In the sermon 'Asking the Lord,' Jason Dohm explores the theme of prayer and its significance in the Christian faith, as exemplified by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. The sermon highlights their longing to reunite with the Thessalonian believers, despite being hindered by Satan. Dohm emphasizes the importance of praying for God's intervention to overcome obstacles and to enable growth in love, described as a 'master grace' that fosters other Christian virtues. The sermon connects Jesus' teachings in Matthew 7, urging believers to ask, seek, and knock, with the actions of the apostles, illustrating their faith in God's gracious disposition to answer prayers. Dohm underscores the necessity of prayer for personal and communal growth, urging believers to prioritize love for one another and extend it to all, including enemies. The sermon concludes with three points of application: pray when facing obstacles, pray for growth in love, and pray for those under one's care to grow in faith, emphasizing the need for dependence on God as the source of all good things.

Our sermon text is 1st Thessalonians chapter 3, 11 through 13, but we're going to read the whole chapter. Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this, for in fact we told you before, when we were with you, that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened. And you know, for this reason, when I could no longer endure it I sent to know your faith lest by some means the tempter had tempted you and your labor might be in vain. 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 you 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. Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you, And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Let's pray.

Lord God, we come before you and we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word. Lord God, I pray that you would help us to increase and abound in love toward one another. And that this sermon, this text, would change us. That we would be a people marked by our love. Oh God, please help us to glorify you.

Help us to focus on your Word being preached. In Christ's name, Amen. The title of the sermon this morning is, Asking the Lord. We're actually studying a prayer in the three verses that are before us this morning. I'd like to begin by reading another text in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 7, 9-12.

Jesus says, Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. For what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets." What Jesus is teaching on when he tells us to ask and to seek and to knock is what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are doing in their letter to the Thessalonians. They believe that God is their Father and that God is predisposed to hear their prayers, to listen to their prayers, and to give them a good answer that He is not a stingy God, but that He is a gracious God, who wants His children to come, and to ask, and to seek, and to knock, and that when we do, when we obey, and go to our God-independence, go to our Father-independence, that He is disposed to answer us in kindness and in mercy. They believe that.

Paul believes that. Silvanus believes that. Timothy believes that. And so they've hit an obstacle. They wanted to go back to Thessalonica to be with their spiritual children.

These new converts. But the devil, Satan, impeded them. Satan hindered them. So what do they do? They pray.

They have a desire to see these new believers grow in love. So what do they do? They pray. And they pray because they believe that the God in heaven is their Father. He hears prayer and that He gives a gracious answer to His children.

In the text from last Sunday, our author said, we rejoice for your sake before our God night and day, praying exceedingly." They've been talking about their prayers that they've been praying, and now they embed a prayer right in the middle of the letter. It's not the last time they're going to do it in chapter 5. They'll embed another prayer for the Thessalonians in the letter. So our time this morning will be just looking in detail at the contents of this prayer. As we go to the text, let's ask the Lord to help us.

God, I thank you for giving us this prayer. Thank you for giving us many prayers in Scripture that teach us how to approach our Father in heaven. And I thank you for your disposition towards your children that when we pray, we can know that all who are in Christ come to a Father in heaven, who desires His children to come and to bring their concerns and to ask. God, I pray that you would train us to be an asking people, train us to be a seeking and knocking people. We would receive and the doors would be opened to us because we've come.

Oh Lord, don't let us be an impoverished people because we didn't ask. But teach us your kindness as our Father. Pray that you'd help us in the text today, in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, the three verses that we have before us today are very naturally broken up just by verse. So I think that's what we'll do this morning.

We'll just look at each verse at a time. So let's begin by looking together at verse 11. I'll read it again. Please follow along. And then I'll discuss it in detail.

1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 11. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy write, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy write, Now may our God and Father Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you. Here we have our authors asking for a reunion. If you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, the blank is reunion. Asking for a reunion.

They want to be brought together again with their spiritual children. They've described themselves as being like a nursing mother, cherishing her children, and like a spiritual father, or like a father instructing their children. That was in chapter 2. They have this longing to be face to face again with their spiritual children. So they come to God, they've been hindered by Satan, but they come to God, And they ask God that He would bring them together again.

They've already repeatedly communicated their distress at having been prematurely separated. It happened before they wanted it to happen. They planned for it to happen. They're not done with their teaching. They're not done showing their affection and their care.

