God Finishes What He Starts

1 Thessalonians 5:23-28
Listen to this sermon
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.
A few days ago a friend asked me if I would share some stories of miraculous
answers to prayer. So I sent e-mail to my friends around the country asking for
their stories. Here are three of the most compelling answers:

A Marriage at the End of the Rope

My wife and I are a miracle, and I have you and God to be thankful for that. If you
hadnt told me, No decision has to be made today, I might have made the
mistake of my life.
We are better than we have ever been, and to think that 17 months ago, I
wouldnt have given 25 cents for our marriage, God has truly been good to us. He
has answered our prayers.
People who have been tested, as we call it, and then persevere, endure, or
transcend through prayer, turning it over to God, to me are the true miracles.
The sooner we realize that Gods plan for us is the only thing that matters, and
that we should do everything that we can to get closer to him, the better off well
be.

A Man Whose Life Was Utterly Transformed

On June 2, 1980, I entered a treatment center for alcoholism.
From that day to this, I have prayed morning and night, thanking God for keeping
alcohol out of my life that day and asking that, if it be His will, the He keep alcohol
out of my life in the day to come.
God has never failed me. In 16-plus years, He has been faithful and kept me free
of a disease that has three possible outcomes death, insanity or sobriety. I
thank God the third option has been mine. And this through no merit of my own
purely by the grace of God and one day at a time, as the program says.
I count that a miracle and an answer to prayer.

A Man Whose Life Is Still Being Changed

Tonight I read, with interest, your comments about miracles. I agree with you that
there are some real heroes and heroines out there who suffer with dignity, with no
self pity, looking not so much for the miraculous cure as much as the miracle of
seeing Jesus face to face. I had a friend like that who went to be with the Lord
less than a year ago. She was, in life, a role model of faith for me and her
homegoing was an exclamation point at the end of her witness. The point I
wanted to come to, however, is that I believe God is still in the miracle business.
And the answers are still spectacular. But most of the answers dont seem to me
to be instantaneous.
We really are the immediate gratification generation. I think we read the New
Testament and wonder why we dont see God performing instantaneous,
spectacular answers to prayer framed within peals of thunder and bolts of
lightning. I think He does give
spectacular answers, only in His time. I base this on my own experience. If I had
asked a close friend sixteen years ago to write down a description of me and then
done the same today, here is the conclusion you would come to once you read
them: These are two distinctly different people with very little in common.
What happened? Nothing short of a miracle!! I wont go into all the
circumstances, but sixteen years ago I was at the end of my emotional and
spiritual rope. One day I got down on my knees and told God to either change me
or take me home because I didnt want to live another minute if my life was going
to be the same as it had been. Thats when I started to hear the faint sounds of
hammering and sawing inside.
To jump to the end of the story, over the last sixteen years God has created a
whole new person inside this one. Thats not visible to most folks. And it wasnt in
the twinkling of an eye. But it is a miracle! It is spectacular! And it isnt over yet!
What God has done in my life is more miraculous than if He had grown a new
arm or leg to replace an amputated onebecause He has grown a whole new
person. He still does miracles! They are spectacular! They are in His time!
To God Be The Glory!!

Miracles All Around

As I read those testimonies, the thought occurred to me that there are miracles all
around us if only we had eyes to see them! Our problem is that we look for
outward, spectacular results when Gods worklike the tiny mustard seed
begins in a hidden place, inside the human heart. As wonderful as reports of
physical healing areand I like God that he still heals in answer to prayer today,
the greater miracle is the transformation of a sinner into a saint by the grace of
God.
I love one particular sentence in the last testimony: Thats when I started to hear
the faint sounds of hammering and sawing inside. If you have a believer for any
length of time, you already about that hammering and sawing inside your own life.
Theologians have a big word for that. They call it sanctification. Its the work
God does inside the heart of a believer in order to make him into a brand-new
person.

