You Are Our Glory and Joy
Thessalonians 1 • Sermon • Submitted
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13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
12 that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.
Walk means to live or behave in a customary manner, with possible focus upon continuity of action.” Worthy means “pertaining to having a relatively high degree of COMPARABLE merit or worth…comparable, of comparable value.” Paul is wanting them to walk worthy or COMPARABLE to GOD! How can such a request even be possible? Because God now lives in us!
I love this statement from Bill Johnson, “If Jesus did all of the miracles as God and not man, we’d be reduced as spectators.” His miracles, signs, and wonders revealed His glory. The miracles, signs, and wonders we did reveal His glory. Living in Presence and doing the same works is walking worthy of Him because it’s living in His presence that reveals the cracks in our foundation so he can heal them and then release even greater glory.
Gen 5:
23 So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. 24 And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.
And [in reverent fear and obedience] Enoch walked with God; and he was not [found among men], because God took him [away to be home with Him]. AMP
The word “walked” in the Hebrew is used metaphorically “to speak of pathways i.e. behavior of one’s life.” Enoch made it a habit to “walk with God” or you could say to walk God’s paths and order his behavior of his life after God’s ways. He pleased God so much that God couldn’t stand it any longer and raptured him. Enoch never tasted death and that was pre-Jesus!
Paul is showing us the same idea here. He is exhorting them to habitually walk as God would walk on earth and order our lives the way God would if He was on the earth. Oh wait! He was and left us a record of what that looked like! So with God in us and the example Jesus lived for us demonstrating who we are now, Paul says to walk in a way comparable to God. If Enoch could BEFORE God became man, I think we sure can.
Urgent Invitation
Urgent Invitation
Paul then emphasizes that God called us into His own kingdom and glory. Calls means “to urgently invite someone to accept responsibilities for a particular task, implying a new relationship to the one who does the calling.” We are called into two things: His kingdom and His glory.
In the Greek, this phrase might be what’s called hendiadys. I’d never heard of it so looked it up. It’s a “figure in which a complex idea is expressed by two words connected with a conjunction” like “and.”
For example, “nice and warm” versus “nicely warm.” It’s one through two or one by means of two. It’s used for emphasis for both words and to maintain the independence of both ideas. With “nice and warm” you can feel how nice the warm is because both are emphasized. But in the second example “warm” is the main emphasis.
Here in our text, Paul is using this technique to emphasis equally both HIS KINGDOM and HIS GLORY. If we were to say, “glorious kingdom,” the emphasis would only be on kingdom and not the glory. We know that the glory is just as important because the mystery is God in us, the hope of glory and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory! Kingdom is equally important because we are now citizens of His kingdom by being BORN INTO IT!
Kingdom. “An area or district ruled by a king.” It’s HIS DOMAIN.
Glory. “The quality of splendid, remarkable appearance.” It’s doxa and means “to think, recognize.” It starts off as a favorable opinion and morphed into “reputation, praise, honor, splendor, light, perfection.” The glory of God is what He is essentially and the true glory of man is “the ideal condition in which God created man.”
So taking in the call, which is “to urgently invite someone to accept responsibilities for a particular task, implying a new relationship to the one who does the calling, and kingdom being His domain and glory His “ideal condition” for you, we see that we need to ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY TO LIVE WITHIN THE SPHERE OF HIS RULE ACCORDING TO HIS ORIGINAL INTENT FOR MAN—THE GLORY OF GOD. Both are equally true without the other but by using a hendiadys, God is revealing that His kingdom (rule, domain) and His glory cannot be separated. When they were separated in the Garden, man lost his glory and came under the domain of the enemy.
hendiadys is revealing that His rule and His glory cannot be separated.
13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
FOR THIS REASON…what reason? The invitation into His kingdom and glory provoked Paul to continually thank God for them because the Thessalonians were living up to the standard. They received the message wholeheartedly recognizing it as the truth, the Word of God.
Received means “to accept the presence of a person with friendliness.” It also means “to seize.” Welcomed means “to readily receive information and to regard it as true.” They knew the Word preached was truth, reality.
But I want to look at this phrase, “which also effectively works in you who believe.” Effectively is one of those power words again. It’s “energeo” and means to work, be operative, be active. It’s producing something. But notice it’s effectively working in those who BELIEVE. Believe means “to be firmly persuaded, to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance.” It’s not the faith of demons, whom James said believe and tremble. It’s a belief in a PERSON and His qualities that lead to real trust, confidence and reliance. I.e. you KNOW the Person and because you know them, you believe. How could the Thessalonians have such belief in a short period of time and in the midst of conflict? They saw evidence and added to what they saw, relationship building with Him.
