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Reading 2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 to see that evidence of genuine faith includes resisting temptation, growing in love for God, and growing in love for God's people. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
If you say that you are a Christian, there are certain evidences that will be seen in your life, that your faith is genuine, that you're growing in love for God and His Word, and that you're also growing in love for the people of God, when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. We continue with our study of 2 Thessalonians 1. Yesterday, we got through two verses. I think we'll be able to knock out two more today. So I mentioned that pretty much the whole first chapter of 2 Thessalonians is introduction, but we'll look at this main part of the introduction here at the very beginning, the first four verses.
So Paul introduces himself, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
So once again, we have that redundant introduction, which we looked at yesterday, but not unintentionally redundant, for when you evaluate it closely, you see the differences in the language. To the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
You are in God and you have access to the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mediator between God and man. That's what Paul says in 1 Timothy 2 .5. There is one mediator between God and man, and that is the man, Christ Jesus.
And so just as you are in God through Christ our Lord, who has bridged the gap between God and man, the gap that separated us because of our sin, the cross of Christ bridges that gap. Because that gap has been bridged, grace and peace come from God our Father to you in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the way that I put this yesterday with how Paul presents himself to the Thessalonians in his opening address in this letter, he's saying as we are, Paul, Silvanus and Timothy, so you are also in God through Christ Jesus.
We have this fellowship with God because our elder brother Christ has taken our sins upon himself and satisfied the wrath of God by his death on the cross and given us his righteousness, a robe of his righteousness, so that when God looks upon us, he no longer sees our sin.
He sees the righteousness of his own son. God loves us with the same love and intensity that he loves his son. So Paul saying, hey, we are beloved by God, the apostle of Jesus Christ and those who serve in this apostolic ministry.
But just as we have received this love from God, so you have it also. Grace and peace are also to you from God our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I said yesterday, and even we talked about this, we were going through 1 Thessalonians.
This is a wonderful assurance for the Thessalonians, wonderfully encouraging and uplifting to hear these words from Paul. And he picks his words so delicately, so pastorally in the first letter and even in this letter.
So we get to this next part, verses three and four. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly. And they've still been going through persecutions because of their their faith in Christ, because they proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We read about this in 1 Thessalonians still going on in 2 Thessalonians. But Paul says that their faith is growing as a result of this. We go through persecution and they hold fast to Christ. It does not shake them from their faith, but they continue to persevere in the midst of that persecution.
It grows your faith. When you learn to rely more upon Christ, even when your conditions and your circumstances in this world become absolutely miserable, beyond an ability to endure in your flesh, like your humanness would just not be able to put up with this kind of persecution.
Eventually, you're just going to throw up your hands and go, this isn't worth it. And for some, that was the case. We read about Demas, who abandoned Paul and went back to Thessalonica. I don't think he had any association with the Thessalonian church.
But Paul says in 2 Timothy that he was too in love with this world, couldn't stick it out, couldn't remain in the work of the ministry and seeing Paul in prison. So he abandoned Paul and went back to Thessalonica.
It's safer for me there. I can enjoy the world from there. Maybe even Demas made a lot of the same excuses that Christians do today. Stuff like, you know, I can do this and be a Christian at the same time.
You know, I can still watch Game of Thrones. Yeah, sure, there's nudity and sex in it, but it's just art, right? Just enjoying it because it's art. You're real gullible, by the way, if you think that you can watch an HBO show and that's OK because it's art.
I can listen to Beyonce. I can still swear, drop a swear word in my language every once in a while. And President Trump does it. All these evangelicals seem to think he's a Christian. So, hey, I can do it, too.
Is God really going to send me to hell for that? I mean, does something like that really mean that I'm not a Christian? So instead of pursuing holiness and desiring to be like Christ and focusing entirely on him, you're trying to find ways where you can still indulge in the world, still indulge in worldliness and be able to call yourself a Christian at the same time.
How can I tiptoe this line and never actually cross it and still be able to call myself a Christian? Your eyes are not on Jesus in that case. You're looking at the world. The world is appealing to you rather than pursuing the holiness of God.
So there is reason for you to examine yourself and test and see if you're really in the faith, as Paul put it before the Corinthians. So you have Demas, who abandoned Paul in the midst of persecution, ran back to Thessalonica, according to Paul, because he was too in love with this world.
And Demas went through more than you're probably going through. You may not be persecuted because of your faith, and yet you're still turning to worldly things because those things look more appealing to you than the pursuit of holiness.
Demas was actually being faced with persecution and watching Paul get thrown in prison, and he ran away and went back to Thessalonica, abandoned Paul in his darkest hour, in his hour of need. Demas went through more, and you're not even going through that much, and yet you would be willing to try to find ways to still indulge in the world instead of living in the holiness of Christ.