Five Fast Facts

Here are five fast facts you need to know about sanctification:
1. It is the work of God
2. It is a lifetime process
3. It is never complete in this life
4. God wont stop until the job is done!
5. God uses everything that happens to usthe good and the badto make us
like Jesus.
That brings us to our text for today. As you can see, we have come to the end of 1
Thessalonians. This is my 13th and final message from this wonderful little book.
When we started this series in August, I did not anticipate the great blessing it
would prove to beboth to me personally and to the congregation.
Today we close the series with a look at Pauls closing prayer. These two verses
form a benediction in which Paul prays for Gods blessing upon his readers. Most
of Pauls letters end with a benediction or short prayer. There is a reason for this.
The teaching is over, the exhortation done, the message given. The closing
benediction is like the closing prayer in a worship service. In essence Paul is
saying, I have told you how to live, but only God can make your efforts
successful.

A Prayer God Will Answer

This prayer for their sanctification is a prayer that God will always answer. It rests
upon one fundamental truth: All human effort, not matter how valiant, is ultimately
unsuccessful without Gods help. One of our old hymns expresses this truth
beautifully when it says, All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down,
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
No one here believes in Bible teaching more than I do. No one argues more
forcefully for correct Bible doctrine. But all our teaching and all our doctrine is in
vain unless God supernaturally plants the truth in our hearts.
Thus the importance of this closing prayer. You might paraphrase it this way:
Lord, I have done all I can and taught these people all I know. Lord, youve got to
take over now. Unless you help them, they wont turn out right.
That leads me to offer a laymans definition of sanctification: It is everything God
does in your life and mine to make sure we turn out right.
Sanctification is not some mystical, strange, emotional experience. Let me
illustrate it this way. Whenever you invest in someones life, you care about how
they turn out. Thats why parents care so much and worry so much about their
children. They have given their lifeblood and so it matters almost more than life
itself how their children turn out. Now apply that same truth in spiritual realm. God
has invested in us the death of his only begotten Son. Sanctification is the divine
guarantee that that investment will not be wasted. It is the assurance that God
finishes what he starts.
Paul said it this way in Philippians 1:6, Being confident of this, that he who began
a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. He
began a good work the moment you came to Christ, he continues it day by day,
and he will it to completion until the day we see Jesus Christ face to face.
Sanctification, then, is Gods commitment to us. Were going to make it. He will
personally see to it.

P.B.P.G.I.N.F.W.M.Y.
But were not finished yet. Over 20 years ago I attended the Bill Gothard seminar
in Atlanta, Georgia. I remember seeing people walking around with buttons
bearing a strange and indecipherable message: P.B.P.G.I.N.F.W.M.Y. Despite my
best efforts, I didnt have a clue what it meant. Then someone told me the secret.
Those letters stood for the following message: Please be patient, God is not
finished with me yet. That statement strikes me as be entirely biblical.
Were not finished yetthats why we pray and seek the Lord
Someday well be finishedthats what sanctification means.
Pauls prayer for the Thessalonians is really a short course in sanctification. In
these two verses we have 7 Ps: The Person, the Purpose, the Prospect, the
Position, the Point, the Promise, and the Performance.

I. The Person God Himself, the God of Peace

In this opening phrase we have the guarantee of our sanctification. In legal terms
God is the guarantor, the one who stands behind the promise. Just as any
contract is only worth the integrity of the name of the paper, even so our hope of
sanctification is only as good as the person who stands behind it. In this case, our
sanctification is certain because Paul uses an emphatic Greek construction to
drive his point home:
God
God himself
God himself, the God of peace
Here is the truth: Only God can make you better. Think about that for a moment.
Exercise improves your body, therapy make help your soul, friends may lift your
spirit, good fortune may improve your circumstances, but only God can make you
better.
God is the author and source of all spiritual progress. It is impossible to overstate
the importance of this fundamental truth. Over one hundred years ago Professor
James Denney put the matter this way: How many have tried to work off a
vicious temper, to break for good with an evil habit, or in some other direction to
sanctify themselves and to keep out of Gods sight until the work is done.
So in our battle against sin we crawl into a corner and try to get better on our
own. After a while we stand up and say, See how nice I look, Lord? And I did all
by myself. And from the heavens comes this reply, Without me you can do
nothing.
In contrast to all our feeble efforts at moral betterment and self-improvement, Paul
simply says, God himself, the God of peace. It starts with God, and if it doesnt
start there, you havent really started at all.

