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For You Are Our Glory & Joy · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, if you guys have your Bibles open to 1 Thessalonians 3, that's where we'll pick back up this morning. 1 Thessalonians 3. Let me remind you guys just of the theme of the book. This book describes people like us. It's for real people with real problems who need the real gospel. That's us. And that's what the book is for. Two Sundays ago, Pastor Sam gave an excellent sermon on the Word of God. He said, and it's straight from verse 13, recognizing the Word of God for what it is.
• 0:29
  not as the word of men, but the very words of God. He described the sufficiency of scripture. He said that despite popular opinion, the word of God remains the primary and normative means of God's revelation to his people. In other words, if you want to know God, get to know God's word. You cannot know the Lord apart from his word. And that's not to say that he doesn't speak and that he can't commune directly with your heart.
• 0:54
  But if you want to hear the word of God, read God's word. If you want to hear the words of God in an audible voice, read the word of God out loud. That's where we find out who God is, who Christ is, and the message of salvation. He asked this question, which I appreciated. What place do the scriptures have in your life and in your home? And I believe that sermon of his was a sermon in season. I keep hearing about believers.
• 1:20
  Believers, not non-believers, because you would expect it from them, but believers who deny the inerrancy and authority of God's word. We live among a people plagued with distrust in the word of God. Last Sunday after church, our family and a number of other families went to Wendy's right over here in the Walmart parking lot for lunch, which is where apparently the rest of Highland all goes to lunch. And so if you ever want to know where we eat lunch on church after Sundays, it's right over there at the Wendy's.
• 1:48
  I saw the McVeigh's there. I saw the Villalpando's there. And Pat Villalpando, who is a dear, dear woman and good friend, went running out after the McVeigh's. The McVeigh's had finished their lunch and so they had left and they were jumping in their cars to go home. She went running out after them. And I thought, oh man, that's really sad. They left her behind. They must have been her ride, you know? And so she went running out after them only to a minute later come back in. I thought,
• 2:17
  Well, that's a bummer. Did she miss them? You know, maybe we'll give her a ride home or whatever. And she came back in carrying her Bible and she literally said this. She said, they can have my car, but they can't have my Bible. She came back in and I thought, oh man, oh man, do you need a ride home? Oh man, you just think about the priority of God's word in your life. What place does God's word have in your life and in the life of your home? It is said that ignorance breeds disdain.
• 2:47
  We grow to hate that which we do not know, and the same is true of the Scriptures. Biblical ignorance also breeds biblical disdain. Rarely does one who genuinely knows the Word grow to hate the Word. Rarely. But before we can grow to know God's Word, we must first recognize it for what it truly is, not the words of man, but the Word of God. Amen? Amen.
• 3:12
  We pick up this morning in 1 Thessalonians 3. We're going to look at verses 1 to 13, and I'll read our text and then pray, and we'll begin. Beginning in verse 1. Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's co-worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
• 3:39
  For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.
• 3:47
  For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we've been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord.
• 4:17
  For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. As you pray with me, God, we are grateful for your word.
• 4:48
  We're thankful to spend a few moments together in it this morning. And I pray, Lord, that our hearts would be submissive to it. I pray that our ears and our minds would be attentive to it. Lord, minister to us by your word today. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. An interesting passage this morning because chapter 3 of 1 Thessalonians gives a glimpse into the heart of Pastor Paul. How he cared for and longed for the souls of these beloved men and women. How he was willing to sacrifice anything for them to thrive spiritually.
• 5:18
  He not only tells them of his love, but he proves his love by his actions, willing to send Timothy, his spiritual son and helper, willing to set aside his own comfort and resource in order to supply their needs. What we end up with in this chapter is a different kind of list of pastoral qualifications than the list that we're used to. You guys will remember that a certain type of man is to be chosen as an elder in the church. What 2 Timothy describes, as well as Titus 1, a man above reproach.
