The Twofold Mark

This transcript has been automatically generated

Well, I don’t know whether you are having one of those days, but I’m having one of those days. And I was sent a letter during the week from a fellow clergy and he says, you know it’s going to be a bad day in your parish when you finally remember the name of the man you promised to visit in hospital when you read the obituaries.

He goes on to say, you know it’s going to be a bad day when you open your sermon notes in the pulpit and find that they are the ones for last week’s sermon. You know it’s going to be a bad day when the church treasurer sends you a postcard from Fiji. You know it’s going to be a bad day when you’re informed that the youth group accidentally took the steel wool sponges for the car wash on Saturday. And you know it’s going to be a bad day when you’re elected pastor emeritus and you’re only 29 years of age.

Well, I feel that it’s one of those days, but I’m hoping it’s to be proved wrong. We’re coming in our series in 1 Thessalonians to the end of chapter 3.

It is an interesting passage for many reasons, not least the fact that Paul uses in the passage some expressions which are unused anywhere else in the New Testament. For example, in verse 6, the first verse, he says that Timothy has come and has brought us the good news. Literally, he has evangelised us. It is the only time in the New Testament that the word is used in a secular sense. It is an extraordinary passage for many reasons, as we will see.

But it is also an important passage, and we are beginning to see as we study 1 Thessalonians together Sunday by Sunday that many of Paul’s secrets for his pastoral ministry emerge. For example, it is one thing to plant a small church and to leave it in God’s care, but it’s another thing to actually minister to strengthen it. And in this letter we see in many ways the ways in which Paul does that. It’s one thing to lead somebody to Christ so that they become a Christian. It’s another thing to see that new Christian become a strong Christian.

And I want to speak this morning on the subject of a twofold mark, a twofold mark. And the phrase twofold mark comes from John Calvin. And in the sentence in which it comes, Calvin writes this: All Christians who aim at this twofold mark during their whole life are beyond risk of erring. All others, however, however much they may torture themselves, wander miserably. Now that is a pretty strong claim.

What is he talking about? The twofold mark that he is talking about is faith and love. Faith primarily directed towards God, love primarily directed towards Christians. And it is faith and love which are the 2 great themes of the passage which Ralph read for us as our first reading. You remember the background.

Paul was in Athens. He sent his friend from Athens in southern Greece up to Thessalonica in northern Greece to find out how the Christians were. Meanwhile, Paul himself went from Athens to Corinth. When Timothy came back and met him at Corinth, the news was good. Verse 6: Now that Timothy has come to us 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, brethren, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.

For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. Now the first of the twofold mark is faith. Faith is of vital interest to the Apostle Paul. If you look back at verse 2 of chapter 3, he says, we sent Timothy to establish you in your faith. Look at verse 5.

He says, I sent that I might know your faith. Look at verse 6. Timothy has brought us the good news of your faith. Look at verse 7. In all our distress we have been comforted about you through your faith.

Now if it is a primary issue for Paul, it is greatly misunderstood by most Christians. The word faith has been so bandied around that it’s just about lost a lot of its real meaning. You hear people say, if it wasn’t for my faith, I would never have pulled through. If I did not have strong faith, I wouldn’t have coped. As if they’ve got within them a little sack of faith and that they can tap it and it spreads to all the needy parts of the life.

Then you hear some people say, I wish that I had that person’s faith, as though faith again was something that you can have and own and keep. Now, one of the little booklets which I think is the most helpful is this little one called A Faith That Is Real, and it’s in the little case near the door back there. And I’ve kept it in the back of my Bible for a year. At least I’ve kept many copies of it because it’s such a useful one to give away. And it explains how to come to faith.

I wonder if there’s one person in church this morning who is not sure about faith. They look at other people and they say, they seem to have faith, I don’t. Let me read to you what this man Derek Swann says. He says, most people in their search for faith make one fundamental mistake. They seek faith directly.

