Reliance - Abounding in Love 2024.06.17

[00:00:00] But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love, and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you.

[00:00:11] For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord. For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that

[00:00:24] we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father Himself and our

[00:00:36] Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless and holiness

[00:00:49] before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Lord, thank you for this time and for this opportunity to open your word, to receive from you

[00:01:01] what you desire earnestly to give to us. You are a good Father and a perfect God. You know exactly what we need even when we don't know how to express it, even before we know that we need it. God, you are all sufficient and you are wonderful.

[00:01:21] We worship you Lord and declare your faithfulness and your love towards us. God help us to understand through the insight of your Holy Spirit how deeply you love us, how deeply you care for

[00:01:37] us, and help that knowledge Lord to cement itself in our hearts in such a way that it transforms every aspect of our being. Move us Lord from where we are to where we need to be.

[00:01:50] Prepare us for that journey and that destination. Give us the right kind of discernment and wisdom so that we can lead others to you and disciple others and strengthen them in the gospel

[00:02:05] so that we could feel what Paul and Timothy felt as a result of the love and the faith that have been built up in the Church of Thessalonica. God, your mercy endures forever and your mercies are new

[00:02:19] every morning. We pray that this day and every day henceforth Lord would be stored up for us opportunities to bring you glory, opportunities to praise your name, opportunities to pray and to commune with you, and opportunities to see those who we have discipled and led in the faith

[00:02:42] come to an even greater place of love and devotion to you Lord. Cheer our hearts with this. Give us great joy and peace that passes understanding. Redeem this time Lord and use it for your kingdom and for your glory. In Jesus name, amen.

[00:03:00] We talk often on this broadcast about concrete discipleship steps that you can take to move closer to God, to seek Him. And oftentimes it comes down to an understanding of a particular biblical principle taken to its logical end and seeing what that means,

[00:03:23] seeing how that unfolds. When we are supposed to store up treasures in heaven, we can then ask the question, well why is that the command? Where does it come from? Is God reliable? Is what the

[00:03:36] scripture says true? And then if all of those things pass and they should, then the question is, well what does this imply about our attitudes? What does this imply about how we should handle different situations? How we should prioritize different components of our decision

[00:03:53] making? How should we have properly attributed balances in the sense of knowing what decision or another is weightier, more important, more impactful? What do we say about those opportunities? How do we process that information? How does it inform our behavior and our thought patterns?

[00:04:18] Every single bit of the Word of God is valuable for this. And with that attitude that is mirroring the church in Berea, people who were looking over the scriptures as a test to see

[00:04:36] what things are true, to validate the teachings from the Word of God, to be diligent. And where is that motivation coming from? A motivation of not wanting to be wrong, of course, but where does that

[00:04:49] come out of? Well it can come out of a place of self-centeredness and ego and pride or it can come out of a place of deep humility and trembling before God and respect and honor to say, well God is

[00:05:08] truth. God's Word is truth and it would behoove us and our relationship with others and our relationship with God if we were able to ascertain the truth, to not let any falsehood come in, to admit in moments of uncertainty or areas where the scripture is undeterminative, to say,

[00:05:33] yes this is my best approach to this situation but I could be convinced with argument that something else is the case, whether we're talking about tertiary doctrines or modes of custom and culture that scripture doesn't comment on directly or even indirectly at the

[00:05:53] principled level, these same kinds of back and forth and doubt and everything else should not be the case for our primary doctrines, the core of what Lewis calls mere Christianity that sits at

[00:06:08] the center of our faith that cannot be compromised on or put in a place of a double-minded nature. But when we think about this chain of importance and the impacts and the discipleship implications,

[00:06:26] I want to provide an extra layer of motivation here that comes from these verses in 1 Thessalonians 3 and whether this is a father in relationship with their children or even their wife, whether this is a pastor or a teacher presiding over a congregation, whether this is just

[00:06:56] discipleship among friends, I can tell you that when you live your life in a way such that whether in a role or in an informal capacity, you are able to be a conduit for the Holy Spirit that strengthens

[00:07:20] the faith of another person, that builds another person up, that moves them in the right direction, that gives them a little bit more in terms of discipleship and maturity, that inspires in them

[00:07:31] a hunger and a thirst for God, for the kingdom and for his righteousness. When you see that being accomplished, there are few things that will give you more joy, meaning, fulfillment,

[00:07:50] a sense of purpose, a sense of relief, a sense of joy and a sense of love. Very few things will bring you to that place quite the same way that helping someone else to move forward in their faith