• 5:48
  The husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respected both inside and outside the church, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunk, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. But what's odd is about that list in 2 Timothy 3, a list that we're so familiar with, is that it seems to leave off the list completely his heart for ministry in the church.
• 6:12
  It leaves us with the question, are the external qualities of a man, those qualities which can be observed from the outside, the only qualities that matter when it comes to taking a leadership position in the church, when it comes to being called into ministry? Or does his heart, his love, his passion, his compassion matter? Should it also be required that a pastor actually love the people he is called to minister to?
• 6:41
  As I speak to men and women in ministry, I am flabbergasted at how they describe their congregation at times. They complain about their people, ragging on men and women for whom Christ died. I love meeting with other pastors, but sometimes those meetings turn pretty negative. It's weird. They feel like they can complain about the people to whom God has called them and to whom they are called to lay down their lives. And it causes me to wonder, well, then why don't you just quit?
• 7:15
  I've found an interesting phenomenon to be true and only recently that there are pastors who don't like their people. Brothers and sisters, this should not be. Chapter 3, like I said, gives us a little glimpse into the heart of Pastor Paul, but not only into the heart of Pastor Paul, but into the heart of the man who stands before you this morning. If you want to know how I feel about this church, you're about to hear it. I've been sitting in conferences and at churches at times hearing people preach and wishing that others...
• 7:47
  Could have been there that day to hear this message. Has that ever happened to you? Like, oh man, this would have been great. You know, he should have been here because this is really for him. But honestly, this week's study and this week's sermon isn't for you. This one's for me. This one hit me square between the eyes. It caused me really honestly to reflect and take an inventory on my heart, my passion, my conviction for this body. And here's the good news. I came out on the other side of it desperately in love with this church.
• 8:18
  I love it here. I love all of you. I'm thankful for all of you. I thank God for all of you. And what you're going to hear about the heart of Pastor Paul, the Apostle Paul, in this chapter, reflects my heart as well. Beginning in verse 1, you'll notice that the Apostle Paul, the Pastor Paul, loved this church.
• 8:40
  He loved this church. Look at verse one. For when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone. He calls them in chapter two, verse 20, the verse going into this one. He says, for you are our glory and joy. You are our glory and joy. Paul had fallen in love with the church. He loved the bride of Christ. He understood her perfections, maybe more than anyone else.
• 9:10
  He had seen her at her worst. He had seen her without makeup. He had seen her with bedhead and bad morning breath. He had held her hair above the toilet when she was puking her guts out with the flu. He had seen her angry. He had seen her complaining. And yet, he calls her his glory and his joy. You guys remember your honeymoon? I loved our honeymoon. Who doesn't like their honeymoon?
• 9:44
  Everybody loves their honeymoon. You know, last Saturday we were doing that marriage conference. Nathan did a really cool thing. He put together this whole collage of pictures for everybody's wedding picture that attended the conference. It was really cool. See, in all of these, it was kind of like wedding pictures through the decades. You know, it was neat. And what was cool was he put the wedding date on the bottom of each of the pictures, but honestly, you didn't need it. Because when that picture went up there, you're like, whoa, that was the 1980s.
• 10:10
  Oh, that was definitely the 60s, right? The haircuts, the styles. Whoa, that one was definitely last year. Man, we've come a long way in camera technology. You know, like you can actually see them. It's not all grainy. This is neat. We saw all of these. You know what was interesting about every single one of those, every single one, the husband, the wife were both excited to be there. Didn't matter which one you looked at. They were both excited to be there. They left that day. They went on their honeymoon. Everybody has a great time on their honeymoon. Everybody does.
• 10:41
  But do you remember a year later, five years later, and 10 years later, when the newness wears off, when you can't hide the ugliest parts of you anymore, where she has seen every ugly bit of you and you've seen every ugly bit of her and you're forced to decide, are we actually going to be faithful to the vows that we took? Do you guys remember that? The apostle Paul had seen it. He had seen all of the nastiness about the church. He had seen the ugly and dark underbelly of the church.