II. The PurposeSanctify You Through and

Through
Every word here is important. Ive already said that sanctification is everything
God does to make sure that you and I will turn out all right in the end. Biblically,
the term means to make holy, which really means to be set apart for Gods
service. It contains the idea of be made pure and useful for Gods service.
The little phrase through and through actually translates an unusual two-part
Greek word. One part means whole and the other means complete or at the
end. It has the idea of being wholly sanctified so that in the end you will be made
complete. God has ordained that his childrenall of them without exceptionwill
be made complete in the end. Were not that way now. Most of us feel fragmented
and torn in a thousand directions. Were incomplete and under construction in this
life. But God intends that when we finally get to heaven the hammers and saws
will be put away and we will stand before the Lord with every part perfectly in
place and every aspect of our life made perfect.
Sanctification is thus a process leading to a product. Years ago we used to sing a
little chorus that went this way: Little by little, day by day, little by little, in every
way, Jesus is changing me. Thats the way it is for all of us. We grow little by little
and we make progress day by day. Its not very fast, but the Lord is never in a
hurry. He takes his time because he is the Master Craftsman.

Good Enough For Government Work

Perhaps youve heard the term good enough for government work. Thats a
derisive way of saying, Dont worry about the details. The joints dont have to fit,
the margins can be crooked, we dont need to worry about the budget. We dont
have to be perfect, we dont even have to be close.
Mark it down plainly: God does not do government work. Everything he does is
perfect. But many of us feel like our live are government work. We look inside
and see lots of good and bad mixed together and whole bunch of loose
connections and a lot of parts that dont seem to work right.
Thats the way it is in a fallen world. Were stuck with what seems to be
government work in this life. But it wont be that way forever. God has promised
that in the end, we will be sanctified through and through,
Were not finished yetbut we will be.
Were not completely clean todaybut we will be.
Were not wholly wise todaybut we will be.
Were not totally redeemed right nowbut we will be.
Were not always useful to Godbut we will be.

John Calvins Comment

In commenting on this text 350 years ago, John Calvin used a picturesque
expression. He said that God intends the entire renovation of the man. I confess
that I never understood renovation until I moved to Oak Park eight years ago.
Now I know what it means because everything in this village is under constant
renovation. Around here a new house is only 70 years old and an average
house is 80 years old. An old house is at least 100 years old.
Thats why anyone who can renovate old buildings does a land office business in
Oak Park. If you live in one of those houses, you know what I mean. You never
really get the job finished. First you work on the roof, then you start on the living
room, then the kitchen, then the bedrooms one by one. Probably youll have
trouble with the plumbing and the electrical (more than once!). Eventually youve
got to replace the porch, repaint the trim, and install a new heater and maybe
even an air conditioner. If you dont know what Im talking about, take my word for
it: the job is never done. You can work on a house for 15-20 and still not be
completely finished. Theres always something else to do.
If you think houses are hard, try renovating a human life. Thats a job so tough
only God would attempt it. Some of us take 25 years, some 30, some 40, and
many of us take 50+ years and the job still isnt done. I think God just eventually
says to some people, Ive done all I can do down there. Come on up here and Ill
finish the job where the working conditions are much better. (In truth, thats what
he eventually says to all of us.)
Today we are holy in spots. When God is finished with us, we will be holy through
and through..