And establishing the fundamental truths of the Christian faith among these new converts. And they were distressed by it. They have been saying again and again, we are distressed, like we are not happy at the timeline. And they've been saying again and again, they're longing to come back and be face to face with the Thessalonians. And so now they embed this prayer in the letter and they're asking that God would reunite them.

They are very specific in who they are praying to. They begin by praying to our God and Father Himself. I think There are two things that should be said about them opening this prayer for the Thessalonians in addressing their God and Father. The first thing that I think should be said is that this is how Jesus prayed, and this is how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. So in this prayer that we have in scripture, every prayer in scripture being a model that teaches us something about prayer and helps us to know how we ought to pray, they are praying like Jesus prayed and They are praying like Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

Matthew chapter 6 verse 9 is the beginning of the Lord's prayer where Jesus said, In this manner, therefore, pray our Father in heaven." So, Jesus' disciples hear Jesus pray, and they see that he has the richest prayer life. So, They come to Him and say, Jesus please teach us to pray. And He does. He says, in this manner pray. Pray like this.

And then He begins it like the prayer in our chapter in 1 Thessalonians 3 begins. Jesus begins His prayer, Our Father in Heaven. He is God. He is in Heaven. He reigns from Heaven.

He rules all the works of His hands. So He is in heaven. He is the God of the universe, but He isn't just the God of the universe to us, to those who are in Christ. He is our Father. This is rooted in a very precious truth.

The first thing that I thought I should say was that this is how Jesus prayed and how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. But that in itself is rooted in something that should be so sweet to every Christian and that is this second thing. That when we are in the Son, God the Father becomes God our Father. When you are in Christ, the great dividing line of all dividing lines, in Christ or out of Christ, When you are in Christ, you are in the Son and you become a Son. God the Father is no longer just God the Father.

He is God your Father. He is yours. You take on the possessive pronoun and say, This is my God and I am His Son. He is my Father and I am His Son. It's right to do that.

God welcomes us to do that. In Christ who is the heir of all things. Colossians 1 says that all things were made by him, for him, and through him. He is the heir of all things. And you become a co-heir.

When you are in Christ, you become a co-heir with Christ. You now have a title to the inheritance. All things are his and in Christ all things become So turn to Romans Chapter 8, where Paul develops this. I'd like to read Romans Chapter 8, verses 15 through 17, where Paul writes, For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, Abba, Father." It's like Daddy, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if children then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. What Paul is teaching here in Romans chapter 8 verses 15 and 17, he is teaching us something about the condition of the natural man. The condition of the natural man is bondage to fear. In that condition, we are right to be afraid. It's good that we would fear God, because we are not in right relationship with Him.

He is a judge that sees all things and knows all things about every thought we've ever thought, every word we've ever said, every deed we've ever done. So in our natural state, we have a natural response to an all-knowing judge that will stand before one day. It's bondage to fear. But in Christ, the bondage to fear is broken. Because the judgment has already been dealt with.

And our sins have all been cleansed away because of the blood of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ standing in the place of all who trust only in his work. So the fear is gone, and Paul is describing the condition of the new birth. You changed states. Your condition has changed at the most fundamental level, so that you used to be an adversary, an enemy of this unbending judge who could never overlook unrighteousness.

And now you are completely different. You have been pardoned. Your sins have been cleansed. And He is describing the state of the new birth. You are like a new person.

You used to be an enemy, and now not only are you not an enemy, you are a son, and the new heart is indwelled by his spirit. It is a Spirit that cries out, Abba, Father, that can approach God not as an unbending, unyielding judge, but as Daddy. This is the glory of the Gospel. You go from an enemy of God to being able to say, Daddy, to God. You used to deserve eternal condemnation and torment, and now The inheritance is yours.

Christ's inheritance is yours. So this should sweep away any reluctance we have to pray these two great truths. That God is our Father and that Jesus is our Christ. So this is who we are praying to. God our Father and Jesus our Lord.

Jesus our Christ. Christ means the anointed one. The one anointed by God to make things right between us and God. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy pray, May God the Father and God the Son direct our way to you. I believe that the NIV renders this best.

The NIV wins the translation competition I think on this phrase rendering it this way. Clear the way for us to come to you. The reason I say that is that this is the literal Greek. To make straight of the removal of the hindrances to coming to someone. So there's nothing wrong with the translation, direct our way to you, but I think the Greek comes over more fully in how the NIV renders it, clear the way for us to come to you.

