Conclusion is the hardest part.

Letters, P.S., P.P.S, P.P.P.S.

Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

1 Thessalonians 5:25–28

We are mutually
dependent, by grace

Pray for us. (25)

Paul’s been praying for them all the way through this whole letter.

We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.

1 Thessalonians 1:2

But now he flips the script, asks them to pray for him. Can you imagine being these believers, getting a request for prayer from the Apostle Paul? I mean, he’s THE APOSTLE PAUL!

He understood that the power he needed for the work of ministry came from God alone. But God has chosen to work in/through the prayers of His people.

We are mutually dependent on each other because we need people to be praying for us.

E.M. Bounds was a Methodist brother who wrote a whole lot about prayer, mostly in the late 1800s through early 1900s, when electricity was just becoming more commonplace in cities.

He compared those who pray for their pastor to the role of electric poles. They’re not the power (that’s the Holy Spirit), and they’re not the wire the power’s running through (that’s the person preaching).

They hold up the wires upon which the
divine power runs to the hearts of men.

E.M. Bounds

We fall into the trap of being so focused on action, prayer can seem like inaction, when in reality it may be the most powerful action you could take. “Well, all I can do is pray.”

Of course, we should see if there are any practical needs to be met, but let’s not think for a second that prayer is impractical.

Scripture talks about prayer as battle, like in Colossians 4:

Epaphras, who is one of you and a slave of Christ, greets you. He is always struggling in prayer on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

Colossians 4:12, NET

We’re mutually dependent by grace, by design. We need brothers and sisters who will do that hard work and go to battle for us, even if they’re not beside us.

In verses 23–24 that we looked at last week, Paul was praying one last prayer, that God would sanctify them completely and keep them entirely sound and blameless until Jesus comes again. “He who called you is faithful; He will do it.”

As a pastor, it’s so encouraging to hear that people are praying for me. It’s spiritual work, and it requires spiritual power. Without Him we can do nothing, and the way God chooses to work is through the prayers of His people.

Of what can our own ministry without the divine blessing, and how can we expect the divine blessing unless it be sought for by the church of God? Dismiss me, or else intercede for me. 😲

Charles Spurgeon

Greet with holy kiss. (26)

You might be thinking, “Oh boy, things are about to get weird.” Maybe!

I guess Paul ended this letter with less of a P.S., more of an XOXO!

This book was written to believers in the town of Thessaloniki, which is the second largest city in what country? (Greece, picture)

Full House, Uncle Jesse’s family. “Oh, Mylanta!”

Despite the many teen boys in youth groups over the years claiming this as their life verse, we need to think about it a little deeper!

This was a common greeting in Greece, then and now. And the Romans adopted it from the Greeks, so much so that it was even the start of a Roman boxing match! Which is pretty ironic and hilarious if you think about it. A love tap instead of a glove tap, and then, “POW! Right in the kisser!”

Handshake was/is still more common (Greek’s actually invented the handshake, too), but the kiss on the cheek is naturally more intimate, reserved for close friends and family. It’s special, it’s close, and it conveys belonging to one another.

This isn’t the only time it’s mentioned. Five times in total, four from Paul (others are in Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians) and once from Peter. So this is not an isolated event—the Holy Spirit, speaking through Peter and Paul, are commanding something important.

So next time you walk into church, should the expectation be to pray and pucker up?! Not necessarily.

“Greet one another with a holy kiss” means show your Christian love to one another, frankly and warmly, in the way which comes natural for you. Do not be afraid to break the ice when you come to church—there should be no ice there to break!

James Denney

Our equivalent is a hug, or a warm handshake.

A “holy kiss” ethos in the church means that we lean into relationship with one another rather than dismiss each other out of hand. It means that we speak to each other with commas and open arms rather than exclamation points and crossed arms. It means more lowercase interaction rather than all caps interaction.

Vermon Pierre

Read this letter. (27)

I put you under oath before the Lord
to have this letter read to all the brothers.

1 Thessalonians 5:27, ESV

Only time this word’s used in the New Testament. Putting you under oath, that’s serious business!

He is invoking apostlic authority, “in the name of the Lord.”

Since this was Paul’s very first letter to a church, there was no established precedent for reading them publically in worship yet.

Did the apostles know that they were writing Scripture? We don’t really know the answer for sure, but this is a hint that Paul at least understood that it was a special message, important for it to be shared with everyone, not just in Thessaloniki but in all the churches around.

The public reading of the Law & Prophets was the central thing that happened in synagogue life. Paul seems to be setting the stage for the reading of these letters—what we now call the New Testament—as the central thing that happened when God’s people gathered to worship.

Grace to you. (28)

Word translated “with” is “meta”.

Paul started this book with “Grace to you and peace” (1:1) and ends with “grace be with you”. Paul wanted all of his words, all of his readers to be encompassed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You is plural. Grace to all of you, together. We experience God’s grace individually, of course, but also corporately.

By God’s good design, we’ve been created to need each other.

  1. We are mutually dependent, by grace

2. We are entirely
dependent on grace.

Praying: Acknowledging
our dependence on grace.

Prayer is arguably the most objective measurement of our dependence upon God. The things you pray about are the things you trust God to handle. The things you neglect to pray about are the things you trust you can handle on your own.

H.B. Charles Jr

Greeting: Depending on
the grace to show grace.

Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

1 Thessalonians 5:26

Did you notice before that it says “all the brothers and sisters?”

Group 1: All of them? Even the ones who are so consumed with the second coming of Christ that they quit working and are just being lazy?

Group 2 All of them? Even those who are live in such denial of the Second Coming that they just go on living life like he’s never going to come?

Reading: Sharing the grace
of God’s word with everyone.

God’s word is his grace to us. Shame on us if we treat it like a chore, like yet another thing on our never-ending todo list, even if it makes it that far.

And shame on us if we read it, study it, enjoy it, and don’t share it with others. Those around us and around the world. In missions to unreached peoples, oral Bible translation is important because of the language barriers. But it’s not sufficient.

We should pray for and support Bible translation ministries like Wycliffe Bible Translators. You can go to their website to see more, I would encourage you to do so. (wycliffe.org)

Read this letter to all.

Walking: with grace as our constant companion.

Conclusion

  1. Are you praying for others, our church, like it really makes a difference?
    • Who is praying for you? Don’t be afraid to say, “Bro/sis, pray for me!”
  2. Are you expressing the warm affection of family of God?
  3. Are you living like Scripture is actually God’s own word?
  4. Do you go through the week feeling the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as your constant companion?

Do you feel like His primary attitude toward you is grace, or anger, aggravation, dissappointment?

It’s one thing to know a bunch of facts about the grace of God. It’s another thing entirely to go through life with grace as your constant companion.

Look to the cross—it’s all grace.