Roadblock Ahead 1 Thessalonians 2:17- 3:13
My uncle Duffy was a tough old man who worked in the coal mines of Glace Bay and he began when he was just thirteen years old and he used to tell me, how he worked out toughen himself up in order to stand the hard work down in the mine.
He said he had to build up his arm and shoulder muscles and he would do this by standing out behind the house with a 5 pound potato sack in each hand. He’d extend his arms straight out to the sides and he’d hold them there; for about two minutes. After a while he used 10 pound sacks and then 50 pound sacks and finally he got to the place where he could lift a 100 pound potato sack in each hand and hold his arms straight out for at least a full minute! After that, he said, he started putting potatoes in the sacks.
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.
Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. 5 For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.
6 But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always have good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us, as we also to see you—7 therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. 8 For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord.
9 For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God, 10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith?
11 Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, 13 so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.
The basic message here; is that Paul is really excited to hear about the faith these Thessalonian believers were demonstrating, because they were really young in the faith; like probably a year old. And yet, they were facing a lot of opposition and it was the same kind of opposition that Paul had experienced almost everywhere he went. Those who were against the faith wanted nothing to do with them whether they were family or former friends because those who had rejected Christ; ultimately, they rejected them as well.
In 2 Corinthians 11:22-28 Paul describes some of the things he suffered as he compared himself to some of the false teachers. He says,
“22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.”
And so, Paul felt that he needed to encourage these people because he knew; they were not only facing human opposition but they were also facing the ultimate enemy who was Satan himself and listen, Satan hasn’t changed his tactics since the garden of Eden. He wants to do everything in his power to stop us from having a relationship with God and when we do, he does everything he can to stop us from sharing the good news with others.
So, in the first section of verses 17-20 we’ll see:
I Paul’s concern for these Thessalonians believers.
And he begins by expressing how he wanted to come and see them but; he says, ‘Satan has hindered us.’ And the problem we have with this passage is; he doesn’t tell us how Satan hindered him; he just says he did.
Paul used a Greek word for ‘hindered’ that was used to describe a road that was impassable and the main idea of this word is that the impasse was so severe that he couldn’t get where you wanted to go. So, what Paul was actually saying was: Satan has blocked my way from getting to you even though I really, really wanted to.
We see Satan opposing Daniel’s ministry in Daniel 12 where we’re told the arch-angel was upheld by the forces of Satan. And then again we see where Satan tried to oppose Jesus’ ministry by tempting Him three times in Matthew 4 and in the last verse of that chapter it says, that Satan withdrew for a little while. So, I’m sure there were many other times when Satan whispered in Jesus ear that He could avoid a lot of problems by simply by ignoring the rules. And even while He hung on the cross, there were those who were challenging Jesus to come down and prove who He was and had He done that, He couldn’t have provided our salvation.
Listen, Satan is as active today as he was in both the Old and the New Testament and his goal has never changed. He wants everyone everywhere to stop worshiping God and follow him by following his ways.
I think he especially loves attacking new believers because new believers can be excited about the fact they’re saved; and he does everything he can to keep them quiet. He knows he can’t take away our salvation but he certainly doesn’t want us talking about it.
And when we go through difficulties which we all do; he tells us God doesn’t love us; that He doesn’t really care and that He’s not even good. So, why would you want to live for Him?
And then he tells us that others aren’t worth loving and all they really deserve is our anger and resentment and then he encourages us to let everyone know what losers those really are. And if we do that, he’s destroyed any hope of fellowship we have with other believers.
Listen, Satan will tempt us to say, do, or think anything that will get us off track spiritually. He likes it if you think he’s not real; that he’s just a little red cartoon figure with pointed ears and a tale, and carries a pitchfork but he is a far more sinister and diabolical figure than that because his primary goal is to destroy you. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
They say lions never roar while they’re stalking their prey but they do, just before they eat it; so, they can let everyone know what they’ve done. And Satan loves roar and let everyone know when he’s lured a believer into sin.
You see, Satan doesn’t just hate the world in general; he hates you specifically and the reason he hates you so much is because every time he sees you, he sees someone God loves and since you are made in the image of God, he not only hates the sight of you but he knows that the only way he can get back at God is to hurt you because God loves you so much.
And not only does he hate you because God loves you but he also hates the fact that you are going to be part of the multitude who are going to be worshiping God in heaven because according to his former job title, he had been created to lead this worship.
So, Paul says, “Satan hindered us” and he was doing everything he could to oppose Paul’s ministry because he knew that when people got saved in Thessalonica and the other places that Paul visited then their message would just keep on going; which is what it was supposed to do.
