1 Thessalonians chapter 3, reading verses 6-10. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you, Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress, we were comforted concerning you by your faith. For now we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God? night and day, praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith. Well, beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see today here in 1 Thessalonians 6, 1 Thessalonians 3, verses 6 through 10. Gratitude for the attitude. Gratitude for the attitude, part two, as Paul and Silas express their gratitude for the attitude of the Thessalonian believers. Paul and Silas express their gratitude for the attitude of the Thessalonian believers. Now, we all know the anxiety that can occur while awaiting news about something that concerns us. And this is especially the case when the news involves loved ones. How are they doing? Did they make it through that trial or difficulty? Where are they? Where are they? And do they still remember me? And so these are among the things that people deal with in terms of, in terms of the, when there is a, when there's anxiety, when people are not sure what exactly is going on. You remember, you remember You remember that they had sent out Timothy on a reconnaissance mission. They had sent out Timothy on a reconnaissance mission in terms of this ongoing spiritual battle. And therefore, that's what they were doing. They wanted to get news back in terms of this reconnaissance mission. And so the text for today then deals with Timothy's report and with the subsequent reaction. With Timothy's report and the subsequent reaction. And this follows then their defense of themselves and their method and their message. Now, one can understand the anxiety when one thinks about the situation of the Thessalonians. As we've already noted, this was an urban cosmopolitan setting, a major city. It was a pagan environment. It was a place where persecution had been swift and often. And it was a scene in which there were many peddlers of religious doctrine who may yet lead these saints astray, or who may be used as a backdrop to entice these believers to abandon their newfound faith. So these were the things, then, that we were dealing with in terms of this reconnaissance mission. concerned about the Thessalonian believers, but now coming back with the report, reporting back just like an officer in the army reports back and says everything's okay. That's what you find then in terms of the comfort in verses six through eight. Why was there comfort? Because of the good report brought back by Timothy. Now, Timothy has come to us from you, brought us good news. You could almost say gospel news, gospel good news of your faith and love, that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you. So in other words, in other words, what you have here is a good report that is brought back by Timothy. So that's those are the reasons they haven't forgotten about Paul and Silas. They have not abandoned their faith. Indeed, notice the fact here. Verse seven, they were comforted in their distress. precisely because of the Thessalonians faith. You remember that we said the second of those two words there, when it says in all our affliction and distress, the second of those words implies a crushing, kind of like a car crusher in Goldfinger, if you have any James Bond aficionados here. And that's the picture that you have there, okay? And so in that context of affliction and distress, being crushed, you were going through that, you Thessalonians, but we were comforted concerning you by your fate. They were comforted because of that fact. And then the explanation, we are animated, we are alive if you stand steadfast in the Lord. And so the comfort then. And now secondly, secondly, the thanksgiving. The thanksgiving in verses 9 and 10 as the second part of this gratitude for the attitude. So notice the thankfulness in verse 9. For what thanks can we render to God again for you. What thanks can we render to God again for you? Now this reminds us of the 116th Psalm from which we read this afternoon. In verse 12 we read, what shall I render, what shall I give to the Lord, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation upon the name of the Lord what shall I render and here Paul says for what thanks can we render not to you but to God again for you this is actually a complex verb the term to render it means to render or to pay render or to pay back. To receive this blessing from God and now you're going to render thanks, you're going to bless Him in a sense, right? We talk about blessing in two ways. We are blessed by God, but we also bless God in the sense of expressing thanks to Him. And that's what we have here. For what thanks can we render to God again for you? And he goes on to say, for all the joy wherewith we joy for our God. So several things to notice here. Number one, joy is a part of the Christian life. Have you ever known people, have you ever known people, young people, let me ask you this question rhetorically, have you ever known people who go around gloomy all the time. You ever notice people like that? They're not a lot of fun to be with, are they? They're just, they're miserable all the time, aren't they? You've known some people like that. If you haven't, I promise you, young people, I promise you, you'll meet such folks in your life at some point. You see, joy is a part of the Christian life. Now, having said that, let's be very clear, Joy is deeper than mere happiness. Joy is deeper than simply laughing all the time. Okay? We're not saying that, because there are things that are sad. And if you're just laughing all the time, you put on an Ipana toothpaste smile all the time. Some of us remember Ipana toothpaste. But anyway, if you put that on all the time, this sort of It's sort of artificial, can't it be, right? So the joy, the joy that's being talked about by scripture is deeper than simply being giddy, simply laughing all the time. It's something that's very deep inside your soul. It gives you a calmness, it gives you a confidence, and ultimately, therefore, a joy, because you know, although you may not know what tomorrow holds, you know who holds tomorrow. You know that the Lord is the one who's in charge. And if you know Him, and if your sins have been forgiven, if you have a right relationship with Him, you know that nothing can shake you from that relationship. So let me pause here just a moment. Let me just ask you all to take an inventory of yourself. Are you joyful? Or are you miserable? Are you joyful? Or are you miserable? If you're miserable, you better look and see what's going on inside you. So joy is a part of the crypt. More than happiness, but there should be this buoyant contentment with life. as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit himself. And this rejoicing, by the way, over another's situation, this rejoicing over another's situation is thoroughly scriptural. For example, in John chapter 3 and verse 29, John chapter 3 verse 29, John the Baptist said, he who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Now isn't that interesting? So the friend is not the one getting married. Right? The friend's not getting married, but he rejoices because the bridegroom, who is his friend, is getting married. And John goes on to say, therefore, this joy of mine is fulfilled. In 3 John, the epistle of 3 John, verse 4, John writes, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. And so this rejoicing over someone else's