• 11:15
  The same ugly and dark underbelly that every single church has. Every single one. And he looked at that and said, I just desperately love you. You are my glory and my joy. And my absence was so troublesome to me. My absence from you was so troublesome that I couldn't bear it any longer. It's like I had to be with you again. I couldn't be absent from you anymore. He had to know how she was.
• 11:46
  It reminds me of the dating couple who spends hours every night on the phone, even though it's long distance. You remember when long distance mattered? It just, man, I just, I like her so much, you know, and I just can't handle it. And I don't want to be the one to hang up. No, you hang up. No, you hang up. And it's like, you go six, seven hours into the night because you just want to be together so badly. And you get that same idea from the Apostle Paul.
• 12:14
  I was absent from you, but I couldn't handle it anymore. So I sent Timothy to you. Now what's cool about this is that a pastor who is in love is willing also to sacrifice because that's what sacrifice is.
• 12:26
  It says that he sends Timothy. I was willing to be left behind at Athens alone. And verse two says, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker in the gospel of Christ. He sends his spiritual son, his helper, the man upon whom he relied, the man upon whom he would eventually or to whom he would eventually hand the reins of the church, his trusted ally in the gospel, his coworker, co-laborer in Christ. He sends Timothy and notice the words in verse one. It says we were willing to be left.
• 12:56
  Do you see those words, left behind? That was a coined secular term, which means it had become a figure of speech that his culture used of widows. Widows whose husbands had died and who had been left behind. The separation that had been caused in that break when one spouse dies and the other is left behind.
• 13:28
  The separation that many even in our church experience. That separation is how he describes Timothy's departure. You guys catch that? I was so in love with the church that I sent Timothy even though it felt like a death in the family to send him. That's how much I love you. A pastor who is in love is a pastor who is willing to sacrifice. And I love that you see that in the Apostle Paul. He says, I was willing to experience death.
• 14:00
  for you because I loved you so much, so much. He continues with why Timothy was sent and really why he wanted so badly to hear back from the church. He says, my goal in sending Timothy is, and we pick up in verse two, to establish and exhort you in your faith, establish and exhort that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.
• 14:29
  For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction just as it has come to pass. And just as you know, I'm sending Timothy to you, even though it feels like death to me, I'm sending him to you in order to establish and exhort you in your faith. I love those two words. The word establish means to support. It means to strengthen. It means to buttress with the intent that it would become immovable.
• 14:58
  That no one be moved by these afflictions. I noticed a funny thing that has happened recently at our church. There is this kind of never-ending saga of how to keep those front doors propped open. Has anybody noticed this?
• 15:16
  If you pay attention, you've noticed that these front doors, these glass doors are difficult to keep open. It's not as big a deal in the wintertime now because we're not going to do that. But in the summer, oftentimes we're trying to prop those doors open. We're hauling things in and out and loading stuff for kickback and other things. And we're trying to keep those doors propped open. We used to have these little door wedges. You kick them under the door and it holds them open. Guys, I don't know where those go. They disappear. I have no idea. We buy them, they're gone. We buy them, they're gone. There's some...
• 15:43
  door wedge abyss over there that they keep falling into i don't know there's a black hole over there it keeps sucking them up and so then somebody went to grabbing those big old rocks and i don't know who's doing all of this all right so good for you uh somebody's grabbing these big rocks we've got bowling ball size rocks sitting out here by our conditioning units so they prop the doors open with these huge things these bowling balls if you guys notice that they're huge
• 16:06
  And then nobody knows what to do with them. So we just end up with this pile of bowling balls in our front entry. And we end up having to lug them back over there. What's funny is though, the doors are stronger than the bowling balls. So we put these huge rocks down and the doors just push them out of the way. They swing shut. And I don't know who it was, but good for you. Some engineering major figured out how to do it. He or she went and found a tiny little rock. It was this big, a tiny little rock. And they pushed the door open.