A friend once said to me, “I don’t like to say anything about my faith; I prefer to use a silent testimony.” And as much as that sounds like a good idea; the problem is; it works a lot like a dog whistle and the only ones who can really hear a dog whistle are dogs and according to my dog; dogs don’t even need to be saved.
Satan doesn’t care why people ignore your testimony, as long as they do.
I read a poem that said,
An old man sat by an open fire and dreamed the years away,
While, outside in the battle of life, many perished in the toils of day.
He never did any good, nor did he do any wrong.
He just sat by the fire and dreamed the whole day long.
Now he’s left a vacant chair and they say he’s gone up higher, but,
If he still does what he used to do, he’s probably still sitting by the fire.
So, how does Satan hinder you and I today? I think there are four specific areas he attacks us in and if he’s successful; then we’ll be ineffective as witnesses for Jesus Christ.
And the first one; is the area of personal devotions and this simply means reading your Bible and praying. And if you don’t read your Bible and pray every day then Satan has you exactly where he wants you. You see, scripture is nourishment for our souls and prayer is our method of defence.
I remember when I first got saved and wondered how much time I should spend reading the Bible and how many people should I be praying for and I started reading Christian books to find out what famous believers had done. I read about Martin Luther and John Knox and others God had used to shake the world and found out some of them got up at three or four in the morning and spent several hours searching the word and praying and I decided, I was go to do the same and I remember the morning I got up at five A.M. and sank to my knees in prayer; and I’ve got to admit, that was the most uncomfortable position I’ve ever slept in.
So, the big question for many of us have is, where do I start. I always tell people to start simple. Start with five minutes in the Bible and pray for three people.
I shared this with a friend one time and he said, I’m going to do something better than that; I’m going to memorize the entire gospel of John and he got down to verses 3 or 4 in the first chapter and then he quit. And then he decided he was going to write out his own copy of the New Testament and he started with the book of Luke. And he wasn’t a very fast writer but he got about half way through the first chapter of Luke and he quit. You see, what he really needed to do is what we all need to do and that’s to start small and grow. Start with five minutes in the New Testament and pray for three people.
Now, if you’ve never read the Bible before, start with the book of John and when you read it; underline every word that Jesus says and then when you’ve finished; go back and just read the words you’ve underlined. This will get you familiar with Jesus and what He has to say.
And if you’re like the rest of us you’ll find reading the Bible grows on you. In the beginning is the medicine stage where you do it because it’s good for you; and then it’s like bran flakes, it can be dry but nourishing and then it becomes like dessert and you can’t wait to get some more. O.K. so, read it every day for five minutes.
And then pray for three people. Pray for their spiritual needs, pray for their health and then pray that they’ll do good at work, at school or whatever they do. And listen, if you don’t make a little list of people and things to pray for, I’ll guarantee you that your mind will go blank and you’ll come to the conclusion that you’re not the praying kind. Prayer is a discipline and a list will keep your mind from wandering.
And as you grow in the faith, you’ll find yourself praying for your family, your friends, your pastors and hopefully for a few non-Christians as well and then don’t forget to pray for your own needs too.
And you also need to find the right time for you which is not to say you can’t pray anytime but if you don’t pick a specific time then you’ll end up with no time at all. For some people, it’s in the morning and for others it’s just before they go to bed. No matter when you do it, like Nike says, “Just do it.”
Do it, when you don’t feeling like it, when you’re sad, when you’re busy, when you’re tired, when you’re feeling good, when you’re stressed, when you’re not motivated, when you’re on vacation, when you’re not sure and especially when you find yourself making excuses to avoid praying…just do it.
And listen, the Bible says, people prayed kneeling, standing, sitting, lying on a bed or face down on the floor. So, whatever helps you feel you are expressing a sense of humility before God; do it.
So, first read you’re Bible and pray and then second, you need to be a witness for Jesus Christ because that’s the one job He gave all of us to do. Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” And that’s an interesting saying because if we were fishing for fish, the fish wouldn’t want to get out of the water because that’s where fish are comfortable but if we’re fishing for men; that means we’re actually saving them from drowning. And since all of us are sinners and sin results in death then we’re actually saving people from spiritual death by telling them how Jesus died to save them.
And the best way to explain the gospel to anyone is to simply share exactly what happened to you. Tell them how you heard the gospel and what affect it had on you. Some might believe and be saved and others will say, “Well, that’s how you see things.” But listen, we aren’t responsible for how people respond; we’re simply responsible for sharing it.
So, first we need to have personal devotions; and then second we need to be witnesses of our faith and third, we need to be faithful in fellowship.
