Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Life of the Church

Bryan Schneider · August 7, 2021

1 Thessalonians 5:25-27

sharonrpc.org/sermons/life-of-the-church

Summary

First Thessalonians 5:25-27 identifies prayer, affectionate fellowship, and public reading of Scripture as defining practices of church life.
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy humbly ask ordinary brothers and sisters to pray for them, displaying mutual dependence rather than spiritual celebrity.
Christian prayer is corporate as well as personal, as the Lord's Prayer teaches believers to ask for our bread and our forgiveness.
Meaningful prayer for one another grows through honest relationships in which needs, joys, sorrows, and struggles are actually known.
The holy kiss expresses sincere family affection in a culturally recognizable form, and its command extends to all believers rather than favored friends or cliques.
Christ creates this family, is not ashamed to call his people brothers, and provides the pattern of affectionate welcome.
Paul solemnly requires the letter to be read to every believer, establishing the church as a Word-saturated community rather than one shaped by consumer preference.
The congregation must therefore devote itself to prayer, inclusive fellowship, and attentive reception of God's Word, correcting any drift away from those practices.

Why do Paul and his coworkers ask the Thessalonian believers to pray for them?
How does calling the congregation brothers reshape assumptions about spiritual rank and mutual need?
What does the plural language of the Lord's Prayer teach about praying with and for others?
Why does meaningful intercession require honest relationships rather than distant labels?
What enduring duty lies beneath the culturally specific form of the holy kiss?
How can cliques, age divisions, distance, or habitual lateness weaken affectionate fellowship?
Why does Paul place the church under such a solemn charge to read the epistle to everyone?
How does public Scripture reading protect the church from being shaped by preference or fashionable philosophy?
What changes would make a congregation more evidently marked by prayer, friendship, and the Bible?

Corporate prayer: The church's shared offering of petitions and thanksgiving for one another, its leaders, and believers beyond the local congregation.
Communion of saints: The Spirit-created fellowship in which believers united to Christ share gifts, burdens, duties, love, and mutual care.
Holy kiss: A culturally recognizable greeting that expressed sincere, pure family affection among all believers.
Partiality: Favoring preferred groups or friends while withholding welcome and care from other members of Christ's body.
Public reading of Scripture: The gathered church's audible reception of God's written Word so that all believers may hear it.
Apostolic authority: The binding authority Christ gave his apostles to deliver instruction to the churches in his name.
Word-saturated church: A congregation whose worship, doctrine, relationships, correction, comfort, and mission are governed by Scripture.