[00:08:06] does. And of course, there are pitfalls with respect to this. It can become an item of pride or an item of domineering or power dynamics or any such things that we want to avoid. And this is why

[00:08:23] in these verses, I wanted to call out how much Paul is focused on the love aspect of this. And we have seen in scripture where the world will recognize us for who we are based on the

[00:08:40] love that we have for one another. Paul is saying that if we do all of these things that are righteous but we have not love, then it's all for naught. And that is the underpinning. It's the underpinning

[00:08:52] of the greatest commandments that Jesus refers to, to love your God and love your neighbor as yourself. And so it all comes back to this. And we can have this be a gut check that we can let

[00:09:07] the Holy Spirit draw out of us. If we were in a position to lead someone in the right direction, we point them towards Jesus and towards the faith. And they take that and they run with it,

[00:09:22] even exceeding where we are through any number of different capacities, measurements, whatever. Whether it's acquiring some kind of position or more importantly, having this kind of passion and fire for the Lord and for His ways, even to the point where

[00:09:41] the Holy Spirit is working mightily through them. Will our attitude, and this is something that if we haven't been in this situation or even if we have, it is wise to ask the Holy Spirit to

[00:09:52] reveal this to us. Would our attitude in that case be one of joy and love and even the godly kind of response to it saying, well, this person has exceeded me in the faith.

[00:10:08] It is a wonderful thing that their faith is growing so and that they can be mighty for God's kingdom. But this should also be a motivation for me to move closer to God

[00:10:19] and to open myself up to the working of the Holy Spirit so that I can bear the same kind of fruit. Would our reaction be that kind of positive iron sharpening iron sort of thing?

[00:10:33] Or would it be jealousy? Would we be closed off to that? Would we resist because of our own prideful nature, that sense of being overcome and overtaken of other people exceeding us in the faith? Because clearly that's not what Paul's attitude is here. He

[00:10:57] is talking about how Timothy has come to Paul and to his other travelers with a report from Thessalonica and that Paul is overjoyed. It is not a comparison, it is not a litmus test.

[00:11:13] He doesn't put them to the test and say, well, here are all the things that I have done. What have you done? That is not the race that is being run. Paul, it seems from this language,

[00:11:26] is genuinely overjoyed to see the Holy Spirit at work, to see lives being transformed and to see this evidence of love there. And this evidence of supernatural love that goes beyond the categories

[00:11:45] that we have invented for love in our culture and any culture going back through the annals of time. There is a love here that comes from seeing those who you love succeed. And it is the kind of love

[00:12:08] that can of course have taints of self-motivation or other sorts of selfish ambition or things like that. You can think about the parents of a kid who is excelling at sports and the parents

[00:12:28] clearly use their child's success as a way to boost their own standing or esteem. As opposed to parents of a child who is doing well in sports or some other endeavor, but genuinely revel in the joy of seeing that success motivated by love and their vicarious appreciation

[00:12:57] for what their child has done without it having any of this extra baggage. And looking around, we can tell that pretty quickly. We have a built-in sense for when people are in it for

[00:13:11] themselves or whether they are genuinely joyful for others. And in particular, we see here from Paul in his recounting of Timothy's report, he's not keeping a scorecard of miracles. He's not saying, well, this is good over here, but what about this? He's pressing the people to continue

[00:13:37] and to go on, but it's coming from such a just a wonderful, righteous sort of clean place of love. It's unencumbered by all of these other machinations and potential considerations that factor into the human calculations, this natural kind of assessments that we'll do that

[00:14:00] can be Machiavellian in nature, in a what's in it for me sense, and can be deceptive, can be difficult, can be challenging. And at the end of the day are entirely unnecessary and are missing the point. Paul's language here is clean. You see this genuine joy coming through

[00:14:21] that is a result of the love of Christ being shown. And you get a feeling for Paul that this is a treasure that is so valuable, and he encourages more and more and more of this. Now,

[00:14:38] the church in Thessalonica, they may be at one specific point or another. They may be at a place in their journey where they have more to do. They have more places to go. They still have

[00:14:51] to go deeper in the Lord, which is why Paul continues to encourage them. But the report of the love that is there is something that is so refreshing and it's buoyant in our spirit.

