In one sense, I understand their concerns. I know why they cringe at the word. They’ve probably seen, as I have, some overbearing and legalistic street preacher, dressed in black, a frown seemingly frozen on his face, carrying a ten-pound Bible embossed with gold letters, yelling at some unfortunate passerby, “Sinner, are you saved?” It makes my skin crawl too!

But let me tell you why I love the word salvation. I love it because it is biblical. Back in 1 Peter 1:5, the apostle said that we who know Jesus are “being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Then in v. 9 Peter referred to the outcome or result of our faith and described it as the “salvation” of our souls. And it is “concerning this salvation” (v. 10a) that Peter now writes in vv. 10-12.

But I especially love this word because of what it means. I love it because I know more clearly and painfully and powerfully than almost anything else in this world that I am worthy of eternal condemnation. I know deep down in the depths of my bones that I have willfully and repeatedly and happily defied my Creator, scoffing at his goodness and doubting his greatness and taking for granted the air that I breathe and the water that I drink and the food that I eat.

All of that is simply to say that I know from what I need to be saved: I need to be saved from God! I know that sounds strange. After all, it is God who acts in and through Jesus Christ to save us. But he acts graciously and lovingly in Christ to save me from his own wrath and justice.

And I know to what I have been saved. Peter has already described it in vv. 3-5. I’ve been saved unto a living hope. I’ve been saved unto an inheritance that is will never die or suffer defilement or lose its luster and beauty. I’ve been saved unto a relationship with our great Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in which I will forever and ever experience the overwhelming, soul-satisfying, breathtaking, blinding beauty of who God is and the joy that it produces.

That’s why I love the word!

But I do understand why people balk at using it. It reminds them of a by-gone era, an ancient faith that they feel has little relevance for a postmodern world.

I suppose what makes our use of the word salvation so problematic is that the vast majority of people in America, and I’m talking about non-Christian people, already believe they are “saved” or, even if they don’t use the term, they are convinced that death is no threat; they will, like everyone else, enjoy some sort of blissful afterlife pursuing whatever pleasurable activities they longed for on earth but were unable to fully experience.

You do realize, don’t you, that virtually no one thinks of himself/herself as destined for eternal condemnation apart from Christ. Whenever anyone dies today, whether an athlete or Hollywood star or business executive or political figure, you hear others says things like: “Well, he’s gone to a better place,” or, “She’s looking down from heaven on me and I know she’s so proud of what I’ve accomplished,” or “He is finally reunited with his friends and family,” or some such thing.

Everyone talks like and I assume believes that everyone who dies is “saved” or in heaven. Have you ever noticed that when someone dies we write something about them or say something about their lives and then conclude by saying, “May they rest in peace.” But if they don’t know Jesus and the salvation that he alone brings, “peace” is the last thing they are experiencing. There is not peace, but turmoil and devastation and loneliness and judgment.

But I digress. Let me return to my point, indeed, to Peter’s point.

Today, I want to celebrate our salvation! In v. 9, Peter concluded his description of what it means to be a Christian by referring to what it is that we obtain by faith in Christ: “the salvation of our souls.” Of course, by “souls” here he doesn’t mean the spiritual or immaterial part of our being, as if salvation means we live in some ethereal and non-physical state of being forever. “Soul” here is wholistic, in that it encompasses the totality of our being: spirit, mind, heart, affections, and yes even our bodies. It refers to all that we are.

And it is “concerning this salvation” (v. 10a) to which Peter now directs our attention.

My approach is going to be a bit different today. I want to briefly say something about what Peter says concerning our salvation, the several reasons why we ought to be indescribably thankful for it and celebrate it. But then I want to focus on two aspects of our salvation that are cause or grounds for great rejoicing.

So let’s look first, and quickly, at what Peter says about our salvation.

First, the Holy Spirit predicted or prophesied it (vv. 10-11). We’ve already seen in v. 1 how God the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Now we are told that the Holy Spirit whom Christ would send to us was himself speaking about your salvation to and through the prophets of old. If you know Jesus as your Savior today it isn’t simply because you came to faith in him in recent years. It is also because he was thinking about you and his death and resurrection and communicating this to the Old Testament prophets through the Spirit centuries ago!

Second, this salvation can be summed up in one word: grace! (v. 10). It consists, from beginning to end, in the display of God’s merciful favor to hell-deserving sinners. Have you ever wondered how non-Christians can sing so casually and carelessly the famous hymn “Amazing Grace”? It’s simple: grace is no longer amazing to them. It’s become routine, boring, mundane, understandable. Why? Because they don’t see themselves as lost and in need of a salvation that is made possible only because God took pity on us and in his great mercy provided his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.

Third, this salvation is made possible only by the sufferings and resurrection of Jesus. Person and work of Christ is foundational. God doesn’t wave wand and salvation occurs. It comes to us only at great expense and cost to him. Therefore, think about it often! Rejoice in it always!

Fourth, Peter magnifies the glory of our salvation by telling us that the prophets of old longed to understand it more fully and especially wanted to be a part of it when the Messiah, the Christ, appeared.

When David wrote of the suffering of the Messiah in Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” he longed to know precisely who and when and under what circumstances this would occur?

When Isaiah prophesied that a child would be born, a son would be given, one whose name would be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, he longed to know precisely when and under what circumstances such a person would appear.

And when Isaiah later prophesied of one who would be stricken and smitten by God and afflicted and crushed by our iniquity, he longed to have greater insight into who this would be and how and under what circumstances this would occur.

And that searching and longing and deep desire to see and know is a reflection or measure of the tremendous and priceless worth and value of the salvation that you now experience in Christ!

Fifth, when these prophets cried out to know more, do you know what God said to them? He said, according to v. 12, “You aren’t serving yourselves in making these prophetic predictions of the grace to come. You are serving those who will live in the time of the Savior and in the centuries after his coming.” And this realization on our part ought to elevate in our hearts the precious and praiseworthy character of the salvation that has come to us.

Sixth, this salvation, far from being some ancient and esoteric and irrelevant word that points to something embarrassing, is so grand and marvelous and mysterious and majestic that even the angels of heaven long to look into it and understand it (v. 12). The holy angels of heaven don’t know what it is like to experience salvation because they don’t know what it’s like to be lost. They love to watch God’s gracious work of salvation in our hearts and get excited and filled with joy when a sinner comes to repentance.

Seventh, if you want to know why this salvation is so precious and so deserving of celebration and gratitude and joy, remember that God sent the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to make it known to us through the gospel. And that is precisely what is happening right now! By the power of the Holy Spirit I am proclaiming to you the good news of the salvation that has come in the person of Christ Jesus!

So what precisely is involved in this salvation? We’ve already answered that in some measure. In v. 1 we saw that it means being “elect” or “chosen” by God before the foundation of the world. In v. 2 we saw that it means being set apart unto God by the Spirit and called to live a life of obedience to Christ Jesus. In v. 3 we saw that it means experiencing a new birth, life from the dead, through the mercy of God. It means being the recipients of a hope that will never die or disappoint and an inheritance that will always satisfy and enthrall and captivate our hearts. And in v. 8 it means experiencing here and now a joy in Jesus that is inexpressible and full of glory.

If you are still wondering what could possibly be of such interest to angels and what makes your salvation something worth celebrating, let me draw your attention quickly to two glorious truths about this “grace” that the prophets could only see from afar.

(1) Adoption

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! . . . Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:1-2).

John’s tone and terms virtually bristle with urgency and excitement. “Come quickly and see! Look! Listen! You can’t imagine what I have to tell you!” I like that. Here’s an elderly man nearing the end of life who still gets excited about the love of God. And he did so because he knew that God’s love has bestowed on us the greatest of all blessings: sonship. Here is the measure of God’s love. Here is the test of how deeply He treasures us.

If we are to properly understand the glorious truth that we are the adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, there are a couple of things we need to keep in mind.

First, the biblical doctrine of adoption and the love that accounts for it makes sense only when we remember that we are not naturally God’s children. It is true that God is the Father of all men and women insofar as He is the Creator. But many such “children” of God will spend an eternity in hell. One does not become a spiritual child of God by being born, but by being born-again.

It’s painful to read about the life that most orphans live, whether in a third world country or even here in America, especially those who have been cruelly abandoned by their biological parents. They are alone, cruelly discarded, often diseased and deformed, helpless and without hope.

It isn’t a pretty picture. It’s just as ugly when looked at spiritually. For we are all born spiritual orphans (repeat). Apart from Jesus Christ we too are abandoned, stricken with a fatal disease called sin. We have no family, no father, no future. Here is where God’s incalculable love makes its appearance.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:10-13).

NOTE: Being “sons” of God has nothing to do with gender. Women can be “sons” of God even as men can be the “bride” of Christ! It refers to a place of spiritual privilege, a relationship of intimacy and affection, irrespective of physical gender.

There is no saving relationship to God as Father without a living faith in Jesus Christ. Being a child of God, therefore, is not a universal status upon which everyone enters by natural birth. It is rather a supernatural gift one receives by believing in Jesus. Adoption is wholly and utterly an act of God’s spontaneous and uncoerced love.

Packer reminds us that in the ancient world,

“adoption was a practice ordinarily confined to the childless well-to-do. Its subjects . . . were not normally infants, as today, but young adults who had shown themselves fit and able to carry on a family name in a worthy way. In this case, however, God adopts us out of free love, not because our character and record show us worthy to bear His name, but despite the fact that they show the very opposite. We are not fit for a place in God’s family; the idea of His loving and exalting us sinners as He loves and has exalted the Lord Jesus sounds ludicrous and wild -- yet that, and nothing less than that, is what our adoption means” (Knowing God, p. 195).

Second, the reality of our spiritual adoption is made even more explicit when we contrast it with physical adoption in human relationships.

Today most adoptions occur without the adoptive parents first seeing the child. But it didn’t use to be that way. When couples would visit an orphanage with a view to adopting, they invariably based their choice on physical beauty and intellectual skills. Rarely did one hear of a child with Downs syndrome being adopted. Rarely did the orphan with spina bifida go home with new parents.

Prospective parents wanted to know about a child’s natural father and mother. Was this child the product of rape? What is his ethnic origin? Did she come from “good stock”? What is her IQ?

But God’s choice of us is utterly and eternally different. He didn’t make us his children because we were prettier than others. Divine adoption isn’t concerned with physical health or financial wealth or potential or a person’s past history. God loves the unlovely and unappealing. God loves because God loves. That is why you are his child. Because he loves you. Once this truth is understood I think people will more readily open their hearts to infants and young children with special needs, whatever they may be.

Consider some of the contrasts that you see between earthly and spiritual adoption.

The apostle John goes to great lengths to insist that entrance into God’s family is on a different plane from entrance into one’s earthly family (see John 1:10-13). One does not become a child of God by the same process one becomes a child of a physical parent. In other words, spiritual life is not genetically transmitted (repeat).

My earthly father was a Christian. So, too, is my mother. But that isn’t why I am a Christian. Your father and mother may not be Christians. But that has no ultimate impact on whether or not you are.

The DNA of one’s parents has nothing to do with becoming a child of God. Your heritage, ancestry, family tree, no matter how glorious and impressive, have nothing to do with your entrance into heaven. The fact that you have descended from noble blood or are the product of peasants is irrelevant. I’m proud of the name “Storms.” But when I stand before God he says, “Who?”

I rejoice in the fact that I’ve been justified and forgiven and granted eternal life. But to know and experience God as my Father, Abba, Daddy, is greater still. When you are justified by faith in Christ, you stand before God as Judge and hear him declare: “Not guilty! Righteous through faith in Jesus!” Praise God!

But in adoption God the Judge steps down from behind his legal bench, removes his stately robes, stoops down and takes you into his arms of love and says softly: “My son, my daughter, my child!”

I relish the experience of every divine blessing. I thank God daily that I am a member of the body of Christ and a citizen of the kingdom. But nothing can quite compare with knowing that when I was homeless, helpless, and hopeless, God rescued me from the gutter of sin and made me his child. Nothing can compete with the thrill of being adopted as a full and coequal heir with Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:17).

See Gal. 4:6 and Rom. 8:15.

Abba - Jesus always spoke of God as "my Father", both as a formal designation and as personal address in prayer. The lone exception to this rule is his cry of dereliction from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). At that moment Jesus regarded his relationship to God as penal and judicial, not paternal.

In the OT, apart from texts in which God is compared with an earthly father, the word is used of him only 15x. Yet, in not one of those cases does anyone refer to God as "my Father" in personal, individual prayer. But that is precisely what Jesus did and what we are told to do.

Abba, the Aramaic term lying back of the Greek pater, was used in Judaism to express the intimacy, security and tenderness in a family relationship. It was the term tiny children used to address their fathers. In the Talmud we read that when a child is weaned it learns to say abba (daddy) and imma (mommy). There is no precedent in all the literature of Jewish prayer for God being addressed as Abba. According to Joachim Jeremias, "to the Jewish mind it would have been disrespectful and therefore inconceivable to address God with this familiar word. For Jesus to venture to take this step was something new and unheard of. He spoke to God like a child to its father, simply, inwardly, confidently. Jesus' use of abba in addressing God reveals the heart of his relationship with God."

The glorious news is that this is precisely the relationship with God that we have through Jesus. It is by means of the Spirit's ministry within that we cry out: "Abba, Father!"

And note well: we “cry” Abba. We do not merely draw the logical conclusion that he is our Father. We “cry” Abba! We do not merely affirm theologically that God is our Father. The work of the Spirit is designed to spark and stir and awaken and energize heartfelt affections for God as Father such that we cannot help but “cry, Abba!” We do not merely make a statement of fact that we are the spiritually adopted children of God. We “cry” out through the Spirit: Abba!

We don’t merely infer that we are God’s children. We enjoy it through the Spirit! We do not merely deduce that we are God’s children. We delight in it! “The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to change our slavish fears toward God into confident, happy, peaceful affection for God as our father” (Piper).

(2) Forgiveness

“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. . . . I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and you forgave the iniquity of my sin’” (Ps. 32:1-2,5).

Three different words for sin. Three different words for confession. But better still, three different words for forgiveness!

Blessed is the man whose transgressions are “forgiven” (v. 1.). The word literally means “to carry away.” David’s sin, my sin, your sin, is like an oppressive weight from which we long to be relieved. Forgiveness lifts the burden from our shoulders.

Blessed is he whose sin is “covered” (v. 1). It’s as if David says, “Oh, dear Father, what joy to know that if I will ‘uncover’ (v. 5) my sin and not hide it, you will!” David doesn’t mean to suggest that his sin is merely concealed from view but somehow still present to condemn and defeat him. The point is that God sees it no more. He has covered it from all view.

Blessed is that man or woman, young or old, whose sin the Lord does not “impute” or “count” against them (v. 2). No record is kept. God isn’t a spiritual scorekeeper to those who seek his pardoning favor!

I don’t know how all this affects you, but I agree with David when he says (shouts?), “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven . . . Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity” (vv. 1,2).

David wrote these words of hope and life from within the context of the Old Testament sacrificial system. He could confidently speak of such grace and kindness because he personally knew of the Day of Atonement, of the blood sacrifice, of the scapegoat onto whose head his sins were symbolically placed and transferred (see Leviticus 16).

In our case, on this side of the cross that forever and finally fulfills these old covenant types and symbols, we can confidently rest in the freedom of forgiveness because God has “put forward [Christ Jesus] as a propitiation by his blood” (Romans 3:25).

God did not willy-nilly cast aside our sins as if they were of no consequence. Rather, he “laid on him [the Son, our Savior] the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6b). God did not casually ignore the dictates of his holiness and righteous character. Rather, he “wounded” Jesus “for our transgressions” and “crushed” him “for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5).

This, and this alone, is why we can sing and celebrate that God does not and never will “deal with us according to our sins” or “repay us according to our iniquities”. The measure of God’s “steadfast love” (v. 11) is the depth of the sacrifice he endured in

Have you ever fooled around with an “Etch-a-Sketch”? It’s that toy with what looks like a television screen and two knobs that enable you to sketch whatever fits your fancy. I never was much good at it. I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. The “Etch-a-Sketch” was made for people like me. If you don’t like what you’ve “drawn” and especially don’t want to be embarrassed should anyone else see it, you simply tip the screen and your work of “art” vanishes!

It’s a crude and simple illustration, but that is a lot like what God does with your sin when he grants forgiveness. Through the course of our earthly existence we sketch an ugly scenario of sin and rebellion and ingratitude and jealousy and lust. There it is, vividly imprinted on the screen of our souls.

But when we confess our sin, as David did, God’s loving and gracious hand tips the toy and the slate is wiped clean! No matter how often we return to deface our lives with ugly pictures of hatred and anger and pride and envy, God is faithful to tip the screen. All it takes is confession. All it takes is the blood of Christ.

But don’t take my word for it. Listen to what God himself says: “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). When we confess our sin and plead the blood of the Lord Jesus, God promises never again to bring it up, either to Himself, to you, or to others. That’s forgiveness! That’s love!

God’s not finished yet. He’s got another illustration to make His point. Hezekiah put it this way:

“Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back” (Isaiah 38:17).

God has taken your sin and placed it out of sight behind His back. All He sees now when he sees you is the blessed righteousness of His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the love of forgiveness.

Still not good enough? Still not convinced? Still afraid that your sins will do you in? Then pay close attention to the word of the prophet Micah. He has something important to say about the kind of God we have.

“Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).

How much more graphic do you demand God be before you enter into the joy of His forgiving love? All vestige of condemning guilt is gone. Again, “just as God said He put our sins behind His back, so here He says He will hurl them into the depths of the sea. They will not ‘fall overboard’; God will hurl them into the depths. He wants them to be lost forever, because He has fully dealt with them in His Son, Jesus Christ” (Bridges, TG, 40).

Like you, I watched with amazement as the latest underwater technology scoured for remains of the Titanic, recovering from the bottom of the sea what everyone thought lost forever. No! No! It won’t happen with your sins! The submarine has not been made that can submerge that deep. The equipment has not been found, and never will be, that can retrieve the slightest vestige of your transgressions. God forbids it. Such is the quality of His forgiving love.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:1-10).

The “Perfect” Church?

I can’t begin to count the number of times people have come to me over the past 50 years with a complaint about a particular local church. Either it is too formal or too casual. Or perhaps the preaching is too long or too short. The music is too loud or not nearly loud enough. The parking is minimal or the childcare is deficient or the people are all hypocrites, and the complaints continue seemingly without end.

When a person comes to you or to me with their complaints, how many times have you responded by saying: “Well, there’s no such thing as a perfect church”? And, of course, you are right. There’s always something amiss in every church. Sometimes the shortcomings are severe enough that you feel compelled to leave, while at other times you know there probably isn’t a better place down the road and you decide to weather the storm and stay.

I bring this up because not even in the days of the apostles was there a perfect church. In fact, most of Paul’s letters are addressed to churches facing some sort of challenge. It may be false teaching or the influence of false apostles or the failure of people to forgive one another or rampant sexual immorality, or any number of other problems.

But if there were a church that came as close as possible to being the ideal, even if not altogether perfect, church, it would be the church of the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians 3:6 Paul says, “Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you.” That’s a fairly glowing report. It gets better in 1 Thessalonians 4:9 where Paul says, “Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.” When it came to the timing of the Lord’s return, Paul wrote this in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 – “Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

If there is one thing where the Thessalonians messed up, it has to do with certain individuals who likely were despising prophetic utterances. We see this at the end of chapter five where Paul says, “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies” (5:19-20).

I bring all this up because of all the churches to whom Paul wrote letters, the church in Thessalonica was probably the most mature and stable and doctrinally rock-solid of them all. And we see this in virtually every word that he writes in chapter one. So let’s turn our attention to what Paul says about them, not simply so they can be praised but more importantly for what we can learn from their example.

Instead of trying to comment in detail on everything Paul says, I’ve identified 9 things that Paul highlights for our benefit.

The 9 Truths in 1 Thessalonians1:1-10

(1) The church of the Thessalonians exists and finds its identity in its relationship to the Father and the Son. So too do we (v. 1)

(2) The Scriptures are the means or conduit through which the grace and peace of God come into us and abide or dwell within us at all times (v. 2; 5:28).

(3) It is God who is responsible for the salvation and progressive spiritual growth of the Thessalonians and thus it is to God that Paul gives thanks (v. 2).

(4) Christian faith produces godly works, and Christian love energizes our labors, and our hope in Christ Jesus produces endurance (v. 3).

We must never think of these virtues as if they exist merely to provide us with a subject for discussion. They are not designed by God to sit quietly in our souls. Faith, love, and hope must never lie dormant in our hearts. They are of no value if they do not produce the fruit of works of obedience and labor for the sake of others and endurance so that we might persevere.

Note well what Paul is saying. The faith that you placed in Christ Jesus is the sort of faith that works. We are saved by faith for works, but not because of them. We are not saved by works of obedience. Now, this is going to sound almost contradictory, but listen carefully. We are not saved by works, but neither are we saved without works. What can that possibly mean? It means that works play no part in our acceptance with God. He has forgiven you and me of all our sins and has imputed to us the righteousness of Jesus himself. And all this is done without regard for anything that we do. No work, no act of obedience, no sacrifice we have made, no scandalous sin we have avoided, no promise we have kept has anything to do with our salvation.

But now listen closely. What can I possibly mean when I say that although we are not saved by works, neither are we saved without works? What it means is simply this: works are not the cause of our salvation, but works most assuredly are the consequence of it. So, when I say that we are not saved by good works, I mean they play no role and carry no weight in God’s sight that might move him to forgive us of our sins. But when I say we are not saved without good works, I mean that acts of obedience or good works are the necessary product or fruit or result of saving faith.

That is why a person who says, “I have been saved by faith alone in Christ alone, but I have no intention of living in obedience to Jesus; in fact, I plan on living now just as I lived before I put my faith in Christ,” is deceived. If the faith you have put in Christ is the result of the Holy Spirit in you and is genuinely saving faith, you will work. You must work.

I have often tried to illustrate this truth by holding up for you to see a pebble and a seed. From where you are sitting, they look to be identical. Their texture and smell are the same. And they both are representative of a claim to have faith in Jesus Christ. But what happens when we bury these two seemingly identical expressions of faith. We bury them, we water them, we make certain that they both get sufficient sunlight. What happens? The seed produces a plant, or fruit of some sort. We know it is a genuine seed by looking at what it produces. But the pebble, because it is lifeless, lies dead in the dirt. No matter how much water and sunlight you pour on that pebble, it will never be anything but a pebble. It is incapable of producing any form of life or fruit or plant. No matter how long or how passionately you insist it is a real, genuine seed, we know otherwise because it produces nothing. And we know the seed is a seed precisely because it produces fruit.