It fits so well with the context. Remember in chapter 2, 18, in the last chapter, our author said we wanted to come but Satan hindered us. You remember that? So now when they pray for the reunion, they're praying that the way would be cleared. It hasn't been a clear way.

They tried to get back, and couldn't get back because Satan had hindered them. But now they're coming to God who can do anything at any time, and asking that the way would be cleared. That God would make the way straight. That he would remove the hindrances to being reunited with the Thessalonians. So I think this is what we have in verse 11.

Now let's turn our attention to verse 12. We're back in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Verse 12. Verse 12, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you. So in verse 11 they prayed for the reunion in verse 12.

They're asking for love to increase to overflowing. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks It's increase overflowing. Asking for love to increase to overflowing. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are directing this part of the prayer towards the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word already used in verse 11 where Jesus is identified as Lord.

Now specifically in verse 12 they are asking the Lord Jesus Christ specifically for something. They are praying, may the Lord Jesus make you increase and abound in love. Now just a few verses earlier, Timothy has already brought good news about their faith and love. Do you remember that? They sent Timothy and he went and assessed and came back with a good report, with an encouraging report.

And what was that report? It was a good report about their faith and love. So they have love, but it still needs to grow. This prayer isn't sort of a backhanded rebuke for not having love. Thankfully.

There's already been a good report. There's good news from Thessalonica. They still have faith and they still have love. Yet now in this embedded prayer in the letter, they are praying for an increase and an abounding of this love. How is that going to happen?

Notice what they don't say and notice what they do say. They don't say, may you increase and abound in love. Don't translate what they do say to that in your mind. May you increase and abound in love. They do want an increase in love.

They do want abounding in love. But they are not praying to the Thessalonians. That is my point. They are praying to God that He would do something in the hearts of the Thessalonians. So it's not, may you increase and abound in love, but may the Lord make you increase and abound in love.

Those are different things. The end point is the same, but the request is very different. They are praying to God who works in the heart to increase and make love abound. It takes God to increase love. It takes the work of God to make love abound in a life.

It does. Love is native to the new heart, But love is foreign to the flesh. And if you're born again, you still have the flesh until our bodies are resurrected. And there's a war on. Have you noticed?

Christians, have you noticed that there's a war on? That there's a war against love? And so that love doesn't feel like it comes that naturally. A lot of things feel like they come naturally. It's not the things we are generally proud of.

So love is native to the new heart. When you are born again, love is part and parcel with that. It comes with that. But it needs to grow like it does in the lives of these new believers in Thessalonica. They have it, but they need it to grow, and they need it to grow a lot.

And it takes God to do that, which is why they are praying. So this is not, y'all try harder. This is God, please do a work in your people. Please come and work in the hearts of your people to take the little love that comes there with the new heart and make it increase. Make it grow and grow and abound.

Please God work in the hearts of your people. There are two words here. Increase and abound. The Greek word behind what's translated increase means to super abound or to increase. Like, big growth is the idea.

Not little growth, big growth. Not little growth, big growth. In math terms, a little growth is addition. And bigger growth is multiplication. And vast growth is exponential growth.

It's a multiplying of the multiplying. The Greek word here in math concepts would be exponential growth. A multiplication of the multiplication, super abounding. Big growth. The second word in the Greek that is translated abound here means to exceed a fixed number of measure.

To exceed a fixed number of measure. To be left over and above a certain number of measure. So the picture to this second Greek word is a measuring cup. And then so you start to pour what's to be measured into the measuring cup and it fills, it fills, It fills, it gets to the rim, and it just keeps going. It jumps the borders.

It just overflows and just keeps pouring out. It would be like pouring a gallon in a one cup. You're going to get to the one cup pretty fast, and then it just keeps flowing over the edges of your measuring instrument. So the Expositors Bible commentary looks at this phrase in the Greek and says, it's best as may the Lord Jesus increase you to overflowing. May the Lord Jesus take the gallon of love and put it in your measuring cup, so that it's pouring out over the sides.

As we consider this for ourselves, there are two things here in increasing and abounding. One is direction. It's an increase. You're going from something smaller to something larger. We need that.

We need to see that in our lives. We need to beg God for that, like is happening in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3. Because God is in charge of the increase of love in His people. Doesn't mean that we don't have a part to play. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to love.

