00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
because of your steadfast love.
So notice the first thing. I think we see two things actually in
Paul's prayer here. We see the form of what our prayer
should look like, as well as the content. Okay, so there's
something about the form, and I want you to notice the form
first, which is thanksgiving in light of God's redemption.
Now I'm curious, when we give thanks, I hope we give thanks
all the time, but what do you typically give thanks for? So
if you're praying, typically, I'm curious, what would you say
you give thanks for often within your life? Any thoughts on that? The good stuff and the bad stuff.
The good stuff and the bad stuff. What are some common themes though,
of those good stuff and the bad stuff? Blessings of life. Okay. My life situation. Yes
Yes, that's good, that's good so good but good the bad and
the ugly basically you're saying good anybody else peers at all. Yes. Yes. That is so good. You're so right.
What else? Anything else? Content, what
you're thankful for. Grace. That's a good one. Good. Yes. Thanks for the forgiveness of
sins. Absolutely. Good things. Anybody else? Say what? Friends that are willing to challenge
your thought process. Absolutely. I am curious. D.A. Carson said this. I thought
this was really helpful. He said, the unvarnished truth
is that what we most frequently give thanks for betrays what
we most highly value. If a large percentage of our
thanksgiving is for material prosperity, it is because we
value material prosperity proportionately. And again, he's not saying we
shouldn't give thanks for the things that God has put in our lives.
But I think it is interesting that our thanksgiving, often
we neglect the gifts of God right around us. And actually what's
crazy is we neglect the people that God has put around us. Notice
how Paul starts the letter of 2 Thessalonians. He doesn't start
by saying, man, you guys are under persecution. That is awesome. I'm so glad for you. What's he
start with? I am thankful for you. I want
you to look around just for a second. This is really awkward, but I'm
gonna ask you to look around. It's a small room. How often do you
give thanks for one another? And actually, let me go a step
further. Not only how often do you give thanks for one another,
but how often do you give thanks for what God is doing in one
another? Oh, oh, brothers and sisters,
how we need to grow in this area. I want to give you three areas
that Paul does this. And he does it in verse three. Notice what
he says. He says, we ought always to give thanks to God for you,
brothers, as is right. Here's why. Because your faith
is growing abundantly. Now that word abundantly is overflow. And he's seeing in these brothers
and sisters, a faith that's not decreasing, but that is increasing. You know, you all are small in
number, but you're increasing in faith. And for that, I am
grateful. I am grateful. And I wonder how
often we don't give thanks for the growing faith that we see,
not just within our own souls, but in one another. Well, here's
the second one. Let me give you the second one.
He said, we ought always to give thanks to you, brothers, as is
right, because your faith has grown abundantly, and the love
of every one of you for one another is increasing. You know, Christian
love is not natural love. Christian love is a foreign love. It's a divine love that loves
one another. I guarantee you in this room,
I don't even need to ask. I know in this room, you all
have wronged one another. There's wrong done, there's been
wrong done, there's wrong doing at some level. And yet Christian
love is not natural because what it says is, I'm gonna love you
in spite of that. And what he says is, I'm thankful
that there's not divisions, there's not infightings, there is love
increasing over an abundance in one another's lives. Let me
give you the third one. And this one's a little bit foreign
to us, but I think it's one way we can pray for our brothers
and sisters overseas. He says, therefore we boast,
we ourselves boast about you, in verse four, in the churches
of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions
and in the afflictions that you are enduring. And it's Thanksgiving,
for steadfastness under persecution. So it's Thanksgiving for growing
faith, Thanksgiving for growing love, and Thanksgiving for steadfastness
under persecution. You know, I often feel like I'm
kind of taken back on what to pray for the persecuted church
around the world. But I don't know if you've ever
thought about this, that the first thing we need to do for them is we
need to be thankful for them. There are brothers and sisters
right now in Iran, in Nepal, in Iraq, all across the country,
all across the world that are facing deep persecution. And often the only response I
want to have is, oh Lord, help them. But really, I think we
need to start by saying, Lord, thank you for them. Thank you
for them, and may it continue onward. Now we're going to see
why he says this. And it's actually a very startling,
striking picture that he gives of why he can say thank you for
them. But I think the other thing I
want to draw attention to is, you know, we'll get there. We'll
come back there. Notice, though, what he goes on to say. That's
the first thing. So it's thanksgiving in light of God's redemption.
