AN INCREASING FAITH AND A GROWING LOVE.
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12.
INTRODUCTION (2 Thessalonians 1-2).
1. Pauline Authorship (2 Thessalonians 1:1).
2. In/ from/ according to “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:12).
3. Greeting:
“Grace and peace” (2 Thessalonians 1:2).
I. OBLIGATION (2 Thessalonians 1:3) -
to give thanks to God, and return the glory to Him (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:2). Congratulations and compliments to men are here wrapped up in the praise of God: in contrast to the discouragement of silence, or the flattery of accrediting men with the honour due to God.
II. SPIRITUAL MATURITY evidenced by:
1. Increasing Faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
A well-grounded faith “grows” organically, as might a tree by the riverside (Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:7-8).
2. Growing Love (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
As Paul had earlier prayed and exhorted, their love was indeed ‘increasing and abounding towards one another’ (1 Thessalonians 3:12); and their ‘brotherly love’ was ‘increasing more and more’ (1 Thessalonians 4:10). The words speak of their love “overflowing” (like a flood), “each to all and all to each” (2 Thessalonians 1:3).
III. BOASTING (2 Thessalonians 1:4) -
of their steadfastness and faith in the face of persecution and affliction. However, setting them up as an example lays a greater responsibility on their shoulders (Luke 12:48). The Thessalonians were being persecuted because they were Christians (2 Thessalonians 1:4).
IV. A PRAYER (2 Thessalonians 1:11) -
for them to be “counted worthy” of the life and destiny which God already has in store for them (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:5). It is only God’s grace that makes us worthy. It is only God’s power that makes it possible.
V. GLORIFICATION (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
That glorification of Jesus which is completed at the end (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:10), is already being fulfilled by degrees in His people in the here and now as we grow in Him (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
Thereby Jesus is glorified in us, and we in Him (cf. John 17:10). To the glory of God’s grace (2 Thessalonians 1:12).