Genuine saving faith is like that seed. Spurious, so-called faith is like that pebble. That’s what Paul is saying here. If your faith doesn’t work, it isn’t saving faith. That is why I can say that we are saved by faith alone, but not by the faith that is alone. Saving faith brings forth good fruit, good works, obedience, and holiness of life.

The same thing applies to love. Notice that Paul speaks of the “labor of love,” which is to say, true love for Christ and his people will invariably show itself to be real by the labor that flow from it. So, too, with hope. As we saw last week, it is hope that produces endurance. The endurance of one’s life, the commitment to persevere in pursuit of Jesus, is the result of our hope having been placed in him and his promises.

(5) It is possible to be assured that people are loved by God and chosen by God by observing how they responded when the gospel was preached to them. Here we see the principle of convergence in operation (vv. 4-6).

People are always asking, “How may I know that I’m chosen by God? How can I be sure that I’m among the elect? How can I have confidence that God really loves me?” The answer to each of those questions is found here in vv. 4-5a. And let’s be clear about what Paul does not say. He doesn’t say that he knows the Thessalonians are among the elect because he had the privilege of sitting down in eternity past when the Father wrote down names in the Lamb’s book of life!

Paul says that “we know,” that you are “loved by God” and that “he has chosen you” because of two things: first, we know it because your faith works and your love labors and your hope produces endurance; and second we know you are beloved of God and among his chosen people because of how you responded to the gospel when we preached it to you. In other words, he claims to know they are elect not before they came to faith in Christ, but only after, when their lives poured forth evidence that they had been chosen and redeemed.

a. The Thessalonians heard and believed the truth of God’s word when it was preached to them (vv. 4-5a).

b. The Thessalonians also experienced the power of the Holy Spirit as seen in miracles of healing and various signs and wonders (v. 5b).

c. When the Thessalonians heard and believed the word when it was preached and were made recipients of the Spirit’s power, their faith did not waver but was rooted in heartfelt conviction of the truth (v. 5c).

When Paul says that the gospel came to the Thessalonians “not only in word” he is not minimizing the absolute necessity that the gospel be proclaimed in understandable words. You’ve probably heard the old saying, “Always preach the gospel; if necessary, use words.” That’s a sweet sentiment, but it’s also dumb and unbiblical! “If necessary”? Yes, it is always necessary. When others looked on the Thessalonians they could see a difference in their lives. They could hear their declarations of faith and could see their labor of love and could even marvel at how they refused to give up but endured by clinging to their faith.

But that is not enough to communicate the gospel. The absence of works and the absence of labor and the absence of endurance might easily drive people away. But in order to draw them to Jesus Christ we must speak the gospel in intelligible terms. The gospel cannot be communicated merely by one’s life. One’s life is absolutely essential. But I have known atheists who did good deeds and labored for the sake of others and persevered through hardship. However, the only way for anyone to experience true saving faith and genuine Christ-like love and the sort of hope that endures is by hearing and receiving the good news of the gospel. It must be preached, spoken, shared, written in a tract, proclaimed on a podcast, made known in a sermon, or communicated by a Christian in words that people can understand.

Paul’s point, then, is that when he proclaimed the gospel in Thessalonica the people heard it and believed it. Paul’s words were received and believed. But that isn’t the only thing that occurred. When you heard us preach, says Paul, and you believed, you were eyewitnesses of the power of the Holy Spirit. More than eyewitnesses, you personally experienced his presence and power, most likely in signs and wonders and healings and deliverance.

And all this took place, says Paul, when you were genuinely convicted and convinced that the gospel message was true. It was with “full conviction” (v. 5b) says Paul, that you believed and received the gospel.

Do you remember how Paul said much the same thing in Romans 15:18-19? There he said,

“For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience – by word and deed.”

Let me pause right there for a moment. Notice that when the Gentiles, people like you and me, believed the gospel spoken by Paul, that it produced “obedience” or good works. And notice also that what Christ accomplished through Paul came about by both “word and deed.” It wasn’t only the word, but the word accompanied by works of power and healing and deliverance.

Now, let’s finish what Paul was saying in Romans 15. How do we know that the “deeds” Paul mentioned are miraculous phenomena like healing and cleansing lepers and raising the dead? We know it because of what he goes on to say:

“For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience – by word and deed, - by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God.”

This is almost identical to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2-5 –

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Paul quite clearly spoke in words of the crucifixion of Jesus. And he just as clearly stated that his gospel proclamation did not come in the form of clever sayings and did not rely upon human wisdom, but depended upon a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. The word “demonstration” clearly points to some visible, tangible expression of supernatural energy.

d. Paul knows the Thessalonians are loved and chosen by God because when they received and believed the word of the gospel, they did so in imitation of both Jesus and Paul and with a joy produced by the Holy Spirit, in spite of the affliction and persecution that their faith provoked (v. 6).

We saw last week in Acts 17 that the Thessalonians were subjected to opposition and persecution when they responded in faith to the gospel. But the fact that they encountered “much affliction” was hardly surprising. What impressed Paul and assured him that their faith was real is that they received the word of the gospel “with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (v. 6b).

Their “joy” wasn’t rooted in self-reliance. They didn’t rejoice when opposed because they were masochists and enjoyed pain and discomfort. Their courage in the face of trials and persecution wasn’t the result of hypnotism or stoical resignation to fate. They remained happy and delighted to be identified as followers of Jesus in the midst of opposition and pain and affliction because the Holy Spirit was active in their hearts, most likely reminding them that they are the elect of God who are passionately loved by him.

If there is one thing that challenges my claim to be a Christian is the way I so often respond to criticism and persecution in comparison with how my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world bear up under the worst forms of hatred and pain. A few examples of this will help us.

I think of Abune Antonios, imprisoned in Eritrea; pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Tran Thi Hong, imprisoned in Vietnam; Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, imprisoned in China. And these are only a small handful of believers who suffer far worse than I can even imagine.

Samuel Mukiibi, 27, and 25-year-old Ephraim Duula, in the last six years have led several Muslims to Christ. They were attacked on May 16 near Naigombwa swamp near Bukwanga village, Iganga Sub-County in Iganga District, in eastern Uganda. After an evangelistic outreach in the Nambale area on May 13-16, they left at about 4 p.m. after open-air preaching and were approaching the swamp when three Muslims blocked the road, said Mukiibi.

“They stopped us and asked us to renounce Jesus Christ, whom we were preaching at Naigombwa trading center for four days. We totally refused, and they started beating us badly with sharp objects and left us unconscious in a coma in a pool of blood.”

“I managed to identify one of the attackers named Murshidi, who was calling the other attackers by Islamic names. My colleague, Duula, suffered serious bleeding coming out of his ears, bruised face and a deep cut in his left hand, while myself I had a twisted neck, swollen face and neck.”

A Muslim in eastern Uganda is suspected of killing his mother on April 16 by putting pesticide in her food for refusing to leave her Christian faith, a relative said. Sulaina Nabirye, 50, of Kamuli, Kamuli District, put her faith in Christ on February 10, and since then her 31-year-old son had tried to persuade her to return to Islam.

During the month of Ramadan, she complained of her son pressuring her to stop attending church and revert back to Islam, since he was studying to become an imam at Bugembe Mosque. When she refused to convert back to Islam, he stopped visiting her at her house and threatened to chase or even kill her.

At 7 p.m. her son came with food and he left. One witness testified that “Shortly after eating the food, Sulaina started vomiting, and then followed diarrhea. I tried what I could, but things were worsening, I called a nearby clinic officer who came with medication. He tried to put her on drip, but all was in vain.”

Nabirye died that night at 2 a.m., April 10. The food was tested at a medical clinic and it was discovered that it contained Methanol, a toxic alcohol used as an industrial solvent and pesticide.

An evangelist was hacked to death on March 30. He was only 32 years old. A mother and her 10-year-old daughter suffered serious burns for their faith in separate incidents last month in eastern Uganda.

In neighboring Namutumba, 33-year-old Zafara Nagudi said she was unaware that her Muslim husband had come home when she and her 10-year-old daughter, were praying in Christ’s name in their kitchen on March 25. She was cooking dinner at 9 p.m. when her husband found them praying. He asked her what they were doing, and she had no answer, she said. He continued asking the same question.

“I eventually told him the truth, that we were praying to Jesus Christ to help our family,” Nagudi said. “He became very furious and said, ‘Are you a Christian or Muslim?’” She said she told him that six months ago she had converted to Christianity and had been fellowshipping at a church.

“From there he slapped me and kicked me. Since he was in the doorway, we couldn’t run away. He grabbed the saucepan of hot water and poured it on me and the child.”

Nagudi suffered lesser burns as she was wearing heavier clothing, but her daughter in lighter clothing suffered more serious burns. They were discharged from the clinic on April 3 and were staying with a relative.

The truly remarkable thing about each of these individuals is that, much like the Thessalonians, “they received the word [of the gospel] in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (v. 6).

(6) The authenticity of the conversion of the Thessalonians was seen in the way their reception of the gospel and faith in God provided a Christ-exalting example to believers everywhere (vv. 7-8).

I love how Paul says, in effect, your faith was so widely known and your devotion to Christ so real and immovable that you left us speechless. “We need not say anything” (v. 8b). Evidently the news of their faith and steadfastness in the face of opposition was so glorious that it spread everywhere. It is all people could talk about. The verb translated “sounded forth” in v. 8 is a picture of a mighty trumpet blast, the effects of which linger in the air for all to hear.

But we must not overlook the implications of what Paul is saying. He is holding up for all to see not merely their reception of the gospel but their own personal evangelistic outreach in the wider areas of Greece.

(7) The Thessalonians are a superb example of what true repentance means: (a) there must be a turning away from all idols and (b) a turning to serve the one living and true God (v. 9).

Similar to the language here is what we read in Acts 14 about the nature of true conversion. There Paul says to the people of Lystra that they “should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them” (Acts 14:15). In other words, why would you bow down and worship and give your hearts to something in creation when you can worship the Creator (cf. Gal. 4:8-9).

Repentance is not merely a change of mind. Many mistakenly define repentance as solely an act of the will or some sort of mental transformation. It is surely that. But it is far more. Here Paul says that the Thessalonians turned “from idols” (v. 9). We don’t know the precise nature of these “idols.” Perhaps they had begun to worship certain Roman or Greek deities. After all, Mt. Olympus was only 50 miles from Thessalonica. Or it may simply be that they directed their attention and trust to anything other than God. The essence of idolatry isn’t in bowing down before a granite statue of Buddha or some other alleged ‘god.’ Idolatry is anything we trust to do for us what only God can.

Sadly, many respond to the gospel with what at first glance appears to be faith, but on closer inspection is seen to be fraudulent because instead of embracing Christ alone their hands are hidden behind their backs holding a multitude of idols that they are reluctant to abandon.,

In the case of the Thessalonians, it didn’t stop with abandoning their idols. They realized that there was far more to being a Christian than simply ceasing false worship. They instinctively “turned to God . . . to serve the living and true God.” Unlike every idol in the world, our God is alive! Our God is the one true God!

(8) The Thessalonians anxiously, but humbly, are waiting for the return of Christ, the one whom God raised from the dead (v. 10a).

The faith of these believers in the church in Thessalonica was so intense and heartfelt that they diligently set their eyes and hearts on heaven, from which they were confident that Jesus would come. Of course, neither Paul nor the Thessalonians knew with certainty when Christ would return. And neither do we. But every generation, be it the first century or the twenty-first, must patiently wait for our Lord’s return.

It’s also important to note that Paul affirms without hesitation that our waiting for the return of Jesus is only reasonable if Jesus is himself alive. We know he is coming back, says Paul, because we know that God raised him from the dead! The entirety of the gospel is found here: we know Jesus died because God raised him from the dead and exalted him to his right hand in heaven, from which he will eventually return to earth!

(9) The Christ whom they now love and serve has delivered them (and all believers) from the inevitable outpouring of divine wrath at the final judgment (v. 10b).

There are countless reasons why repentance from idolatry and turning to God as revealed in the person of Christ Jesus is the best thing that anyone can do. The primary reason Paul cites here is that it is Jesus, and only Jesus, who can deliver us from the wrath that will be poured out on the day of judgment. Later, in chapter five, Paul declares that “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him” (5:9-10).

What is it that you are counting on to deliver you from the wrath of God (see 2 Thess. 1:6-10)? In what are you trusting? To whom or what do you look with confidence that you will never endure God’s righteous anger? Is it your good intentions? Or perhaps it is that you have carefully calculated your alleged good deeds in comparison with your bad ones and the good ones are greater in number? Or are you confident of never tasting the wrath of God because you’re an American? Or because your parents were good people who regularly took you to church? Or is it on the grounds that you have determined to avoid all scandalous sins, be it adultery or sexual immorality or theft or whatever you may have been tempted with?

We have not faithfully and fully proclaimed the gospel until we make clear to unbelievers that if they remain in their idolatry and unbelief they will suffer divine wrath. There is only one hope for all of us to escape the wrath of God. And it isn’t because God simply pushed delete and said, “Let bygones be bygones.” God has himself provided only one way of escape, and it is found in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The one who delivers us from the impending and eternal wrath of God is the one who in himself endured and suffered that wrath and extinguished its flame. This is called in Scripture the doctrine of propitiation. The reason God has not destined his elect for wrath (5:9a) is because Jesus Christ has propitiated or satisfied the demands of God’s holy nature in our place.

Conclusion

Was Thessalonica the “perfect” church? No, because it was filled with “imperfect” people. But these imperfect people had turned from idols to worship and serve the one true God and had given evidence of their salvation through their faith, love, and hope. If, as Paul says in v. 7, the Thessalonians had become “an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia,” they can just as readily be an example to us in OKC.

We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 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. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:1-10).

As I began to dig deeply into 1 Thessalonians 1 over the past couple of weeks, a statement that I might have taken for granted at any other time in my life suddenly became very personal to me. I hope what I say next won’t come across as an appeal for pity or sympathy, but the past 8 months have been the most taxing, trying, painful time of my life.

Back in late October and in the months that followed I watched a close friend betray his faith, turn his back on me, and refuse to repent for his obvious sinful actions. Never in a million years could I have anticipated that Mike Bickle could be guilty of the things that are now obvious. Again, I’m not asking for your sympathy, but this was the most devastating betrayal and loss that I had ever experienced in my now 73 plus years on earth. I had stood boldly in defense of Mike’s integrity and theological orthodoxy on countless platforms and in articles and on podcasts. To watch him and IHOPKC implode has prompted the cynics and cessationists of the world to criticize, mock, and ridicule me for not seeing through the façade Mike projected. Quite honestly, I deserved their pushback for not having the discernment to see what was obviously beneath the surface of his professed commitment to Christ.

But as bad and disillusioning as the collapse of Mike Bickle and IHOPKC has been, what we all have suffered through since Sunday night, February 18 has been immeasurably worse. I apologize to those of you who perhaps don’t have any idea what I’m talking about. But I assume that you know at least something about the events these past four months that have led to our gathering here on Wednesday nights.

Losing Mike’s friendship is one thing, but losing my relationship with three friends whom I have known for nearly a half a century is altogether something else. Then, on top of that, I lost my church family, or at least a significant portion of it. I never thought I would feel pain worse than that inflicted on my heart by what happened in Kansas City. But then Sunday night, February 18, happened.

I don’t think there is any need for me to go into detail about what led up to that evening or the events that have transpired in its wake. However, I will say this. What I have suffered in these four months is nothing compared to what both Michael and Kendra have endured. That is why, in one sense, what I’m saying to you here tonight I say on their behalf as well. In fact, I say it on behalf of all of you who have walked through this nightmare with us. So many of you have reached out to the three of us asking how we are doing, offering to pray for us, and always pouring your encouragement into our hearts.

But of course the greatest comfort that all of us have is expressed in Psalm 23:4 – “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” It is the constant presence and affirmation and assurance of hope that comes from Jesus that has kept me breathing through a time in life when I feared I would suffocate from sadness.

Now, what does any of this have to do with 1 Thessalonians 1? Good question. My answer tonight is found in one phrase in v. 3. There Paul refers to three things that had happened in the lives of the Thessalonians that account for him giving thanks to God. My concern tonight is largely with the third of these three. The ESV translates it as “steadfastness of hope.” I prefer to render this “the endurance of hope.” Of course, “steadfastness” and “endurance” are virtually synonymous, but for our purposes tonight I prefer the word “endurance.”

Paul isn’t saying that hope experiences endurance. His point is that hope produces endurance. Endurance is the fruit of hope. How do we survive painful and disconcerting times, such as we’ve all experienced in recent months? We not only survive but thrive because of the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.

Just as faith prompts and produces work and love produces labor, so also hope in our Lord Jesus Christ bears the fruit of endurance. Without that hope, we are doomed to complain and gripe and blame others for our sadness and eventually just quit altogether. So, why haven’t I quit? I’ve come close. Ann will bear witness to the times I’ve come to the brink of despair. And if Michael or Kendra were given the microphone tonight, they would likely say the same thing.

But I don’t won’t the focus to be solely on the three of us, because I know many of you, perhaps most of you, have suffered greatly with the loss of friendships and the pain of betrayal and the agony of losing your local church. You too, no less than the three of us, have been tempted to quit, to walk away, to wonder, as you make your way through the valley of the shadow of what feels like death, if there is anyone beside you to help you make it to the finish line. The answer, of course, is yes. The great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, promises to walk alongside us, in front of us, and behind us wherever we go. Knowing that this hope is solid and secure is what alone will account for our endurance.

All of you, undoubtedly, have experienced a time in life when you felt utterly overwhelmed, as if you were sinking beneath the burden of betrayal and loss, or perhaps pressures and problems that seem to crush the very breath from your body. This past week I was reminded of how King David responded to this sort of trial and tribulation. Look with me briefly at Psalm 69.

To The Choirmaster: According To Lilies. Of David (Sam?).

Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What I did not steal must I now restore? O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.  

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. I have become ha stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons. For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. When I wept and humbled2 my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God. in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters. Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me. Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me. Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies! (Psalm 69:1-18).

Does that describe you as I feel it describes me?

The Power of Grace that comes “To” us through the Scriptures

I want us to slow down for a moment and address the question of how a passage of Scripture like Psalm 69 or one simple phrase in 1 Thessalonians 1 have the power to sustain and uphold us in the face of heartache. To do that, I want us to back up to v. 1 of 1 Thessalonians chapter one. Many of you will recognize what I’m about to say, because you were present in years past when I pointed this out to you in other sermons.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:1 Paul closes his opening salutation with the words: “Grace to you and peace.” And in the last verse of this epistle, he says “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (1 Thess. 5:28). In some of Paul’s letters, such as 2 Thessalonians, he says, “grace to you and peace from” God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But my point is that in every single one of Paul’s letters except Romans, he concludes his letters by saying, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (1 Thess. 5:28). In 1 Timothy, he shortens it and simply says, “Grace be with you” (1 Tim. 6:21).

Once again, those of you who have sat under my preaching for the past 14 years know well my love of prepositions. They are rich and deep and glorious and communicate wonderful truths to our hearts. So let me once more point out to you that at the beginning of Paul’s letters he says, “grace and peace” be TO you, while at the close of his letters he says, “grace be WITH you.” Why does he shift from the word “to” to the word “with”? Am I making a mountain out of a grammatical molehill? I don’t think so.

I must be honest with you when it comes to what I’m about to say. It didn’t originate with me. I learned of this from my friend John Piper. Therefore, it seems only fitting that you should listen to how he explains it. John explains the meaning of these two prepositions and why they are crucial for our Christian lives:

“The meaning I would suggest is this: at the beginning of his letters Paul has in mind that the letter itself is a channel of God’s grace to the readers. Grace is about to flow ‘from God’ through Paul’s writing to the Christians. So he says, ‘Grace to you.” That is, grace is now active and is about to flow from God through my inspired writing to you as you read – ‘grace [be] to you.

What I’m trying to say, what I believe Paul is saying to all of us, is that when we open our Bibles and read them or meditate upon them or hear them explained and applied by a teacher, more is happening than simply the utterance of words and the hearing of those words. More is happening than merely having our minds filled with new ideas or challenging doctrines. As Piper says, “grace is about to flow ‘from God’ through Paul’s writing to the Christians.” Now, let’s return to the quote from Piper.

But as the end of the letter approaches, Paul realizes that the reading is almost finished and the question rises, ‘What becomes of the grace that has been flowing to the readers through the reading of the inspired letter?’

Let me once again pause and highlight this point. Whether it is on a Wednesday night or a Sunday morning or a small group gathering in someone’s home, when our time together in God’s Word comes to a close, God’s activity in our hearts doesn’t cease. The grace that he quite literally imparts to us by means of the Scriptures abides with us and continues to strengthen and encourage us in whatever we face each day. Now, back again to Piper.

He answers with a blessing at the end of every letter [except Romans]: ‘Grace [be] with you.’ With you as you put the letter away and leave the church. With you as you go home to deal with a sick child and an unaffectionate spouse. With you as you go to work and face the temptations of anger and dishonesty and lust. With you as you muster courage to speak up for Christ over lunch.

What then do we learn from Paul’s unbroken pattern of beginning and ending his letters in this way (‘Grace be to you.’ ‘Grace be with you.’)? . . . We learn that grace is ready to flow to us every time we take up the inspired Scriptures to read them. And we learn that grace will abide with us when we lay the Bible down and go about our daily living” (Future Grace, 66-67).

The point is that when the Scripture text is read, as it was tonight, and as it is read every Wednesday night, this is not merely some religious ritual that we tag on to our service. Something of a profoundly supernatural nature is happening, and we would do well to pay heed to it. I decided to highlight this fascinating use of prepositions to remind us all that when Paul wrote “grace to you and peace” he means that when you hear the truth of how hope produces endurance you would realize that this is far more than a collection of words that strikes your ears. It is also the instrument or means or channel or conduit, if you will, by which God’s grace enters into you and transforms mere words into power and strength to persevere when times are tough.

The only thing that will enable each of us to persevere and not grow bitter is our hope in Christ Jesus. The only way to protect your heart from crumbling is your hope in Christ Jesus. Right now, as all of us, to one degree or another, try to process what has happened in the past four months, our prospects for enduring and remaining steadfast without being crushed under the weight of pain and loss are wrapped up in whether or not our hope is fixed on Jesus and all that he has promised to do for us.

Perhaps I should define what Paul means by hope. He’s not talking about wishful thinking. Hope is not the same as an educated guess. Hope is not calculating the odds and placing a bet on what you think might happen in the future. Hope is not having a dream and crossing your fingers in the expectation that it will come true. Hope is rock-solid confidence that what God has promised to do for us every day until we stand before him at the end, he will in point of fact do. Hope is obviously future oriented. What we hope for in the future is that every syllable of what Scripture says Jesus will do for us, he will do.

So, when Paul says that the Thessalonians were enduring by means of hope, he is saying that every promise of God will be fulfilled. And knowing that this is true is what supplies us with the power to persevere when we are persecuted, and supplies us with the incentive never to quit when times are tough, and supplies us with the  strength to maintain a humble and godly posture when faced with betrayal and heartache.

If you are wondering why Paul found it necessary to say this to the Thessalonians, it is because they, like most other churches in the first century, were being subjected to harsh persecution and slander and opposition at every turn. Look with me at Acts 17:1-9.

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go (Acts 17:1-9).

As you undoubtedly will recall, Acts 16 is the story of Paul’s ministry in Philippi and the conversion of Lydia. It was in her home that the new church was to meet. But before that, Paul and Silas had been savagely beaten and thrown into prison. Upon their release, they made the arduous journey of 100 miles from Philippi to Thessalonica. Amphipolis was 33 miles southwest of Philippi and Apollonia was 27 miles west southwest of Amphipolis. Thessalonica was another 40 miles beyond that. And let’s not forget that there were no Ubers or airplanes to help them make the journey. They made their way to Thessalonica on foot.

Thessalonica was the capital of the province of Macedonia, a harbor town and flourishing commercial center of 200,000 people. Upon his arrival there, Paul made three declarations, each of which was certain to arouse anger and put him and Silas in jeopardy.

First, he explained to them that Jesus suffered and rose from the dead. The message of a crucified Messiah was utterly abhorrent to the Jews. As far as they were concerned, the Messiah would never be subjected to such public humiliation and pain. Any suggestion otherwise was utter blasphemy. Second, he declared, as v. 3 makes clear, that “this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ,” the Messiah. This is the main point Paul made each time he encountered the Jewish people during his missionary journeys. Third, we read in v. 7 that Paul obviously declared Jesus to be king, not Caesar. This was more than a theological statement. It was politically revolutionary. Rome didn’t care much if a person chose to worship Jesus as God. But the minute you suggested that Jesus was king and that even Caesar was subject to his rule and authority, you put yourself in great jeopardy. We see this played out in the final two verses of Acts 17.

Each of these three points made by Paul would have enraged the Jewish population in Thessalonica and led to persecution and slander. So, we now see why Paul said what he did in v. 3 about endurance. The Thessalonians were no different from other Christians then or from us today. How did Paul go about helping them endure? Quite simply, he spoke of their “hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What sort of promises from God are the focus or object of our hope? Here are a few of them.

If you are weary of your constant struggle with indwelling sin, fix your hope on what Paul said in Romans 7:24-25a – “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

If your suffering, whatever form it might take, has tempted you to quit, to abandon faith and walk away from Jesus and the church, fix your hope on the promise in Romans 8:18 – “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

If you have begun to question your salvation and live in constant fear that God has abandoned you, or will at some point in the future simply give up on you, fix your hope on the truth of Romans 8:31-39 –

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ 

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).

If you live in constant dread that a day is coming when God will lose his patience with you and cast you aside for more faithful Christians, fix your hope on the truth of what Paul said in Philippians 1:6 – “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

If you are physically exhausted and in constant pain and wonder if you can carry on much longer in a body that is wasting away, fix your hope on the truth of 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

If you are plagued with doubts about whether your life will ever be pleasing to the Lord, wondering if anything you do might bring him glory, fix your hope on Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:11-12 – “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Are you beginning to see how hope produces endurance? If not, let me continue.

Perhaps you envision your future in eternity as one of dark, drab, boredom, that will differ little if at all from what you experience now, fix your hope on Colossians 3:4 where Paul confidently declares that “when Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

If you constantly fret and worry about whether God will come through for you and remove from you every last vestige of sin and corruption, fix your hope on the promise of 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 – “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”

Or if you wonder whether God’s promises to you will erode and decay once you arrive in heaven, fix your hope on what Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3-4 – “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

If you are burdened each day, fearful that what you are today you will be the same forever, frightened by the thought that this is as good as it will ever get for you, listen to the apostle John and fix your hope on this glorious promise – “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3).

And the best thing of all, the most glorious promise from God to you and me, the one thing that must be the driving force in all of our hope, is that we “will see his face” (Rev. 22:4a).

Conclusion

So, once again, the question I’m asking all of us tonight is this: What keeps your feet on the path of obedience to Jesus Christ when each day brings yet another disappointment? How does your heart remain faithful to the Lord when your life is characterized by constant frustration, broken relationships, the loss of a job, financial challenges, the gradual dissolution of a marriage, and all manner of hardship that comes to you day after day? What keeps you going when the normal sources of comfort and encouragement disappear, and you feel utterly abandoned and all alone?

We know from countless texts in Scripture that God calls on us to endure, to persevere, to maintain our faith and commitment to holiness no matter what comes our way. But how? Where does endurance come from? Paul clearly says here in 1 Thessalonians 1 that it comes from hope! And where does hope come from? Listen to Paul’s answer in Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

“But Sam, how can I be assured that if I turn each day to God and his promises that he will sustain me in hope and holiness?” You can be assured because it is God who makes the promise.

“I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me” (Jer. 32:40).

This is the same as Ezekiel’s saying in 36:27.

“I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezek. 36:27).

And yet, in spite of that text and the warning it issues, we continue to hear on a daily basis of moral failures and ethical lapses and bullying among those who have been entrusted with the souls of God’s people. Let me give you an example. The following is a report from only one day, July 13, 2024, found on The Roys Report.

• Robert Morris Resigns from Gateway Church; Victim Says Church Knew Details of Her Abuse Years Ago
• Longtime Pastor at Chuck Swindoll’s Dallas-Area Megachurch Fired for ‘Moral Failure’
• S.C. Church Parts Ways With Pastor Who Had Child Sex Criminal Conviction
• Convicted Sex Offender Serving as ‘Prison Ministries Campus Pastor’ at Embattled Gateway Church
• Gateway Settled Lawsuit Alleging Sexual Harassment, Hostility At Church Robert Morris Founded
• Filing: Request to Dismiss Disgraced Former SBC President’s Defamation Case Due to His ‘Now-Admitted Lies’
• Christian Billionaire Convicted of Fraud, Could Spend Decades in Prison
• Pastor To ‘Rest’ As Church Acknowledges It Knew of His Child Sex Criminal Conviction
• Christian Schoolteacher Caught With Child Sex Abuse Material Faces Prison Time
• Sixth Woman Joins Group Alleging Kansas City Pastor Abused Them

Although that was the report on only one day, it is truly representative of what is happening everywhere in the church of Jesus Christ.

Virtually every year a poll is taken among average Americans to determine what are the most trusted professions and the least trusted. Among the most trusted in almost every poll taken are doctors, scientists, and teachers. Among the least trusted are journalists, advertising executives, and at the bottom of every list in every poll taken are politicians. No great surprise there. But what I find most disconcerting is where pastors or ministers rank. It is usually somewhere in the middle, just below TV news anchors, lawyers, and the police. The Roys Report of July 13 suggests that pastors and ministers might actually be lower than that.

The fact that politicians are the least trusted profession in our country does not give me a lot of confidence in our upcoming election in 2024. Isn’t it ironic that those men and women who are trusted less than anyone else are the very ones we put in the most powerful positions in our society? We trust them to implement justice, create laws, and protect us from our enemies, and yet no one in society is trusted less than they are. It seems like we should elect those people whom we trust, who are honest, and who can be counted on to do the right thing when it comes to our laws. Alas, that is not the case. Of course, there are exceptions. Here in Oklahoma, we have several highly ethical and trustworthy men and women both in our state government and in Washington, D.C.

Most polls indicate that there are at least ten other professions that rank higher in terms of their trustworthiness than do pastors. What should I say about this? I’m a bit reluctant to say anything. It reminds me of an episode of the TV show, Andy Griffith. Andy’s son, Opie, has made a new friend named Arnold. When Arnold’s father decides to take away the new bike he had only recently purchased for his son, Arnold throws a fit, screaming and hollering and crying. As Arnold’s dad takes him out the back door to the woodshed, Opie asks his dad: “Is he going to get a spanking?” To which Andy replies, “Don’t you think he deserves one?” Opie pauses, and then says, “I’d rather not say, since he is one of my own kind.”

I don’t like pointing a finger at pastors and ministers as ranking very low in this sort of public opinion poll. After all, they are one of my own kind. But recent scandals in the professing Christian world might actually push pastors even farther down the list in the ranking of most trusted professions, or conversely, up the list in the least trusted professions.

I rarely have a day in which I don’t read or hear of yet another pastor, whether in a mega church or a mini church, having fallen into some sin: be it sexual immorality, or child abuse, or embezzlement of church funds, or bullying, or those many instances where a pastor has lied on his resume in order to get a job, or is caught plagiarizing his sermons. Then there are those who get caught reshaping the gospel, smoothing off the rough edges of biblical truth, or in some cases outright denial of explicit biblical teaching, all to enhance their status in the eyes of people.

If you think this is an entirely recent phenomenon, you would be mistaken. It has been present in the professing church for centuries. It is simply that in our day it has reached epidemic proportions. The apostle Paul speaks of it often in his letters. For example, in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter four, verse two, he writes: “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Later in 2 Corinthians 12 he says that “such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds” (2 Cor. 11:13-15). Does it surprise you to hear that Satan himself has “servants’ in local churches?

After he had concluded his ministry in Ephesus, Paul addressed the Elders in that city by saying, “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you [i.e. among the Elders of that church] not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30). This is one reason why Paul laid down such strict and demanding requirements for any man who would aspire to be an Elder (see 1 Tim. 3:1-7).

He gets even more explicit in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 where he talks of those who are “puffed up with conceit and understand nothing.” This person “has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” Such people, says Paul, “must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach” (Titus 1:11).

My point, in case you haven’t picked up on it, is that the corruption and immorality and greediness of so many pastors today is hardly a new thing. It’s been around from the start.

But my primary reason for describing these people is to set up in your minds a contrast with what Paul says about the godly pastor, the minister whose only ambition is the glory of Christ and the good of his people. That is what Paul does for us here in 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. He mentions no fewer than 14 things that are essential for anyone who claims to be a Christian, be that person a pastor or simply a regular believer in the church of Jesus Christ. We should also recognize that if there was anyone who might appear to have the right to assert himself and lord it over people in some sort of authoritarian manner, it was Paul. And yet he says in v. 6 that “we did not seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.”

Paul’s primary focus, however, is on pastors, elders, leaders in the body of Christ. If I could say anything to those in pastoral ministry today, I think I would appeal to 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12.

Context

You may not be aware of this, but every time I preach from some passage in Scripture, one of the goals I have in mind is helping you learn how to read your Bible. And one of the most important features of Scripture that we dare not overlook is what we refer to as context.

For example, here in 1 Thessalonians 2 we quickly realize that Paul is actually elaborating on something he said earlier in 1:5. Paul wrote: “You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.” And now here in 2:1-12 Paul unpacks in considerable detail precisely what he meant by mentioning the “kind” of persons he and Silas and Timothy were when they arrived in Thessalonica.

But there is more. When we unpack 2:1-12 I don’t want you to think that this applies only to pastors or ministers of the gospel. It certainly does apply directly to them, but it is equally relevant for what God asks of all of you. I say this because you may draw an unwarranted conclusion from 2:1-12, thinking that Paul is boasting and drawing attention to himself to enhance his reputation. But if you will look back at 1:6 you can see that the apostle is describing his conduct because he wants everyone to understand that the way he lived and behaved is expected of all Christians, whether you are a pastor or not. He said in 1:6 – “you became imitators of us and of the Lord.” Paul’s example is only good to the degree that he imitates Jesus. And here in 2:1-12 he lays out for us what imitating him and Jesus actually looks like.

Characteristics of Paul’s life and ministry in Thessalonica

and his expectations of all Christians

(1) We should never be deterred from boldly proclaiming the gospel because of the threat of suffering and affliction (vv. 1-2).

The word translated “in vain” generally means without any good effect. Paul is confident that his ministry in Thessalonica was fruitful.

Paul and Silas were “shamefully treated”. The word translated “shamefully” could also be rendered “in an insulting” or “spiteful manner.” Paul and Silas were publicly stripped and beaten with rods (“many blows”) (Acts 16:22) without any inquiry into the charges against them. They had their feet fastened in stocks (Acts 16:23). They were thrown in prison (Acts 16:23). They were thrown into the “inner” prison (Acts 16:24). The “inner” prison is the one typically reserved for the worst of criminals and was designed to intensify their suffering. There would have been extremely poor ventilation and considerable darkness.

No one enjoys being treated this way, but all of us should expect it if we are true to the gospel of Jesus. The gospel, in case you hadn’t thought about this, is glorious good news to those whose hearts have been touched by the Holy Spirit and who realize they need the atoning blessings of Christ’s death. But it is equally offensive and hideous to those whose hearts are hard and impervious to the message about Jesus. We should never be surprised to suffer insults and ridicule and mockery from unbelievers. That’s par for the course!

In spite of being treated this way Paul and Silas “had boldness” in preaching the gospel, fully aware that what happened to them in Philippi could well happen again in Thessalonica. I can assure you that as they made their way out of Philippi to Thessalonica, their conversation during that 100-mile journey would have gone something like this: “Hey guys, I hope your body has recovered from that severe beating with rods we just endured, because I fully expect to get the same treatment in Thessalonica.” I’m quite certain Paul would not have said: “Men, I’ve gone back over how we preached the gospel in Philippi that resulted in our getting the tar beat out of us, and I think I’ve figured out a way to change the message and make it less offensive so that we don’t get the same response in Thessalonica that we just experience in Philippi.” No!

What any other person would have assumed excused them from continuing to preach, served only to motivate them. Their boldness was “in God” (v. 2). I.e., it came from God, not from any natural resolve or power of their own will. To boldly proclaim the gospel “in much conflict” (v. 2) one must be filled with a boldness that only God can supply. When you have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone, the first thing you should do is pray for boldness!

Could it be that it was precisely the way Paul responded to persecution and suffering that awakened the Thessalonians to the truth of the gospel? Could they possibly have watched him labor in the midst of horrible affliction and concluded, “We need to listen to what this guy has to say. It’s hard to think that he would suffer this way for something he knew to be false.”

What is missing from this is something that many would have expected. They think that since Paul was so horribly beaten and shamefully treated in Philippi that his approach in Thessalonica would have been more circumspect. In other words, wouldn’t common sense tell Paul that if he got the tar beat out of him in Philippi, he shouldn’t expect to be treated any better in Thessalonica? But Paul spoke with the same boldness and unbridled clarity and zeal in Thessalonica that he did everywhere else.

(2) The ministry of gospel proclamation in Thessalonica was altogether consistent with the truth; there was no “error” (v. 3a).

There is a simple way to avoid conflict and opposition. Just tinker with the gospel and make it palatable to human taste. No hell. No wrath to come (1:10). No need to believe in Jesus, just be sincere. There are multiple ways to God. Your works are enough. No need to repent. How ever you wish to behave sexually is fine. Just be sincere.

One of the more sinister ways in which some preachers/teachers incorporate “error” into their messages is by placing it within statements that sound biblical. When you hear something that is true and consistent with Scripture you are less inclined to detect anything that may be amiss. Error is most dangerous when it is mixed in with truth.

(3) The ministry of gospel proclamation in Thessalonica was not combined with “impurity” (sexual misconduct) (v. 3a). They weren’t engaged in sexual immorality or idolatry or any form of sinful sexual conduct.

In every other place where Paul uses this term translated, “impurity,” it refers to sexual immorality or uncleanness. I don’t know if you are aware of this but in the past year or so there has been a virtual flood of sexual misconduct in the professing body of Christ. The most bewildering part of this is that it is found primarily among pastors, elders, ministers, leaders in the church. And worse still, the frequency of child sexual abuse has reached almost epidemic proportions. The Roys Report cited earlier bears witness to this. And I assure you, it wasn’t just on this one day that so many perpetrators were mentioned. It has become standard fare.

(4) The ministry of gospel proclamation in Thessalonica was not done with a view to deceiving them (v. 3b).

We might even render this, “any attempt to trick you into believing.” Deceptive tactics were abhorrent to Paul and they must be equally offensive to us. Some think he is referring here to the miracles and signs and wonders by the Holy Spirit (cf. 1:5). Perhaps people would be tempted to say that Paul performed a bunch of circus tricks or magical acts and passed them off as the work of the Spirit, all designed to deceive the people in Thessalonica.

(5) The gospel itself is not to be toyed or tinkered with in any way; it must not be altered, enlarged or shrunk, with rough edges removed, or in any way reconstructed to be palatable to the tastes of anyone. The gospel is a trust, something God has deposited with us only after he approved of our character, intensions, and motives (v. 4a).

Paul was constantly aware of ministering under the gaze and judgement of God. He doesn’t tell us how he knew he was “approved by God,” but we can rest assured that God had placed his stamp of approval on Paul and his ministry. The word translated “approved” means affirmation after undergoing a test or examination. What had Paul done or said that indicated God had approved him and considered him worthy of being entrusted with the gospel? We aren’t told, but perhaps it is precisely what he just mentioned in v. 2. Paul’s ministry was not interrupted or destroyed when he suffered and was shamefully treated in Philippi. And he had declared the gospel in Thessalonica “in the midst of such conflict.” I think it is only reasonable that when God saw Paul’s determination in the midst of persecution and his resolute commitment to the gospel in spite of being so horribly mistreated, he approved him for ministry in Thessalonica. “This is a man,” said the Lord, “to whom I can entrust my gospel.”

(6) Our gospel proclamation was never intended to please people, but only God (v. 4b).

Any effort on our part to speak and live in such a way that people would like us better and promote us was completely out of bounds, because although we may have been capable of tricking other people, it is God who has tested and approved the intent of our hearts.

How does God do this? How would Paul know if his heart passed the test? Many try to eliminate as much as possible the subjective nature of our Christian experience. They are uncomfortable with talking about how the Lord might communicate directly with us. But Paul is saying that the intentions of my heart, the goal that I have in mind, the depth of commitment I have toward these Thessalonians, is examined by God, tested by him to see if it is pure and righteous, and then somehow made known to him by God.

(7) Our ministry was never characterized by flattery (v. 5a).

This is the only time in the NT that this particular word is used. It was common among itinerant philosophers to butter up their audience in order to gain a hearing or to increase the size of the crowd.

So many of the problems we see in church ministry today is the result of pastors gearing their efforts with one goal in mind: to secure praise from people, to be loved and blessed by people. Paul isn’t saying that the alternative is to intentionally offend them. The alternative is to do everything to please God.

(8) Our ministry was never motivated out of a desire for monetary gain. God himself can bear witness to this (v. 5b).

Paul never preached the gospel with greed as his motivation. He never sought to make money off those who in gratitude responded positively to his ministry. He never shaped, fashioned, or tailored his gospel to increase the size of an offering.

(9) Paul and Silas couldn’t have cared less whether people in Thessalonica or elsewhere honored and glorified and praised them (v. 6).

Although Paul and Silas could have strutted in pride as being called as apostles and demanded special treatment, they refused to do so. They never paused before saying something, asking themselves: “Are people going to like this? If not, I’ll change my message. And once I find out what makes them happy, I’ll focus my ministry on that.”

Do you realize that God examines and evaluates our innermost thoughts and feelings and intentions? Have you been deceived into thinking that he is only concerned with external behavior, that your thoughts are hidden from him? Paul says otherwise. God “tests our hearts” (v. 5). He is “witness” to our motivation. The only way that could be true is if God knows every idea, dream, plan, thought, and feeling that you experience.

(10) Our ministry was gentle, the same way a nursing mother tenderly cares for her infant child (v. 7).

Some Greek manuscripts have the word “infants” instead of “gentle.” But on either reading, the meaning is much the same. For how does one behave as if an “infant” if not gently and lovingly? This doesn’t mean Paul avoided hard topics like judgment and repentance, etc. Even difficult and offensive truths can be communicated in a way that people will know we say what we do because we care for them.

Look at how Paul could claim as an apostle absolute authority and yet chose to minister “gently” to the Thessalonians. Having spiritual authority does not mean you have a license to run roughshod over God’s people. It means you have a responsibility to serve them as gently and lovingly as a mother nursing her infant child.

(11) So deep and intense was their affection for the people in Thessalonica that they were more than happy not simply to proclaim the gospel but to share anything they might have to give (v. 8).

“Selves” is actually the word for “souls.” We have an echo of this verse in 2 Corinthians 12:15 where Paul says of the Corinthian believers, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” So many today view their congregation as a means to an end. They see the people as a way to get more for themselves, to promote their reputation and status, to gain money. Not Paul.

The phrase, “we were ready to share” doesn’t fully convey the intensity of Paul’s affection for them. He literally says, “we were pleased to share” with you both the gospel and our very lives. We didn’t feel this way out of some obligation enforced on us from outside, as if we only felt this way because of some law that demanded it. “You had become very dear to us” (v. 8b), is more literally, “you had become our beloved.” That being true, you should only expect Paul to have ministered to them in gentleness and generosity. As you look back on your life as a Christian and the many years you have been involved in a church of one sort or another, did you find yourself treated this way by your leaders? I hope so.

(12) So deep and intense was their affection for them that they refused financial support and held down jobs requiring their presence day and night. They refused to be a financial burden to the Thessalonians (v. 9).

Paul was keenly aware that his enemies might accuse him of taking advantage of God’s people to gain more money. To avoid any semblance of greed as a pretext, Paul refused to take anything from the Thessalonians.

Paul’s financial policy is not one that he imposed on others. But it is clear that whenever he first arrived in a city and planted a church there, he declined any and all financial support. He worked with his hands to support himself so as not to be a burden to the people. But he didn’t have to. He believed that he had a right to be supported by the people to whom he ministered, but he was so jealous of his reputation that he refused to take their money. He wanted to avoid any suggestion that he preached the way he did for monetary gain. He was happy to receive financial support from churches he planted after he left town. Here is how he describes his policy. See 1 Cor. 9:8-18.

(13) Their ministry and conduct in Thessalonica were holy and righteous and blameless (v. 10).

“Holy” refers to Paul’s conduct in the sight of God, while “righteous” and “blameless” refer to his conduct when it is evaluated by people.

(14) Not only were they gentle like a nursing mother caring for her infant child, they also conducted themselves the way a father would with this children: exhortation, encouragement, and an appeal to walk worthy of God (v. 11-12).

Consider the development. Paul describes his ministry and manner first as gentle, then compares himself to a nursing mother, and finally to a loving and protective father.

