The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'Faith That Overcomes Affliction,' draws from 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5 to discuss the importance of faith in overcoming life's challenges and pressures. The speaker highlights the historical context of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy's efforts to support the Thessalonian believers despite being separated from them. This separation did not diminish their love or commitment, illustrated by their sending Timothy to encourage and establish the Thessalonians' faith. The sermon stresses that Christians are appointed to face afflictions, which serve to distinguish genuine faith from counterfeit faith. It recounts the early Christian teaching that suffering is an expected part of the Christian journey. The sermon contrasts this with modern prosperity theology, which often overlooks the inevitability of suffering. It encourages Christians to recognize Satan's attempts to exploit afflictions, urging believers to stand firm in faith. The speaker calls for a mature faith that prioritizes the needs of newer believers and views life's pressures as opportunities for growth and God's glory.

This morning's sermon text will be 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 1 through 5 for some context. I will begin reading in chapter 2 verse 17 Please follow along But we brethren Having been taken away from you for a short time, in presence not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire. Therefore, we wanted to come to you, even I, Paul, time and again, but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming, for you are our glory and joy. Therefore when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith.

That no one should be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For in fact we told you before, when we were with you, that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain." The title of the sermon this morning is, faith that overcomes afflictions. Isn't that what you want? You want a faith that overcomes afflictions.

I believe that's what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy set before us. They're laboring, they're exhausting themselves. They're spending and being spent so that these new converts would have a faith that is established and encouraged and built up and is sufficient to overcome afflictions. And may it be so of us. May it be so of us.

Last week there were just two main points in the sermon. The first was absence explained. It might have been easily misunderstood that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy were there one day and gone the next. They want to make sure that it's not misunderstood. So they say, our bodies are gone, but our hearts are still in Thessalonica with you.

We can't wait to get back. And we've tried to get back. The second main point is hope proclaimed. They say of the Thessalonian believers, These new converts are their hope, their joy, their crown of rejoicing, their glory and joy. I closed with the scene from Revelation chapter 7 verses 9 through 12, where there is a multitude that can't be numbered.

Of every tribe and nation and tongue there worshipping before the throne and worshipping the Lamb. And everyone is there, all of his people are there, worshiping. And in that day, the people who God has used you as a channel for his gospel and His goodness and the message of salvation. Everyone who God has used you to invest in their life and help them make progress, will be there together. Will be there arm in arm, figuratively.

And this is the hope of all Christian laborers. Not that we'll get maybe something or not something in this lifetime, but that we'll be there together, worshiping before the throne. And this should propel us. This should thrust us forward to labor with all our hearts to preach the gospel to people who don't seem like they deserve it, like we were, and to invest in the lives of baby believers who are just getting started and can be frustrating sometimes. No, no, no.

We'll stand together in a multitude that can't be numbered. And we'll worship the Lamb together. And this is our hope that in the day of Jesus Christ when he comes back to receive the glory that is due him, we will have been used in so many lives and we'll be there together having been a part of all the stories that are there. This week Paul and Silvanus and Timothy outline what has already happened. In other words, they're looking back at the sending of Timothy.

He's already been sent and he's come back with a report already. So they're outlining history because it's already happened, and they're explaining exactly why. They're putting their finger on exactly why it seems so urgent and necessary and non-negotiable that Timothy leave Athens and go back to be with the Thessalonians. So as we go to the text, let's come to the text in prayer. God, I pray that you would help us not to be shaken by the afflictions that you send to us.

But that we would be so firmly established and encouraged in our faith, that we would be built up in our most holy faith and you would give us a faith that overcomes all the pressures in life that are actually sent for our good and help us grow. I pray that you would use this text in this way in our lives, Lord. Help us not to be shaken and to stumble at afflictions, but to rejoice that you care for us, that you sustain us in the middle of life's pressures. In Jesus' name, Amen. So I'm going to be dividing this week's text into three parts.

And so we'll just work slowly through the text. I'd like to begin with 1 Thessalonians 3 verses 1 and 2, and then we'll stop and I'll talk about it. Follow along as I read 1 Thessalonians chapter 3, 1 and 2. Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone. And sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith.