And yet Paul said of this man that he had deserted him and was too in love with this world. The Thessalonians were undergoing persecution because of their faith, but it did not sway them. And you're talking about the same place where Demas ran back to.
This is in Thessalonica, a port city, a very rich city, a city that is full of worldliness. And even when the Thessalonians are being persecuted, they're not going, You know what? Forget this. I can't do this thing of faith anymore.
I don't understand where the reward is. We're facing all of this oppression because of our faith, so I'm just going to go back to worshiping the false gods. The Thessalonians don't do that. And, of course, we know when you deepen and broaden the theology, you know that they remain steadfast because it was Christ who was keeping them steadfast.
Paul mentioned this at the start of his first letter when he says,. For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction.
So Paul's assurance in knowing that this conversion that happened among these Thessalonian Christians was genuine was because they had endured even in the face of persecution. That was the case with their first letter as much as it is with his second letter.
And remember, what was Paul's reward in the gospel that he preached to the Thessalonians? It was the Thessalonian Christians themselves. So in 1 Thessalonians 2, 19 and 20,. For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming?
Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy. And so then you get to the start of the second letter with Paul saying, We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, because as they are remaining steadfast even in the face of persecution, it continues to affirm that Paul did not go preach in Thessalonica in vain.
Even the persecution that he experienced by the Jews who wanted to kill him, none of this stuff was in vain, because there were men who converted from idolatry to worshiping the true Christ. So therefore he is always thankful to God for the work that had been done in the Thessalonians.
So this is that continued assurance that he's given the Thessalonians, We have not forgotten you. I'm continually thankful for you. So even though you've not seen us in person, there are those who are leading you astray, which is one of the things that Paul is addressing here with this next letter.
And again, we get to that when we arrive at chapter 2 here. Even though we have not had the chance to come to you, we have not forgotten about you. We're continually thankful for you, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly.
And the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. And again, this was even in the face of persecution. So you contrast the Thessalonians with Demas, who couldn't handle the persecution. He couldn't handle the affliction.
And when Paul was in prison, he abandoned Paul. He went back to Thessalonica. And again, probably not having anything to do with the Thessalonian church. It was just because he was wooed into the worldliness that Thessalonica offered him.
And so that's what he ran back to. He was too in love with this world. But consider what Peter said in 1 Peter chapter 4. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking.
For whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Consider that. When you're being persecuted, when you're suffering in the flesh, or even when you are being tempted and you suffer in the flesh that way, but you resist that temptation, you aren't sinning.
You're pursuing the holiness of Christ. You're resisting the affliction that you are undergoing and have ceased from sin. So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh, no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.
That's verses 1 and 2. So verse 3, for the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.
With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you. But they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
And so even as we would undergo being ridiculed for our faith because we don't do the same things that the pagans do, yet as Peter is speaking to those Christians he is addressing in this particular letter, you undergo that sort of affliction, persecution, oppression, ridicule, whatever it might happen to be.
You resist. It draws you closer to Christ. You grow in your faith as a result in this. You cling all the more to Christ and less and less to this world. When you endure in your faith, even in the face of suffering.
So that's what's going on with the Thessalonians. They are being persecuted because of their faith, but they're remaining steadfast. They're resisting the worldliness. They're resisting the temptation of this world, even to return to the world because they're being persecuted for their faith.
They're even resisting that temptation. And so Paul is saying, we know then, because you've been persecuted and you're still steadfast in your faith, your faith is growing. It's growing abundantly. And this is not just the only evidence, but also that their love for one another is growing.
So again, verse three, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly. And the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Now, this was something that Paul encouraged them in in the previous letter.
And he doesn't mean to say to them, your love has grown enough, so you don't have to grow in it anymore. No, he's encouraging them to grow in it more and more. First Thessalonians, chapter four, verse nine.
Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.
But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.
That same instruction is going to come up again here in 2 Thessalonians when we get to chapter three. But again, he's encouraging them to grow in this love more and more. And this is a similar address that I've made to my own church congregation.
I have said to my church, you know, we experience a unity here that is not common in most churches. That doesn't mean there isn't sin in our church. There are times when we do have to confront conflict that happens between brothers and sisters, even within the body.
But at times I've stood before my congregation and said, I so appreciate the brotherly love that I witness happening in this body. And I just encourage you as your pastor, do this more and more. I can't just sit up here and boast about you and say, hey, we've arrived, guys, we're perfectly sanctified.
We're not, because we're still inhabiting these fleshly bodies there is more for us to do. There is more holiness that needs to be pursued. And so I encourage the body, do this more and more. Find ways.
And this was even in my sermon just this past Sunday. Find ways to show kindness to one another. Actively pursue the kindness that needs to be shown to one another in the body of Christ. So you are growing in this brotherly love.
