We're back in 1 Thessalonians, and we'll be covering all of chapter 3 tonight, Lord willing. So I'm going to go ahead and begin by reading the chapter, and then we'll talk about it. Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone. We sent Timothy, our brother, and God's coworker 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, 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 favor. 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 God the Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all of his saints. So that's 1 Thessalonians chapter three. And this is a transitional point in the letter, right? It's literally the middle chapter, it's the halfway point, and he's transitioning into some new content that you'll be with Mr. Weiland next week in chapter four. But first, by way of review, can anyone tell me what concerns Paul is addressing in this letter? Why is he concerned for these people? What's he writing to them to assuaged their consciences about it. Does anybody remember? It's been a while, I know. So Paul had ministered to these people for a very brief time. There was a riot in the town and they were going to kill him and he slipped out before they could do so. And now it's been about a year, year and a half, And they're starting to have doubts. They're starting to doubt, is Christianity fake? Is Paul fake? Is he a liar? Is he another charlatan? And why might they be thinking these kinds of things? Well, because life is not easy as a Christian in a pagan land. And they're particularly experiencing pushback on their faith. And so Paul has really stressed their reasons for knowing Christianity is the real deal. Namely, he's really pressed in on the fruit of it in their own lives. He says, the word of God has come to you in spirit and in power. And what's happening as a result of that is you all are actually becoming examples and encouragement to other believers. And he talks about this in chapter one, verses five through 10. talking about the fruit of the faith of these Thessalonian Christians. He says, you're experiencing the power of it. Don't walk away from that. And then he's also affirming and demonstrating his own love and affection for these Christians. 1 Thessalonians is dripping with the idea of Paul's affection for them. 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 and 20, he writes, for what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before the Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and our joy. He's saying that these Christians are the apple of his eye, right? He's worked so hard for them that he's looking forward to presenting them before the Lord Jesus at the last day. He's saying, you're our hope and our joy and our crown that when Christ returns, you're the work that we're gonna present to him that we have done. And he loves them so much. And so he's trying to make that plain. And now in our passage, he's gonna turn to now deal with this idea of suffering because that's what's really causing them to go through doubts. And we'll look at this passage briefly in three parts because it really does fall pretty neatly into three sections. And this actually will match pretty well with where we're at in Philippians from this last Sunday night. So I'm not trying to be repetitive here, but it's where the text leads. And so the first thing that he talks about is in verses 1 to 5, he talks about Timothy and sending Timothy to teach them. He says, I sent Timothy to you guys because I was concerned, because I was worried. And so I sent you my right-hand man. I sent you my protege, my second in command." And notice how he describes Timothy in these verses. He says, Timothy is our brother in verse two. And by our, he doesn't mean himself and Silvanus and the rest of the ministry team. He means our brother as in yours and my brother. He's pointing to a deep relationship that these Thessalonican Christians have with Timothy. Because in Christ we are all adopted brothers and sisters, received into the number, and having a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. But more than that, Timothy is also referred to as God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ. That's high praise. He is God's coworker. He is working alongside God in the advance of the gospel. There's not much higher company that one could keep. In fact, there is not higher company that one could keep than to be named as God's coworker. This is of course, it's of course true that Timothy is in one sense, in an ultimate sense, the instrument through which God is doing much of his work. That's true. But in another sense, he's also God's fellow laborer, laboring alongside of God because that's where his heart is. That's what he wants to do. He is giving himself over to this work. This is how Paul describes him elsewhere in Philippians 2, 20 to 21. Could somebody please read that for us? Philippians 2, 20 to 21. So Timothy's primary interest is that of Christ. and the advance of Christ's gospel and the advance of the kingdom. And he's uniquely set apart in that way. And he's been sent to do two things, Paul says. He says he's been sent to exhort and to establish them in verse two. Actually, to establish and then to exhort. Doesn't matter what order you put them in. What do those words mean? What does it mean to exhort someone? Yes, Mr. Walshman. Isn't it to speak very highly of someone? Close. Mr. Schwarngo? Sort of like a command, like you should do this. Yeah. And what about to establish them? Yeah, Ms. Bridgman. Maybe to build them up and encourage them? So he's there to give them commands but also build them up. He's there to give them commands to keep them firmly building on the foundation that is already there. The idea when we combine these two is that he's to teach, to instruct with a sense of authority and to teach and to instruct with an expected response. To teach and instruct in such a way that the audience, people listening, are grounded in the truth. By the way, that's the long-term goal of my ministry with you guys, right? Like, yes, I want you to learn the specific content of the specific passages that we're going over week after week. I want that. But my bigger goal is that you would be established in the truths of our faith going forward. Meaning, yeah, we're gonna hit on a lot of the same themes over and over and over again. I want you to know that God is sovereign, that He cares for you, that He loves you, and that He's with you. I want you to know that the scripture is the only infallible rule of faith and practice in your life, and that He actually works through those means. I want you to know those things. And yes, the specific teachings too, but to be grounded firmly in the truth of the Reformed faith. Because the overwhelming majority of counseling calls and emails and things like that that I get, are from people that are not grounded in these things. I had a call from somebody this week, none of you guys, but somebody else, and this man was frustrated about trying to figure out what he should do with his career. He's got a career that he likes, but it's not paying enough to take care of his family. pretty easy answer. The Lord calls you as the man to provide, so you get a career that lets you do that. But he's thinking too much about other things and not the responsibilities that the Lord gave him. And that's what I'm talking about. I want us to be grounded in our Christian faith, our Reformed faith. And that's Paul's goal through Timothy's teaching, that they might be established in their faith. And that is the faith of the gospel. And that when you understand and are firmly established in biblical