This section is about sending Timothy back to Thessalonica. If you're filling in blanks on the handout, it is Timothy back. Sending Timothy back to Thessalonica. They were there for a short while, probably a few months, and they were run out of town, essentially. And now they're sending Timothy back to be an encouragement to the new believers.

This section begins with the word, therefore, and it's pointing back to where Paul and Silvanus and Timothy say that the Thessalonian believers are their hope, their joy, their crown of rejoicing, their glory and joy. So they're piling up the terms of affection. They're stacking one on top of another to make sure that they know how much they're loved. And they say, therefore, because you're loved like this, the absence has made it so that we just couldn't take it any longer. We couldn't stand it for another minute.

We've been trying to come together. We wanted to come as a ministry team back to Thessalonica, but as we saw in last week's text, Satan hindered them. So they can't go as a ministry team. So they decide to send Timothy back. And they couldn't wait another minute to do it.

There's this strong sense of compulsion and necessity in the text. They really didn't have a choice. They had an internal compulsion that was going to have them send Timothy back to Thessalonica to be an encouragement. The text says, we thought it to be good to be left in Athens. So This takes us back into the Acts account.

This appears to be the sequence of events. I just want to run through this because it can get confusing about who went where and when. From looking at the different texts together it appears that this was the sequence of events First Paul and Silvanus and Timothy were in Thessalonica. We know that from Acts 17 the accounts there, and it's clear They're run out of town and the next town is Berea That's also in Acts chapter 17 and Paul and Silvanus, and Timothy are still there together. When the Jews from Thessalonica, that had caused all the trouble there, find out that they're preaching and having success in Berea, they come there also and it's just step and repeat.

It's just a repeat of the situation. They stir up trouble again and it's time for Paul to leave again. This time it's Paul leaving by himself to go to Athens. That's very clear from Acts chapter 17. But when he gets to Athens, the ones who have accompanied him to Athens by ship, he sends a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him with all speed, to join him at Athens.

That is Acts chapter 17 verse 15. So here's where we are. Paul is in Athens and he sent those who accompanied him back to Berea to tell Silas or Silvanus and Timothy to join him right away in Athens. And apparently they did from our text, otherwise our text makes no sense. Timothy is being sent from Athens, So at some point, in however length of time it was, they joined him in Athens.

And Timothy is sent back to Thessalonica. That's from our text today. It couldn't be clearer. But also, at some point, Silvanus has to be sent back into Macedonia too. How do we know that?

Well, we know that from Acts chapter 18 verse 5. In Acts chapter 18 verse 5, Paul is in Corinth, and 18 verse 5 says this, when Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia. So Acts 18.5 says that Not just Timothy had been in Macedonia. Remember Thessalonica is just a city in the region of Macedonia. But Silas or Silvanus had been in Macedonia as well.

So my guess is he either went to Berea or Philippi or both. Those are all cities within Macedonia that we know this ministry team had gone and preached. There were converts and a church had been started. So Timothy goes to Thessalonica. Silas goes somewhere else in Macedonia.

And then when they're finished with their missions, they all join back together again at Corinth. They join Paul at Corinth. At this point I just want to Make note that it's not right to superimpose modern America back on these texts, where it's no big deal to split up. Where the security level and the associated difficulties are so small that it really doesn't matter that much whether you stay together or split up. When you read the Acts account, you are parted from that thought pretty quickly.

There's lots of things happening in the acts account. People being beaten, people being imprisoned without due process, people being martyred. There are lots of things that don't fit the modern American experience. And so we should just notice that Splitting up is no small thing. Traveling is dangerous.

Being Paul is dangerous. Just by definition, being Paul is dangerous all by itself. Paul is safer and Paul is more effective in his ministry when the ministry team is together. So it's not a little thing that Paul decides that it would be good to be left alone in Athens and to send his two traveling companions back into Macedonia to encourage these new converts. It says, we thought it would be good.

That doesn't mean that he's glad to be alone in Athens. You get that right. It's comparative. This is better than that. We thought it would be good.