To walk “worthy of God” does not mean that you live so as to make yourself worthy of his love and acceptance. It means that you live in a way that is consistent with the worth and beauty and value of God. Your conduct reflects God’s own character. It means that you live in conformity with God’s character and will.

Conclusion

Let me close with a word of advice for all of us. If you ever find yourself in a church where the leaders bully people, or lord it over them, or domineer the members, or aim primarily for their own glory rather than for the good of each person, or engage in any form of sexual misconduct, and they remain stubbornly unrepentant, get up out of your seat and walk away, and never look back.

I could answer these questions in any number of ways, but I want to focus on one in particular. We emphasize the Bible because, among other things, it provides us with inspired instruction on how to cope with life’s most demanding problems and puzzles and challenges. And we find a perfect example of this here in 1 Thessalonians 2:13.

Let me put it this way. When you find it especially difficult to love your spouse, to what do you turn for help? When you are ostracized by those who you once thought were your best friends, how do you keep from growing bitter? When you are treated unjustly and persecuted, where do you go for comfort and encouragement? When everyone around you seems to be promoted and praised and you are left unnoticed and overlooked, how do you keep from growing angry? When someone betrays your trust and shares with other something about you that you told them in confidence, what remedy do you seek for the anger that rises up in your soul?

Would it surprise you to learn that Scripture, the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and life-giving revelation from God, tells you to look to the gospel of Jesus Christ? And if that is true, precisely how does the gospel do that? I suspect that many of you think that the gospel is only for unbelievers, to tell them how to be saved and put right with God. The apostle Paul says otherwise. For example, in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 he says this:

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved” (1 Cor. 15:1-2a).

Did you notice that the verb “saved” is here in the present tense? Perhaps you thought that the gospel is solely the message by which you have been saved, in the past. But our salvation is not simply something that happened in the past when we first believed in Jesus. It is also the present, on-going, progressive transformation of our lives as we grow more and more in conformity to Christ.

There is yet another text that makes the same point, and it is the one we are looking at today. Look again closely at 1 Thessalonians 2:13 –

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers” (1 Thess. 2:13).

The verb translated “is at work” is also in the present tense. The point again is that the gospel not only worked for us in the past when we first believed in Jesus, but also continues to work in us in the present time and will continue to do so until we die or Jesus returns.

It is this truth, that the gospel is “at work” in believers that I want us to think about today. How does it work in us? What does it do? In what ways will it help me with all my problems? Those are the questions I want to answer. But before we do, let’s notice several other things in this verse.

(1) This isn’t the first time that Paul has expressed his gratitude to God. Back in 1:2-3 he thanked God for the Thessalonians, in particular for their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope. Here he goes even further and in effect gives God all the credit for the way they responded to the gospel when Paul preached it to them.

Don’t press the word “constantly” as if Paul never did anything else but pray and give thanks. Rather he means that he never failed to give thanks for them every time he prayed. If Paul had a prayer list, the Thessalonians would always be on it.

Why does Paul “thank God constantly” instead of congratulating the Thessalonians for receiving and believing the gospel? Let’s make sure what it is for which Paul gives thanks. It is for the way they received and accepted the gospel when it was preached in their city. “Sam, are you saying that God is the ultimate cause of the faith of the Thessalonians?” Absolutely, yes! In Ephesians 2:8 Paul explicitly says that faith “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” In Philippians 2:29 Paul says: “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake.” We read much the same thing when it comes to repentance. Here is what Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:24-26.

“And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

Here is what Luke says in Acts 11:18.

“And when they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (see also Acts 5:31).

So, let me ask you all a question. When you look back on the time of your conversion, how do you account for the fact that your heart responded in faith and repentance instead of unbelief and denial? Perhaps the best way to make this point is to cite the example of Charles Spurgeon, the great Baptist preacher of the 19^th century.

“One week-night, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher’s sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, ‘How did you come to be a Christian?’ I sought the Lord. ‘But how did you come to seek the Lord?’ The truth flashed across my mind in a moment – I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, ‘I ascribe my change wholly to God’” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Autobiography, vol. 1, The Early Years, 1834-1859, reprint ed. [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1973], p. 165).

(2) What is “the word of God” that is mentioned twice in v. 13? We find the answer in what Paul has already said earlier in 1 Thessalonians. In 1:5 he refers to it as the “gospel.” But in 1:6 he reverts to using “the word.” Again, in 1:8 he mentions the “word of the Lord.” But then he switches yet again in 2:2 and speaks of the “gospel of God.” He does this again in 2:4. He uses the word “gospel” in 2:8 and 2:9. But then when we come to our passage in 2:13 he twice reverts to speaking of his message as “the word of God”.

So, this is my question. We know what Paul means when he talks about the “gospel,” but what does he refer to when he uses the term “word”? Is the “word” identical with the gospel or more expansive in its reference? I think its primary reference is to the gospel, but I feel justified in expanding it to include what Paul refers to in Acts 20 as “the whole counsel of God.”

What, then, is the gospel? I never assume that Christians can define it. So I will!

The “gospel” is the gloriously great good news of what our triune God has graciously done in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to satisfy his own wrath against us and to secure the forgiveness of sins and perfect righteousness for all who trust in him by faith alone. Christ fulfilled, on our behalf, the perfectly obedient life under God’s law that we should have lived, but never could. He died, in our place, the death that we deserved to suffer but now never will. And by his rising from the dead, he secures for those who believe the promise of a resurrected and glorified life in a new heaven and a new earth in fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit forever.

How important is it that we properly understand, define, and preach this gospel? I’ll let Paul answer that question, as he does in Galatians 1:6-9,

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

This alone is a stern warning to everyone not to tamper with the gospel or recast it or add to it or detract from it or in any way reshape it to make it more palatable to human tastes and desires.

(3) In v. 13, what is the difference between the “word of God” and the “word of men”? It seems as if the second half of v. 13 is redundant. He has already referred to his message as “the word of God” so why does he yet again say that it is not the word of man but “the word of God”? I think he wants to counter or refute any suspicion that his message is his own, as if he created it or shaped it. In other words, it is not merely some human teaching but has its origin in God. The “word of God” here in v. 13 is simply the same as “the gospel of God” back in v. 2.

When Paul preached, he did so as a man speaking words. But Paul wants everyone to know that his words did not derive from a human being, neither from himself nor anyone else. His “word” was given to him by God. Listen to how Paul describes it in Gal. 1:11-12,

“For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Now we come to the fourth point in v. 13 that I want us to consider in depth.

(4) What does Paul mean when he says at the close of v. 13 that “the word of God,” i.e., the gospel, “is at work in” the Thessalonians?

The verb translated “work” reminds us that no matter how wise or eloquent or intellectually deep the word of a human being may be, it cannot do what God’s word can do. See 1 Cor. 1:18.

There are a few other truths about the gospel that we must keep in mind. For example, the gospel is fundamentally about something that has happened. It is an accomplished event, an unalterable fact of history. Nothing can undo the gospel. No power in heaven or earth can overturn or reverse it. But as a settled achievement it also exerts a radical and far-reaching influence into both our present experience and our future hopes. We must never think that the gospel is solely for unbelievers. It is for Christians, at every stage of their lives. There is nothing in the Christian life that is “post” gospel!

So, how does the gospel change us? Of what practical, daily importance is it? There are many ways of answering this question. First of all, many Christians live in an “if / then” relationship with God. If I do what is right, then God will love me. If I give more money to missions, then God will provide me with a raise at work. If I avoid sinful habits, then I will be spared suffering and humiliation. It’s a conditional relationship that is based on the principle of merit.

The gospel calls us to live in a “because / therefore” relationship with the Lord. Because we have been justified by faith in Christ, therefore we have peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Because Christ died for us, therefore we are forgiven. Because Christ has fulfilled the law in our place, therefore we are set free from its demands and penalty. This is an unconditional relationship that is based on the principle of grace.

If we are to understand the gospel rightly, we must keep in mind several foundational truths.

First, the gospel is not what God requires. The gospel is what God provides. There is of course, an intrinsic demand built into the gospel. The good news that is proclaimed calls for a response of faith and repentance. But our faith and repentance are not themselves the gospel. Our personal testimony is not the gospel. We cannot be the gospel, but we bear witness to it.

Second, the gospel is not an imperative, demanding things you must do. The gospel is an indicative, declaring things God has done. Again, of course we do things because of the gospel. But our doing things isn’t itself the gospel.

Third, the gospel is not about human action. The gospel is about divine achievement. Or again, the gospel is about God’s provision, not man’s response. The gospel is not a moralistic Do! The gospel is a merciful Done! There are undoubtedly multiple consequences of the gospel that extend beyond its impact on the individual and his relationship to God. But we must never confuse the content of the gospel with its consequences, or its essence with its entailments.

Having said all that as an introduction, we are now ready to see what Paul means when he says that the gospel “is at work” in all believers. Consider the following small sampling of how all of life and local church ministry are influenced or energized by the gospel.

Our approach to suffering, that is to say, how to suffer unjustly without growing bitter and resentful is tied directly to the way Christ suffered for us and did so without reviling those who reviled him – “when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23).

Or take humility as another example. The basis for Paul’s appeal that we “do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than” ourselves is the self-sacrifice of God the Son in becoming a human and submitting to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:1-5 in relation to 2:6-11).

All of us know that as husbands we are to love our wives “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25-33).

Why should we be generous and sacrificial with our money? Because, says Paul, “you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9; 9:13).

We are to forgive one another “as God in Christ forgave” us (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).

We are to “walk in love” toward each other, says Paul, “as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

We are to serve one another in humility as Christ served his disciples by washing their feet and eventually suffering in their stead (John 13:1-20).

The freedom we have in Christ, says Paul in Romans 14, is to be controlled in its exercise by the recognition that the weaker brother who might be damaged by our behavior is one for whom Christ died (Romans 14).

Paul encourages us to pray for all based on the fact that Christ “gave himself as a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:1-7)

If that were not enough, there are countless instances in the NT where we are directed back to the reality of the gospel and what Christ has done for us through it as the primary way to combat those false beliefs and feelings that hinder our spiritual growth. So, for example, . . .

• When you don’t feel loved by others, meditate on Rom. 5:5-11; 8:35-39.
• When you don’t have a sense of any personal value, read Matt. 10:29-31; 1 John 3:1-3.
• When you struggle to find meaning in life, study Eph. 1:4-14; Rom. 11:33-36.
• When you don’t feel useful, consider 1 Cor. 15:58; 12:7-27.
• When you feel unjustly criticized, rest in the truth of Rom. 8:33-34.
• When you feel excluded by others, rejoice in Heb. 13:5-6.
• When you feel you have no good works, let Eph. 2:8-10 have its effect.
• When you are constantly asking the question: Who am I? Take courage in 1 Peter 2:9-10.
• When you live in fear that other people have the power to destroy or undermine who you are, be strengthened by Heb. 13:5-6; Rom. 8:31-34.
• When you don’t feel like you belong anywhere, take comfort from Eph. 4:1-16; 1 Cor. 12:13.
• When Satan accuses you of being a constant failure, remind him of 1 Cor. 1:30-31.
• When Satan tells you that you are an embarrassment to the church, quote Eph. 3:10.
• When you find yourself bitter towards the Church and indifferent regarding its ministries, reflect on Acts 20:28.
• When you find yourself shamed into silence when confronted by non-Christians, be encouraged with 2 Tim. 1:8-12.
• When you find yourself experiencing prejudice against those of another race or culture, memorize and act upon the truth of Rom. 1:16; 2 Cor. 5:14-16; Eph. 2:11ff.; Revelation 5.
• When you struggle with pride and boasting in your own achievements, be humbled by Rom. 3:27-28; 1 Cor. 1:18-25, 30-31.
• When you feel despair and hopelessness, let Rom. 5:1-10 restore your confidence.
• When you feel defeated by sin and hopeless ever to change, delight yourself in Rom. 7:24-25.
• When you feel condemned by God for your multiple, repeated failures, speak aloud the words of Rom. 8:1.
• When you lack power to resist conforming to the world, consider Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 6:14.
• When you feel weak and powerless, be energized by Rom. 16:25.
• When you are tempted sexually, never forget 1 Cor. 6:18-20.

And again, when you find yourself saying . . .

• I’m not having any impact in life or on others, be uplifted by 2 Cor. 12:9-10.
• I feel guilty and filled with shame all the time for my sins, be reminded of Eph. 1:7.
• I live in constant fear, be encouraged by Luke 12:32; Rev. 2:9-11.
• I struggle with anxiety and worry about everything, don’t neglect the truth of Matt. 6:25-34; Phil. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 5:6-7.
• I am defined and controlled by my past, look to 2 Cor. 5:17.
• I live in fear that God will abandon me, consider his promise in Rom. 8:35-38.
• I can’t break free of my sins and bad habits, linger long with Rom. 6:6,14.
• I’m afraid to pray and fear that God will mock my petitions, take heart from Heb. 4:14-16.
• I carry grudges against those who’ve wronged me and live in bitterness towards them, reflect and meditate on Col. 3:12-13.
• I can’t find strength to serve others, fearing that I’ll be taken advantage of by them, let Phil. 2:5-11; and Mark 10:45 have their way in your life.
• I’m a spiritual orphan and belong to no one, rejoice in Gal. 4:4-7.

Each of these texts refers to the gospel of what God has done for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and each text applies that gospel truth to the particular problem noted. These, then, are just a handful of the ways that the gospel affects all of life, all of ministry, and everything we seek to be and do and accomplish as Christians and as local churches.

A Brief Summary of vv. 14-16

Earlier in 1:6, Paul had commended them for having become imitators of both Jesus and himself when they received the gospel with great joy, even though it meant subjecting them to intense persecution and affliction. People don’t typically suffer great pain and loss for something they know is false. The proof that the Thessalonians had truly trusted in the power of God’s word is seen in the fact that they willingly suffered for having believed it. In this they had become imitators of both Paul and other believers in Judea.

Sadly, some have used vv. 15-16 to justify anti-Semitism. But when Paul singles out “the Jews” he is talking specifically about those in the first century who persecuted Christians. They are the ones who conspired with Herod and Pontius Pilate to crucify Jesus. We see this in Acts 4:27-28,

“for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:27-28).

Paul is not talking about all Jewish people as a particular ethnicity. After all, he was himself a Jew (Rom. 11:1ff), as were most in the early years of the church. He has in mind those Jews who persecuted the church and participated in the crucifixion of Jesus. Any attempt by someone to justify anti-Semitism based on this passage is horribly misguided.

The “prophets” most likely refers to the prophets of the OT who were persecuted by the religious leaders of Israel. Thus, this statement is parallel to what we read in Matthew 23:29-36 where Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees who shed the blood of the prophets. “You witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. . . Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.” We find the words of Jesus echoed here when Paul says they “fill up the measure of their sins,” by which I think Paul means there is a measure or degree of sin that God will permit before judgment falls.

One of the more lamentable developments in recent days is the rise of anti-Semitism, as seen in the many protests and riots on college campuses. It isn’t primarily because of what Israel has done in response to the carnage of October 7 in Gaza, but rather because it is the Jewish people who did it. The protests are not primarily about whether Israel’s response is justified or excessive, but rather about the fact that it is Israel’s response. If it had been any other ethnic body or nation that sought to destroy Hamas, I doubt if the protests would have been nearly as hostile and hateful as what we’ve seen.

It forces one to ask the question: Why is there such animosity and opposition to the Jews? The pro-Palestinian people today couldn’t have cared less that some Jews in the first century participated in the crucifixion of Jesus. Hitler didn’t hate the Jews because of the death of Christ. He hated them and sought to exterminate them, at least if we take his word for it, because he believed they were filthy and were corrupting the pure Aryan bloodline that was so essential to his designs for Germany. So, where does such hatred come from? There are any number of other reasons, but I suggest that behind them all is Satan. These antisemitic riots are utterly demonic in nature.

Another important point Paul makes in v. 16 is how displeasing it is to God that anyone would seek to prevent the gospel from reaching lost souls (v. 16a). This may occur on a national level, such as what we see in places like North Korea and Iran and Communist China, where governments suppress the preaching of the gospel. It may occur on a local level where city governments pass legislation forbidding public preaching or the distribution of gospel tracts. It strikes me as nothing short of amazing that on several occasions in England, men and women were arrested for praying silently outside abortion clinics.

In other places, it has become criminal to speak of the sinfulness of homosexuality. To label this as hate speech is clearly an attempt to silence the voice of the church. In some countries, to deny the reality of so-called “transgenderism” is likewise a hate crime, when in fact it is a loving response to those who are deceived into thinking they can choose to change their gender.

All such attempts by government officials, be they local, statewide, or national, to silence the voice of the church on any issue that is addressed in Scripture is, to use Paul’s words here in v. 15, to “displease God.” Paul laments the fact that these Jewish opponents of the gospel prevented him from preaching to the Gentiles when they “drove us out.” Paul had been chased out of Damascus (Acts 9:23-25), Jerusalem (Acts 9:29-30), Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:45-50), Iconium (Acts 14:2-6), Thessalonica (Acts 17:5, 10), and Corinth (Acts 18:6, 12-13).

Finally, what does Paul mean when he says at the close of v. 16 that “wrath has come upon them at last”? Some translate this concluding word in v. 16 as “finally,” or “decisively,” or “forever, through all eternity,” or “fully.” I think Paul is speaking proleptically, that is, he is describing something that is so certain to occur in the future that it is spoken of as if it had already taken place. He may well be referring to what was to happen in 70 a.d. when Roman armies destroyed both the city of Jerusalem and the temple. This was but a foretaste of the final wrath that enemies of the gospel will suffer at the end of history.   

Praise God for the saving and sanctifying power of the gospel!

All of us felt the reality of this during the pandemic. It felt profoundly unnatural and even emotionally painful to be cut off from one another. It was bad enough not being able to gather on Sunday or in a small group. But even when we returned from isolation, we were told not to shake hands but give each other a fist bump. We were told to maintain six feet of social distance from one another. And perhaps worst of all, we were encouraged to wear those horrible masks. Now, for those of you who had no choice but to wear a mask because of potentially life-threatening underlying conditions, please don’t be offended by that comment.

The reason for this multitude of uncomfortable and painful regulations is that it was in violation of an impulse that the Holy Spirit has put in every Christian. It is the impulse or the desire or the necessity of close personal community and interaction with one another. Loneliness and isolation will destroy the human soul and deprive us of the joy that God wants us to experience in our interaction with one another.

I know this to be true from what Paul says in this paragraph in 1 Thessalonians 2-3. Paul’s vivid language confirms this. Let’s note several things he says here in 2:17-20.

First, Paul describes his separation from the Thessalonians as being “torn away” from them. That’s a very poor rendering of the one Greek verb found here. It literally means to make an orphan of someone. The pain and distress we felt in being forcibly separated from you was the same distress and pain that a parent feels at the loss of a child. Or perhaps it is more the experience of that child who has never known his parents at all. This child is all alone, with no one to whom they can turn and no place to call home. That is how I felt, says Paul, when we were chased out of Thessalonica.

Earlier Paul described his affection and love for these people by comparing himself to a mother gently and lovingly nursing her infant child. Then, in 2:11, he likened himself to a father whose love for his children is deep and passionate. And now, adding to this piling up of terms of affection, he says that the pain he feels in being separated from them is the pain of an orphan, a helpless child with no home, no mother, no father.

Is that how you feel when you are far removed from other Christians? It should be.

Second, observe that Paul says this happened only for a “short time” (most likely no more than 8 months). It wasn’t like he was cut off from them and they from him for years and years. And although it was only for a “short time” that didn’t diminish or soften the blow on his heart. To be away from you even for a day or a week or a month is almost more than I can bear, says Paul.

Third, look at how he describes the separation. Although I wasn’t with you in person, says Paul, our hearts were still intimately connected. This season of separation never entailed a distance between my heart and yours. Don’t you love that? Does that not tell you something not just about the character of Paul but also of the way God has fashioned our hearts as one in the body of Christ?

Fourth, Paul did everything within his power to return to them. Not just once, he says, but “again and again.” And this wasn’t a matter of discharging a duty. Paul, Silas, and Timothy didn’t make every effort to see them face to face because they were submitting to some legal requirement. Look at the language he uses to describe his passion for them: “we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face.” I don’t know if there is a more vivid and passionate expression of one Christian longing for the immediacy of face-to-face fellowship with other Christians. We “wanted” to come. It isn’t that some external obligation was forced upon us. Our desire was truly heartfelt and sincere.

There is possibly yet another reason why Paul speaks in such urgent terms of his desire to return to Thessalonica. When he promised the Corinthians that he would return to them and then was compelled to cancel his trip, they accused him of being selfish and concerned only with his own well-being and comfort. They questioned his integrity. And when you read 2 Corinthians 1 you can hear Paul defending himself and his decision. My sense is that he didn’t want to run any risk that the Thessalonians would follow the Corinthians and accuse him of being fickle and unreliable.

Fifth, “but Satan hindered us” (v. 18). What? How did that happen? Why did God let it happen? And what are the lessons for us?

Paul doesn’t tell us how it happened. There are several possibilities. Perhaps Satan afflicted Paul with some disease that hindered him from making a trip to Thessalonica. Or it may be that Satan stirred up a military conflict that made it too dangerous for Paul to travel. Yet again, it may have been that Satan provoked opposition to Paul on the part of the political leaders in power at the time. Or it may have been that Satan stirred up such bad weather that it made it impossible for Paul to travel. Don’t forget that when God grants him permission, Satan can exert an influence on the weather, as we see in the experience of Job.

I think there must have been something in Paul’s condition or health or his relationship to the government that hindered him from making the trip. I say this because of what he says in 3:1-2. There he says that although he couldn’t make the trip, evidently Timothy could. One is compelled to ask, if Timothy could get there, why couldn’t Paul? This is what leads me to think that either Paul was thrown in prison temporarily or was sick or was compelled by circumstances that pertained solely to him.

Why did God let this happen? Honestly, we don’t know. We do know that God can use Satan as an instrument to accomplish his purposes. For all we know, God knew that if Paul had made the journey when he first planned that he would have encountered opposition from thieves and pirates along the way. So he let Satan think that by somehow hindering Paul he was undermining God’s ministry through the apostle. But he was simply a pawn in God’s providential purpose.

But perhaps the most important question of all is why would Satan not want Paul to return to Thessalonica? I think the answer is found in Paul’s language in vv. 17-18. Satan knew the value of Christians being in close proximity to one another. He knew what we’ve already discovered from Paul’s statement in v. 17. Simply put, Satan hates when Christians spend time in each other’s presence. He knows the encouragement that they give each other, the way they affirm and exhort and instruct each other. He also knows that when Christians gather together and pray and worship his power is curtailed and his influence is undermined.

