Hindered but Hopeful

Introduction

This morning we looked in Hebrews at the reality that following Jesus Christ costs us something as individuals. We lay our plans down at the foot of the cross and pick up what Jesus has in store for us. We lay down our lives. We lay down our pride. We lay down our selfish ambitions. We deny ourselves and pick up our cross. This is a cost that some are not willing to pay but it is mandatory in order to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. As we’ve seen throughout 1 Thessalonians to this point, Paul is willing to pay this cost to follow Christ. He planted this church. He loves this church. He wants to see this church grow and remain pure and strong and to stand on the Word and not give into false teaching. We have to ask ourselves the same question: Are we willing to pay the cost to follow Christ? Are we willing to do whatever it takes to obey God’s will for our lives? If our answer is yes, we have to expect some opposition.

Paul was not immune to opposition - he was familiar with it. From being stabbed in the back by so called friends (teachers who taught out of selfish motives during his imprisonment as he wrote Philippians), being thrown in jail for preaching the Gospel, being opposed by leaders, and eventually being killed for his faith, Paul knew persecution and opposition. This evening as we continue unpacking this letter, we’ll see that Paul was also opposed by Satan. As we prepare to read our text this evening, we have to understand that the enemy will do everything in his power to stop God’s kingdom from growing. Satan hates a Christ-Centered, Mission-Minded church that seeks to shine the light of the Gospel into a dark community - he cannot stand this!

As we strive to be a church that makes a dent in Dent County for the glory of God one life at a time, we have to acknowledge that this won’t be easy. The enemy can’t stand the idea of Dent County becoming more and more like Jesus. Our plans might be hindered as we are opposed, but as we’ll see tonight, Jesus still wins and our joy in Him cannot be touched. Let’s read from God’s Word tonight, 4 short verses.

1 Thessalonians 2:17–20 CSB

17 But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart), we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face. 18 So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. 19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 Indeed you are our glory and joy!

Paul was hindered from coming to these people… but he was hopeful. These believers were growing. They were standing on God’s Word. They were fighting the good fight. He calls them his joy and crown. As we run this race of life, let us do so with our eyes on Jesus and His plan for us. Even if our plans our hindered, we know that our God cannot be stopped. This too gives us great joy.

Satan Can Hinder Our Plans (17-18)

From the get-go in this passage we see a problem that Paul is facing, he was forced to leave this church - we talked about this back in Acts 17 as an angry mob formed whenever Paul was preaching the Gospel in Thessalonica and they kicked him out of the city! This saddened Paul and he attempted to return and see these believers again. Paul wanted to be with these believers and these believers wanted Paul to return and fellowship with him. If you look ahead to chapter 3 verse 6 you see...

1 Thessalonians 3:6 CSB

6 But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love. He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you.

Whenever we view church as entertainment or a ritual, we lose out on this deep relationship with one another. Church is an investment. Church is relational. Church is a family. Paul loved these people and desired to see them, these believers loved Paul and longed for him to return too. There is this idea in the modern church that church is 1 hour a week and you can check off on your weekly planner that you’ve done your job. I’ve listened to my weekly sermon and I’ve sung the songs, therefore I’m good for the week. It’s transactional. It’s just a tradition and nothing more. Whenever we treat corporate worship as a spectator sport - sit in the pew, watch the professionals on stage, listen to a lecture, leave without conversing with anyone, this is what worship can quickly turn into. This isn’t the picture that is painted in the Bible of worship, especially the New Testament! In the New Testament we don’t see professionals on stage and “everyone else in the pew.” We don’t see that idea at all. We see congregational involvement. We see people gathering together to study the Word, to pray, to participate in the Lord’s Supper, to learn from God’s Word together. Whenever we think of our worship service, the thing that must reign supreme is the Word of God. If it does not, if we turn worship into a spectator gathering that is done out of obligation and nothing more, then we run the risk of giving into the temptation of lukewarm Christianity that doesn’t desire to fellowship and worship with the body. The Church is more than a gathering on Sunday morning - but “church” certainly includes that gathering.

Think about how you view gathering with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you miss it when you cannot gather? During COVID there were weeks whenever we were unable to gather in person for a period of time for various reasons - that did one of two things to churchgoing people. It either made them miss this corporate gathering even more than they previously did, or they didn’t miss it at all. Case and point: 3+ years later, there are some people who have not returned to church after COVID. It’s not because they’re concerned about safety. They’re at Walmart, school, basketball games, and they’ll even come here for a fellowship event or Christmas service. Why have they not returned? Because they don’t miss it - they don’t see it as valuable. Whenever you can’t come for whatever reason, do you miss this gathering and time of corporate worship? I pray you do - because if you don’t, that’s a problem. Consider Paul here - he desired greatly to return back to these people and to worship with them. In the early church, people risked their life to simply pray with fellow Christians - it seems like today it kills people just to pray with fellow Christians. Consider your heart and consider our church - do we greatly desire to gather and worship with our church family? Is this gathering our reason to miss other things - or do we find things in order to miss this gathering? That idea is a foreign thought to the Christians in the New Testament. We must desire to gather - if we don’t, trouble is lurking. So many people turned 3 months into 3 years and they show no signs of coming back and, as a side note, as a pastor called by God to shepherd this flock - that burdens my heart because there are “sheep” who call this their home that I’ve never met in over 2 years.

