Alba 4-21-2024
THE LORD BE WITH YOU
II Thessalonians 3:16-18
Richard Wurmbrand, of Voice of the Martyrs, told the story of a church leader he met while imprisoned in Romania. He was sentenced to 22 years for being a good man, a Christian.
The man, his wife, and six small children were eating breakfast when the police burst into his home. They had just read Psalm 23. When the police arrested him, the minister said, “You are the fulfillment of what we have prayed today. We just read…that God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. We had a table but we had no enemies. Now you have come. If you would like anything that is on the table, I would like to share it with you. You are sent by God.”
The captain screamed. “How could you speak such stupid things? We will take you to prison where you will never come out. You will die there. You will never see your children again.”
“We have also read about this today, that I pass through the valley of the shadow of death and will not fear it.” “How in the world should you not fear this?” shouted the officer. “Everyone fears death!” “…The shadow is not something to fear,” the minister said calmly. “A shadow of a dog can’t bite you, and a shadow of death can’t kill you. All these things are shadows. We will have another life, not only one of this world. We can be killed. We can be put in prison. Nothing bad can happen to us. We’re in Christ, and He takes us to another world.” The church leader was taken to prison and his wife and six children were deported, but he knew that he had a God who would take care of them.
How could he be so calm when faced with such trouble? It was because he knew that no matter what happened, the Lord was with him and would be with his family.
The apostle Paul wanted that to be the experience of the people in the church in Thessalonica. So as he brings his second letter to them to a close, he prays that the Lord be with them. Here is what he writes in II Thessalonians 3:16-18.
"16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. 17 The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle; so I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."
The phrase that stands out to me in these verses is “The Lord Be With You” in verse 16. It is a way of expressing a blessing on those people as he says goodbye.
According to a website called “symbolgenie.com” the word “goodbye” mirrors what Paul wrote as he ends his letter. The website says, “The word 'goodbye' is derived from the phrase 'God be with you,' which was commonly used in parting during the 16th century. Over time, this phrase was shortened to 'God be wy ye and eventually evolved into the word we use today.”
But now, the website says that, “In more casual or informal settings, farewell phrases have become more relaxed and personalized. People often say phrases like 'Take care' or 'See you later' as a way of expressing their well wishes in a casual manner. In modern language, farewell phrases are evolving with popular culture and trends, with phrases like 'Catch you on the flip side'”.
By the way, does it bother you that we often hear “Have a good day” instead of “Thank you” as we leave a store where we just spent some money.
The website also reveals that, “In ancient times, farewell phrases often had superstitious beliefs attached to them. For example, in ancient Rome, it was believed that saying goodbye or farewell would bring bad luck, so people would avoid saying farewell directly. Instead, they would say phrases like 'vale' or 'be well' as a way of parting without invoking any negative consequences.”
But the website admits that “In religious contexts, farewell phrases often include blessings or well wishes. For example, in Christianity, the phrase 'God be with you' or 'Go with God' is commonly used as a way to extend God’s protection and guidance to the person being bid farewell.”
That certainly seems to be Paul's purpose in his closing remarks to the Thessalonian church. And isn't it a wonderful thing to be aware of the presence of God! The psalmist said knowing that God was with him made it so that he was not afraid, even if going through the valley of the shadow of death. You see, when the Lord is with you, He will give:
1. Peace
It is because He Himself is the Lord of peace (vs. 16) and therefore is able to give peace in every way. Only The Lord of Peace can deliver an eternal, unshakable peace that comes from Him and rests on His promises that cannot change.
The world defines peace as the sense of calm, tranquility, quietness, contentment, and well-being that comes when everything is going well. But that definition, frankly, is shallow. A calm, tranquil feeling can be produced by lies, self-deception, drugs and alcohol; even a good night’s sleep.
Such peace is fleeting and easily destroyed. It can be shattered by the arrival of conflict and trouble, as well as by failure, doubt, fear, bitterness, anger, pride, difficulty, guilt, regret, sorrow, anxiety over circumstances beyond one’s control, being disappointed or mistreated by others, making bad decisions—in short, by any perceived threat to one’s security.
But true Biblical peace is completely different from the superficial, fleeting, fragile human peace. Paul’s prayer involved much more than a temporary truce in the conflicts troubling the church. The Thessalonian church, so strong in many ways, had been tormented by persecution, false doctrine, fear, and sin. In such times as that, they and we, need a peace that is deeper and more meaningful.
That kind of peace comes from the knowledge that all that exists rests in the hands of our Father in heaven. And so it is possessed only by those who have learned to trust their Lord and God. It is based on the knowledge that sins are forgiven, blessing is present, good is abundant even in trouble, and heaven is ahead.
When Jesus is our Lord, He is our source of peace. Isaiah 9:6 gives Him the title “Prince of Peace”. And speaking of Christ, Ephesians 2:14 says, “He Himself is our peace.” The apostles found that out when they were caught in a dangerous storm on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was in the boat sleeping, and they went to Him thinking He didn't even care.
In Mark 4:39-40 it tells us that, “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?'”
After all, the Lord Himself was with them, so what was there to fear. They had already seen His power demonstrated in His miracles, so they should have had complete confidence that He could handle any situation. You know, a lot of us are just like those disciples, for some reason, we don’t understand that Jesus is indeed the Master of every situation.
I reminded of the story of a man who was putting a tin roof on his barn when all the sudden he slipped and began to slide down the roof. He cried "Lord Help!" When the words barely came out of his mouth a nail caught his pants and stopped him. When he stopped he said, “Never mind Lord, I took care of it." Too often we forget our continual need for the Lord's presence and the peace that gives to us.
The divine peace that the Lord gives to believers is at all times continually available. So why then does Paul pray for believers to experience it? Because though true peace is always available it can be interrupted.
