IV. The Authentic Touch (1 Thessalonians 3:1-13)
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IV. The Authentic Touch (3:1-13)
We live in a high tech world, but even the best technology is no replacement for relationship. We can be high tech, but we need high touch to grow spiritually. We in the church need real intimacy, and that only comes through authentic touch.
3:1-2 Paul was so devoted to authentic touch that he let his closest ministry partner go so that the Thessalonians could receive it. Long distance contact was just not enough. Paul sent Timothy . . . God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ (3:2), because Paul knew that the Thessalonians needed flesh and blood. They needed someone to strengthen and encourage them in person (3:2).
The Greek verb Paul uses for “encourage” is parakaleo. It shares a root with the noun (parakletos) that describes the Holy Spirit in John 14:26 (“Counselor”) and 1 John 2:1 (“advocate”). When God wants to encourage a believer, he uses his Holy Spirit to do it, but he often does that through another believer. You and I are to function like the Holy Spirit with skin on.
3:3 Why did Paul think authentic touch so important? Well, Paul knew something that we often forget: life is full of suffering. He wants us to have our eyes open to the reality of suffering so that no one will be shaken by . . . afflictions. Paul was concerned that the Thessalonians’ spiritual lives would prove fickle—going up and down, back and forth, just like a dog’s tail. He wanted them to be consistent and unshaken when trouble came.
And Paul knew that trouble would come. Believers, in fact, are appointed to this. In other words, Christians are elected, chosen, destined for trouble. That’s probably not what you were hoping for! But it’s true. As soon as we start following Jesus, trouble starts following us. We don’t have to find it. It knows our address; it will arrive (see John 16:33). But the good news is that God intends to use it for our good.
3:4-5 Trouble comes at us in myriad ways. Paul knew, for instance, that he was going to experience affliction (3:4). The only way to avoid affliction in this world, in fact, is to leave it. Everyone suffers. But when you come to Jesus, you get double trouble, because then you have a target on your back. You’re a target for the world and for the devil.
Many of us think of the devil as a silly guy in a red jump suit with horns who carries a pitchfork. We aren’t worried about him. But Paul was. When Paul thought of the devil, he didn’t have in mind some ridiculous caricature. He knew that the devil is an evil spirit who hates God and seeks to tempt God’s children and destroy their faith. Paul was concerned that the tempter might have tempted the Thessalonians and that his own labor might be for nothing (3:5). Satan is real, and he is after you and me. We need authentic touch to overcome his schemes.
3:7 Paul practiced what he preached. He starts off this chapter exhorting the Thessalonians to live high-touch lives of authenticity, and he lets them see that he’s already doing it. In all of Paul’s distress and affliction, what kept him going, he says, was their faith. Paul was going through trouble. Maybe he felt like he could not muster up enough of his own faith, so he borrowed some of the Thessalonians’. Indeed, we have to borrow each other’s faith sometimes. Call it “faith on loan.” Everybody loses faith. Everybody falls down. We need somebody to pick us up again. Paul had the Thessalonians. Whom do you have? Connectivity with a solid, biblically centered local church is indispensable for properly progressing in the Christian life.
3:8 What Paul says here is a statement about how inextricably connected we are in the church. For now we live, Paul says, if you stand firm in the Lord. This is staggering! Paul, the greatest missionary ever, says to the Thessalonians, “How you stand will determine how we live.” In other words, he says, “I can’t make it without you.” Even apostles and pastors need encouragement in this vicious and divided world.
3:10 Here is the idea of borrowing faith again; this time it’s seen in the phrase, complete what is lacking in your faith. Faith needs community. I need you, and you need me. On our own, our faith is lacking. There are no Lone Ranger believers. If we believe all by ourselves, we will not believe for long. Any unchurched, uninvolved Christian is living outside the will of God.
3:12-13 Paul prays three things for the Thessalonian believers. First, he prays for spiritual growth. He wants the Thessalonians to increase and overflow with love for one another (3:12). Love is the hallmark of true spiritual growth. Love is a choice to serve someone for his or her good. It is a decision of the will, which is why we can—and should—love people even if we do not like them. We choose to love, and then we ask God to help our emotions catch up.
Second, Paul prays for spiritual unity. The Thessalonians needed to have love for each other, but also for everyone (3:12). Love and unity go hand-in-hand. If this were easy, Paul would not need to pray for it! Some of us need to take a hard look at our lives. If the only people we love are just like us, Paul may have some harsh words for us.
Third, Paul prays for their holiness. He asks that God would make their hearts blameless in holiness because Jesus is coming back (3:13). Paul simply cannot stop mentioning the return of Christ! He wants us all to live in light of Jesus’s second coming, and that means living in holiness. If Jesus came back today—in the next hour—would he find you doing kingdom work? Would he say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:23)?