It's better in spite of all the advantages of staying together, and in spite of all the difficulties associated with splitting up, it's better to send these brothers back by themselves, split up one-one-one, for the encouragement of new believers. This is good compared to that. Now who was sent? Timothy was sent. And three things are said of Timothy.

That he's a brother, that he's a minister of God, that he's a fellow laborer in the gospel. Let's take those one by one. First, Timothy's a brother. He's spiritual family, both to Paul and Silvanus and to the new converts in Thessalonica. He's spiritual family.

And so there's this 360 degree bond. There's the bond of brotherhood within the ministry team, meaning Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have this bond that transcends natural flesh and blood bond. They're closer to each other than they are to many, most, maybe all of their blood relatives. Especially with the amount of time they've spent together. But it doesn't stop there.

The same is true with the Thessalonians. They have more in common now with these were a few months ago pagans than they do with most or all of their family. There's a 360 degree bond of being in Christ. They used to be strangers from different parts of the world who had nothing in common, but now they are in Christ and they are brothers. Both within the ministry team and with this new church.

So there's every reason for reciprocal love. What does reciprocal mean? It's a two-way love, love in both directions. They have every reason, Timothy has every reason to love these new converts, and he does. And the same is true in the opposite direction.

These new converts have every reason to love Timothy. And we're going to find out next week, They do love Timothy. Now I'm going to go back and say all the things I said about Timothy in the very first sermon in Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 1. It's a quick review. We meet Timothy in Acts chapter 16 verse 1.

We find out that he is from Lystra and Acts 16 verse 1 says that he is the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek. The strong implication, the clear implication is his father didn't believe. His mother believed, she was a Jewess who believed, and his father was a Greek. The implication is he did not believe. Paul calls Timothy, my beloved and faithful son in the Lord.

That's 1 Corinthians 4, 17. Paul calls Timothy a true son in the faith. That's 1 Timothy 1, chapter 2. Paul calls Timothy a beloved son. That's 2 Timothy chapter 2, verse 2.

So here in our text he's called a brother, but we know from other places that he's a son in the faith to the Apostle Paul. So The relationship among the ministry team runs deeper still. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 5 we read this. This is Paul writing to Timothy. 2 Timothy 1 verse 5, I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you.

That means he is a brother. He has genuine faith. Which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. So Timothy is the recipient of multi-generational faith. Not that you can receive the faith through the generations, but that saving faith, genuine faith, was found in his grandmother, and then in his mother, and now another generation later in the life of Timothy.

And in fact, in 2 Timothy 3 verse 15 we read, From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. From his earliest days, when he was on his grandmother's knee and his mother's knee, he was hearing the Scriptures. And so, we don't know when he was converted, but we know that he was learning the Scriptures from his earliest days, That he's not a novice in the scriptures. And then back to Acts chapter 16, which is where we first meet Timothy. In Acts chapter 16 verses 2 and 3 we read, Timothy was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.

Paul wanted to have him go on with him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. So we know from Acts 16 that Timothy had a good reputation among the believers in Lystra and that Paul desired him to go. The fact that Timothy is part of This ministry team is at Paul's invitation. Paul wants him to go, and he does go. Paul is worried that because he has a Greek father and he's never been circumcised, that that will be an obstacle to ministry to the Jews.

So he takes him and has him circumcised. Not because he needs it to be saved, but to remove an obstacle, a potential obstacle of ministry to the Jews. So that was first. Timothy is called a brother, and he is a brother and he's a son to Paul as well. Number two, he is a minister of God.

He is a minister of God. That's a lofty title. He is not just an underling of the Apostle Paul. It's clear that he's his father in the faith and that Paul is sending. The text says as much.

But he's not just an underling. President Obama has been in a lot of trouble for what he said a year and a half ago when he called ISIS the JV team. The JV team is Junior Varsity Team. The varsity team is where all the great athletes are. The varsity team is where all the great athletes are.

The varsity team is where all the best players are. And they play in the important games, and they're the stars. The junior varsity team, has anyone here ever been to a junior varsity game of any sort? There's only going to be a few hands going. Nobody goes to those games.

There's only drips and drabs at those games. There's just a very few people. If you're at that game, you're probably the mother or the father of someone who's there. This is the life of Junior Varsity. That's not what Timothy is.