Christianity, then things like trials, should not shake you. That's what he says in verse three. He says, so that, so why did I send Timothy? That no one would be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. Like, you know, don't think that when the fiery trial comes upon you, something strange is happening, as Peter would write. This is to be expected. So let me ask you all, open-ended question, what are some truths of the Christian faith, of the Reformed faith, that ought to keep trials from dissuading you? What are some true doctrines of our religion that ought to keep us being able to say, it is well with my soul, in the midst of affliction? What are some things that we believe and know to be true that should help in those circumstances? Miss Duncan. God is with us through trial because he loves us, and we're not alone in that. that God is with us. Jesus said, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Matthew 28, 20. What else? Ms. Berenger. Perseverance of the saints. I was promised that if you choose God, then you will make it to heaven. Yeah. That he has promised to never leave you nor forsake you. That the work that he's begun in you, he'll bring to completion. You will persevere. Yeah. Trials aren't permanent. They're not permanent. It's not going to last forever. Trials are not permanent. Yes. Amen. Very good. Yeah. Okay. Now that one is true and I like that one, but it also sounds mean. So tell me, uh, why is that a good thing? Exactly. You don't have to vindicate yourself when somebody wrongs you. You know that the Lord sees, or he'll bring that person to repentance, which is even better. But one way or another, it will be dealt with. It's a very freeing thing. And I'll just share another one with you all. The brevity of life in contrast with the length of eternity. And this is kind of going off of what Eli said, right? Trials are temporary. That's true, but sometimes that temporariness could be your whole life here. But even that is temporary. I talk to Pastor Wendt whenever I see him, and he always, in his own way, is able to communicate that, yeah, it's frustrating, but it's just a little while, and then eternity with the Lord, and it's over. The trials, the sufferings are over, and it's all good. And those are all things that we can cling to in moments of doubt and despair. And so with that said, we'll move on to the next section, the Thessalonians' response to Timothy's teaching. This is verses six through 10. So Timothy spends some time with them, and he returns to Paul with a good report. He reports back that their faith that they often remember and almost certainly prayed for Paul and his ministry. By the way, that's one of the most encouraging things you guys can do for one another. Pray for each other and then actually let them know that you're praying for them. That's very encouraging. It means a lot to know that other Christians are praying for you, that they're interceding before the Lord for you. It's also why I constantly ask you guys those basic questions. How are you? How can I be praying for you? Let me know how I can help you. Not because I'm just trying to make polite conversation or because I need to check off a box on my pastoral duties. It's because I actually care and I actually want to be able to pray for you in an informed way. Paul says that when he heard this about them, his worries were set at ease. They were put away. He says in verse eight, for now we live if you are standing in the Lord. That might be a weird thing to hear, but it's not that uncommon for the apostles to say. Does anyone wanna take a stab on what he means by that? Now we live if you are standing firm in the faith? Or standing fast in the Lord, depending on your translation, yeah. and when we were reborn in Christ, we're alive. Okay. That's a theologically true statement. Paul is saying, though, when I heard that you, church in Thessalonia, were standing fast in the Lord, that gave me life. What's he mean? Chase. Seeing others prosper in faith will encourage us to have more faith and prosper even more. That's exactly right. Seeing the growth that they're having. They're doing well. It's actually edifying to his own soul. And in a distinct way, because he is you know, their spiritual father, right? And so it's even more so when you have reared and trained and been through the trenches with somebody, when you hear that they're doing well, that is extra encouraging to you. You know, 3 John 4 says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children, he means his church, his converts, are walking with the Lord. So it's a powerful statement. Now we live if you are standing firm or holding fast in the Lord. What are some obstacles that you might face to standing fast in the Lord? What are some things that might cause difficulties in the Christian life for you guys? Yeah. Maybe your friends turning away from faith. Yeah. Friends turning away from faith. That's a serious thing. What else? Values in our Christian walk. Yeah. Just get disappointed. Seems like everything's kind of not going your way for a while. Yeah. What are we to do in those circumstances? What we're to do is exactly what Paul does next in this passage. Talks about the hope that we have in suffering. In verses 11 through 13, he prays, just because they're all doing well right now, doesn't mean that we can take that for granted, that they will continue to do so. And so Paul knows this, and so he prays at the end of the chapter, and it's a really precious and powerful prayer, and he prays for three things that I'll just mention, because we're out of time. First of all, he prays that he might see them. This goes back to a couple weeks ago, we were talking about the importance of physically being with those that you care about. I think we all learned during the pandemic that Zoom just doesn't cut it, right? It's kind of the worst. But physically being present and in the same place is edifying, it is encouraging. And then he prays that they might grow in their love for the church. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another, as we all do for you. And Mr. Walshman, what's he pray for at the end? You want to give it a shot? Sure. Mr. Owens, would you like to help them out? You don't have a Bible? Is that a hymnal or is that a Bible? It's a hymnal. Mr. Johnson, help us out. What's the last thing you pray for? That we may be established in our hearts and live in holiness. He prays that they might grow in holiness. He prays that they would be together again, that they would grow in love for one another, and that they would grow in personal holiness before the Lord. That is a rich prayer that you all can pray for each other. I pray that you guys would grow in your love for the saints, that you grow in your love for God, and that you would grow in conformity into his image. That's a rich prayer, and that's a good one to pray, because you never know when somebody is going through doubts or sufferings or struggling with things. You never know when somebody is wrestling with things unless they tell you. And a lot of times, for various reasons, they just don't. This is one that you can always pray throughout for one another. Let's pray and we'll be done. God in heaven, we give thanks to you for the gift of your word, the instruction that it provides. Lord, I pray for my friends. I pray, Lord, that they would abound in their love for one another, that they would grow together, being built into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit, as your word says. Lord, I pray also that each of them would grow in their likeness to Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen.