LIGHT FOR DARK DAYS
2Thessalonians 2:13-17
November 12, 2005
INTRODUCTION
A. Who among of you here want/don’t like pain?
B. Thousands babies are born with a rare disease of familial dysautonomia.
1. The disease prevents a child from feeling pain.
2. What would it be to you if your child has this disease?
C. Imagine the possibilities of boxer who don’t feel pain.
D. Imagine the possibilities of a child who don’t feel pain.
1. A child will never live long enough to know the glory or joy of childbirth
2. A cavity will rot the tooth without an ache.
3. An appendix will burst without a sharp pain in the side.
E. Pain in itself is not bad.
1. It is an indication that something is wrong.
2. Its function is the restoration of normal function.
3. It is a means of preservation, of preventing injuries
Thus pain is a wise ordination of Providence.
F. Kinds of pain
1. Physical
2. Emotional
3. Spiritual
FOUR REASONS WE SUFFER
Pain is a part of life. God assures us it is always purposeful (Rom.8:28)
1. To develop our faith – just endurance is developed in a long-distance runner through strenuous exercise, so faith grows through testing (Jas.1:2-4)
2. To learn obedience – Our relationship with God grows through as we learn obedience.
3. To create humility - Our thorns in the flesh have a way of piercing pride and deflating an overblown estimation of ourselves (see 2Cor.12:7)
4. To bring glory to God – See 1Peter 4:16
TRUTH THAT ENCOURAGES (vs.13b-14a)
Paul exhorts to stand firm in the doctrines that he had taught them. These truths comfort us in the times of suffering and pain.
1. He chose us from the beginning for salvation (2:13b) - In this statement, as it springs from God’s eternal love, we see the ultimate cause and source of our salvation in Christ—divine selection.
• This choice was not on the basis of their love for God (1 John 4:10) or any merit on their part,
• but because of God’s love for them.
This salvation is a matter of present confidence, enjoyment, and future anticipation in contrast to those who will go through the Day of the Lord
2. He sanctified us (set us part) by the Spirit (2:13c) – .” It carries the idea of a “setting apart” from the secular to that which is holy or reserved for God’s special purposes.
• to illuminate, convict, and lead a person to faith in Christ (cf. John 16:8f; Acts 1:8; 16:14; 1 Pet. 1:2)
• to bring believers to spiritual maturity and conform them into the character of Christ.
3. He called them to this salvation through the Gospel (2:14a) “Our gospel” naturally refers to the message about the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• In verse 13 Paul spoke of God’s pre-temporal choosing of the Thessalonians for salvation.
• Here he speaks of the actual work of bringing them to Himself by calling them through the message of the gospel.
4. He called us to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (v.14b) – This points us to the ultimate goal – sharing in the glory of eternity with the Lord Jesus.
• The Thessalonians are suffering severe persecution. Think what this verse meant to them. They were bound for glory.
• The believer will be glorified with Christ by receiving a nature of glory, a glorious nature just like the nature of Christ (Rom.8:18)
• … What begins with grace always leads to glory. This is quite a contrast to the future assigned to the lost (2 Thes. 1:8-10).
WHAT WE HAVE TO DO THEN? (v.15-17)
Because of God’s Saving Grace, we are been comforted by His Sovereign Power to sustain us in the midst of pain and suffering.
What then we should do?
1. Holding Firmly to the Truth (v.15) - Paul now turns to a practical responsibility that flows out of all that has been said in verses 1-14. They are called on to stand firm.
• because of the glorious deliverance that awaited them at the coming of the Lord (2:1),
• because of the false teaching that had disturbed them (2:2-3),
• because of Satan’s working of error and the tragic future of those who had not believed the truth (2:9-10).
• Both “stand firm” and “hold on” are in the continuous present tense and the imperative mood, the mood of command. In this context, where some had been shaken from their composure (2:2), it carries the force of “begin and continue to stand firm and hold on.”
• “stand firm” and “hold on” picture a person planting his or her feet in a secure spot in a defensive stand. Then that person stabilizes further by clinging to something fixed.
• “traditions” mean true teaching or doctrine.
2. Practice the Truth (vv.16-17) Paul concludes his exhortation with a short but powerful prayer as part of their appeal for practical compliance and as an expression of the desire or wish of the apostolic team. The reason for the prayer is threefold:
• First, believing and holding on to the truth should lead to its practice.
• Second, Paul and his team knew that only the Lord Himself could effectively bring about the needed encouragement and stability, the kind that would lead to the practice of the truth in word and deed in the midst of a pagan environment.
• And third, such a wishful prayer is appropriate and possible because of what God the Son and the Father have done for us by grace in the person of His Son.
Having God Love us, He gave us wonderful gifts:
1. Eternal Comfort - 2 Cor. 4:16-18; Rom. 15:4
2. Good Hope. In our modern setting, people often think of hope as a kind of unsure optimism. The modern idea for hope is “to wish for, to expect, but without much certainty, to desire very much, but with no real assurance of getting your desire.” But such is not the New Testament concept of “hope.” The Greek term used here is elpis, which refers to a confident expectation and generally has a future focus. Hope may refer to the
• activity of hoping, or to the
• object hoped for, the content of one’s hope. By its very nature, hope stresses two things: (a) futurity, and (b) invisibility. It deals with things one cannot see or hasn’t received or both (cf. Rom. 8:24-25).
• Hope is somewhat synonymous with salvation and its many blessings as promised in Scripture—past, present, and future. This is true, it would seem, even with what we have already received as believers because such blessings come under the category of what we cannot see with our physical eyesight. We may see some of the results, but it still requires faith and hope.
Illustration: We did not see the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when we were saved or the baptizing work of the Spirit which joined us into union with Christ.
Notice what Paul does and doesn’t pray for. He prayed for God to comfort them, not to circumnavigate the storms for them. He prayed for God to strengthen them, not for Him to spare them.
CONCLUSION
The two most painful life experiences in life are giving birth and passing a kidney stone. However, the two are different in their results. One is a natural fruition of the body processes; the other is a malfunction of the body process. One is purposely suffering; the other, pointless suffering.
Although you may never know all the purposes for the pain in your life, take a few moments now to think about the fruit that has come from your suffering.
When the storms of life come to sweeping over us, we, like the disciples, want calm. Whatever the route, we want to avoid the storms. But in some cases, the most direct route to maturity is through the storms, not around them.
Read Isaiah 43:2
Prayer
