Give thanks and pray for fellow believers.

 

Sermon for Epiphany 2, January 21, 2024

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

2 Thessalonians 2:13-17  ¹³But we are always obligated to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth.  ¹⁴For this reason he also called you through our gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  ¹⁵So then, brothers, stand firm and hold on to the teachings that were passed along to you, either by word of mouth or by a letter from us.  ¹⁶May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word. (EHV)

Give thanks and pray for fellow believers.

Dear loved ones in Christ,

            In this letter, St. Paul warned the Christian Church about the antichrist who would come before the end of time, and indeed, about many antichrists who would lead so many believers astray with ideas that we must contribute to our salvation by works we must do.  Now, much has been written about who these antichrists might be, but the truth is, anyone, or any religion, that teaches that you must do something to gain your salvation is clearly opposed to the grace of God in Christ Jesus, because the Holy Spirit has confirmed, through Paul, that “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Here in our sermon text, then, Paul moves on to the grace of God and the obligations that are ours for the salvation we have been given.  Yet, Paul doesn’t give us a command so much as an example that we Give thanks and pray for fellow believers.

Paul wrote, “But we are always obligated to thank God for you, brothers, loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and faith in the truth.”  Why did Paul and his fellow apostles feel obligated to thank God for fellow believers?  Of course, because these people believed as they did, but mainly because God was confirming for them that the Holy Spirit was indeed active in their work. 

Jesus had promised His disciples, “I am telling you the truth: It is good for you that I go away.  For if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you.  But if I go, I will send him to you.” (John 16:7)  Isaiah had prophesied, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald, who proclaims peace and preaches good news, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God is king!’” (Isaiah 52:7)  Thus, Paul could write, “So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

Notice too that those who believe the Gospel, and the messengers who bring it, are loved by God and chosen by Him from the beginning of time.  In contrast to the false teachers who place some of the responsibility for your salvation upon you, thus giving you an impossible task, God put the responsibility for your eternal welfare in His own hands.  And while God chose those who would believe, He didn’t limit His salvation, but He sent Jesus to be the salvation for all people, even for those who would reject Him and suffer eternal damnation for their rejection.  The familiar promise Jesus gave us applies here: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

For this reason, we too Give thanks and pray for fellow believers.  Not because we are required to do this, but rather, because our fellow believers are living proof that God is working in our midst.  Martin Luther summed up our position in his explanation of the Third Article.  He wrote,

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; just as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. 

Here in this letter, Paul continued, “For this reason he also called you through our gospel so that you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  What a difference the Holy Spirit working in our lives has made.  The Bible tells us, “At one time, you were alienated from God and hostile in your thinking as expressed through your evil deeds.  But now Christ reconciled you in his body of flesh through death, in order to present you holy, blameless, and faultless before him.” (Colossians 1:21-22) 

At one time, we were all doomed to destruction, and on our own, we could do nothing to save ourselves.  We couldn’t get even one inch closer to God in heaven.  But this is where God’s love takes hold.  God didn’t abandon us when we were lost and condemned.  Instead, He planned our salvation, then carried it out by sending His Son, Jesus, into the world to be our Redeemer and Savior. 

The demands of the law that are impossible for us to satisfy were laid on Jesus.  Then, even when Jesus had fulfilled every last dot and tittle of the law so that no one could justly accuse Jesus of any fault, the sins of the world were counted against Him, and God’s own dear Son, Jesus, was sentenced to die on the cross of shame in our place.  Not one iota of our reconciliation with God was left up to us.  Jesus did it all.  “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.  And he has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:19) 

Because of Jesus, all who believe in Him are counted as holy and perfectly righteous before God.  The Revelation pictured it this way: “These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation.  They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

Paul then encouraged his fellow believers with the admonition, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold on to the teachings that were passed along to you, either by word of mouth or by a letter from us.”  You and I didn’t get to hear St. Paul preach in person, nor did we walk the dusty roads of Galilee with our Lord and Savior.  Yet, through the words of Scripture laid down for us by the Holy Spirit, we have learned of all Jesus did for us that saves us now and delivers us into eternal glory in heaven. 

Our God left nothing to chance.  When He chose you from before time began, He already had a plan in place to save you and to bring that Good News to you, and by the words of the Gospel, He worked faith in you by the power of His Holy Spirit.  For that, we give thanks always, and we give thanks to God for those people who loved us enough to share His grace with us.  That includes parents, teachers, pastors, and all fellow believers who offer encouragement to us along the way.

We Give thanks and pray for fellow believers.  Paul showed us how to do that with the last verse of our sermon text: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and in his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.”  Sometimes, we look for elaborate prayers, and some people will tell you just what and how they think you should pray, but Paul’s prayer shows us that we can simply place the needs of our fellow believers in God’s loving, ever-powerful hands.

God the Father showed His love for us through the multitude of promises and prophecies He put in place so that all people could know of the Savior and believe.  He most vividly showed His love by sending His Son Jesus into the world to live, die, and rise again to provide the forgiveness and salvation we need. 

Jesus showed His love for us when He walked those dusty roads in poverty and meekness yet without sin or doubt for even a moment.  Jesus showed His love for us with His humble attitude and loving concern for the needs of those hurting souls around Him, but again, His greatest love is shown on the cross, where He stretched out His innocent arms to accept the nails that hammered our sins onto His hands so that the price paid for our guilt would not fall upon us but be borne by God Himself in our place. 

Likewise, we see the love of God the Holy Spirit in the words of the Scriptures, lovingly laid down on papyrus, and velum, and finally on paper, and even in the electronic tools of our day.  The Spirit raised up men to deliver that message to us in spite of hardship and persecution, all because He loved us from eternity along with the Father and the Son.  It is by this Word of the Spirit that we get to know Jesus and believe in Him.  It is by this Word of the Spirit that we are guided in living in God’s kingdom.  By the same Word, we learn how we may treat others around us so that they can see God’s love for them in us.

Dear friends, in these latter days, we are surrounded by doubters, unbelievers, tempters, and even antichrists who would mislead those who are weak in their faith.  Remember the grace that God gives us through the fellowship of likeminded believers who have all their hope for forgiveness and eternal salvation only in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Remember them in your prayers, even as we pray that they remember you in theirs.  May all of us continually, Give thanks and pray for fellow believers.  Amen.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever.  Amen.