1 Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We’re going to read the second letter to the Thessalonian church. I’ve spent the past few posts on First Thessalonians, and it makes sense to continue along with the correspondence that he had with those believers. What we need to recall about this particular church from reading the first letter and parts of Acts is that Paul and Silas and Timothy had to leave that church quickly. There was persecution and much danger to the missionaries and believers alike. Paul wasn’t the type of person to avoid conflict or play things safe. For the sake of the Gospel, he endured all sorts of hardships. But the persecution they faced in the city of Thessalonica was so severe and palpable that they had to cut their trip short, and move along to Barea. Paul wrote in various letters that he was willing to die for the sake of the Gospel, so if he thought he could preach the gospel there in Thessalonica, he wouldn’t leave the city merely to save his own life. We have to believe that what was happening in Thessalonica was potentially at least life threatening, but also remaining there might have prevented him from preaching the Gospel elsewhere. Death would prevent him from visiting other cities and locations to plant churches. While Paul was willing to die to share the Gospel, he wasn’t willing to unnecessarily cut short his life and risk not completing his missionary journey. All this to say the Thessalonian church was built in a very tense environment. He writes to the church in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The wording establishes the Divinity of Christ, and equality with Christ’s status to God’s. Then he wishes them or gives the blessing Grace and Peace, both from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. It is interesting to think what Grace to us from God looks like and how that looks different than Grace from the Lord Jesus Christ. Similarly Peace from God means giving us forgiveness and making us objects of mercy instead of wrath. We will talk about this a lot today! That Grace and Peace comes from God, and is given to us through his son Jesus Christ. Our peace with God comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, so our peace comes from God and also comes from Jesus.

3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.

We just finished the holiday of Thanksgiving. It’s an exciting time of the year, we are starting to think about celebrating Christmas and winding down the year. But sometimes the thanksgiving mood gets cut short. It makes sense. The next day is Black friday which means even while people are still digesting their dinners, they go out and start the next thing. Shopping for Christmas, there are deals to be had, or you have to get back to work. Either way, the gears shift quickly away from thanksgiving. I like that when Paul writes to the Thessalonian church, he is always thanking God for them. His sense of thankfulness and gratefulness doesn’t stop. He doesn’t need a special holiday for giving thanks. He says to give thanks continually, he is day and night praying for the church, but that prayer is always thankful in nature. He prays for God to equip them with faith or manifest his love or his glory or his mercy through them, but he always begins by thanking God for them. He thanks God and he says it’s rightly so. This giving of thanks is appropriate and right to do. Its right to thank God for our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially as we see their faith growing! And its good to remind people how you see their faith growing, when you see there’s evidence of faith in God in their lives, because sometimes we have trouble seeing it in ourselves. Sometimes we get caught up in going from one place to the next, or completing various tasks in our own hectic lives, we might not notice God’s work. Paul says to them, I notice it! We see that the love you have for one another is growing! This is God’s work. This care and compassion that you have for each other, it isn’t just that you’re growing closer. We could attribute things like friendships to an earthly cause. Well, yea, those people are tight, they see each other all the time. But really the care that the church was expressing within the community of the members is the Love of God being reflected to each other. This church in particular was showing love despite persecutions and trials that they were facing. Paul sees these fruits of the Holy Spirit. Because of that perseverance in the face of trials, Paul boasts about this church to others, he says among all of the other churches we boast about you!

5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.

He sees evidence that God loves them and God is blessing them with perseverance and faith in the face of persecution. And this mindset is important to cultivate. The Bible teaches about importance of the renewing of your mind. Here’s an example of this, illustrated in Paul’s thinking. If you are facing trials and Persecution, do you think God has abandoned you? Or do you see it as evidence that God is Good and his righteousness is just. For example, let’s just say Times are tough. There is hardship. Does that lead to despair or does that give you evidence that God is at work? Life is not easy, are you going to wallow around in misery, or will you take a step back and say, “look how we are persevering!” Thinking the way that Paul thinks takes some practice, it takes some reprogramming, but it’s worth it. When we see evidence that God is Good, it helps us to have confidence. Paul is confident that the Thessalonian church will be counted as worthy of the Kingdom of God. How are we counted worthy? It’s not by our own works, but the works of Jesus Christ. But if we treasure the work of Jesus Christ and the Calling we’ve received, and we treasure the Gospel so much so that we are willing to endure suffering. And we recognize that God has given us the perseverance to endure suffering, then we share Paul’s confidence!

Confidence is what we need! And that’s usually exactly what we are lacking when we fail to endure hardships in a Godly way. We lack the confidence that the hardship is temporary. We lack the confidence that God is at work. We lack confidence that God will give us the power to persevere and we will emerge from the hardship sanctified and more mature.

6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

Paul reassures them with confidence in God. God is Just. There are plenty of references in other places in scripture to verify God’s justice. This Justice is one of God’s divine attributes. He is fair; he is right; he makes things as they should be. Vengeance is mine, declares the Lord. We don’t need to worry about vengeance or righting other wrongs. All wrongs will be righted because God is Just. When we see wrongs, it can be disheartening, but God is just. He will punish all wrongs. And I almost read past this part, but it’s almost even more beautiful. He will relieve all who were troubled from those wrongs. Relief and Comfort are promised to those who were wronged or troubled by wrongdoing. I love being comfortable, a sense of relief, or relaxation. The sensation of relief or comfort is nice, but it can’t compare to when that comfort comes from the creator of the universe, in that case it’s an everlasting comfort. Sometimes when we seek vengeance we are just seeking comfort or relief. We want to know that the bad guy will get payback, but when we seek that ourselves, we show that we don’t trust that God is truly Just. The Bible says that God is prepared to pay back wrongs and comfort those who were wronged. The timeline is, when Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

So. Because of the things we’ve discussed from Paul’s first letter, we realize this might not happen in our lifetime or on our timetable. We don’t know the time or the hour that this will happen. But it will happen. So who does God give relief to, and who does he punish?