It means that if there's going to be an increase in love that's meaningful, it will be the work of God in our hearts. So the first thing is direction. Increase from little to bigger. A lot bigger. The second is amount.

We want overflowing. We want God to put the gallon in the one cup, and pouring over the edges. That's what we need, and that's what only God can do. If you have people in your life and you've been given responsibility to help them grow, and you can only pray for one thing, I'm giving you a thought exercise. If you have people in your life, You're responsible to help them grow in the Lord.

You can only pray for one thing. You pray for love. Because it's related to so much more. This is what's happening here. There's only three verses.

It's a very short prayer. So what do you condense into the very short prayer? They pray for a super abundance of love. That the love would grow to overflowing among them. Why?

Because love is a master grace. There are many graces of God. A good place to start in thinking about the graces of God is the fruits of the Spirit. These are graces of God. If you look at the list of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, love, joy, peace, and so forth, you would say, I need all of those.

They are too small in my life and I need them all growing in my life. But I want you to know that they are not all created equal. They are not all the same. There is a reason that love heads the list in Galatians chapter 5. Because it is a master grace.

It is the most important grace and it feeds the other graces. If you've never read Jonathan Edwards' Charity and its Fruits, you should read it. It's an exposition of 1 Corinthians chapter 13. It's wonderful. He developed so fully how love feeds the other graces.

When you are growing in love, it is impossible not to grow in these other things. Love becomes fertilizer for the other graces. That is my word, not Jonathan Edmonds. That is the concept that he is developing in that book. Love is the most important of the graces of God that should be growing in our lives, and it feeds the other graces.

So if you're responsible to help someone grow in the Lord and you only have five seconds to pray, you should pray for love. Next, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy give a sequence for those who are to be the objects of this growth in love. In other words, the love is going to be pointed at someone or some groups. And we get a sequence to one another and to all. And to all.

I believe what is being taught here is that love prioritizes, Christian love prioritizes, our unity in Christ. It seeks out the brethren to be a target. Christian love seeks out the brethren specifically to be a target. Paul says it a little different way in Galatians chapter 6 verse 10. Listen to this, I think this gets to the point.

Galatians chapter 6 verse 10, therefore as we have opportunity let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." So Paul says this more than just in this prayer. He says it again in Galatians 6. Who are you to do good to? All. No one is excluded from that.

Christians do good to all. And yet, there is another phrase. There is not a period there. There is a comma. And behind the comma is another thought.

Especially to those who are of the household of faith. Why? Now why? John 13. Jesus tells us in John 13.

Please turn to John 13. I think in John 13 Jesus teaches us why when Christian love is seeking a target, we would prioritize those of the household of faith. It really sounds self-serving, doesn't it? It sort of sounds exclusive. That's not what's being taught.

It's not self-serving. It's not teaching us to confine it at all to just the people of God, but it is teaching us to prioritize the people of God. And Jesus teaches why I believe in John chapter 13. Look at verses 34 and 35. John chapter 13, 34 and 35.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. As I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another." This is a strange saying until you think about it. Jesus says, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another. That's not a new commandment.

How is loving one another a new commandment? When Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment, he says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Loving your neighbor as yourself is just quoting Leviticus 19, 18 that is not a new commandment. Then what is Jesus talking about? I think you get it as you continue to read.

As I have loved you that you also love one another." The love of Jesus as demonstrated in His purchasing of people with his own blood is another thing altogether. It's really a new commandment. You wouldn't have had the context for this prior to Jesus coming. He needed to come and do what God sent him to do so that we would know what is meant. It is one thing to love one another, it is another thing to love one another as Jesus loves us.

As Jesus loves. It makes us distinct. It marks us out as God's people. And so in an important way, our love for one another in the household of faith is love for the world. Because it puts God on display as a Redeemer who reaches into the lives of sinful people and changes them and allows them to love each other sacrificially.

So people can look into the household of faith from the outside and see something that's compelling. Loving each other in that way is loving the world, I believe, is what's being taught. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. The Jesus sacrificial kind of love for one another is a compelling image for the world. Listen to what John MacArthur says.

This is out of his study Bible. A note from his study Bible on this verse. He says, With over thirty positive and negative one another's in the New Testament, love appears by far most frequently. And then there's a long list of references, which I won't recite now. It is the overarching term that includes all of the other one and others.

