We have been looking at Paul's prayer life for 10 weeks now and today we get to ask the question, what did Paul need prayer for? What did the great missionary apostle ask others to pray for in his life? There are three requests that Paul specifically made of the Thessalonians, followed by 2 prayers he prayed for them and one overarching motivational reason for all this prayer. I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried, 3-2-1. This is like a basic short course in prayer.
So what are the 3 requests for prayer that Paul asks? First, he wants them to pray that the message of the Lord runs in our life and the life of others. Those words, spread rapidly, are the words of the Olympic races. They are the words used of athletes running in the stadium before the crowd for the prize. Paul needs, wants and desires their prayer for his and his companions' Christian marathon. Let us speed onward to Christ-likeness. Pray that we run as though running a 100m dash, giving everything we have and allowing the gospel to spread throughout our lives and the lives of those we minister too. Pray that the Gospel is extraordinarily successful.
In fact this continues to be Paul's prayer and instruction up to the end of his life. In Acts as he is headed towards Rome, he says,
Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me — the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
The author of Hebrews instructs us all to let the message to spread rapidly in our life
Heb. 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
And it is not until the end of his life, when the verdict is clear and death is imminent that Paul changes his request to a statement that I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (2Tim. 4:7).
So our first prayer request of others, if we are to learn from Paul would be to ask others to pray that the gospel takes us over like a racer bearing down on the finish line or a semi bearing down on your bumper. And then ask them to pray that it overtakes you so that it overtakes others. Ask for men and women and children to pray for the Gospel to spread rapidly.
Secondly, Paul requests that the Gospel be honored. He asks for others to pray that the message of Christ may spread and be worshipped or glorified. In fact, glorified would be a better translation of the word in our present day usage because honor is a word we use for showing esteem towards someone or something but we generally don't use it in the sense of exalting something, or lifting it up to the highest position. But that is exactly what Paul is asking, pray that the message not only spreads in my life and the lives of others, but that as it spreads, it is also lifted up and exalted, that it is worshipped as good news. Not only does Paul need prayers to hear the message and speak it but he also asks for prayers to receive it and have it received favorably.
Paul had already thanked God for the Thessalonians acceptance of the message in his first letter to them:
"And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe." (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Not only had the gospel truth spread to them, but also they had honored it by properly receiving it as God's truth to humanity. He wants this reality to continue in his own life and the life of those to whom he will minister.
Thirdly, Paul requests prayers for deliverance from those who would hinder the rapid spread of the gospel. Paul recognized that there is a war going on around the gospel. That is why he uses a military term, deliverance. Princes delivered cities under siege or in bondage. It is the story of God's people and his revelation to be under siege. Recall Daniel and the Lion's den, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Remember the Exodus, Noah and Lot – all men under attack for the Word of God, and all men in need of deliverance.
This is a battle we are living. There are those with faith and those without, Paul makes it clear and those without are opposed to the rapid spread and honoring of the gospel. It is clear, there is no middle ground in the Scriptural world, and we are either for Christ or against. And those against us, we need to pray for deliverance from their evil plans. And that necessarily means we need to pray for their deliverance, for we were once opponents of the Gospel too – intent on doing life our own way and refusing to see the message honored and exalted in our lives. In fact, some of us may still have such tendencies. Seek men and women to pray for you, ask them to pray these three requests of Paul: 1) for the gospel to take over your life, 2)for the gospel to be exalted and glorified in your life and 3)for any area of your life that is under siege, whether internally or externally, to be delivered.
I want to make an observation about reformed church-persons, our tradition tells us that we can approach God directly through Christ and therefore we have no need of sharing our personal lives with others, especially not in prayer. But that is false, sure my prayer is no more effective than yours, his prayer no more effective than hers, we all approach Christ equally and evenly, but there is necessity to share our lives with one another and seek God's control over every area of our lives corporately, one for another. When I am weak in prayer, I need others praying for me and when you are weak in prayer you need others praying for you too. If Paul needed prayer for the Gospel to race in his life and his ministry and to be honored, If Paul needed prayer for deliverance from the evil forces coming against him, then you and I need the same kind of prayers and we need to ask for them and pray them for others.