III. The ProspectYour Whole Spirit, Soul and

Body
This particular phrase has generated a great deal of controversy in theological
circles over the concepts of dichotomy versus trichotomy. Thats basically a
debate over whether man is basic two-part or three-part in his essential nature. 1
Thessalonians 5:23 is a key verse for those who favor the trichotomy point of
view.
To be truthful, I find the details of the debate not very interesting. And I doubt that
Paul intended to give us some kind of definitive treatment of human psychology. I
think the reference to spirit, soul and body simply means the whole person in all
his parts. Paul is simply telling us the extent of sanctification. God intends to
renovate the whole man in all his parts. If he has two parts, both will be sanctified.
If three, then three. If four, then four, and so on. Nothing will left out or overlooked.
Every part will be made perfect in the end.
Lets take a brief look at the three parts he mentions in this phrase:
A. The Body
We dont debate this one because we all have a body. Begin with the simple fact
that you body by itself is neither good nor evil. It is morally neutral. Its what you
do with your body that matters most to God. In everything you do, you are either
consecrating or prostituting your body. Those are the only two options
consecration or prostitution.
You know instinctively whether or not your body is being sanctified. Lets make a
comparison in two simple lists.
Prostitution Consecration
Sensuality Worship
Gluttony Charity
Sloth Hard Work
Cruelty Kindness
Boasting Prayer
Filth Purity
Pampering Service
Hostility Forgiveness
Self-serving Noble Deeds
Holy are the feet that carry Gods message Holy are the hands that give a cup
of water to a thirsty man Holy are the ears that hear the cries of the needy
Holy are the eye that see the world as Jesus saw it . Holy are the lips that
speak the good news Holy is the mouth that speaks no deceit.
What about your body? Is it consecrated to God? Romans 6 speaks to this issue
when it calls for believers to present the various parts of the body to God as
weapons of righteousness. This is what Romans 12:1 means when it calls you to
present your body as a living sacrifice. Remember, if God has your body, hes
got you because you cant go anywhere without your body tagging along.
B. The Soul
This phrase refers to the seat of the personality, what the Bible elsewhere calls
the heart. It refers to the emotions, the desires, the self-conscious part of your
personality.
What about your soul? Is it consecrated to God? Have you yielded your thought
life to God? What about your imaginations? Your dreams? Your secret desires?
Your idle speculations? Your ambitions? Your emotions? Your goals and
priorities?
C. The Spirit
The spirit refers to that part of our personality that ties us to God. It is that through
which we communicate with God in prayer and worship. Our spirit enables us to
pray, sing, meditate, feed on Gods Words, fight spiritual battles, overcome the
evil one, and draw near to God day and night.
Is your spirit yielded completely to God?
Gods desire is that every part of our being be yielded and obedient to him. Many
years ago I used to hear the phrase meet for the Masters use. The word meet
in Old English means fitting or proper. Take a good look at your life. Is it meet
for the Masters use?

IV. The PositionBlameless

This little word comes from the legal arena. It means to be acquitted in a court of
law. You are blameless if no one can bring any charge against you. Thats not
true of most of us now. Those who know of us best know our weaknesses and
could testify against us but for their kindness toward us. Gods goal is that when
we stand before him, he will say, Does anyone in the whole universe know any
reason why this person should not enter heaven? At that point there will be a
loud silence as no onenot the angels or the demons, not the saints or the
sinnersno one in all the universe will be able to bring any charge against Gods
elect.
The Good New Bible says that God will sanctify us so that we are free from
every fault. Phillips uses the phrase spotless integrity. This is Gods desire for
all his children. None of us achieve it perfectly in this life, but better things are
coming for people of God.