And maybe Satan’s efforts to hinder Paul in making his way to Thessalonica was because of what Paul says in v. 19. Notice the connection between v. 18 and v. 19. Satan hindered us “because” or “for” he knew how precious you are to our hearts and how you are my hope and joy and crown of boasting. Satan hates it when Christians grow to feel this way about each other, and he did what he could to prevent Paul and the Thessalonians from enjoying and growing from this sort of loving fellowship.

One more point to be made here, which is a beautiful illustration of God’s providential purposes in all events. If Paul had returned to Thessalonica when he did, rather than remaining in Athens, we would very likely never have had this letter! In other words, the reason why Paul wrote this letter to the church in Thessalonica is because he was prevented from returning to them. If Satan had not hindered Paul there would have been no reason for him to write 1 Thessalonians! In a sense, we should probably give thanks to Satan for being responsible for us having these inspired words from the apostle. Well, no, we should give thanks to God who used Satan’s activity to provide Paul with grounds for writing this letter that we otherwise might not ever have seen.

Let’s consider one more example of God’s wise providence. Since Paul was forced to remain in Athens, he took advantage of this opportunity to visit the synagogues and share the gospel with the Jews who were present. He then was taken by the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers to the Areopagus where he preached one of his most famous sermons to the Athenians present there (see Acts 17:16-34). We are told that after his sermon “some men joined him and believed” (Acts 17:34). Pause for a moment and stand in awe at the providence of God! Had Satan not thwarted Paul’s plan to return to Thessalonica, countless individuals in Athens might never have heard the gospel and thus might never have been saved!

We should ponder how this so often happens in our own lives. Well-made plans, strategies, and desires are often interrupted by the enemy. And how do we respond? All too often we complain and gripe and argue with God as to why he let this happen. Instead, we should trust God’s providential control over all such events and look for the opportunities to serve him, and bless his people, and share the gospel with people we otherwise might never have even met.

I have to rejoice in knowing that while Satan thought he had pulled off a huge victory in preventing Paul from returning to Thessalonica, he was instead defeated by the providential turns in Paul’s life and ministry. People are even now in heaven and not in hell because of what God did with Satan’s scheme. God marvelously turned an evil act into an opportunity for gospel ministry and salvation!

Now, having said that, what precisely does Paul mean here in vv. 19-20? He mentions five ways in which the Thessalonians were a blessing to him. And don’t forget: he had only known these people for 8 months!

He describes them as being his “hope,” “joy,” “crown of boasting,” “glory,” and then, as if to highlight “joy,” he repeats it at the end of v. 20.

We know from what Paul says elsewhere (see 1 Cor. 4:1-4) that he fully expects to have his entire ministry examined and tested by the Lord when Christ returns. It is then that Jesus will reveal whether or not Paul has been faithful to his commission. When that happens, he is confident that the “hope” he put in the reality of their conversion will not disappoint. He is even now filled with “joy” at their spiritual progress and is certain that such will be confirmed when Christ returns. And on that day he will receive the reward of a “crown of boasting” that they remained faithful through trial and temptation.

Of course, Paul’s ultimate “hope” was that he would be in the presence of Jesus for all eternity. But to be there without the Thessalonian Christians is unthinkable. My “hope,” says Paul, is that you will be with me to enjoy Jesus forever. Nothing that anyone can do to me can rob me of the abiding and intense “joy” that I feel in knowing and loving you. If anyone should question the validity of my calling and ministry as an apostle, they should know that on the day when we stand before Jesus, I will point to you as my only boast, my only crown of success.

Timothy’s Journey to Thessalonica and the Good News sent to Paul (3:1-10)

The burden of concern for the spiritual welfare of the Thessalonians became more than Paul could stand. So he decided to send Timothy to Thessalonica to check up on the condition of the congregation. Notice that the reference to their “faith” appears five times! It is found in vv. 2, 5, 6, 7, and 10.

Paul had expressed great confidence in the authenticity of their conversion (see 1:1-10; 2:13). However, he knows how suffering can often undermine our faith in God’s goodness and promises. Timothy’s journey to Thessalonica was designed to establish and exhort the believers there lest the persecution they were suffering might cause them to fall into doubt and anger and skepticism towards God.

We all feel this at one time or another. I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions that the greatest threat to our faith in the goodness of God and the fulfillment of his promises to us is suffering. It doesn’t matter if it’s physical illness, chronic pain, or in the case of the Thessalonians, social ostracism, beatings, imprisonment, loss of personal property, slander, and for some even death. Is there anyone here who hasn’t wondered and pondered the possibility that God can’t be trusted? When we hurt, regardless of the nature and cause of the pain, we typically ask ourselves: “Is God worthy of being entrusted with my life? Can I count on him to fulfill his word to me? After all, if he really cared, why am I the target of so much injustice and mistreatment?”

This is weighing heavily on Paul’s heart. He says in v. 5 that Satan, whom he calls “the tempter,” might have used these hardships and tribulations to corrupt the faith of the Thessalonians. Although Paul knew that many had truly come to faith when he preached to them, he feared that the “faith” of some was at best superficial and unable to survive the seeds of doubt that Satan would sow in their hearts.

Does this suggest that Paul believed some who were genuinely saved could have been so overcome by Satan, the “tempter,” that they might lose their salvation? No. Let me remind you of the sequence of events.

First, after his evangelistic activity in Thessalonica, Paul and his companions were forced to leave. Many appeared to have truly trusted in Christ, but could it have been only an emotional reaction on the part of some?

Second, after departing from Thessalonica, Paul wondered if their professions of faith were real. After all, he says in 2:4 that Christians are “destined” to suffer in this way. Perhaps the anguish of being persecuted caused some, whose profession of faith was superficial, to abandon Christ.

Third, being greatly concerned, Paul sends Timothy to find out how they are doing. He then returns to Paul in Athens and reports that in fact their conversions were genuine and that they are standing strong in their faith.

Fourth, Paul then sits down and writes 1 Thessalonians, having been assured that their faith was genuine (v. 7).

I must pause yet again and repeat what I said earlier. Can you see what a true shepherd, a genuine pastor of God’s people, feels and is willing to do for the sheep? When you look back on your spiritual journey in whatever church you may have attended, did the pastors display this depth of compassion and concern together with a willingness to do whatever was necessary to establish and encourage you in your commitment to Christ?

Listen closely once more to the urgent, heart-felt affection Paul had for these new believers. Look with me at vv. 6-10. Paul mentions several things that Timothy observed and heard when he made his visit to Thessalonica.

• There was “good news” about their “faith” (v. 6).
• There was “good news” about their “love”, both for Paul and one another (v. 6).
• There was “good news” about how they fondly remembered Paul and his ministry to them (v. 6). He may have been out of sight, but he was certainly not out of mind.
• There was “good news” about how intensely they “long to see” Paul (v. 6). Paul is greatly encouraged that their affection for him had not diminished because of his absence.

But it wasn’t only the Thessalonians who stood firmly in their faith and in their love for Paul. Paul testifies in vv. 7-10 how incredibly encouraged he is to hear of how well they are doing.

• Notwithstanding how badly we are being afflicted, notwithstanding the distress that we are under, your faith has “comforted” us (v. 7). Little else mattered to Paul, little else could affect his heart as did the spiritual progress of these people in Thessalonica.
• If that were not enough, Paul makes an incredible statement in v. 8 – “we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.” In obvious contrast with the twice stated burden of concern he had for them (see vv. 1,5), here Paul says that he “lives” to hear they are standing firmly in their faith. Before this news came to him from Timothy, he was oppressed and anxious to an almost unbearable degree. But now the vitality of his spiritual life has been renewed. It almost sounds as if Paul was laboring under a spiritual death penalty, only to be raised yet again to joyful life when Timothy came with the good news of their progress.
• Again, Paul traces his deep and abiding feelings of “joy” to the fact that they are in good spiritual condition (v. 9).
• Finally, one prayer dominated his life: he prayed “most earnestly night and day” not simply to hear a good report about the Thessalonians but to see them “face-to-face” (v. 10).
• If there is still anything lacking in their faith, if there are lingering doubts about the goodness of God and the truth of the gospel, Paul wants to supply the truth that will bring stability and joy to their lives (v. 10b).
• In saying that he wanted to “supply what is lacking” in their faith, Paul does not mean their faith was artificial. He simply means that their faith needs more depth. Their faith, although genuine, needs to be strengthened and brought to full development.

Paul’s Concluding Prayer on Their Behalf (3:11-13)

I need to bring a correction to how the ESV translates the opening words of v. 11. The word “himself” is not restricted to the Father alone. It should read: “Now may our God and Father and our Lord Jesus himself” direct our way to you. Paul is clearly uniting the Father and the Son in the request that they make it possible for Paul to visit Thessalonica yet again. We also see this in the fact that the verb “direct” is singular, even though its subject is plural (i.e., both the Father and the Son jointly are asked to “direct” Paul’s path to Thessalonica). Seyoon Kim says it best:

“Jesus has been exalted as God’s Son to exercise God’s lordship on his behalf, so that what God the Father wills the Lord Jesus executes, and what the Lord Jesus does is what God the Father does (cf. Rom. 1:3-4; 1 Cor. 15:23-28)” (297-98).

There are two primary requests that Paul makes of the Father and the Son.

First, he prays that God would operate in their hearts and minds so that their love for each other and for everyone else would “increase and abound’ (v. 12). It is impossible for us to love one another too much! There is always room for “increase” and for our love to “abound” more and more.

There is also here a clear affirmation of the full deity or divinity of Jesus. Not only is he united with the Father in Paul’s wish that they will make his journey to Thessalonica possible, but he is himself the focus of Paul’s prayer that they will increase and abound in love. Notice that in v. 11 Paul refers to Jesus as “our Lord Jesus,” and then immediately follows this by simply referring to “the Lord.” The only person to whom prayer can be directed is to God, be it the Father or Son or Holy Spirit.

Allow me to deviate from the text for a moment to point out something of great importance. As most of you know, faithful Roman Catholics are often heard praying to Mary or to the saints in heaven, in spite of the fact that there is not a single syllable in Scripture which says that is permissible.

We should take note of the following papal declarations.

“God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that everyone may know that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation. For this is his will, that we obtain everything through Mary” (Pope Pius IX, 1846-78). Note: not through Jesus but “through her” are obtained all these blessings.

“As no man goes to the father but by the son, so no one goes to Christ except through his mother” (Pope Leo XIII, 1903).

“It is the will of God that we should have nothing which is not passed through the hands of Mary” (Pope Pius XII, 1953).

Consider the prayer known as “Hail Mary.”

“Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”

I don’t want to come across as anti-Catholic, but why in the world would anyone pray to Mary when the Bible says repeatedly that we have immediate and direct access to Jesus Christ, God the Son? On the questionable assumption that it is even possible for Mary to hear our prayers,, I can almost envision her in heaven, pleading with Roman Catholics throughout history and into the present day, saying: “Please! Stop it! It is not for me to do anything for you. Go directly to your only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who stands at the right hand of the Father to do for you what only he can do.”

When I was quite young, living in Shawnee, I loved visiting my dad at the Federal National Bank building where he worked, and even later, when we moved to Duncan, at the Security National Bank, where he served as President. Can you envision me walking up to a teller and saying: “I’m sorry to interrupt, but would you take this note to my dad? I really need an advance on my allowance”? If I had, I can assure you that the teller, be it male or female, would have laughed in disbelief and said, “Why ask me? He’s your dad. You should take it directly to him.”

Here in vv. 11-13, Paul does what every biblical author and Christian person in Scripture does: he goes directly to the Father and to the Son with his petitions. No intermediaries. No delay. No fear that the person we ask to take our prayers to God might misunderstand or misspeak what we have requested.

I’m not denigrating Mary or overlooking the incredibly faithful role she played in submitting to God’s desire that she be the mother of the Messiah. But there is nothing but confusion and even great danger in positioning her in between us and the Lord himself.

Second, Paul asks the Lord Jesus Christ to “establish” their “hearts blameless in holiness” before our God and Father when Christ returns (v. 13). Do you live in fear that when Jesus comes back and you stand before him at the judgment seat, you will be ashamed and terrified and fearful that you have nothing to offer him in the way of personal holiness and blamelessness? Do you live in constant fear that there will be nothing there for you but embarrassment and loss? You shouldn’t.

You need never fear that you will come up short when you stand before the Lord. How do I know this? How do I know that Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians would be answered, and how do I know that ours will be answered also? There are numerous ways to answer this question, but two texts of Scripture will have to suffice for now:

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Jesus Christ. HE WHO CALLS YOU IS FAITHFUL; HE WILL SURELY DO IT” (1 Thess. 5:23-24).

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and TO PRESENT YOU BLAMELESS BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF HIS GLORY WITH GREAT [not with dread or regret or fear or shame], to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25).

I have to confess that I was more than a little surprised and somewhat discouraged upon hearing that there are people attending evangelical churches who, for whatever reason, believe that sex before marriage is permissible. Pre-marital sex is commonplace in our culture. But to hear that it is present in the church is extremely disheartening. My surprise upon hearing this is that I would never have imagined that such a view could even exist among professing Christians. There are some things that are so patently obvious in the Bible that one simply takes for granted that everyone who has spent any amount of time in church life would understand this. But I guess I was wrong. And that is the reason for my message today.

In my preparation leading up to today I did some research. Now remember: statistics can be deceiving. There can be numerous unknown or unstated factors that skew the results of any public opinion poll. According to a recent Barna poll, 65 percent of American adults believe cohabitation is a good idea. That being said, a recent survey of professing evangelical Christians indicated that nearly 60% said they would have or have had sex before marriage. There was no indication in the survey as to whether or not they regarded pre-marital sex as morally permissible. Some (perhaps many) may believe it to be morally and biblically sinful but engaged in pre-marital sex anyway. Thus, the urgent need for my message today.

One study showed that six years after they started cohabitating, 54 percent of couples had broken up and only 33 percent had married. Even those living together who do get married find it more difficult to keep this commitment compared to those who don’t. Another survey found cohabitating couples who married had a higher likelihood of divorce than those who didn’t.

The Nature of Porneia in the NT

I suppose the only place to begin is by taking note of the terminology that we find in the NT. The Greek word that is most often translated as “sexual immorality” is porneia, the word from which derive our English term, pornography. But don’t ever think that the Greek porneia is referring primarily to visual portrayals of sexual activity. We must never read back into the NT the meaning of our modern English words. Rather we must allow the NT to define its terminology in its own way.

Together with the noun porneia, there is a related form that is often translated “the sexually immoral.” There is also the verb “to commit sexual immorality.” Together these words appear 42x times in the NT. I don’t have time to cite them all, so here is a sampling to give you an idea of how it is understood.

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19).

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1).

“But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one” (1 Corinthians 5:11).

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9).

Now it may be helpful to pause here and point out that whereas adultery and homosexuality are forms of porneia or sexual immorality, porneia is a much broader term that includes any and all sexual activity before or outside the marriage relationship.

“The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13).

Again, a brief word is in order. Here we see that God clearly created the human body for a purpose, and it is not for sexual immorality. Thus when a person engages in sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage he/she is violating the very purpose for which God has created us as sexual creatures.

We who are Christians are not our own. We belong to God, who bought us with the blood of Christ. And our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:15-20). So sexual activity outside marriage is a serious sin against God. It’s not beyond God’s forgiveness or his redeeming and restoring grace. What we do with our bodies matters greatly to God, and if we claim to be followers of Jesus we will be committed to following his plan and purpose for how we use our bodies and our sexuality.

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18).

“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:2).

“We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day” (1 Corinthians 10:8).

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality” (Galatians 5:19).

“But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Ephesians 5:3).

“For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5).

In this text we see that God doesn’t single out sexual immorality as worse than other sins of the flesh. Idolatry and covetousness and theft are also heinous in the eyes of God.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (Hebrews 13:4).

“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).

There is no gray area here. There are no exceptions or qualifications. Nothing is subject to nuance or interpretation. The Bible is crystal clear that all expressions of porneia or sexual immorality are forbidden. The biblical authors refer to porneia as defiling, evil, improper, sinful, fleshly, earthly, and against the will of God. Those who continually and unrepentantly practice it are guilty of unrighteousness and will be subject to judgment by God. Perhaps the most sobering and shocking of all is the repeated declaration that those who continue to practice sexual immorality and do not repent will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Let me be explicitly clear on that point. Unrepentant sexual immorality puts a person’s soul in jeopardy of eternal damnation. We’re not talking merely about the physical dangers of sexual immorality, as if the only reason for abstaining is to avoid an STD (sexually transmitted disease). The danger to which you expose yourself when you engage persistently and without repentance in sexual immorality is the danger of hell itself. I’m quite sure that some of you don’t want to hear that. But I have a sacred responsibility to tell you what God has said in his written Word. And he has said, as we just saw in 1 Corinthians 6:9,

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9).

Every Greek lexicon or dictionary of the NT is in agreement, that porneia refers to any form of sexual activity before or outside the relationship of monogamous marriage between a man and a woman. It can refer to pre-marital sex, adultery, homosexual practice, prostitution, bestiality, and all other expressions of sexual activity outside the marital relationship between a husband and wife.

I want to pause here and say something important. The reference to homosexuality in these texts does not mean that people who struggle with same-sex attraction are in danger of eternal damnation. Many faithful Christians of both genders struggle to varying degrees with same-sex attraction. But it is same-sex physical intimacy practiced without repentance that subjects one to judgment.

Together with these clear and unequivocal denunciations of and warnings against porneia or sexual immorality there is an equally clear affirmation that the only proper context in which sexual intimacy is permitted is the one flesh marriage between one man and one woman. Any other sexual activity that occurs either before our outside of the union of husband and wife in marriage is prohibited. It is to be avoided and abstained from by all who claim to be followers of Jesus.

God Is for You!

The most important thing to remember as we talk about sexual purity is this: God is for you! God wants you to win. People often view God as their adversary when it comes to sex: “He’s against me. He hates sex. I’m repulsive to him. He’s ashamed of me for what I’ve done. And to be perfectly honest, I can’t blame him much.” Misconceptions such as this only serve to convince us that our situation is hopeless and drive us farther away from the arms of him whose love and support and affirmation are the only thing that will enable us to win this war with the flesh.

We must embrace the truth that no one wants our sexual satisfaction more than God. I know that sounds bizarre, but it’s true. This being the case, you may rest assured that he has provided everything necessary for your success and for your holiness. This is important to understand because people who struggle with sexual sin feel hopelessly locked in to an unbreakable cycle of failure. Their experience has convinced them there is no reasonable chance for change. Worse still, they are convinced that God is disgusted with them and that they will never be of any use in the church. Certainly, God is grieved by sexual sin, but it is a grief rooted in love. The only reason God is grieved by our failure is because he loves us so much. If he didn't love you, if his heart wasn't for you, why would he care what you do?

We also need to understand and believe that God knows what is best for us. He knows what leads to optimal flourishing and the deepest satisfaction. He knows what will bring us the greatest happiness in this life and in the next. He is our Creator. He is the one who formed and shaped our bodies in our mothers’ wombs. And he never commands anything that does not ultimately serve to enhance and deepen our welfare and our joy and our capacity to flourish as individuals. If you don’t believe that, nothing else that I say to you today will make any sense whatsoever. How do I know God is on our side when it comes to sex? Paul states it clearly in 1 Thessalonians 4.

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Excuses

Trust me when I tell you that I think I’ve heard every conceivable excuse or justification or rationale for engaging in pre-marital and extra-marital sex. Here are a handful of them.

• The Bible doesn’t address the issue. Of course, we now know that isn’t true.
• How can something so healthy and life-giving and loving be wrong?
• A sexual relationship with one person, even though it is outside marriage, has been extraordinarily healing and restorative to me, as it has helped me overcome the rejection and shame that I experienced from past sexual abuse.
• Everyone is doing it. Whereas it may have been unacceptable in previous generations, times have changed.
• We plan on getting married someday anyway.
• We can’t afford not to live together. It saves us so much money.
• The Bible doesn’t carry that kind of authority with me.
• We are faithful to each other. We don’t sleep around. We are monogamous in our immorality.
• We need to find out if we are compatible for marriage.
• It’s too late. Since we’ve already had sex, we might as well continue to do so in the future. You can’t change the past.
• We love each other. (No, you don’t).
• Our parents and friends said it was ok. They can’t all be wrong, can they? (Yes, they can and are.)
• For you to tell us that we should not engage in pre-marital sex is judging us. While others may choose not to do this, we have to come to our own decision. Who are you to tell us we’re wrong.
• But we’ve grown so accustomed to relating physically in this way that it would be virtually impossible to suddenly stop.
• We like it! It has really brought us closer together, not just sexually but emotionally and spiritually.

Whose opinion matters more to you: your own, or God’s? I’m speaking for myself here, but it doesn’t matter what I want or what I believe is in my best interests or what makes me feel good. If God says No, I defer to his authority and wisdom and I know that he only has my best interests at heart. If your feelings are opposed to God’s Word, it isn’t because his Word is wrong, oppressive, or impractical, but rather because your heart is rebellious, wicked, and sick with sin (Jeremiah 17:9).

Your Sex Life and the Will of God

Did you hear those words in v. 3 – “This is the will of God”. Do you cringe when you hear it? Does it stir up images of an inflexible taskmaster whose greatest delight is in making sure no one else has any fun? Try something radical. Replace the English word “will” with “want” and listen to the Father’s heart for your holiness: “I want you to feel the joy and satisfaction that come from experiencing the fullness of sexual delights. I want you to revel in the physical passion I had in mind when I brought Eve to Adam. Don’t squander the opportunity by twisting and perverting what I made for your enjoyment.”

Most of us hear the word “will” and instinctively envision a celestial frown. God sits in heaven scowling at us, angry with us, disgusted by us. The phrase “will of God” often conjures up the mental impression of an inflexible and colorless lawgiver whose sole concern is for his own reputation. No! Nothing could be farther from the truth.

When I hear Paul speak of God’s “will” for human sexuality I think of his heart’s desire, his yearning, his fatherly passion for our maximum enjoyment of one of his most precious gifts. I hear God saying, “This is what I long for you to experience as a sexual being. I made you. I put those sexual impulses in your spirit and in your body. I created hormones. Trust me when I say that I know far better than you what will bring the greatest joy and optimum pleasure.” The point is simply that God’s “will” for you and me is always an expression of his love. So what exactly is it that God “wants” of us when it comes to our sexual behavior?

