1 Thessalonians 5:23 -24 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

For now we are in the heart of Paul’s prayer thoughts for the Thessalonians and since this is a very short prayer of only 3 verses, this verse represents the very middle, dare I say the heart of Paul’s desire and prayer for the Thessalonians.

So after such a long introduction, what is it that Paul has reserved for the focus of his desires before God for these folks?

One topic, with one verb!

And the topic is….

LOVE

Paul was, as we all should be, consumed with the life of love. This love each of us have found in the Lord Jesus, – if we are true believers – is to be dispersed, spread and experienced with all in the body of Christ.

As I read this passage and considered the plea to God, I find that Paul is not concerned with only those in the Body, that the love is to only be extended to the saints, but he adds the short phrase “and for all“

He seeks to see the church care for each other, but he does not allow them to simply grow into a cocoon of Christians, but that they live a life of love to all around, even those outside of the church.

Notice that Paul’s prayer is for thier love is to be spread throughout the body, and extend outside of the small community of faith, into the lives of “all” each believer meets with, interacts with and struggles with.

Even that boss that is a micromanager, or that peer in the office that is constantly challenging decisions that need to be made. It seems we are not provided an exception to this call of love for all. He is not setting any limits on who we are to share the love of Christ with.

Ok, so Paul want’s us to include everyone in this life of love we are called to. Yet, he does not allow us to be satisfied in simply the extent of love being dispersed by the believer, that is to both the saint and the sinner, but he also is looking for increased depth of love towards both those in and out of the church.

Consider how Paul describes the action of this love.

GROW

As Paul speaks of two groups that are to recieve the love of Jesus, he also speaks of two actions associated with the love within the Thessalonian church.

• Increase

πλεονάζω pleonázō. Paul is beginning to describe a condition that has no lack, that is always more than enough for the condition it finds itself in. Consider Paul’s usage of this term in 2 Corinthians 8:15. I am using the NASB in this passage for clarity sake

as it is written: “THE ONE WHO HAD GATHERED MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND THE ONE WHO HAD GATHERED LITTLE DID NOT HAVE TOO LITTLE.”

This passage translates our term as “too much”. Although Paul negates it in 2 Corinthians, the idea is clear. In Paul’s mind, to increase is to have “too much” and he is good with “too much” sacrificial love

• Abound

περισσεύω perisseúō. This term speaks of exceeding a fixed number, and is used in passages that describe a superabunance, such as the overflow of bread recovered from the feedin gof the five thousand

Matthew 14:20And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.

Paul is looking for a love that extends to both saint and sinner, that is meets the needs of those around, and goes beyond the basic need, being surprizing, superabundant and over the top.

Quite the challenge for a small church. Turns out this little church got on task, even as they recieved this challenge. It was just a short time later, as Paul was writing his second epistle, that He speaks of the Thessalonians in relation to this very desire and prayer of his.

Paul’s absense from the church was distressing for both the apostle and the faithful. But the saints were faithful, and were chasing after the Lord, living out thier faith and love even as Paul was away from his people. Pretty amazing!