These two letters to the Thessalonians demonstrate how the Thessalonian church was a model church in the things that really matter. It was a very young church that made a quick impact on their region. Their labors were motivated by love and stemmed from their faith. What a sweet and mighty church this was. The Thessalonian church was visited by men who were turning the world upside down and they turned their world upside down. These are very personal, grateful, and tender letters. Paul wrote this letter to provide the Thessalonian church with the encouragement to stand fast and stay the course.
Okay, so here we are, 1 Thessalonians and 2nd. We're going to try to get through both 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, so strap on your seatbelt. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you have given us this picture of a church, this church in Thessalonica that was so faithful. Oh Lord, that you would multiply churches like that in the world and that you would even choose our church to be like that.
Oh Lord, that you would pour your grace out upon your churches and the cities of this world as you did in the Thessalonians. Amen. So, turn to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians is a great book. It's one of the most encouraging letters in scripture, to me anyway, particularly because it shows a faithful church.
It shows a humble church. This was a church that turned to God from idols, and they shook their region. Brand new Christians, and yet they had a dramatic impact. They didn't have to become so mildly mature to have an impact on their area. So there's a lot of encouragement.
Even if you're a new Christian, even if you don't know everything, even if you're still getting unhooked from your idols and recognizing the work of the Lord in your life, you can still be useful. That's one of the tremendous encouraging things that this letter communicates. It was a sweet church. The Apostle Paul speaks so tenderly to them. He loved these saints that are there.
It was a model church. It was a young church. And you know, we read in Acts chapter 17 that the Apostle Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, they came into town and there was a big outcry and the outcry went like this. Men who have turned the whole world upside down have now come here. And so these men who turned the world upside down and came there found that those to whom they came also turned their world upside down.
And Paul is very blessed to have had connection with this church in Thessalonica. They were a church that was filled with people that were drawing on the power of God. They had works that came out of their faith. They had labors that came out of their love. It was a church that was connected to the vine.
And so it shows us what a vibrant church can look like. It was a persecuted church. It was a church where their love was increasing for one another. I'd like you to look at chapter 1 verse 3 where the Apostle Paul speaks about their faith that was visible. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then in verse 6, how they received the Word of God in affliction. In verse 7, how they became examples to all who were in Macedonia and Achaia. How their faith was infectious. It says, your faith toward God has gone out so that we don't need to say anything. And how they welcomed the Word of God in chapter 1 verse 13.
He says that they received it not as the word of man but as the Word of God. This is one of the most wonderful parts of a church that is being made alive. It's when the people love the Word of God, they can't wait to hear it. It's what they want to talk about. It's what they want to build their life around.
And they receive the Word of God, not as for man. In fact, the man is just standing in the way. He's trying to communicate it, but they're hungry for the word that might proceed from his mouth. And it was such a church like this. It was a suffering church.
And they did it with joy, without complaining at all. But they were a terribly persecuted church. They were Gentiles who had spent their whole lives in paganism. And the Apostle Paul came into that city, and he says that he worked day and night in chapter 2, verse 9. And He was working day and night to teach them, to care for them.
But when he writes 1 and 2 Thessalonians, after he leaves, after being there about three weeks, He writes about two primary things. And the first is that he documents their vibrant faith and he gives thanks. He describes the different ways that they function together. He describes the ministry that he had there, along with Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy. And he also describes how they responded.
And in all of that he's giving thanks. He is so grateful to have been connected to this church. And it makes me just wonder how grateful could we be in the churches that we're a part of as we see the work of the Lord and as we actually love one another. These are the things that make church life wonderful. And the second prominent instruction is regarding the second coming of Jesus Christ.
So he gives thanks and he explains what their ministry was like and then secondly he speaks about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in 1st Thessalonians the second coming is mentioned in every single chapter. It's mentioned at the end of every chapter. And so this forms one of the prominent messages that exists here. While the Apostle Paul is exhorting them in particular practical matters.
He's also instructing them regarding the coming of the Lord because there was a heresy that had taken root there in the Thessalonian church. Let me give you some examples. At the end of chapter 1 in verse 10, he says that they turned to God from idols to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. They were a church in waiting. They had a keen sense that Jesus Christ was going to return.
In chapter 2 verse 19, he speaks of how his hope and his joy is in them and he says, is not my joy even for you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. In other words, Paul is separated from them, he's writing to them, and he's actually picturing that day when they'll be brought together. Where Paul's joy, where Paul's crown will be right there before them, and they'll meet, as it were, in the air together and meet the Lord Jesus Christ at his coming. In chapter 3 verse 13 he calls them to increase and abound in love, and then he says That it all has a purpose that he might establish your hearts blameless and holiness Before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all the Saints his exhortation is the Lord Jesus is coming increase now in faith make yourself ready for his coming and then in chapter 4 verses 13 through 18 he talks about what happens to those who die before the Lord Jesus Christ comes. The heresy in the church was that He's already come.
And Paul says, no, there are those who will meet Him and then there are those who will die before He comes. And he speaks of those who fall asleep in Jesus and that they meet him. In chapter 5 verses 1 through 11 we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come like a thief in the night. It'll come after a time of difficulty where people are crying out peace and safety and there isn't any peace and safety but it's a time of labor pangs. The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come after a time of terrible cataclysm, where lawlessness is increased, and then there is a man of lawlessness who appears.
And the apostle says, because of this, because of what I've just instructed you, the day won't overtake you as the thief, because you'll see it coming. And then in chapter five verse 23, he speaks of how critical it is that we would turn to him to be sanctified, that our whole spirit and soul and body would be preserved at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he uses these words in verse 24 in chapter 5, He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. What will he do? He'll sanctify you.
He'll make you holy and he'll preserve you blameless at the coming of Jesus Christ. That's what God's going to do. So it's full of promises about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and Here's what we learn when you die You meet Christ When you die, you you don't get raptured you come and you meet Jesus Christ and then there is a final judgment. That's what he is speaking of here. And so it's a book that focuses on these two critical matters.
One, exhortations and thanksgivings, and then secondly, the second coming of Jesus Christ. Now let's talk about the time of writing. This letter was written at probably 48-49 AD from Corinth. This was the first of the New Testament epistles to be written. And the apostle Paul writes 1 Thessalonians, and then very quickly after that he writes 2 Thessalonians, maybe after a couple of months.
We're not sure exactly how long. But have you ever written a letter and then thought, oh, I left this out, I left that out, and you write on it and you say, oh, I forgot to say. First and Second Thessalonians are a little bit like that. But problems had arisen in the Thessalonian church that the Apostle Paul also wanted to address in the second letter. And false teachers were telling the church that the day of Jesus Christ had already happened And the Apostle Paul wanted to make it very clear that was not true.
Let's talk about the tone of the writing. These are very personal, grateful, tender letters. And they were written to a humble church. People who were being humbled by persecution, they were losing much as a result of their faith. And they were receiving letters from a man who loved them.
You can see his tenderness that he expresses to them. He's writing to a people who had grown up in a pagan culture without God and without hope in the world. It was a highly sexualized culture. Their paganism had distorted matters of manhood and womanhood and sexuality. There were temple prostitutes that were part of their worship.
It was a highly sexualized culture. As the Thessalonians were converted, they became oddballs. They became moral oddballs in their time. That was one issue that they grappled with in the Apostle Paul addresses. There was also this great confusion over the Second Coming and it reached such a level that many just quit working.
They knew Jesus Christ was coming. So they stopped working. They stopped providing so that they could wait for the Lord's return. And they were quenching the work of the Holy Spirit. So there were different problems that they were experiencing.
While it was a wonderful church, it was an exemplary church, the Thessalonian church was like every other church. They had problems. Every church has its problems and every church continues to have need for sanctification, for turning to God in another area that they were blind to before. Our church is like that as well. There are areas that we have not seen that we need to see in order that we might be more faithful to the Lord.
And it's a question that every church should always ask, where are we falling short? What have we missed? How has our culture affected us so that we're not being faithful to the Lord? What are we going to do? And of course, one of the difficult jobs of church leaders is that they are charged to lead the flock through times like that.
And as elders we cry out to God and we realize our weaknesses and discernment. We need discernment. And it's a blessing when the people in the church pray for the discernment of the elders because we need it and This was the situation in Thessalonica they were a recovering people while at the same time a very faithful people So let's talk about the founding of the church. You can read about the founding of the church in Acts 16 at least there in that chapter you read about how it was that the apostles ended up going to Thessalonica. And then in Acts chapter 17 verses 1 through 15, you find the account of the planting or the founding of that church and the tumult that took place there.