Even if we do desire to gather, there are times where we can’t. This is what Paul explains in our text in verse 18. Notice what he says. He wanted to return, he wanted to travel back through Greece to Thessalonica and worship with them… but Satan hindered his plan to return to this church. After the heat of the riot in Acts 17 died down, Paul wanted to return and continue teaching these believers - he was only there for 3 weeks! But each time he tried to return, he was hindered. Literally we could say it this way, “Each time, Satan blocked our way” this is military language as an army would set up an obstacle to block the opposition and hinder their movement. This is the language here. Remember we’re in a spiritual battle - Ephesians 6. The enemy will try to hinder us in this fight. How did Satan hinder Paul? We’re not told how. A couple of thoughts have gained support through study of the text and the time period in which Paul is writing this letter. Some speculate that perhaps this was a legal hindrance. Possibly there was ongoing persecution against Christians in Thessalonica and this region in the empire that prevented Paul from journeying back to them. We see that Jason had a bond in Acts 17:9 to release Paul and the others in the first place. Possibly there is persecution that Satan is behind here… others speculate that possibly this is an illness that Paul has been fighting for a period of time. We see this show up in 2 Corinthians 12 as we talked about briefly this morning

2 Corinthians 12:7 CSB

7 especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.

This illness, this position argues, prevented Paul from traveling back and worshiping with these people. We’re not specifically told what this hindrance or road block was, but we do see that Paul planned on returning and was hindered from doing so. Why would this be the case? Because Satan cannot stand the Gospel being proclaimed and he will do everything in his power to stop that from happening. As we get ready for the Christmas season and the new year in the life of our church, it’s an exciting time of the year! We make plans, but even the best of plans are just that: plans. Our plans don’t always come to fruition. As we look at the story of Job, we see that Job’s life was going according to his plan until suddenly it wasn’t. Satan had permission to bring about affliction on Job’s life. From family to possessions to sickness, Satan hindered Job’s plan. We see here that Satan did the same for Paul. This shouldn’t surprise us, especially whenever we’re in the center of God’s will for our life that we will be opposed by the adversary himself. What do we do whenever this happens? Think back to this morning as we were encouraged by this verse at the end of 1 Peter 4:19

1 Peter 4:19 CSB

19 So then, let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator while doing what is good.

We continue to do what is good. Just because Satan is waging a losing war against the cross of Christ and throwing obstacles out there, it doesn’t mean that he wins. There’s still kingdom work for us to do. We know how the story ends! God still has ministry for you and me and this church that must happen in order for us to make a dent in Dent County for the glory of God one life at a time. We pause. We pray. We life one another up. We commit to gather with one another for worship. We commit to serve one another. We commit to grow in our walk with the Lord. We commit to be salt and light in our community. Satan can foil our plans, but he doesn’t get the last laugh and though he is a lion, he’s a lion on a leash. This truth, which leads to the second half of our text, provides us with good news.

Satan Cannot Touch Our God-Given Hope (19-20)

In verses 19-20 we see the ultimate hope that Paul has which is that Christ is going to return. Even though Paul’s plan didn’t work out how he hoped it would, he still had the opportunity to teach this church and we know from 1 Thessalonians 1:7 that this church was an example to other churches in the region. These believers had a solid foundation, but they still had questions. He was only able to be with them for 3 weeks, they had only been saved for a year or so, so it makes sense that they would still have questions even though their foundation was solid.

Think of some of the questions that you have that you can’t wait to have answered whenever you are face to face with God. What came first, the chicken or the egg? How did Jesus feed 5,000+ people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and have 12 baskets left over? How did Satan fall? Any other questions that you have you’re ready to ask Jesus?

We have a long list of questions and we see in 1 Thessalonians that these Christians had a big question regarding Christ’s return. We see that because Paul keeps on addressing it left and right in this letter.

Because of that, we’re going to spend some time looking at some truths of Christ’s return and how it effects us today as we live our daily lives.

Jesus will save His Bride

We will give an account to God for how we lived our lives - our actions matter

God will judge this world

Paul stresses these points throughout his letters and we know that Christ’s return has a great impact upon us with how we live our lives.

