothy that these folks had remained true to the gospel. They had remained steadfast in their faith.

They stood against the affliction and the persecution. And so he writes them to continue in that faith, thrilled to death at the news that he's just heard. And now as we continue, we're going to see again how God encourages you to the end by informing you what gospel affection can work in your hearts as a congregation as we love one another so let's look at our text for this morning chapter 3 verses 6 6 through 13 we've already looked at the first part let's look at the last now 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 for this reason brothers in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.

For now we live if you're standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you.

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless and holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints What does he tell us here The first thing is recognize that gospel affection produces mutual encouragement Gospel affection if we love one another we be involved in encouraging one another Gospel affection produces mutual encouragement. Notice what the Apostle Paul says, he goes, Wow, you would not believe how much you encouraged us when we got the news of your steadfastness in Christ. You wouldn't believe how much that encouraged us.

He says to them, he says in verse 7, right? In all our distress and affliction, we've been comforted. We live. We give thanks. We experience great joy. He says, frankly, when we got the news, we were feeling pretty low, facing our own distress and afflictions.

And you encouraged us. Man, we were feeling low because of our own distress and afflictions. Now remember, what's he talking about there? Remember, if you know the back story to this, if you want the back story, you've got to go back to the book of Acts and read Acts chapter 16 and 17. But you remember what had happened. They're going out on this mission.

These three guys, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, are headed out to spread the gospel, right? And as they're headed east, the Holy Spirit comes to them and in some fashion says to them, no, I don't want you to go east, I want you to go west. I want you to go west into the province of Macedonia. So they did what the Spirit told them to do. And what happened as a result?

What happened as a result? Well, they were beaten, jailed, and defamed in Philippi. They were persecuted and expelled from Thessalonica, and then from Berea. And then Paul was rejected and scorned in Athens. And then he goes on to Corinth, and as he later writes in the book of 1 Corinthians, he comes to that city with fear and weakness and trembling. I can understand that, can't you? after being beaten and jailed and defamed and expelled and riots and being brought to court.

Now he comes to Corinth and he says, I'm fearful, I'm weak, right? I'm trembling. And if I were in their place, I would be thinking, did we do the right thing? Did we do the right thing? It seems like everything's going wrong. Maybe we've misunderstood the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe we made a mistake. Maybe this isn't the way that we ought to go. I don't know. Maybe that was going through their minds. But not only that was going on, but their minds were filled with the anxiety and the uncertainty of what was going on back then. Thessalonica.

They'd been expelled from there. There was a riot there. They were hauled before the judges and then they had to get out of town. And they're wondering, what did they think of us? Had they rejected us? Because frankly, if they rejected us, then they've rejected the word of God.

Had they abandoned God? Had the Thessalonians abandoned God? Had they caved into the persecution and abandoned the way of Christ? All this was on their minds. And then Timothy comes back with the news that they stood and they're encouraged right out of their distress he says man we were in distress we were troubled but the news came about you and that encouraged us it encouraged us right out of our distress we were comforted he says we were comforted because of your faith he says we're alive now that we've heard that you stand fast in the Lord he says we're so thrilled with this we don't even know how to thank God for what he's doing in your lives and the joy we feel for your sake is beyond measure.

In fact, the word he uses there is the joy that we rejoice in, right? He's trying to communicate to them, man, we have so much joy, we don't know what to do with it. What's going on here? Well, imagine, imagine this. Imagine your daughter-in-law's pregnant, right? And you're at the end of the pregnancy and the doctor is saying, oh man, there's something wrong here.

You need to get to the hospital right now. We need to get this baby. We need to deliver the baby today the news spreads out the family flocks or in our case the tribe comes to the hospital and cram themselves in that tiny little waiting room that's right outside the labor and delivery rooms and they're praying and then they're silenced as they all wait and the clock is ticking and the air is heavy the air is heavy with anxiety as they're waiting and then suddenly your son appears with a smile on his face and tears running down his cheek and he tells you the baby is great and mom is doing just wonderful everything looks good with that scene in mind those are the these are the emotions that you feel just the things he's talking about you feel comforted right like you're just comforted now you're the anxiety's gone there's comfort you just feel so good there's there's you're alive you can breathe again right you can breathe again and the pressure's off you're alive again And you want to thank God You just filled with thanksgiving and the joy that you feel cannot be even be expressed in words That what they going through right now That what Paul says is there are their emotions as they hear the good news of what has happened that the Thessalonians have stood firm in the midst of persecution, in the midst of their own countrymen making their life miserable because they have embraced this king called Jesus.

