Reading: 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 1-12
Ill:
• I am sure we have all seen the type of western film;
• When the cowboys are besieged and hopelessly outnumbered.
• They are low on provisions and short of ammunition.
• They cannot hope to hold out for much longer.
• Then the exhausted cowboys hear a bugle call from behind the enemy lines.
• They look up and can hardly believe their eyes.
• The long awaited relief column has arrived.
• Suddenly the tables are turned.
• The cavalry slices through the enemy, swords flash,
• The siege is lifted.
• A few moments before they were surrounded;
• Now they are set free.
• The armies which had pinned them down are in full retreat.
• Disaster has been turned into triumph.
The Thessalonians were under attack:
• The Christian in Thessalonika were experiencing big trouble from outside,
• Both the Jews and gentiles were persecuting them.
• They were also facing problems on the inside;
• Problem people and difficult issues were causing them great difficulties.
• Paul writes to these Christians and says ‘Don’t give up. Look up!’
• The cavalry is coming – your saviour Jesus Christ is coming back soon!
(A)> Signs of life (vs 1-4):
ill:
• A few years ago, myself, Martin & James Fielder all took the ‘bronze medallion’ award.
• That meant we could rescue people who were drowning if we had our pyjamas handy!
• What it really meant;
• We were qualified to be lifeguards and allowed to supervising swimming sessions.
• Part of the training involved basic first aid;
• e.g. How to give the kiss of life, how to give E.C.C. (External Chest Compression)
• I’m glad I did the course;
• Because it helped when hiring swimming pools for youth groups etc,
• But on two different occasions I was nearby people who collapsed and stopped breathing,
• Sadly the man died, but I’m glad to say the woman started to breathe again.
• Now when you come across a collapsed person in a motionless state;
• You look for signs of life.
• Do they have a pulse? Are they breathing?
• You look for signs of life.
2 Thessalonians was written to a Church:
• Who were suffering persecution from without,
• And struggling with awkward people and difficult issues from within.
• But this Church was not dying a slow death;
• In fact the opposite it showed great signs of life.
(1). Their Faith was growing (vs 3a).
“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so,
because your faith is growing more and more,
• Their "faith" is their total trust and reliance on Jesus Christ;
• To bring them into a relationship with God.
Ill:
• The African impala can jump to a height of over 10 feet;
• And cover a distance of greater than 30 feet.
Yet these magnificent creatures;
• Can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot wall.
• The animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will fall.
• The Bible says; “Without faith it is impossible to please God”.
• Faith is the ability to trust what we cannot see,
• And with faith in Jesus Christ we are freed from the flimsy enclosures of;
• Superstition and man-made religion that entrap us
The Thessalonians "faith" in Jesus Christ started at their conversion and it has been growing ever since.
• In fact, the word Paul uses here for "growing more and more"
• Literally means; "super growing."
• It was as if the initial seed of faith that sprouted when they first became Christians
• Had been sprayed with miracle grow, and so it exploded in growth.
• Their faith, their confidence and trust in Jesus Christ;
• Was flourishing like a healthy garden.
Note: Paul had prayed ‘night after day’ for the believers in Thessalonica,
• That their faith might be perfected (1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 10);
• And now he thanked God for answering those prayers.
Challenge: Is our faith still growing?
• Not in regards to salvation,
• That issue has been settled at our conversion!
• Regarding the PAST we are saved from sins PUNISHMENT
• It was dealt with at the cross – once and for all.
Quote:
“My faith has found a resting place,
not in a form or creed;
I trust the ever-living one,
His wounds for me shall plead
I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died
And that he died for me”
Saving faith should be growing into experimental faith:
• “We walk by faith not by sight”.
• The Christian life is one long development of our faith,
• Growing closer to the Lord, and seeing his hand at work in our lives.
• So the challenge; Are we just growing older in our faith or growing up in the faith!
Ill:
• Plants never reach their full potential because they become pot bound,
• I’m told fish grow in relation to the size of the pond they live in.
