1 Thessalonians 3:6-10 - Rejoicing in the Journey So Far

J Patrick McDonald

1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted 10 months ago • Presented 2 years ago

1 Thessalonians 3:6–10

Joy

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6 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— 7 for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8 For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, 10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?

Target Date: Sunday, 2 October 2022

Thoughts on the Passage:

Anacoluthon – the sudden change of the direction of a sentence. Verses 6 and 7 are one.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:4-7

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. – John 15:11

Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy. 7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. 8 The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. - Psalm 28:6-8

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. - Psalm 16:11

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. - Hebrews 12:2

The joy of the Lord is not the joy about what God will do for you – it is a joy that abounds in doing the will of God FOR God.

Exaltation is certainly a reward for the faithful, but it is not exaltation over other flesh – it is the exaltation of receiving praise as a good and faithful servant of Jesus Christ.

Applications:

How would you describe your life in Jesus Christ?

Godly joy is not mere joviality or simple pleasantness.

Godly joy is a deep satisfaction to be, in this very moment, in Christ.

“Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well with my soul.”

It is an abiding trust in the goodness and lovingkindness of God.

There is a peacefulness, a calm assurance, that comes with being completely satisfied with Christ.

Many modern believers will not find this because they require many other things to be satisfied.

And the least mature among us will find this peaceful, joyful life positively boring, devoid of the conflict we have been raised to crave.

Some have twisted the proverb “Iron sharpens iron” into something unrecognizable to Scripture – the idea that believers should “battle for ideas”.

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17

But two swords clashing do no such thing; they chip and mar one another, making each LESS capable of doing the job they were made for.

The process Solomon has in mind here is not the loud and exciting crossing of swords, but the quiet patient work of the rasp on the edge of a blade.

It is the methodical work of the rasp that, in each pass of the blade, makes it a tiny bit sharper, a fraction more capable, knowing that the process, though it takes a long time, will do no harm to the blade or its edge, but will improve it with each pass.

There are no spectators for this work; no fans cheering on.

There is only the rasp and the blade, meeting gently to make the blade better

Each pass intended only to hone what is there, to make it sharper.

All for the sake of the blade:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. – Ephesians 4:11-13

Sermon Text:

From the beginning of our study of this letter to the Thessalonian church, I have stated that this letter is not just a letter of doctrine,

Although there is certainly doctrine in it.

But in its chapters we also find demonstrations, worthy examples for us to follow.

Doubtless this is because Paul is not writing to a theologically troubled church, such as when he wrote on multiple occasions to the church at Corinth.

This letter is, at its heart, a letter of celebration, even rejoicing, over the continued faithfulness of the persecuted church in Thessalonica.

We even see in verse 6 his joy in the fact that the Thessalonian believers want to see them – Paul and Silas.

From the context, this was not a foregone conclusion.

After all – these men brought trouble to Thessalonica – trouble to these believers.

Yes, they also brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to save them from their sin.

But Paul and Silas, apparently, wondered if their affection for them had failed even as they worried that their faith may have failed.

But everything changed with the return of Timothy, who brought the good news from Thessalonica that the faith of the believers was strong and their love for this team remained earnest.

And in our passage this morning, we see Paul’s joy come gushing out.

In fact, Paul gets going so much that he never completes the sentence he began in verse 6:

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—

Verse 7 begins a brand new sentence.

I will not bore you with the linguistic details, but for anyone that wants them, I have a footnote.

And while it is not my intention to simply comment on the language used here, but we should not ignore it.

It is POETIC.

For now we live… (v.8) – does that mean they were somehow dead before they received the good word from Timothy?

Of course not.

It shows the transport of their hearts in gratitude to God for bringing this young church through the trials they had faced.

One translation renders this phrase “For now we can breathe…”.

And then we see the rhetorical question asked in verse 9:

For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you…?

He is not asking for their prayer requests;

He is illustrating the inadequacy of even their prayers of thanksgiving in expressing their great joy over the faithfulness of these children in the faith.

Their lives, their mission, had many dangers, many setbacks, many disappointments, and many afflictions,

But to hear of the faithfulness of the congregation they loved reminded them once again of the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Matthew Henry: The apostle thought this good news of them was sufficient to balance all the troubles he met with. It was easy to him to bear affliction, or persecution, or fightings from without, when he found the good success of his ministry and the constancy of the converts he had made to Christianity; and his distress of mind on account of his fears within, lest he had laboured in vain, was now in a good measure over, when he understood their faith and the perseverance of it. This put new life and spirit into the apostle and made him vigorous and active in the work of the Lord.

But like I said earlier, today’s passage is not a doctrinal treatment of joy, but a pure expression, an example, of it.

It is not cold and analytical – it is exuberant.

But in dealing with this passage today, it brings us to an ideal time to consider joy. Godly joy.

Most Christians, if asked “Are you joyful?”, would reply that they are.

But many would only do so IF you let them define what they mean by “joy”.

That is because we know we are SUPPOSED to be joyful or to rejoice:

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. – John 15:11

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. - Psalm 16:11

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13

But for many believers, the question is much harder to affirm if we are asked:

Are you so joyful in God that you are content?

