Two young boys were spending the night at grandma’s house the week before Christmas. At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers. The younger one began praying in a loud voice: “I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE...” “I PRAY FOR A NEW NINTENDO...”
His older brother leaned over, nudged him and said, “Why are you shouting? God isn’t deaf.”
To which the little brother replied, “No, but Grandma is!” (www.SermonCentral.com)
As he anticipated the coming of Christmas, that little boy thought he knew how to pray.
It makes me wonder: As we anticipate coming of our Lord, how DO we pray? In these difficult days before Christ’s Second Coming, I’m sure we have our own wish lists, but What are some things GOD would want us to ask Him for? What are some things on God’s wish list?
Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 3, 2 Thessalonians 3, where the Apostle Paul shows us what to pray for in the last days before Jesus Comes again.
2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you… (ESV)
As we anticipate the coming of our Lord, 1st let’s pray for the rapid spread of God’s word. Literally, pray that it might “run!” Pray that God’s message would get out quickly and be honored all over the world.
Jesus Himself said that the end would come only after the “gospel of the Kingdom” is “preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations” (Matthew 24:14). As His coming approaches, Jesus wants the whole world to know about Him.
The Wycliffe Bible Translators tell us that out of the 6,900 languages in the world, the Bible needs to be translated in yet another 1,900 languages before everyone in the world can have a copy of the Scriptures in their own language. Wycliffe is working to complete the task and they are getting very close to getting it done. In fact, their goal is to start translating the last language by the year 2025. (www.lastlanguagescampaign. org)
Nearly 34 years ago, on January 19, 1981, when there were 3,000 languages to go, seven armed terrorists burst into the Wycliffe Bible Translators’ office in Bogota, Columbia, and took one of the translators captive. His name was Chet Bitterman, and they held him for seven weeks before shooting him in the head.
Some saw this as a setback to Wycliffe’s work, but Wycliffe’s founder, William Cameron Townsend, saw it differently. He called it a “tremendous advance,” because “young people have been awakened in a new way.”
The fact is that soon after Chet Bitterman’s death, nearly 100 students at his Alma Martyr, the Columbia Bible College, pledged themselves to missionary service. Chet’s widow, Brenda, vowed to return to Bible literacy work, and his younger brother, Craig, applied to Wycliffe hoping to become a Bible translator. In addition, a new chair of Linguistics and Bible Translation was established at California’s Biola University in Chet’s memory.
Chet’s father, Chester Bitterman, Sr., made this comment at the time: “On a human level, Chet may have lost his life, but we believe that God is not finished in this. We haven’t read the last chapter yet.” (Bible Illustrator #2379-2385)
Indeed not! After 34 years, we see that the so-called “setback” only speeded up the process, and that’s what we need to pray for today when times are tough. We need to pray that God’s Word spreads even faster during these days and that people would respond to that Word as they never have before.
More than that, we need to pray for protection. We need to pray for deliverance from evil men and from the evil one.
That’s what Paul asked his readers to pray for.
2 Thessalonians 3:2 …and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. (ESV)
That is, not everyone in the church is a believer.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. (ESV)
That is, against Satan himself. Satan will stop at nothing to stop the spread of God’s Word. He will try to discourage us. He will try to defeat us. And if he can’t do that, he will try to divide us so we waste our time fighting each other rather than working to get the Word out.
Don’t let him do it. Instead, pray for God’s protection against Satan’s attacks even if they come from “evil men” within the church itself.
One of my favorite stories of God’s protection comes out of North Africa where a believer was fleeing for his life. His enemies pursued him over a hill and through a valley where there was no place to hide. Finally, the man fell exhausted in a cave, expecting any moment to be caught. As he awaited his death, he saw a spider weaving a beautiful web across the mouth of the cave. The man’s pursuers arrived, but when they saw the unbroken web, they assumed it impossible for anyone to have recently entered the cave and ran on.
Later, the believer exclaimed, “Where God is, a spider’s web is like a wall. Where God is not, a wall is like a spider’s web.” (Bible Illustrator #364-371, 7/1991.25)
In these difficult days, as we anticipate the coming of our Lord, we need God’s protection more than ever. We need his protection especially from the evil one, who would only try to divide us when times are hard.
