My wife and I took part in a nine-month ministry training program called Rapid Advance. The name of the training came from this chapter and from a summary of how the Gospel moved in the book of Acts. Paul did not spend his years of ministry planting a single church and trying to perfect it. He spent his years of ministry turning the world upside down from Jerusalem to Illiricum and then he was ready to move on to Spain (see Romans 15) to continue the rapid advance of the gospel. This rapid advance ministry pattern is found in the ministry of Jesus. It is found when the Gospel spread across the world through people from every corner of the world in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
Thessalonica was a wonderful testimony to a rapid advance approach to ministry. Paul mentions being there three sabbaths (Acts 17:2). There were many who were won to Christ and built up in faith in this short time before the team, Paul, Silas and Timothy moved on to Berea and started ministry there, then to Athens and then to Corinth and on and on doing pioneer work and leaving new churches and leaders in their wake to carry on the work locally and keep saturating the area with more new churches.
Paul started his ministry in the rapid advance context. The gospel spread so rapidly in Antioch that Barnabas enlisted Paul to help root the new believers there in sound discipleship and then they were on to Cyprus and Galatia starting many more new churches.
Paul would leave Thessalonica after a very short ministry there, but he always had them on his heart and prayed for them. He wrote letters and in the case of Thessalonica he poured into leaders from there long into his ministry (Acts 20:4) Now, in the case of Thessalonica he is trying to counter a rumor that had circulated that they missed the second coming of Christ. He wanted to warn them about idleness too. This was a letter from Paul, Silus and Timothy but as we reach the end of chapter three Paul is taking the primary ownership of the letter.
Church ministry Spread rapidly
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. (2 Thessalonians 3:1)
Paul is asking prayer for the message of the Lord to spread rapidly. Shortly after he killed Stephen in Jerusalem for spreading the gospel he ended up scattering the church, Paul met Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road and then for the rest of his life he had dedicated himself to spreading the gospel rapidly. He is asking the Thessalonians to pray for him in this ministry. They were themselves a testimony of how the gospel was spreading rapidly. They came to Christ quickly and their faith was ringing out throughout the whole region (1 Thessalonians 1:8).
We can praise the Lord how in our day this rapid advance of the gospel is still taking place. According to the Centre for the study of global Christianity in Africa in the last fifty years the number of Christians in Africa increased from 142 million to 620 million. That is nearly a half billion new Christians in that part of the world in our lifetime. That is rapid advance. In Asia in the same time period Christians grew from 92 million to 420 million. There are many more localized stories of rapid advance of the gospel in our lifetime.
We need to be praying for the rapid advance of the gospel. We need to be sharing and training others to share the gospel abundantly. We need to disciple the new believers. We need to encourage these new believers to be part of new churches not just joining existing churches. All this is the pattern that Paul used, and the Thessalonians practiced. Now it is our time to trust the Lord for using us in rapid advance ministry.
Prayer of protection
And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith. (2 Thessalonians 3:2)
Recently a friend of mine sent me a picture of himself in the hospital. Those that opposed the gospel hired thugs who stormed into a church meeting, started beating people and stabbed this man on his arms and head. He himself is a first-generation Christian. The people doing this to my friend are part of the wicked and evil people referred to in this verse. Pray that we might be delivered from them.
There is something to remember about these evil and wicked people that Paul is asking us to pray to be delivered from. Paul himself was one of them. He was transformed and went from a persecutor to a persecuted. Don’t forget that in the rapid advance of the gospel there are countless such transformations. They are evil and wicked and so was Paul. So were all of us without Christ.
I had another friend who was ambushed and beaten with chains for spreading the gospel. Years later that man who beat the Christian came to faith. Then he was beaten for his faith and hospitalized in the same hospital he sent the Christian to for treatment. That person he persecuted visited him in the hospital and they shared the irony that now he himself was persecuted and laying in bed at the same hospital.
I knew both of these dear brothers. The story is part of the Book Saul to Paul by Voice of the Martyrs.
https://www.amazon.com/Saul-Paul-Persecutor-Christ-Follower-ebook/dp/B00FA9H43C
The Lord is faithful
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. (2 Thessalonians 3:3-5)
The Thessalonians are bold Christians in a very tough environment. This is the place where a mob formed and stormed the house of Jason and drug him out. Their faith is ringing out so they need lots of protection from the Lord. He is faithful and he will strengthen them. Be bold and trust the Lord to give you strength to proclaim Christ boldly.
Paul is confident that this church is not going to quit because of persecution. Sometimes people say that persecution is what causes the church to grow. It would be better to say bold response to persecution is what causes the rapid advance of the church. None of my three friends I mentioned above, all of whom were beaten severely for Christ, ever stopped boldly proclaiming Christ. Their bold response to persecution caused the church to grow. I have confidence in the believers living under threat that they will persevere. Their hearts will be directed into God’s love. If we have eyes to see, then we will know we are living in times like the church Paul is writing. These are times we must persevere in the love of Christ.
Working day and night
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching] you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. 13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. (2 Thessalonians 3:6-13)
There are some people that we all need to keep our distance from. One of those are believers who are freeloaders that are idle and disruptive. Paul, Silas and Timothy set an example of working hard and this was the model they should imitate in Thessalonica, and this is for all of us to follow.
Paul may not have been in Thessalonica a long time but he covered a lot of ground on how to live the Christian life. He refers the church back to his teaching he gave them when he was there. He told them if you are unwilling to work, you don’t eat. He wants everyone to pull his own weight and if anyone needs help it should be because they are unable, not because they are unwilling to work.
Warn the disobedient
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer. (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15)
Paul gives the church advice on how to deal with the freeloaders and disruptive and disobedient Christians. Don’t associate with them. They are not an enemy, but do not associate with them, and warn them about the harm they are causing to others and themselves.
Grace and Peace
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. 17 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (2 Thessalonians 3:16-17)
Paul ends his letter with peace. May they have the peace of the Lord Jesus himself. He blesses them with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. May you also have the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the gospel spread rapidly to the honor of Jesus Christ.