Paul is saying to these Thessalonians, do so more and more. It is an affirmation of the genuineness of the faith that you have, that you're growing in love for one another. This is one of the evidences of faith in Christ, that we're growing in brotherly love for the brothers of Christ, brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.
I just recently changed our church sign out in front of our church. The sign now reads that you do not love Jesus if you do not love the church. So a person can say, hey, I love Jesus. I love God. Jesus was a great teacher.
I say I love Jesus. Well, if you're not going to church, if you're not loving the brothers and sisters of Christ who are pursuing holiness and growing in his righteousness, then you're a liar. Because you do not love your brother whom you see, therefore you cannot love God whom you do not see, as John put it in 1 John.
And so this is the way that we grow in love with one another, is that we are regularly fellowshipping with and worshipping with one another. Regular attendance in your church. Sunday and Wednesday is good, but hey, if you've got other Bible studies that you can attend, that you can be with your brothers and sisters in Christ, as you learn together and fellowship with one another, do those things.
Be in Bible study with one another, so that you know how to encourage one another through your needs, circumstances, the occupations that each one of you have, different struggles that you might experience in work, in life, at home, relationships, whatever.
You get to know one another the more time you spend with one another, and then you find those ways that you can love each other, even through your respective circumstances. This is how you grow in love for one another in the body of Christ.
Christ's church is visible. It's not invisible. If you say you love the church in the sense that, you know, I love all believers of Christ, how do you even know who they are, if you're not going to church and spending time with them?
It's not just this abstract, I love the church sort of statement. You actually have to be in church and showing love to the church, to Christ's bride. Whose bride is invisible? Is your wife invisible?
I love my wife, even though I cannot see her. No, you have a visible bride. And so Christ's church is the same way. It is a visible church, and you must be with that church, growing in love with one another and finding ways to show love to one another.
The Thessalonians were doing that, loving one another, especially in the midst of this persecution that they were facing, growing in this abundant love all the more. Therefore, Paul says in verse four, We ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.
This is a testimony to the other churches that are going through the same thing. Here in the Roman Empire, they are being persecuted for their faith. They are not hailing Caesar as Lord, they are hailing Christ as Lord.
And so they are facing the same sorts of persecutions that you are going through. And so when we talk about you, when we come to those other churches and we are telling them, Hey, those who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
When we tell them that, you are who we add to this testimony that we give to those churches. We say, Hey, consider the Thessalonians and the persecutions that they are going through. Yet they turn from worshiping idols to worship the true one living God.
And that is Jesus Christ. And they are doing this even in the midst of the persecution that they are facing. They are not giving in, they are not abandoning the faith because it is genuine. And it is the power of God that is working in their lives that they remain steadfast in this faith.
And so we boast about you, Paul says, which is a very loving term that he's giving to the Thessalonians. See, we haven't forgotten about you. We're boasting about you before the other churches for your steadfastness and faith and all your persecutions and all the afflictions that you are enduring.
Whether that is an active affliction in the sense that there are people oppressing them because of the faith that they have, or it could just be how generally difficult it is to be a Christian in this world without, at every twist and turn, hearing somebody ridicule you because of the godly living that you want to pursue.
Again, Peter talking about in 1 Peter 4, there are people that are going to make fun of you just because you don't indulge in the same paganism that they indulge in. And yet you are not swayed because you know that this world has nothing to offer you.
This world cannot save you. There's no hope in this world. It's wasting away even where you're sitting. The cell phone that you might be listening to this podcast on, it's going out of date even while it's there in your hand.
You know just by looking at the world that things are just gradually in decay. So there is no way that the world can save you from itself. Everything is in a gradual state of decline. You feel it in your own body, that your own body is not going to keep up with age and the demands that are upon it every single day.
The abuse that your body takes, the older that it gets. Even your body is failing you. Nothing in this world will save. Nothing in this world can satisfy. The only thing that endures to the very end is the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So cling all the more to Him and His love, and He will keep you steadfast on this walk in this world. He will help you to resist temptation. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, as Paul said in Philippians 2 .5.
Let's pray as we come to conclusion here. Our Lord God, I thank you for this never-ending love that nothing in this world can separate us from. As Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, nothing, not in heaven or on earth, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
It is this love that keeps us steadfast in this faith. It is this love that helps us to resist the temptation that is in this world. It is this love that is our hope and our promise even when the rest of the world maligns us or ridicules us.
Yet we have this hope that is in Christ Jesus. And so I pray we cling all the more to this and that we are growing in abundant love for each other and love for God as this is the evidence of our faith that we grow in it more and more.
Help our eyes be turned all the more to Christ Jesus and all the things of this world will go strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts, alerting readers to false teachers, and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website, www .utt .com.
Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.