1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

October 25, 2020 – Reformation Sunday

Title: Standing Firm in the Lord – 1 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Today we celebrate the 503^rd anniversary of the Lutheran reformation, marked by Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg. This would be the start of his public stand on the Truth of God’s Word. It was a journey that started because even as a devout monk, the assurance of salvation had evaded Luther. The more works he performed, the greater he doubted his righteous standing before God. As he grew in his knowledge of God’s word, the more deeply he felt the guilt of his sins, without relief. Guilt and despair plagued Luther until he came to those passages in Scripture that tell us that our own good works cannot forgive sin – the only forgiveness we can receive comes exclusively by God’s grace. Only the work of God can save us – and the benefit of those works are ours by grace and faith alone. To have peace with God, we need to stand firm on the Truth of His Word.

The Apostle Paul also knew the importance of standing on the Truth. As he continues his letter to the Thessalonians, he ends this passage by praying for three things. 1) That the Lord Might Clear the Way for Them 2) That the Lord Would Increase Your Love and 3) That the Lord Would Strengthen Their Hearts in Holiness. This, too, was the heart of Luther – and really every pastor. That believers everywhere would stand firm in God’s Truth and rely on His strength to save us.

I. Standing Firm in His Power – May the Lord Clear the Way

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.

This is an acknowledgment that we cannot do anything on our own. It is the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that makes a way for salvation. It is the Word that prepares our own hearts, and the Holy Spirit that enables us to receive that Word in faith. We cannot force our way into salvation, and we can’t force salvation on others. All we can do is preach, teach, and live out the Truth of God’s Word and rely on His power and working to bring about results. For without God’s Word and without the movement of the Holy Spirit, there is no hope for salvation. Paul speaks of this in Romans 10:13-15, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Paul knew the only hope for salvation was through the preaching of God’s Word. His motivation was simply to preach the Gospel and let God do the work. Paul knew that his hope for the salvation of the Gentiles was not in his speaking ability or his effort, but unless God was doing the work, it would all be in vain. Paul simply had to be faithful to preach the Word, and he exhorted believers everywhere to trust the power of the Word in their own lives as well.

Confidence in our own efforts drives us to try harder or come up with a different plan or program, but when we are focused on God’s work, it drives us to prayer. Any ministry not founded on prayer will fail. Any effort to spread the Gospel based on our own power will not succeed. Martin Luther understood this. He devoted many hours to prayer, and the busier and harder things got, he prayed all the more. He knew that he was only safe, in life or in death, when he was following God’s will and relying on the power of God to sustain and deliver him.

At the Diet of Worms, when Luther was exhorted to recant his teaching, they piled up all the books he had written on a table in front of him. First, they asked if these were his writings, which he acknowledged they were. Second, he was asked if he would recant all the them. He did acknowledge that anything he had written that could be refuted with Scripture he would readily recant, but then he took note that some of writings were accepted even by his opponents as faithful to the teachings of the Church and useful for instruction. Because of this, and his belief that even the controversial writings of his were true to the Bible, Luther said, “This touches God and His Word. This affects the salvation of souls. Of this Christ said, ‘He who denies me before men, him will I deny before my Father.’ To say too little or too much would be dangerous.” And he asked for more time to formulate a “satisfactory” answer that did “no violence to the divine Word and danger to my own soul.”

The next day, Luther gave his answer, “I am bound to the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not retract anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. I cannot do otherwise. Here I stand. God help me. Amen.” Luther knew that if did not stand firm on God’s Word and in God’s power, that he would not be able to stand at all.

II. Standing Firm in His Love – May the Lord Increase Your Love

¹² May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

The second prayer of Paul was that the believers would grow in the love of the Lord. Love must be rooted in the Truth, and the Truth must be rooted in Love. Now often this world tells us that we need to be willing to forsake the Truth of God out of love for others, but without Truth, there is no love. And Luther understood this perhaps better than anyone. For it was his love and concern for others that drove Luther to take his stand on God’s Truth.

For Luther, when he finally found peace in his own soul, was constantly bothered by wondering how many unbelievers or even church goers were going to hell because they were not taught the truth. How many had been falsely taught to trust their good works, their donations to the church, and the indulgences of the Pope instead of trusting the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ? How many believers were robbed of peace on their deathbeds being told that they would have to spend countless years suffering in purgatory? Or not having the assurance that they would ever make it to heaven at all? How many had lived and died with the same angst in their soul that had tormented Luther those many years. That was Luther’s motivation: to ensure that every believer could know that they have eternal life. To make the Truth of Scripture readily available to all, so that they could have the assurance that their sins had been forgiven.

Paul also knew that to grow in love the church had to remain in God’s truth – they needed to stand firm in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His Word. And when we stand firm, the Lord will cause our love to not only increase, but overflow to all those around us as well. It is our Love of God’s Truth that helps us grow in our love for the lost and for our fellow believers. If we lose the Truth, our love grows cold.

III. Standing Firm in Holiness – May the Lord Strengthen You

“¹³ May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.”

Luther knew that people desperately needed to hear the truth of God’s Word and the Truth of God’s forgiveness, so that ever believer might agree with John in 1 John 5:13, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” For he knew that our boldness and strength comes from knowing that we stand blameless and holy in the presence of God.

This was a major part of the Reformation. Ensuring that the people KNEW that their sins were forgiven, not based on penance or performance, but based solely on the grace of God given to us through Jesus Christ. Their hearts could only stand firm by knowing they could stand in the presence of God blameless and holy. For if forgiveness is based on performance, there is always doubt. We would never know if we did enough good or the right good things to make up for our sin.

For none of us has ever seen God open up heaven and yell down to someone, “Yes, I see what you did there! Take heart, you have finally done enough!” No, God doesn’t work that way. If salvation was based on performance, we would never know for certain. But, in reality, God did do just that. For when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God did open Heaven and He let us know, “Yes, that is enough.” For when Jesus said, “It is finished,” that told us that everything that was needed for our salvation was accomplished. Jesus did it! And when Jesus rose again on Easter morning, that was the big exclamation point that assured us that everything Jesus taught us was true. That we can know we are saved, because Jesus is enough.

And that was the message Luther was compelled to preach. A message he learned though some of these verses:

Romans 5:1-2 – Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Romans 8:1-3 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

Ephesians 2:8-9, ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.

This was the heart of Luther – he desired that the people would be taught the truth and the truth of the Gospel would, as Jesus says in our Gospel lesson, “set them free.” And this was the heart of Paul for the church in Thessalonica. That they would hold on to the truth, so that they might stand firm, that they would stand trusting in the hand of God to protect and guide them, that they would stand firm in love for God and love for one another, and that they may be strengthened, knowing with certainty, that in Christ they have been made holy and blameless, and that they would, one day, live eternally in the presence of a Holy and Loving God. Amen.