Strange as it may seem, faith cannot be found by looking for it. An illustration may help to make this clear. If we have some trouble with our car that a whole tribe of mechanics, professional and amateur, has failed to correct, we will always listen with interest to our friend who extols the excellency of the mechanic who looks after his car. He explains with great relish that the man is a mechanical genius and has never failed to find and correct a fault. He says that he believes implicitly in him and that he would trust him with anything mechanical, or that he has absolute faith in the man’s skill.

Now, it would never occur to us to say, I wish I had the faith that you’ve got in this mechanic. That would be utterly irrelevant. It is not the faith we need, it is the mechanic. Faith will not repair our car, whereas a good mechanic can. We are impressed naturally with a man’s confidence in his super mechanic, but it never occurs to us to ask where we can obtain similar faith.

Our first question is always, where does this man live so that I can contact him? It is the person we must seek and not faith. Now I want to say again, that Christian faith, this word faith, has been bandied around and has lost a lot of its meaning. Even the phrase justification by faith can be misleading. We are not saved by faith.

We are saved by Christ. And it is when we put our faith in Christ that he saves us.

Derek Swann goes on, that will be the starting point for any who seek genuine Christian faith. We must not seek faith itself. But the object to which faith is to be directed. Secondly, to have faith we need knowledge. Faith is not leaping into the unknown.

We cannot trust someone about whom we know nothing. The more we hear about the super mechanic, the greater is our confidence in him. Storey after storey of his mechanical wizardry increases both our admiration and our trust in him. It strengthens our determination to get hold of him at any cost, and the Bible makes it clear that we need knowledge for faith. You remember the storey of the woman with the bleeding, with the haemorrhage, and she tried all the doctors and was not helped.

And then she heard about Jesus. And the more she heard about Jesus, the more her confidence grew. The more her confidence grew, the more she decided to go into action. So what did she do? She went and she got into contact with Jesus Christ and was healed.

But you notice the order: she heard, she understood, she believed, She was convicted, she had confidence, and she went. And that’s the progress of faith. Now if we push the mechanic image, what Paul did when he went to Thessalonica is to teach the Thessalonians that they had broken down.

And he taught them not that they had had a mental or a physical breakdown, but that they had had a spiritual breakdown and that they didn’t know God. And not knowing God, they didn’t know life. And not knowing life, they had no future. And so he went on to teach them that there was a place, a person where repair could be made and a new start could begin. And that was with Jesus Christ.

And the Thessalonian Christians, the believers who listened and grasped the point, and the more they heard, the more they understood. The more they understood, the more confident they became that Jesus would be able to help them. And as the confidence grew, so they gave themselves to him. And that is faith. Faith is a reasonable, restful trust.

That’s a good definition of faith. And it’s at that point of reasonable, restful trust that a person becomes a Christian, when they say, I’ve heard, I understand, I believe, and I now put myself in His hands. I recognise the need, I recognise the answer, and I put myself in His hands. And that is to become a Christian. That is to have eternal life.

That is to become God’s children and that is to change from enemy to friend and from death to life and from darkness to light. And that is what faith is. But Christian faith does more than rest and trust. It also is meant to grow and strengthen. It’s a little bit like going into the British Museum.

If you go into the British Museum, it’s one thing to be there but it’s another thing to benefit. It’s one thing to get in, it’s another thing to grow and explore. It’s one thing to be inside, it’s another thing to develop in such a way that you’re taking in the benefits of where you are and you know where you are. And so you begin to move around the British Museum and to take in all that there is to know. But you’re there whether you know something or not.

Now Paul was so concerned for these Thessalonian Christians, he was so concerned that their faith be strong and stable that he himself ministered when he was there and he sent Timothy to minister to them. And you see his concern in verse 2. He says that he was concerned to establish them. He says in verse 5 he wanted to know where they stood. He says in verse 6 when Timothy came back it was good news.

He says in verse 7 when Timothy came back they were comforted. And then he says an extraordinary thing in verse 8. I wonder if you would look at verse 8. He says, now we live if you stand fast. We live if you stand.

