2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5
GOD’S GRACE – THE ULTIMATE CURE!
Every so often we hear about a new miracle drug that’s proven to cure a specific ailment or disease. In fact, we have no shortage of such wonder drugs. We have medicines that claim to cure everything from male-pattern baldness to chronic heart disease. Of course, some medicine is more effective than another. That’s something we come to expect in this age of new scientific research – not every medicine will cure what it promises.
Our Lord realizes we have far greater needs than how to lose those “love handles” or how to grow a fuller head of hair. We need a cure for spiritual decay. We need a cure from apathy towards God’s promises, especially as we struggle through this life awaiting our Savior’s return. And so for that reason, God offers a fail-proof antidote to indifference and frustration. He offers us HIS GRACE – THE ULTIMATE CURE. God’s grace 1) Combats Grumbling, and it cures what ails us by 2) Transforming Heartache to Hope.
1) Grace Combats Grumbling
One of a doctor’s most challenging tasks must be the proper diagnosis of an illness or medical condition. There are so many diseases with similar symptoms, the trick has to be identifying and treating each one correctly. There’s one condition whose symptoms are clear. It affects each person the same. This illness is found in every home. And we’ve all known people – ourselves included – who have suffered because of it. This particular ailment pesters us when we least expect it, and if left untreated, it can make life completely miserable.
Now, I’m not talking about any normal sort of sickness. I’m talking about one that infects our hearts and lives. And once you have it, there’s no denying it. The symptoms are obvious. Grouchiness. Complaining. Irritability. Bad temper. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the affliction known as Grumble-itis. Grumbe-litis is actually a hereditary condition that’s inborn in all sinful flesh.
Grumble-itis affects us in a strange way. It affects our perception. We soon see odd things; we’re led to focus on all troubles that abound. One of the symptoms of Grumble-itis is that we’re led to think everyone else is the cause of our problems; everyone else is the reason we’re inconvenienced. This condition changes our perception of one another. Fellow believers are seen as a pain – people who can’t be trusted; people who are to be despised; people who often are the brunt of our anger, or who are to be ignored or avoided, even if seen in the local Wal-mart.
The next symptom is isolation. As we are led to despise one another, then we won’t want to serve one another in Christian love. In fact, Christian service becomes an inconvenience. We become very selfish with our time and talents, unwilling to serve or help, even in the smallest way.
If you’ve ever felt this way, the Grumble Bug has bitten you, and you’re not alone. In fact, the apostle Paul dealt with this pest on many occasions. There were times when Paul was tempted to despise his fellow Christians, especially the Thessalonians. These people were often confused in their faith. There were some who were genuine troublemakers and they were unsettling the whole congregation. These troublemakers were undermining the apostles’ ministry, making it difficult for them to share the gospel. Paul must have been an easy target for Grumble-it is. It would have been easy for him to lose his temper and lash out. God’s cure made the difference, however. The Lord’s abundant grace constantly reminded Paul of his great love and mercy show towards him and all people, even the Thessalonians. God’s grace is the ultimate cure for the Grumble bug. Grace combats grumbling. It transforms thanklessness into thankfulness.
Paul does not describe these troubled Christians as horrible people. He doesn’t despise them. Instead he thanks God for them. He says: “But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.” God’s grace is the ultimate cure to grumbling because grace leads us to be thankful for things we don’t deserve. Paul was thankful for those Christians in Thessalonica because the Lord loved them, even as he was loved. No one deserves God’s love, and yet, he chose to shower it on us because he is good and gracious. Paul didn’t deserve God’s love, the Thessalonians didn’t, you and I don’t, yet, how wonderful to know that we have been showered with God’s grace in Christ Jesus! That’s what compelled the apostle Paul to be thankful for his fellow believers. That was something he just had to do!
We have every reason to be thankful for our fellow Christians as well. Fellow believers are proof of God’s grace because each Christian around us is, in a way, a foretaste of heaven. The wonderful thing about heaven is that we will get to share it with other people; people we know now. Imagine you were invited to a party. You show up to find you’re the only one there – no host, no friends, nobody. What a letdown that would be!