So, MacArthur is commenting on a theme of the New Testament, the one another's. Many one another's bear one another's burdens, love one another and on and on. He says there's over 30 positive and negative one another's in the New Testament. He says if you look across all the one another's what do you find more often than not? Love.

Love one another. He says it is that way because love is the overarching term that encompasses all of the other one another's. It's the master grace. So This love prioritizes brethren, those within the household of faith, but it does not exclude others. Consider what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5.

You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say to you, love your enemies. So outside of the household of faith, who are you to love? Well, down to your enemies. That's all. That's the all in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3.

Love one another and all. Even to your enemies. Remember Luke chapter 10. The parable in Luke chapter 10 is one of the most famous parables in the Bible. It's of A lawyer comes to Jesus and he wants to know what he must do to inherit eternal life.

Jesus says, how do you read the scriptures? The man gives a remarkably good answer. Love God with all your heart, love your neighbor as yourself. That's the answer that Jesus gave on another occasion about the greatest commandment. So he quotes the greatest commandment.

Jesus says, okay we'll go do that. And the man wanting to justify himself says, who's my neighbor? He's wanting to make sure there's some sort of restriction on who he has to love. And so Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. And the point of the parable is, your neighbor is whoever you come across who needs help, even if you might have a predisposition to be hated by them.

Even if you're the natural enemy, as was the case between the Samaritans and the Jews, If you come across them and they need love, they're your neighbor. So Christians prioritize love within the household of faith because it's so important in how we distinguish ourselves and give a compelling vision to the world of what God does in lives, but it doesn't stop there. We are to love all, including our enemies, including our neighbors with a generous definition of neighbors. Your neighbor is the man who hates you but needs help. You love him.

Finally, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy put themselves forward as an example. They say, just as we do to you. In other words, we lived among you, and we gave our lives to you, not just the gospel. Remember that from chapter 2? They said we were pleased to give to you not just the gospel of God, but also our very lives.

We sacrificed for you. We loved you as mothers. We loved you as fathers. So we are calling forth from you the kind of love that you saw in us. Love us like we love you.

It's good and it's a sign of maturity when you can say that. I think We would be hard pressed to say that. Let's look at verse 13. We're back in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, the final verse of chapter 3. Verse 13.

It's just spoken of the increasing and abounding of love. God making that happen. Verse 13, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. In this verse we have the result of love that has increased to overflowing. So if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, it's result love.

The result of love that has increased to overflowing. To me, Verse 13 can be a little confusing. There are several phrases that you have to sort of untangle, and there's some sort of connection to verse 12, the previous verse, that you have to make sure that you have a hand along. So I'd like to state it in other words just to simplify it. It is said best by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, but I think I can say it in a different way just to simplify it.

When God does verse 12, they are praying for God to do something in the previous verse. To make love increase and abound among them. When God does that, our inner man is growing in authentic Godward obedience. And that will continue until the end. When God does that, when God makes love increase and abound, then our inward man is growing in obedience.

What kind of obedience? Real obedience, authentic obedience, Godward obedience, that's the holiness, right? I'm trying to unpack the phrase, establish blameless in holiness. Establish means like he's setting our feet on a rock. He's fixing it in place so that it's not wobbling and moving to establish something.

This growth in love, this overflowing in love puts our feet on a rock where we are blameless in holiness, meaning we are growing in obedience. We used to obey less, now we are obeying more. And it is real obedience. Meaning not just something that is outward and external that looks good on the outside, but something that engages the heart. It is the living out of love for God.

Godward obedience. And at the end of verse 13 just means that will continue until the end. Growing in real obedience will just keep going until the end. Or another way to put it, he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. This is Philippians 1.6.

God begins a work and then having begun it Himself, He sees to its continuance Himself until the finish line. Or to work in reverse order and to go to the very end of the verse and then work back from there, human history has an endpoint. Our Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back to earth with his Hagios, that's the Greek word, his holy ones. The literal translation of that would be his holies. He's coming back with his holies, plural.

His holy ones. Which all the translations that we like renders saints. It could be rendered angels. In other places it is rendered angels or it could be both. So he's either coming back with his saints, or he's coming back with his angels, or he's coming back with his saints and angels.

And honestly, you can make a scriptural case for any of those, so I wouldn't be fussed about it. He's coming back with his holies. With his holy ones. That's going to be the end of human history as we know it. Jesus coming back and a multitude with him.