V. The PointAt the Coming of Our Lord Jesus

Here is Pauls hope. When Jesus returns, two great things will happen for the
believer:
1. Our character will be revealed
2. Our perfection will be complete
We are so far from this now. We seem to make such slow progress. Do you ever
get discouraged about your own life? I do. Do you ever stand in front of a mirror
 and say Whats wrong with you? Why are you getting better? Sometimes it
seems as if the Christian life is three steps forward and two steps back.
In the recent presidential election the candidates kept asking, Are you better of
today than you were four years ago? Thats a good question, heres a better one:
Are you more Christlike today than you were four years ago? Thats better
because it goes to the heart of the Christian life. How would you answer that
question? Are you more like Jesus today than you were four years ago?
Im aware than spiritual growth can be very discouraging at times. Its like
climbing Mount Everest, the closer you get to the top, the farther away it seems.
But God has a reason for all this. He wants us to depend on him for everything in
life. He designed life so that it works only when he is in total charge of everything.
When we try to run the showwhich we often dothings just begin to fall apart.
If the Christian life is left to us, we will always fail. Only God can give us what we
need to be victorious.

VI. The PromiseThe One Who Calls You Is

Faithful
This little phrase is all-important. It is the foundation for the doctrine of eternal
security. We like to say that those who are saved are saved forever. How do we
know this is true? We know it because God is faithful to keep his promises. Our
entire hopeboth in this life and in the life to comerests on the faithfulness of
God. His faithfulness bears the entire weight of our puny efforts.
The one who calls you is faithful. Do you what we are today? We are the called
of God. We are called the children of God. Thats all we all right now. Were not
finished, not glorified, not perfected, not completed. You are a work-in-process
and so am I. Were all under construction. And as someone said, construction is
long, loud, noisy, and very messy. Thats why most of us can hear the sound of
hammering and sawing on the inside. God never stops his work because there is
so much work that needs to be done.
If you concentrate on your weakness, you will lose your confidence.
If you concentrate on Gods faithfulness, you will grow in confidence.
What makes us think that God will ever finish the job? In my minds eye, I picture
God as a sculptor working with a rough piece of marble. Hes working on a big
chunk named Ray Pritchard. Its a hard job because the chunk is badly marred,
misshapen, discolored, and cracked in odd places. Its about the worst piece of
marble a sculptor could ever find. But God is undeterred and he working patiently
at his job, chipping away the bad parts, chiseling an image into the hard stone,
stopping occasionally to polish here and there. One day he finally finishes one
section of the statue. The next morning when he returns to the studio that
 sections is messed up. I thought I finished that yesterday, he says, Whos been
messing with my statue?
It turns out that Im the culprit. Im my own worst enemy. What I thought would
improve things has only messed them up.
But God is faithful. He patiently picks up his chisel and goes back to work. He
wont quit half-way through a project.
Psalm 138:8 has a wonderful word we need to hear, The Lord will perfect that
which concerns me (New King James Bible). In the NIV it reads The Lord will
fulfill his purpose for me. Either way it is a wonderful promise.

VII. The PerformanceHe will Do it

Think of those four words: He will do it. They are simple and direct. No
qualification, no hesitation, no doubt of any kind. Just four simple words: He will
do it. Not He may do it or He might do it or He could do it or Hell do it if he
feels like it. Not even He do it if we do our part. Just a simple declarative
statement that God will do it. Unqualified by even the slightest reference to
anything on our part.
When its all said and done, what matters is not my strong hold on God, his strong
hold on me.
The Calvinists often talk about the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. By
that they mean that all true believers will not fall away but will persevere till the
end and thus be saved. I believe that, but I dont like the title because it puts the
emphasis in the wrong place. The emphasis ought to be placed on what God will
do, not on what we will do. I believe in the perseverance of God and the
preservation of the saints. We are preserved because God perseveres!
This, then, is the prayer that Paul has prayed. Paul has asked for a great thing
that the Thessalonians be entirely sanctified in every part of their being when
Jesus returns. Only God can do something like thatand God will do it for he is
faithful.