I want you to see, secondly, it's rejoicing in light of God's
coming kingdom. rejoicing in light of God's coming
kingdom. And I think we could actually
probably put this first, because I think it's the pinnacle of
what he's arguing for here. It's the centerpiece of what
he's arguing, verses 5 through 10 are the center of what he's
arguing for here. And it's actually very striking
what he says. Notice what he says in verse
5. He says, this is evidence. Now notice he's talking about
the persecutions. The persecutions are evidence of the righteous
judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom
of God for which you are also suffering. Now remember, Jesus
himself took the path of suffering. Jesus himself took the path of
suffering in obedience to the Father. He sought the joy that
was set before him to redeem a rebellious people. And you
know what he says of all his followers? Come, follow me, follow
me and be a part of, as Matthew 5, 11 says, blessed are you when
others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your
reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets
who were before you. Jesus tells us that when we face
trials and persecutions, we shouldn't pray them away. We should do
a little dance. Okay? Literally, we face trials,
we face persecutions. Anytime this happens to you,
you share your faith, you tell them the truth. And in our society,
it can be as simple as, this is a boy, this is a girl. People
will scoff at you and mock at you. And what you need to do,
rather than grumbling, is you need to do a little dance. Jesus
tells us, do a little dance. You know why? Because your reward
is great in heaven. And we should not pray for our
persecuted brothers and sisters overseas. We should not pray
for these things just to be alleviated immediately from them, because
they're being made worthy of the call of Christ. Now notice
what he goes on to say. He says, verse five again, this
or the persecutions are evidence of the righteous judgment of
God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God
for which you are suffering. And he says in verse six, since
indeed God considered it just to repay with afflictions, those
who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted
as well as to us. when the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance
on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So there's two realities
that Paul's governing here in 6-8. The first, I would argue,
is the relief of the saints. Notice what he says again in
verse 7. since God considered it just
to repay with afflictions, those who afflict you and to grant
relief or to grant comfort. How beautiful, think about this
for a second. How beautiful of a prayer request
is Lord grant them comfort in the midst of their persecutions.
That is a beautiful prayer. We should want to pray that,
but we need to be very clear that we pray the right kind of
comfort. Because I'm afraid we often pray
a very temporal kind of comfort that tries to alleviate the persecution. But there's another kind of comfort
that actually increases faith. And it's comfort looking forward
to the day of Jesus Christ. It's a kind of comfort that anticipates
the relief that's only going to come when Jesus appears himself. You know, I heard it put one
time that we really need to, any applications we ever make
from Scripture, a good litmus test is can this be applied to
a persecuted people? Can this be applied to people
in Iran? Can this be applied to people here, there, anywhere
around the world? The reason I ask this question
is there's untold millions of Christians around the world.
We are the minority, the absolute minority. Families shun them. Neighbors try to kill them. They
are deeply mistreated, all because they bear the name of Christ.
All around the world. To be baptized in many parts
of the world does not bring any social benefit. Actually, it
sets you up for hatred. And Jesus says here that they
will be granted relief, but it won't be here. that the relief
that's coming for the Christian is not relief here. Notice what he says in verse
seven again. And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well
as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed. We are to be merciful
to everyone, including unbelievers, because God has first been merciful
with us. He goes on, actually, in another
place, and he says, Romans 12, 17-21, Repay no one evil for evil, but
give thought to what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible,
so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved,
never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God,
for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the
Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy
is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something
to drink, for by so doing, you will heap burning coals on his
head. do not become overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good. You know, one of the reasons
that God tells us to do that, we don't think about this because
it's very, very uncomfortable to think about this. One of the
reasons God tells us to not do that is to entrust vengeance
to him. We don't know how to do vengeance.
Our vengeance is always very tick tacky, very petty, but God
will one day come and judge all those who are outside of Christ.
which is the second reality, the judgment of God on unbelievers. Notice what he says again in
verse seven and eight. It's to grant that God is coming to repay
with affliction those who afflict you, to grant relief to you who
are afflicted as well as to us when the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire, inflicting vengeance
on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who have rejected
the knowledge of God because of their idols they've clung
to, Those who have persecuted, scoffed at, scorned, beheaded,
and harmed his followers, Christ himself will return with vengeance
upon them. And I find this interesting.
It's only a people who dwell in safety and comfort that find
this teaching challenging. It's only us, I really think,
that find this teaching challenging. Only a people who never face
threat of life, liberty, or opposition find this to be a hard teaching.
Think about brothers and sisters in Iran that had their families
killed for the cause of Christ. Do you think they find this teaching
hard? Not at all, not even a little bit. This is meant to be a deeply
comforting reality to those who suffer for the name of Christ.