Well, how did Paul and Silvanus and Timothy even get the Thessalonica? Well, they got there the hard way. The Spirit of God had forbidden them from preaching in Asia, and then the Spirit of God forbids them to preach in Bithynia, and they didn't know what to do. They didn't know where to go. It was a time of confusion.
It was a time of wondering what the Lord was doing. They had no confidence in what they should do. And then one night, the Apostle Paul is given a vision of a man from Macedonia. And he sees in a dream a man from Macedonia standing there and he's saying, come over and help us. And that is how the apostles got to Thessalonica.
They came as a result of this Macedonian call. And so they went to the Macedonian cities of Philippi. They were miserably treated in Philippi and they had to leave Philippi as a result of the violence against them. And then they came to Thessalonica. So there they are at Thessalonica.
Now Thessalonica was a critical city in the Roman world. It had gained a significant role in ancient Near Eastern culture. And I'll just give you a sense of this. In 168 BC, Rome defeated the Macedonians. And when they defeated the Macedonians, they took 150, 000 slaves back to Rome.
And the booty that they received from the area where Thessalonica lay was so massive that Roman citizens did not have to pay taxes for a whole century. They got so wealthy off of the Macedonians, nobody had to pay taxes for a hundred years. It was an incredibly rich region. And then In 146 BC Thessaloniki was made the seat of the Roman government in Macedonia. And the Romans built a road to make speedy passage to the region called the Via Ignatia, which would take a several month trip and bring it down to a 21 day trip.
This road, which was really built to advance troops along it, actually became a great vehicle for the spread of the gospel into Europe. God used the Romans to make a beeline into Europe for the gospel. So then in 48 or 49 AD, Paul and Silas and Timothy arrive. And They arrive among a people who have never heard the Gospel. They come to a people that have been passed over for hundreds, maybe three, four thousand years.
And God is reaching out to people who don't deserve it and who have not known. And they were saved from their idols. And one of the beautiful things that happened there was when they turned to God from their idols, They became a blessing in the whole region and they just became a source of joy and light in that whole area and they and they really you know became an outpost for the spread of the gospel further into Europe And of course the Lord used the Philippian church in a very similar way. So let's turn to Acts chapter 17 so you can see what happened in the founding of this church. It's such a remarkable story.
Acts 17 verse 1. Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as was his custom, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, saying, This Jesus whom I preached to you is the Christ. And then in verse 4 we learn that many were persuaded and a great multitude of devout Greeks and leading women joined Paul. So there was a revival that broke out as a result of his preaching there during those three weeks.
But it didn't go all that smoothly in verse 5. But the Jews who were not persuaded became envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. So there was probably a church in the house of Jason. The apostles were preaching, a church was established, Jason was someone who had a house and the church was meeting there. And so they attacked the house and they dragged Jason out of the house and some of the brethren and brought them before the rulers of the city.
And What did they say? These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. These are such wonderful words that God would send people who would turn a city upside down. And then verse 7 says, they declared that Jason has harbored them and all these are acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar saying there is another king, Jesus. So this was the issue.
Who will be king? Is Caesar king or is Jesus king? This is always the heart of all tumult in the world that results in the persecution of the church. And so this troubled crowd and the rulers of the city heard all these things and then they let them go. How about that?
They just let them go. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the synagogue of the Jews to do the same thing. So miraculously they were let go without being harmed and they went to the next city, Korea, and so ended this planting of the the Thessalonian church and then it just began to grow. So the Apostle Paul departs from Thessalonica and Paul is wondering what's happening and Timothy brings a good report concerning the truth and the law of the strength of the church and you read about this report in these letters. So that's the basic story of the founding of the church.
Now let's walk through the letters now. We'll begin in 1 Thessalonians. So, find yourself with chapter 1. In chapter 1, verse 1 is an introduction, a greeting, And the Apostle Paul extends his classic grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Apostle begins to thank God for them, beginning in verse 2.
We give thanks to God always For you all making mention of you in our prayers. So Paul is away from them But he is giving thanks for them while He is away. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of our God and Father, knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. Now verse 2 should be helpful to every church that enters into prayer for other saints. In our corporate prayer meetings we should have this very same disposition as we're alone and by ourselves, this very same disposition toward those that the Lord has connected us with.
