Meditation 7

MEDITATION 7
1 THESSALONIANS 3_ 9 – 13
In this section Paul continues to pour out his love for the people of Thessalonica. His relationship to the church here was so different to his relationship with other churches. For example, the church in Corinth was always causing heartache. They had a long and stormy relationship. The church in the region of Galatia was always listening to outside agitators and again causing problems. However, none of these sorts of issues seemed to raise their heads in Thessalonica and so they were able to have a long friendship and love which surpassed his relationship with the other churches. Thus, you have his intense desire to be with them, to enjoy fellowship with them, to worship with them. I hope that, that if nothing else, this period of lockdown may have made you experience something of that desire. I know I long to worship surrounded by all of you again. Preaching to an almost empty church and doing these videos are simply not the same as being able to interact with you all, see the smiles, and even sometimes the frowns, on your faces while I lead and teach and preach is something I am missing to my very core.
Yet for all the church’s success, Paul’s thanksgiving for them is interrupted in verse 10 when he tells them that not only does he want to see them again, he also wants to supply to them what is lacking in their faith. He does not elaborate on what it is. He might even not know at that time, what it is, but he knows that something will be lacking and it is this that we will focus on this morning.
But first let us actually hear what Paul wrote: –
9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. 12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.
One of the repeating themes in Paul is his determination that every church exhibits the triad of graces, as one theologian described them. The triad is faith, hope and love. Certainly, if every church exhibited and focused on keeping the faith, keeping hope alive and loving everyone who they encounter, as well as God; then the church would be a vibrant and happy place. So often church’s and indeed ministers will focus on one or the other, maybe two out of three but keeping an equal emphasis on all three is vital for the ongoing life of the church. At this time, I believe the one that has been most difficult to encourage has been hope. The seemingly never ending linking and uniting of churches, the constant concern over a lack of ministers and shrinking numbers in the pews has been such a concern that hope seems to have gone out of the window. And yet there is hope. As Billy Graham once famously said, “I’ve read the last page of the Bible, it’s all going to turn out all right.” I think we forget this from time to time. We are so focused on the present reality that we forget the future glory. Yet interestingly in this difficult time I actually see more reason for hope. The number of you watching and reading this weekly meditation is far higher than the number we usually get for midweek Bible study. The number of people watching the live stream is far higher than we usually get on a Sunday. There are real signs of hope just as there were real signs of hope in Thessalonica.
The second thanksgiving that Paul mentions is the fact that the people of Thessalonica received the message that Paul brought as being the Word of God. They did not shrug it off or dismiss it, but received it eagerly and responded to it with commitment.
The third reason for his thanksgiving is one which is more difficult to express. In verse 10 he says that he looks forward to re-joining them so that he can supply what is lacking in their faith. To understand why that is a reason for thanksgiving you have to understand something of Paul’s wider theology and that Paul does not know what is lacking, he just knows that something is lacking.
This is the so-called apocalyptic realism of Paul. The realisation that we live in a time when all is not yet complete. Yes, Christ has died, has risen and ascended into heaven. Victory over sin and death is complete, but there are still manifestations of the old age remaining. There is still sin, I still sin, you still sin. There is pain, there is suffering. We have not yet reached the time when the climactic event that will consummate the new age already begun becomes a reality. Therefore we, like the people of Thessalonica live in this strange period between the already of what God has done for us in Jersus Christ and the not yet that awaits us.
This is a hard thing for any church to grasp. No matter how successful (however you want to measure success, and that is a topic all in itself) a church is there is always something lacking because of the intrusions of the old age. As much light as the church may bring to others and as much good as it will do for the community and the world, there is always something lacking. There is always something that needs the attention of church leaders there is always something for us to pray for in the life of the congregation. We are a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints. That is why when people say the church is too full of hypocrites we can respond by saying, there is always room for one more. We are never perfect we are always undergoing change always, hopefully growing closer to Christ although we will never attain the fullness until that climactic day when he returns.
There is a tension throughout Paul’s writings between the already and the not yet. It is a tension that we have to constantly struggle with. Whatever we are, we are by the action of the grace of God already and always active in our lives. The value of the not yet dimension of God’s work, however, is that no one can claim perfection, as if the sanctification process, the growing into the likeness of Christ is ever complete. Vestiges of the past will always intrude, even if only in our memories as if they are not quite dead but only wounded and still seeking to recover.
This is why we must all set a goal for our lives. The goal has to be to draw on the strength of the Holy Spirit, that guarantee of the new age’s consummation, and to read the Word, study the Word, put into action the Word and wait with trust and diligence for the full transformation of our lives.
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