2 Thessalonians 1:5-12
Suffering
Introduction
In Paul’s introduction to the second Thessalonian letter, he thanked God for their growing faith and love, and for their patience and faithfulness in times of trial and persecution. I have made mention on several occasions that the Thessalonian believers were suffering for their faith in Jesus Christ, and for a brief time they began to despair because they thought that perhaps they had missed the Lord’s return. Paul set them straight in the first letter, and it is evident that his words took heart because they continued on in love to serve the Lord with great power and might.
It was important to Paul to write this young church again to encourage them in their suffering, because a faith that won’t endure suffering is no faith at all. They needed to hang on just a while longer because the Lord’s imminent return would set all things straight.
I want us to finish this chapter tonight and visit this subject of suffering. God’s people are going to endure suffering before Jesus comes back. Now, that’s kind of a ridiculous statement considering that people have been suffering in the name of Christ since the days of Abel, but in our isolated way of thinking we forget how merciful God has been in protecting us for so long. So, let me clarify my statement by saying that it is my view that we in America are going to suffer for our faith in Jesus Christ before He returns.
I believe that to be true with or without the 7-year tribulation period that will precede the Lord’s return. The last 7 years are going to be terrible for anyone naming the name of Christ, but suffering will take place before that time begins, and it will intensify right up to the day it begins. As we consider our text tonight, I want to set forth for you three certainties about suffering that, if understood properly, will help you through your own times of personal suffering. Let’s read our text now.
“Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
God uses suffering to prepare His people for His kingdom
I want you to notice again what Paul said in verse 5. It begins with the word which. “Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God…” That word which takes you back to verse 4, where Paul said that he gloried in their “patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.” In other words, Paul rejoiced because they gladly and willingly suffered for their faith, and now he says that their suffering is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God. Now, the phrase manifest token simply means clear evidence, or a clear sign, a positive proof of something. So, let’s read the verse this way: “Your suffering is a clear sign that God is a righteous judge.” It is evidence or proof of God’s righteous judgment. Now think about suffering in this light. This would mean that the affliction of believers is part of God’s judgment and that it is right and just. God is so much in control of things that even the hostile and sinful acts of unbelieving men are part of his holy and just judgment.
Have you ever thought of the suffering of Christians in this way? Have you ever thought that behind the circumstances and affairs of your life there is a righteous providence of God, that God is at work behind the scenes in your life, using persecution and suffering as a part of His judgment?
Why does God use suffering in your life? The next part of the verse says that suffering is allowed so “that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God…” Does this mean that you have to suffer to enter the kingdom of God? Certainly not! Admittance to the kingdom of God is based on salvation – a personal relationship with God through Christ. Salvation is by grace through faith. It is faith plus nothing, and that means suffering. So, what does it mean that suffering counts you worthy of the kingdom? Let’s take a stroll through a few passages of Scripture. First go to 1 Corinthians 3:10. In verse 10 Paul is explaining how Jesus Christ is the foundation upon which our lives are to be built. It is important to know as we begin to build our lives on that foundation that there are some things we do in life that will be found pleasing in God’s sight and rewarded, and there are other things we do that are just a waste of a good life. Read with me verses 12-15.
“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”
Those things that withstand the fire are things you do in life that have eternal value. Those things that are burned represent a life wasted – someone who never did anything for the Lord except to receive Him as Savior, and they enter heaven by the skin of their teeth. What does suffering have to do with this? Let’s go to 1 Peter 5:7 for an answer.
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
Now go to 1 Peter 1:6.
“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
Got it figured out yet? There is something in the heart of man, certainly in man’s sinful nature, that if left alone, just won’t do much of anything for the Lord. If we are left alone, we go our own way. When given the choice, we always choose the path of least resistance. We like the wide gate, not the narrow one! And because we are like that, left to ourselves we just refuse to grow in our faith. So what does God do? In His righteous judgment He comes along and allows suffering to enter our lives that we might be forced into growth and maturity in Christ. Peter said that after we had suffered for a while, God makes us perfect, which means mature. The trial of your faith he said, when your faith is tried with the fires of suffering, the goal is for your faith to bring praise and honor and glory to Jesus Christ when He appears.
