A Church of Grace and Peace (2 Thessalonians 1:1-12)
Following Faithfully: Lessons in Discipleship from Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 51:46
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Key Passage
Key Passage
Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.
We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduction
Introduction
Today, we begin diving into the short book of 2 Thessalonians.
I don’t want to spend a ton of time going into the specific background of this book because we have already done this for the book of 1 Thessalonians.
I want to give you the specifics about why there is a 2 Thessalonians. Wasn’t 1 Thessalonians enough?
Same setting as 1 Thessalonians.
Paul planted the church
He was only there a short time
He was driven out of town by the Thessalonians who had rejected the Gospel.
As a result, out of an intense desire to see how they were, Paul sent Timothy to get a report
When Timothy returned, Paul was overjoyed and wrote them the letter that we know as 1 Thessalonians.
The book of 2 Thessalonians was written within a year of 1 Thessalonians.
It’s possible that the person who delivered the letter of 1 Thessalonians came back with the report of how the church responded to the first letter.
As a result, Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians
In 2 Thessalonians, Paul writes about a number of the same issues as in 1 Thessalonians, but with greater detail and emphasis.
So as we see today, there is an emphasis on the same topic we preached about in 1 Thessalonians 5, the Day of the Lord.
However, Paul goes into it with some additional information and a clearer outcome of what is demanded by Scripture.
I hope that as we go into 2 Thessalonians, we find greater clarity on our role as disciples in this world.
Book Introduction
Book Introduction
The book opens up very simply
Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Introduce Paul, Silas and Timothy
I encourage you to go read Acts 16 and 17 to see the beginnings of the journey for these gentlemen.
Paul offers them a customary greeting in his letters by saying, “Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a ton of depth in that statement. I believe it is easy to glaze over this concept, but to realize that we have grace and peace from God changes our perspective about everything in this world.
This is something I want to use as our theme today. Grace and peacey
Paul goes to the lengths to give two hallmarks of the church in this statement
If there is anywhere in the world that grace should be seen, it is the church
If there is anywhere in the world that peace should be seen, it is also the church
This church in Thessalonica was enduring suffering and persecution. It was apparently pretty intense.
In our passage today, Paul is going to talk about having grace and peace during suffering.
He will call us to a new perspective when we gravitate toward lives that do not show grace and peace
If someone is saying, “You need to show grace”, it is usually because I don’t want to show grace. I am right not to show grace, but God is calling me to show grace.
Same goes for peace. If someone is reminding me to show peace in a situation, it is usually because I feel I have the right to fight, and win! But God is calling me to peace in the midst of my circumstance.
We’ll actually talk more about this as we navigate further today.
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
Paul continues, much like the first letter, identifying that this church is growing in faith and love
Define “FAITH”
Relational knowledge of God
We know God by how He has revealed Himself through His Word
Humble surrender to God
He is King, He is on the throne
We recognize His authority and our surrender
This is faith, trust and belief to give up control
Faithful obedience
Faith without works is dead
If we know God, we surrender to Him
This means that we follow Him as Lord. When He speaks or reveals His will to us, we adjust our lives to be obedient to Him
Define “LOVE”
Agape love
Love that is not based on performance. This is a love that is based on identity
All of humanity was created in the image of God (imago deo)
Psalm 139 says that as human beings, we were fearfully and wonderfully made.
We were knit together in our mothers womb
Sin, or performance, cannot change the love God has for us. Because He made us and made us in His image
He loves us.
He calls us to love others in the same way.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We are called to love others as God has loved us.
Loving others based on their identity before God, not their performance before us.
The Thessalonian church was growing in faith.
Praise God!
the Thessalonian church was growing in love.
Praise God!
However, the Thessalonian church was enduring tremendous suffering.
Before Paul, Silas and Timothy arrived, things were good. There was unity.
When Paul, Silas and Timothy presented the Gospel, it caused deep conflict between followers of Jesus and those from the synagogue who did not believe.
Let’s think this out:
The persecution wasn’t simply coming from random people in authority. It was likely coming from friends, family and trusted leaders.
It was more than persecution. It was likely personal.
Have you ever felt like you were personally singled out?
Someone was out to get you? It’s wrong. It feels evil.
You mourn the loss of a friend, but deeper than that, there is no one who can hurt you deeper than close friends and family.
Today, we will look at the Thessalonian church and how Paul challenged them to grace and peace in the face of persecution and trials.
All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
This is an oddly phrased verse.
As most of you know, we use the NIV Bible here. This is an easily accessible translation of the Bible that has a good blend of readability and accuracy. However, there are places where things could be better interpreted
The Bible was written in the Greek language 2,000 years ago.
Not even the Greeks today speak the Greek language from 2,000 years ago.
Language changes
As a result, interpretation of some of the texts can be better understood by looking at the Greek original language to help us understand the range of what Paul was saying here.
I’m not going to dig this out word by word and do a hermaneutical study of the original language. You probably don’t want an extra nap today.
I read it out and I believe the best understanding of this text comes from the NASB.
This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.
All of that to say this: What I believe Paul is trying to say here is:
He understands their suffering
Their suffering is expected since they are following God.
Their suffering may feel hopeless, but they are suffering for the Kingdom of God.
Because their faith and love have endured in the face of suffering, God will judge righteously and fairly and their suffering shows that they are worthy of the Kingdom of God.
Paul had warned the Thessalonians that suffering was part of the discipleship journey.
We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,
so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them.
In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.
And now that they were suffering, Paul is encouraging them that their suffering has a reward. It isn’t pointless.
To encourage them through their suffering, Paul is going to point to the nature of God as well as bring correction to them.
Is it possible to have wrong attitudes when we suffer and struggle? Absolutely.