Does Jesus make you happy?

Now, I know that last question might make some of us uncomfortable.

After all, we have known people who simply paint a smile on their face to wear in front of people and wish them a “blessed” day.

Of course, “they” would say Jesus makes them happy.

I have heard for years, as many of you may have, that joy is not the same as happiness.

And I would agree in much the same way as I would agree that steel is not the same thing as iron.

No – steel is harder and more useful.

But steel has the element of iron in it.

Likewise, joy is hardier and more enduring than mere happiness,

But yet, there is happiness there.

So for the rest of the time we have together this morning, I would like to look at what is godly joy?

And I think it is important to discuss if we are to journey joyfully together in our sojourn in this world.

Godly joy is, first of all, godly.

When the Bible speaks of the joy that comes through Jesus Christ, it is not talking about some trivial psychological bent.

Like optimists are closer to God than others because they look for the silver lining around every storm cloud.

Not once does Jesus ever say “Look on the bright side…”

Godly joy, as we see in our text today, rejoices when GOD is glorified.

When God’s work is done.

When God’s gospel is proclaimed, trusted, and followed.

But please allow me to be even more direct here:

Godly joy is a deep satisfaction to be, in this very moment, in Christ.

That is why godly joy can endure through difficult circumstances – because the circumstances cannot separate us from the love of God.

But this is HARD for us.

Because to have this kind of joy, we have to be ENTIRELY satisfied with Jesus Christ.

Entirely satisfied with Jesus.

No matter what else.

Regardless of our bank accounts, or our family troubles, or our health problems, or our fatigue.

Regardless of everything else – are we ENTIRELY satisfied with Jesus Christ?

And many modern believers will not find this kind of satisfaction in Christ because we require so many other things in order to be satisfied.

If you don’t believe me, look at the things you ask God for in prayer.

And ask yourself if you are MORE satisfied being in Christ if every request you make is denied?

James saw that problem in the church he wrote to. After talking of godly joy in the first chapter, he declares this to them:

You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. – James 4:2-3

You cannot be satisfied with Christ is there is ANYTHING else you require to be satisfied.

And outside that satisfaction in Christ, you will not find God’s joy.

Godly joy is not mere joviality or simple pleasantness.

There are so many people who believe we best represent Christ when we “smile more”.

Or when they are asked if they are joyful, they recall times when they kicked back and laughed with others.

Certainly a believer, a follower of Christ, should be winsome, particularly to a sinner who needs to hear about the kindness of God to draw them to repentance.

Even if they respond with only venom and filth.

Especially if they respond with venom and filth.

“Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well with my soul”

But with being entirely satisfied with Jesus Christ comes a calm assurance, a peacefulness, that nothing can upset.

For if God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

So godly joy rejoices in the middle of the storm as easily as in the calmest autumn afternoon.

Because ultimately, godly joy is an abiding trust in the goodness and lovingkindness of God.

But when our joy comes from the things God provides,

Or if our joy is tied to the things of this world, no matter how dear,

We will not know God’s joy in our lives, because we are still walking with idols.

Young people – if the person you date loves you more than he or she loves Jesus, dump them. You simply cannot carry that load.

Married people – if you love your spouse or your children more than you love Jesus, repent.

And one way to tell if you do is if that other person can prevent you from obedience to God.

Will you stay away from church to be with them?

Will you forsake your time in prayer for their sake?

Will you choose to sin with them? Sounds a lot like Genesis 3 to me.

For some, this life of godly joy may even sound positively boring. We might be bored with a life without the conflict we were raised to crave.

We tell ourselves that we cannot always live a life of peace, even though Paul tells us otherwise:

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. – Romans 12:17-18

We read that and say – see – “If possible”.

But we dare not stop there – so far as it depends on you…

So far as you are concerned – be at peace with everyone around you.

I cannot recall where I heard it, but recently I heard one biblical teacher attacking another (not an altogether uncommon occurrence).

But in the course of his rather pugnacious rant, he defended himself by quoting Proverbs 27:17: Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

In his twisted understanding of this verse, he completely missed the point.

He took it to mean that two brothers should “fight it out”, and they would both be stronger in the end.

And nothing could be farther from the truth.

What happens when two swords meet in a battle?

They clash, loudly.

They chip and mar each other, sometimes splintering or shattering each other.

In short, when two swords meet, EACH is made LESS capable of doing the job they were made for.

What the Holy Spirit through Solomon had in mind here is not two swords meeting, however loud and exciting that may be.

What is being pictured here is the quiet, patient work of a rasp upon a blade.

Because the worker knows a dull knife is a most dangerous thing;

It requires greater force to use.

It creates unintended damage.

There are no spectators for this work; no fans cheering on.

There is only the rasp and the blade, meeting gently to make the blade better, more capable, sharper.

Each pass intended only to hone what is there, to make it sharper.

All for the sake of the blade:

It is this very thing the writer of Hebrews illustrates when he tells us:

let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. - Hebrews 10:24-25

It is gentle, joyful work for the one whose heart is set on Christ alone.