Word of Encouragement (7/16/2021)
Let’s end this week with Paul's request for prayer to the Thessalonians: “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you...” (2 Thess. 3:1). Here, Paul is asking them to pray for him and Silvanus and Timothy (2 Thess. 1:1), on behalf of whom he is writing this letter. As we will see, this prayer is particularly for the ministers of the gospel. What a timely prayer to consider as we finish this week and look forward to the Lord’s Day and our worship service!
Paul begins this request by saying, “Finally, brothers, pray for us....” But what he actually asks them to pray for is “...that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored....” As you can see, he is not asking them to pray for their comfort and convenience; he is asking them to pray for their ministry of the Word to be successful. Clearly, his sense of identity is closely bound up with his ministry: to pray for him is to pray for his ministry of the Word to succeed. We often speak of the vocational hazard of identifying ourselves too much with our job. So, many lose their sense of self-worth and purpose and fall into depression when they lose their job or retire. Some wither away quickly and die soon after their retirement. Obviously, they were too vested in their occupation.
This is not to deny the importance of our jobs. As Christians, we consider our job as our “vocation”—God’s calling. We must take it seriously and do our job as unto the Lord. But we must keep in mind that our job is not the only vocation we have. All the various roles we play in our diverse relationships—as a parent, spouse, child, sibling, friend, neighbor, etc.—are all God’s “callings.” We must not neglect these callings. So then, even after our retirement, we have much to do for these various callings. What this also means is that we must not identify ourselves with one calling/role so much that all our self-worth is based on it. When we do that, it turns into idolatry.
But there is one exception—our covenant relationship with the triune God. We cannot be too closely bound up with this calling. Unlike all other callings, all our sense of identity and self-worth should be bound up with this calling. But this cannot turn into idolatry because we are wholly devoting ourselves to the one and only true God. Also, this is not just one of the many other callings or even the most important calling of all; it is the foundational calling, the reason and mandate for our faithfulness to all our other callings. He, who called us to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength is the One, who also called us to love our neighbors as ourselves. The key is to love our neighbors for the glory of God. For Paul, the ministry of the word of the Lord was not just a job; it was his life—something he lived for and something he would gladly die for. It deserved his life, his death, his all.
In this prayer request, Paul describes the success of his ministry in a striking way: “that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you...” What he seems to have in mind is an athletic race. The word translated as “speed ahead” is “run.” The idea of being “honored” can include winning a race and being awarded. He is envisioning the word of the Lord advancing fast without any impediment, winning the hearts of all God’s elect people. We know how exhilarating and liberating it is to run fast and win the race. Paul is asking that their gospel ministry would have that kind of reception and success. What is more, Paul says that that was exactly what it felt like when he preached the gospel to the Thessalonians: “as happened among you....” That has given him so much joy and gratification that he desires more of it!