Health is a Choice

Significant Lessons from Second Letters

New series.

It’s going to split up between spring and fall.

This summer, starting Memorial weekend thru Labor Day weekend I’m going to teach a series on the names of God.

Prime time w/ everybody up for the summer we’re going to study the character of God by studying His names in the bible.

Each name represents a characteristic that we can count on and take on in our own character, ourselves.

But, for the first 3 of May I’m going to teach thru 2 Thess.

The point of the series is so often we read or study the 1st letter, but then go on to something else and we don’t study the 2nd letter.

1 Thess., 1 Tim., 1 Peter.

So, spring and fall we are going to study the second letters.

2 Thess., 2 Tim., and 2 Peter.

Thus, Significant Lessons from Second Letters.

Today, .

Growth is a Choice

When we’re young we grow, regardless.

We remember our own lives.

Measured in the door frame. Outgrowing clothes.

We’re watching our own kids and grandkids.

And, pets...

We start small and grow big.

The problem is, when we become adults, our growth changes a bit.

We don’t grow any taller, but we tend to grow wider.

II outgrew some of my clothes.

You may have noticed I’ve lost a few pounds.

There was a Sunday a few weeks ago when I told you at a doctor appt. in Dec. he warned me that there are several numbers I need to get down.

My weight, BP, and cholesterol.

But, that’s 4th number I’m working on reducing.

My weight is down 20 lbs.

My BP is down, but not enough.

My cholesterol I’ll find out in a few weeks w/ the labs for a follow-up appt.

All my life, until recently, I’ve been in pretty good shape.

Some was good genes. Some was good choices.

As age creeps up genes are less effective and choices are more important.

I admit, I didn’t choose t/b healthy.

By not choosing a healthier lifestyle.

I passively let it happen to me and it wasn’t good.

So, I had to make a conscious decision to get healthier.

I’ve been doing this for 3 months.

I feel so much better.

Physically, I’m healthier. Less concern for big issues.

Emotionally, I can tell I feel better.

Mentally, I’m sharper. When I study I can tell the difference.

And, spiritually I can tell a difference.

As I eat better, exercising regularly, I’m sleeping better, thinking better, and acting better.

Well, sort of acting better.

I didn’t realize what the difference would be.

Frog in the kettle.

I just got lazy.

I have my excuses, but they aren’t very good.

What I said at the time was, God gave me everything I needed to be self-disciplined. He just didn’t make me self-disciplined.

I had to use what He gave me to get healthy.

It’s a balance of divine provision and human effort.

The next challenge is to maintain this. Here’s hoping.

Better choices.

As an adult, physical growth, or shrinking, is up to each one of us to use what God gave us to be healthy.

I had to do something while I could.

Though, I wondered if I really could do what I needed to do.

The time will come when options are taken off the table.

Spiritually, it’s very much the same.

Can we do what we need to do?

Passively, we let things happen to us.

Then, when life gets hard we don’t get a pass on loving God and at least acting like we love each other.

Is it ever too late when options are taken off the table?

Is it ever too hard, too much trouble when we can’t do what God has commanded us to do?

We feel so much better when we practice good spiritual habits even when things around us are exploding.

Family, finances, work, or even our health.

But we can’t wait to start when things start exploding.

Make good choices when it’s easy, so when it gets hard you’re ready to keep making those choices.

Troubling things will trouble us less and there will be less trouble between us when we choose to be healthier.

This is Paul’s message in .

Let me tell you about the setting before we get into Paul’s teaching.

The Setting

2 Thessalonians 1:1–2 NIV

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.

Paul is the primary writer, but all 3 contributed. They are traveling together.

During Paul’s 2nd missionary journey, he and Silas had just gotten out of prison in Philippi and traveled to Thess. where Timothy joined them.

Silas was his partner now because Paul and Barnabas split up after their 1st journey over Mark.

Paul took Silas and went to Macedonia where they faced much more trouble.

Timothy joined them. He was young. Paul had led him to faith and now he partnered w/ him in his travels.

Tim later becomes the pastor of the church in Eph.

Paul and Silas, for 3 weeks, in Thess. argued in the synagogue and town square that Jesus is the Messiah.

A number of ppl believed in Jesus as a result. Jews, Grks (who worshiped Pagan gods), and some prominent women.

.

The rest of the Jews in the synagogue saw that they were losing people and influence so they stirred up a riot and tried to frame Paul and Silas.

They went to Jason’s house where they were staying to run them in to the city council to shut down their ministry.

But, they got wind of the plan and Paul and Silas hustled out of town, and on to Berea under the cover of darkness.

The Jews were so put out, so angry that they followed the men to Berea and stirred up trouble there.

Look at how much trouble they went to, to bring trouble to these new converts and their attempt at gathering.