This is how they feel right now when they hear that good news. well what was the good news that they heard from Timothy that encouraged them so verse 6 this is the reason what's the reason the reason is that their faith and love are intact and that they always remember us kindly okay that's what encouraged them Paul heard that they were still strong in faith and they were still characterized by love that is to say in the midst of all the pressure they were facing in the midst of the hardship that they were going through their lost jobs. They're being slandered with everybody else. All that was going on, they still were trusting the Father.

They still were thinking that God is working for good. They still believed that God eventually would rescue them from all their sorrow when Jesus comes again. They believed all those things about God. And they loved one another. They continued to love one another, and they continued to love God. In other words, the good news is this.

They bear the distinctive marks of people who belong to Christ. The pressure has come on. They're under the pressure cooker. And they then have shown that they truly do belong to Christ. They have those distinctive marks of faith and love. They had not yielded to the tempter, but they had a tenacious hold on the gospel.

They had not let it go. that's why they were so so that's why they were celebrating and not only that these brothers and sisters remembered these three kindly always he says they remembered them kindly and they longed to see Paul and his colleagues now why would that be good news well the good news is this they remembered the team with affection where they might be tempted to think of them with bitterness as the visitors who brought them nothing but trouble. Right? They'd be tempted to think, yeah, these guys are great friends.

They bring this news We believe it What does it get us It gets us nothing but trouble and heartache and affliction and persecution Wow thanks a lot right But instead they think of them not as those who brought trouble but as those who brought good news Even in the midst of all the persecution and affliction, they still thought that what they had brought was the good news that transcended any kind of trouble. The good news that says they're rescued from the wrath of God, that men can bring whatever they want against us. We have been rescued from the just wrath of God by what Jesus has done.

And Paul says, and you know what? We still long to see you. The feeling is mutual. The feeling is mutual. And then he says, you know what? We're praying most earnestly, night and day, that we may see you again, that we may see you face to face.

We want so desperately to get back to you so that we may supply what is lacking in your faith. Paul and Silas and Timothy still want to come and encourage them and encourage them in their faith to move them to maturity. They desperately want to get back. It's so important that they meet together to pray that God will take them back to Thessalonica. Now, they made great efforts to make it back to them.

Paul has said, I tried, we've tried to come back. I've tried again and again, but Satan hindered us. And they made great efforts to that end, but with no success because Satan opposed them. And so now they expend even greater effort in prayer to overcome that opposition. They're meeting night and day. When they get together, the first thing they do is pray about these people. and they say, oh God, help us to get back.

We desperately want to get back. We love those people. We want to get back and help supply what's lacking in their faith. Now that may surprise you because he's already told them, man, you guys are doing so good. I am so, we are so encouraged. We're comforted.

We're joyful. We're thankful. We're all these things. We're alive because you're standing true to the faith. And you might say, so why does he say to supply what's lacking in their faith. Why would he even say that?

He's just told them, you're doing such a good job. Why would he say that to them? Because when he says we want to supply what's lacking in your faith, he doesn mean repairing what needs to be restored He using terminology that means to make complete Paul and his friends want to complete the education the discipleship process of their friends They not imparted to them all the instruction they need to hear They've given them some, they've told them what they need to know, they had to leave town, they've stood the pressure of persecution, but there's still more they need to know.

