Praying for Faith, Hope, and Love

I’m excited for us to start a new series today on Going Deeper in Prayer. When we read the Bible one of the activities we hear a lot about a lot is prayer. There are hundreds of prayers in the Bible. The Book of Psalms contains 150 prayers and songs that teach us we can bring every emotion and every situation we face to God. In the Gospels, Jesus is frequently portrayed as praying at some of the most important times in his life whether before choosing his leadership team of twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-16) or in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before his crucifixion (Luke 22:40-46) or even on the cross itself. The disciples who were around Jesus were so impressed by his commitment to prayer they asked him to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1-4). The Apostle Paul was also sustained through great challenges and difficulties through his powerful life of prayer.

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February 14, 2016
1 Thessalonians 1.2-3, Praying for Faith, Hope, and Love
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church

In this worship series our goal is to go deeper in prayer by learning from some of Paul’s prayers which are found in his letters to the Thessalonians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philippians. We hope this series will enhance your ability to pray which is a core spiritual habit that enables us to grow and go deeper in our relationship with God. For the next five weeks on Thursday evenings at 6:30 pm Jill will be leading a 30 minute prayer time to help us experience prayer in different ways so if you feel like a beginner when it comes to prayer that would be a good place to start.

Have you ever received a memorable letter – for example from a family member or someone you’re in love with; a teacher, coach or professor, a college or employer? What made the letter memorable? Isn’t it usually a combination of who sent the letter and the sentiments, ideas, and thoughts expressed in it? I have letters I’ve kept from Jill, my parents, our sons, professors, friends, and parishioners. Each of us may have received and kept some letters that we still remember because of what they expressed or who sent them. In the same way, the early Christians preserved the letters of Paul because their content was deemed to be so inspired and important that what they communicated needed to be remembered, shared and put into practice. Paul’s deep life of prayer comes through in his letters. Wherever we’d place ourselves on a scale of prayer – from familiar and comfortable to unfamiliar and a little uncomfortable with praying – there is much we can learn from Paul. So don’t worry if you feel like a novice or a beginner when it comes to prayer; the truth is we will never be anything but beginners in prayer as long as we live! Let’s open our minds, hearts, and spirits to learn.

If the New Testament was arranged chronologically, with the first book being the earliest to be written and the final book the last, then 1 Thessalonians would most likely be the first book in the New Testament. Thessalonica was the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia, important for its location on both sea and land routes of travel. Today the modern city of Thessaloniki is the second most important city of Greece and home to a million inhabitants. Paul founded the church in Thessalonica shortly after he left Philippi (see 1 Thessalonians 2:1-2 & Acts 17:1-8). The Letter is addressed to Gentile believers (see 1:9, “For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God.”) Listen to 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3,

“2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I was talking with Sharon in the office this week about different items I needed to complete and get to her and as I was talking about them, she said jokingly, “Prayer, faith, hope, love – isn’t that what you preach about every week?” I said, “Yes, I’m going to go keep doing it until we get it.” The scripture begins with the word “We,” and if you look back to verse one you see that “We” refers to Paul and his ministry teammates Silvanus and Timothy. What benefits and strengths do we gain by working, doing ministry, serving, and praying as part of team or group as opposed to trying to do them on our own? Yesterday Jill and I were watching the US Olympic Marathon Trial race that was run in Los Angeles. It was the hottest temperature in history for a U.S. Marathon Trial and it was hard on the runners. In the women’s race, Marblehead, Massachusetts Shalane Flanagan and her training partner Amy Cragg clicked off a series of 5:35 miles midway through the race to lose the field of 202 entrants and turn the competition into a practice run. Although the pair ran the first 25 miles side by side, Cragg had to help coax her flagging teammate over the final miles because Flanagan was clearly in serious distress. With Desiree Linden closing hard, Cragg finally sprinted away to win in a time of 2:28:20. Cragg stayed by the finish line waiting for her friend and training partner to finish and secure the third and final spot for the Olympics in Rio this summer. Flanagan, a three-time Olympian, hung on for third in 2:29:19, then collapsed into Cragg’s arms at the finish. After the race, an exhausted Flanagan could hardly stand and she said she was hurting so much that she was thinking toward the end, “I’m done, I can’t do this,” but Cragg’s presence and encouragement wouldn’t let her quit. Cragg said after the race that when she was hurting during the third lap that Flanagan helped her to persevere. After the post-race interview, Flanagan was taken away in a wheelchair. As we watched the women run the last several miles and saw Cragg repeatedly talking to Flanagan clearly encouraging and supporting her and enabling her to finish and achieve her goal I thought it was such a beautiful example of how others can pick us up when we’re wavering or not doing well and that like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, we can do more together and accomplish more as a team or group than we can individually. So that’s the first word of today’s scripture – the value of “We.”