God’s desire for his people is that they abstain from “sexual immorality” or from porneia. Don’t believe the propaganda the world is peddling. This is not God's way of robbing you of fun and pleasure. It is his passionate desire to intensify it. This prohibition exists in order to protect and preserve the beauty and joy of marital sex. Our laws against theft and murder exist because of the high value we place on personal property and human life. So, too, with this prohibition against illicit sex. The purpose is to guard, preserve, and enhance something far more exciting and fun and full of pleasure, namely, marital love.

The biblical exhortations to resist sexual sin are motivated by a recognition of how it deprives us of even greater satisfaction. The principal reason for saying No to physical immorality is that it undermines the ability of our hearts to deeply enjoy the multifaceted joys that God provides for his children. Sexual sin diminishes our capacity to feel God’s delight in who we are. It drains us of his power and hardens us to the loving overtures of his Spirit.

If you are currently engaging in pre-marital or extra-marital sex and find yourself arguing silently with me and pushing back in your mind against what I’m saying, that proves my point. It demonstrates how you are numbing your heart to the overtures of God’s Spirit. It is evidence that your commitment to sin in this way has deafened your spiritual ears to what God wants you to hear.

I remember standing in line at the grocery store one day when I made the mistake of scanning the covers of several rather tawdry tabloids. The headline on one of them virtually shouted at unwary customers: “The Greatest Sex You’ve Ever Had!” No, I resisted the urge to read the article . . . because I’ve read the book! The Bible! God, yes God, has a prescription for great sex for his people.

Paul’s way of expressing this idea sounds a little odd at first. He speaks in 1 Thessalonians 4:4 about each of us knowing how to “control his own body in holiness and honor.” One translation renders it more literally as, “possess” our “own vessel in sanctification and honor.” What in the world does that mean?

The word translated “possess” in the NASB is translated “control” here in the ESV. It means to gain mastery over something. The word rendered “vessel” by the NASB is rendered by the word “body” in the ESV. This was probably a euphemism for one's sexual organs. It’s a vivid image: each of us must learn how to control our sex drive; how to channel its release in the way which its creator has fashioned; how to live each day in control of our impulses; how to submit our bodies to God for holiness and purity.

This sexual self-mastery is to be done in “holiness” and “honor”, again interesting words, but especially the latter. When we behave in sexual purity we not only “honor” God, whose “will” we embrace, but also others. Sexual immorality dishonors the other person by depriving them of the opportunity to enjoy sex as their Creator intended. God knows that really good sex is found only in a monogamous, heterosexual relationship.

This point is made again in v. 6 where Paul exhorts us not to “transgress” or “defraud” our brother (or sister) in “this matter.” When Paul mentions “this matter” he has in mind the issue of sexual purity. His warning here is that Christians must not use their familiarity or friendship with others in the church to gain sexual favors. We must never exploit the trust that exists between fellow-believers for the sake of sexual gratification.

But how does sexual immorality or impurity defraud or wrong another Christian? In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul says that the one who commits fornication sins against his own body, but here he goes further and says it also transgresses and defrauds his or her fellow Christian. How?

Consider two ways. First of all, adultery is an obvious violation of the rights of another. You are stealing what doesn't belong to you. And secondly, pre-marital sex defrauds the future marriage partner of the person with whom you are involved. You are robbing that person of the virginity and single-minded intimacy which ought to be brought to a marriage. Thus, sexual impurity is as much a social injustice against others as it is a personal sin against God.

Beyond this, illicit sexual conduct also dishonors oneself. We were meant for better. We besmirch our dignity as image-bearers and rob our bodies of their divinely ordained function when we step outside the bounds of God’s “will” and seek for sexual satisfaction in ways he knows will only bring disaster, disrespect, and often disease.

Make no mistake about it. God will not permit his children to sin with impunity. There are consequences for sexual impurity. But please note that God’s discipline does not mean he is disgusted with you. God's recompense is not rejection. It’s hard for people to conceive of a God like this, but according to Hebrews 12:5-13 God chastises and disciplines because he loves.

More important still, we should pursue purity because the purpose of our redemption is holiness, not impurity. Impurity runs counter to everything God had in mind when he created us, called us, and redeemed us in Jesus (v. 7). And remember, says Paul, that it isn't just God we reject when we indulge in sexual impurity, it is “the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you” (v. 8).

It’s important you know that the verb translated “gives” in v. 8 is in the present tense, not the past tense which is Paul's normal way of referring to the gift of the Holy Spirit. The point is not so much that God “gave” us his Spirit in the past, when we first came to saving faith (although that is certainly true enough in itself), but that in the present, right now, God is committed to us as seen in the on-going, ever-present impartation of his Spirit. In fact, he is perpetually sustaining and supporting us through the Spirit even now in the midst of our struggle over whether or not to obey his will in regard to sexual purity.

Better still is the fact that God doesn’t simply give us his Spirit, he gives the Spirit “into” us. Not just “to” us, but by an act of what can only be called intimate impartation his Spirit resides within to encourage, energize and enable. The Spirit isn't just here, he's inside.

There is tremendous hope in this truth. The God who says, “My will is for you not to submit to the temptations of the world or the passions of the flesh” is the God who also says, “I am right now giving you my Holy Spirit to help you say yes to purity! Come to Me,” he beckons. “I won’t put you to shame. I’m not here to ridicule but to restore. I’ll cover you. I’ll cleanse you. I’ll quicken your soul with divine energy to say No to illicit urges. I’ll do it by setting before you the surpassing delights of trusting in my promise of superior pleasures.”

There is hope! There is help! Whatever God requires, God provides. He requires holiness, so he provides the infinite power of the Holy Spirit to assist you and me to do it. Don't despair. Don't give up. Don't resign yourself to live in bondage. Even as you read these words, the power of God is being infused into your heart to break the power of sin.

So often when we tell our children, for example, to do something we believe to be their moral obligation, we expect them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps with little if any assistance from us or anyone else. Perhaps we’re simply too busy to bother. Perhaps some, tragically, just don’t care. Maybe you sincerely believe that helping them would undermine the development of their moral maturity. So, yes, we encourage them, we cajole, we plead. But often in our frustration with their failure we turn to angry threats or shame-based warnings.

Not God. With every word of exhortation comes the wind of his Spirit to energize and uphold us, instruct and inspire us. If you find yourself doubting where God stands when it comes to your sexual impulses, if you fear he will abandon you when impulse turns to indulgence, recall this simple truth: he is ever-present in you, through his Spirit, to empower your Yes to sexual purity.

As I said earlier, God is no killjoy. He isn’t out to rob you and me of fleshly pleasures. He is, however, determined to protect the sanctity of the sexual experience so that we might enjoy it to the fullest. And the fullest and most complete enjoyment is something that he has reserved for the marital union of husband and wife. Let me remind you of what Paul said in Ephesians 5. There he was perfectly clear that the relationship between a husband and wife is illustrative or a portrait of the relationship between Christ and his bride, the Church. That is why it is so vitally important that we protect the purity of the sexual relationship by keeping it confined to marriage.

If you are currently in a relationship with another person, and you are wondering, “Should I have sex with him or her?” There is only one question you must answer. It isn’t, “Do I love this person?” The only relevant question is: “Am I married to this person?”

Now some may push back by saying, “Well, we’re not having sex. But we are living together in preparation for marriage. So, surely it would be ok to co-habit just so long as we refrain from sexual intimacy.” Well, no, it isn’t ok. And there are at least two reasons.

First, the Bible doesn’t simply command us to abstain from sexual immorality but to “flee” from it (1 Cor. 6:18-20). The word translated “flee” means to run away, escape, do everything in your power to avoid it. In fact, the word translated “to flee” is the Greek term from which we derive our English word “fugitive.” Do you recall when Joseph was confronted with temptation from Potiphar’s wife? He fled! He turned 180 degrees and ran in the opposite direction. Simply put: you shouldn’t linger in the presence of temptation. Trust me: you aren’t as strong as you think. No one is. Only the incredibly naïve person would think that living with someone of the opposite sex is safe and won’t present the temptation to engage in sexual immorality. I don’t know who said it, but I echo this sentiment: “How inappropriate it would be to pray to God, ‘lead us not into temptation’ when we willingly remain in a tempting environment.”

Second, the Bible speaks clearly to our responsibility to the world. We are here to be light in the midst of darkness and witnesses to the truth in a culture of lies and deception. We are responsible, therefore, not simply to ourselves and the person we say we love but also to the world to set an example of the kind of life that God would have all of us live.

Conclusion

“Sam, you’re nothing more than an old-fashioned fuddy-duddy completely out of touch and lagging far behind the times. Our culture has long since abandoned your vision of sexual ethics.” You are right! But when it comes to what we are to believe as true and how we are to behave in terms of sexual ethics, I couldn’t care less about the times. Culture and popular opinion have no bearing whatsoever on what is true or false or on what is good or evil.

At the core of Christianity and being a Christian is voluntary and enthusiastic submission to the Bible as our highest authority. If you want to continue living in unrepentant sexual sin, call yourself culturally sophisticated, call yourself socially liberated, call yourself in step with changing times. Just don’t call yourself a Christian.

Let me close with a few words of practical counsel.

First, if you are unmarried and have never engaged in sexual relations, don’t ever think for a moment that you have somehow “missed out” or fallen short of what brings true happiness. Persevere in your commitment to sexual purity and avail yourself every day of the power of the Holy Spirit whom God the Father is continually pouring into you. The older you get, the greater will be the temptation. But the greater the temptation, even greater and more powerful is the energizing work of the Spirit in your heart.

Second, if you are unmarried and are contemplating engaging in sexual relations, I plead with you: Don’t! God pleads with you: Don’t! Whether or not you ever get married isn’t important. What’s most important is your grace-empowered, Spirit-filled obedience to God’s prescription for true happiness and satisfaction in life.

Third, if you are unmarried but have already engaged in sexual relations, whether once or often, but are now determined to walk in sexual purity until such time as God brings you a spouse, or perhaps forever, in the event that he desires for you to remain single your entire life, know this: There is no sin of whatever sort that cannot be forgiven by virtue of the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. You don’t have to live under a cloud of guilt or a sense of being forever stained by your sin. Confess your failure and embrace the full and free forgiveness that Jesus so richly and happily supplies.

Fourth, if you are unmarried but are currently engaging in sexual relations, God’s appeal to you is that you would stop, immediately. As difficult as that may sound, he is pouring into you more than enough power from the Holy Spirit to enable you to reverse the direction of your life in this regard. So repent, and make whatever sacrifices need to be made so that you will not be in a position to succumb to temptation and repeat the sin that you have already committed.

And remember, there is no reason to despair. You are not forever defiled or marked or disqualified. For with God there is always forgiveness and restoration and hope and a new beginning. I pray that beginning will begin today.

The so-called “Rapture” refers to a moment in time when all living saints are resurrected and “caught up” or raptured both physically and spatially to meet Christ in the air. Yes, but I believe this event is simultaneous with and inseparable from the Parousia or the Second Coming of Christ itself.

There is considerable debate among NT scholars as to whether or not the Rapture will occur before a time of tribulation and trial or after it. We don’t need to dive into the debate about whether or not there will be a 7-year period of persecution that comes upon the earth. Most Christians, myself included, do believe that there will be a time of global persecution, trial, and tribulation just preceding the return of Jesus Christ. But whether or not this time will be precisely seven years or some indeterminate period is not important. I happen to believe it will be an indeterminate time when the church is persecuted and oppressed. But the issue before us is the timing of the Rapture in relation to this global persecution. I believe the Rapture occurs after this time of tribulation.

Before we go any further, we need to define our terms. The word pretribulation refers to the belief that the rapture will occur before the so-called tribulation, hence pre-tribulation. A very small minority of Christians embrace what is called the mid-tribulation view, according to which the rapture occurs in the middle of the time of trial and tribulation. Both of these views separate the rapture from the Second Coming of Christ. My view is known as the post-tribulation perspective. The rapture, therefore, happens simultaneously with the Second Coming of our Lord. An even smaller group of Christians teach the partial rapture theory, according to which only those believers who are living godly lives and looking expectantly for the return of our Lord are raptured. All others are left behind.

Revelation 3:10

All that being said, I will take a brief moment to interact with what is typically believed to be the most important NT passage on the subject of the timing of the Rapture. In defense of their doctrine, pretribulationists often point to the words Jesus spoke to the local church in the city of ancient Philadelphia: “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown” (Rev. 3:10-11).

The pretribulational interpretation Is that “the hour of trial” refers to a future seven-year period of intense persecution, during which the judgments of God are poured out on the earth. The promise to the church is that God will “keep from” this hour all who believe in Jesus. The only way he can do this, so they say, is by physically removing the Church from the earth prior to the onset of this time of tribulation. A few observations should indicate why I don’t believe that Jesus (or John) had any concept of a yet future pretribulation rapture of the Church in mind when these words were spoken/written.

First, the notion that any Christian is assured of special protection from trials, tribulations, and persecution is unbiblical. One can see repeatedly in the seven letters of Revelation 2-3 alone that suffering for the sake of Christ and the gospel is something all believers must embrace (see Rev. 2:2-3; 2:9-10; 2:13; 3:8-10). According to Paul, it is “through many tribulations (thlipsis; the same word used in Rev. 1:9; 7:14) we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). Jesus declared that “in the world you will have tribulation (thlipsis)” (John 16:33). Again, we are to “rejoice in our sufferings (thlipsis)” (Romans 5:3; see also John 15:19-20; Acts 5:40-41; 1 Cor. 4:11-13; 2 Cor. 4:7-12; 11:24-25; 2 Timothy 3:12).

Second, the trial or tribulation that is coming is designed for the judgment of unbelievers, not Christians. “Those who dwell on the earth” (v. 10) or “earth-dwellers” is a stock phrase in Revelation that always refers to pagan persecutors of the church (6:10; 8:13; 11:10; 12:12; 13:8,12,14; 14:6; 17:2,8). They are the ones who suffer the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments of Revelation which characterize the entire church age, from the first coming of Christ to his second.

Third, the promise, then, is for spiritual protection in the midst of physical tribulation. Jesus is assuring his people that he will provide sufficient sustenance to preserve them in their faith, no matter what they face. The promise here is similar to what we find in Revelation 7:1-3,13-14 where the people of God are “sealed” lest they suffer spiritual harm from “the great tribulation (thlipsis)” (v. 14; cf. also Rev. 11:1-2; 12:6,14-17). Clearly, believers endure and emerge from tribulation spiritually secure. As Beale notes, “they are not preserved from trial by removal from it, but their faith is preserved through trial because they have been sealed by God” (Beale, Revelation, 292).

Fourth, pre-tribulationists have typically insisted that the only way God’s people can be spiritually protected from the outpouring of divine wrath is by being physically removed from the earth. But this is clearly not the case, as John 17:15 makes clear (as also does the presence of the Israelites in Egypt during the time of the ten plagues). In this Johannine text we find the only other place in the NT where the precise phrase “kept from” (tēreō ek) is used. There Jesus prays to the Father: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

It’s important to note that in this text “keep from” is actually contrasted with the notion of physical removal. Jesus prays not that the Father “take them out of the world” (i.e., physically remove them), but that the Father “keep them from” Satan’s effort to destroy their spiritual life. Thus, when we turn to Revelation 3:10 we see that it is from the wrath of God poured out on “earth-dwellers” (unbelievers) that he promises to “keep” them. In the face of certain opposition and oppression from Satan, the Beast, and unbelievers, this is a glorious promise indeed.

A related argument of the pretribulationist is that since this alleged great tribulation is to be a time when the wrath of God is poured out on an unbelieving world, Christians cannot be present. After all, believers will never suffer God’s wrath, insofar as Christ has already suffered in their stead on the cross. But this falls short of a convincing reason to posit a pretribulation rapture. In the first place, even pretribulationists concede that on their view believers will be present on the earth during what they believe will be a seven-year “Great Tribulation” (having come to faith at some time subsequent to the rapture). But if they do not suffer God’s wrath (and it is certain that they wouldn’t), why should it be any different for those who were purportedly removed from the earth by the rapture?

The simple fact is that no believer at any time in redemptive history will ever suffer divine wrath. Thus, if the pretribulationist admits that blood-bought believers will be in the tribulation, a time of God’s wrath, on what basis does he say that blood-bought believers of the Church cannot be present? We mustn’t forget that in Revelation the “wrath” of God never falls on the believer, but only on the wicked (this is true whether the term for “wrath” is thumos, as in Rev. 14:8, 10, 19; 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19; 18:3; 19:15; or orgē, as in Rev. 6:16, 17, 14:10; 16:19; 19:15).

Fifth, we must never forget that it is precisely in remaining faithful unto death that our greatest victory is achieved (not in being “raptured” to safety; cf. Rev. 2:10). Believers conquer Satan and the Beast “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Rev. 12:11; emphasis mine).

But what, precisely, is “the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world,” and when will it occur?

Of one thing I’m certain: the promise of protection must be of practical benefit and reassurance for the people of the church in Philadelphia in the first century. Thus, contrary to what is argued by dispensationalists, this “hour of trial” can’t be restricted to (although it may be inclusive of) a time of tribulation at the end of the present age.

If you are inclined to insist on a strictly futurist interpretation of the “hour of trial”, ask yourself whether it seems odd (dare I say, impossible) that Jesus would promise one church in Asia Minor in the first century that they were to be protected from an event that not one single individual in that church would ever see, indeed, an event that allegedly would not transpire for at least another 2,000 years! How could this “hour of trial” be an event centuries after the Philadelphian Christians lived, especially since their protection from it is the very specific reward to them of their very specific, and historically identifiable, resistance to persecution and steadfast faithfulness in proclaiming the word of God? They are promised protection because they “kept the word” of Christ’s perseverance.

I’m persuaded that Jesus is referring to that “tribulation” (thlipsis) which has already begun for Christians (including the Philadelphians) and will continue throughout the present age. In writing to the churches, John identifies himself as their “brother and partner in the tribulation [thlipsis] and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). In other words, “the hour of trial” is likely a reference to the entire, inter-advent church age, during which there will always be suffering and tribulation for those who stand firm in their witness for Christ.

This isn’t to deny that there will emerge an especially intensified and horrific period of tribulation in connection with the return of Christ at the end of history (regardless of how long you conceive it to be). But Jesus must have in mind an experience that was impending or already present for the Philadelphian believers in the first century and for all believers in subsequent centuries of the church’s existence.

Sixth, pretribulationists often argue that Revelation 3:10 must describe the removal of the Church from the earth insofar as the Greek word ekklēsia (“church”) is wholly absent from Revelation 4-18, chapters that purportedly describe the “Great Tribulation.” The ekklēsia or “church”, so they say, must be present in heaven.

But this argument cuts both ways, insofar as the word “church” is not found in any text in Revelation 4-18 that describes a heavenly scene. Should we conclude from this that the Church must be on the earth? Such arguments from silence are extremely dubious. After all, the word “church” is not found in Mark, Luke, John, 2 Timothy, Titus, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, Jude, and not until the sixteenth chapter of Romans! Unless one is prepared to dismiss large portions of the NT as irrelevant to the Church, the absence or presence of the word itself cannot be made a criterion for determining the applicability of a passage to the saints of the present age.

We should also remember that the word “church” as a denotation of the universal body of Christ considered in its totality does not occur at all in the book of Revelation. All nineteen occurrences of the word in chapters one through three refer to particular “local” congregations of Christians. Add to this the fact that terms commonly used to describe members of the Church, such as “servant” (Rev. 2:20; 7:3; 19:2), and “saints” (5:8; 8:3-4; 13:7, 10; 14:12; 16:6; 17:6; 18:24) are used throughout Revelation.

Finally, Jesus concludes with both a word of assurance and an exhortation: “I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown” (Rev. 3:11). Is this “coming” the Second Advent at the close of history or a first-century disciplinary visitation? Possibly the former, but assuredly not the latter. After all, given the obedience of the Philadelphian church, there was no need for a “coming” of Jesus to judge or chastise (as was the case with Ephesus in 2:5, Pergamum in 2:16, and Sardis in 3:3).

However, there may be another option. Beale suggests that “the ‘coming’ referred to in this verse is the increased presence of Christ that will protect these believers when they pass through tribulation, as has just been mentioned in v. 1” (293). In other words, this may be a spiritual coming to provide comfort and the power to persevere, a drawing near to their hearts to energize them in their commitment. His “coming” or approach to them is not spatial, but spiritual and sanctifying, in which he intensifies his sustaining influence in their souls. If he can “come” to the churches at Ephesus (Rev. 2:5), Pergamum (Rev. 2:16), and Sardis (Rev. 3:3) to discipline, he can certainly “come” to the church at Philadelphia to strengthen and bless.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Now that the timing of the rapture has been settled, let’s turn our attention to its nature. What exactly will happen when Christ returns at the end of the age? For that, we turn to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

The first thing you should notice about this paragraph is that the apostle Paul is not in the least concerned with the time of the rapture. He says absolutely nothing about it. It is rather the simple fact of the rapture and the comfort and encouragement it provides for those whose friends and loved ones have died that concerns Paul.

We see this immediately in v. 13 where Paul speaks of “those who are asleep.” Evidently, several believers in Thessalonica had recently died. Their friends and family members are fearful that since they died they will miss out on the blessings associated with the return of Jesus Christ. Perhaps they will even miss out on the resurrection of the body. No, says Paul. The apostle doesn’t want them to remain “uninformed” or ignorant of what has happened to their deceased loved ones and what will happen to them.

There are certainly many people who “grieve” because they “have no hope” (v. 13b). They are without hope because being without Christ, their deaths can mean only one thing: eternal damnation in hell. But such is not the case for those who died in Christ, having put their faith in him for the forgiveness of sins. So, it is perfectly normal and admissible for you and me to “grieve” when our family and friends died physically. But our grief is not a hopeless grief, but one that anticipates a glorious future.

Let’s notice several things here.

First, Paul refers to those “who are asleep” (v. 13). This does not mean that when you die you enter into a state of perpetual unconsciousness or suspended animation. Sleep was a well-known euphemism among Christians to describe physical death. The point of describing the Christian’s death as “sleep” is to emphasize that Christ has robbed death of its sting. Death is no more offensive or frightening to the believer than is dozing off for a nap! The body appears to be asleep, but the immaterial dimension, be that soul, spirit, or mind, is very much alive and conscious and with Christ (see Luke 23:42-43; 2 Cor. 5:8-10; Phil. 1:21-24; 1 Thess. 4:14; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 6:9-11).

The second thing Paul mentions is that our hope of being raised and glorified is grounded or rooted in the fact that Jesus himself also died and was raised and glorified. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that guarantees the glorious future of all who have died in Christ. If Christ had not died and been raised, physical death would be the end of everything: no conscious after-life, no heaven, no hope of being reunited with our friends and family who have died, no hope of ever seeing Jesus himself. Only nothing.

