SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/30/2014
10:46 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A Request
For Submission
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1
Thessalonians 5:27-28
Message of the
verses: It is my goal to finish
looking at the fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians today and that will also end
our study in the book of 1 Thessalonians.
My plans are to begin 2 Thessalonians next month, but will probably not
finish the first chapter of that book in September, but hope to finish it in
October as we also will be looking at the end of the book of Jeremiah, and then
begin Lamentations in September too.
“27 I adjure you by the Lord to have this letter read to
all the brethren.”
We have mentioned that the Apostle Paul knew that this
letter that he wrote to the Thessalonians was an inspired letter that would
become a part of the New Testament, thus he adjures them to read it to all of
the brethren. The word “adjure”
according to John MacArthur is the Greek word (enokizo) and he states that it “is a strong word that means ‘to
bind with an oath.’ Paul was so intent
that all the Thessalonians receive his letter’s contents that he imposed a
solemn oath (by the Lord) on the elders.
The Holy Spirit through Paul thus obligated them to make sure everyone
heard the letter (cf. Rev. 2:7, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22.”
Now as we look at the word “read” it means that this
letter was to be read aloud in the public worship service. Now this is a practice of many Bible
believing churches to read the portion of Scripture that is going to be
preached about out loud before the preaching has begun, but in our day and age
we have the Bible in our homes to be able to read it to ourselves, whereas in
Paul’s day this was not the case so that is why he asked them to read it
aloud.
Paul Gives His Benediction to the Thessalonians (1
Thessalonians 5:28): “28 The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
John MacArthur writes “The apostle Paul summed up his
correspondence with a benediction, praying that they would experience the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul began and ended all his epistles with a
mention of divine grace because grace is at the heart of the Christian theology
(John 1:14; 17; Rom. 3:24; Eph 1:7; 2:5; Titus 3:7). Grace summarizes all that God provides
believers in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:16; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 9:8; 2 Thess.
1:11-12; 2 Peter 3:18). Regarding Paul’s
use of the term grace in the opening and closing of his letters, Leon Morris
observed:
‘Grace fundamentally means ‘that which causes joy,’ a
shade of meaning we may still discern when we speak of a grateful action or the
social graces. It comes to mean ‘favor,’
‘kindness,’ and then especially God’s kindness to man in providing for his
spiritual needs in Christ. Thence it
comes to signify what is due to grace, namely, God’s good gifts to men, and
finally the attitude of thankfulness which all this awakes within the
Christian. As used in greetings it is
the free gift, of God that is meant, but the word necessarily evokes memories
of the free gift on Calvary… It is the grace of the Lord which lingers in the
Apostle’s thoughts [as he closes his litters], just as it is the grace of the
Lord with which he begins his litters. (The First and Second Epistles to the
Thessalonians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989], 49, 187).’
“The closing requests Paul made to the Thessalonians
match what all dedicated pastors desire for their own churches: that their
people pray for them, that their people demonstrate affection to them and to
one another, and that their people hear, read, study and apply God’s Word. The evangelical church now resides in a time
when so many people assume that it can accomplish its mission by man-centered
methods, programs, and strategies. Thos
same people minimize the need to seriously and faithfully pray for their
pastors, or the necessity to regularly rely on the divine, all-sufficient
resources contained in Scripture. It is
a lie from Satan that pastors can do without the divinely energized prayers of
their people, but it is God’s truth that, through those prayers, He will
powerfully enable pastors to fulfill their callings and help build His Church.”
Warren Wiersbe ends his commentary on 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 and thus the end of 1 Thessalonians with the following
paragraph. “Paul ended with another
reminder that the Word of God is the important thing in the local church. The Word must govern our conduct and guide
our lives. We are to read the Word personally,
but we also need to hear the Word in fellowship of the local church, for the
one experience helps balance the other.”
As I come to the end of another book of the Bible I am
amazed that each book that I study how much I enjoy that particular book when I
am studying it. I remember a few years
ago that I was studying the book of James and because I enjoyed it so much I
told the men in the Bible Study that I was attending that I wanted to teach the
book of James to them, which I did.
As I think back on our study of the book of 1 Thessalonians
I believe that this study caused me to look a great deal differently to what I
thought was in this book. I only, in the
past, use to think that it was all about prophecy of the end times, and
although it does have much endtimes prophecy in it there is much more in it
that describes how a New Testament Church is to look like and operate. The Thessalonian Church was a very young
church that the Lord used Paul to begin along with his fellow missionaries and
because of persecution they had to leave very soon after the church was
started. What I see in those people was
the great work of the Holy Spirit working through them so that the church not
only survived, but prospered. I see Paul
who was used to begin the church to pray much for the church and because he
could not go back to them sent Timothy to them to find out how they were
doing. He never went back to
Thessalonica that we know of, and yet when we look at what he began there it
thrived. The city is still there to this
day, and perhaps there is still a church there which brings glory to the
Lord. I hope so.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I think that what
I have learned from these last verses in 1 Thessalonians is that there is a
great need to pray for our pastors, and I need to be much more faithful in
doing this.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I want to pray to the Lord to see if it is
His desire that I begin a prayer group to pray for our pastor in the way that I
have learned to pray for him in this section of 1 Thessalonians.
Memory verses for the
week: Colossians 3:1-7.
1 Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
you mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you died and your life is hidden with
Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our
life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. 5 Therefore consider the member of you
earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed,
which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is
because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of
disobedience; 7 and in them you once walked, when you were living in them.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Philippi” (Acts 16:12).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who were the first brothers?”
Answer in our next SD.
8/30/2014 11:42 AM
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