BIG IDEA:
THE DYNAMIC POWER OF GOD’S WORD PRODUCES GODLINESS IN BELIEVERS THAT PROVOKES PERSECUTION — LEADING TO TWO VERY DIFFERENT OUTCOMES:
– ENDURANCE FOR BELIEVERS
– WRATH FOR THE PERSECUTORS
INTRODUCTION:
How have you been persecuted this past week? What do you know about being persecuted by unbelievers because of your proclamation of the gospel and your godly living? How have you shared in the sufferings of Christ and thus came to a fuller experience of the power of His resurrection working in and through you?
Church historians report that more Christians have been persecuted for their faith in this past century than in all the prior centuries of church history combined. That is remarkable to consider – especially since it seems so foreign from our experience.
Check out the current news on the web – just google “Persecution of Christians” and select the most recent articles.
Check out Persecution.com – the official website of the Voice of the Martyrs
The Apostle Paul was very familiar with persecution. It was part of his every day experience. Before salvation, Saul had led the charge against believers. Then the Lord called Him with this charge to Ananias:
“he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15-16
I. (:13a) THE PLEASURE OF GOD’S WORKERS –
WHY ARE THEY THANKFUL?
GOD’S WORKERS REJOICE TO SEE GOD’S WORD EMBRACED AND LIVED OUT
A. Grounds for Thanksgiving — Foundation of Integrity in Ministry
“For this reason” – could look backwards or forwards; not a big issue —
Building on the foundation of purity of motives and conduct presented in vv.1-12; Paul is developing another reason for thanksgiving on the part of the missionary team
Paul’s epistles are masterpieces of tight integration; each thought and its development flowing into the next; building blocks that continue to reach back to the foundation as well as progress to new heights
Importance of conducting the ministry in a manner which properly builds on the foundation laid by Jesus Christ and the pattern established by Paul himself, the wise Master Builder (2 Cor. 3)
B. Tone of Thanksgiving Continued from Opening Greeting (in 1:2)
“we also constantly thank God”
There it related to the changed lives of the new believers at Thessalonica;
Paul picks up that thread of thanksgiving and continues to develop it;
The missionary team has risked everything to bring the gospel to these Gentiles and now looks back in satisfaction with much thanksgiving for the results they have seen thus far; not taking the credit for themselves but recognizing that any legitimate fruit . . . fruit that stands the test of persecution and suffering . . . can only have come from God
Paul will continue this thread of thanksgiving for the new believers in 3:9
C. Focus of Thanksgiving – Reception, Response and Recognition of the Word of God
1. Reception of the Word of God from the Missionary Team
“that when you received from us the word of God’s message,”
“The word of hearing” – has to hit the ear first; objective truth
Emphasizing the source … not message about God … but from God
Paul was simply an ambassador, a messenger – sent to deliver the goods;
So exciting to get a good reception; to find that good soil that receives the seed; they didn’t fumble the gospel or stumble over it or reject it
2. Response to the Word of God – Personal Appropriation – embracing the Word and living it out – must settle in the heart
“you accepted it” – subjective application; moving from the head to the
heart; required the work of the Holy Spirit to open up the eyes of their understanding; to soften their hearts; to make them alive spiritually
3. Recognition of the Divine Source of the Missionary Message
“not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God.”
Christ made a big deal that He was the divine logos come down from heaven – He made a case for His Deity by arguing that His source was from God –
Gospel of John 3:31-36
No human preacher or organization can add any weight or validity to the word of God; its authority is inherent
We cannot have too high a view of the Word of God; do we treasure it? Are we quick to obey it and make it the supreme authority in our lives … or do we think that we know better in some areas … or do we choose to ignore the voice of God in some areas?
MacArthur: Not just another human message. Not another philosopher, another teacher, another religious leader, not another speaker, not another orator, not more rhetoric, not human wisdom, human opinion, carnal viewpoint, you heard it as it was, not the word of man, but the Word of God.
Guzik: Today, some people like to say that there is a word of God, but that we can’t be sure of what He says. When we appeal to the Bible, they like to reply “That’s just your interpretation.” There are certainly some places where the word of God is hard to precisely interpret. But if we can’t know what God has spoken, then He may as well not have spoken at all. . . God’s word works, it doesn’t only bring information or produce feelings. There is power in the word of God to change lives.
Human messages abound:
LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW
Everybody seems to have a cause for which to speak.
Loudly from the rooftops they proclaim the thing they seek.
Often for a needless cause and often to deceive.
Should not we who know the Lord declare what we believe?
What gives us pleasure? What makes us thankful to God??
II. (:13b) THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD –
WHAT DOES IT ACCOMPLISH?
GOD’S WORD TRANSFORMS AND ENERGIZES BELIEVERS TO LIVE CHANGED LIVES
A. The Dynamic Power of the Word of God
“which also performs its work” (word for dynamite)
Word of God is never unemployed … always working and accomplishing what God wants
Word of God compared to
– a seed – Mark 4:26, 27 – bears its life and power within itself; leads to fruit
– like rain and snow – what do they accomplish – Is. 55:10-11
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” We are people of the Word; we are a church that orients our ministry around the Word of God – that is what God uses to produce His fruit
– a sword
Heb. 4:12 “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Eph. 6:17
– a fire and a hammer
Jer 23:29 “Is not my word like fire . . . and like a hammer which shatters a rock?”