Paul and Silas moved on.

In was intense. The stress. The turmoil. The trouble. And the church had to stand up to it on its own.

In was intense. The stress. The turmoil. The trouble. And they had to stand up

Paul and Silas moved on to Corinth. They wrote the first letter to encourage them. And, now, 12 months after they wrote this 2nd letter to correct some bad teaching that was creeping in.

Young church, young believers, energized opposition.

This letter written in the early 50s. So, about 20 years after Jesus death and res. Still, a fairly young movement.

Their std. salutation, grace and peace.

God is the source. These things come from God.

On the surface, it might seem a little insulting.

Really? Grace? God’s undeserved favor. How do you figure.

Where is God’s favor when it seems like the entire community is against them and causing them so much trouble.

They had just committed their lives to Jesus and you might think God would make things easier for them.

And, peace? Seriously?

There is so much conflict in the community.

Conflict outside the church would stir conflict inside the church. And, naturally, cause inner conflict within each young believer.

Questioning if they made a mistake. Self-doubt.

Again, though, on the surface. Seems a little strange.

But, on closer inspection, as word got back to the trio about the condition of the church there was much to be encouraged about.

I’m sure there was conflict w/in. But they were handling it extraordinarily well.

B/C, there had been extraordinary growth.

Extraordinary Growth

2 Thess. 1:

2 Thessalonians 1:3–10 NIV

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.

Thankful for the growth

The reports were good. What they heard was encouraging.

Their faith was stronger and their love for ea other was increasing.

Paul used the phrase, “faith is growing more and more.”

Actually 1 word in the Grk.

Only time it’s used in the NT.

It means extraordinary.

Not normal. Exceedingly faster and deeper.

This growth in the face of the trouble that the community was bringing to them was even more commendable.

The trio of leaders had only been there 3 weeks. Now, they are gone and the church members were left to figure things out themselves.

Well, not exactly. Remember, Jesus promised that we’d get the HS who would guide us, remind us, and help us.

They had a strong counselor to lean on.

Paul would have challenged them to grow. He did the Eph. church, to know Jesus better. (1:17)

Don’t just accept, believe, and receive. Get to know Him better.

Why? B/C you’ll get more peace in tougher situations.

As you find peace in one difficult situ, situations like that become more routine and peace more regular. Then, you can stretch a little more and find peace in a tougher situ.

This is also the peace Paul wrote to the Philippians about that defies explanation. It surpasses understanding ()

It makes no sense. You should be stressed out of your mind. But, you’re not.

The report they had rec’d was that they were extraordinarily peaceful when ppl in the community were causing them so much trouble.

When you are stressed, isn’t it more normal that you are less patient and considerate w/ your friends and family?

When I’m stressed, I get short w/ my wife, and dog.

And, yet, their love for each other was increasing.

Not the ooey, gooey, feelings.

They showed it. Love is a verb.

How do you show love? How do you act like it?

Patience, kindness, concern.

Peter wrote about having these kinds of things in increasing measure in . Growth.

Graciously, serve each other.

No they don’t deserve it.

Especially when they got a little short and snippy. Don’t respond in kind.

Do something nice for them. Undeserved. Grace.

Community leaders were openly hostile to them in public, trying to trash their reputation.

Anything they could do to slow the growth and shut them down.

But, Paul complemented them and used their example as an encourager to other churches in the area.

Hopefully, negating the discouragement of their neighbors.

The trio of writers were thankful for what they had been doing and encouraged them to persevere and keep doing it.

Encouraged to Persevere

Continue to grow. Continue to choose to act like you love each other. Develop your character and take on even more traits of God as your own.

They encouraged them in 2 ways.

First, they helped them understand how God uses suffering in our lives.

Second, they helped reassure them that they didn’t need to hold any grudges or attempt any vengeance against those who oppose them.

God would make everything right in the end so they could let it go, completely.

Suffering does not indicate neglect or rejection by God.

Suffering is a reality of living in a fallen world controlled by our enemy.

We desire goodness, fairness, and right.

But, too many others around us do not.

Our bodies break down, relationships strain, and ppl can be mean.

When you want to do right, and be right w/ God; these things push back and create powerful resistance.

God uses this resistance to develop our character, make us stronger.

Like taking us to the gym. Lift the weight, get stronger, be able to lift more next time.

And, the fact that we can find inner peace and peace w/ each other under such stressful circumstances is evidence, proof, that God is at work transforming us and will save us.

We don’t have to succumb.

We don’t have to repay trouble w/ trouble.

We can act like we love each other even when others act like they hate us.

Which is ridiculously hard.

Paul knows we are wired to get even. Vengeance.

That’s why he goes here, next.

We don’t have to b/c God will.

