Alba 4-7-2024
THE LORD IS FAITHFUL
II Thessalonians 3:1-5
There was an advertisement which read, “Faithful Dog For Sale”. So a guy called up the owner for details and said, “Hey, I saw your offer for a faithful dog, I have a couple of questions.”
“Shoot.” “Is he good with kids?” “Very. He’s kind and gentle and has endless patience.” “Is he a yard dog or house dog?” “House trained but loves the yard as well.”
“Cool. Last, is he really faithful?” “Oh yeah, very faithful. This is the fifth time I’m selling him.”
Someone said that if you ever want to find out who is more faithful... your wife or your dog, lock both in the trunk of your car for 6 hours and watch who is happier to see you when you let them out.
By the way, which animal is not faithful in a relationship? The answer: Cheetah. You might have thought I was going to say: People. It is true that some men are not better than animals in the way they conduct themselves with women. But as unfaithful as many people are, there is one who is always faithful. The Lord is faithful!
Before the apostle Paul closes his second letter to the church in Thessalonica, he made sure to remind them of this fact. In II Thessalonians 3:1-5 we read this: “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.
“But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.”
I am sure that many of us here today can attest to the fact that we have experienced the faithfulness of God in various circumstances that we have had to face in this life. It is a blessing to be able to say we have a faithful God.
But those experiences did not come without difficulties. No one in this life glides through day by day without many problems, pains and sorrows. So where does that put God's faithfulness? What does it mean when we say that God is faithful?
Some think that it means when a person is putting trust in God and depending on Him for good outcomes, that everything should work out without any problem at all. Some sermons by some preachers have given that impression to too many people. Then when a problem arises, it puts them in a place where they begin to doubt God and lose any faith that they had.
When Paul tells the Thessalonian Christians that the Lord is faithful, notice, he says it right after he asked them to pray that he would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. It is clear that he was experiencing some problems. And boy did he! Look at what he says about some of those experiences in II Corinthians 11:22-30. He says:
“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 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. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 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; 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; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.”
And yet, this same apostle Paul proclaims “The Lord is Faithful”. To some it would seem odd. But Paul was not a Pollyanna. Because in all his trouble he found that he could trust God to faithfully care for him.
He could ask the Thessalonians to pray for deliverance from those who would try to stop him from telling people about Jesus because he knew that God would listen to their prayers. He also knew that often his own prayers were answered.
And when the answer was not what he had hoped it would be, he found that he could still trust God. Do you remember when Paul prayed about that thorn in the flesh that he wanted to be removed? Here's what he said about that in
II Corinthians 12:7-10
“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. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
So in the times when we feel burdened with a problem, pain or sorrow, we also should realize that God has strength that we don't have. And when we feel weak we need know that that gives God even more opportunity to show His power.
The real problem is not the current circumstance that we are experiencing, it is that the devil may use that situation to discourage us in our walk with the Lord. It is only as we continue to trust in God's faithfulness that we can have a good outcome. Because as verse three says, it is God who will
establish us and guard us from the evil one.
When someone is doing well in this world we often say that person is “well established”. When the Lord establishes us, it does not mean that we have all of the world's goods that we want. No. It means that when we remember the faithfulness of God and are fully trusting Him no matter what, we will not be influenced by the devil's tricks to cause us to lose our faith.
Satan would like nothing more than to see Christians wandering away from the Lord. When things become difficult or something becomes hard to understand, the devil will use it to his advantage if he can.
In the gospel of John chapter six, after Jesus told the people an idea that they couldn't grasp, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” And many turned away from following Him. It was then Jesus asked the apostles, those special men He had chosen, if they were going to leave Him too. Of course it was Peter who spoke up saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68-69)
The apostles had spent enough time with Jesus that they were established in their faith. That is what it takes for us today as well. We must spend time with Jesus and God's Word in order to be established in our faith. I know that sometimes it is difficult to be focused on the Lord and to dig into His Word, but God is faithful and will help us to do so if we are willing.
Because of God's faithfulness, He will not only establish us, He is able to protect us. Again, that does not mean that no harm will ever come to God's people. We know of too many instances when some terrible things have happened to Christians. The classic book, “Foxes Book of Martyrs” tells of the evil that has been done to people down through the ages simply because of their faith in Jesus.
