Sermon Tone Analysis

2 Thessalonians 1

Let’s pray!

Our Father in Heaven, Holy is your name, righteous are Your ways.

We pray Lord that you would speak to us today through your Word, and that as You did in the days of this letter, would you grow our church in both faith and love.

In Jesus name, Amen!

We are starting a short little letter this morning, it is the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonians, written probably within a year of the first one.

You that have been with us, know Paul’s story.

In his own words 1 Tim 1:13

The Apostle Paul before becoming a new creation in Christ, went by the name Saul of Tarsus.

He was a religious leader, a Pharisee and most likely a member of the Sanhedrin, a counsel of Jewish Rabbi’s that were essentially the Supreme Court of ancient Israel.

In the book of Acts we can read about a snapshot of his past when he was present at the death of the first martyr of the Christian faith, Stephen.

We read in Acts 8:3

That he made havoc… That he, Acts 9:1-2

In the next verse in Acts chapter 9 we read that Paul had an encounter with Jesus.

No, encounter is the wrong word.

Saul of Tarsus called Jesus Christ his Lord, Saul of Tarsus believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and right after He called Jesus Lord, his very next question was, and I quote, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

That is how Paul lived the rest of his life.

And that really is what it means when we call Jesus our Lord, that He is now the boss of our lives, and what He says goes.

When Paul writes this letter, he is with two other guys, Silvanus, also called Silas in other places in the New Testament, and a young man named Timothy.

The church in Thessalonica knew these guys.

Silas was with Paul on his second missionary journey, when he was beaten and put in jail in Philippi, just days before coming to Thessalonica to plant a church there, so they new he was the real deal and carried about them deeply.

Young Timothy, was previously sent by Paul to check on this church, He returned to Paul with an excellent report and he might have been the one who hand carried the first letter to them.

Whoever it was apparently stuck around long enough to bring back another report to Paul, or perhaps another missionary came to Paul in Corinth, which is where he was when he wrote this and brought some things to Paul’s attention that needed to be addressed, hence the second letter.

It is three chapters long, and the first one is all about encouraging this church that is undergoing persecution.

Chapter 2 is clarifying some things about the second coming of Jesus.

There appears to have been a rumor as the result of something that Paul either said, or did, that Jesus may had already returned.

Paul straightens that out and assures them, that it will be an event that can’t be missed.

And finally chapter 3, Paul deals with how we live now anticipating the Lord’s imminent return for his church.

We are to live with anticipation that it could be this very day, but we continue to labor, and work to be prepared that it may not be in our lifetime.

In other words, the imminent return of Christ is no excuse not to work and to just be a leach on the church or others as you’re just hanging out waiting on Jesus.

So lets, begin, again with verse one.

The simplicity of this greeting interests me.

Look at Paul’s other letters, it is always Paul, an Apostle by the will of God, or Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, some defense of his authority, or a reminder of his apostolic authority.

Paul didn’t have to do any of that with these guys.

He loved them and they loved Paul.

He also was very aware of their circumstances, and I believe Paul practiced what he preached.

You may remember last week, as we finished his first letter to them, he said…1 Thes 5:14

This wasn’t an unruly church, but they were getting beat up.

They were enduring, but they were under attack, being persecuted, so even in his greeting, Paul’s intent is comfort.

Verse 3…2 Thes 1:3

Paul says he and his brothers have a duty, and obligation to thank God for them, and he says it is fitting, it is right and he tells us here two things about this church.

One their faith is explosive, it grows exceedingly.

Not normal, not on pace with other churches, but beyond all that…AND....the love of every one of you abounds towards each other.

Jesus says that’s how the world (or those on the outside, not yet Christians) will know that we are His, by our love for one another.

But there is another verse that profess to love God, but don’t fellowship with other Christians.

In 1 John 4:20

But this church didn’t have those issues, they loved God, they loved each other, and the growth of their faith was explosive.

Because of those two things Paul in verse 4…2 Thes 1:4-5

Now if you think anything like I think, on the surface of this, you might be challenged some.

I mean these are the good guys, the love God and they are doing church the right way.

But if you remember, Paul, their pastor was run out of town just a few week after planting the church there, and the persecution has continued, and sounds intense.

