Sermon – November 29

Text: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, {10} night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith? {11} Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. {12} And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, {13} so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

Pray for the Best Gifts

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

We all know a person that is hard to shop for. Either we feel that person has everything that he needs, we can’t afford what he really needs or he complains about whatever you get him. We can think of plenty of wants, but maybe not so many true needs. In fact, you are one of those people who has everything that you need as far as temporal goods would go. In things of the spirit, it is a different matter altogether.

Do not over look what we truly need and what we should pray for this Advent season. There are two needs that everyone one of us can claim. We need an increase in faith. No one has a faith that is complete and perfect. We also need an increase in love. No one is able to love God or his fellow man completely and perfectly. There are huge needs in the areas of faith and love. An increase in both is the best present. These are gifts that you can not only ask for yourself, but you can pray that other people would receive them as well. It is a gift that is given when you use the Word of God. May the Holy Spirit open our hearts this advent season and make room for Christ and these best presents.

1. An increase of faith

When a young person takes driving lessons, he will become aware of the term “blind spot.” You have to be aware that there are certain areas that your mirrors do not pick up. If you are not aware of your blind spot, you could very easily get into an accident.

We all have blind spots when it comes to our faith. Each one of us has known weaknesses. There are areas where we lack knowledge of God, and this is predicated on an incomplete faith. I could tell you areas in my life where I have failed, and where it is particularly hard for me to make corrections. I have trouble with some commandments more than others. That’s true for all of us. Perhaps we fail to trust God completely when it comes to His promises to provide for us, and we unsuccessfully put that load on our own shoulders. It could be that we don’t listen to His Word when He says to “flee youthful lusts,” and we put ourselves into dangerous situations for our soul. Or maybe there’s a teaching from God that we’re not fond of and so choose to ignore it. But what about the areas where we don’t even know what we’re missing? That can put us into a very vulnerable position, and this is why we all need an increase of faith, and not only improvement in the areas of weakness that we know, but also a way that God would open our eyes to our blind spots.

The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians after spending just under a month with them. Overall that group was a big success story. They had a good reputation that was spreading throughout the region. And yet he desired strongly to visit them that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith. There were spots that needed to be filled in with the Word of God. He wanted them to be properly prepared for the assaults of Satan that would be coming. Yet in some areas they were unaware of even what they were missing.

An increase in faith, and a filling in of the blanks does not happen without a connection to God. One of the ways in Advent in which we celebrate that Jesus comes to us is in His Word and Sacrament. The Lord has given us several avenues in which we can get involved in His Word. There is the private meditation and study of the Bible. There is the family devotion or small group study. There is also corporate worship. The Lord wants us involved at home and in church. If you want the parts of your faith that are incomplete to be filled in, then you are fooling yourself if you think that an hour a month is sufficient. When you pray for an increase in faith, the Lord gives you the very way to do that. Be involved with His Gospel in Word and Sacrament. This is the way that the Spirit works.

Don’t be satisfied with a weak faith. Don’t be satisfied to have your Lord as a mere acquaintance, like some distant relative that you know of, but don’t really know. The Lord Jesus has affected profound changes in your life. He has given you entrance into His Kingdom. He has given you a new man within you that will fight against your sinful nature and cause a struggle within your heart to do the right thing. He gives a confidence that can smile in the face of death, a peace that passes all understanding. Don’t send Him away and tell Him that you don’t need Him anymore. But rather recognize that you need Him every day. You need an increased connection to Him so that you can learn more about Him and His ways.

I can understand the apostle Paul’s joy and anxiousness to see the Thessalonians again and wanting to give them even more information about God. It’s a great thing to hear a young child singing or humming hymn verses, or to see the confidence of an older person on his death bed, or to see the dedication of parents in getting their children a Christian education. And yet pray for more. Pray for an increased faith not just for yourselves, but for your church family here at Faith. I recently participated in a nationwide survey of churches and one of the questions was how many of your members are actively involved? What would your answer be? If we would ask how many members have a complete faith, the answer would have to be zero. Every single one of us has weaknesses and blind spots. Pray for the gift of an increase of faith.

2. An increase our love

Directly connected to faith is love. Here again we find that we can use an increase. By definition God is love, and true love can only come from Him. Love is not something that we’re familiar with naturally. Our base idea of love is connected to the thought of what will I get out of this. Without faith even what might appear to be acts of love toward others are wrongly motivated. We might be trying to look good or trying to work off guilt.

The Lord shows us what love is in the sending of His Son into this world. He showed love by preparing the world and His people in particular for His coming. Reading through the Old Testament you can see the thoroughness of God’s preparations. He established a people in the descendants of Abraham. He preserved that people. He prepared hearts for the Savior’s coming by sending prophets including the forerunner, John the Baptizer.

When we see the Baby Jesus in the manger, we see the culmination of 4000 years of preparation, and we see the love of God. The Baby Jesus is not about a Hallmark moment. In that manger we see One who was born to be a sacrifice. He is a gift of love. Love brought Jesus into the world. Love carried Him through the temptations of Satan, and led Him to the cross. Love leads Him to prepare you for His second coming.

And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you. The intent of God is that His love would be like a cup that is overflowing. That His love would bubble up in us and go out from us. It goes out to Him, and it goes out to our neighbor. Pray for an increase in love so that you might see the greatness of God and respond in love to Him. Pray for an increase in love so that you might see your fellow Christian as a very special person that you want to help, and to even reach out to those who hate you. Anything less is not of Christ. Christ’s love is unconditional and self-sacrificing. That is the goal for our love.

The idea is that we would leave a legacy of love here on this earth, and that we would be known on the Last Day by our love. So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. On the Last Day the evidence of your faith will be love. Nobody can see faith, but people can see either the fruits of it, or the lack of it. The fruits of faith are defined by love. We do want people to know what’s inside of us, and we can use words and confess our creeds and this is valuable to do. But acts of love are also very powerful in defining Christ. They give weight to our words.

Sometimes we feel that we are spitting into the wind. When we show love we might feel like a doormat or weak. This is not the case at all when the love of God overflows in your heart. When you show love, then you are showing true strength.

As a Christian you do have everything. You have Christ. But while here on this earth we can use an increase in faith and love. Thank God that He’s willing to give those gifts. Pray for those gifts, not only for yourself, but for others. Amen.