I had lunch today with a fellow church-planter. If there’s one thing that every church-planter has in common, it’s that we’re never satisfied. We have this insatiable desire for what’s mo’ bettah —more effective, more strong, more efficient, more fruitful.

I have no doubt that the most fruitful church-planter in history, Paul, was the same. He could spot problems and opportunities better than anyone.

Which is why his first words to the church he planted in Thessalonica (and then was forced to leave) are so striking. He says, “We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.” (2 Thess 1:3).

He knows there are problems in the church. Later in the letter he talks about people in the church who are lazy, some who have grown weary of doing good and just given up on the faith, and others who are spreading vicious rumors.

But those aren’t first on Paul’s mind. First he wants to thank and praise God for the faith and love he’s heard about in the church. And it’s not just the fact that they have faith and love. It’s growing! “Your faith is growing abundantly. … The love you have for one another is increasing.” Yes, they’re imperfect. But they’re growing in their dependence on Jesus, and they’re increasing in the sacrificial love they express to the people around them.

And I think he would say the same thing to an imperfect church like ours. “Yes, you have problems. But I thank God for all the ways that Harbor Church is growing in faith and love.”

“I’ve heard that some of you are going to a repressive country in Southeast Asia this summer. You’re going to a place where the government actively opposes Christianity. You’re going to be hot and sweaty 24 hours a day. You might have to ride on the back of a motorbike — with four other people on it — for 30 miles to get to the places you’re ministering. That takes faith! Faith that’s growing abundantly.

I’ve heard that some of you have been giving up an hour every week to mentor kids here at Liholiho, and that you’ve brought lunches for the teachers here. And some of you have been going to the park every Friday morning to sing songs and play games with toddlers in the neighborhood.

Some of you have been hosting meals for college students during finals week. And some of you have been going around downtown Kaimuki and blessing the neighborhood by picking up rubbish.

I heard that you’ve have donated money to help people who couldn’t pay their medical bills. I heard some of you are taking in foster kids and you’re helping other people pay for adoptions.

All of that takes love! The love of every one of you for one another is increasing. And so we ought always to thank God for that, because it only happens “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 12). When it’s the grace of Jesus working through you, then you don’t get tired so fast. You don’t get frustrated so quickly. You don’t give up so soon.

Only the grace of Jesus will keep our faith and love increasing.