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans,
14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
1 Thess 2:14
Because of the Jews that were hell-bent on destroying Christianity, they were suffering same persecution that the churches in Judea suffered from in Gentile territory! The word “persecuted” in “to systematically organize a program to oppress and harass people.” These Jews weren’t pleasing to God and were HOSTILE to ALL men. That’s very interesting. And if anyone would know, it was Paul!
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Wiles is “methodeia” and means “to work by method, the following or pursuing of an orderly and technical procedure in the handling of a subject.” In the NT, it’s always connected with “evil doing.” We see that the spirit behind the persecution was the devil. He was trying to wear down the saints so they’d stop or kill them off. It didn’t work, obviously.
By forbidding them to speak to the Gentiles about Jesus, they were filling up the measure of their sins. Fill means “to make something total or complete.” It’s not just full like another Greek word but it’s stronger mean “to the very end, to perfection.” It’s that idea of the cup of sin getting as full as full can be and then tipping over requiring judgment from God. And, according to Paul, the wrath had already started.
Wrath is “orge” and is “anger as a state of mind.” It’s anger that causes grief (). I.e. God doesn’t want to punish or pour out His wrath but it has to be done. Paul might have in mind the expulsion of Jews from Rome by emperor Claudius in 49 AD. In fact, that’s why his friends Aquila and Priscilla were in Corinth. These religious Jews weren’t just hostile toward Christians; they were hostile toward Romans—everybody. And this hostility was actually requiring God to deal with them. The final punishment was when Titus surrounded Jerusalem and burned the temple down and all Jews were expelled throughout the world. Of course, Paul isn’t referring to all Jews only those who oppose God and man in the name of God.
14 My dear brothers and sisters, the same thing happened to you as happened to God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you received the same kind of mistreatment from your fellow countrymen as they did from theirs, the Jews 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets and ran us out of town. They are offending God and hostile to everyone else 16 by hindering us from speaking to the unbelievers so that they might be saved. By so doing they are constantly filling up to the brim the measure of their guilt, and punishment has come upon them at last!
Satan’s Hindrance
Satan’s Hindrance
1 Thess 2:17-
17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. 18 Therefore we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us. 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
Paul expresses his frustration in having been “taken away from you for a short time,” but assures them that even though their interaction with them was brief, they fill a part of their hearts that eagerly desire to see them again. Paul explains that he’s tried time and again but Satan hindered them.
Satan is “satanas” in the Greek and means adversary is the the Greek of the Hebrew word for Satan, which also means adversary. Hinder means “to impede, hinger, delay, render fruitless.” It’s “to use strong measures in causing someone not to do something…to stop someone.”
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
2:7-
The enemy’s hindrance can be formidable. Paul worked around it by sending Timothy to check on them. You see, Paul was resisted by the enemy more fiercely because of the abundance of revelation he possessed. The thorn in the flesh were the Jews being used by Satan to stop Paul from preaching that revelation.
Buffet means “a circumstantial difficulty, to cause harm.” Messenger is “aggelos” or angel, which is messenger. It can be demonic spirits and we know that it is because Paul called it “a messenger of Satan.” The enemy used a spirit in the mouth of the Jews that then used words to stir up conflict to oppose and hinder Paul.
Because of the surpassing greatness and extraordinary nature of the revelations [which I received from God], for this reason, to keep me from thinking of myself as important, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan, to torment and harass me—to keep me from exalting myself! AMP
Like most D’s, Paul’s greatest enemy is pride and anger. During his early years as an apostle, this harassment kept him from thinking more highly of himself than he should. Or is this what Paul is saying?
The interpretation here is difficult. I’ve also heard it taught that the “exaltation” wasn’t Paul being prideful but that his revelation was so dangerous that it threatened to convert the entire known world at the time! And we know that was Paul’s mission. Listen to the Mirror:
In sharp contrast to these spiritual revelations, the physical pain that I suffered and my severe discomfort momentarily distracted me. It was as if the old mindset of accusation (Satan) persuaded me that this affliction was actually God’s way of keeping me humble.
How could Paul be given grace if he was prideful? God only gives grace to the humble. Either interpretation has lessons contained in it. And the Greek does point more toward pride but I think it’s equally important to realize that things going wrong doesn’t mean we’ve done something wrong. Jesus told Paul he’d suffer a lot. And he did.
The main point is that the enemy will try to hinder those who are the most dangerous to him.