• Sadly some Christians never develop their faith because they become Church bound,
• Take their eyes off the Lord and look around at others.
• If you judge your spiritual condition compared to other peoples;
• You will think you are doing really well.
Ill:
• We have a friend called Kirsty she is 4’ 6” (same size as Queen Victoria was),
• She works as a teacher with small children.
• Now if all she did was mix with very small children;
• She could consider herself a giant of a person.
• It is only when she leaves her classroom and enters the outside world,
• That she is forced to recognise her actual size.
Now I have laboured the point:
• But the challenge is do not compare your spiritual growth with other Christians;
• Or else you will soon stop growing and think you are quite a spiritual giant.
• Instead fix your eyes on Jesus!
• Don’t just grow older in your faith, grow up into maturity!
(2). Their love was abounding (vs 3b).
“And the love every one of you has for each other is increasing”.
Note:
• Once again, this quality was an answer to a previous prayer of Paul's
• That he prayed in 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 12.
These Christians were growing in their love,
• In the Bible, love’s not a sentimental feeling or a romantic attraction,
• But it’s a choice we make to give of ourselves for the best interests of others.
• These Thessalonians had a Christ-like love;
• And this love was growing.
Ill:
• The word Paul chooses here paints the picture of a river overflowing its banks.
• The river bank marks the boundary where our love stops,
• But when our love overflows the boundaries,
• That means we’re stretching ourselves to love more and more people.
• So a flourishing faith in Jesus and an overflowing love for others;
• Are signs of life and health!
Quote: What is love?
What is love?
It is silence--when your words would hurt.
It is patience--when your neighbour's curt.
It is deafness--when a scandal flows.
It is thoughtfulness--for other's woes.
It is promptness--when stern duty calls.
It is courage--when misfortune falls.
(3). Their patience was increasing (vs 4).
“Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.”
• The word "perseverance" refers to the;
• "Ability to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances".
The Thessalonian Christians were experiencing:
• Intense pressure to give up, the experienced hostility from their former friends,
• They were under pressure compelling them to turn away from Jesus,
• To compromise their faith and love,
• Yet despite all these things, the Thessalonian Christians were standing firm.
Quote:
“You do not become patient and persevering by reading a book or listening to a lecture.
You have to suffer”.
These Christians knew what it was to suffer:
• They experienced persecution (vs 4) and trials (vs 4) and trouble (vs 7),
• And they remained strong through this difficult time.
• That’s why Paul said he could boast about them to the other Christians.
• And this suffering produced a quality within them – patience!
Quote:
“God can grow a mushroom overnight,
but it takes many years-and many storms-to build a mighty oak tree”.
(4). Their testimony was helping others (1:4a).
“Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith”
• Not only can suffering help us to grow,
• But we can then help others to grow.
Paul wrote elsewhere in the Bible (2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 4-5):
“He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.
5We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort--we get a full measure of that, too.”
The word translated "faith" in chapter 1 verse 3 and 4, can also be translated "faithfulness.":
• Actually, the two go together;
• We demonstrate we have a real faith in God by our faithfulness of life.
• The Thessalonians were dedicated to the Lord and to one another,
• In spite of the troubles they endured.
When a person in difficulty forsakes the Lord and the church,
• They shows that either they have never been born again,
• Or that their spiritual life was very weak.
• A true Christian who is growing will be faithful,
• Come what may.
Ill:
• During World War II, when enemy armies invaded North Africa,
• The missionaries had to flee; and there was great concern over the churches left behind.
• But when the war ended and the missionaries returned,
• And they discovered strong, thriving churches.
• The sufferings of war purified the church;
• And helped strengthen the faith of the true believers.
Question: But did you notice that something is missing from this list?
Answer: “Hope”
• "Faith, HOPE, and love" had ,marked out these believers from the beginning;
• Check out 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 3.
• Paul only mentions and gave thanks only for their ‘faith and love’.
• Because sadly they had become confused about their ‘hope’.
This leads us to the second section of this first chapter.