So, when you’re suffering, remember that God is using that suffering to grow you up into the image of Jesus Christ. Peter said, “Rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy!” Think about it – if you willingly and gladly endure the sufferings of today, you know that your faith will please Jesus at His return, and when you see Jesus who is pleased with your faithfulness you will be glad beyond measure – so rejoice! God is using your suffering to prepare you for His kingdom! If you can’t accept suffering for Him with gladness, then even though you may be saved, you spurn the name of Christ, and for that you’re not worthy of His kingdom – you’ll get in by the skin of your teeth.
No suffering goes unnoticed by God
Now, you’re going to suffer for Christ if you’re living for Christ. Paul said in the Philippian letter that it is “given to you in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” He told Timothy that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Jesus said that the world would hate us – so suffering is a given. What you need to remember in your suffering though is that God sees it all. Look at verses 6 and 7.
In verse 6, we are told, “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you.” You see, even though it may seem that evil has the upper hand in your life from time to time; God will bring it to ruin. It’s the old adage that what comes around goes around. The devil may be having a heyday in your life. Unbelievers may be giving you hell right here on earth. Each step you take trying to serve the Lord may appear to be getting you further and further in the hole, but you can count on this one thing – God is going to turn the tables one day and those that are bringing suffering into your life are going to suffer. Listen to what one writer says on this subject:
“In the context of the unjust suffering of the righteous it serves as an assurance that evil men ultimately will receive the punishment they deserve. For the righteous is it somehow easier to suffer at the hands of evil with the knowledge that the evil persecutor will not escape but will be brought to justice. The promise of a balancing of accounts in the future may not eliminate the pain of suffering, but it does reduce its insult. It confirms the innocence of the victim and limits evil’s success. The victim’s temporary affliction is easier to bear when viewed against the eternal suffering of the afflictor.”
Verse 7 adds something else as kind of a parenthetical statement. It says, “and to you who are troubled rest with us…” Not only are your afflictors going to suffer, but those who are afflicted will find rest. God knows you are suffering. He knows how worn down you can get, how you despair when you think you can’t take any more, so even though suffering may take its toll on you in this lifetime, there’s coming a day when you’ll experience an eternal rest free from all suffering for eternity!
Verses 8-10 describe the time when Jesus is going to set things straight. Let’s reread verse 6 and leave out the parenthetical statement in verse 7.
“Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day.”
Let me tell you that is going to be a glorious day! It’s the day we studied about in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and in chapter 5. It’s the day when Christ returns to receive His people and execute judgment on the earth!
“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air…”
After the Lord has gathered His people He is going to execute judgment on the earth. The angels of God, that great angelic army from heaven will accompany Him, and in flaming fire the Lord Jesus is going to take vengeance on those that refused to be saved, those who refused to obey the gospel call, the invitation of the Holy Spirit to be saved. They will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Revelation 19:11-16 describes the scene:
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
Listen, the wrath of God is real. The judgment of God is sure. Hell is real, and those who refuse to be saved in this life are going to regret it when Jesus returns one day. Somebody that says that God is all love and wouldn’t do such a thing is deceived. God is love, but He is also a God of justice and judgment. If God were simply a God of love and were going to allow all people into heaven, then He’s the biggest fool of all for sending Jesus to die on the cross. What a joke! But let me tell you something – the cross wasn’t a joke and hell won’t be either.
On that day when the Lord returns, verse 10 says that He will be glorified in His saints and will be admired by all them that believe. I would imagine so! That’s going to be a glorious day like no other we’ve ever imagined. I want to tell you that in that day you won’t think a second thought about any suffering you did on this old earth. Remember what Peter said? “But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” Turn with me to Romans 8:16. Paul said,
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Look at one more passage in 2 Corinthians 4:14.
“Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish (though you may suffer for a while), yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen (we won’t allow suffering to weight us down), but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
To be certain, suffering for Christ really isn’t that pleasant a thing – we all enjoy comfort and peace and happiness, but suffering for Christ is right and is to be endured. God is using it and God will make it all right when He returns – and besides all of that, there’s no suffering in the world that compares to the glory that we’ll know when Jesus comes back!