So let’s pray. Let’s pray for the rapid spread of God’s Word. Let’s pray for deliverance from the attacks of Satan.
And let’s pray for strength to do God’s will. Let’s pray for God’s help to do what’s right even when it’s hard. That’s Paul’s prayer for his readers.
2 Thessalonians 3:4-5 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. (ESV)
When times are hard, Paul prays that we would continue to know and reflect God’s love, and that we would not quit loving even if they hang us on a cross like they did to Jesus Christ.
Now, that’s hard, but our confidence is in the Lord, not ourselves. Did you notice, Paul said, “We have confidence in the Lord” (vs.4)? Paul learned a long time ago not to put any confidence in the flesh, because the flesh is weak. Instead, Paul put his confidence in the Lord, “who works in [us], both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).
In other words, as we depend on the Lord, then we persevere in loving each other like Christ did. As we depend on the Lord, then we persevere in doing what’s right even when it’s hard.
Several years ago, Don Moen was awakened in the middle of the night with a phone call. His mother-in-law had called to tell him of a tragic car accident involving his wife’s sister, Susan. Susan and her husband, Craig, and their four little boys were on a trip when the tragedy occurred. Jeremy, age eight and the oldest of the four boys, was killed instantly. The others were seriously injured.
As Don and his wife grieved and poured out their hearts to the Lord, they felt helpless at communicating hope and grace to Susan and Craig.
Don recalls how God helped him through the tragedy. “It was as if the Lord gave me these words,” he said.
God will make a way when there seems to be no way.
He works in ways we cannot see. He will make a way for me.
He will be my guide; hold me closely to his side.
With love and strength for each new day, he will make a way.
(Don Moen, God Will Make a Way, 1990, Integrity's Hosanna! Music/ASCAP; www.PreachingToday.com)
You see, in difficult times, God gives us what we need to find strength for each new day. God gives us what we need to keep on going. God gives us what we need to minister to one another.
All we need to do is pray! Pray for the rapid spread of God’s Word. Pray for deliverance from the attacks of Satan, and pray for strength to do God’s will. In a word, TRUST. Trust Christ with all your heart. LEAN on Him.
DEPEND ON THE LORD in these days before Jesus comes.
Now, that doesn’t mean we just sit around and do nothing. No. In our dependence upon the Lord, we must also…
BE DILIGENT IN OUR WORK.
We must be careful not to become lazy and irresponsible. You see, when times are hard, it is very easy just to give up. After all, why bother, especially if Jesus is coming so soon? Why not just quit everything and wait for His coming?
In fact, throughout history there have been some who did just that! They quit their jobs, sold everything they had, and waited on rooftops for Jesus to come. Then when Jesus didn’t come, they were forced to beg in order to feed themselves.
I’ve even heard about churches that encouraged their members to borrow as much money as they could to finance a church building. “After all,” one pastor argued, “Jesus is coming soon, and we’ll never have to pay it all back!” That’s nothing but irresponsibility, and the Bible condemns it.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. (ESV)
The Bible makes it very clear. We are to keep away from the idle. Literally, we are to shrink away from those who are out of order. The picture is of a soldier marching out of rank. He is undisciplined. He is irresponsible, and he is to be avoided.
On the other hand, we are to follow a good example. We are to keep in step with those who behave responsibly.
2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. (ESV)
As a traveling teacher, Paul had a right to live off his students. He had a right to eat food THEY provided; and from them, he had a right to receive financial support. Instead, he chose to earn his own way. He chose to take responsibility for his own support despite the hardships. In that way, he serves as an example for every believer in hard times. We are not to be idle.
Instead, we are to earn our own way. We are to work to provide for our own needs as we are able.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. (ESV)
Notice, it doesn’t say, “If anyone CAN not work.” No. It says, “If anyone is not WILLING to work, let him not eat.” We have an obligation to help those who cannot work for whatever reason. But those who WILL not work should be allowed to go hungry.