We give thanks to God always for making mention of you in our prayers. But he mentions something in verse 3 that is really the secret of all spiritual life and this we cannot miss this in the letter because the Apostle Paul Speaks of what it is really like to be a child of God. What is true Christianity? He says that he remembers without ceasing their work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope. Now, it's very important you understand the language.
They were people of labor. He's giving thanks for their labor. But where did the labor come from? It came from their love. It was a labor of love.
It was a labor that came out of love. The love comes first and then the labor. That's Christianity. It begins on the inside and it works itself to the outside. Labors that are not founded in love are worth nothing, but labors of love are worth something and then he speaks of your patience of hope.
So they had patience, that's a good thing. It's such a marvelous and powerful thing to have patience in this world. Now they were persecuted people and they had all kinds of challenges. They had false teachers among them and things like that, but they were having patience. But where did their patience come from?
Their patience came from their hope. How does that work? Well it works like this. When you have hope that God is sovereign, that God is good, that God will always perform His work according to His perfect plan in your life, then you can have hope. It is patience that comes out of hope.
In the same way that work comes out of love, patience also comes out of hope. You know, it's not enough to say, well I just need to be more patient. That's really not how people become patient. People become patient by cultivating hope and then they have the strength in real life to be patient. And then your work of faith.
This is work that came out of faith. It's the same basic principle. It's one thing to do a lot of work in the name of God, and that can be done without any faith. But here the Apostle Paul says that their work came out of their faith. So you have works of faith, labors of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the secret of the Christian life, that it all comes from God, so that the strength and the works do not come from ourselves but they come from God. And so this is this faithful prayer that the Apostle Paul delivers and it's such a beautiful thing. In Christianity you don't create your own life. You don't pull yourself up by your bootstraps You don't start with your vision statement You start with God you start with faith hope and love and That's the Christian life So then he speaks about how the Gospel came. Now in the sections that follow in these first three chapters, the Apostle Paul speaks about two things that need to be understood.
He speaks about how the apostles, how Paul and Silvanus and Timothy conducted themselves. So there's a lot to learn About what it means to be a minister of God because they are worthy of emulation The other thing that you read about is how they responded what kind of church this was. How did they treat one another? How did they act? So you have sort of the lifestyles of ministers and the ones being ministered to.
So there's a lot to learn from them as a result. And in verse 5 he says that the gospel came to them in a certain way. This has to do with the ministry of the ministers. Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. And in verse 6, we learn what kind of people the Thessalonians were.
They became followers, verse 6. At the end of verse 6, they received the word in much affliction. They received it with joy of the Holy Spirit. In verse 7 it says they became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia. This was a church that was an example to all the other churches.
It was a young church and yet it became an example to all the other churches and then in verse 8 we learned that the Word of God sounded forth the preaching of the Word of God the instruction that was there sounded forth it was spread around they were church that didn't just keep to themselves that they actually affected other churches. They were spreading the word abroad in the way that we do today. We spread the word abroad in different ways today. In those days, you might spread the word abroad by taking parchments. Today we spread the word abroad through various kinds of communication, most of it electronic communication, through websites and making resources available, putting preaching all over the world as a result of our desire to spread the Word of God.
Well, the Word of God was sounding forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. And then in verse 9, he says that they turned to God from idols to serve the true and the living God. This was perhaps one of the most wonderful parts of this church. It was very clear that they were turning away from idols in order to serve the living and true God. Why?
To wait for His Son from heaven. They turned away from their idols to God. And when they turned to God, they were waiting for His Son to return. Then you get to chapter 2 after seeing the conduct and the life of the Thessalonians. Paul now in chapter 2 speaks of the conduct and life of the apostles and he's defending his ministry here.
He is explaining what happened in that city. There are always people who will try to discredit your ministry. And Paul is answering his critics in Thessalonica. And so he says in verse 1 for you yourselves know brethren that are coming to you was not in vain But even after we had suffered Before and were spitefully treated at Philippi as you know we were bold. That's the first thing he says, we were bold.
Secondly, in verse three, our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness. In other words, we preached the true gospel and we preached the purity of God and it was not in deceit. In other words, we weren't deceiving anybody. And then in verse 4, he says that they didn't preach to please men, but God. In verse 5, that they didn't use flattering words, that they didn't use their ministry as a cloak for covetousness to go get what they want and line their own pockets.