It is un-natural for us to be able to let these things go.

What Paul is saying here, the way we are able to let these things go, not hold grudges, don’t wish ill on anyone no matter how mean they are to you; is by believing that God will make everything right in the end.

God will do it the right way, the right amount, at the right time.

We just want fairness. Justice.

God will provide it and we don’t have to.

Therefore, we can let it go.

After all, it’s only eating us up if we don’t. It causes more inner conflict and we lose peace chewing on ways to make other peoples’ lives miserable b/c they made us miserable.

Besides, we can’t know the whole story about what is going on in the life of the one who hurts us.

Let it go. God will make it right.

There will be a final accounting in the end.

Not everyone is going to get to heaven. In fact, a majority of ppl are not.

Some of the Pagan religions of that day were more tolerant than our culture tries to be today.

Our culture has a hard time believing, if there is a God, that He would send anybody to Hell.

He doesn’t send anyone to Hell. He lets them stay on the path that leads there if they don’t make a choice to change paths.

And, everyone faces a deadline to be able to change course.

An individual, every individual, has to make the choice to know God personally by believing in all that Jesus came to be and receiving Him as Lord and letting Him pay the penalty for their poor decisions.

This is obedience to the gospel message. The good news. The first step of obedience is belief, faith.

Christians win in the end. No matter how bad it’s going now, it gets much better later. Be encouraged to stand strong, love each other, and don’t stress.

Given a choice, I’d much rather suffer here, at the hands of ppl who don’t like me or God and still get to heaven; over being widely accepted here and rejected so I don’t get there.

Understand, too, how terrifying and torturous it is to not get to heaven. These ppl do not cease to exist. They exist for all eternity apart from God and everything that is good.

Paul says, everlasting destruction. It never ends. It, too, is eternal.

This is not an irrational outburst by God. It’s a judicial decision. Justice is truly done.

That is why we can let go of every desire to get even w/ everyone who ever hurts us b/c God will make it right and just in the end.

In v.10 he draws a contrast. Terror for those who are not saved. Marvel for those who are.

All based on a person’s response to Jesus and the gospel.

Imagine, when reality sets in for a person who never believed in God, therefore, never believed in Heaven or Hell.

That moment they realize that they are standing in front of who they thought didn’t exist and seeing what their eternal existence will be.

Not original w/ me: There are no atheists in Hell.

Paul wrapped up this part of his letter w/ a prayer for these young believers for them to have continued success in their growth

Prayer for Success

2 thess 1:

2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 NIV

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.

God is the source of every good thing we do.

The desire to do something and the power to get it done all come from God. We can take no credit.

Every act of love, every gracious deed, every kind word God put on our minds and in our hearts and then provided the resources to get them done.

We have an enemy who does not want us to succeed.

He will stress us, distract us, cause us to question ourselves, our ideas and our abilities.

He will introduce trouble into our lives hoping to cause us to think we can’t do what God has called us to do.

But, when we can do it anyway, we glorify God. That is, we make Him look good.

He glorifies us, makes us look good. So, people may compliment us for doing what we do.

But, we know, God is the reason why we were able to do what they are complimenting us for.

Say, “Thank You.” Then, deflect the compliment and give God the credit.

We can do hard things like what Paul is commending this young church and their recent converts.

We can let trouble die around us and not pass it on or send it back.

Things that trouble us don’t have to overwhelm us.

If we have healthy habits when it’s easy, it will be easier to keep them when it gets hard.

A deepening faith and increasing love are possible even when everything is exploding around us.

Applications

Grace & Peace

Need more? Lean into Jesus, not away from Him.

Concentrate harder when we worship on what God has for you.

Lose yourself in the lyrics of our songs. Let my voice ebb out and listen for God’s.

Listen when you pray. Let Him speak when you read your bible.

Don’t try to find peace on your own.

Jesus will give you His peace ()

Vengeance

Don’t

Believe that God will make everything right with you and with everyone who ever does or says a mean thing to you.

He knows more of the story than you possibly could.

The old saying, holding a grudge and wanting to get even is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

You can let it go b/c you know God will make it right.

Get healthy

Don’t passively let things happen to you that hurt your health.

Choose to do the things that make you healthier.

Eventually, if you don’t, you’re going to have a doctor tell you that you’ve waited too long and can’t get healthy any more.

And, eventually, you’re going to face God. And, He’s going to tell you that you can’t do anything any more to make things right w/ Him.

5 minutes after you die is 6 minutes too late.

Get healthy spiritually. Get healthy physically.

Do it while we can.

But we can’t wait to start when things start exploding.

Make good choices when it’s easy, so when it gets hard you’re ready to keep making those choices.

Troubling things will trouble us less and there will be less trouble between us when we choose to be healthier.