Pastor John Beukema, in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, talks about a time he attended a community prayer breakfast and sat at a table with a group of men he didn't know. In the course of their conversation, the subject of retirement came up. The man sitting next to Pastor John, who appeared to be in his early fifties, was quite excited by the prospect. He talked about how much he was looking forward to the end of his career and related a conversation he had with his wife that morning.
“My wife asked, ‘What are you going to do when you retire?’ I told her, ‘I'm going to sit on the couch and watch TV all day every day.’”
The table was silent, but Pastor John couldn't keep quiet for long. “If you do that,” he said, “you'll be dead in a year.”
The man looked at Pastor John, wide-eyed, and asked why.
Pastor John told him, “If the lack of purpose in your life doesn't kill you first, your wife will.” (John Beukema, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; www.PreachingToday.com)
The point is when we don’t work (if we’re able), then we don’t feel good about ourselves, and we’re useless to those around us. And that’s what had happened to some of Paul’s readers.
2 Thessalonians 3:11-13 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. (ESV)
Depend on the Lord, YES, by all means, but also be diligent in your work.
An old farmer who was about to die called his two sons to his bedside and said, “My boys, my farm and the fields are yours in equal shares. I leave you a little ready money, but the bulk of my wealth is hidden somewhere in the ground not more than 18 inches from the surface. I regret that I’ve forgotten precisely where it lies.”
When the old man was dead and buried, his two sons set to work digging up every inch of that ground in order to find the buried treasure. They failed to find it, but since they went to all that trouble turning over the soil, they thought they might as well plant a crop. Well, that’s exactly what they did and they ended up reaping a good harvest.
Then, as soon as they could, they dug for the treasure again, but with no better result. So they planted another crop, and since their fields were worked over more thoroughly than any others in the neighborhood, they reaped better harvests than anyone else.
Year after year, their search continued, and only when they had grown much older and wiser did they realize what their father had meant. Real treasure comes as a result of hard work. (Bible Illustrator #605-608, 10/1985.6)
So avoid the idle, imitate the diligent, and be responsible.
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. (ESV)
Warn him about his irresponsibility, but by no means support him in it.
Many years ago, the L.A. Times carried a story about a man who went to the house where he grew up and knocked on the door. It had been 20 years since he lived there, so he grew a little sentimental. He asked the current owners if he could walk through the house, and they let him.
While in the attic, he found an old jacket of his. He put it on, reached into the pocket, and pulled out a stub. It was a receipt from a shoe repair shop. He remembered that he had taken a pair of shoes there twenty years ago, and in the midst of the move, he had never picked them up.
So on a whim, he decided to go to the shoe repair shop, and just to be funny, he took out the receipt and handed it to the guy behind the desk, saying, “Are my shoes ready?”
The guy went back to the workroom for a minute, came back to the counter, and said, “Come back a week from Thursday.” (John Ortberg, in his sermon “Intercepting Entropy,” Preaching Today Audio, Issue #295; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s the attitude of a lazy person. They’re always saying, “Come back a week from Thursday.” My friends, that should NEVER be our attitude in these difficult days before Jesus comes again.
Instead, we must depend on the Lord AND we must be diligent in our work, because Jesus could come at any moment.
I think the Mary’s attitude is the kind of attitude we should have as we anticipate Christ’s Second Coming. When the angel, Gabriel, announced to Mary that she would bring the Son of God into the world, she wondered how it could happen. And the angel told her, “Nothing is impossible with God.”
To be sure, the Bible says, “Without God we can do nothing,” but that’s where some of God’s people get stuck. They “do nothing.” Instead, like Mary we need to be reminded that “nothing is impossible WITH God” and respond as she did: “May it be to me as you have said.” In other words, “Use me to accomplish the impossible things you want me to do.”
That was her attitude as she anticipated the 1st coming of our Lord, and that should be our attitude as we anticipate His 2nd coming. Sure, we must pray in these difficult days, but prayer is not a way to avoid responsibility. It’s a way to do more than we ever thought possible with God’s help.