We shouldn't feel guilty because we dwell in safety. What we should
do from this text, at some level, is ask the question, why, Christians,
do we not face more opposition? Why do we not face more opposition
to the cause of the gospel? I think we would find that we
would not dwell in the kind of safety and security that we imagine
from day to day if we did share the gospel, if we did talk with
people of the things of God. People hate us for that. Now,
they show it differently here in America, but notice what he
goes on to say, even about the judgment. In verse nine, he says,
they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. Mark Howe says, though the darkness,
fire, anguish, and pain will make hell unbearable, the total
absence of God's presence is what makes hell what it really
is, hell. The unbeliever does not have
any reward from the hand of God. The reward they have coming is
judgment. And I think at some level, this
should motivate us to talk to believers, to our talk to unbelievers,
people who are far from Christ. We really need to have an idea
when we talk to them, there's going to be a reckoning. There's
going to be a reckoning someday. And the reward for the Christian
though, notice what he says in verse 10. He talks about the
glory to be revealed. glory to be revealed. Yet to be revealed, that is.
The glory yet to be revealed. Notice what he says in verse
10. So it's not just judgment that's coming. They will suffer
punishment, the eternal destruction away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of his might. In verse 10, he says,
when he comes on that day, to be glorified in his saints and
to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony
was believed among you. When Jesus returns, I don't know
if you think about this very often, he will be glorified amongst
his saints. You know, I've been to the Grand
Canyon. I don't know if you've ever had the opportunity to be to
the Grand Canyon. But oftentimes when we talk about the Grand
Canyon, the first thing I always want to say to people is, you
got to go. You got to go see it. You got to go see the Grand
Canyon. It's magnificent. That's what I always want to
say. It's magnificent, and it truly is. But we do not consider
and ponder enough the magnificence of Jesus Christ. There will come
a day when Christ will appear in glory. And Christian, there
is no image that would capture for our finite minds the beauty
that it will be revealed in the coming of Christ. Oh, Christian,
that we would ponder the beauty and the splendor of our Lord
and master returning on the clouds of heaven. There is no, every
thought of faith, every desire for Lord Jesus' come will be
realized. 1 John says, Beloved, we are
God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears,
we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 1
Corinthians 13, for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face
to face. Now I know in part, then I shall
know fully, even as I've been fully known. We could spend a
lot of time talking about the glory and the marveling that
will be done by all who have believed. But I want you to notice,
we've spent all this time to build up to these prayers. Notice what he prays in light
of all this, in light of the coming judgment on unbelievers,
in light of the relief to the saints that Jesus will come and
bring to his people. This is what he prays for us.
This is what he prays for them. And it's praying in light of
the promises of God. It's praying in light of the
promises of God, which is part of the form that we need to take
in prayer. I want you to notice the first
one. The first one is that may God make you worthy of his calling. May he make you worthy of his
calling. Notice what he says, to this
end, okay? So he says, he said all this,
the glory of the Lord Jesus coming, the judgment on unbelievers,
all of this, and the comfort that's coming for believers.
This is what he says, to this end, we always pray for you.
that our God may make you worthy of his calling. You know, that
word calling always, every time when Paul uses it, is the effectual
call of the gospel. It's not something we do. It's
something God has done before the foundations of the world.
And we're reformed here. With a capital R, we're reformed.
We love reformed teaching. We hear Romans, for those who
he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image
of his son, in order that we might be the firstborn among
many brothers. And those whom he's predestined, he also called,
and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom
he justified, he also glorified. We love it. We drink from it. We glory in it. But you know
what we don't know how to do? We don't know how to pray for
it. We don't know how to pray for someone who's been elected
before the foundations of the world. How do you pray for someone
that God's already chosen? And I would argue, this is what
it kind of sounds like. Notice what he says again in verse 11.
To this end, we always pray for you, that our God may make you
worthy of his calling. I'm gonna use some really bad
English to describe what I mean. Become what you already are,
Christian. Become who God made you to be. And this is how I would argue,
we should pray for one another. So we need to look around at
one another and throughout the week and throughout the months
and throughout the years, pray for one another. God, make them
to be what you've already made them to be. Help them to know
the adoption of the Lord Jesus Christ. Be who God already made
you to be. It's complex because the Christian
is simultaneously justified and a sinner at the same time. And
it's like Paul saying, work out your new creation life. What
2 Peter says, I'll just give you a couple other texts. Therefore,
brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election,
for if you practice these qualities, you will never fail. Ephesians
4.1, there I therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk
in a manner worthy of the calling. Christian, if you're a Christian
here today, you have been called before the foundations of the
world. Work out your calling. And may we pray for one another
to work out your calling. This is what it sounds like.