Third, it is because we believe and know to be true that Jesus died and rose again that we can have absolute and unchanging assurance that when Christ returns, he will bring “with him” our friends and family members who have died. This phrase, “with him,” suggests that far from lying unconscious in the grave, Christians who have died physically are even now “with” Christ Jesus in heaven.

Fourth, Paul’s authority for making this statement comes from the Lord himself. Paul didn’t make up this notion of the rapture. Nor did he hear it from some other apostle. He received “a word from the Lord,” most likely referring to a direct revelation from the risen Christ.

Fifth, the “word” that Paul received from the Lord is that the living will not have any advantage over those who have died when Christ returns. Paul lived in hope that he would remain alive on earth when the second coming of Jesus occurred. He includes himself among those “who are alive” (v. 15), who are “left” on earth “until the coming of the Lord.” And his point is that those who are physically living when Christ returns will not be resurrected and glorified before those who have already died. It was the fear that those who had died would miss out on the resurrection that caused some in Thessalonica to live in fear and grief. Paul’s clear declaration from the Lord is that in point of fact those who have already died will be raised before those who are still living.

Sixth, Paul says several things about the nature of Christ’s second coming.

(1) “The Lord himself will descend from heaven.” He won’t send an emissary or representative to accomplish this task. It isn’t an angel who returns. It is Jesus himself!

(2) He will come with a “cry of command,” similar to what he declared at the tomb of Lazarus. He told Lazarus to rise and come forth. He will likewise tell us to come up!

(3) His return will be accompanied by “the voice of an archangel,” most likely that of Michael.

(4) He will come “with the sound of the trumpet of God.” This is undoubtedly the same trumpet we read about in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 – “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall all be changed.” In the OT, when God would “come down” to meet with his people, it was announced by a trumpet blast (Exod. 19:16-19). The “trumpet” was also a signal of God’s coming to rescue his people from hostile oppression (Zeph. 1:16; Zech. 9:14).

Perhaps you have heard some argue that the rapture will be a silent event. Not so! It will be quite loud!

(5) In consequence of Christ’s return, “the dead in Christ will rise first” (v. 16b). Not only do those who have died not suffer from any disadvantage, they will be the first to be changed and receive their resurrected and glorified bodies.

(6) Following this, “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds.” The verb translated as “caught up” means to suddenly snatch away. The Latin word is rapio, rapere, from which we get our English word, “rapture.” See Acts 8:39; 2 Cor. 12:2-3.

(7) We should also note that this reference to the “clouds” is not primarily about what is in the sky above. All through the OT “clouds” were a regular feature of divine theophanies, that is to say, when God would appear to his people. His divine glory is veiled in the clouds and shines forth from them.

When God came down to deliver the Law to his people, we read in Exodus 19:16 that “there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.” When Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, we are told that “the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days” (Exod. 24:15-16).

Again, we read in Exodus 40:34-36 that “the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.”

Once more, listen to what happened to the priests of Israel: “And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord” (1 Kings 8:10-11).

And we should never forget that at the ascension of Jesus, following his resurrection, “he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” Then the angels said to the discipled, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way (that is, in the clouds) as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:9-11).

(8) We will then “meet the Lord in the air” (v. 17). But we won’t stay there! The purpose of this meeting is to accompany Jesus as he continues his descent to destroy all his enemies and inaugurate the final judgment and the creation of the new heavens and new earth. This word translated “meet” (see Acts 28:15; Matt. 28:6) is used to describe how a delegation of citizens is assigned the honor of going to the outskirts of a city to meet and welcome the visiting dignitary, then to escort him into the city. The point is that neither those who will have died before Christ returns nor those who are alive when he returns will spend the rest of eternity in heaven. They will all join Jesus on the new earth that John describes in Revelation 21.

(9) The final and most glorious consequence of Christ’s return is that from that point on “we will always be with the Lord” (v. 17b). This is why the rapture is such a glorious truth: it leads us into the eternal presence of Jesus! Christ’s return in the clouds with the sound of a trumpet and the voice of the archangel is truly glorious. Knowing that all who have died in Christ in faith will receive their resurrected and glorified bodies first is wonderful. Knowing that we too will be changed in an instant and forever set free from the pain and limitations and sinful impulses of this earthly body is beyond wonderful.

But more than any of these things, that which stands above them all, the experience that makes all of life’s troubles and disappointments and struggles fade as a distant memory, is that we will be with Christ forever! If we could have all these experiences and enjoy a glorified body and be reunited with loved ones and friends, but not have Christ, it would be a horrible thing indeed. The rapture is precious and beautiful and powerful ultimately for one reason: it brings Christ Jesus to us and us to him, forever!

Why should we encourage one another with these truths (v. 18)? We are encouraged because it is a reminder that our loved ones who have died are at no disadvantage to us. They are with Jesus. We are also encouraged because when Jesus returns, we will once again be with them. And we are encouraged because Paul has told us here that we need never fear dying. It is as peaceful and restful as simply falling asleep. And the most encouraging thing of all is that it is followed by living forever in the presence of Jesus!

Conclusion

We see from all of this that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is a singular event that involves three dynamic realities. The first is that when Christ descends, he will resurrect and glorify all those who have died in faith. Second, immediately thereafter we who are alive when Christ returns will also be resurrected and receive our glorified bodies. This will happen as the Lord raptures us or catches us up or translates us into his presence in the sky. But third, please note that Jesus does not then ascend back into heaven but continues his descent to the earth with us, his faithful attendants, providing his royal retinue or entourage. It is then that the final judgment will occur and God will inaugurate the New Heavens and New Earth where we will live for all eternity with our great Triune God.

Liberal theologians who are skeptical of the supernatural argue that there will be no return of Jesus Christ to the earth to consummate his kingdom purposes. They argue in this way because they believe Jesus is dead! They deny his bodily resurrection. Quite obviously, then, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, he cannot return in the clouds of heaven as Paul instructed us in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. If there is any meaning at all to the notion of a second coming, liberals may well contend that it refers to the continuous ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and the gradual progression of faith and maturity in Christians everywhere.

Those who identify as full preterists argue that the Second Coming is a very real event but that it has already taken place. Christ’s “return” occurred in 70 a.d. when the armies of Rome destroyed the Temple and city of Jerusalem. Christ “returned” spiritually in judgment against the people of Israel for their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. Therefore, there will be no personal, physical, visible return of Christ at the end of history. Many preterists contend that there will, in fact, be no “end” to history.

Religious fanatics, although sincere in their faith in Jesus Christ, create scenarios in which they are persuaded that Jesus will in fact return at a particular time that they have been able to discern from reading (or should I say, misreading) Scripture. Perhaps the most well-known instance of this involved a man named William Miller. Miller was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on February 15, 1782. He is often identified as the founder of what came to be known as the Seventh-Day Adventist movement and church.

By all accounts, Miller was a devoted and quite sincere follower of Jesus Christ who believed in the reality of Christ’s second coming. After his study of the Bible, he concluded that Jesus would return sometime in either 1843 or 1844. He later became even more specific and identified the time of the Second Coming as between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.

When that time period passed and Christ had not appeared, both Miller and his followers suffered massive disappointment and for some, disillusionment. Miller confessed that he had miscalculated the time of Christ’s return but remained adamant that it was still quite near and encouraged his followers not to lose hope. After our Lord didn’t come back when Miller said he would, the date for his return was changed to October 22, 1844. The failure of this prediction was subsequently labelled “The Great Disappointment.” Miller died shortly thereafter, a brokenhearted man.

One would think that this shattering failure to predict the time of Christ’s return would have sent a message to others, but it didn’t. On June 4, 1981, the Chicago Sun Times reported that members of the Lighthouse Gospel Foundation of Tucson, Arizona, had quit their jobs and sold their property in anticipation of the return of Jesus on June 28, 1981.

Edgar Whisenant, a former engineer with NASA from Arkansas, published a book with the title, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988. He insisted that Jesus would return during the Jewish holiday of Rosh-Hashanah, sometime between September 11 and September 13 of 1988. Whisenant stood to make a small fortune from the sale of his book, as the initial print run came to more than 3 million copies. He may well have died a wealthy man, but like so many before him, he died disillusioned and disgraced.

Hal Lindsey, best-selling author of the book, The Late, Great Planet Earth, who died just a few months ago, believed that Jesus would return to rapture his people into heaven in 1987. More recently, Harold Camping of Family Radio, first predicted that the Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6, 1994. When it failed to occur, he revised the date to September 29 and then to October 2. In 2005, Camping predicted that the Second Coming of Christ would occur on May 21, 2011. Like many before him, Camping made a fortune from his predictions, but died a broken and disillusioned man.

Paul’s Pastoral Counsel

We saw earlier in 4:13-18 how Paul offered instruction concerning those who died, having come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. He now turns in 5:1-11 to encourage those who will be alive when Christ returns. Paul makes it clear that the Thessalonians didn’t need to be told yet again about “the times and seasons” (5:1) of God’s purposes for his people. Evidently, he had already instructed them on the matter.

He made it quite clear in 1 Thessalonians 4 that Jesus will return from heaven to transform and translate both the living and the dead. Those who had already died physically are at no disadvantage to those who will be alive when Jesus comes back. When we come to chapter five, he explains that although we can never know the precise time of the second coming, we must be alert and ready for it, whenever it comes to pass. His instruction in chapter five comes in two parts: he first talks about the coming Day of the Lord in relationship to unbelievers. This we see in 5:1-3. He then turns to talk about how Christians should respond in 5:4-11.

The Day of the Lord and the Unbeliever (vv. 1-3).

The terminology of “the Day of the Lord” is found many times in both the Old and New Testaments. It typically refers to any time when God intervenes in history either to deliver and save his people or to execute discipline and judgment on his enemies. Here in 1 Thessalonians it refers to both: when Jesus comes back he will first deliver his people and then destroy his enemies.

The key to note here is that Christ’s return will occur when the non-Christian world least expects it! Notice how Paul appeals to three illustrations to make this point.

1. He first says the Day of the Lord “will come like a thief in the night” (v. 2). I have yet to hear of anyone who received a phone call or text message at 3 a.m. telling them that a thief was about to break into their home and steal their possessions. A thief never announces in advance when he’s coming. The thief breaks in, catching the homeowner totally by surprise, while you are helpless and unprepared.

But Paul clearly says that this will happen only to those who are unsaved. We see the contrasting perspectives of the saved and the unsaved in v. 4. We who are alert, always looking for the coming of Jesus, always sensitive to whatever signs the Scriptures may give us, will not be caught napping. So, Paul is not saying the Day of the Lord will not overtake Christians. He says it will not overtake them “like a thief in the night.”

2. Paul’s second illustration is found in v. 3. He says that the Day of the Lord will come “while people are saying, ‘There is peace and security.’” He doesn’t say there actually is peace and security, but that non-Christians will contend that such is the case. In other words, Christ will come when the non-Christian world is convinced that everything is o.k., at a time of great optimism. They will be declaring, “The present is peaceful, the future is bright, the prospects for human advancement are limitless, life has never been better, who needs a savior or a god anyway!”

We can already see this in our world. Unbelievers celebrate what they call reproductive freedom, while the Christian cries in anguish over the unparalleled slaughter of precious babies in the womb. Our pagan society promotes sexual indulgence, while the Christian grieves as he watches our world fall into even greater expressions of perversion and immorality.

Did Jesus provide any information at all of what the last days would be like? Yes. He does describe some of the features of that time in Matthew 24:37-44. And we clearly see from this text that Paul has Jesus’ words in mind when he says what he does in 1 Thess. 4.

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matt. 24:36-44).

There will not be unprecedented global catastrophes or unparalleled calamities that will point people to the impending return of Jesus. Such catastrophes and calamities, be they political or in the natural realm, have been consistently present throughout all of human history. Rather, humanity will be immersed in the routine affairs of life. Even should such catastrophes occur, the unsaved world will pay little to no attention to them., They will never connect such events with the impending return of Christ.

As Jesus said, it will be like it was in the days of Noah. The world will be caught completely off-guard by the coming of Christ. People will be engaged in normal, routine occupations of life: farming, fellowship, marriage, etc. (Cf. Luke 17:28-30). Jesus will come at a time of widespread indifference, normalcy, materialistic endeavors, when everyone is thoroughly involved in the pursuit of their earthly affairs and ambitions (cf. 2 Pet. 3:3-4, 10). His coming will occur at a time so unexpected, so unannounced, that it will catch people in the middle of their everyday routines (see vv. 40-41). When will Jesus come? Jesus will come at a time when his coming is the farthest thing from people's minds!

Of course, Jesus is not comparing himself to the character of a thief but to the coming of a thief. Both a thief in the night and Jesus' coming are unannounced and unexpected: so be ready!

3. Paul’s third illustration of what it will be like when the Day of the Lord approaches is that the sudden destruction that accompanies it will be like “labor pains” for a woman who is pregnant. Suddenly, perhaps in the middle of the night, while thinking that the baby won’t come for another few weeks, birth pains strike, and the baby is born prematurely.

If that is how the return of Christ will strike the non-Christian world, what about the Church?

The Day of the Lord and the Christian believer (vv. 4-11).

Paul draws a vivid contrast between the Christian and the unbeliever. We who are followers of Jesus “are not in darkness” (v. 4a). “Darkness” is a common biblical metaphor for sin and deception and ignorance of spiritual realities. “Light,” on the other hand, is likewise a metaphor for truth, righteousness and spiritual sobriety. You may recall Paul’s words in Colossians 1:12-13 where he says that God has qualified us “to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

His point here in 1 Thessalonians 5 is that the reason why the Day of the Lord will not catch us by surprise nor come upon us like a thief in the night is because we have been spiritually enlightened and thus we will be watching for it. The distinction he draws between the Christian and the non-Christian, between those who will not be caught by surprise and those who will, is whether we are in spiritual darkness or spiritual light. The difference is between those who are spiritually asleep or awake, or between those who are spiritually drunk or sober.

Paul then lists three responsibilities of the Christian, three activities or tasks that we must be diligent to embrace.

The first responsibility of the Christian, according to vv. 6-10, is to remain awake, alert, and spiritually sober (v. 6). Paul illustrates this by appealing to several truths taken from the natural realm. Certain actions are more natural and appropriate at night: in this case, sleeping and getting drunk. His point is that unbelievers are spiritually asleep and spiritually intoxicated. They are unaware of what is impending and are like people who drink to excess and fall into a mindless stupor.

But Christians “belong to the day” (v. 8). That is to say, we are always awake and living in the light of biblical truth, and thus perpetually prepared for whatever may come.

So, how, precisely, do we maintain our spiritual sobriety? Paul mentions three things.

First, we are those who have put on the breastplate of faith (v. 8). Here we see Paul making use of the language from Ephesians 6, with only slight variations. In Ephesians 6 he speaks of the “breastplate of righteousness” and “the shield of faith” (Eph. 6:14, 16).

The “breastplate” (thōraka from which we get “thorax”) usually extended from the base of the neck to the upper part of the thighs, covering what we would call the abdomen or trunk. The reason why the “breastplate of righteousness” is so important is that one of Satan’s most common and effective strategies is to undermine your faith and create doubt in your heart by reminding you of how wicked you are and of how often you have failed as a Christian. Our response must always be to say: “No matter how badly I have sinned, God sees me as perfectly righteous in Jesus Christ. His righteousness has been imputed to me.” In essence, you fight Satan’s accusations with a declaration of faith in the truth of all that God has said he has done in you and on your behalf through Jesus Christ.

So, what, then, does Paul have in mind when he uses the word “faith”? There are at least three kinds of Christian faith described in the NT. There is saving faith (a product of the new birth); sanctifying faith (the fruit of the Holy Spirit), which comes in two forms: a) our faith/belief in the truth of God's Word (faith in the doctrines of the Bible) and b) faith in the trustworthiness/goodness of God himself; and supernatural faith (a spontaneous gift of the Holy Spirit). Paul probably has in mind the second of these: sanctifying faith (l Pet. 5:8-9; l John 5:4). We might also refer to these three expressions of faith as converting faith, continuing faith, and charismatic faith.

But let’s keep in mind several things about “faith”. First, faith, in and of itself, does not protect us against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Rather, it is the object/focus of our faith: God and his powerful presence in our lives (Prov. 30:5; Ps. 5:12; 2 Sam. 22:3). That being said, it is we who extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one through faith. We are active. Faith is something we do.

Also, faith functions as a breastplate of protection in several ways. Consider Hebrews 11:24-26 where we are told that it was Moses' faith in the glory of the coming Christ and the rewards of obedience that enabled him to say No to the temptations he encountered in Egypt. When Satan whispers, “God may have cared about you once before, long ago, but his interest in who you are is gone,” you adorn your mind, spirit, and soul with the breastplate of faith and say, “That is impossible! God is immutable. He cannot change. His concern for me is eternal. What he has promised me he will fulfill.”

Or when Satan whispers, “God doesn't love you anymore; not after you've failed him so many times,” you stand firmly, adorned with the breastplate of faith and say, “That is impossible! God's love for me can't cease to exist, for he demonstrated it when he gave his Son to suffer in my place.” Or again, the breastplate of faith functions whenever we say to the enemy, “I'm going to believe God when he tells me that there is great gain in godliness and therefore I will not fall prey to your seductive temptations.” Simply put, the breastplate of faith functions each time we hold up the truth of the Scriptures under the onslaught of the lies in this present fallen and corrupt world.

Satan, the world, and the flesh conspire to tell you, “You’re no different from everyone else in the world. You are hopeless and helpless and there’s no one to come to your aid.” But as I don the breastplate of faith, I stand on the truth and confidently believe that God has chosen me to be holy, that he has adorned me with the righteousness of Christ, that he has declared me justified by faith alone, that he has adopted me into his family, that I am no longer a child of darkness and despair but a son and daughter of the Most High God, that I am no longer enslaved to sin and death but have been redeemed and assured of eternal life. That is how “faith” functions and keeps us alert to the impending Day of the Lord.

Second, Paul encourages us to put on the “breastplate of love.” Does he mean the love that we have for one another in the body of Christ or the love that God has for us as his children? Yes! I think Paul must have had both in mind. When we face the temptation to turn our backs on God and walk in step with the world, we are reminded of the unparalleled love that God has for us. In Ephesians 2:4 Paul referred to “the great love with which he loved us.” There is nothing ordinary about God’s love for you. There is nothing boring or routine or average about the affections God has for his children. This is no fleeting infatuation or passing fancy. God’s love for you and me is steadfast, pervasive, constant, unending, extravagant, and infinitely powerful such that nothing in all of creation can ever threaten to separate us from it.

But he likely also has in mind our love for one another in the body of Christ. Living in the light and resisting the temptation to join the world in its darkness is rarely if ever an individual endeavor. We need each other! We find strength from our unity in Christ. We are encouraged by one another to remain steadfast. This is what the author of Hebrews had in mind when he encouraged us all to “exhort one another every day . . . that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).

Yet another piece of the armor God has provided is the helmet which is the hope of salvation (v. 8b). The principal battleground in spiritual warfare is in the mind. Thus, we have need for a helmet of protection, a “spiritual hardhat” if you will. The helmet of the Roman soldier was made of iron or bronze with a sponge of some sort lining the inside. The “helmet of the hope of salvation” is most likely a reference to the assurance of our salvation. Satan knows he can gain a major strategic advantage over us if he can sow the seeds of doubt in our minds concerning our relationship with God. In every instance of serious and sustained demonic attack that I have encountered, the individual was plagued with doubt concerning his/her salvation. Thomas Brooks described it this way:

“Such is Satan's envy and enmity against a Christian's joy and comfort, that he cannot but act to the utmost of his strength to keep poor souls in doubt and darkness. Satan knows that assurance is a pearl of such price that will make the soul happy forever; he knows that assurance makes a Christian's wilderness to be a paradise; he knows that assurance begets in Christians the most noble and generous spirits; he knows that assurance is that which will make men strong to do exploits, to shake his tottering kingdom about his ears; and therefore he is very studious and industrious to keep souls off from assurance, as he was to cast Adam out of paradise” (Heaven on Earth, 130).

To put on the “hope of salvation” as if it were a helmet means to live in the knowledge and assurance of the truth expressed in Romans 8:1, 31-38 and Hebrews 13:5-6. There is nothing Satan can do to alter or undermine the fact that we are saved. As Paul said in Romans 8,

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).

But what he can do is erode our assurance and confidence that we are saved. Our salvation, our standing with God, does not fluctuate or diminish with our success or failure in spiritual battles. But Satan is determined to convince us that it does. Observe that Paul doesn’t speak merely of salvation but of the “hope of salvation.” In other words, this assurance of salvation is not simply a confidence now that I'm saved now, but also a confidence now that I will be saved later.

The “hope” that each of us has is that “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 9). Listen closely. As bad and oppressive as life may be for you now, the promise of God to you is that you will never, ever be subject to the wrath of God. The wrath of human beings, the hostility of Satan, the pain of living in a fallen world, bad as they are, can never compare with suffering God’s righteous anger and wrath. And that is something we will never experience. The closest you and I will come to the wrath of almighty God is reading about it here in 1 Thessalonians 5 and elsewhere in Scripture.

I know this sounds strange, but listen carefully. On the cross, Jesus endured the wrath of Jesus so that we might never experience even a hint or drop of it. The wrath of God the Father is shared by God the Son. Listen to the way John describes this in Revelation 6:15-17.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Rev. 6:15-17).

Be it noted that judgment comes upon all, regardless of their status in society or their wealth or their influence. Kings and slaves alike are accountable to God. The manifestation of God’s wrath is a leveler of humanity. The rich and the powerful can’t appeal to their earthly achievements to escape judgment. Generals can’t call upon their troops to fight the Lamb.

But perhaps the most important and instructive thing for us to see is the reaction of all these individuals to the undeniable presence and power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Would it not be the easiest thing in the world, the most sensible thing in the world, for these people simply to stop and take account of what is happening and who it is who is bringing this judgment? Is it not the height of folly to think that you could hide from God in caves and under rocks? It is utter insanity and evidence of the spiritual blindness and foolishness of sinful man to think that he can escape the coming judgment of God.

You and I look upon the Lamb and we see one who has been slain and whose blood “ransomed people for God.” We love the Lamb. The Lamb loves us. We will never have to suffer the wrath of the Lamb, because the Spirit has led us to put our confidence and faith in what the Lamb did for sinners on the cross. By the way, does the image of a lamb filled with wrath strike you as odd? It seems to be a contradiction in terms. A lamb is by nature calm, docile, gentle, and easy-going. So, too, is the Lamb of God, until such time as unrepentant and defiant sinners spit in his face and mock him and ridicule his claim to be God.