In verse 6, he says they weren't seeking glory for men. In verse 7, he says that they were gentle. He says, we were gentle among you as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. Here you see the tenderness of the apostles. These men did not come into town with AK-47s.
They came in as a nursing mother It's interesting that the Apostle Paul likens a Man ministering the Word of God to a nursing mother And you get the idea of the tenderness and the love that their ministry was characterized by. They were gentle among the Thessalonians as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. He cherished them, he loved them, He thought well of them. And then in verse 8, he was affectionately longing for them. And then he says he wasn't just throwing out words.
He wasn't just teaching them concepts. He wasn't just dealing in facts and theologies. He was going beyond that. It's one thing to get theology. It's one thing to understand the facts of the Bible.
But what the Apostle Paul did was something far more complete than that. And that is that he imparted not only the Gospel of God in verse 8, but also our own lives. So it was the impartation of life. In other words, the apostles, the apostolic band, they opened up their lives to the people so that they could be known. So they did not just impart the facts of the gospel, they also imparted their lives.
In verse 9 he says that they labored night and day, they worked very hard. This is what ministers should do, they should be working hard to labor in the word and in prayer and in shepherding of people and in verse 10 he says that they behave devoutly and justly and blamelessly in other words they they behaved in a way that was honorable. And then he says they exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father does his children. So he took the opportunities to exhort them and to comfort them and to do the things that they needed. And then in verse 13 we learn about their conversion, how it was that they were actually saved.
For this reason we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God which also effectively works in you who believe." And then in verse 14, not only did they accept it as the Word of God, but they also imitated other good churches in verse 14. And you became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus. And he says, for you also suffered the same thing. The churches in Judea were suffering, they were being persecuted, and the Thessalonians were also suffering and being persecuted. This matter of receiving the Word as the Word of God is perhaps one of the most important matters for the health of the Church.
If people are not hungry for the word of God, you will not have a strong church. But when you have people who are hungry for the word of God, then you have a church that will turn the world upside down. He says that he longs to see them, in verse 17. And then we get to chapter three, he expresses his concern for their faith and how he sent Timothy to minister to them. He sent Timothy there to steady them and also to find out how they were doing.
And then later on Timothy is going to come back and he's going to give a good report and it will be very encouraging. You read about that in verse 6 in chapter 3. But now that Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love and that you always have a good remembrance of us, greatly desiring to see us as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. For now we live if you stand fast in the Lord.
We live if you stand fast. Paul had such a care for the people there, it was as if he couldn't live if he knew that they weren't standing fast. And so Paul sent Timothy to help them stand fast and then he received a report that they actually were standing fast. And then there's a prayer for the church in verse 11 and 11 to 13 and he prays that the Lord would make them increase and abound in love to one another and to all just as we do to you so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he prays that they would just increase in their love for each other and that their hearts would be blameless.
Those two things are so critical. Love and then setting your heart on pure things. And these are the kinds of things that prepare you to enter into the presence of the Lord when He comes again. And then in chapter 4, He urges them to excel still more in the opening verse of chapter 4. And then he speaks of something that everyone in the church must understand if they are to make progress.
He refers to the matter of sanctification, of this progressive purification that God works in your life. Verse 3, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. What's the will of God for your life? It's your sanctification. You know, people are always asking, what's the will of God for my life?
What does God want me to do? And they ask that question, what does God want me to do? And they expect that primarily there's a duty or a task or a movement or something that they will be involved in. But what is the will of God? Well, the will of God is your sanctification in chapter 4 verse 3.
And he speaks of what that means, abstaining from sexual immorality. There are many people who are asking, oh Lord, show me what to do. But they are imbibing in sexual immorality in one form or another. God will not honor them in that way because his will for them is their sanctification. He talks about how we should possess our own vessels in sanctification honor.
In other words, that we should govern our bodies in a way that would cause sanctification to take place. And then he speaks in verse 9 of brotherly love and there's a statement here that resonates all across scripture. He says, but concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in Macedonia. So he's talking about this reality of the Christian life. If you're a Christian, you will love the brethren.
If anyone says he loves God and hates his brother, he's a liar. Because when a person becomes a Christian, God begins to teach them how to love. The chief mark of a Christian is love. So when you see hatred, you're seeing the manifestation of something that's not Christian. But he says that God teaches you how to love.