Timothy is not the JV team. He's a minister of God. He is sent of God. He is doing God's business among new converts in churches. And we'll see by examination of what he was sent to do that he's not just a messenger that he's doing really critical things in this church.

He's not just the delivery boy for Words from Paul. That's the wrong picture of Timothy entirely. He is a minister of God. He's sent on God's business, and he's doing God's work among the Lord's people. Thirdly and finally, he's called a fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ.

He's a functioning part, an important part of the ministry team. He's a fellow laborer of the gospel in the gospel of Christ. I'm going to give you two quotes from two different commentators that I think shed light on this description, fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ. The first is Matthew Henry on being a fellow laborer. Here's what Matthew Henry says, ministers of the gospel must look upon themselves as laborers in the Lord's vineyard.

They have an honorable office and hard work, yet a good work." In other words, according to Matthew Henry, a minister ought to look at himself as a worker. It's honorable, but it's not honorary. Do you understand the difference? Honorable means it's good labor, it's good work. Honorary has the connotation that it's just about the privileges.

A minister of God, a fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ, is a working position. It's a serving position. It's honorable, but it's not honorary. It doesn't exist for the bestowing of privileges on that person. That's the person that's going to be working the hardest and serving the most.

He's a fellow laborer, these ministers, they labor together in the Lord's vineyard. Isn't it kind that the Lord brings together men and women to labor together in His vineyard to help everyone make progress in the faith? The Lord has sent people into your life to help you make progress in the faith. They're fellow laborers in the gospel of Christ. Now here's F.F.

Bruce. F.F. Bruce is a modern scholar. He's still alive, I believe. And this is his comment on the term, Gospel of Christ.

It's the first time we've encountered it in 1st Thessalonians. F.F. Bruce says this, Now it is called the Gospel of Christ not only because Christ is its subject, it is as Paul puts it in Romans 1, 1-3, the Gospel of God concerning his son, but also because he Christ is its embodiment. I think this is really helpful. F.F.

Bruce is telling us that it's called the Gospel of Christ for two different reasons at least. One is that Christ is the subject of the gospel. How are you going to preach the gospel without preaching Christ? And secondly, that Christ is the embodiment of the gospel. In other words, he is sort of a word picture of the Gospel all by himself.

To understand Christ, His person, who He is, and His work, what He did, is to understand the Gospel. To understand Christ, His person and work, is to understand the gospel. If you understand one, you understand the other. If you don't understand one, you don't understand the other. Christ is the embodiment of the gospel.

That's not to diminish any of the other members of the trinity. To understand Christ is to understand who the Father is with respect to Christ and who the Spirit is with respect to Christ. Finally, I'll say this. This is not the only time that Timothy will be sent by himself to do important things in that local church. He'll be sent to Ephesus by himself to do important things in a local church.

But this is the first time. This is sort of Timothy's first time being separated from the ministry team to go with an important mission to carry out among a fledgling church, a fragile church, a church that's under a lot of pressure as we've learned in chapter 2. Now what was Timothy sent to do? He was sent to establish them concerning their faith. He was sent to establish the Thessalonians concerning their faith.

The NASB and the NIV render it strengthen them instead of establish strengthen. They're both good renderings. The Greek actually means to make stable, to place firmly, to set fast, to establish, to set on solid footing. I'll give you the Greek again, to make stable. He's going to stabilize their new faith.

To place firmly. To set fast. He's going to set them on firm footings so they won't be shaken. And he's sent to encourage them concerning their faith. You get a broad range of translation here.

So the New King James says, encourage concerning their faith. King James comfort, comfort them. ESV, to exhort them. Why the range of translation? Because the Greek word is a really broad word that really wraps all those things up.

There's no one English word that does it justice, and so different translators have picked different words. Here's what the Greek means if you expand out that Greek word to as many English words as it actually takes to get the full sense. To address by way of exhortation, Entreaty, comfort, instruction, etc. So to address someone in one of these ways, and here's the list. And it's really all the ways that there would be to address someone in a way that would be helpful.

