Even the closing words are important!

When I write a letter or an email, it typically closes with “Blessings” and my name. Paul goes farther. He gives a blessing, but also three appeals to the church in Thessalonica . . .

Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (1 Thessalonians 5:25–28)

Prayer is his priority. He could not survive in ministry without it. While he comes across as a spiritual strong man, he needed the power of God to do the work of God. To the church at Ephesus, he described the spiritual armor needed to be successful against our spiritual enemy then tells them the victory is in . . .

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. (Ephesians 6:18–20)

He, a mighty leader, needed their prayers for words and for boldness as he preached the gospel. How much more do the rest of us need prayer support in whatever God assigns to us! The reason is simple; we cannot do it (no matter what ‘it’ is) in our own strength. We need the power of God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, (2 Corinthians 3:5)

Paul also talks about greeting one another. In that culture, the men greeted the men with a kiss on the cheek as did the women. This kiss was to be holy, not passionate or fleshly. I know only one woman and her daughter who do this today. Others go for the acceptable alternatives in our Western culture — either a hug, a touch on the arm or back, or a handshake. The form of greeting is not important but the doing of it is. Few Christians ignore this, but when it happens, I sometimes feel unimportant, even invisible. Satan tries to use those feelings to lead me into a pity-party rather than being focused on the Lord and on loving others.

Paul’s third exhortation at the end of this letter is that it be read to everyone. The normal usage of the Greek word for “read” (anagnōsthēnai) implies that it should be read aloud. A missionary says that in illiterate cultures and even for most who can read, hearing the Word of God is important. “Faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17) as often suggested in the New Testament.

Not only that, Paul’s words are strong. He put his readers under oath expressed by the words ‘enorkizō hymas’ also meaning ‘I charge you’ — normally used with the idea that failure to do so would bring punishment or discipline. In other words, Paul was stressing that reading this letter was very important to God and to us. I’m so thankful that God’s Word is read aloud in our church and that I or my computer can do that for me at home.

The letter ends with how it began. Paul says, “Grace to you and peace” in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 and ends with, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:28)

In every letter, Paul refers to God’s grace in the benedictions. Grace is given through our Lord Jesus Christ and in Him, we are blessed. Sometimes I forget important truths. This letter ending helps me remember that God wants me to know and experience the grace that He has given me.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, forgive me for the many times I’ve scanned through the brief benedictions in Paul’s letters — Your letters to me — without considering that You have not finished speaking. This one is rich in telling me what is important to You and what ought to be more important to me. I’m also reminded that You pray for me, You greet me in many ways with Your presence, You speak to me through these letters written by Paul and inspired by Your Holy Spirit and all that I have and believe is because of Your great grace. Again, I worship and thank You for such undeserved goodness and blessing.

Simple obedience isn’t always simple

The apostle Paul wrote powerful letters. Each one ends with a benediction that goes far beyond “yours truly” and is packed with amazing truth and amazing challenges. The verse in my devotional this morning is one example. 2 Corinthians 13:11 says, “Finally, brethren, farewell. Become complete. Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”

As I read and reread this verse, I can see how difficult obedience to God would be if I had to do it all by myself. For instance, the first sentence seems simple enough, but Farewell is translated from a Greek word that also means rejoice and it is translated that way in some Bible versions. Reading it as rejoice makes it a command—something like the song, “Don’t worry, be happy.” However, the biblical idea of rejoicing isn’t a mindless, forget all your troubles, empty-headed kind of happiness. It is a joy that bubbles up even during great trials (James 1:2-4 even says to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials . . . ”) This joy is evidence of Christian maturity. Try making that happen by myself? No way!

In 2 Corinthians this command is close to the next command, be complete, which makes me think this is what Paul intended in this benediction to this letter. He was telling the church at Corinth to rejoice and be complete, mature, perfect in the sense that they were developing Christlike character and virtue. Obeying these simple commands is no easy task. It takes a lifetime to learn trust to the extent that trials do not erase joy but actually produce it because I’ve learned that God is at work in that trial to make me complete.

Be of good comfort isn’t easy either. Last week’s murder of Emily Stauffer, daughter of a pastor in a sister church in our province, filled me with sorrow. I didn’t know her and yet was deeply affected, even wondering if I was feeling God’s grief over such a horrible event. Comfort comes, but every Christian knows that true comfort is from God. Even if people say and do kind things for those who are grieving, I know that I cannot produce it or make it come to me. God is the author of comfort.

Be of one mind might be the most difficult. In my church there are people from many backgrounds, nationalities, cultures and languages. We have an ESL class with students from Latin America and various parts of Asia. Our congregation includes senior executives and people who are currently unemployed. We have babies, children, teens, young adults, young married couples with and without children, widows, widowers, and a few who are more than eighty. How can this diverse group of people be of one mind?

God allows differences of opinion on many things but when He comes to live in a person’s heart, He brings with Him certain foundational truths. These are the things that God commands us to be of one mind about, but this unity goes beyond doctrine. We are to be of one mind in the sense that we are all listening to and obeying the same Spirit. If He is telling us the direction our church should take, it will be the same message to each person, so being of one mind can only happen if each person is listening to the Holy Spirit. This is a most amazing experience. It happens in our worship, in our business meetings, in our decision-making. God can produce unity in diversity. I could never make that happen.

Live in peace. Here is another impossible command. This means getting along even if I don’t agree with someone. It also means having peace in my heart, not being annoyed, irked, uptight, or feeling anything that is not peaceful. Of course I cannot make this happen. I’m not a vegetable and I do have responses to events and people. When someone does something that doesn’t seem right to me, or that hurts others, that peace is supposed to rule how I react. I’m not to respond to life’s events and difficulties with wrangling, arguing, grumbling or complaining. While God might ask me to do something about evil, and may give me a sense of how He feels about injustice, His peace is supposed to prevail in my heart.

That is the key; it is His peace, not mine or the world’s variety of peace. It is also His unified thinking, His mind, His comfort, His rejoicing, His power to make complete. This life is not my own. Not only have I been “bought with a price” but I cannot live it in my own strength either. I need Jesus, even to obey a simple benediction.

Closing a Letter

Most of the time my correspondence is email, but occasionally I write a real letter. Both open with Dear . . . or Hi, or Hello and close with sincerely, or blessings, or love . . . , depending on who is getting the letter.

This morning I read 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17, and while it is not quite at the end of this letter from Paul to the church at Thessalonica, it is a benediction.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

True to his calling and his style, Paul crams Christian teaching into every line of his letters to the churches, even when he signs them.

In this benediction, he mentions the love and grace of God that gives every believer eternal encouragement and hope. He conveys his love for them too, saying he desires comfort from God in their hearts, and that God would establish or strengthen their ability to speak and work for Him. In saying these things, he makes it clear that God is the source of all they need, both personally and in their ministry to others.

As for my endings, “sincerely” says I mean it, “blessings” is a vague desire for well-being from God and “love” tells my readers that I care. After reading this ending for Paul’s letters, I’m going to try and be more specific in the way I sign my mail. I don’t know what the recipients will think, but I think I can do better.