gThessalonica was the largest city of Macedonia in
Paul’s day, It was a bustling sea port on the Egnatian Way and a road leading
north. So it was a trading and commercial centre. Paul had spoken there and
then left abruptly as we see in Acts 17:1-9. It is not clear whether Timothy
stayed on but the small church of converts from paganism and a few converts
from Judaism were struggling with their new found faith and persecution. Under
persecution the church becomes more interested in Jesus’ second coming. The
Thessalonians are no exception and in the first letter Paul is having to warn
them that you cannot predict when Jesus will return. In the mean time we must
live to please God and continue in work and so on.
In this second letter he
continues the same themes as the first, which is encouraging persecuted
believers, exhorting them to be steadfast and work for a living and correcting
misunderstanding about the return of Jesus Christ.
gAn outline of the letter looks like this:
I Greeting 1:1-2
II Prayer 1:3-12
a)
Thanksgiving 1:3-4
b) Divine
Judgement 1:5-10
c) Content
of prayer 1:11-12
III The man of sin 2:1-12
IV Thanksgiving and encouragement. 2:13-17
V Pray for us for the Lord is faithful 3:1-5
VI Discipline the idle 3:6-16
VII Final Greeting 3:17-18
Today we look at the first
chapter which is the greeting and the prayer. This is a common feature of
letters of the day. Instead of “Dear Thessalonians, I hope you are well….
Letters began with who is was from, who it was to, a greeting and some then got into the subject of the letter –
more like a memo format then a letter format.
gSo lets read it. 2Thessalonians 1:1-12. page 1189 in the Church Bibles.
1 Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
A straightforward, standard
greeting with one exception. Paul identifies the church as in God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ and also wishes them grace and peace from God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 gWe ought always
to thank God for you, Here is the starting point of Paul’s letter. Not a
jump in with both feet, tell them how it is approach but one that we need to
learn from.
brothers, and
rightly so, g because your faith is growing more and more,
Paul looks to see progress in
the Christian life and he finds growing faith. Faith, we said last week, is
risk-taking. Testing out in obedience that God is faithful. We do not stand
still in the Christian life, any more than a plant can stand still in the
garden. It either grows or it withers and you consider a plant that is not
developing to need attention. So it is with your spiritual life. Faith has to
explore new areas of trust. Discipleship takes faith beyond just trusting God for salvation to
trusting him for living the new life in Christ.
andg the love every one of you has for each other is
increasing.
Here is the mark of the life
of Jesus. Jesus said” By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.
Again, it is an active love. It has to grow and develop and move on. Each of us
develops as we learn to love each other in a deeper way – more of that later.
4 Therefore,
among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the
persecutions and trials you are enduring. 5 All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as
a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are
suffering.
Here is the first hint of
both the problems the Thessalonians had and a very different perspective on
life enjoyed by the early church. Perseverence here is being tested. The church
is under pressure to conform to the norms of the society of the day and coercion,
bullying, violence were all weapons of the enemies of jesus Christ. Paul ,
instead of a there, there, we are praying that God removes this trial, says he
boasts about their endurance! Troubles are seem as evidence of God considering
you worthy of them. Weak Christians have it easy, strong Christians have
persecutions. On that basis we should look to the persecuted church for
leadership rather than think of ourselves of the centre of Christianity. The
church is strong in China, in Indonesia, in many other parts of the world. It
is weak in Britian and particularly so in London.
6 God
is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and
give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well.
Paul knows that God’s
response is two-fold. We are to leave to him punishing our enemies. In our
situation, the perceived fear of Islam should be understood that we are to love
our enemies and do good to them. We do not fear them, we rather fear God. We
leave him to deal with their judgment. Secondly God will bring relief but when
and how?
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from
heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish
those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They
will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of
the Lord and from the majesty of his power 10 on the day he comes to
be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have
believed.
We must think long term, really
long term. We are born by the Holy Spirit of God for eternal life. Paul, in
Romans said “I consider the present sufferings nothing compared with the glory
that is to come.” Notice the language they do not know God, they do not obey
the gospel, they are shut out – this is not a vision of malevolence but of
those who receive the consequences of their lives. On the other hand, savour
this precious statement; gThis includes you, because you believed our testimony
to you.
In what you are included in:
1. gJesus will be revealed
as a blazing fire – either destruction or warm and welcoming
2. gThe presence of the
Lord – the preciousness of the “I will be with you always”
3. g The majesty of his
power - power here speaks of enabling
God is not majestic because of his luxurious living but his active involvement
in the salvation of a fallen world and you.
4. gHe is to be glorified
by us – his holy people - gand to be marvelled at – This means spending time in
worship at home and together in Church, Sunday morning, Sunday Evening,
Powerhouse and House Group. Or have you lost it? Is this world and its false
glitzy race for celebrity and wealth blinded you to the pleasure of spending
time glorifying and marvelling at our Saviour and our God?
Paul now turns to the content
of his prayer having set it in context of the here now suffering and the here
now glory of Jesus. SO what do I pray
when I pick up the prayer diary? Here is a pattern to help. Lets turn this
from Paul telling us to us praying for each other.
gI pray, dear
Father, that you may count _________ worthy of your calling, and that by your
power you may fulfil every good purpose of _______ and every act prompted by
his/her faith. We pray this so that the
name of you, our Lord Jesus may be glorified in him/her, and (s)he in you,
according to your grace.
Count worthy
might mean persecution but each of us has a calling and a destiny. The destiny
is a seat in heaven with Jesus. For today he calls us to holiness and witness
to his saving grace.
Pray for God to empower them
to full his purpose in their lives.
In worship, prayer, discipleship, telling other the good news, caring for
others, fellowship and serving others by using the gifts he gives.
Every act prompted by faith. Faith that reaches out to God
and takes risks that he might show his power.
Jesus glorified in you. You are a holy person – live as one. We are saved by
grace and we live by grace but the proper response to grace is to seek the
power of the Holy Spirit to live the lives that please God. Jesus id glorified
every time your actions reflect his character and purpose.
So here is how we love one
another more and more. By looking for faith and love in each other. By praying
for the life of the Holy Spirit to be evident in the lives of others in the
fellowship. By continuing the care that we are so good at but making it reach
out of our immediate circle into the wider Christian community and out to the
lost without Christ. Our love begins as we receive God’s love and we now are to
remind ourselves of that love as it was expressed on the cross. We will glorify
Jesus and marvel at him and his love and ask to receive from him and feed and
drink from him that we may offer him back our lives.