How can you say words that will be helpful to someone? Well there's a bunch of different ways. Sometimes you comfort them. Sometimes you exhort them. Sometimes you entreat them.

Sometimes you instruct them. All of that's wrapped up in this. He's sent to say words to build them up. It's that simple. He is sent to say the words that will be a comfort to them and will exhort them and will build them up in their faith.

This is about their faith. This is about their fully trusting God. So Timothy is coming back to town in order to say words to have them trusting God more and more and more and more. This is about their trust in God. But keep in mind, when Paul and Silvanus and Timothy were there the first time, they can't just leave a box of Bibles.

They don't have one. They're just starting to write it, the New Testament. This is probably, it's either Galatians is the first Pauline letter or first Thessalonians is. This is very early in Paul's inspired writing to the churches. They don't have New Testaments to hand out.

And there are a lot of differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Now I believe there's more continuity than discontinuity, but you can't come and read the gospels and read the letters and say it's just like the old covenant. Oh, there's a lot to know. And it hasn't been written to be put into their hands. And so it's that much more necessary that Timothy, who's well instructed by the Apostle Paul, now goes back with those instructions to share.

They need it. They can't just leave a box of Bibles behind and say, it's in there. Study it. Apply yourself to this. That was verses one and two.

Let's go back, follow along as I read 1 Thessalonians chapter three verses three and four. That no one should be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For in fact we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation just as it happened and you know." So in this section we have a persevering faith in times of affliction. So if you're filling in blanks, it's persevering faith.

Persevering faith in times of affliction. Faith that lasts. Faith that doesn't wither. Faith that doesn't evaporate when the pressure comes. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are explaining why they thought it was so important to send Timothy to encourage them right now.

Why they think it can't wait another minute for encouragement to come to these new converts. Why can't it wait that no one should be shaken by these afflictions? We just saw in chapter 2, look up in chapter 2 verse 14, chapter 2 verse 14 then go about half way to the start of a new sentence in 14. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans. So our letter writers have already said you're imitating the churches in Judea, and you're suffering the same things that they're suffering What were they suffering they were being beaten they were being imprisoned they were being martyred intense pressure and persecution So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy know that that's what's going on at Thessalonica, intense persecution.

And as a consequence, they want to make sure that no one is shaken by these afflictions. Those are the afflictions that he's talking about. Does it even need to be said that afflictions often shake people? Nothing shakes people like afflictions. Nothing shakes people like persecution and tribulation and pressure.

So why shouldn't the Thessalonians be? If most people are, if it so often happens, why shouldn't they be? Well, we're given two reasons in the text. First, true Christians are appointed to afflictions. Real ones, true Christians are appointed to afflictions.

You better not be shaken. If you're a true Christian, We better get our minds around this, because we're appointed to afflictions. So if we're going to be shaken every time we're afflicted, every time pressure, God brings pressure into our lives, we're going to spend a lot of time in that position. In fact, afflictions are one way counterfeit Christianity is exposed, right? That's how you tell the real thing from the fake.

That's how you tell the genuine from the counterfeit. Matthew 13, the parable of the sower, verse 21, Matthew 13, 21, it's the stony places. The seed is there and a plant springs up, but because it's stony the roots can't go deep so the roots are right there on the surface. There's no root and verse 21 says, for when tribulation and persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he stumbles. How long can you be a Christian, faithfully, before tribulation and persecution arises because of the Word, immediately he stumbles.

How long can you be a Christian faithfully before tribulation and persecution arises because of the Word? How long? A month. A year? A year is a pretty good run.

If you're living faithfully, if you're living for the Lord, and it's a full year before you get a good heaping taste of tribulation and persecution, you're living in a sparsely populated place. Now contrast this with what we see in 1 Peter chapter 4. Please turn to 1 Peter chapter 4. So in one hand we have the parable of the sower, the seed that fell on stony soil. It pops up, it looks healthy, but as soon as tribulation and persecution arises because of the word, the plant wilts.

And it proves that it wasn't the genuine thing. In contrast to that we have 1 Peter chapter 4, I'd like to read verses 12 through 14. 1 Peter 4 beginning in 12. Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. So here's the picture. Christians aren't to think it strange when they encounter fiery trials. Why? Because you were supposed to expect it.