Now that is a very striking phrase. You remember in Philippians that Paul said, to live is Christ. And that is a striking phrase. Here he says, we live if you stand. Now is he speaking nonsense or is he exaggerating or is he expressing something very important?

And the answer is the third. He is expressing that he has a personal interest in these Thessalonians to such an extent that he feels that he is personally living if they are standing firm. Now contrast that kind of attitude with the good and the bad shepherds that we had in our Gospel reading, John 10. The false shepherd comes into a flock to get and to take and to benefit himself. The true shepherd, the true undershepherd comes to give and to love and to care.

Paul was accused of coming to get and to take. That’s why they said he left early. But in fact he proves in his letter that he went to love and to care and to give. It’s the obvious mark of Paul’s ministry. And so when he came to the Thessalonians he preached the word in chapter 1 and we read that they received it.

And then we read that they also sent it out. They became like a radio transmitter. The word came to them and the word went off from them. And then we read also that Paul taught them a great deal more. The interesting thing about this letter is that if you comb it through, you will find all the great doctrines are in the letter.

You will find that the doctrine of the Trinity is there. You will find that the doctrine of the kingdom of God is there, that God’s grace is taught, His peace, His wrath, His love. The second coming is taught. Heaven is taught. What happens after you die is taught.

Marriage is taught, etc., etc., etc. And all of that somehow took place in a short time because Paul was concerned to establish them, that they be more than converts, that they become disciples. Now this is an obvious thing. We all know this. Nevertheless, it’s worthwhile to see Paul’s missionary tactics are that he taught well and then he sent his friend to teach better.

How is it that we establish a new Christian in the faith? The answer is that we are to go through the Scriptures with them. The things that may be obvious to us are not obvious to them. The person who becomes a Christian today at the age of 18 or 19 may have no Christian background whatsoever. Therefore, they need a whole new view of the world.

They need a view of creation, they need a view of salvation, they need an understanding of redemption. And all the long words need to be explained simply. That’s the thing to do. We establish somebody in the truth by taking them through the Scriptures. Now therefore, it’s amazing that there are not more one-to-one discipling ministries going on as Christians who know the truth somehow avoid the opportunity or the responsibility of discipling others.

And that is what Paul did. He taught and that is what he sent Timothy to do. And that’s got to be done at the personal level, one-to-one. It’s got to be done at the group level. It’s got to be done at the church level.

And I’ve been reflecting on this week that I am amazed, perhaps I am naive, I cannot understand how so many churches in the city who are struggling without the Scriptures with their 3s and 4s and 5s have not woken up to the fact that it is the large churches not necessarily successful churches, but large churches which have the Bible at the centre of their ministry. How can you miss the point as you look around London and see that the churches with the Bible at the centre are the churches where the people attend? And yet people persist in a ministry which is avoiding the Bible. Now if that operates on a church level, it operates also on a personal level. And that is why in St. Helen’s, which is no Heaven on earth, but nevertheless it’s St. Helen’s.

The ministries of New Foundations and Firm Foundations and Bible groups and fellowship groups and Read, Mark, Learns are basic to the life of the church. That’s why in some of the third world countries like Africa, they are crying out for teachers because they have had enough of the converts. It’s an extraordinary thing. They have got so many converts they don’t know what to do with them. They have got nobody to establish them.

So they are crying out to the missionary societies not to send more evangelists but to send more teachers. And if you read through the missionary booklets, you will find that that is what the Hilliers are doing in India. They are running Bible groups apart from their medical ministry. They are running Bible groups. That is what the Sherwoods are doing in Nigeria.

They are establishing people in ones and twos. That is what Simon Papworth is doing in Vienna. He is ministering to people in ones and twos. To establish new converts.

But notice what Paul says in verse 9. We come to another extraordinary thing.