They still need to be brought to maturity. It reminds me of those many years ago, 2003, the very first year I went to Romania. And my thoughts in going to Romania was, well, I'll go and I think maybe we can teach us something. But what can we teach these people? They've stood the pressure and the heartache and the hardship of communism. I mean, I can still see Danny, one of the guys in our class, who told us how in seventh grade his teacher brought him up in front of the entire class class and said danny's one of these repenters which is what they called the the baptist during the coming well they still call him that this danny's one of the repenters and they mocked him in front of the class and then punched him in the stomach and sent him to sit down at his desk you think teacher got in trouble for that no this is stinking repenter why would he get in trouble for hitting him and this is what he's going on seventh grade the the fact that uh these people built the church and on the Lord's day they showed up and the communists had bulldozed the whole thing down the night before all the stories I heard and I remember thinking what have I got to teach these people right here's what I learned they were strong in their faith and they stood against persecution but they didn't know very much about what the Bible says about personal relationships and what the Bible says about marriage and family and they still needed maturity and how to in church order there was a lot of gaps in their knowledge and that's what's going on here he's not saying you're not doing well what he's saying is you're standing for the faith and that's good but there's more that you need to know we need to bring you to maturity we need to help you so that you can stand not just against persecution but you can stand in so many other ways now not waiting for that to happen he's not going to wait for that to happen he's not going to wait to go back because starting in chapter 4, he starts telling them the things they need to hear.

He starts giving them things that they need to understand in order to bring them to maturity. Things like this, how are you going to withstand and be sexually pure? Things like a Christian approach to work. What about death and what about the Lord? return. There's a number of things beginning in chapter 4 that he starts telling them in order that in case we don't make it back, here are the things that you need to learn.

We desperately want to come back to help you come to maturity. But until then, here are some things that you need to start learning. So what you see here is this affection. It's affection that moves towards mutual encouragement. We want to encourage you. You have encouraged us.

We are bonded together. We abound together in our affection by the Lord Jesus Christ. And that should move us, folks. That should move us to encourage one another. We here, as the people of God, ought to have that same bond of affection. Now let me challenge you again.

Some of you may not have that bond of affection. And part of that is because you may have a consumer mentality as opposed to an investor mentality. Some of you here show up on Sunday to get, oh, I got my sermon. Good. I feel great. And you're off.

And you're not investing. You're not investing in other lives. You're not investing in the life of the church. And so that affection is a little bit shaky. But you start investing. You start getting involved you start loving other people you start serving other people and you will see that kind of affection growing and out of that infection infection out of that affection out of that affection grows mutual encouragement you'll be willing you'll be able to encourage other people and you will be encouraged as well and no you know why they're encouraged they're encouraged because God's at work in their life all right it's not okay it's not middle school girl stuff oh they like me I'm glad hey tell tell Julie okay tell Julie that Sally likes her you know that kind of stuff and so you you get oh that's nice that's not what's going on here They're not just happy because they love them.

They're happy because God is at work. And that gives them great encouragement. All right? That encourages them. And so as you invest and that affection grows you will see then you will see then that encouragement happens You would start to encourage one another and you start helping them to greater maturity You start growing in maturity And so we ought to recognize then that gospel affection produces mutual encouragement.

Next he says in verses 11 through 13 that we need to recognize that gospel affection prepares you for the finish. For the finish. now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints or all his holy ones Paul encourages these folks now by telling them his greatest desire and there are two two great desires the first is that the lord direct them and his colleagues back to them verse 11 that he make their paths straight that they be able to make their way back to the city and back to these dear people and come without distraction or detour help us to get there and they want to get there in order to bring about maturity so that they not only stand in the face of suffering but they stand in the face of suffering in a distinctly God honoring way you see oh we're praying here is our hope here is our hope that we get back to you bring you to maturity you can stand against persecution in a God honoring way hey you can stand against persecution with hatred in your heart can't you you can stand against persecution just because you're downright stubborn and no one's going to tell you what to do. But they want to get there to help them so they can stand against persecution in a way where God is seen in their lives, in a distinctive way that it's not just some hard-headed, stubborn people, but people who are honoring God in the process of standing against the pressure.

That's his first desire. The second is that they be able to give a good account of themselves when Jesus returns. That they give a good account of themselves when Jesus returns. If gospel affection is at work in this congregation, we will be concerned about the last day of judgment We be concerned about that That each of us be able to give a good account of himself before Christ when he returns Now this is the third time in this book that he mentioned the return of Jesus.