• 16:35
  And they jammed that rock down into the seam of the concrete. And when the door shuts, that rock is immovable because it's jammed down. And this little tiny rock holds those doors open. So if you ever see these little rocks this big next to the front door, that's what they're for. Those are our doorstops. They hold the doors open. Isn't the same thing true in our faith? Our faith, at times, although very small, if founded upon the gospel of Christ, can become immovable.
• 17:06
  immovable, unshakable, stronger even than the faith of those who have much greater faith, but whose faith is movable, right? Whose faith can be shaken. And he says, my goal when I sent Timothy to you was for your faith, although small, to become immovable. And that is my desire for us as well. I don't know that we're great in faith, but the faith that we have, though small as a mustard seed, would become unshakable, immovable in the kingdom.
• 17:36
  That's what he's saying. The second word that he uses there, establish, that's the first one, make it immovable. The second word is exhort. This is the same phrase as coming alongside. That coming alongside is a phrase we use in the church all the time, right? Coming alongside one another. We use that phrase. That's the phrase he uses here, exhort. It's the same idea as harnessing together horses.
• 17:59
  When horses or oxen are yoked together, that is the idea. They exhort one another. They come alongside, right? I learned an interesting thing about horses this week. I don't know anything about horses, but I learned an interesting thing. Draft horses, which are usually the ones who pull wagons, carts, loads, draft horses can sometimes pull between two and four times their body weight. So a 2,000-pound animal can pull 8,000 pounds.
• 18:28
  What's crazy is if you put two horses side by side, and you guys, this is funny. Nobody knows why this happens. They can't figure it out. If you put two horses side by side, rather than having twice the pulling power, they have three times the pulling power. So one horse can pull 8,000 pounds. Two horses can pull 24,000 pounds. The theory is that it's psychological. It's not physiological.
• 18:57
  The horses are just as strong whether they're together or apart. But there's something in the horse's psyche that knows they are a pack animal, right? They run in herds. They're together. Horses are social animals. And there's something about having somebody alongside them that makes them that much stronger, that much more efficient. And that's the idea he uses here in God's Word. We come alongside one another.
• 19:25
  So that we'll be able to pull three times instead of just two times. So that we'll have three times the impact for the kingdom instead of just two times. Brothers and sisters, we need one another. This is why we gather. This is why we worship. He sends Timothy so that they would not only become immovable, established in their faith, but so that they would know that they're not in their faith alone. And you guys, you're not either. You're not either. You've got people on your left and your right pulling the same direction with you.
• 19:56
  A pastor who's in love with his church, is willing to sacrifice, he wants to establish and exhort, but he also wants to protect. And look at verse 5. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. Paul's honest fear was that they had believed in the gospel, but that somehow the enemy had won a foothold in their hearts and that they had forsaken their true love, their first love, that they had shipwrecked their faith. I sent Timothy to know, to make sure that you were not
• 20:25
  running your race in vain. We're sending our, you know, our oldest son is a junior in high school. And we've begun the process of looking at colleges for him, which is really weird. Yeah, it's really weird because honestly, I still see him as this little baby muffin, you know. I still have vivid memories of him being so little.
• 20:46
  and so unsure of his ability to walk that he would stand between my legs, his head would be here, he would grip around both knees like this, and I would walk, and he would just kind of scoot, and I remember his little eyes looking up at me. I mean, it's painful to me to think about the fact that he is now taller and officially heavier than me. That happened this month, even though he doesn't have, you know, this part. And it makes it hard, honestly, this morning, it makes it hard to button your Mr. Rogers sweater, you know.
• 21:17
  And I just remember him so little and he's growing up and we're so excited for him and we're going to send him away to school and we have no idea where he's going to go to school yet. But I just thought, man, what if he ends up a thousand miles away? He's a thousand miles away. He's going to meet some girl from a thousand miles away. They're going to live a thousand miles away. And I just, oh, no, only local schools. We're in this process and it's painful. We're excited, but it's painful.