This is the doctrine of Eschatology - a compound word that we’re familiar with. Eschaton - last things, logy - study. This is all the rage in our world, and it has been for generations and generations, we’re not just talking about the 20th century here, we’re talking about since the times of the disciples themselves. You know that the disciples believed that Jesus was returning during their life, don’t you? They believed that wholeheartedly and it makes sense for people to feel the same way today. Eschatology is a fun thing to study! It should be the basis of our hope as Christians, not something in which we find fear. The thing of primary importance is that Jesus will return and Jesus wins in the end. Everything beyond that are tertiary differences that can cause splinters and splits if and when churches treat them as primary issues. What is the theme of Revelation? Not 1,000 years. Not the number 7. What is the theme? Jesus wins. If you’re in Christ, guess what? You win too! That’s incredibly good news. Everyone wants to know: How and When will this victory happen? In one sense it’s happening now if you’re in Christ you’re a new creation. The Kingdom of God is at hand. In another respect, this is something to come in the future too. It’s already but not yet. We want to know when the not yet part will happen and let me let you in on a little secret, John Hagee doesn’t know the answer even though the man and many others write a new book about it every other year. We don’t know for sure. There are lots of different interpretations and views out there and there have been lots of interpretations and views out there for thousands of years. There are born again Southern Baptists who have completely different views about the millennium reign. There are born again Southern Baptists who have completely different views about the rapture - some believe in 2 raptures (a public one and a secret one where people are suddenly taken out of their clothes and planes crash into buildings that no one dared even think of before the 19th century). With all of the distinctions on eschatology maybe you think that this is hopeless (talking to some about it can feel that way), but the truth of this doctrine is simply this: The King is Coming Back. That truth gives us hope that this world can’t touch.

Think of the Christians in the Hall of Faith and the Great Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrews 12. They ran their race with their eyes fixed where? Upward and Outward. They looked to Jesus and they did what was good towards others. We should live our lives with the expectation that Jesus could return today and there are millions of people who are not yet ready for that moment. Are you? How about those in your household? Your neighbors? The nations? See, eschatology should be the leading reason for evangelism. Because Jesus is coming back, we must share the Gospel to a lost and dying world. This truth must change our lives daily as we have an urgency to take the Gospel to our neighbors and the nations because Satan might be able to hinder our plans, but he can’t touch God’s plan. God’s plan is to redeem sinners, and this is exactly what Jesus does and one day He will return and rescue His bride.

Another point of application for us is that we will be held accountable for our actions whenever Christ returns. Some people think that they have prayed the prayer and they are free to live however they want because they’re now in Christ and Romans 8:1 notes that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Many believe wrongly in cheap grace that says that I am free to live however I want because of the cross and because I repeated some words. There is no cost to following Jesus Christ - I have fire insurance. What does the Bible share with us in Romans 6:1-2?

Romans 6:1–2 CSB

1 What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? 2 Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

We, as Christians, are called to stop living in sin because we have died to sin. Christ is returning and we are going to be held accountable for our actions as Matthew 25:1-13 shares with us. 1 Corinthians 3 also talks about this idea of there being a crown and a time of accountability for our actions

1 Corinthians 3:10–15 CSB

10 According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13 each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. 14 If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved—but only as through fire.

Notice what verse 15 says, your foundation can be built upon Jesus Christ but if your work is wood, hay or straw and is burnt up, you are saved because of your faith in Christ but you experience the loss of a reward. See, we are saved the millisecond we repent of our sins and place our faith in Christ, but we are not saved to sit. We are saved to serve. Paul speaks of there being hope, joy and a crown. The idea of there being a crown in verse 19 is similar to an athlete receiving a wreath placed on his head after winning a race. Paul is saying here that we should live our lives in such a way that we receive this crown and reward and hear “well done” my good and faithful servant when we pass away.

1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV

5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

We live to receive commendation from God, not man. No one can take this hope away from us.

A final point for us from Christ’s return is that Christ will have the final word. Our world is one of corruption, disappointment and violence. There are so many injustices going on and we are responsible to represent the love of God towards those who are being abused, picked on and wronged. Because we live in a broken world, this also means that we ourselves might face these injustices and be the subject to betrayal and slander and gossip. In this world, it can be easy to want to right the wrongs ourselves with a post, tweet, or comment… But, we also know that Christ will have the final word. As one commentator notes, “We have the promise that God will exercise His righteous judgment at Christ’s coming. God is more than capable to balance the books.” 1 Peter 4:5 shares with us that all humans will give an account to God and we look forward to the day of Christ’s return so that wrong will be judged accordingly and right will be rewarded appropriately.

Most of all, we look forward to Christ’s return knowing full and well that that our eternal home and destination is secured not in ourselves but rather in the victory that Christ has won for us once and for all on the Cross of Calvary as Hebrews 10:18 shares with us.

Conclusion

Paul is struggling in this passage as he longs to return but he is unable. We see that Satan hindered him from doing so. One of the incredible truths for us as Christians is that God has a perfect plan for our lives. Even though Satan tries as hard as he can, God’s plan will come to fruition. What is our responsibility? To trust in Him and wait for His timing.

Where is your focus today and where is your hope placed in? Is your focus on yourself and your immediate circumstances or are you living with an eternal perspective? Is your hope in yourself or is it in Christ and His imminent return? Trust in Christ and live with the expectation that He is coming back… Live as though Jesus died yesterday, rose today, and is coming back tomorrow. This hope changes how we live in the present, though we face difficult situations. He rules. He reigns. He has a perfect plan. We can trust in Him each step of the way!