But why is it that God’s wrath and the wrath of the Lamb will never fall upon a believer? It is because of one and only one truth: The wrath of the Lamb fell upon the Lamb! Jesus Christ died for us, and in doing so propitiated or appeased or satisfied that wrath and suffered its penalty in himself. This is the ground of our hope, that whether we are “awake” when Christ returns or whether we are “asleep,” that is, whether we are physically living or physically dead, we will live forever “with him” (v. 10b). Back in 1 Thess. 4:17 we are assured that when Jesus returns his people will be “with” him. Here again Paul assures us that whatever we may suffer or endure or experience in this life, we will live “with” him!

Earlier I said that Paul identifies three responsibilities of the Christian. The second and third are here in v. 11. In view of this incredible truth, we are to “encourage one another” and “build up one another.”

When you come across a friend who is downcast, depressed, on the verge of emotional collapse, “encourage” them by reminding them of what awaits all believers when Christ returns. Every tear will be wiped away. All suffering will end. All hope will come to fruition. The pain and abuse inflicted by others will be healed. Every disease and affliction known to the human race will disappear forever. As you know, I grew up in a southern Baptist church. I also had a mother and sister who are trained and extremely gifted pianists. And I can still remember most of the songs we sang, the songs they regularly played in our home. The chorus of one of them goes like this:

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!

Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ.

One glimpse of his dear face, all sorrow will erase.

So, bravely run the race, ‘til we see Christ.

And we must “build one another up” or edify each other and instruct one another in the truths of the gospel, in the truths we read about in a passage like this in 1 Thess. 5. When another believer is struggling with doubt or perhaps fear that God will visit their sins on them when the Day of the Lord finally arrives, instruct them that God “has not destined” them “for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

First, we note Paul’s urgent request that the people in the church at Thessalonica honor those whom the Holy Spirit has raised up as Elders (vv. 12-13). We should take note of the word “request,” as Paul does not command them as he will later in the subsequent verses.

Although the word “Elder” does not appear in the text, everyone acknowledges that they are the ones Paul has in mind. He specifically mentions four things about these men.

First, there was more than one. Note that Paul refers to “those” who labor among you. He doesn’t say “he” who labors among you. Furthermore, all the verbs here are in the plural. Once again, neither Paul nor any other NT author ever conceives of a local church being governed or led by only one man. Plurality is absolutely essential to the life of the church.

Second, all Elders are spiritual “equals.” No one has more authority or stature in the church than another. They each have a voice and a vote. However, that doesn’t mean that all of the Elders lead and govern in the same way. In 1 Timothy 5:17 Paul says, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.” So, all elders rule, while some “rule well.”

Furthermore, in almost all cases, there is what we might call the principle of a “first among equals.” Problems begin to emerge when emphasis is placed on either the word “first” or the word “equals,” or when the word “among” is ignored. Listen to how Dave Harvey explains this in his excellent book, The Plurality Principle.

“Some churches err by throwing the accent on the first word of that phrase--the senior leader as ‘first’ among equals. His place in line is first, his opinion first, his preferences first, his needs are first. These first-driven churches can actually incubate celebrity pastors, or even entire leadership cultures, that are power-based and hardwired for command and control. For the plurality, the church staff, or the congregation, this can feel like heavy metal music at a funeral. Such an indelicate exercise of authority can relegate godly character and humble service to the margins, sentencing fellow team members to a fear-based and unsafe culture. The result may be a culture characterized by ministry silos, where each leader does their own thing rather than risking collaboration. At other times staff turnover happens, where team members leave because the senior leadership is no longer tolerable. Or worse, no longer respected” (14).

In the past, wherever I’ve served in pastoral ministry, there is only occasion when one Elder is given two votes on any particular issue. If the Elders find themselves tied, 5 to 5, or 6 to 6, there must be a way to move forward. In such a case, the Lead Pastor or Senior Pastor is granted an extra vote to break the tie. It’s not unlike what happens in the Senate. When there is a tie, the Vice-President is called upon to cast a vote and break the tie. You should know, however, that in all my time as a lead pastor I have never made use of this extra vote. It seems to me that if an Elder board is so clearly divided on some issue, the best way forward is to suspend any further action and turn to prayer. I have never been comfortable in making an important decision when such division and disparity of opinion exists among the Elders.

Although all elders are spiritual “equals,” it is only feasible that one of them will invariably be recognized as the “first” among them. The senior pastor typically has more education and experience in interpreting the Scriptures. He also exerts the greatest influence on the church by preaching and teaching in the corporate gathering. None of this is to suggest that the senior pastor is more important or more godly than the others. It simply recognizes that in any group a leader will eventually emerge. His voice typically carries more weight. And even if it isn’t a rock-solid reason, common sense itself suggests that someone has to be responsible for providing leadership and direction for all. That doesn’t mean he is a dictator who always gets his way. What it does mean is that the other Elders need to proceed with caution and patience before they insist on their perspective in contradiction to that of the lead pastor.

It would seem that this was true in many cases in the NT. Peter was the first among equals in the company of the apostles. James was the first among equals in the church at Jerusalem. Timothy was the first among equals in the church at Ephesus. And Titus appears to be the first among equals in the church in Crete. I can’t be dogmatic about this, but it seems entirely reasonable that in every church there was a recognized leader.

Finally, we must never overlook the word “among,” for it suggests that all the Elders form a cohesive group of leaders. The one who is “first among equals” is not more holy or more greatly loved by God than the others. He is part of a group, all of whom are given the same mandate to lead the body. To speak of a “first among equals” does not mean there is a governmental hierarchy in the church. Neither the senior pastor nor the other Elders should ever lose sight that God intends for the Elders of the church to be a cohesive, unified group.

Though the authority for the church inheres in the entire eldership, a wise elder team will look for one among them with humble character, leadership gifts, and public ministry skills to fulfill the role of senior pastor. To this man they delegate the necessary authority to cultivate the unity and growth of the plurality, to lead the team into wise decision-making, and to help the elders assume proper responsibility and accountability for the varying ministries of the church

“Other elderships,” says Harvey, “err by throwing the accent on the second half of the phrase. An idealism of interdependence levels the leadership field, so that team members begin to think that leadership and preaching is not a unique stewardship necessary for the team or church. In a world where authority is abused and increasingly disparaged, pares[equal]-driven models may grow more appealing. But alas, they too fail the church.”

Paul then proceeds to mention three tasks undertaken by the Elders. (1) They labor among the people of God. To serve as an Elder in the body of Christ is hard work. The ESV translates this verb as “labor,” which could also be rendered, “they toil” among you. This is similar to what Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:1 where he says that if someone aspires to be an Elder, he desires a “noble task,” or more literally, “a good work.” To be an Elder does not mean you get special privileges or perks or extra days off or a nice, comfortable chair while everyone else sits on a concrete floor. Although there is certainly a measure of dignity and honor in the office, this is only because those who are appointed to it expend themselves in selfless labor and toil and hard work. This is reaffirmed toward the close of v. 13 where Paul exhorts people to esteem them because of their “work.”

But we must not think that this is a task reserved solely for Elders or Pastors in the church. The word translated “labor” is used elsewhere in the NT to describe a variety of people who don’t serve as Elders. In 1 Corinthians 16:16 Paul describes average believers as well as a man named Stephanas as those who are “workers” and “laborers.” He does the same thing in Romans 16. All of us, then, are to “labor” and “work” in ministry to the building up of the body and the glory of Christ.

(2) They are over you in the Lord. This is the rendering of one verb that simply means to preside, rule, govern, to set over, to appoint with authority. This does not mean that Elders are to be dictators or to lead with a heavy hand. Here is how Paul described it in 2 Corinthians 1:24. There he assures the Corinthians that we do not “lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy.”

Neither does this mean that whatever the Elders decide is always and invariably right and good. They are human, just as are all the others in the body of Christ, and they can make mistakes, sometimes serious mistakes. Paul does not leave us without counsel on what to do when this happens. He writes this in 1 Timothy 5:19-20,

“Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. As for those [elders] who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.”

Clearly, Paul envisioned a situation in which either one elder or several “persist” in their sin and stubbornly exert an authority that runs contrary to the welfare of the church as a whole. What is the response of the body of Christ when this happens? You must “rebuke” them publicly, so that the others will stand in fear of incurring the same judgment.

This principle applies in all areas of life. Being in authority over someone does not give that person a right to abuse their power and take advantage of those they lead. I find it interesting that a number of scholars translate the verb rendered “are over you” (ESV), “to care for,” or “to protect,” with an emphasis on love and compassion in dealing with others in the church. In any case, if a parent insists that a child sin, the child should respectfully decline and say No. If an elected official persists in enacting evil laws, the people are responsible for voting him/her out of office. Although husbands are the head of their families, if a wife is told to join him in watching pornography or sign her name to a fraudulent income tax return, she must respectfully say No. In all relationships, look to the example of Jesus, who in the exercise of his being Lord served and sacrificed for those who followed him.

(3) They admonish you. This word could be translated, “warn” or “rebuke” or even “instruct.” It isn’t a word that justifies being mean and inflexible and overbearing. It simply means that Elders are to provide godly instruction and guidance and are to warn of impending danger that follows certain sinful or unwise actions.

Two Responsibilities all have toward their Leaders

So, then, what is the responsibility of the people in a local church? How are they to view their leaders? Paul mentions two things. First, they are to “respect” them. This is an interesting translation, as the word literally means to “know” or to “acknowledge.” Most think that here it means something like “to regard with favor.” In other words, we should all be thankful for those who labor as Elders among us and show them the respect that their office warrants.

Second, we are to “esteem them very highly in love” because of the work they perform for our good and our spiritual growth. The word translated “very highly” means “beyond all measure.” It doesn’t mean to “exalt” them or that you are to worship them but simply that we must hold them in high regard, and to do it lovingly, not begrudgingly or hesitantly or with our fingers crossed behind our backs. It is, then, in a spirit of “love,” not resentment or slavish obedience, that should govern our esteem.

It may seem strange that the translators include this final exhortation in v. 13 – “Be at peace among yourselves.” I think the word “yourselves” includes both Elders and the people they lead. There should be a warm and conciliatory and loving relationship between those who lead and those who are led. This isn’t something that only one group is responsible for. All are included. We should learn much from the fact that the relationship between people in the church and those who lead them is “peace.”

Nine Exhortations Intended for Everyone

Following Paul’s instructions on how Elders and members of a congregation are to relate to one another, he turns his attention to thirteen tasks that everyone is to undertake. Today, however, we will only look at the first nine of them.

First, “admonish the idle” (v. 14a). This word translated “admonish” is the same verb used in v. 12. Just as Elders are responsible to admonish everyone, so too everyone is responsible to admonish those who are “idle”. The word literally means “out of line” and carries a pejorative sense of being disruptive and “disorderly” with emphasis on their refusal to work or to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to them. Paul may also have in mind their disruption of the “peace” that he has just exhorted all of us to pursue. If any of you see a brother or sister neglecting their responsibility to work and to provide for their needs and those of their family, you must go to them and lovingly admonish them. Sometimes this can be done with gentleness. Sometimes it requires a much stronger exhortation.

Second, “encourage the fainthearted” (v. 14b). Perhaps a better translation would be to console or to comfort. We don’t know why they are “fainthearted” or “disheartened.” It may be that their expectation of the return of Christ has led them to lose hope. Or it may simply be that the constant opposition they experience from the surrounding non-Christian community has worn them down.

Notice the difference in how we interact with one another. You can’t afford to adopt one attitude and think it applies to everyone. For people who are idle and lazy and refuse to carry their own weight, admonish them. But for those who, through no fault of their own, are weak and fainthearted, speak words of consolation and encouragement. The word translated “fainthearted” is literally the “small-souled.” These are people who are discouraged and despondent and on the verge of quitting the Christian life altogether.

Third, “help the weak” (v. 14c). The “weak” are not the same as those who are fainthearted. Paul has in mind primarily those who are physically sick. Help them, primarily by praying for them. Bu we must also be quick to do for them those demanding tasks that they are unable to perform because of their physical condition of weakness.

Fourth, “be patient with them all” (v. 14d). This is especially important when those you admonish and encourage and try to help don’t respond as quickly as you might wish. It’s easy simply to dismiss such people as not worthy of your time and effort. They can truly be exasperating. Bu Paul’s counsel is to persevere in your kindness and encouragement. The verb itself has the idea of “suffering long” or enduring the shortcomings of others.

Fifth, “see that no one repays evil for evil” (v. 15a). This is a consistent theme in the NT. In 1 Peter 3:9 the apostle says, “do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless [them].” Paul said much the same thing in Romans 12:17 – “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.”

This is truly hard to do! When your best efforts to be kind and affirming and consoling and helpful to someone else prompt them to treat you with contempt and disdain, the natural instinct in all of us is to respond in kind. No. So, if we can’t do what it takes to get even, what is our response? The answer comes in the second half of v. 15.

Sixth, “but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (v. 15b). If you are wondering what difference there is between “one another” and “everyone,” my guess is that “one another” refers to others in the body of Christ and “everyone” refers to those outside the local church body.

Seventh, “rejoice always” (v. 16a). Paul isn’t calling on us to be masochists and to find pleasure in pain. Nor does he expect us to live in a constant state of emotional euphoria. “This is not a sugar-coated call for putting on a happy face in the midst of difficulties” (Fee, 214-15). Think back to 1:6 where Paul says the Thessalonians “received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.” In 2 Corinthians 6:10 Paul speaks of the believer “as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.”

How is this possible? It only comes to the extent that we recognize several truths. (1) When we rejoice in the midst of adversity and pain, it draws attention to the all-sufficiency of Jesus. We find such satisfaction in him and all that he has done for us that no amount of discomfort or affliction can lead us to abandon him for the sake of finding comfort. People look at how we react under difficult and distressing circumstances and marvel at what our God must be like to warrant such faithfulness.

(2) To rejoice on all occasions is rooted in our belief in the truth of Romans 8:28. Do we really believe that God is at work in “all things,” even painful and distressing things, to increase our conformity to the image of Jesus? Do we really believe that this sort of response redounds to the glory of God? If we do, if we truly believe that God works all things together for our good, then we find the strength to rejoice when we might otherwise gripe and complain and abandon our faith. (3) This is similar to what Paul wrote in Romans 5:3 – “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (see also James 1:2-4).

So, Paul is not telling us to treat pain as though it were pleasure, or to regard evil as if it were good. He is telling us to look through and beyond the adverse circumstances we face and see the hand of God in it all as he uses it to make us more and more like Jesus.

Eighth, “pray without ceasing” (v. 17).

Paul used almost identical language we in Ephesians 6, “Continue steadfastly in prayer,” and in Colossians 4:2, “Pray without ceasing.” He didn’t mean that we are to do nothing else but pray, but that we are to do nothing without praying. Prayer must be a constant, recurring experience.

I’m certain someone will push back against this, saying: “How can I pray without ceasing when I’m at work or with friends or watching my kids’ soccer game?” But for prayer to be fervent and faithful it doesn’t have to be lengthy and out loud. God delights to hear the prayerful sighs of our heart or the groans that erupt from deep within our souls. Short, pungent prayers thrust heavenward are as effective as extended, sustained periods of vocal prayer. You’d be surprised how powerful these direct, solitary, instantaneous utterances of the heart in the midst of a busy and nerve-wracking day can be.

Jesus understood all too well the temptation to quit, which is the primary reason why he told his disciples “a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1).

“He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, “Give me justice against my adversary.” For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, “Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming”’” (Luke 18:2-5)

As you can see, there are two people who play the principal roles in this parable, and they stand at opposite ends of the social, educational, and economic spectrum. Consider first of all this judge. Only two things are said of him: he did not fear God nor respect man. No, better still, this isn’t what is said about him by others. This is his own personal confession! What a way to be remembered! He couldn’t care less what God or other people thought about him. He doesn’t deny this assessment of his character. He openly affirms it!

The judge in our story was a man utterly devoid of shame, a man whose conscience had become dull and insensitive, a man who lacked that sense of honor to which someone might appeal in the pursuit of justice. His heart was as hard as a rock. He was apparently incapable of recognizing the evil in his actions, and even if he did see the wickedness of his decisions, he couldn’t have cared less. People could have stood outside his house (or courtroom) and shouted, “Shame! Shame!” and he would have remained unmoved. He has no sense of shame.

The reason why Jesus exposes this man’s character is to highlight the improbability of anyone, least of all a helpless and dependent widow, ever receiving a fair and equitable hearing in his court. The odds against her getting anything remotely approximating justice are astronomical. She couldn’t even appeal to him “for God’s sake,” as he was utterly indifferent to God and cared only for his own sake.

Let’s not forget who this woman is. She is not a prominent figure in the community. The judge likely didn’t even know her name or bother to ask her. Along with the orphan, the widow in Scripture is portrayed as representative of the innocent, powerless, and dependent. She is oppressed with no recourse other than the Lord. Her problem was not unlike that of many widows, then and now. Her legal rights were being violated. We hear almost every day on the news of yet another elderly woman or man being scammed out of their life savings by some unscrupulous con artist. They have no one to protect them or fight for their vindication. This widow in our story could not afford legal counsel. She was evidently without friends or relatives who might intercede on her behalf, or at least stand beside her as he made her plea. She was altogether alone.

Some think her request of him is that he execute punishment on her oppressor. Others insist that she was merely asking that she receive what was rightfully hers under the law. In either case, the judge was unmoved. He wasn’t impressed with her as a person and didn’t want to be bothered by someone so insignificant who was in no position to be of any benefit to him. He knew he couldn’t profit monetarily from hearing her case. A few have even suggested that his refusal to vindicate her cause had been purchased by a bribe from her oppressor.

Whatever the cause for his resistance, Jesus informed us that “for a while he refused” (v. 4) to help her. He is even portrayed as conceding the accuracy of the judgment passed on his character. When you and I are accused of being evil and insensitive and cold-hearted, we tend to get defensive. “No, that’s not me. I’m not indifferent to God and other people.” But not this judge! His confession in v. 4 tells us that his character didn’t change. He makes no bones of the fact that he is unashamed in his hard-heartedness. It almost seems as if he’s proud of being shameless. His ultimate decision to give the widow what she asked was not the result of any transformation in him. It was her character, not his, that ultimately brought her vindication. Nowhere do we read that the judge responded to her by saying, “Oh, my. I’ve been such a jerk. I’ve been so calloused and uncaring. Shame on me. I repent.” Her persistence didn’t transform him. He’s just as shameless at the end as he was at the start. This guy remained a jerk throughout the process!

The judge himself declared that he would acquiesce to her demands for only one reason: she kept “bothering” (v. 5) him and he feared that she would “beat” him “down by her continual coming” (v. 5). The word translated “beat down” conveys a sense of pugilistic violence (cf. 1 Cor. 9:27). It could even be translated, “blacken the eye.” Now, I don’t think the judge was afraid she might be provoked to attack him physically. And it certainly can’t mean that he feared she would destroy his reputation. Remember that he cared nothing at all what others might think of him. It was her persistence that wore him down.

We now come to the point of the parable and its application to the practice of prayer. Jesus is reasoning from the lesser to the greater. The contrasts are shocking and constitute the message of the parable. The contrasting parallel is of an evil judge and a good and gracious God, on the one hand, and a strange, unknown, helpless widow and us, God’s chosen children, on the other. Many have missed the point of the parable by thinking that God is like the judge and we are like the widow. No! God is not like the judge and we are not like the widow.

Unlike the judge, God is good and gracious. Unlike the widow, we are God’s beloved and adopted children. His point is that if a wicked and shameless judge grants the request of a helpless and hopeless widow, how much more shall a gracious and loving Father grant the requests of his precious and forgiven child! If she, through persistence, obtained from the judge what she desired, how much more shall we, through persistence, receive from God what we need.

The lesson of Luke 18 is simple and direct. We should persist in our prayers because God, unlike the judge, is good and gracious. If you are inclined to think that God is like the judge, you will mistakenly conclude that the quality of a prayer is dependent on the quantity of your words. Do you repeat a request because you think God is ignorant and needs to be informed, or if he’s not ignorant he is at least unconcerned and needs to be aroused to give us an answer? Do you pray thinking that your words will prevail upon God and transform a hard-hearted God into a compassionate and generous one? Do you really think that God cannot see through the veil of our hypocrisy and will be swayed in his decision? The conclusion of Luke 18 is clear: we should persist in our prayers because God, unlike the judge, is good and gracious.

This story from Jesus was designed to be a massive encouragement to us all never to give up, never to quit or conclude that prayer is a waste of time and energy. I trust it will serve to bless and encourage you as well. When you draw near to the throne of grace, never think of God as a grouchy, selfish, uncaring bully who only answers our requests when they serve his interests. God is altogether other than that judge. He is in no way similar to him. And you and I are entirely different from the widow. We do not come to God alone, helpless, with no status in the eyes of the judge. We are the blood-bought children of our heavenly Father whose love for us is so giving and generous that he spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all.

As you pray, envision in your mind’s eye an abundant, effusive, incredibly generous God who smiles as he meets your deepest and most pressing needs. He may not always do so in the way you think is best. But whose wisdom and insight do you trust more? Yours or God’s? Come to him, confident that he always answers us in accordance with what he knows is in our best, long-term interests. Come with the unshakable assurance that your Father looks on you with compassion and delight. Come again and again and again, persistent, yet humble; relentless, yet submissive; determined, yet resolved to take comfort in knowing that Father knows best!

Ninth, “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (v. 18).

First of all, don’t misread this exhortation. Paul is not saying give thanks “for” all circumstances or “for” all things. But rather, “in” the midst of walking through hardship and disappointment, let your heart be filled with gratitude for what God can accomplish in you by means of such challenges.

What, precisely, is the “will of God” for us that Paul has in mind? Is it the “circumstances” or the “all things” that we experience, or is it God’s will that we “give thanks” at all times? Or could it be that the word “this” refers back to rejoicing and praying without ceasing and giving thanks? Regardless of the answer, we know that there are some “circumstances” in which we find ourselves that simply cannot be the will of God. Sin is the first thing that comes to mind. Surely Paul doesn’t mean that it is God’s will for a Christian to live in sin, perhaps by committing adultery or constantly lying or stealing.

Conclusion

Every time I finish reading a paragraph like this with a long list of exhortations and responsibilities, my immediate reaction is to fall into despair and hopelessness, as I reflect on the weakness of my heart and the sluggishness of my will. It is then that the Spirit directs me once again to Hebrews 13:20-21. Apart from the truth of this passage none of us has any hope of abiding by the commands of the apostle.

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”