As Hebrews 10:25 says, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." God tells us that we need to get together for fellowship if for no other reason than because, there’s sense of encouragement as we see others who are enjoying the same faith we have and enduring the same trials we are. Listen, sitting at home listening to a service on the radio or watching it on television is great if you can’t get out but there’s no substitute for fellowship.
I think the greatest example we have is the Lord Jesus; in Luke 4:16, it says, "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Did you get that? It says, ‘as was His custom.’ The synagogue which was the Old Testament version of the church was where Jesus was found every Sabbath.
Listen, God gave us the church so, we can come and learn how we can be useful to Him and the church is also the place where we support missions which is our outreach to the rest of the world.
I’ve heard people say, "I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian." And that’s true but you don’t have to live in the water to be a fish either!
So, there’s personal devotions; and then there’s the need to be witnesses and then we need to be faithful in fellowship and then finally, there’s the issue of giving and I know that as soon as I mention money some people are turned off because they think, that’s all the church wants, another name on the roll and another offering. But listen, the Bible mentions money over 800 times and in all of Jesus' parables, more than half of them talk about money.
As a matter of fact, when Jesus spoke to a religious crowd in Matthew 23 He said: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. (and then get this, He said) You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.” You should have tithed while showing justice, mercy and faithfulness. One wasn’t to be a substitute for the other.
I remember the first year I was saved and I heard a man talk about honoring God with our tithe, which simply means giving Him ten per cent of whatever He gives us.
I was a new believer working part time at a Bible store back then and my job was to rewind and clean Christian films that had been rented to churches and I was only making about forty dollars a week.
So, this man encouraged us to put the Lord first in our lives beginning with our money and he showed where the scripture teaches us to tithe. Well, I felt this was something I needed to do and I intended to do it; when I was making a lot more money, but the Lord convicted me that if I wasn’t faithful in the little things then I wouldn’t be faithful in the big things either, and I remember saying, “Lord, I’m only making forty dollars a week and it’s costing me more than that to live.”
Well, I wrestled with this for a couple of days and then on Sunday morning I put four dollars in the plate and I’ve never given it a second thought since that day. My wife and I have been giving 10% or more ever since and God has always provided much more than we’ve ever needed.
I heard a sermon, years ago about the parable of the Good Samaritan and in this parable; the priest and the Levite had the attitude, "What's mine is mine and I'm going to keep it!" The thieves had the attitude "What's yours is mine, and I'm going to take it!" But the Samaritan was the one Jesus commended for his attitude, which was, 'What's mine is yours, and you can have it." The fact is, "Everything we have belongs to God; we are simply stewards of all He’s given us and one day we’ll give account.
So, whether you have devotions or not; that’s between you and God; whether you tell others about Jesus and what He’s done for you, that’s up to you and whether you join a church and support the work of the ministry that’s completely your business. But if you really want God’s blessing on your life then you need to be obedient to the things He makes clear in His word.
And then Paul says in verse 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? For you are our glory and joy.”
He’s saying, ‘What are we going to be excited about when Jesus comes back?’ It you, the very ones we’ve invested our lives in!
Listen, when we get to heaven, we won’t be preoccupied with all the junk we think is so important here.
I heard a story about a guy who died but while he was on his death bed he said, “Lord, you know I’ve spent my life serving you, I’ve helped in the church and supported all kinds of mission’s projects. So, now that I’m leaving this world I just want to ask for one little favor and he whispered his request and the Lord said, ‘O.K.’
So, he later that night he died and when he arrived in heaven Peter met him at the pearly gates and he was lugging this very heavy suitcase. Peter said, “This is rather unusual but the Lord said you wanted to bring something from home and if you don’t mind I’d like to see what brought.” So, the man opened the suitcase and there were three bars of solid gold. When he Peter saw the gold, he almost fell down laughing and said, “Pavement, you brought pavement.”
Listen, in these first few verses Paul was excited on earth with the very things that are going to excite him when he gets to heaven; and that is people. After he gave his life to Jesus, he spent his life reaching and teaching people for Jesus.
And then in the first couple of verses of chapter 3; we see,
II His concern about their spiritual progress.
“Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith.”
This passage assumes we understand the circumstances of Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica; so allow me to give you the Reader’s Digest version of what happened. Paul arrived in Thessalonica right after he and Silas had gone through a really nasty beating and imprisonment in Philippi. And then during the short time they spent here, Paul, Silas, and Timothy had led several of the Thessalonians to the Lord and this little group of believers formed a church. Some assumed there may have been about sixty but we don’t even know where that number came from.