Paul has heard that there are some wrong attitudes in their suffering and he is going to gently address it.
First he points to the nature of God.
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
God is just.
This phrase doesn’t show up very much on coffee mugs and bumper stickers.
God is love gets all of the press and attention.
And that isn’t bad! God is love
But the idea of the love of God without the context of the justice of God leads many to a wrong understanding of God.
A God of love who is not just is a permissive god
A god who only loves and tells everyone else to love will have no reaction to sin. In fact, in love, this god will be permissive of sin and say that we cannot call things that are sinful, sinful. That wouldn’t be loving.
The love of God is abused when it is presented without the justice of God.
A God of justice without love is also a misrepresentation of God.
A God of justice without love is looking to condemn and convict. He is an angry God who pushes people away because they are sinners.
A God of love and justice is a God that has a holy reaction to sin.
Sin is separation from Him and rebellion against the nature and will of the God who created us.
The wages of sin is death. God created us to be holy and in relationship with Him
Separation from God and holiness separates us from life.
But we were created in the image of God which we already saw.
God lovingly made a way through Jesus Christ to pay the penalty of our lives for sin.
God is loving AND God is just
We can talk about this for a long time, but we don’t have the time.
Paul then goes into the topic that he talked about in 1 Thessalonians 5, the Day of the Lord.
In his first letter, Paul communicates the message behind this teaching that the church must be ready.
But now, Paul also brings encouragement, and correction to people who may be thinking of this wrong.
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
God is just.
He sees the suffering the church is enduring.
Paul says that God will pay back trouble to those who trouble us.
Who is the right judge? God.
Also, God will bring relief to those who are troubled.
There are the troublers and the troubled.
God knows who is in both camps and God will be just to them both.
Now, I want to step back from this text and ask the question, “Why do you think Paul needed to say this?”
Why would he say, “God will repay them for the trouble they are causing”?
Likely because they felt it was their right or responsibility to do it themselves.
This is the condition of us as human beings.
We have rights. When our rights are impinged upon, we feel justified in retribution.
When I am hurt, I feel the right to revenge, or at least a grudge of unforgiveness
I believe this is what the church in Thessalonica was doing.
They were being persecuted, and because of their suffering, they felt it was their place to start returning some of the pain on the ones who were persecuting them.
Remember, these were not likely nameless people.
This was likely family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
There were some in the church that were likely going to use some of these secondary avenues to bring justice back on the persecutors.
But Paul corrects this kind of thinking in massive terms.
Listen to the rest of this thought:
All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Paul brings the conversation about the Day of the Lord back into the equation and provides it as a means of enduring suffering.
In 1 Thessalonians 5, he also talks about the day of the Lord and talks about it so they can maintain hope.
I believe Paul is making the same point here, he is just defining it further.
They are suffering, and Paul is saying, I know you want to get back and even the score a little bit.
But you are not just. God has not asked for your justice in the world. He has asked for your love in the world.
This passage may seem like a very harsh passage for the lost, but I think Paul is saying it like this for a point.
He is saying, “your persecution is very hard. It is difficult to endure, but look at this from a broader perspective. A God-sized perspective.”
There is only one Gospel, and that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul went to great lengths to talk about it.
This church had received the Gospel and it had born fruit within them through the power of the Holy Spirit.
They needed to see that the problems they thought were big and needing addressed were much smaller than the eternal problems their oppressors had.
If the Thessalonian church held onto their right to justice, they would never be capable of loving their persecutors.
Paul highlighted that the hope they had in Christ was enough.
But by bringing to their attention what it meant not to have hope, it changed their view of those who were persecuting them.
Teaching
I want to set on this for a few minutes
This is a time where we can truly assess our hearts.
This point is the same for us as it is for the Thessalonians
We have been blessed so greatly in our nation. We have not endured persecution.
We have merely endured a few minor inconveniences over the last few years.
However, I don’t want to criticize us for not enduring persecution.
The principle that Paul is talking to the Thessalonians about is one that we must embrace in small things, so our hearts will be prepared for the greater struggles we will likely have in life.
Forgiveness is a topic we have spoken about quite a few times here, and we will continue to do so as long as we remain in our journey of sanctification
We may not have a persecutor, like the Thessalonian church, but we do have people who have brought us pain, or brought hurt on those we love.
It may have brought a trial, or it may have devastated our life and caused a new trajectory forward.
In these cases, forgiveness seems inadequate given the amount of harm that has been done.
But what we need to understand is the reality that God is just and we are not.
God’s justice is right and fair.
If I hold onto my right for justice, I will never be able to love in the way that Jesus loves
He didn’t disregard my sin. He paid for it in full, so I could have a relationship with Him
That is love, justice and forgiveness.
Sometimes we lose sight of what we have been saved from and we have to return to the cross and thank God for His amazing grace
Sometimes, we need to be reminded that others are in need of that same grace.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
Why would they be an enemy? Because they have done something to you
We must love those people
With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.
This is one of my favorite passages in this text.
Paul says, “I pray that whatever you do wish that is according to God’s will, it will happen. But if your heart is off base, may it not be done for you.”
God makes us worthy of His calling
God is the one who sanctifies us.
We must surrender. We must obey. But it is God who sanctifies us and changes our hearts.
We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our lives will either be defined by the grace of God or the justice of God.
Our lives will be lived in relationship the same way
We must show people grace, so they know there is salvation for their sin
Conclusion
Conclusion
I want to conclude by returning to our opening paragraph
Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Real Life in Action
Head- Where do I struggle with unforgiveness?
Heart- Surrender to God’s justice, and ask for His grace and peace.
Hands- Forgive so we can love.