The initial phrase Paul shares in his prayer of greeting to the church is “We always give thanks to God for all of you.” When we pray, how often do we begin with giving thanks? If at least sometimes we begin a time of prayer with giving thanks to God for the people in our life, what impact do you think that might have on how we see those people and perhaps even relate to and treat them? I’m not saying we always have to begin with thanksgiving in prayer, but sometimes it’s good to start by giving thanks for our blessings, especially the people around us who we never want to take for granted. If we pray thankfully for people, even if we may be in conflict with them, it may alter how we view them. That’s why Jesus told us to prayer for our enemies and not to call them names, insult them, or demonize them. For the Thessalonians, to hear such affirming words, “We always give thanks to God for all of you” from people they respected like Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy surely was a blessing and encouragement to them. In the same way, when we let people know we thank God for them, we bless them and strengthen our relationship.

The second part of the scripture is, “and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father.” What difference do you think it makes to be “constantly remembering” someone in prayer versus forgetting or only infrequently remembering someone in prayer? While it’s hard to know how constantly remembering someone impacts God’s response; I suspect it changes how we feel and respond to the person we’re praying for, I think it likely increases our sense of compassion and caring, and that may even be part of how God moves through our praying for them. It’s nice to be remembered isn’t it and that’s a gift all of us can give to someone else.

In this the earliest of his letters, Paul introduces in the first verses three of the great themes of the Christian faith to which he will return in his letters again and again – faith, hope, and love. Paul is writing to a community that was threatened by social pressures and at times outright persecution to turn back to the life from which they’d come. In referring to, “Your work of faith,” Paul is addressing the fact that while faith is a gift and a result of grace – it also takes effort and work to live out our faith. Faith doesn’t grow stronger without our active participation. If we want our faith to get stronger and deeper we need to be “working” at it. Like a muscle, faith gets stronger by being exercised and like Olympic qualifiers Cragg and Flanagan faith often gets stronger when it is tested and even pushed to the limits of what we think we can endure.

In addition to “Your work of faith,” Paul mentions their “labor of love.” The Greek implies toil, or troublesome labor, which we are stimulated by love to bear. When you hear the phrase, “labor of love” what comes to mind? The phrase implies that some aspects of loving other people aren’t easy and remember these words are written to a church and not to a couple in a romantic relationship (although there are could be some labors of love involved in those relationships too). In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 that we heard earlier in the service, Paul gives some examples of what a “labor of love” is – it’s being patient – when we’re tempted to lose our cool; it’s being kind rather than indifferent or mean ; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Clearly we wouldn’t need to be patient, kind, etc. if love wasn’t sometimes a “labor.” Love is not all moonlight and roses. True love involves sacrifice, acceptance, negotiation, speaking the truth in love, confession, forgiveness, a commitment to resolve conflict peacefully, and more. All these are needed in relationships within a church as well as in our personal relationships. How are you doing when it comes to your labor of love?

The final part of Paul’s prayer is thanks for the Thessalonians “steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” The opposite of “steadfast” is wavering, unreliable, weak, or untrustworthy. Having steadfast “hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” makes a significant difference in our lives. Having hope that is unwavering, reliable, strong, firm, and resolute is especially important when life is difficult. We can have steadfast hope in our Lord Jesus Christ because Jesus is reliable, strong, and trustworthy. Remember what those three words mean. Lord means Jesus is our Leader not the Roman Emperor or any politician today; our first allegiance is to Christ. Jesus means “he will save his people from their sins” (see Matthew 1:21). Christ means Anointed one or God’s Chosen One. Jesus is all three of those things to the Thessalonians and for us as well.

In just two verses from 1 Thessalonians, we see the value of “We,” of a team serving together and of giving thanks, and the impact of praying constantly for faith, love, and steadfast hope in Jesus. This is the first Sunday of the season of Lent in the church; for hundreds of years Christians have used this period of 40 days to fast, pray, help the poor, and engage in spiritual disciplines that renew and strengthen our faith. Some of us may give something up for Lent like chocolate, alcohol, or meat. As helpful as those things can be, engaging in actions that exercise and strengthen our faith, putting our love into practice even when it feels like toil or labor, and maintaining steadfast hope in our Lord Jesus Christ are also vital and renewing steps we can take. These verses also sum up how the staff feels about the people of BBC. “2 We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Prayer: Gracious God by the power of your Spirit inspire us to diligence in our work of faith, selflessness and humility in our labor of love, and grant us a sense of unwavering hope in our Lord Jesus Christ that sustains us in all the trials and triumphs of life. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Blessing: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17

Live by Faith, Be known for Love, Be a Voice of Hope.

Questions for Reflection or Discussion

1. What are your earliest memories of praying or prayer?
2. Did anyone (a parent, grandparent, Sunday school teacher, pastor, counselor etc.,) ever teach you how to pray? If so, what did you learn?
3. Is prayer something you do often (daily, weekly)? Are you comfortable praying out loud in the presence of other people? Why or why not?
4. Why do you think prayer has been and remains such a significant spiritual practice for so many people?
5. Paul highlights three things in his prayer to begin 1 Thessalonians: “your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Why do you think faith, hope, and love are such a significant part of Paul’s teaching of the Christian life?

6. What step can you take in the coming days and weeks to make prayer more a part of your daily life?