Your approach to suffering is a window to your heart
Now that we’ve considered all of that – think about this last certainty about suffering: the manner in which you approach suffering is a window to your heart.
It is said that on a wall in his bedroom the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon had a plaque with Isaiah 48:10 on it: "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." "It is no mean thing to be chosen of God," he wrote. "God’s choice makes chosen men choice men...We are chosen, not in the palace, but in the furnace. In the furnace, beauty is marred, fashion is destroyed, strength is melted, glory is consumed; yet here eternal love reveals its secrets, and declares its choice."
For Paul the Christian life was one of suffering. The same could be said of a multitude of Christ’s followers, many of whom were killed for their faith. So when Christ said that you must “deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me” He was indicating that it is not easy to be His true follower. Jesus offers no cheap grace, no easy life. Someone rightly said that salvation may be free, but it’s not cheap.
C.T. Studd was a famous sportsman in England in the 1800’s. He gave away his vast wealth to needy causes and led a mission effort to win China for Christ. He made this statement about suffering, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.”
I want to impress upon you that statements like that are a window to the soul. They reveal something about the heart of a man, about the great love of their lives. Do you remember in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus was teaching about fasting? He made this statement:
"Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites {do,} for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees {what is done} in secret will reward you.”
Did you know that the same principle applies to suffering? The question in your suffering is this: Who are you going to make it all about? Will it be about you or about God? Will you steal the show or will you honor and glorify God in your suffering? You see, Paul was praying for the Thessalonian believers to this end in verse 12, “that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in him…”
When some people suffer for Christ, they want the world to know about it. We can all be guilty of this if we’re not careful. Somebody said that untold suffering seldom is. They were right. We like to tell people that we’re suffering. We like to show it. We like to get people feeling sorry for us and we can really put on a show in our suffering – and you know what? When we do we’re just like those Pharisees! When we start approaching suffering in those sinful manners, Jesus said that we’ve got our reward, but if you’ll endure it with glad willingness for the sake of Christ, then there are greater rewards than you can imagine awaiting you on the other side of Christ’s return.
When you suffer for Christ, accept it in the grace that He alone can give. God alone is your strength, your courage, your wisdom and your source of endurance. Gladly accepting the suffering that comes your way can only be done as you walk in the Spirit, as you are filled with His presence, as He lives His life through you. That takes daily surrender, especially when your faith is under fire. You can’t help but suffer for the name of Christ if you are living for Him; the Bible says it will come. Don’t try to run from it, don’t steal the show in it, but surrender your life to the Spirit of God and stand in it and find your strength in the Lord.
Whether you do or not is the great revealer of your heart – with whom do your loyalties lie? One pastor in China said it this way, “Humanly speaking, we know that no one likes to suffer physically. But I know that if the Lord leads me into it, He will give me the strength to survive it.” Those are the words of a man who knows the Lord Jesus. The more we come to know Jesus Christ and recognize His faithfulness in our lives, the more we find ourselves able to place our trust in Him to do what He has promised. Jesus has promised that He is using your suffering to grow you up and transform you into His likeness. He has promised that one day He is going to return and give you an eternal rest from all your suffering, and He will punish those who cause you to suffer. Do you believe Him? Do you trust Him? Then surrender your life to Him even in your sufferings so that the name of your Lord Jesus Christ might be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of God and your Lord Jesus Christ.
Piper, John. http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper87/jp870031.htm
1 Peter 4:13
Philippians 1:29
2 Timothy 3:12
Martin, D. Michael. The New American Commentary, Volume 33 1, 2 Thessalonians (Broadman & Holman Publishers: Nashville, TN) 2002 p. 208
W. Wiersbe, Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching & Preachers, p. 223. http://www.christianglobe.com/Illustrations/theDetails.asp?whichOne=s&whichFile=suffering
http://pbc.org/dp/ritchie/3997.html
Matthew 6:16-18
DC Talk & The Voice of the Martyrs. Jesus Freaks (Albury Publishing: Tulsa, OK) 1999 p. 143