What thanksgiving can we render to God for you, for all the joy which we feel for your sake before our God? He is inexpressibly thankful. He does not know how to give thanks sufficiently. And then he says, this is what we are praying. We are praying earnestly night and day.

That is not 2 times a day, but regularly. That we may see you face to face and have fellowship with you. He doesn’t say that at all, does he? He says, we are praying that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. Now that is an extraordinary punch in the jaw, isn’t it?

We are praying that we will come and fix you up. The Greek is even more striking. The word there is the word to mend. It’s the word for mending a net. It’s a net with a hole that’s useless.

And Paul says, we are going to come that we can mend your shortcomings, that we will sew up the holes in your faith. Now you imagine if I said that to you this morning. I’m so glad to be here and you’re so lucky to have me here because I’m going to fix a shortcoming in your faith. It’s an incredible claim, isn’t it? But that’s what Paul says.

And the reason he says it is because he’s a good pastor. He speaks the truth to them. It’s in the context love, he can say to these Thessalonians, you haven’t arrived, there’s more to go. And I’m praying that I’ll be able to come and I’ll be able to add to what you have. And I’ll be able to assist and to fix and amend where there is deficiency.

Now that is a very important perspective in pastoral ministry. It’s very tempting to think that because we’re discipling or ministering to somebody and that they are mature chronologically, they’re mature spiritually. That’s not always the case. Paul writes to these Christians to say, whatever age they are, we don’t know, there are deficiencies in your faith. You know something, you don’t know everything.

When I come, I am going to add to what you know.

And therefore we need to be Christian people who recognise the principle is true in our hearts too, that we have got room for progress. It was interesting in the wedding yesterday of Richard Bullgollins that Dick said at the beginning how thankful he was for Richard’s ministry and life. And Helen’s. And then he went on to say how grateful he was that Jane, who was marrying him, was not going to take him away forever but was going to bring back a new and improved version of Richard. And then a little pause and he said, there’s room for improvement.

And Richard nodded. Now that’s a nice attitude from Dick and a nice attitude from Richard and it ought to be our attitude too. There’s room for progress in us all and there’s a terrible attitude in many Christians that they climb the mountain which is a little bit like, um, spiritual puberty and then they get to a stage which is a plateau and they say, well, I’ve now arrived. I’ve done read Mark alone 1 and 2. I’m there.

Paul hasn’t got any view like that at all. His view is that there’s room for progress and he viewed that himself and he viewed it of these Thessalonians.

Therefore, he’s able to say, to put this one point together, these Christians are standing but lacking. And that will be always true of me. And that will be always true of you. If you’re a Christian, you’re standing but lacking. And therefore we want to come to services teachable, humble.

We want to read our Bibles teachably, humbly. We want to listen to cassettes teachably, humbly, because one of the scourges of our own hearts and of the churches is an attitude that we have nothing to learn.

And that is dangerous. That’s the first thing. Faith is the first of the 2 marks. The second is love, more briefly. Verse 6, back to verse 6.

Now that Timothy’s come, and he’s just come recently, and has brought us the good news of your faith, this is what he’s told us: You remember us kindly.

Now the Thessalonians had opposition who had attempted to say that Paul should be forgotten or, if remembered, remembered badly.

He had been slandered. There had been a smear campaign against his name and Paul is able to say with joy, you remember me kindly. In other words, all the slander has been forgotten. Isn’t that a good mark of maturity? That Christians know how to sift through slander and they know how to deflect gossip.

And they know how to listen carefully about reputations. It’s a mark of maturity and therefore Paul is encouraged at this sign in the Thessalonians. They’ve somehow avoided the slander and remembered the faithfulness of his ministry.

And notice therefore their memories are loving and their longings are loving. And Paul says, I’m the same. I want to come to you. In verse 11 he says, I’m praying that God will arrange it. And his prayer was answered in the affirmative.