But even when people went to their death, they knew that Jesus had suffered for them on the cross. So rather than give into demands that they should renounce their faith, they knew that the God who faithfully met our need for forgiveness of our sins through Jesus' death on that cross would also be faithful in His promise of eternal life.
The devil will try to make us think that with whatever he tempts us we will have a great time. But he doesn't show us the finale price tag of his season of pleasure which is eternal death. Only God can provide a full and fun life and then still give an afterlife of joy, an eternity spent with Jesus!!!
It is wise to trust the faithfulness of the Lord because He can protect us from the evil one. For sure, He can do a better job against the devil than we can on our own. We should also make this a matter of prayer because Jesus taught us to pray asking God to “not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one” (Matthew 6:13). And He can do it!
Of course we won't have much success with that if we have the attitude of a character in one of Oscar Wilde's books who said, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Or Mae West who said, “I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.” No, we need to look for the way that God will help us.
As it says in I Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
You see, the Lord is faithful to protect us from the evil one when the devil tries to trip us and cause us to stumble. The Lord promises to provide a way of escape, if we will take it.
We are not alone in this battle. When Jesus gave the Great Commission to go into all the world with the gospel, He said He would be with us all the way, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:20) If we are walking with Jesus and making known His love and forgiveness through our lives, He will never forsake us.
When the apostle Peter warns about the devil being like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, we are told to stand firm against him and be strong, established, in our faith. And James 4:7-8 says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” See, we are not alone. The Lord is faithful.
Verse four of our text shows that Paul had confidence that the Christians in Thessalonica were doing and would do the things commanded. I like the way the present and the future obedience of those Christians was mentioned. We need to be sure that we are doing, and will continue to do, all that we know is right as directed in God's Holy Word.
Because Christianity is not something we make up as we go along. It is the message of Christ Jesus. And what is the message of the Lord? The message of the Lord is the Gospel, the message of salvation from the judgment of sin! The message of the One who gave Himself as a sacrifice to take the punishment for our sins when He died on that cross.
I Corinthians 15:1-4 tells us how this all became a reality saying, “Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (NIV).
It is a mystery that He could love us so. In Ephesians 3:4-5 it speaks of the “mystery of Christ which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.” We have that revealed knowledge through the written Word of God. And down through the ages God has been faithful to preserve His Word for us. That, in spite of the many times rulers and evil men have tried to destroy it.
It is in the Bible that we will find the Lord's direction for our lives. Paul speaks of commands, and we are to follow these in the same way a soldier is to follow the commands given to him or her. The Lord is faithful to direct us in the way that we should go. In fact verse five is like a prayer where Paul writes, “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.”
If we allow the Lord to direct us toward His love, it will be a blessing, not only to us, but to all the people around us. That includes any family members or any people with whom we come into contact in our daily lives. That is the answer to the constant bickering and unjust action that is going on in the world around us today.
And we are to aspire to the patience of Christ. Other translations use words like perseverance and endurance instead of patience. When we consider what Jesus went through for our salvation, it should give us hope if we have to endure some problem, pain or sorrow in this life.
Here's what we can know. We can know that God who made the way for us to come back to Him through Jesus will be faithful to us and will keep His promises.
So just the same as the apostle Paul felt when he wrote this letter, we can trust the Lord even when we feel a desperate need for prayer. We can trust Him in the good and in the bad times. When there are blessings, and also when things are not going the way we would like.
Because as it says, the Lord is faithful!
CLOSE:
If God is faithful (and He is), we need to be faithful to Him as well. We can't go AWOL when we are struggling with the effects of the evil one in our lives. We must stay in the battle.
Ken Kirsten told of a story he read some time back about the Civil War. It seems that a Union soldier was shot in the arm during the battle of Shiloh. His captain saw he was wounded and barked out an order, "Gimme your gun, Private, and get to the rear!"
The private handed over his rifle and ran toward the rear, seeking safety. But after only going about two or three hundred yards, he came upon another battle. So he ran to the left, and found himself in another part of the battle. Then he ran to the right, but encountered more fighting there.
Finally, he ran back to the front lines shouting, "Gimme back my rifle, Cap’n. There ain’t no rear to this battle no where!"
Well, when it comes to the troubles of the world and daily life "there ain’t no rear to this battle nowhere!" So don't give up. Stay in the battle knowing that the Lord is faithful.