We can become weak or even disobedient and find our peace disturbed by the same sins, doubts, fears, and anxieties that destroy the false peace of those who are outside of Christ. To have it restored, we must again put our trust in God and live in repentant obedience.
When the trials of life come, we are prone to imitate the faithless disciples and cry out, “Lord, don’t You care?”
Of course, He cares! He arose and rebuked the wind, and immediately there was a great calm. Even in the midst of our storms, when the Lord is with us, He can give us peace.
And also He will give:
2. Assurance
In verse fifteen, Paul assures the church that this is an official letter that has come from him. It appears from chapter two verse two that the church had received other letters that they thought Paul had written. Here he signs the letter with his own hand to give them assurance that this letter really was from him and that they could trust it. How good of him to give them that assurance.
And when the Lord is with us, we have assurance of His love and care, both now and eternally. If you were at an airport, you could observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets, and those who are on standby. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, and pace and pace. The difference is caused by the assurance they have or not.
So what about you? If you knew that in fifteen minutes you would stand in judgment before the Holy God and learn your eternal destiny, what would your reaction be? Would you pace? Would you say to yourself, "I don’t know what God’s going to say.”
We question our salvation from time to time because we’re still at war with sin within. Temptations can cause us to question our salvation. But the fact that we are struggling against sin is a good sign that we are alive in Christ. Only those who are spiritually dead, who have no spiritual life left in them, do not struggle.
A man told his minister that he was worried because he didn’t feel that he was a Christian. The minister asked, “Do you think Noah felt safe in the ark?” The man answered, “Absolutely.” “Well, what made him safe--his feeling, or the ark?” The man got the point. To have assurance, we trust in the facts of Scripture and God's promises, not our feelings.
Assurance comes from understanding the plan of salvation, recognizing God’s unchanging love, and submitting to the Lord according to the His Word. In an age of uncertainty, we have something we can be absolutely sure about. But it must be based on the objective standard of the Word of God.
Also assurance comes from our obedience to God, love toward others, self-examination, and the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. God imparts to us a clear awareness of our reconciled, redeemed relationship.
Someone asked Melvin Trotter, who was a hopeless alcoholic before his conversion, "How do you know you are a Christian?" Trotter replied, "I was there when it happened!" I hope you can say that too!
Fanny Crosby was blind, but she wrote over 8,000 gospel songs. In 1873, at the age of 42, Fanny was visiting a lady named Phoebe Knapp. Mrs. Knapp had written some music. She played the music on the piano and asked Fanny, “What is this music saying?” Fanny got on her knees and prayed a few minutes. Then she got up and said: “The song's music says: Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine”. So Mrs. Knapp grabbed a pen as Fanny spoke the words to the song Blessed Assurance.
Yes, Paul wanted the church to have assurance that what they were reading really was from him. And Jesus wants us to know that if we come to Him in obedient faith, we can be assured of the salvation He willingly gives to all who come to Him. That is blessed assurance.
When we are aware of the Lord's presence in our lives it gives us peace and assurance. But there is more. When the Lord is with us, He gives:
3. Grace
The final sentence of this letter to the church in Thessolonica says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Grace is not just a prayer we say before eating a meal. It is receiving something that we don't deserve.
These last few weeks I have shared with you the horrible story of first the disappearance, and then the murder, of two ladies: Veronica Butler and Jillian Kelly. The day before Easter, they were traveling so that Veronica could go to celebrate the birthday of her eight year old daughter. She had lost custody of the children And there was a custody battle going on between Veronica and the children's grandmother, their father's mother, who had been awarded custody.
Jillian Kelly was the wife of Heath Kelly, the minister of the First Christian Church in Hougoton, Kansas. As I understand it, she was court appointed to go with Veronica because Veronica could only have a “controlled visit” with the children.
These two ladies were brutally killed on their way to see the children. Then a week ago Saturday, just two weeks later, the grandmother, her boyfriend and another couple were arrested and charged with first degree murder as well as other charges.
So why do I tell you this story again? It is because of a message that Janine's niece put on their family Messenger site this past Monday after the arrests of those people. Here is what she wrote:
“I saw a post today from someone who goes to that church and she said that Jillian's husband told them they couldn't hold onto bitterness and anger, but needed to forgive the people who did this to his wife and the other lady.”
I am amazed that he could do that. But that is amazing grace! He is giving those people what they do not deserve in any way, shape or form. But isn't that what the Lord does for us?
Jesus died in our place on that cross, taking our sin upon Himself, so that we could receive a full pardon and forgiveness of our sins. We don't deserve it. We can't be good enough to earn it. But we surely need it.
No matter who we are, we need the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We need it for salvation. And we need it for the daily issues we face. It is because of the grace the Lord gives that we can be at peace with God and have assurance that heaven will be our home.
These words, that close out the second letter to the Thessalonians, are more than just words. They are a promise to us. That as we walk with the Lord, He truly will be with us, and give us more than we could ever hope to receive.
CLOSE:
Steve Brown, Professor of Preaching at Reformed Seminary, Orlando, Florida told the story of some frustrated British social scientists. Following the end of British rule in India in the 1940s, a group of researchers wanted to study the impact of the end of British rule on the life of the nation.
After six months, the British social scientists gave up and went home. Though the British had been present in India since the 1600's, many people in the villages of the country were not aware that the British had ever been there!
Could it be that God himself has visited the world and people have lived and died without ever being aware of the event?
We live in a world where the King has come, but millions are totally unaware that He is present. That is why we preach the good news of Jesus.
When you come to Him in faith, repenting of sin, confessing His name and being immersed into Christ for the remission of sins, you have His promise to be with you forever. You can trust Him on that.