Six Points to Ponder

Let me suggest six ways this truth should affect us:
1. It should give us enormous confidence in God. If you have doubted God,
doubt no longer. He is faithful to keep his promises. He has ordained that some
day you will be like the Lord Jesus inside and out. And he is working even now to
make you a better person. Dont doubt his purposes even though you cant
always see his hand at work.
2. It ought to give you assurance of salvation. Sometimes believers struggle
with assurance because we dont feel saved. But feelings have nothing to do
with it. If you feel saved, thats good, and you should be grateful. But if you dont
 feel saved, trust God to keep his word anyway. Salvation rests not on your fickle
feelings but on the unchanging promises of a God who cannot lie.
3. It ought to give you motivation to grow. After all, if God has said he is going
to sanctify you, you can rest assured that you will be sanctifiedwhether you
want to be or not! Your only choice is whether or not you will cooperate with God.
Some of us get better slower than necessary because we fight against Gods
purposes. We harbor wrong attitudeslust, bitterness, pride, sloth, envy, and all
the restand then we wonder why its taking us so long to get better. A little
cooperation goes a long way in the area of sanctification.
4. It ought to give us perseverance in prayer. Sometimes I think we stop
praying two days before the answer is about to come from heaven. I know many
Christians who have struggled for years with certain behavior patterns and then
given up simply because they were so discouraged. But our text tells us that God
is always at work moving us toward a time when we will be perfect in every
respect. Even in this life, we can make huge progress as Christians. Its just that
the progress often comes slowly and in small increments. So we ought to keep on
praying precisely because we believe God is at work in us even when we dont
see it.
This same truth applies to our prayers for others. Not long ago I received a note
from a friend who said he and his wife were taking the hard step of asking their
one of their children to move out of their house because of persistently bad
lifestyle choices. It broke his heart and the tears would not stop flowing. But he
did what he had to do. Then he said this:
So we wait and we pray - I feel like Im in constant prayer bathed in floods of tears
that never seem to dry up. In the meantime, we ask for prayer for _____ and for
us to remain strong and Christlike through this situation. This is a our toughest
test yet.
Every parent can feel the pain and the love in this words. But can you also the
sound of a godly man who will not give up? God is not finished in his lifeor in
the life of his children either.
So keep on praying and never give up.
5. This ought to develop patience toward others. After all, if God if not
finished with you yet, hes not finished with them either. And if you want them to
be patient with your weaknesses, they should expect the same in return from you.
6. This ought to teach us gratitude for every tiny step in the right direction.
Some people want to fly before the run, run before they walk, and walk before the
crawl. But thats rarely what happens. More often our spiritual progress comes in
one tiny baby step after another. Its little by little, day by day that we grow into
the image of Jesus. Therefore, let us take heart in every tiny step we take and in
every tiny bit of progress our friends and loved ones make. For each baby step
forward comes directly from the hands of a loving Father who is at work in ways
we cannot see and probably couldnt even imagine.
Were Going to be All Right Some Day
God has called us to a life of holiness. He has opened the door by sending his
Son as a propitiation for our sins. He started a good work in us by inclining us to
believe the gospel. He continues his sanctifying purpose every day. He has
decreed that we will some day turn out all right. We will be complete in the end.
Right now were not all right. Some of us feel all right and most of us feel
partly right and partly wrong. But none of us are completely all right in every
area of life. For the moment, were not all right but by Gods grace were moving
in that direction and in the end, were all going to make it by the grace of God.
He will not stop until the job is finished for he is faithful and he will do it. And in
the end we will each one stand before Jesus Christ whole and complete. Perfect,
pure, perfected. No more hammering, no more sawing, no more finish work.
Why? Because God finishes what he starts.

Place Yourself in Gods Hands

We may chafe, doubt and despair of any progress at all. We may be angry and
give up. But God does not change. He is faithful and he will do it.
What is left for us? Simply to place ourselves in Gods hands. To cooperate with
the Master Designer as he shapes us into the image of Jesus. To say, Lord, here
am I. Make me what you want me to be.
You standing in life doesnt matter. Businessman or woman, student, mother at
home raising children, teacher, nurse, doctor, lawyer, builder, engineer, professor,
secretary, salesperson, letter carrier, speaker, writer, or adventurer.
God is at work in your life. He will not stop until the job is done. Will you join me in
saying, Lord, here am I. Make me what you want me to be? Thats a prayer God
will always be pleased to answer.