We're taught over and over and over again in the New Testament to expect it. So It shouldn't be like something strange is happening to you. You should anticipate that at some point you will encounter it. And when it happens, you shouldn't wilt, your face shouldn't evaporate, You should rejoice because it's a sign that the Spirit of God rests upon you. It's actually for the true Christian, for the genuine Christian, it's actually the opposite of what makes you wither.

It makes you rejoice. It makes you confident that the Spirit of God rests upon you. This is exactly what we see in the life of the apostles. In Acts chapter 5, the apostles have just been beaten and released. And in Acts chapter 5 verse 41 we read this, so they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

They're not wilting when tribulation and persecution arise because of the Word. They've been beaten, they've been released, and what do you see them doing next? They rejoice, they go back into the temple, and they preach. This is like the opposite of withering. The sun beats down on them, and they just keep growing.

You can't do that if you don't have root. Root. The root is saving faith. The root of a person who is saved goes down to the river of life. It's like Psalm 1.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither." That's what the real believer is like. So, bring on the sunshine! Bring on the scorching heat! So that was first. True Christians are appointed to afflictions.

Secondly, they've already been repeatedly told. This isn't news to them. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are able to point back to their time at Thessalonica and their teaching of the Thessalonians and say, you've heard this before. You get back to our text so I can read where they say that. The first part of verse 4, for in fact we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation.

We told you before. The NASV and the ESV and the NIV render it, we kept telling you. Why do they render it that way? Because the verb tense in Greek communicates ongoing action. Okay, So it's not just past tense.

We kept telling you. They persisted in it. It wasn't one time and done, but They kept telling them, they kept telling them, you're going to see persecution, you're going to see persecution. They were making them ready for the current afflictions. What were they telling them?

That we would suffer tribulation. This is interesting. The Greek behind suffer tribulation. So we have two words in English, but it's one Greek word. The Greek word behind suffer tribulation means to press as grapes.

To press as grapes. So, it's a metaphor for trouble and affliction and distress, but the picture, the literal, is to press down on grapes, to squeeze all the juice out of the grapes. The pressure that comes when you're pressing grapes. That's what's actually there. An apt picture, isn't it?

This is what's been brought into the lives of these new believers. They're being pressed. The pressure is being brought on them. This is what Jesus kept telling his disciples too. This didn't originate with Paul and Silvanus and Timothy.

Jesus taught his disciples exactly the same way. Turn to John 15. We need to see exactly what Jesus told his disciples. And he kept telling them too. He repeated this teaching to his disciples.

I hope you are at John 15. I would like to read John 15 verses 18 through 21. Jesus says, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me." There's the problem. They don't know God.

That's why they're pressing them like grapes. That's why they're suffering the same things that the Judean churches were suffering. Because Jesus chose them out of the world and He separated them from the world. Jesus said, you wouldn't have any trouble at all. You wouldn't have any resistance at all if you were still in the world?

Persecution comes because I've taken you out of the world and there's a separation and the world hates the separation. The world hates it. You won't play along anymore. You used to play so nicely with the world. The world would leave you alone.

The world was happy with that arrangement. But now, you broke the deal! When Christ chose you out of the world, you broke your deal with the world. And now you're going to get trouble for it. That's how Jesus said it would work, and that's how Christians find that it works.

Here's what Gene Green, another modern commentator on Thessalonians says, The theology of suffering was a centerpiece in early Christian teaching, unlike many muddled modern theologies that promised prosperity in the absence of trouble as the fruits of true faith." Aha! Isn't that a good point? How incompatible is 1 Thessalonians 3 verses 1-5 with the prosperity gospel? Try to merge them. Try to get those things to line up somewhere.

You'll not be able to do it. I think he's right. The theology of suffering was a centerpiece in early Christian teaching. Isn't that what we saw all throughout 1 Peter? It was how do you endure?

How do you flourish even when you are being persecuted? Even when you are being pressed like grapes. Brothers and sisters, if you teach, that's me, I teach. That's not just me though, we have fathers that teach, we have mothers that teach, we have older siblings who do some teaching. We have to teach this.