[00:15:06] It's light. It's jubilant. It is just the sensation that you get when all seems right with the world. And for us, maybe we experience that in fleeting moments. But if we will reflect in gratitude

[00:15:21] on these kind of opportunities that we have, there is nothing quite like seeing someone who you have led or influenced towards the Lord really take those steps and really see the fruit of the

[00:15:36] Lord in their lives. For one, it is incredibly beneficial to the kingdom of God because the gospel has a stronger foothold. There are more loving strong believers out there. But it should

[00:15:50] also be reinforcing to our own faith, the people who have pointed in that direction or led in that direction without it being a notch on our belts or something like that. Again, it is not a

[00:16:03] keeping score kind of situation. It is a have we been obedient to God, including having the right reaction to seeing God's work in someone's life? This should be something that is precious of non-negotiable, priceless value. And so seeing those sorts of things take place and knowing that

[00:16:28] the Lord has used you in order to accomplish these things should be a great benefit of security and reflection and just knowing that we know that we know that we are

[00:16:43] under the shadow of the most high that we are being obedient to his call on our life. So let me read these verses again with this emphasis in mind and just notice how direct, how much of a priority

[00:16:59] this love is and this faith that Paul sees. Note how he's writing like a proud father, but not one where he's saying, oh, well, this is going to reflect positively on me. He is proud

[00:17:14] because this is going to advance the kingdom. It is a testimony of the power and the goodness of God. It is working towards the goal of seeing Jesus's name glorified and magnified and seeing

[00:17:27] his kingdom established. And Paul includes a reminder to that at the end of this little passage here. So again, starting in verse six, but now that Timothy has come to us from you and has

[00:17:39] brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you for this reason, brothers, the reason that Timothy has

[00:17:53] brought us the good news of their faith and love. Paul writing about himself in all our distress and affliction. We have been comforted about you through your faith. Hearing the testimony of the faith of others has comforted Paul and his companions in all of their distress and affliction.

[00:18:15] So they are distressed and afflicted for the cause of Christ. And one of the things that buoys their spirits that gives them the energy and the confidence and the faith to keep going is the impact

[00:18:30] that the work that the Lord has accomplished through their hands has had in the evidence of the transformed lives of these people. So Paul goes even farther in verse eight and says,

[00:18:45] for now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord. So Paul is tying the church at Thessalonica, their obedience, they're standing fast, their determination, their approach and their desire

[00:19:00] to be in a place of greater maturity with the Lord with his own life. We live this gives us life, this gives us energy, this gives us vivacity. If you were standing fast in the Lord,

[00:19:13] that strengthens us. Then Paul writes, for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God? As we pray most earnestly night and day

[00:19:26] that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. So in this, Paul acknowledges that the church in Thessalonica has not fully arrived as no one has, but that

[00:19:40] they have the most important components of faith and a love of God and of a joy in others in the sense of fellowship that Paul is praying earnestly night and day for another meeting so that he can

[00:20:00] continue to provide guidance through the Holy Spirit and continue to feed them with the Word of God. And he is seeking God for this blessing to go back and to sow more into this portion of the

[00:20:17] body of Christ. He says, now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you

[00:20:30] so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. So on the day of judgment, if our hearts are going

[00:20:43] to be established blameless in holiness, certainly we would all look around at ourselves and say that is something we would like to have. That's something we should aspire to. It's not something

[00:20:53] that we deserve, but it's only through the power of God that this is possible. And what does that logically tie into? Well, Paul is praying that the Lord would make the Thessalonica's

[00:21:04] increase or the Thessalonians, I should say, increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you. A reminder that this love is reciprocated absolutely the way it should be

[00:21:17] in the body of Christ. And unfortunately, we don't see that in all instances in the church today for a variety of different reasons. But you get the sense that this pattern is not being

[00:21:30] followed the way that God would want. So what should we have increasing abounding love for one another and for all? And where does that love come from? If not from God, where does that supernaturally empowered love for people in the body of Christ and indeed for everyone

[00:21:54] come from? If not from the Holy Spirit transforming our thoughts and even our vision itself so that it is more and increasingly in line with the Word of God and with the way that Jesus sees people,

[00:22:09] understanding that each person is created in the image of God and has an unlimited and infinite value. And so it is altogether fitting and appropriate that we should increase and abound

[00:22:22] in love for one another. So let's ask ourselves that if we zoom out not just to the last couple days but three months, one year, five years, 10 years, however long we need to go, can we honestly

[00:22:38] say that we are increasing and abounding in love for one another? Now certainly it is a stereotype that people get more cantankerous and stubborn and short and non-cooperative as they age