And as soon as you're converted, he begins teaching you how to love. And the Thessalonians were experiencing that and they were loving the brethren in all of Macedonia. And then he speaks in verses 13 to 18 about what will happen to those who died before Christ comes and he says that if you die before Christ comes he will raise you up and take you with him in the air that's as simple as it is. In chapter five it's all about the day of the Lord he says but concerning the times and seasons brethren you have no need that I should write you, for you know that the Lord will come as a thief in the night. So he explains the conditions that will exist during that time.
And so he marks that out very clearly. Then he gives various instructions for holiness in chapter 5 verse 12 all the way to the end of the chapter. He mentions love and respect for church leaders in verses 12 and 13 where he speaks that there's a particular way that you should treat those who labor among you, who admonish you. You should recognize them, in other words, understand that they've been placed there by God. You should esteem them highly for their works sake and you should be at peace among yourselves in other words one of the greatest griefs of pastors is a people who are not at peace among themselves It's the most discouraging thing that can happen when the Saints are eating each other up.
And he says, no, be at peace among yourselves. This is how you love and respect your elders. And then he speaks about ministering to people's needs, warning the unruly and comforting the faint-hearted you know you don't want to comfort the unruly and warn the faint-hearted you want to warn the unruly and comfort the faint-hearted so we have sensitivity we weep with those who weep we rejoice with those who rejoice He's talking about life in the body of Christ. You know he brings one of the most helpful verses in the whole Bible. Chapter 5 verse 16, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you and he urges them not to quench the Holy Spirit.
He ends the letter and he says brethren pray for us and greet all the brethren with a holy kiss. You know, I said at the beginning, it's a very tender letter. It reflects a heart of love between ministers and people that were being ministered to. So that's the end of 1 Thessalonians. Now, Paul had some other things that he wanted to write, so a month or two later, he picks up his pen again and he writes to the Thessalonians the second time.
And he is addressing critical problems And he demonstrates what you see all over the Bible, and that is that God deals with us according to our needs. He doesn't write about a bunch of abstractions. He writes about real problems that that church was experiencing. He's speaking to a persecuted people who are losing a lot of their worldly favor and their worldly goods. And when people lose in life in that way they're faced with different kinds of challenges so Paul speaking to this persecuted people and you know what he does he tells them what's going to happen to those who persecute them We'll get to those words in a minute.
In other words, don't worry. God's going to take care of them and hear how He's going to take care of them. And He speaks of how they will spend all of eternity admiring Him with Everlasting delight. But those who are persecuting them will see the fury of God's vengeance and everlasting destruction. There are only two ends.
And the Apostle Paul is saying, live with the end in mind. Remember where this is all going. It's everlasting delight and consolation for the saints and it's everlasting vengeance and destruction for those who are persecuting you. So you should never worry about dealing with those who are persecuting you. God is going to deal with them and so He gives thanks to them verse 3 is really interesting.
I think we should stop there We are bound to thank God always for you." What is he saying? He's saying that we are duty-bound to acknowledge what God has done in other people and in other churches. We have an obligation to observe what good things God has done and to give thanks. We're a thankful people. And you know, one of the disappointing marks of a failing church is that it becomes a church where people don't appreciate what God's doing in one another's lives.
They don't appreciate one another. But here Paul says, we are bound to thank God for you. Why? Well, because your faith is growing exceedingly and the love of every one of you abounds toward each other. It was a church that was growing in love and Paul saw the love and he gives thanks.
He says, I am under obligation to give thanks for what God is doing in your life. And then he helps them understand what's going on with their persecution and he speaks of their tribulations and he says that it's evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God that's one reason he's saying you're being persecuted because you're being counted worthy and also there's another reason that you're being persecuted. You're being persecuted so that God is going to demonstrate His wrath against the ungodly. He says It's a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you. So, He's raised up persecutors to trouble you so that He would trouble them.
God wants to trouble the troubleers in your life who persecute you for the name of Jesus Christ and He says that he is going to give tribulation to those who trouble you and he is going to give you wrath as a result of your faith And then he says that you'll be among those other saints who admire God. You have those who admire God and those who hate God. And God is going to destroy those who hate him. There's another prayer in verses 11 and 12, which you should look at. Then in chapter 2, he starts addressing the false teaching that's disquieting this church, because people are saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
And so there are two things that must happen first before Jesus Christ comes. And he identifies those two things. The first thing that must happen is that there must be a falling away. That's chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. Let no one deceive you, verse 3, by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition.