We have to teach that you will suffer. If you're faithful, you'll suffer. So that our pupils won't be surprised, won't consider it a strange thing that's happening to them when they begin to suffer when persecution and tribulation arise because of the Word. Word. You have to teach this.

We have to say, if you're the Lord's and you live faithfully, you'll suffer, but knowing Christ is worth every bit and then a thousand fold. You just have to look them in the eye and say that. But only if you really believe it. And only if you're willing to live it. But let me tell you that as we look our children in the eye and say, if you're faithful you will suffer persecution, but knowing Christ is worth it and then a thousand fold that knowing Christ delivers on that promise.

Going to church won't deliver on that promise. It's not enough. Having a good reputation for being Nice and well behaved won't deliver on that promise when persecution comes. The other things will fold. The other things will wilt and fall away.

Knowing Christ is enough and then a thousand fold. Nothing else can deliver on that promise. So you better know what you're talking about. We better know what we're talking about when we say that to our children. This better come out of experience of knowing Christ, and that knowing Christ will sustain you when you're being squeezed like a grape.

And that you don't have to wilt and fall away, but you can flourish when that happens. Alright, back to Thessalonians. Last verse. Last verse. Verse 5.

Last verse. Verse 5. For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith. Lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain." He's sent to know about their faith. How's your faith doing?

They're under pressure, and he wants to know whether they're wilting or whether they're flourishing. It's the difference between genuine faith and counterfeit faith. He wants to know. He's so delighted. I can't wait to get to preach next week's text because he gets back a great report.

He's delighted at the report he's received. Their faith has proved to be genuine. They're flourishing in the middle of tribulation. Verse 5, how Satan views our afflictions. If you're filling in blanks, it's views afflictions.

How Satan views our afflictions. He licks his chops. Of course, that's how he views our afflictions. He prowls about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And his salivary glands start flowing when someone is under pressure, when someone is being squeezed like a grape.

He licks his chops. Now connect this to chapter 2 verse 18. This is last week's text. Therefore, we wanted to come to you, even I, Paul, time and again, but Satan hinders us. Paul looks and he sees that Satan is hindering them on their end, so Satan must be doing something to attack their faith on the other end.

He just assumes it's true. That makes sense, doesn't it? If Satan is hindering the ministry team from going back to establish and encourage these new believers, then he must be working on the other end too to attack their faith. That's why he would hinder this ministry team. Here's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2 verse 11.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 2 he's just talked about how important it is that we forgive the truly repentant. And in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 11, having spoken of unforgiveness, he says, Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. Lest Satan should take advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. You have two things that Paul is saying in 2 Corinthians 2, 11. One is Satan takes advantage wherever he can.

He's looking for openings, he's looking for weak spots. He's looking for gaps to penetrate so he can attack and overcome. And in 2 Corinthians 2, 11 he says unforgiveness is a gap that Satan is looking to exploit. He's looking to take advantage of that weakness. The second thing that Paul is teaching is that he's not ignorant of the devil's schemes.

Meaning, he thinks ahead and he anticipates. So he sees the possibility of unforgiveness in this church, and he knows How the devil thinks and how the devil attacks weak points and that that's a weak point and so he does the work in advance of the attack. Do you see that? Lest Satan should take advantage for We are not ignorant of His devices. This is so helpful for all Christians to know that they have an enemy who is looking to take advantage of pressures.

That's what He is looking for. Where is the pressure point? He attacks there. Where's the persistent sin? He attacks there.

Where's the unforgiveness? He attacks there. Where's lack of love? He attacks there. He's looking for opportunities to take advantage.

And So Christians shouldn't be ignorant of these schemes. We know where the pressure points are. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy see that these are new believers under pressure and they know that Satan sees an opportunity and that he'll attack their faith. What is the temptation in times of affliction? What is it?

God has ceased to care for me. God has abandoned me. God is displeased with me. It's legitimate if we believe we're in a time of discipline to say, is there something God is displeased with? Are the pressures that I'm experiencing the result of areas of disobedience in my life and to ask the Lord to show us if that's so.