It's the third time. It's not the last time. This is important to him. That's why we've talked about cheering him on to the finish. Because he keeps talking about the finish. In chapter 1 verse 10 he's talked about it.

Look back at chapter 1 verse 10. Verse 9, for they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Jesus is coming back. Who? The one who's delivered you from the wrath of God.

Chapter 2, verse 19, he's talked about it, in which he says to them, for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus at his coming is it not you all right so he said when Jesus comes I'm going to point at you you're my I can't boast you're my boast what God has done in you that's what I'm going to look at now for the third time he talks about Jesus return and that our hearts be established blameless and holiness when he returns now it's clear that Jesus return is important and it ought to have an effect on our thinking now you ought to be thinking of the day of judgment now when he talks about our hearts being established blameless in holiness he's not talking in terms of gaining eternal life that hopefully you'll be blameless and holy so that you gain eternal life your entrance into glory does not depend on your blameless and holy record. He's made that clear in chapter 1, verse 10. He said, Jesus, the one who's coming, has already delivered you from God's wrath.

The whole message of the Scripture is it's not what you do that gains you anything. It's what Christ has done on your behalf. It's not about destination. It's about commendation. It's about whether you'll be able to give a good account as one of God's people. Blamelessness, that is a good record, and holiness, that is separation from sin, are the badges that identify you as belonging to Christ Don make any mistake about it now If you truly belong to Jesus then when you stand before Him you be able to have a record of blamelessness and holiness All right?

Don't make any mistake about it. God's grace does not just get you in the door. God's grace works in you to change you. How do you know you belong to Christ? You know you belong to Christ you can be assured you belong to Christ when you start looking like him all right and so that grace that pays the price doesn't just stop there it's a grace that continues to work in your life in order to change you so that when you stand on judgment day your record stands as a testimony to what God has done in your life it's the thing that identifies you as belonging to him but God we ought to look at that day as as receiving a commendation from God listen my dad could humble me with just a few words could make me feel as low as a snake in the dust when he would say this to me son I am disappointed in you those words would crush me right but when my dad would say son I'm proud of you.

That was another story altogether. When I stand before Jesus, you know what I want to hear? I want to hear one thing. Well done, good and faithful servant. That's what we're talking about. That's what I want to hear.

And so he says, this is what we want. If this kind of affection is going to be looking ahead, this kind of affection is going to be saying, we need to work so that we all can give a good account. We all can reach maturity where we have blameless and holiness. But how do you establish your heart in blamelessness and holiness? How do you do that? Notice that Paul prays for the means of achieving that kind of heart, a heart established in holiness and blamelessness.

Do you see that? You see that in verse 13. I'm sorry, in verse 12. Notice, And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that he may. Establish your hearts blameless in holiness on that last day. Do you see what he's saying there?

He is saying that it is love that moves you to holiness and blamelessness. It is love that brings that about. Now, he uses strong language here. He prays that they increase and abound in love. That's very strong language. He's praying, we want love to be super abounding.

We want you to be overflowing with love. Have you ever walked into the kitchen and your toddler has pulled the chair up to the sink? And as you walk into the kitchen, you're seeing him standing there and the faucet is going full blast. And the water is flowing up over the sink and it's flowing down on the floor. And you've got this whole pool of water on the floor and you're about in a panic.

How did that two-year-old get that chair up there? but you you see the water just filling up the sink and flowing over and pooling on the on the floor that's what he's talking about here that's the kind of love that ought to characterize us but why does he pray that that kind of love increases like that because when love overflows and gushes everywhere it leads to blamelessness and holiness it encourages us to that end one writer put it this way the point is that unless love grows selfish desires increase and will turn our love towards others and not toward and and will turn our love toward ourselves and not toward god which results in an ungodly character and lifestyle you know what we can talk all about god says do this. And that's good, but unless there's love, it's not going to happen. And you know what's interesting is you see this all the way through.