• 21:46
  But I did imagine, just fast forwarding in my mind, you know, what if he does? What if he's a thousand miles away? And what if I get a report back that somehow he had fallen into temptation, had forsaken his first love, had shipwrecked his faith? What would I, as his father, be willing to do to get him out of that situation? If he called and said, Dad, I need your help. I really blew it. What would I be willing? I mean, what would I not be willing to sacrifice? What would I not be willing to do? What plane would I not be willing to get on?
• 22:18
  You know, I mean, I would lay down my life for him. Same exact wording here that Paul uses of the church. My fear was that you had somehow run your race in vain or that I had labored in vain. My fear was that the tempter had come in and tempted you and pulled your eyes off of Jesus and the protector in him rose up because of his love. Notice as he continues, a pastor must care for the success of his people more than he cares about his own comfort.
• 22:50
  verses six to eight, maybe my favorite portion of the passage this morning. It says, verse six, you can hear the joy in his heart, but now that Timothy has come to us from you, so now Timothy's returned with good news and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported you always remember us kindly and long to see us as we long to see you. For this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction, we have been comforted about you through your faith. So no matter how hard things are for me, the apostle Paul says, I am overjoyed that you're doing well.
• 23:21
  To hear back that you're succeeding, that you're thriving in your faith. He says, nothing else matters. And I love verse eight. He even says, for now we live if you are standing fast in the Lord. Nothing else matters to me. This is my life, your success. If my spiritual family, if my church is thriving in the Lord, then very little else matters to me. I don't care about worldly success. I don't care about money or notoriety. Honestly, I don't care if no one remembers my name.
• 23:53
  I don't care if I leave any kind of personal legacy behind. It does not matter to me. If I know that the gospel was preached and that this spiritual family is thriving in the Lord. I rejoice that my spiritual children are walking in the Lord. And that's exactly what 3 John 4 says. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. That's how Pastor Paul felt about this church.
• 24:24
  And that certainly reflects my heart as well. Notice in verses 9 and 10, a pastor gives thanks for his people. Verse 9, for what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God?
• 24:37
  as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. So he says, my heart, when I heard this good report, my heart was turned to prayer. I went to thank the Lord, but honestly just saying, hey, thanks God, didn't really cover it. It didn't really express my heart for you. How do I give thanks to God for this tremendous success? What thanksgiving can I return to him for you and for all of the joy that I feel about you? Paul couldn't even describe in words his gratitude to God for the church.
• 25:05
  And beloved, this is honestly how I feel about you. People ask what Highland is like. I tell them they just have to come and experience for themselves. You just got to come listen. You just got to come hear it. You just got to come be a part of it. You really are, in my opinion, the friendliest and most welcoming people. Genuinely welcoming people. Wanting people to be included, gathered. Generosity and hospitality abound. Every week I get reports of people in one another's homes. I love that.
• 25:35
  ministry happening off campus, outside of these normal hours. I love that. You guys remember when your kids were little, first, second, third grade, especially back when they used to like school. And remember those back to school nights? You guys remember those with your kids, you know, your second grader and he doesn't want to go to school except on back to school night, you know, and then he's pumped because you're going to go with him and he gets to show you all of that stuff he's been working on.
• 26:05
  Right. And he takes you from class to class to class and says, you know, look at the painting up there. My handprint is that one, you know, it's like they were fingerprinting, you know, and, and, uh, man, I did that one in the cloud that have cotton balls. That one's mine, you know, it's hanging up there and he's just dragging you from place. You got to see this. You got to see this. You got to see this. This is the drinking fountain where I get all of my drinks, you know, like, well, that's good. You know, and, and you just, it's, it's so exciting for them. And, and honestly, you guys, I honestly, I felt that way last week.