God did arrange it and on the 3rd missionary journey Paul visited them again. So there is this bond of love and fellowship which we looked at last week in much greater depth and we just pass over here. And that is that Paul’s concern is that they grow in faith and they grow in love. He says, you are standing but lacking. He says, you are loving but, verse 12, He is praying that God will cause their love to abound.

In other words, there is room to progress in our faith and there is room for progress in our love. Now if faith and love are key marks of the Christian, how does Paul work on them? How do you work on somebody to build up their faith? How do you work on somebody to build up their love? Now the key to faith is information, of course.

It has to come in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is why he says in chapter 1, The word came with power. But if you want to build up somebody’s faith, build up their understanding and pray for them that that understanding will take root and bear fruit in their lives. But notice how Paul builds up their love. In a word, he doesn’t.

He prays that God would. He says in verse 12, I am praying that God will make your love abounds. Now Paul realises that he’s not the source of faith and he’s not the source of love and we’re not the source of it either. And you only have to be in any pastoral ministry for a short time and you realise that the effect you have on people is minimal if negligible.

Therefore Paul recognises the importance of prayer and through this letter he is always praying. I’m praying this, I’m praying this, and he tells them. What he’s praying. Now let me ask you, friends, which is the harder to do? Is it harder to make a person grow in knowledge or is it harder to make a person grow in love?

The answer surely is the second.

Of course, it is very difficult to make somebody grow in maturity, but we can make people grow in faith and knowledge by instructing them. That’s what Paul does. But how do we make people grow in love? It’s despairingly difficult. And therefore, you see, if there is somebody who we have a grudge against today, or if there is somebody who has grieved us, or if there is somebody who we have a complaint against, or if there is somebody who has disappointed us, or if there is somebody who has hurt us or ignored us or with whom we are fed up, the answer is to start praying for them that they may abound in love.

Because personalities are very rough things. And the more you get to know people, the rougher they are. And the more apparent it is how easily people can hurt one another. Now Paul prays that their love may abound. I remember John Chapman on a tape.

He had this phrase that he kept saying again and again: less bellyaching, more praying. Sounds like John Chapman, doesn’t it? Less bellyaching, more praying. Less gossiping, slandering, backstabbing, grumbling, more praying. Somebody who disappoints you, somebody who’s hurt you, pray for them.

Pray that their love may abound. Paul prays that they’ll flourish like a tree. He prays that they’ll increase. He prays that they’ll abound. And finally in verse 13, he prays that they also may be established in holiness.

And what’s the reason? Before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. You notice the 3rd ingredient of the familiar threesome: faith, love, and hope.

Now these are very simple points. You haven’t heard anything this morning that you do not know. But let me collect the thoughts together. Chapter 1 and chapter 2, Paul talks about a gospel church and his ministry to them. All through the letter we see that Paul’s got 2 indispensable qualities to ministry.

He’s got a faith in God’s Word and a love for God’s people. You cannot have a ministry that’s effective without those 2. A faith in God’s Word and a love for God’s people. Truth and love go together. That’s why Paul said in Ephesians 4 that speaking the truth in love, we grow up.

That’s what he did. And this twofold mark was Paul’s goal for himself. It was his goal for his ministry. It was his goal for the Thessalonians. And it’s to be our goal.

Calvin says, all Christians who aim at this twofold mark during their whole life are beyond risk of erring. All others, however much they may torture themselves, wander miserably.

Well, let’s pray for those 2.

Our Heavenly Father, we want to acknowledge to you this morning how thankful we are that you have established so many of us in the faith of Christ where we stand. We acknowledge nevertheless that we lack so much, so much understanding, so much experience. We need breadth, depth, length.

We ask our heavenly Father that you will go on teaching us privately and publicly that what we lack you might give us.

We also pray with thanks for your love to us and for planting your love in our hearts and giving us love for one another. Nevertheless, we acknowledge that we lack so much love. We are so impatient. We can be so unkind. We ask that you will go on establishing us, causing us to increase and abound in love.

Love from you, love for others. May these 2 marks be before us as great goals, and may you help us to them. For we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.