And when he does, everyone will stand in the presence of our God and Father. That's what this verse is teaching. Jesus comes back and we are all in the presence of our God and Father. And on that day, what will be the state of your heart? Not your reputation.

It won't matter what the state of your reputation is on that day. Because God will be able to see past the externals, past the reputation, past the external image that you have carefully cultivated for yourself and he will be able to see right to your heart. This is why it is important to have your heart established blameless in holiness. None of that other stuff is going to matter on the day when we stand in the presence of God, when Jesus comes back with all His holy ones, and we're brought into the presence of God, the external things will fall away and the condition of our heart will be known. And will it be established blameless in holiness?

Only those in Christ will be able to say that it is. If you're in Christ, God puts His hand on you. He claims you as His own. He begins the work. He finishes the work.

He brings you there successfully. You fell a hundred times, but He picked you back up and kept you moving. Kept you growing in obedience, Godward obedience, real obedience. Godward obedience, real obedience. And then you are presented in a state blameless in holiness.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are looking to these newborn Christians. They are baby Christians, literally. They almost certainly have not been in the faith a year yet. When I think about the condition of my life, all the thoughts I had, the condition of spiritual disciplines in my life, when I hadn't been in the faith a year left, I can hardly keep from blushing. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have all these baby Christians, but they are praying with the end in mind.

They are praying towards the day when all these baby Christians won't be baby Christians anymore, they'll be in the presence of God, and the conditions of their hearts will be laid bare, and they want them to be blameless in holiness. In Holiness meaning just set apart for God. Growing in obedience out of being the Lord's, being owned by the Lord. We need our hearts established blameless in holiness. And we need for God to finish the work that he started to take us all the way to the end.

The prayer ends as it began with our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the bookends to the prayer. It's addressed to our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and it ends with our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the all in all in this prayer. I have three points of application and they are really obvious.

Here is how this text should impact us. Number one, we have obstacles we should pray. We have many obstacles We should pray. Sometimes obstacles just make us strive harder in our own strength. How thick-headed are we?

We're under satanic attack. We're being hindered by the work of the devil, like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. They say it explicitly. We don't know the reason behind everything that happens in this life. All we know is that we have an enemy who has endless malice.

And he never sleeps, working to oppose the work of God in the lives of his people. And so we should pray. We've tried in vain many times, and things that are important, things that are non-negotiable, we can't stop trying, we should pray. And Maybe we'll find that we don't have for no other reason than we didn't ask. James warns about that in James chapter 4.

You don't have because you didn't ask. Again, back to Matthew chapter 7. We are told to ask and to seek and to knock. We are told that God is a Father who kindly has a kind disposition towards his children. He bids them to come and make their requests, and says that he'll answer their requests.

We have obstacles we should pray. Number two, we need growth we should pray. We should pray. In the most critical category, the Master of Grace, love, we need to grow. We should pray.

Is there anybody in the room who doesn't feel like they need more love in their life? I'm just full. There's no room for growth and love for me. I've never once heard a person say that. We should pray God does that.

God is love. Love comes from God. He's the source of it. If you need more of it, you go to Him for it. There's nowhere else to go for love.

You go to God for love. If you're finding yourself loveless, you should pray and ask God because He's the source of it. Number three. Many of us have a responsibility to help others in our care grow, just like Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. We should pray.

We should pray. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. Psalm 127. To exhaust ourselves to help the children that God has put into our homes grow in the Lord and then not to pray is insanity. To labor early, noon, and night to help our children grow.

To help them become regenerate if we can. That's the work of God and yet we have a part that we should be playing. And then to exert ourselves to help them grow in the faith and then to be prayerless makes no sense. And yet I find myself very prayerless, and I bet you do too. We need to pray.

Let's pray. God, I pray that this text would have a profound impact on my life. Just as one of many in the room. I pray that you would press this on my heart and convict me of my prayerlessness. God, I pray that you would use this text to humiliate me at how prayerless I have been.

Please forgive me, Lord, for my prayerlessness. I know in my mind that you are the source of all the good things that I need and can't give to myself, yet how little I pray, how cold my prayers are, O Lord, please change me. Pray that You would not leave us where we are as a people, but that You would move us to be a people who are growing in prayer. Who depend upon you, who see you as a father, who delights to answer the prayers of your children, who has bid us to ask and to seek and to knock. Lord, change us.

Change us, Lord, we are asking in Jesus' name. Amen.