Let me show you three places, three places where the Apostle Paul makes this clear. First of all, turn to Philippians. Turn to Philippians chapter 1. He says almost the same thing here in Philippians chapter 1, beginning in verse 9. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment so that you may approve what is excellent and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God You see the connection I want love to overflow there so that you end up blameless on that day.

All right? Look at Colossians chapter 2. This has to be my favorite one. Colossians 2, verses 1 through 3. Notice what he says. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face.

Note, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What is he saying there? Here's what he's saying. I want your hearts to be knit together in love. And when they're knit together in love, you know what happens?

You learn Jesus better. you start understanding all the riches of wisdom and knowledge that are in in christ but that only happens or that happens best in a community where people's hearts are knit together in love and then finally scripture reading from this morning romans chapter 13 the apostle paul makes it clear there as well in Romans chapter 13 verses 8 through 10 where he says owe no one anything except to love each other for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments you shall not commit adultery you shall not murder you shall not steal you shall not covet and any other commandment are summed up in this word you shall love your neighbor as yourself love does no wrong to a neighbor therefore love is the fulfilling of the law and so that's why he says in 1st Thessalonians I'm praying that this love splashes and overflows and gets on everybody. Why? Because then you'll be blameless.

Your heart will be established in blameless holiness. Now, that doesn't mean then, let's just love one another. We don't need any other commands. No, because the commands tell us what love is. Okay? The commands tell us what love is.

They work together. But the point is, there'll be no desire for obedience without love. and the more we grow in love the more we will grow as a congregation and the more we love one another grow in gospel affection and love one another we be helping each other to the end that we be able to give a good account So love has to overflow and gush and splash what does he say on all the brothers All those who are part of your church. He says you ought to love one another deeply.

Everybody who belongs to the church. If you love your brothers and sisters, you'll not just keep from doing wrong to them, you'll want to do good to them. Right? You'll want to do good if you love them. and so you you want that love to grow you want that love to grow so that you fulfill the law but then he goes what else does he say um do you abound in love for one another and for all and for all for everybody else you want love to overflow and gush and splash on everybody else all those outside the congregation those who are persecuting you you need to love those folks too listen if you love your enemy you won't be taking revenge you'll be doing good to them which is what God calls us to do and he says look that's the way we love you he's already set the example for them that's the way we love you and so you love one another that way as well so gospel affection will concern itself with giving a good account to Jesus.

We're concerned about that. We want that. And so it will give itself to developing and growing love. What does God desire from His blood-bought people? He sent His Son to deliver us from His wrath. That is true.

And that's the beginning. But He also purchased them by the death of his son so that he would have a distinctive people in a dark, sin-cursed world. Jesus died so that there would be a group of people in this dark, dark world who would shine the light of God's grace, love, righteousness, and holiness. He wants a distinctive people in this sin-darkened world. but how does he produce that kind of a distinctive people what will make us here in this place distinctive What going to do it Here it is Here's the one way that he's told us now.

Gospel affection. Our affection. A true affection for one another that only the gospel can produce. Not an affection that's based on whether we're alike. not on whether or not you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. It's a gospel affection. That is, it's produced by the gospel, a true affection for one another that only the gospel can produce.

And from that affection, distinctive qualities emerge. What are they? We will stand out as those who delight in one another. That gospel affection will produce in us a delight in one another. We'll be different in our concern for one another. we will distinguish ourselves as those who encourage one another and we will love one another to such a degree that we'll be able to give a good account when Jesus returns prepared for that day that's how we can be distinctive but it grows out of our affection for one another listen may God help us may God help us not to see this as a nice story about Paul Timothy Silas and the Thessalonians may God help us to see that this is what's got to happen here we become investors in one another we grow in our affection for one another so that these things can happen.

May God help us to that end. Let's pray. Father, once more, we're at the end of a sermon. I pray, Father, you take the words, the living word of God, and implant it in our hearts. Make us a congregation of true gospel affection. Make us the kind of people who would delight in one another, who are concerned for one another.

Make us a congregation, Lord, who encourage one another and who look to that final day. God, grow in us this kind of affection for Your glory in this dark world. So we ask for Your help to do that. In Jesus' name, Amen.