Increase and Abound in Love (Sermon November 29, 2015)

1 Thessalonians 3:9–13 (NRSV)

⁹ How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? ¹⁰ Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

¹¹ Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. ¹² And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. ¹³ And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

How can we thank God enough…What a wonderful statement to ring in the season of advent and to close out the week of Thanksgiving. How can we thank God enough for you? How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? When was the last time you considered the shear joy that the fellowship of Christ has brought you?

These were the things that I have considered as I went through the past week. It has been difficult to think on these things to stay thankful because the world outside these wall so often distracts from that mindset. Especially when one has to go to work a few minutes after eating a feast dedicated to thankfulness, and try to manage a crowd that is focused of getting good deals. But I was challenged this week to consider these things.

I personally am thankful for this community. I have expressed often how blessed I have been to have been part of this community as a broken young man looking for an excuse to turn his back on God, only to be faced with a community that embraced me as a person and not judging me for my past. I am thankful for this community because you all reflected the love of Christ and encouraged me to strive for something greater. And even more you trusted me enough to allow me to marry one of your own. It is a weird thought I know.

When I examine my spiritual journey to Christ, and what has lead me to be the man I am today, this Meeting is very important. I almost understand what Paul means when he says that he thanks God for joy because of a church.

But then he goes on to say that he is in constant prayer, earnestly seeking to return to this same church that has brought him such joy, so that he might assist in restoring what is lacking in their faith. Does anyone else feel like they might be experiencing spiritual whiplash? This church that brought Paul joy, great joy, to the degree that words cannot be expressed to honor the gratitude that he feels, is also a source of a great burden.

Spiritual whiplash, the very dichotomy of church, the very people that bring joy also bring frustration. It is similar to the dichotomy of Thanksgiving in our culture, we celebrate a feast where we give thanks for all we have and then before digestion even has a chance to start we jump right into the frenzy to obtain more. If we were to examine that for a moment it is really enough to bring tears to our eyes. Moving from selflessness into selfishness in a matter of moments, maybe not individually but culturally. It brings to reality the very statement the Prophet Isaiah spoke after his vison of God, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

What is lacking what have the people that brought Paul such joy lost that has caused such a burden that has him yearning to return? Love. Love that flows from the very throne of God, the love that takes no account of individualism and just flows out to others. These people that brought joy to Paul, seemed to have slid back into previous lifestyles.

I say this because if we were to read deeper into this letter we would find that in the very next chapter Paul begins to speak about fornication, lustful passions, and exploitation. These are activities that do not foster love, but are focused on self gratification. They do not promote the building of a community but actually encourage the destruction of relationships.

But Paul does not look at them as a lost cause, he sees them as having great potential. This church, the community to which this letter was written is Thessalonica, which is a city in Macedonia, part of Greece. This is the very community Paul spoke about having a vision to go, and in that vision the yearned for him to come to teach them about the ways of Christ, and to share the Gospel.

Paul writes to them, urging them to return to the place where they let God direct their paths. Saying, “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.” Increase and abound in love for one another and for all. Let that statement slowly flow over you. The idea of increase so often is twisted in our contemporary culture. We interpret increase with the idea of profit and personal gain, this is far from what is being said. It is quite literally an increase an over flowing abundance but the abundance is not to be internalized but it should flow out.

Paul is urging them to consider the life and lifestyle of Christ, whose advent we celebrate and anticipate during this season of the year. Christ came from heaven to be born of a virgin, He came to live a full human life from an embryo to adulthood, to show us and empower us to live in relationship with God. Jesus taught us a rhythm of life that revolved around worship, prayer, and service to others which is an image of the increase and abounding love that Paul is urging the people in Thessalonica to embrace. It is in worship that we are encouraged to receive and are filled with the spirit of God. It is in prayer where we allow that living water to saturate our being and it is in service to others that the outflowing or increase happens.

Why did Jesus come? Why will he come again? Why does he delay? It is because of love. It is because God so loves the world that he gave his son. He gave the ultimate gift. He gave not to condemn but to redeem, not to judge but to restore. Not to shame but to encourage a different path. A path that is not focused on individualism but on the kingdom of God.

I began by speaking of the joy that this community has brought me. I experienced the increase and flowing love from God through a community that sought God. I came here not really knowing what might happen, and I did not really expect what I found. The increase and abounding love this community shared flooded my very being, leaving no question in my mind that I must embrace the calling that was in my heart. A calling I was not yet willing to embrace because I did not understand it. You all sent me out and you brought be back. The question is why? The only answer I can come up with in my mind is to remind you of the love that God has showered on this community, the love that was once shared and the love that God wants us to share again. The love that brought healing to a broken man, and gave encouragement to overcome the past and embrace the future. The love that was saturated in grace and forgiveness.

I look out at the community our Meeting serves and I see people all around us that are hurting, I see even within our walls a dryness, and a hardness. Why did you bring me? Why did you bring someone that has such a great love for you to this place? Increase and abound in the love of one another and for all, just as I abound in love for you. Seek the Lord and his will, let him direct and strengthen our lives so that we can be a blessing to others.