(2). 3 Promises of Hope (vs 5-10):
In this section of chapter one Paul reminds the Thessalonians;
• You may be experiencing difficulties in the present;
• But you have a secure and glorious future.
• In fact, their sufferings they were experiencing;
• Were a visible token, that God was working out His great plan for them.
• We tend to think that suffering proves that God does not care,
• But often the very opposite is true.
Ill:
• The story is told of a man who in the time of business recession lost his job,
• As a result he soon spent his savings and with no income he also lost his home.
• To add to his sorrow, his precious wife died;
• Yet he tenaciously held to his faith - the only thing he had left.
• One day when he was out walking trying to find employment,
• He stopped to watch some men who were doing stonework on a large church.
• One of them was chiselling a triangular piece of rock.
• 'Where are you going to put that?' he asked.
• The workman said, 'Do you see that little opening up there near the spire?
• Well, I'm shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.'
• Tears filled the mans eyes as he walked away,
• For the Lord had spoken to him through that labourer.
• His words gave new meaning to the mans troubled situation.
• (“I'm shaping this stone down here so that it will fit in up there.”)
Quote: Vance Havner.
• At the Nicene Council, an important church meeting in the 4th century A.D.,
• Of the 318 delegates attending,
• Fewer than 12 had not lost an eye or lost a hand or did not limp on a leg
• Lamed by torture for their Christian faith.
Three things to note:
(1). Future Salvation (verse 5).
“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”.
Note:
• This verse does not teach that suffering earned them the right to go to heaven,
• Because we know that they were saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.
Quote: Rock of Ages:
“Not the labour of my hands
Can fulfil thy laws demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save and thou alone”
Paul is telling these Christians:
• That their suffering are not a punishment from God,
• But a prize!
• They showed promise when they enlisted in God’s army as new recruits,
• But now they are in a tough training programme to make them more effective.
• God is not after soldiers on parade who look pretty and drill without purpose.;
• Instead he wants front-line crack troops.
Ill:
• When an athlete is chosen to represent their country,
• They are chosen because of their own efforts.
• But becoming worthy of the kingdom of God is not like that;
• Notice Paul writes “we are made worthy” or “counted worthy” it’s all his doing.
(2). Future judgement for their persecutors (vs 6)
“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.”
Ill:
• The story of the two farmers, one a believer and the other an atheist.
• When harvest season came,
• The atheist taunted his believing neighbour
• Because apparently God had not blessed him too much.
• The atheist's family had not been sick, his fields were rich with harvest,
• And he was sure to make a lot of money.
• '1 thought you said it paid to believe in God and be a Christian,"
• Said the atheist.
• "It does pay," replied the Christian.
• "But God doesn't always pay His people in September."
Note:
• God does not punish because he is vicious;
• But because he is just!
Ill:
• T.V & Media have been full of the stories of Harold Shipman,
• Who seems to have cheated justice by taking his life.
• Shipman was jailed for life for murdering 15 patients,
• Though he is officially judged to have killed at least 200 more.
• This verse is a reminder that he has not got off Scot-free,
• God is just and Shipman will get EXACTLY (not more, not less) than he deserves.
Notice verse 7a:
“And give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.”
Paul reminds the Thessalonians that God is not unaware of their or his sufferings:
• And he gives us relief from the battle,
• When he knows that we need it!
(3). The future coming of Jesus Christ (vs 7b):
“This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels”.
• With the Church at Thessalonica suffering;
• And their persecutors, getting away with it.
• It might seem to any onlooker that their enemies have it all their own way,
• However, this verse reminds us that the reality is just the opposite.
All the time the armies of heaven are at hand:
• They may well be camouflaged now,
• But at a given moment they will come out into the open.
(4). Future punishment for the disobedient (vs 8-9).
“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power”.
• Question: What kind of a future does the unbeliever face?
• Answer: Is not a pleasant one:
• Look at the dramatic words Paul used to describe it:
• Trouble or tribulation, vengeance, flaming fire, punishment, and everlasting destruction.
