2Th 3:1-5; Why You Need to Pray for the Ministries of Others.Tuesday October 10, 2023
Paul and his fellow workers for the gospel were often the victims of wicked and evil men.
Act 13:9-10 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, 10 and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
Act 13:45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, and were blaspheming.
Act 13:50 But the Jews incited the devout women of prominence and the leading men of the city, and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.
Act 14:5-7 And when an attempt was made by both the Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers, to mistreat and to stone them, 6 they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region; 7 and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Act 14:19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead.
This was his first missionary journey. There would be more of the same persecution and resistance throughout his ministry.
It was on his second journey, when he was in Corinth, that he wrote these letters to the church of the Thessalonians.
And, even while in Corinth, he was not immune to the persecution of the wicked.
Act 18:12-13 But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord rose up against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat, 13 saying, "This man persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."
And they beat a leader of the synagogue in Corinth.
2Th 3:1-5 Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; 2 and that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.
Paul asks for prayer. He demands it - not that suffering or evil people would be no more, but for the gospel and the heralds of it.
God is smart enough to perform all of His will while incorporating the requests of the saints.
Doesn’t God support this – the ministry of the most impactful apostle? Why would Paul need prayer? He obviously knows that he is in need of it.
Paul asks people to pray for him in Rom 15:30; 2Co 1:11; Eph 6:19, 20; Php 1:19; Col 4:3-4.
Rom 15:30-32 Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, 31 that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints; 32 so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.
2Co 1:8-11 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; 9 indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, 11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many.
Eph 6:18-20 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Php 1:18-20 Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Paul indicates that these prayers are going to play a part in his deliverance.
God desires for us to participate in His provisions for others. He will incorporate your requests into His will.
Not only are we participating with God when we petition, but we are also participating with others.
Luk 22:31-32 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
Col 4:2-4 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
Paul’s prayers, and request for prayer center on the success of the gospel.
Satan is active against the interests of preachers and their listeners. 2Co 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
1Th 2:18 For we wanted to come to you — I, Paul, more than once — and yet Satan hindered us.
Why was Satan successful this time and not at other times? God only knows.
This gets to the heart of why we pray for the ministries of others. We do not know what is going to happen to anyone, including us. What is coming for us? If we are righteous, are all things going to turn out to our liking? Are the wicked always going to get what they deserve?
Sometimes things work out the way we might expect and at other times not at all.
In a world where there is no guarantee of outcome, God asks for our input that we may participate in whatever result He wills.
Of course, He can so no. And in a round about way, even if we receive no as a response, we are participating – if we trust His will and not become rebellious brats.
Ecc 3:1-2 There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven —
2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
There are times for each thing and its opposite. Who knows which one is coming? We work and toil under the sun and when we expected birth (life) we got death. (Think of that in a fully agricultural economy.)
In light of that, look at another popular verse from this chapter.
Ecc 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.
What if “eternity” means something more like time, and the events of time that we’re trying to figure out – past, present, and future. The past I saw A, in the present I see B, and in the future what? More A, B, or something else – C, D, E…
The Hebrew word translated here “eternity” (olam) also means perpetuity.
“Thus, in Eccl 3:11 we read that God had bound man to time and given him the capacity to live "above time" (i. e., to remember yesterday, plan for tomorrow, and consider abstract principles); yet He has not given him divine knowledge.” [Vine's Expository Dictionary]
Things happen that we do not expect (vv. 16-17). Keep the poem of vv. 2-8 in context.
Ecc 3:16-17 Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. 17 I said to myself, "God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man," for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.
The word associated with Ecclesiastes is hevel, and rightly so. But the word means something other than vanity or meaninglessness in its usage in the OT. It is actually the name Abel. It means that life is short or fleeting.
Hevel: Life, creation, existence is fleeting, and many things are like vapor (quickly changing, not what they seem, misleading, or powerless).
Ecc 1:2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
All on earth is like this – “Fleeting of fleeting, all is fleeting.”
Ecc 8:14-15 There is futility (hevel) which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility (fleeting or unsound). 15 So I commended pleasure, for there is nothing good for a man under the sun except to eat and to drink and to be merry, and this will stand by him in his toils throughout the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.
Back to prayer: So many different outcomes can occur on earth in the lives of men. God is the only one who knows them and has decreed them to His glory. He is smart enough to include our petitions right into them without altering His will, but He will change inputs and outcomes based on our prayers, our participation.
Now, don’t you want to pray!
Pray for others’ ministries. Pray for Grace and Truth Ministries and all other ministries that you know are preaching the gospel.
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