So we have seen the 3 requests of Paul: Gospel to spread rapidly, Message to be received appropriately and for the deliverance of those obstacles standing in the way of the first two. Now we can turn our attention to the 2 prayers Paul pray for his brothers and sisters. First he prays for the Lord to direct their hearts into God's love, and Secondly for the Lord to direct their hearts into Christ's perseverance. The first is a prayer for their internal life to be directed to "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things" (Philippians 4:8).
If the heart, if the inside of a person is directed to the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable and praiseworthy things, then they are directed to love for God and his created world and everything in it. This is a large overarching prayer for those same things he has asked for himself and his traveling troupe. But he takes it a step further and also asks for their heart to be directed to Christ's perseverance, not just perseverance but Christ's perseverance. A perseverance, which goes to the bitter end and completes all that the Father requires. A perseverance that never sways, or gives up, a perseverance that accomplishes all that the gospel demands – total, unconditional surrender to the victorious King.
Why would Paul pray this for the Church of Thessalonica? The gospel demands a radical break with all idolatry and sinful action in society. This would mean stopping worshipping in the temples of Zeus, Apollo and Aphrodite in the cities, it would mean avoiding the cultic sacrifices of the trade unions, it would mean integrity in sexuality, very uncommon in the Roman period. But that gospel also demands that believers testify to the Lord Jesus Christ in life and deed, and live a life of dependence upon the Father caring for family and friends, and the outcasts of society. But in Thessalonica, the people have been persecuted and the natural human proclivity is to flee persecution and seek the easier life of compromise and luke-warm Christianity. We wouldn't know anything about that in our society would we?
But Paul prays for them to persevere amidst the hardship, persevere and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away (1Pet. 5:4); that is how Peter puts it. James says it another way, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12). Paul recognizes the dangers inherent in their context and life and he prays for their ability to sustain the trials and tribulations of life, so that the Gospel will have spread rapidly and been honored fully in their life.
3 requests, 2 prayers echoing those requests, and finally, 1 reason for all of them The Lord is faithful. The Lord is faithful – he strengthens his people, he protects his people, he delivers his people. He is faithful never to abandon his people or forsake them. Jesus promises in John 14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
In fact this is a promise God has been making to his people since the beginning of the Scriptures. In Gen. 28:15 He tells Jacob, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
God is faithful,
1Cor. 1:9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
1Cor. 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
And what has he promised us? He has promised to deliver us from sin and death, he has promised to make us his brothers and sisters in Christ. He has promised to feed us and clothe us and provide for us. He has promised us eternal life, to dwell in a city without sin, tears and opposition to the rule of God. He has promised us forgiveness in Christ. He has promised to sustain us under trial and give us words to speak during persecution. In short God has promised us everything – just listen
"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
(Philippians 4:19 NIV-G/K)
And it gets even better, when we are obedient to the words of God – to care for the poor and distressed, then "then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." (Isaiah 58:10-11 NIV-G/K)
""If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 58:13-14 NIV-G/K)
People of God, the Lord is faithful, he has provided all we need in Christ – from obedience to the Law to acceptance before the throne to the giving of the holy Spirit to empower us to obedience in this present life, that is why we pray to him for all we need and for all he desires: The overpowering of the Gospel in this world. So let us stand and pray as a corporate body for the 3-2-1's of Paul's prayer life:
Requests
- God Runs in our life and the life of others
- Gospel is received and accepted and exalted
- Deliverance from all which seeks to stop 1 and 2 above
Pray
- God to direct our hearts in love
- God to direct our hearts in perseverance
Thank God
- God is faithful
- Strengthens his people
- Protects his people
BENEDICTION
"May the Lord bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, may the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace…
"…at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you." (2 Thessalonians 3:16 NIV-G/K)
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