Soon trouble started in Thessalonica and Paul, Silas, and Timothy had to run for their lives and Paul and Silas who were Jews were forbidden from entering Thessalonica again. So all three traveled to the cities of Berea and Athens and while they were in Athens Paul was so concerned about the Thessalonians that he sent Timothy back to find out about their spiritual progress.
For some reason the city ban against Paul and Silas didn’t apply to Timothy and it may have been because Timothy had a Greek father and may have looked Greek. So, he wouldn’t attract attention in a Greek city but Paul and Silas were both Jews and they may have looked and spoke like Jews. And because Timothy was younger than they; no one would have noticed him.
So, Paul said he sent Timothy to establish and encourage these believers concerning their faith; both to find out how they were doing and make sure they weren’t shaken by the spiritual attacks they were under.
And after hearing Timothy’s report Paul was not only relieved to find they were faithful in their love of the Lord but were actively spreading the word.
And then we conclude with
III Paul’s prayer in verses 10-13.
And Paul said he and his friends prayed “night and day” and this doesn’t mean they prayed all day and all night but it means they prayed regularly and consistently. He was praying for them to experience spiritual growth and then he prayed for himself; that he might be able to minister to them.
And he makes an unusual statement when he says in verse 12, “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all.” And what he’s saying is; I want to see you grow numerically but I also want to see you grow in love toward one another. Listen, there’s no sense in just growing numerically unless we love one another, otherwise we become nothing more than a social club where our primary purpose is to get together with people who are very much like ourselves.
Summary
So, we saw how we all need to be aware of the enemy. He’s real and his two fold goal is to keep us from being saved and after we’re saved to keep us from telling others about Jesus. And the four things we can do for our spiritual growth are: be faithful in our devotions, be faithful in our witness for Jesus Christ, be faithful in fellowshipping with other believers and be then faithful in our giving.
And as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” And if He can’t trust us with the little things then why should He trust us with anything.
Listen, God isn’t looking for spiritual giants but He’s looking for the steady consistent people who like the Ever Ready Bunny just keep on going.
Conclusion
I remember when I was only about four or five years old and my parents split up; and my mother was left with four kids living in a really rough part of Toronto. We were just barely surviving on welfare and many times we’d go collect pop bottles to buy a can of beans and a loaf of bread. I told this to my son and he asked, “Didn’t you all have gas?” And I said, “No, we couldn’t afford gas.”
After a couple of years she had this guy move in and after a year or so; he decided since he was paying the bills; there were too many of us and he said she could keeping any two and send the other two out east to live with my father’s mother.
So, she decided she’d keep the two girls and my brother and I packed up what little we had and headed for the coast; where needless to say, we felt out of place. I was only about eight and my brother eleven.
When we got there everything was so different. We had gone from living as a family in downtown Toronto to living in an old shack where we weren’t sure we were welcome.
Well, one day, I was walking up the road about two or three blocks from our house when I saw an old guy sitting on his front steps and as I walked by he said, “Nice day t’day, bye.” Well, I didn’t understand what he said and just said, ’hello’ to be polite.
And then he said, “Whose bye are you” and I told him my father was Wally and he said, “Oh, you’re the one who came with your brother from Toronto. Well, I’m Victor, so, when you sees me, you know who I am. And every time I walked by his door, day or night, Victor was sitting on the steps and he’d said, “Nice day t’day, bye.”
Well, one day my grandmother said, “You know, Victor’s dad died, so, if you see him, try to say something nice. Well, I was only eight years old and as I was walking up the road I was thinking, what are you supposed to say to someone who lost their father and I was thinking about it and thinking about it and before you knew it, I was at Victor’s house and he was sitting on the steps and he spoke first and said, “Nice day t’day, bye.” I just walked over and shook his hand and said, “Nice day t’day Victor.” And he said, dats the way she goes, bye, dats the way she goes.
Years went by and I moved to Toronto and got married and we moved to Oshawa and my cousin Angus came up and stayed for a while. We were sitting at the kitchen table talking about back home and he said, “One time last winter, it was storming so bad, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face but ma says, “Angus, you ate the last of the bread and we’ve got nothing for your fathers lunch, now, get your gear on, go across the street and get a loaf.”
So, I get almost everything I own on and head across the street. I’ve got my head down and my hood up because the wind is howling and just as I pass Victor’s house I heard a voice and it says, “Nice day t’day bye.”
Listen, he may not have been brilliant but he was always consistent and I believe that’s what God is looking for; steady, consistent people who will demonstrate and communicate His gospel to a lost and dying world.