situation is a thoroughly biblical thing to do and it shows something again of our joy that we're able to rejoice in what someone else experiences. The other thing to notice here in terms of thankfulness is that this thankfulness is before our God. Is before our God. It is joy before God. It is joy in His presence. But it is joy before our God. There is a corporate nature. We're together in this. We're together in this. It's not just the individual. It's the body. It's the body. We joy together, you see. And so, for what thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy by which we joy for your sakes before our God? But then secondly, we see prayer, prayer in verse 10. Night and day, praying exceedingly that we might see your face. The desire, again, is to see their face. We saw this back in chapter 2, verse 17. But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. That's what they wanted to see. They wanted to see their face. They want it. Not just to hear about them, their desire is that they might actually be able to come back there and see them face to face. We've talked about this when we weren't able to meet for worship for several weeks, you remember. And we did it with Zoom and conference call and so forth. It wasn't the same thing, was it? It wasn't the same thing. We missed some folks last week who couldn't make it. wasn't the same thing. And so that's what you find here. And notice the word here. It's exceedingly. It is excessively. We excessively want to see your face. And as a result of this, we engage in praying night and day. You'll notice back in chapter two, verse nine, for you remember brethren, our labor and toil for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preach to you the gospel of God. So part of that labor But now we see that part of that labor, and prayer is hard work by the way, part of that labor is praying night and day. In chapter 5, the very end of the book, verse 17, we read, pray without ceasing, pray without ceasing. I want to quote now, I want to quote This is a man by the name of David Smithers, speaking of Stonewall Jackson. I want to read you this account. He, Jackson, was a man of prayer, accustomed in all he did to ask the divine blessing and guidance. His aide, his assistant, said that he could always tell when a battle was near at hand by seeing the general get up a great many times in the night to pray. There was another general by the name of Ewell who wanted to see Jackson. This is an aside here. Wanted to see Jackson. And the aide said, he's praying, sir. Ewell didn't believe it. He went into the tent. He saw the intensity of Jackson's prayers. And General Ewell said, if that is religion, I want it. I want it. And he was eventually converted to Christ. going on. General Jackson did not simply pray, he fervently prayed. He was told, the Reverend William Brown, the truth is, sir, that old Jack, Jackson, is crazy. Why, I frequently meet him out in the woods, walking back and forth, muttering to himself incoherent sentences and gesturing wildly. At such times he seems utterly oblivious of my presence and of everything else. A friend was once talking with Jackson about the difficulty of obeying the command, pray without ceasing. And Jackson insisted that we could so accustom ourselves to it that it could be easily obeyed. When we take our meals, what is there? There's grace. When I take a drink of water, I always pause as my palate receives the refreshment. to lift up my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the washer of life. Whenever I drop a letter into the box at the post office, I send a petition along with it for God's blessings upon its mission and upon the person to whom it is sent. When I break the seal of a letter just received, I stop to pray to God that he may prepare me for its contents and make it a message of good. When I go to my classroom, he taught at Virginia Military Institute, when I go to my classroom and await the arrangement of the cadets in their places, that is my time to intercede with God for them. and so of every other familiar act of the day." Smithers comments, though a man of superior abilities, Jackson humbly recognized his need for Jesus in everything he did. When you go to Stone Mountain, Be grateful, be reminded of this godly man, Stonewall Jackson. Be reminded of him. Look up to him literally and figuratively. Look up to him. And so we find this exhortation, night or this saying, night and day, praying exceedingly excessively that we might see your face," and then Paul goes on, "...and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith." The word for perfect is contortizo, which means to knit together or to unite. To knit together knitting is, to knit together, take that the wool or whatever and knit it into a sweater, to knit together, to unite, and then to make whole or to round out or to restore, to perfect that which is lacking in your faith. So what would have been lacking? What would have been imperfect? What would have been left behind with regard to their faith? Well, several things we could think of. First of all, various mysteries of the faith they didn't understand. They had only had the ministry of Paul for about two or three weeks, and Paul and his companions were forced out of town. And so there were many things in the Bible that there hadn't been opportunity to talk about, various mysteries of the faith they didn't understand, but also room for improvement in terms of spiritual graces. That is to say, knowing how to live, knowing how it is that you are to live in terms of your Christian walk. So room for improvement. Notice, my friends, the best of us have need for improvement. And I'll tell you something. May I tell you a secret? I'll tell you a secret, guys. The secret is this. The longer you live, the more you realize how much more you need. The longer you live, the more you realize how far short you come. And so this is not just for young Christians, this is for all of us, to perfect that which is lacking in your faith. I have two points of application. The first is this. Praise God for His grace. Praise God for His grace. We are great sinners, but we have a great Savior who died for us. And so we have, in verse 9, this saying, for what thanks can we render to God for you? Or we could say, how can we give praise to God for what we see Him doing in others, but also in terms of what He's doing in our lives as well? Praise God for His grace. And secondly, continue to grow in your faith. Do so by means of prayer. Prayer, it's hard work, but we must do it. By means of Bible reading and study. By means of church services, which is why public worship is so important. And by means of fellowship, which can take a variety of forms, even just picking up the telephone and giving a call. And so continue then to grow in your faith knowing that you need the Holy Spirit to bring to perfection that which is lacking in your faith. Amen. Will you please stand for prayer? We do pray now for thy continued blessing upon us. We pray, Lord, that thy Holy Spirit would apply this message to our hearts and give us the grace of prayer, give us the grace of following after Christ with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. For we pray in Jesus' name, amen. In closing, please turn on your sheets to Psalm 4, Selection B. Psalm 4, Selection B. And you'll notice that we will sing the first three stanzas, we'll have the benediction, and then we'll sing stanza four as a closing doxology. But right now, Psalm four, selection B, the first three stanzas.