A holy God cannot leave sin nudged:
• People who say,
• "I cannot believe that a loving God would judge sinners and send people to hell"
• Understand neither the holiness of God;
• Nor the awfulness of sin.
• While it is true that "God is love" (1 John 4:8),
• It is also true that "God is light" (1 John 1:5), and in His holiness He must deal with sin.
Ill:
• A Christian doctor had tried to witness to a very moral woman;
• Who belonged to a church that denied the need for salvation & the reality of future judgment.
• "God loves me too much to condemn me," the patient would reply.
• "I cannot believe that God would make such a place as a lake of fire."
• The woman became ill and the diagnosis was cancer.
• An operation was necessary.
• "I wonder if I really should operate," the doctor said to her in her hospital room.
• "I really love you too much to cut into you and give you pain."
The patient said:
• " Doctor, if you really loved me, you would do everything possible to save me.
• How can you permit this awful thing to remain in my body?"
• It was easy then for him to explain that what cancer is to the body,
• Sin is to the world; and both must be dealt with radically and completely. J
• Just as a physician cannot love health without hating disease and dealing with it,
• So God cannot love righteousness without hating sin and judging it.
Ill:
• Just before the death of actor W.C. Fields,
• A friend visited him in his hospital room & was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible.
• He asked him what he was doing with a Bible,
• W.C. Fields replied, "I'm looking for loopholes”
Ill:
• One day, when Vice President Calvin Coolidge was presiding over the Senate,
• One Senator angrily told another to go "straight to hell".
• The offended Senator complained to Coolidge as presiding officer,
• Coolidge had been leafing through while listening to the debate.
• He looked up from the book and said;
• "I've been looking through the rule book, and you don't have to go."
Quote:
• No one who is ever in hell will be able to say to God, "You put me here,"
• And no one who is in heaven will ever be able to say, "I put myself here."
God does not hold a grudge against lost sinners:
• Quite the contrary,
• He sent His Son to die for them, and He pleads with them to return to Him.
• But if in this life we continue to ignore God in this life;
• One day we will hear God say; “Depart from me, I never knew you!”
(5). Future salvation for all believers (vs 10):
“On the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
• Punishment is only one side of the coin,
• Paul flips it over to show the other side.
• Paul is not prophet of doom,
• The weight of his message is not gloom but glory.
Notice the expression:
• “On the day he comes”
• This is not a tomorrow which never comes.
• Although we on earth do not know when that day will be,
• It is clearly marked on heaven’s calendar.
• The joy of that day will outshine anything we have felt before;
• It will be far beyond our wildest dreams.
Ill:
• When a soldier returns home after a long tour of duty, it is an emotional time.
• At stations and airports the relatives wait excitedly,
• For months wives, fiancés, parents and children;
• Have lived for that first glimpse of the one they love.
• They have carefully rehearsed their first words;
• But when the actual moment arrives they just rush into each others arms.
• It is too marvellous for words;
• The only way they can express themselves is through tears, hugs & laughter.
I love Paul’s words of reassurance:
• “This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”
• “You too will be among them”
• We know from Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians;
• No Christian alive or dead will miss out.
• But sadly there may be someone not a Christian here tonight who will?
• Listen you don’t have too!
Ill:
• British prime minister Herbert Asquith;
• Once spent a weekend at the Waddesdon estate of the 19th-century Rothschild family.
• One day, as Asquith was being waited on at teatime by the butler,
• The following conversation ensued:
• "Tea, coffee, or a peach from off the wall, sir?"
"Tea, please," answered Asquith.
• "China, India, or Ceylon, sir?" asked the butler.
"China, please."
• "Lemon, milk, or cream, sir?"
"Milk, please," replied Asquith.
• "Jersey, Hereford, or Shorthorn, sir?"
• Asked the butler.
LISTEN:
• The choice tonight is not complicated but it is essential;
• Life or death, heaven or hell, forever with the Lord or eternal separation!
