In Paul’s letters, we have seen a pattern of prayer and thankfulness for his brothers and sisters in Christ that the modern church would do well to replicate. Here in our passage today, we see this model of prayer and thanksgiving. Paul’s attitude and prayers for his brothers and sisters in Christ are unfortunately a lost discipline in much of the church today. The church has allowed culture to infiltrate and dictate the way we think about one anther. So much so, that our first instinct is to critique every difference instead of giving thanks for our brothers and sisters in Christ and the work God is doing in and through them for His glory. We gossip about our brothers and sisters in Christ instead of praying for them. The relationships of brothers and sisters in Christ in too many churches look like a sensationalized reality series instead the people of God joined together for the purpose of God.
Of course, I am not talking about withholding important biblical correction and accountability when someone errs. Paul’s letters are full of such correction and accountability. I am talking about battling the spirit of grumbling that can sneak in where we being to think ill of and talk bad about our co-workers in Christ instead of giving thanks for them. That spirit that critiques every action and the motive behind every action (motives we can’t possibly know without talking to the person directly instead of talking about them behind their backs). This spirit puts our own interests ahead of others and ahead of the missions of Christ.
Paul gives us a different path – give thanks and pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s break down the way he gives thanks and prays for the Thessalonians.
- Always Give Thanks: Notice the word always in vs 3 and vs 11. Paul’s prayers to God giving thanks for his brothers and sisters in Christ are never ceasing. Even in his writings to the Corinthian church (a very contentious letter in which Paul deals with some very serious divisions and sins in the church), Paul writes “I give thanks to my God ALWAYS for you.” 1 Cor 1:4
- Be Thankful for their Salvation: “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers” Paul’s thanksgiving begins with thankfulness for their salvation, their status as brothers and sisters in Christ. When was the last time someone thanked God for your salvation? When was the last time you thanked God for someone else’s salvation? Chances are unless you are thinking back to when you professed Christ or when a brother or sister in Christ had just professed Christ, this concept of thanking God for the salvation of a brother or sister in Christ is foreign to you. It wasn’t to Paul. We see similar statements time and time in his letters. Shouldn’t we follow Paul’s example, thanking God for the salvation of our brothers and sisters in Christ (even those who were saved long ago, even those senior saints saved before we were even born)?
- Give Thanks for their Sanctification: “because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love over every one of you for one another is increasing.” If someone is your brother or sister in Christ, not only has God saved them, but God has begun the process of sanctifying them. Do you look around at your brothers and sisters in Christ and see what Christ has and is doing in and through them?
- Petition God for their continued Sanctification: “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power.” Paul not only saw what God was doing in the Thessalonians and gave thanks, he prayed that God would continue to work in and through them.
- Give thanks and make petition, all for the glory of God: What was the aim of Paul’s prayers for his brothers and sisters in Christ? We get the answer in verse 12: “so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Not only should we pray to God, we should also follow Paul’s example and voice our thankfulness to our brothers and sisters in Christ. When we give thanks for the salvation and sanctification of our brothers and sisters in Christ, it becomes harder and harder to harbor resentment towards them because our focus is drawn to God’s work in them. The more we pray for them, the harder it becomes to gossip about them, and Lord knows we could use less gossip in the pews and hallways of God’s churches these days.