– light – Ps. 119:105
B. The Dimension of Faith – Produced by the Word and Essential for Obeying the Word
“in you who believe”
Heb. 4:2 “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard”
Rom. 10:17 “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”
Are we committed to the Power of God’s Word? Are we tempted to look elsewhere for power? Do we doubt God’s commitment to fulfill His promises and remain faithful? The Apostle Paul was excited to see God’s dynamic and powerful Word at work in the lives of these converts – that gave him the energy to continue to preach the Word – in season and out … when he felt like it and when he didn’t
III. (:14-16a) THE PERSEVERANCE OF GOD’S WITNESSES –
WHO IS OPPOSING GOD’S PROGRAM?
AS BELIEVERS IMITATE THE HISTORIC PATTERN OF GODLY LIVING THEY INEVITABLY FACE SEVERE PERSECUTION
A. (:14a) Conformity to the Historical Pattern of Godliness
Conversion leading to changed lives and growth in godly living
(emphasis is on imitation in the area of persevering thru persecution)
Distinct from the surrounding culture of darkness and wickedness
“For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea”
practices of saved Jews are the same as those of the saved Gentiles
different cultures; same fruit of the Spirit; same pattern of the churches;
different music, different dress, different manner of greeting one another;
same love; same joy; same peace; same gospel message; same persecution, same perseverance
B. (:14b-15a) Consistent, Historical Pattern of Severe Persecution:
1. Suffering of the Thessalonian believers at the hands of their own countrymen
“for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen”
Phil. 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”
Robert L. Thomas: Deliberate imitation of sufferings for sufferings’ sake is an unworthy Christian objective, but imitation of a Christian life style is legitimate and desirable. Persecution inevitably arises from the outside when a Christian patterns his life after the Lord.
2. Suffering of the Judean churches at the hands of the Jews
“even as they did from the Jews”
3. Suffering of God’s Messengers at the hands of the Jews
the Lord Jesus and the prophets and the Missionary Team
“who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out.”
Parable of the Vineyard Owner – Mark 12:1-12
C. (:15b-16a) Characterization of the Persecutors = Opposed to God’s Program
1. Religious Charlatans
“They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men.”
2. Prideful Obstructionists — Hindering the Spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles
“hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved”
Matt 23:13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”
Calvin: “Behold,” says he, “the virtues for which they deserve praise among the good and pious! — they killed their own prophets and at last the Son of God, they have persecuted me his servant, they wage war with God, they are detested by the whole world, they are hostile to the salvation of the Gentiles; in fine, they are destined to everlasting destruction.”
MacArthur: this is precisely what they claim…we are pleasing to God…would be their claim. We are pleasing to God. And what Paul says…they are not pleasing to God. Simply turns the words around in their own mouth. They were more than just not pleasing, they were hostile to all men and to God. There was a basic hostility there. Tacitus, the Roman historian, writes, “Toward every people they feel only hate and enmity.” They had a hostility in them, but it most directly and primarily was directed at hindering the Apostles from preaching the gospel to the Gentiles so they could be saved. It wasn’t that they were racially prejudiced, that’s not Paul’s point. They were religiously prejudiced. They didn’t want the gospel which they resented being preached to anyone. Hostile to God’s purposes. Hostile to everybody, says Paul. And it shows up because they tried to keep everybody in their sins by not letting the gospel be preached to them, although they didn’t realize that was the implication. They’re hostile to all men, not that they hated all men, but that they prevent us from giving them the gospel. They’re interfering with gospel preaching. Boy, that is a dangerous thing…a dangerous thing.
All types of different persecution; we are called to a life of perseverance – but God has a timetable for the end of our trials and the reversal of our fortunes; the destiny of our persecutors has also been ordained
IV. (:16b) THE PROVOKING OF GOD’S WRATH –
HOW FAR DOES IT EXTEND?
GOD’S WRATH IS THE INEVITABLE DESTINY FOR ALL THOSE WHO PERSECUTE HIS FAITHFUL GOSPEL PROCLAIMERS
A. Heaping Sin Upon Sin
“with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins”
God pictured as exercising forbearance up to a point;
But there is a limit at which time wrath is poured out to the fullest extent
Gen. 15:16 “for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete” – Joshua 10 for the judgment that fell upon them
It might look like the wicked prosper … but God has His appointed timetable
B. Harvesting the Full Brunt of God’s Wrath
“But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.”
No need to take vengeance into our own hands
– destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD only the foretaste (epistle written 51 AD)
– Great Tribulation period — Time of Jacob’s trouble
– eternal wrath
Robert L Thomas: If the wrath is yet future, why does Paul speak of it as happening in the past? The best explanation of the aorist tense of the verb comes from comparing the only other NT combinations of “come upon” – Matt 12:28; Luke 11:20 – where Jesus speaks of the kingdom’s arrival in comparable terminology. The unique force of this verb connotes “arrival upon the threshold of fulfillment and accessible experience, not the entrance into that experience” (K. W. Clark)
CONCLUSION:
I. (:13a) THE PLEASURE OF GOD’S WORKERS –
Let’s give thanks for the testimony of changed lives; the fruit of God’s working
II. (:13b) THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD –
Let’s trust in the power of God’s Word to accomplish His purposes and produce Christlike character
III. (:14-16a) THE PERSEVERANCE OF GOD’S WITNESSES –
Let’s persevere through whatever persecution may come our way – no matter who might be the ones attacking us
IV. (:16b) THE PROVOKING OF GOD’S WRATH –
Let’s be encouraged by God’s promises of future glory but have a heart of compassion for those who are still under God’s coming wrath