• 26:33
  Last weekend, my former pastor Chris and his wife were here. He shared with all of you. I felt like I was a second grader showing off his classroom. I was dragging him through. You guys got to see this. You have to meet these people. If you want to know what the Lord is, you got to meet this couple. You got to meet this lady. You guys got to walk down there. That's the drinking fountain where I get all of my drinks. It's right there. I was so proud, excited to show them. Here's what we've been doing. So fun.
• 27:01
  The apostle Paul says, man, I just, I can't believe words can't even express the gratitude that I feel. Just an outpouring of gratitude to the Lord. And that's how I feel. I'm so thankful for you. Highland Baptist Church. Last, the pastor must pray. The pastor must pray. Verse 11. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all as we do for you. So that, here's his prayer request for these people.
• 27:28
  so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Holiness of his people before the Lord. Perhaps the single most important quality that every pastor must possess is a consistent and healthy prayer life. I loved, I loved, I don't know if you guys caught the phrase, but I loved that Isaiah in the video this morning said, to fail in prayer is to fail at all else. To fail in prayer is to fail at all else. And yet I find this quality so lacking in me. I believe in prayer.
• 28:04
  More importantly, I believe in the God of prayer. I believe in the God of prayer. And the longer I'm in ministry, the more I realize how impotent I truly am. When I was a younger man, I prayed because I should. I knew it was one of the things I was supposed to do. And so I did it. But the longer I'm in ministry, the longer I'm in life, the more I realize I don't just pray anymore because I should. I pray because I have to.
• 28:34
  I have to. There are some situations in my life, and I know in all of yours as well, where the water is deeper than your feet can touch. Has the Lord ever shoved you out into that part of the swimming pool? Like, I can't touch anymore. Jesus, this isn't funny. And your head is just barely scraping the top of the water and you have to call out to God or you are going to drown. That's what prayer has become in my life. I have to. We need him.
• 29:07
  We really do. We are doing something, you guys. If we are really intending on pushing aback against the kingdom of spiritual darkness, if that is what this church exists to do, then we better pray and ask for help because we can't do it without him. We'll drown. There's no way. We need his help.
• 29:28
  My heart's desire for Highland Baptist Church is that our people would understand the joy of holy living. That is my prayer. And in fact, there is a prayer that I pray most mornings. I've shared with you guys the prayer that I pray, my most well-worn prayer in the evenings typically boils down to something like, Lord, give me wisdom to know your will and the courage and strength to do it. My morning prayer is a little bit different. This is the one I pray almost every day in the shower. I hope that's not too much information. I do take showers, but it typically boils down to this.
• 30:01
  Lord, help me again today because I don't know what you're going to call me to do. And when the unexpected comes, give me the strength to do hard things with grace and without fear. And give me the confidence to stand on your word, knowing that it alone is true and unchanging. Help me to have your heart for people. Let me see people the way that you see them. Give me heavenly wisdom to know how to answer each one. That's my prayer for this church. That's my prayer for myself as I pastor here. I love it. I love it. I would absolutely be willing to lay down my life for this body.
• 30:34
  I would sacrifice. I love it. I give thanks to God for you. I pray for you. What I love about this passage is that it does not only reflect the pastor's heart for his people, but also what should be the church's heart for one another. If God's church is really going to grow the way God's church is intended to grow, then it is not only pastors who should experience the same conviction, but God's people as well. If our church is to function properly,
• 31:15
  and truly become a witness of the love of Christ and all within its walls should aspire to these same standards. A sacrificial love for one another, a prayer and gratitude for one another, the desire to establish and exhort. Amen? Amen. Let me pray. God, thank you for this passage. Thank you, Lord, for your word again. And thank you, God, for brothers and sisters who will stand alongside us, whom we can harness ourselves to. God, make us more efficient in the gospel because we have one another. Establish our faith. God, those small make us immovable.
• 31:44
  Make us even the tiny rock that will hold the door open. God, we love You and we're so grateful for this church and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.