Christians are to live with a focus not on the present, but on the future, when Christ will return—with love being established in our hearts so that we are being stirred on to holiness before the Lord in order that we might be accepted on the great day of Christ’s coming. Let me say that again: Paul has a future-oriented view of the Christian life. He is future-focused on a great event that defines us—the return of Christ. What is going on now? The love of God is to be working in me so that my heart is being established for holiness, because by that holiness I will have assurance of my acceptance on the day of his appearing. Let’s read 1 Thessalonians 3:13:
May the Lord establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.Now, notice again the way that Paul anchors the Christian life in the future. The present experience is being pulled toward the second coming of Christ. One of the things that is distinctive about a Christian is that we believe that history is not going around in circles the way the Greeks thought—or the way people think today, for the most part, with ideas of human progress and that kind of thing. We believe that Christ, who is reigning now, having conquered sin, is going to come back to consummate salvation—to end history and begin the eternal age of glory. Andrew Young writes,The Christian has been called by God into his kingdom and glory(1 Thessalonians 2:12), and that future hope dominates the terrain of Paul’s thinking. That is the structural category that causes him to think and act the way he does.Now, when it comes to the present, what Paul sees, then, is the link between the love of God working in us and the holiness that comes out of that. He sees a profound link between love and holiness in our experience. He prays for God’s love to fortify the believers’ hearts in such a way that they will be stimulated with a desire to lead a holy life.
And God has so loved me. He died for me. I want to live for him.And when we realize and we experience the love of God through his Word and in prayer—as we live and rely upon God’s love—the effect of that is to cause us to desire to offer our lives and love back to God. That is how Paul is thinking here. But it is not just true of our love for God.Our love for others is also a stimulus to sanctification, the process of holiness. You know, one of the best things you and I can do to gain momentum in our passion for holiness is to begin ministering to people we care about. Because if you see that your sins are causing a problem, you will pray,
Richard D. PhillipsWell, Lord, now I want to stop doing that. I did not care before, but now I am leading a Bible study—and people are not believing. The people are not growing because of my bad example. And Lord, so I want to change because I love them.Or you say,I am a husband, and I see that I am hurting my wife in the way I speak and react.I get on my knees and say,Lord, I want to get serious about this.Why?Because love is driving holiness in my experience. And I am a child; I am a brother.In all our relationships, if we love one another, if we love God, we will want to please him. What a blessing it is to be able to please God. If we love one another, we will pursue holiness. How? Through God’s Word, through prayer, and striving against sin. Love—Christ’s love for us, and that love working through us—strengthens our hearts so that our natural selfish desires decrease, and our character and our habits become molded after the likeness of Christ.1
13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.