But it doesn't follow that every time pressure comes into your life it is the result of something like that. That completely is contrary to the New Testament teaching. In fact, it would be more consistent with New Testament teaching to say, the more pleasing you are to the Lord, the more pressure you're likely to experience. Because he's bringing you to maturity. Because he's glorifying his own name.

He's more interested in his own glory than he is in your comfort. Get over it! Get over it! Christians, we just have to get over that. He's very interested in his glory, and he's only a little interested in our comfort.

And he'll bring the pressures into our lives to help us to grow, to make us grow, and to glorify his name. And so it may be true that as you grow in obedience and as you begin to do well in areas where you've done so poorly for such a long time that it won't be less pressure that you'll get, that it'll be more pressure than you'll get. And this is the point in the sermon where I look you in the eye and say, knowing Jesus is worth it. Bless a thousand fold. I mean, think of what we learned about the religious culture of Thessalonica at the very beginning.

Religion is what you do to get favors from gods. Right? From the gods. You pitch in your loyalty and your worship, and the expectation is, like, I get something back for that. I pick my gods carefully.

And I give my allegiance to the one where I get the most return. This is the religious culture, the religious environment in Thessalonica. This is different. You don't think these Thessalonians had friends, neighbors, relatives chirping in their ear, this is how your God treats you, this is what you get back for your allegiance and your worship. Good luck with that.

So, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy know it's time to send an encourager back to establish them. Brothers and sisters, we're going to be pressed. So we should watch and pray. We should be on guard. Because We have an enemy who doesn't sleep and he's looking for the weak point.

We shouldn't be ignorant of his devices. There's so much more to say on this point, we should just go to Ephesians 6 and talk about the full armor of God. That's your homework assignment. I'm not going to talk about it anymore. We must have faith that overcomes afflictions because that's genuine faith.

Ultimately, it overcomes afflictions. I'm not talking about a life that's full of victory every moment. The New Testament knows nothing of a life that's full of overcoming Victoria's faith every second of your life. There are going to be times when your faith feels so very fragile. And when you're weak, and when your weakness becomes apparent.

That's the whole point of faith, is to engage God because He's strong. But our faith should endure. Genuine faith endures. It doesn't wither when tribulation and persecution arise because of the word. Three applications.

Three applications. Number one, As we mature, the needs of newer believers should take priority over our own. We're talking about, we're growing. The more we grow, the more the needs of newer believers, people who are just getting started, take priority over our own needs. This is exactly what you see.

Paul's Needs are not taking priority in our text. It's better for Paul if Timothy and Sylvanus stay with him. It's better for the new believers if they go back into Macedonia. So Paul subjugates his own needs, wishes, what would be good for him, helpful to him, to the needs of new believers. The same is true with us as we mature.

God raises people to maturity so that they can serve people who are just getting started in the faith. So we should establish and encourage them. Number two, we must have a rock solid view of the pressures God sends into our lives. We must have a rock solid view of the pressures God sends into our lives. Meaning think rightly about that.

So easy to think wrongly about that and say, God has abandoned me. God is displeased with me. God no longer cares for me. Pressures don't mean any of that. By necessity.

We've got to get our minds wrapped around the fact that it might be a sign of God's pleasure. He's probably teaching us to depend on him more. Number three, we must recognize the voice of our enemy in the midst of those pressures. Recognize the voice of the enemy in the midst of the pressures. You're being squeezed like a grape, and the words in your mind are, God's nowhere to be found.

Whose voice is that? That's an enemy attacking the weak point, attacking during time of pressure to overthrow your faith. Don't put up with that. Don't be ignorant of his devices. It's the same old devices over and over and over.

Learn to recognize them. So that we win more and lose less. Father, I thank you for this text. I thank you for how helpful your Word is. Every week we come to it.

There are so many things just by looking at the words that you've given to us. Studying them carefully, we benefit so much. Teach us to trust. Teach us to have a faith that is unshakable. That isn't moved by pressures, by squeezing.

Thank you for how you're working among us in the book of 1 Thessalonians. I pray that you would give us an abundance of grace, Lord, to be able to walk according to the light that you're giving us. In Jesus' name, Amen.