[00:22:54] and you know you can point to a variety of different dynamics that would perfectly explain such a thing. So if those are the natural dynamics then what does it say about someone who increases and

[00:23:06] continually abounds in love for one another and for all? Surely that would be evidence of the supernatural at work if that is not that person's natural tendency and indeed our natural

[00:23:19] tendency tends to go in the opposite direction of that. So can we point to our own lives and say the Holy Spirit has been working in my heart and I can honestly say that as time has gone by

[00:23:33] I have earnestly seen the evidence of increasing and abounding in love for one another and for all and if we have to think about that, if we have to you know really try to make the case for

[00:23:48] ourselves that that is the case then maybe it isn't the case. This is one of those things that hopefully should be obvious but if it's not never fear for after all this is a supernatural

[00:24:02] operation. It's not something that we can read five steps on and automatically integrate that into our personality and adjust all of our behavior and our thought patterns and our decision making so that we can abound in love. It's not a handbook sort of thing it's a heart change

[00:24:17] sort of thing. It is something that God is responsible for but that we have to be open to and so I can tell you that when you are open to this and when you are letting the Holy

[00:24:30] Spirit transform your heart to soften your heart so that you can have love in places that were potentially not even possible before whether it's to toward disgruntled family members towards people who have wronged you in the church maybe it's towards your own family maybe it's towards

[00:24:51] people in general because of the state of the world and a tendency for us to grow bitter and nihilistic and downtrodden and pessimistic and cynical about humanity itself forgetting the God who made us even in states of affairs when people are fleeing from God we are still

[00:25:14] commanded to abound in love and so if we find ourselves in that situation let us remember that this is a work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts it's not something that we need to turn

[00:25:28] around except for acknowledging that God this I haven't lived up to this standard I don't feel like I'm growing and abounding and increasing in love for my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ

[00:25:43] and for people in general I might not even feel like I'm abounding in love for my family or those that are closest to me and who I have direct responsibility over and if we if we

[00:25:55] see this in our own hearts the right and only response is to go to God and to say God I want my heart to be changed I want to feel what is dripping off of this page

[00:26:07] from from Paul that is suffused with this potency of the Holy Spirit of just seeing how incredibly motivating it is for Paul and for Timothy and for the rest of the crew

[00:26:22] to see what is happening with the faith of these people in Thessalonica their church and their faith and their love being established and growing it just it is such an item of joy and of positive

[00:26:40] pride not in the selfish way but Paul is pleased at this he is overjoyed at this this spurs him on to more love and more dedication he is praying earnestly for these dear brothers and sisters that

[00:26:56] he would have a chance to disciple them further to lead them further into maturity because once this love has started it must be cultivated and pushed forward and encouraged and the work of the Holy Spirit is not ending but is ongoing is just getting started when those

[00:27:16] transformations are initially happening and I can tell you this in my own life brothers and sisters not very few things bring a smile to my face and joy in the same way as when my small children

[00:27:32] show their love for the Lord and their knowledge of him and their appreciation for him and saying their own prayers and thanking him and just showing me that they're thinking about God, that they're actively engaged with this, that they want to learn from the Bible, that they

[00:27:54] enjoy it, that it is valuable to them and as they grow even further as God willing I see them continue to follow the right course as I attempt through the power of the Holy Spirit alone to raise

[00:28:11] them in the way that they should go in the knowledge of God as I as I talk to them about these things as we go through the Bible together as we as we work on this I'm sowing and I'm sowing

[00:28:23] so any glimpse of fruit, any glimpse of productivity, any glimpse of that actually coming to fruition is so valuable it is such an encouragement to my own faith not only because I can directly see

[00:28:44] the power of the word of God to transform the lives of my children but to continually see the promises of God of sowing and reaping being fulfilled of this forward progress of this

[00:28:59] movement of the type that the word of God promises us it just makes me even more secure and even more comfortable and even more grateful and even more humble and it just brings me

[00:29:15] into such a place of just saying well if this is the only reward for every single thing that God has done for me that I would pass along my faith to my children and that God willing

[00:29:30] they would exceed me in the faith that is more than enough and of course I go to the Lord and I say I want to be obedient to whatever you've called me to if it turns out that what you

[00:29:42] have called me to the extent of it is to disciple my children, my wife and to lead my family and there is never any opportunity for more widespread discipleship or influence or anything else like