So, the first thing that must take place is the falling away and it hasn't happened yet This is a dramatic falling away like you've never seen before and then the man of sin is revealed Those two things have to happen and Paul is saying to the Thessalonians those two things have not happened Jesus Christ has not returned the man of sin has not showed up remember he's writing in 49 AD and he describes this man this man of sin this Antichrist and he also tells them why why things are continuing and he has not come and it's because God is restraining the restrainer has not been removed yet And so God is restraining these things from happening. It is God and God alone who is governing every moment of history He is restraining any kind of evil he desires at any time he desires and he's doing that with the Antichrist And he calls them to stand fast and to remember their everlasting consolation. And in chapter 3 he addresses another problem. In chapter 2 the problem was people are saying that Jesus has already come. Now there's a whole other problem.
It's the people who refuse to work because they're waiting for Jesus to come. And the answer that Paul gives is get back to work, make your own living, buy your own bread, and warn the unruly. And if somebody doesn't work, don't let him eat. Withdraw from them so that they would be ashamed. If you have a person who won't work, don't let him eat, withdraw from him that he might be ashamed.
One act of Christian love is to bring shame onto certain kinds of people. And it's right to bring shame upon people who don't work. In your lifetime, you'll run into people like this. Maybe they'll just have a season of it. Hopefully it's a short season, because you'll be right there, and you will warn them, and perhaps actually withdraw from them, so that they'll feel the sting of their sin because they think that other people are supposed to provide for them.
It's a very sinful thing. And then the apostle delivers a very fond farewell. I love his prayer in verse 1 in chapter 3. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you. Pray that the Word of God would run swiftly and be glorified.
This is the most powerful force in the world, the Word of God. The advancing progress of the Word of God is what the world needs. Individuals and churches should use every means they can to spread the Word of God. Churches and individuals should use every tool at their disposal to spread the Word of God as far and as wide as they possibly can. And that means the spreading of preaching and writing and any kind of spreading of the Word of God.
It is what the world needs. We should be filling the world with the Word of God as the waters cover the sea. This is one of our great responsibilities and God raises up churches to deploy their resources for the spreading of the Word of God. It's such a critical matter. Any time a church reviews how it's spending its money, it should always consider how it might spread the Word of God, how it might deploy its funds in order the Word of God would run swiftly and be glorified.
How to present it in the best way to the most people with the messages that are needed for that day. Let the word of God run swiftly. This is one of the greatest responsibilities of any church of Jesus Christ. When you look at the budget of a church, you should look at how is this church spending money to let the word of God run swiftly, because that really marks a critical priority for the Church of Jesus Christ. And verse 5 is very compelling and very beautiful in chapter 3.
Now, may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. This is where all the strength is. It's found in the love of God and in the patience of Jesus Christ. This is the life that God has called us to. He has called us into His love.
And this is what transforms. And then there's this final benediction in verse 16. Now may the Lord of Peace himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. And then finally he says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen. So this is a beautiful testimony of a marvelous church. One of the things that really has stood out to me in looking at Thessalonians beyond the matter of just the faithfulness of this church, how they became an example, and as well how they had such faithful ministers. There's an exhortation that the Church should walk worthy of the Lord. That they should walk worthy of the Lord.
And the Christian life is a life of walking. We are the people of the way. The church is put on the highway of holiness. But walking is usually very unspectacular and progressive in its nature. It's a walk.
It's one step at a time. It's not a speedboat. It's not a spaceship that's just shifted into hyperspace. The Christian life is a walk. And this is how we spread the Gospel.
This is how we love one another. We do it one step at a time by walking. And the progress may seem slow, but God has called us to a walk. And then there will be that day when the walk will end and we'll be taken up in the air and we'll meet the Lord face to face. And that's why the Apostle Paul says in chapter three, verse 12, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
And these really are the marks of a model church. I pray our church becomes more and more like this church, and that we too would sound the Word of God into the whole world, and that the Word of God would run swiftly in our hearts and then all around the world. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for putting this church before us that we might see the glory and the beauty of a humble church turning to you from their idols and how they loved one another and how they had such care for sinners in their region that they would cause the Word of God to run swiftly Amen.