Lord, help them become what you've already made them to be. Lord,
you've done a work in them, complete it. Help them be who you've already
made them to be. That's the first thing. So may
God make us worthy of his calling. Here's the second one. May God
fulfill every resolve for good. Notice what he says again in
verse 11. You could actually, I think that, The new English translation that
the net Bible actually puts it better there when it says, and
in this regard, we pray for you always that our God will make
you worthy of his calling and fulfill by his power, every desire
for goodness. So what it could sound like is
this, maybe you hear from one another on a given week, you
hear a struggle in their life. And you hear them even expressing,
man, I really wanna help in this situation. So maybe they're at
work and there's a struggle with a coworker or whatnot. And you
can hear in the person's voice, they're struggling with it, they
don't know what to do, but they want to do the right thing. And
I think part of what, we hear things like this all the time.
And one of the things we can pray for one another simply is
Lord, fulfill the resolve for good you put in them. Fulfill
it. Fulfill the resolve for good
that you've placed within them. The Christian knows that any
desire for goodness does not come from us. It comes from the
Lord. The Christian knows that the
spirit dwells within, brings about the desires for goodness. And the Lord works within us
in that way. So when we pray, Lord, fill up,
fill up for them all the desire for good. That is everything
that we ever desire that is contrary to our sin nature and is fulfilling
what God has done in us. Romans 15, 14, Paul says a very
similar thing. I myself am satisfied about you,
my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness. That doesn't
mean they're good now. What that means is they're filled
with all the knowledge and able to instruct one another. So that's
the second thing. It says, may God make us worthy
of his calling. Secondly, may God fulfill every
resolve for good. Let me give you the third one.
May God fulfill every work of faith. And again, these things
seem simple, but notice what he goes on to say. To this end,
we pray for you that God may make you worthy of His calling
and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith
by His power. I think we become, too often
we become hyper aware of Christians that we're not justified by what
we do, but we're justified by Christ. We're made right in Jesus
Christ. But a person who's standing upon
Christ alone as their insurance, has been made for good work.
They have been made, recreated by the Spirit in Christ Jesus
for good work. Ephesians 2 says, for we are
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So thoughts like
this. I wonder how I can get into witnessing
opportunities with my neighbor. We hear those types of things
said by one another. And when we hear them said, part
of what we should pray for one another is, Lord, fulfill that
work of faith. Help them to trust you in this.
So they know a coworker, they've been thinking about and praying
about, how do I reach this coworker? How do I reach this challenging
family member? How do I reach this friend? I
would argue God is magnified when we pray for one another,
fulfill their work of faith. Lord, do that in them. You've
made them new creatures, help them live in light of it. Let me give the last one. I think
it's the most glorious of all of them. It's may God's glory
extend over all of life. May God's glory extend over all
of life. Notice what he says. To this
end, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of
his calling. He may fulfill every resolve
for good. He may for good and every work
of faith by his power so that the name of our Lord Jesus may
be glorified in you and you in him. according to the grace of
our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, there's two elements
here. The first one, notice what he says. So he says in verse
11, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you. I want to focus on that one,
which is Christ's glory in our lives. Think of the alternative of this.
People bent on themselves, focused on their own glory and excellence. People bent and focused on lesser
glories. And oh, Christians, how we need
to pray for one another. Lord, be glorified in them. Meaning
that they would turn away from their navel gazing, inward looking,
to may you be magnified in them. That is always something the
Lord finds pleasing for us to pray. D.A. Carson, again, I think
he says it well. When we glorify God, we're not
giving him something substantial that he would not otherwise have.
We are simply ascribing to him what is his. And may we pray
that for one another. Lord, help them to ascribe to
you what's already yours. Be glorified in their lives.
Let me give you the last piece of this, the second part of it.
Notice what he says. To this end, we always pray for you that
God may make you worthy of his calling. He may fulfill every
resolve for good and every work of faith by his power so that
our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you. Here's the mind boggling
piece. And you in him. And you in him. Which is the saints to be glorified
in him. I thought Carson, again, says
it very well. He says, but when we are glorified
in the sense just described, we are being made more like him. We are being strengthened or
empowered to exhibit the characteristics that we would not otherwise display.