The reason God brings Christians together is so that we aren’t alone in this struggle. Christian faith is all about togetherness, it’s about hope, and it’s about sharing joy. The opposite of those things is loneliness, despair, and sadness. These things often cause grumbling. God combats grumbling with the cross of his Son. Christ Jesus suffered and died for us – that’s the cure! Jesus experienced the ultimate loneliness, despair, and sorrow, as his own Father forsook him. And Christ did all of this willingly. As Scripture says, “No deceit was found in his mouth.” No grumbling. No complaining. No cursing. Only willing submission to his Father’s holy will. Jesus did all of this to demonstrate that he is the ultimate cure. His grace cures Grumbleitis. Grace cuts away and removes the isolation that once plagued us. Jesus Christ is the reason we are together. And he’s the reason we will share heaven with each other one day.
2) Grace Transforms Heartaches to Hope
The fact we are together is our Lord’s way of reminding us that he won’t forsake us -- not now, not ever. We’re together so that we can share this good hope with one another. And we need this hope because Grumbleitis takes its toll on the heart, attempting to destroy any hope it finds. Heartache is the result. This is also a condition that affects each of us. In fact, heartaches are a chronic condition in all people. Disappointment and letdowns have scarred each of us. We have proof that we’ve been victims of disappointment and heartache again and again.
Yet, God’s grace offers the ultimate cure for this otherwise incurable condition. In his love, God transforms our heartaches into hope. First of all, we’re given a blood transfusion. In grace, God reminds us that we are washed in the blood of his Son. Salvation is ours, even in this miserable world. God deals with heartache. Yet, he doesn’t completely do away with struggle or heartache. Instead, our Lord uses them as a way to display the hope that is ours. That means our struggles, our problems, and our heartaches become a vessel for hope; a sort of hope chest. Now, a hope chest was a box in which a young woman would collect jewelry, clothing, or fabric in anticipation of getting married. Often a hope chest wasn’t very elaborate. It was usually a rather plain looking cedar box, but in it would lay hopeful mementos of a happy future, a life happily ever after.
The struggles, problems, and suffering we bear in this life are far from glamorous. Yet, those heartaches become our hope chests because within those struggles God places his hope each of us. He does this by placing us into each other’s heartaches with his mementos of hope – the cross, the empty tomb, and the promise of heaven. Problems become opportunities to share the hope of the gospel with one another.
And so, into each one of those heartaches God sends us –one to another. He sends us with hope; the hope of forgiveness in Jesus, and the hope of sharing heaven with one another. God’s grace is the ultimate cure. It transforms heartache to hope. In our text we find the apostle Paul writing a sort of prescription to combat grumbling and heartache. It’s Paul’s parting words to the Thessalonians: “Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.” Did you hear the prescription? “Pray for one another,” the apostle says. As God’s grace transforms heartache to hope, he leads us to pray. The apostle Paul prayed fervently because of God’s grace. God’s love and mercy led him to pray that the gospel would be spread. It also led him to pray that God would guard all who share his Word.
The apostle Paul was busy in prayer on behalf of his fellow Christians because the Lord had changed his heart and mind through the gospel. Grace worked its cure. A good word spoken instead of a bad one, a sympathetic tear falling for another, a helping hand extended in time of need – that’s how God’s grace works in our lives. And God’s grace is evident as we pray. God’s love motivates us to love each other. So, Pray for one another! Prayer is a fruit of the Spirit that springs from God’s love. And so we will want to commit one another into God’s care through prayer.
Prayer also keeps Grumbleitis and heartache at bay. It’s been said it’s hard to be angry with someone when you’re praying for that person. How true. Prayer is the best way to combat heartache and discouragement. After all, prayer focuses our attention on God’s grace, and away from each other’s faults and sins. God’s love is revealed through the gospel. As we center our hearts on his love, then anything that comes along to threaten us – grumbling, disappointment, heartache – will not be able to overpower us because God’s love is surging within us. That’s the antibiotic, which fights against all sin and evil.
God’s grace is the ultimate cure. It’s good for what ails you. Grace combats grumbling and turns heartache into hope. Indeed, God’s grace is a true wonder drug. You won’t find it at any pharmacy though. God’s grace is revealed in his holy Word. That’s where you find it. So, take a steady dose of God’s Word each day and call on him in the morning. Amen.
