1 Thessalonians 5:23-28

Call me an oddball but I'm kind of fascinated by how the New Testament letters come to a conclusion. This is kind of the place where the writer tosses out a few last thoughts to encourage and challenge the readers.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-28 brings the letter to a close.

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

Sanctify. Not a commonly used word outside of religious circles! Check out the dictionary for its meaning. Excerpt:

1 : to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use : CONSECRATE

Imagine that? You and I, when we become part of God's family, are set apart for a sacred purpose!

You might have heard of Rick Warren and his book the Purpose Driven Life?

I read his book a couple of years ago. He believes the five purposes of our lives are: worship (relationship with God), discipleship (living in a Christ-like manner), fellowship (being involved with the lives of other followers of Jesus), ministry (offering service to other people) and evangelism (telling people about Jesus who aren't yet following Jesus).

Interestingly, St. Paul mentioned that this involves your whole spirit, soul and body.

We often get into lingo that separates things by saying, oh, that is a spiritual matter and that is not a spiritual matter. In some ways that is true but they are still connected. I'm not a theologian but from the years of hearing sermons, the distinction is thus: body is the physical part of our existence, the spirit is the part of us that is the divine spark that allows us to know God and the soul is the intellect, emotion and will.

I suppose one can get into an abstract discussion of whether the soul and spirit actually exist. That is beyond the scope of this blogger! I suppose the difference between us humans and the rest of the created life forms on earth is the spirit and the will. Only humans appear to need or want to worship god! And only humans appear to have a free will. Other life forms more or less just respond on instinct. I suppose skeptics of free will use their free will to believe that our belief and exercise of free will is illusionary! Again, well beyond the realms of this blog ... I'll leave that for real philosophers. I'm just an arm chair one.

IN any case, we are set aside for a purpose!

Brothers, pray for us.

I can't say I understand how prayer works!

Imagine you are in the heavenly realms and prayer requests from a billion people arrive on your prayer email inbox. How do you answer them?

Bruce Almighty was a funny but thoughtful film in 2003 and one of the scenes was Bruce deciding to answer all the prayer requests with a YES with humorous and chaotic results.

So, I don't know how prayer works. I just am told by the Scriptures that I should pray. And if I'm changed by praying that's great. If the situation is changed by praying, super.

I think of prayer mainly trying to bring my heart in-line with the heart of God.

Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

Ah, the famous give us a kiss passage!

Remember, this was a Mediterranean culture! You know how expressive people are in that world! In some places it is two kisses and in some places it is three?

Here in please don't invade my personal space America, a handshake will do nicely. Maybe a "side" hug. For people you know better or who are more touchy feely types, a full hug.

I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

In the olden days, most people couldn't read. Thus, the leaders of the church would read aloud the scrolls and letters so the people would learn about God and how to live and follow Jesus.

Imagine, a little church in those days what an exciting thing it would be to have one of the church leaders announce: today, we got our own copy of Paul's latest letter! Let's all meet on Friday night at farmer Jacob's house and we will share a meal, pray and read the latest letter we got!

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

We live and walk in grace as much as we live and walk by breathing air!

Lord, help me to realize you have set me apart for a sacred purpose. My life means something because you have taken a hold of it. Help me to be seeing the bigger picture in life and praying for all the little details. Guide me to be a person of encouragement of others by a meaningful touch and the sharing of the Word. In need your grace daily. Amen.