[00:29:54] that then God that is completely your prerogative I want to stand obedient and blameless and holy knowing that I can only be in that position because of the righteous blood of Jesus Christ

[00:30:08] shed on the cross for the atonement of my sins but God if it's all for just that then how incredibly worth it it all is not just for the sake of this feeling that Paul is expressing that we get this

[00:30:28] joy in this piece but that feeling isn't just something that is a tiny dopamine hit and then echoes into the background it's something that sticks and it's something that shows itself real to us

[00:30:43] because there's a reflection of the treasures in heaven and of the eternal value of the people who we see moving towards the Lord and so that is a fight worth fighting that is a race

[00:30:59] worth running that is a motive worthy of a life worthy of our lives to disciple others to spread the gospel to bring people to Jesus to see their faith bolstered to see their love increased

[00:31:17] magnified multiplied supernaturally and when we see that in them the same thing will be true in our own lives and in our own spirits if we retain through the power of the Holy Spirit and

[00:31:32] through the wisdom of the word of God the humility to give all the glory to God in that situation and to just rest in the absolute joy of it without then immediately turning it into some metric

[00:31:47] or some other bouncing off point or some way to springboard into other action immediately but just to appreciate the supernatural work of God that is going on in people's lives particularly the lives of those who you have taught who you have discipled who you have evangelized and

[00:32:07] proclaimed the gospel to there is something incredibly satisfying and it's not it's not something that you need to be in a formal ministry position as a pastor or a teacher or anything anything else formalized like that you don't need to be in that position to experience

[00:32:26] it you can experience it in just your own life but let it be the case that all of us have more of a positive spiritual impact on those around us it is an item of such great joy and fulfillment

[00:32:44] and purpose that I can't even describe it to you and so the best way for you to understand it is to experience it for yourself see how powerful this report was in the mind of Paul and giving him

[00:33:00] cheer and energy and faith even amidst the affliction and distress he was going through so if it works in that situation it will it will work for us brothers and sisters we should

[00:33:15] understand that when we pour our lives out for the sake of others for the sake of the kingdom of God that that is never empty work it is never without a reward and we will see the

[00:33:28] rewards eternally but we also receive this stipend this dividend of joy and of love in our own hearts when we see those same things abounding in others and that is the way the body of Christ should be

[00:33:43] brothers and sisters there should be mentorship and discipleship and joy and love abounding and collaboration and wise counsel and good decision-making and support and all of these things and and so much of that is just completely absent from the world this is absolutely a way that the

[00:34:05] church of Jesus Christ the body of Christ can be set apart from the surrounding world this can serve as a testimony that there is something different there's something real there's something suffused

[00:34:18] with true eternal meaning and purpose and there is this joy and this love and this faith which people so desperately crave but will fill that desire with many many other things let that not be said

[00:34:35] about us brothers and sisters let it be said that we were joyful and loving when we heard a report of the joy and love of others let that build let that grow don't let that get turned into something

[00:34:52] that it isn't let the testimony stand let the testimony empower us and let the word of God continue to motivate us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to bless others and to give our

[00:35:06] lives in service of the kingdom of God Jesus thank you for the joy that you saw that was set before you that led you to the cross thank you for the love that you have shown a love beyond anything we can

[00:35:24] even articulate Lord to be incarnated to lay your life down for the sake of a relationship with us who don't deserve it Lord thank you for your grace thank you for your faithfulness thank you

[00:35:43] Lord that if we are feeling short on faith or love or joy or peace or any of the things these priceless treasures that you offer we can come to you and we can ask you for these things

[00:35:57] help us Lord to be obedient Holy Spirit give us joy and peace and love in our hearts for one another and for everyone God let us be your people in a way that reflects what you deserve

[00:36:14] to this world Lord show us how to do these things give us opportunities to do these things help us remain on the right path and give us opportunities to disciple to mentor whether it's

[00:36:27] our family or group at church or any or anyone any opportunity Lord and let us rejoice to see those efforts bearing fruit giving glory to you and just expressing such joy and appreciation

[00:36:41] and love and faith that comes from seeing others grow and others mature as well Holy Spirit be with us help us to understand these things help us to remember these things help us to allow these

[00:36:55] words from your scripture to inform our decision-making bring them back to mind at the opportune moments Lord and give us these opportunities to experience the incredible joy and loving promises that you have provided we love you Lord we bless you Jesus we give you all the glory

[00:37:14] and all the honor for you are holy and righteous and true and all deserving of everything in Jesus name amen