I Thessalonians 5:25-27 – “Praying”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵Brothers, be praying for us. ²⁶Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. ²⁷I adjure you [before] the Lord [that] the epistle be read to all the brothers.

In my last post, I noted how this is a “brothers, brothers, brothers” passage in a book of the same. In this short little triad of three verses, we see what Christian “brothers” do.

First of all, they pray for each other. Many writers have noted the humility of the Apostle Paul, that such a mightily gifted and important man should covet the prayers of what were, on the whole, a bunch of poor and socially unimportant people. But such is the nature of people who actually know Christ. Without Him, we can do nothing – and we all are keenly aware that applies to all of us. The very essence of our real relationships with Jesus is that He is a great Savior and we each need desperately to be saved – all of us. It’s “‘not by might nor by power but by My Spirit,’ saith the Lord.” In real Christianity we all desperately need Him and whether “great” or “small” in His kingdom, I am what I am by grace. I need the Lord. And so I need prayer. Whoever I am.

It is true that Paul’s humility is commendable. On the other hand, amongst us “brothers” who really know Christ, it’s just our life. And so we pray for each other and so we ask each other for prayer. Often some of my wife’s last words to me as I leave for work are, “I’ll be praying for you.” Words cannot express how much I appreciate that. I’m keenly aware that everything I’m doing is so far over my head, only the Lord Himself can grant that I should actually succeed in trying to help the communities and people I work with. I need her prayers. I can always count on my mother to be praying for me and again, words fail to express how deeply I appreciate (and need!) that kindness.

I’m struck again with the thought of people I know from work who are believers. I don’t think in all my life I’ve ever thought how much they need my prayers. If I truly see them as “brothers and sisters in Christ,” then I need to be realizing how much their lives are no different than mine – desperately in need of the Lord’s help. Together, His desire for us is that we should “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” – by our work (Titus 2:9,10). Even as I type these words, I confess it has never occurred to me how much I need to pray for them, or even how much I, like Paul, should covet their prayers.

As I have often noted, I believe the very genius of the Gospel itself is not that we meet together in a building but that, having met together as a church, we fan out to literally blanket our communities with our faith. Particularly our jobs carry even a small church into literally every corner of a community. If we in fact go there with real faith, with a real relationship with God, with a real determination to love God and love others, to be kind, to be dependable, we could become to our communities “a savor of life unto life.” But it’s not by might, nor by power!” We will succeed not because we tried but because the great God of the universe chooses to bless our feeble efforts – and that means prayer.

And of course that leads us back to the “fanning out.” From where? From our churches – where some of us brothers and sisters meet together. It is there in particular that we intersect with our ministers. We know from Eph 4:11,12 that He “gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up …” We need their Holy Spirit-gifted ministry to be the strongest people we can be. Which means, in a brotherhood, we realize they need our prayers too. Whether it’s at work or at church, we “wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph 6:12), and “we are not ignorant of Satan’s devices” (II Cor 2:11).

Speaking of Satan and his devices, I suppose if he wants to undermine the power of the Gospel, the two roots he must strike are 1) our own personal study of the Word and 2) those who would minister it to us. It’s up to each of us to carve out the time to personally seek the Lord’s truth, but obviously we need to be praying for the people who minister it to us. Paul, as a minister, knew he needed it. We mustn’t neglect to know ourselves that they need it.

I must say, although I have made it a point over the years to pray for others, I don’t think I’ve ever really seen it as an expression of our “brotherhood.” As I sit here pondering, I am asking the Lord to help me deliberately recognize others I know at work and in the community who are believers and to pray for them – and even to ask their prayers for myself, and to renew my determination to pray for my pastor and fellow church members. We are brothers. We need each other. I need them. They need me. We all need the Lord.

Let us pray.