Christ is glorified. As we are glorified, we are conformed
to his likeness. Jesus Christ will be glorified
in us on account of what we have become by his grace. And we will
be glorified in him on account of what he has done for us. To
Christians, when we see, when we look at each other and we
see God's work of grace, we not only should give thanks for it,
We should continue to pray, Lord, make them worthy of the call
of Christ. Help them be what you've already
made them to be. Fulfill every resolve for good that you've
put in them. Fulfill every work of faith that you desire for
them. Lord, be glorified in their lives. And I will tell you, these
prayers, if you notice, you know how long of an impact these prayers
have? They're eternal. They don't happen next week.
Maybe they might, they might. But they're praying with a mindset
that is, that are of eternal significance. So if you're taking
notes, you're gonna see at the very, here's the cookies at the
very bottom shelf. Since Jesus is magnificent, we must give
thanks, rejoice, and pray for God's purposes to be realized
in our lives. Oh, church, what we would sound
like, well, maybe what our churches would look like if we began to
pray for one another, Lord, you've done this in them, do it all
the more, do it all the more. So I'm gonna pray for us, and
then I just wanna give us some time just for discussion and for conversation
of what this can look like more fully. So I just want us to give
us a second, just calm your heart here before the Lord, and I'm
gonna pray for us. Lord, as we saw today, this text
has shown us your glory and your marvelousness. Lord, you are so magnificent. And yet, Lord, that will be what
transforms us one day. Father, I ask in the meantime
that we would seek your face and we would do it in such a
way that, Lord, we would pray with
eternal significance in mind, that, Lord, you would make us
worthy of the call of Christ, that you would make us worthy
of the call of Christ, that you would make us become what we
already are. Lord, help us to live in light
of what you've already said is true of us. And, Father, I ask
for us that you'd fulfill every work of faith that you'd fulfill
every good desire for good that you've placed within us. And Father, would you do it all
for your glory, that you would be glorified in us as we're transformed,
and that we would be glorified in you as we marvel at your grace
and kindness. Lord, we are all dependent upon
you. Help us, we pray. Do this in us, we ask. For this
we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. I don't know if you guys want
to do Q and A time now, that'd be fine. Or just even just a
short discussion time. We can do that now. And if there's
not any questions, we can kind of just move on, but. Brad, I was a little bit last
evening, and in a long time. And I was just curious what you're. You brought up the race. John racing there. Yeah. Yeah.
That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. More than the longest given. Yes. bit. If I would have had more
time, I would have literally talked on the New Covenant, the
glory and the beauty of the New Covenant, because that's really
what he's arguing for. In that quote particularly, he's
referencing, I think he's referencing Romans, something within Romans,
but actually I would point you to, let me give you just one
example that is sticking in the top of my brain. When Jesus says
in Matthew 5, 17, He says something, I think it's the most profound
reality that could be. He says, do not think that I've
come to abolish the law and the prophets. I've not come to abolish
them, but to fulfill them. my understanding of fulfill them.
He's not come to tear apart the Old Testament. He's come that
the Old Testament literally might be fulfilled. He is the end and
the goal and the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. Part
of that is us living differently. Part of that is, if you look
at even the ethical commands of the Old Testament, it's not
that we throw the law away. And I think what ends up happening
is you have two different perspectives. You have covenantal theologians
who say something like, that'd be like Presbyterians, whatnot.
They would say, well, we're still under the law, just like Moses.
We're the new Israel, we're still under the law. Then you have
dispensationalists who say, no, that was a law given for a different
time and a different place. recent or what he's trying to
argue for is grace has not only the law is like the vehicle.
It's still we're still obeying the law it but it's the law of
Christ fulfilled by grace in that way that makes sense. So
grace is not just forgiving grace. It's also empowering grace to
obey the law to walk in obedience to God's moral and ethical commands.
So that makes sense. We could talk, there's a lot
more to be said and mind there. No, that's okay. No, no, no.
That is, that is a great question. And I think there's, we need
more teaching on that topic because grace is not just forgiving grace.
Grace is empowering. It's forgiving, but empowering
grace to obedience. And that's, that's how we, that's
what he's really arguing for. I think more than anything now.
Now, what are those laws?
A Reformation of Prayer_Make Us Worthy of the Call (Part 2)
Series 2024 Ferndale Family Weekend
| Sermon ID | 729241513122990 |
| Duration | 36:01 |
| Date | |
| Category | Camp Meeting |
| Bible Text | 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12 |
| Language | English |
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.