Paul says they are suffering.

Yet, they are growing in faith, not questioning their faith, and rather than fighting, blaming, and back biting, they are abounding (growing exceedingly) in their love for one another.

I personally don’t think the church in America knows yet was true persecution is.

In the past couple of years we have heard hints of it, but no real enforcement or true persecution of it.

But when the slightest hint of it occurs, whether it be to the church or to an individual Christian, we respond with shock and horror like someone pulled the rug out from under us.

Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation.

In 1st Peter we are told that we shouldn’t be shocked by it, or even think that it is strange to be persecuted…1 Peter 4:12-14

So Paul is saying here, we wouldn’t normally do this, but we boast about you guys, we take the liberty to brag about your patience and your faith in the middle of persecutions and tribulations…and your response is a testimony or 2 Thes 1:5

We sometimes think that judgement is just for bad people, but Peter tells us that judgement starts in the House of God, and Paul says this is going on that you might be counted worthy…that judgement is like a refining fire.

Fire is often used to purify things, to sterilize things, but when they melt down precious metals the dross, or impurities are separated, so they can be removed.

Paul is saying that is what is happening here and their perseverance in it is evidence of God’s righteousness, because justice is coming.

Verse 6 2 Thes 1:6-8

This is such an important text.

I want you to see in verse 6 that God will repay, vengeance belongs to our King.

He will give us rest when Jesus comes back, and the vengeance that He takes will be on those who don’t know God, and adds this qualifier, and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is the gospel? 1 Cor 15:3-4

Obeying the gospel starts with responding to the gospel.

Not just believing that Jesus existed, or was a persecuted Jew that died on a cross, but believing in Jesus, difference between believing “that” Jesus Christ was born, lived upon the earth, and died on the cross, and believing “in” Jesus Christ and placing our faith in Him for salvation.

Belief “in” Jesus includes not just the existence of Jesus, but also the virgin birth, the sinless life, the substitutionary death for me personally, and the resurrection from the dead, saving me from my sentence of eternal separation from God. Paul is getting to that next, check it out…in verse 9, 2 Thes 1:9

It seems like every few years there is a new book, a new podcast, a new pastor with a platform, that makes the claim that there is no Hell.

And actually there is an old heresy that is once again growing in popularity and that is what is know theologically as Annihilationism.

That is the belief that unbelievers, those that do not obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ…that they may be punished, they may even go to a place called Hell and suffer for awhile, but only for awhile.

Annihilationism is the belief that when we die we are simply annihilated.

Some forms of it say, when we die, we are dust, our spirit, mind, soul, consciousness, all of it simply cease to exist.

More popularly, most go to Heaven the very bad go to Hell for awhile to be punished, but not forever, after a while they are just done.

The problem is that it simply isn’t true, it is a lie.

Paul tells us that they will be punished with everlasting, never ending, never annihilated, destruction.

But notice also what truly makes Hell, hell.

It is the everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord.

You and I are image bearers of God.

We were created as relational beings.

That primary relationship, whether we have properly defined it or not is to be in a right relationship with our Creator, the One who’s image we bear.

If we aren’t in a right relationship with our Creator, something will always be missing, we will never feel complete, and there will always be a longing in our hearts for what is missing.

What makes Hell, hell, is to never again be in the presence of the glory of the Lord.

What makes Heaven heaven, is to be glorified, having our salvation complete, being in His presence forever and ever. 2 Thes 1:10

That word believed is an important one.

The Greek word that it is translated from is also translated as faith, it is also translated as trust.

We know from the scriptures, that salvation requires belief.

Not belief that Jesus came, but belief in Jesus.

This will be part of your Growth Group Homework.

The Bible tells us in several places that we must believe to be saved.

•John 3:16

•Acts 16:31

•Ephesians 2:8-9

•Romans 1:17

These are some of the passages that tell us we must believe, but again that belief means placing our full faith and trust that Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did, and I am believing in that for my salvation, that He died for my sins, taking on my punishment, and justifying me before God, making me a new creation.

Next week in chapter two he talks about that whole process of salvation, Justification, sanctification, and glorification.

The idea that we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved.

And Paul says here because of belief.