8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

God will punish those who do not know Him and do not obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When God dishes out punishment, he dishes it out to those who have not repented of their sins. The Bible says that God will punish those who are disobedient to the Gospel. Those who remain dead in their sins. Being dead in your sins isn’t about being a good person vs a bad person. It’s not about winning the Most improved sinner award. The Gospel is not about works at all. The Gospel says we are dead in our sins, God calls us to wake up from death, God gives us a rebirth of our spirit so our heart begins to recognize sin and dislike it. God gives us a spirit of repentance, and God sends his Son to pay the price, God gives us a spirit to believe that Jesus died for our sins, and God gives us forgiveness. God works in us to grow us in maturity to sanctify us, to change our inclination to sin into an inclination to worship him. Being disobedient toward the Gospel is not an action. It’s a mindset. It’s mental. Disobedience toward the gospel is a worldview that either doesn’t have room for God; or if he does exist, doesn’t acknowledge that you could have fallen short of His perfection. Obeying the Gospel means admitting you are wrong, and need to be saved. You can’t save yourself. You are not God. You are not good enough on your own to be acceptible to God. You need a savior. God gave you a savior, not just some guy, but his only begotten Son. If you reject that, the punishment will be an everlasting destruction. To those who don’t believe in God, who don’t think they need salvation from Jesus Christ, who don’t think they are all that bad to need saving, there is no eternal life in God’s presence. There will be an everlasting permanence; an incalculable amount of time where those who disobey the gospel will no longer experience any good thing about God’s presence. Not one attribute of God. God is love, God is truth, God is light, in him there is no Darkness. God is righteous and Just. He is Good, God is Merciful and gives us all good things. To live forever in the absence of merely one of God’s qualities sounds terrible. To live forever in the absence of, without seeing or feeling or experiencing, any of God’s qualities sounds unbearable. Verse 9 says those people who do not know God and disobey the Gospel will be shut out. There will be people who don’t get to feel his presence. There will be people that don’t get to see what verse 9 calls “the glory of God’s might.” Well, they would see the glory of God’s might, but it won’t be a saving force for their good, it will be oppositional! They will see the terror of God’s might! a condemning, damning, punishing, avenging force against them and against their prideful hearts. Give this some thought. Proverbs 21:15 says “When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.” All Christians have heard about Heaven and Hell. We know that the wages of sin is death, we know that we all have done things that disobey God and we deserve punishment, an eternal punishment, but Jesus Died for our sins. The Gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. Those are the two ways God rights all wrongs. When you see wrong being done, something that doesn’t glorify God. You see an evildoer, you see something treacherous, or offensive towards God or towards Truth. Don’t worry about repaying or avenging it. That’s God’s job. He will punish them and make them pay their wrong fully, or He will break their heart, and they will repent and that wrath will have been poured out on Jesus on the cross. Either God will avenge that sin and heap punishment on the person OR that sin will be punished on the cross. This is why we should never take sin lightly, because it will all be fully paid one way or another. Either on the enemy, or on the Son. And Jesus will return and be glorified among his people. When we begin to comprehend the wrongs that we should need to repay, especially on that day when we see the wrath of God being poured out on those who didn’t repent, it makes us glory in Jesus Christ so much more. What a salvation! What mercy! How we’ve been spared! We’ve been spared God’s Righteous Justice on our sin. It makes us thankful and we marvel at the Glory of the Cross. Paul says all who have believed will marvel at Jesus, and his glory will be seen in his holy people! Paul is confident that this includes the Thessalonian Church. But it also includes the church today, it includes those who believed the gospel, the truth that Jesus lived and died and rose again, the truth that Paul preached. That truth has renewed our minds and given us a rebirth of spirit.

11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul ends this chapter reminding the church that he is praying for them. Constantly, Continually, Day and Night. He is praying that God makes them worthy of his calling. If you read that quickly, it might seem to be an odd thing to say. I pray that God makes you worthy of his calling. What? Haven’t they already been called anyway? Didn’t Paul just say he was confident? And what’s with this wording about being worthy? Didn’t we just establish that none of us are worthy? Yes. None are worthy of God’s calling by their works. None inherently deserve to be called by God. Nobody has a perfect slate of works to make them in any way worthy. But Paul says, God will make you worthy. This worthiness isn’t something that can be explained by works. Paul says God makes us worthy. He cleans us, he reconciles us. The calling happened before time existed. We’ve been called. That’s all over. Paul is praying that the church who was called will continue to be sanctified. We are being made worthy by God, and we are made worthy by association with His son. Paul prays that by God’s power he can bring to fruition their every desire for goodness! That’s a huge prayer! Everything they desire, if the goal is for Goodness, Paul prays that God will bring that to being. He also prays that every deed of theirs prompted by faith comes to fruition by the power of God! If you desire something, or you are trying to do some work or some deed, and the goal of that desire is Goodness, or the motivation of that deed is Faith… if the goal is to advance God’s kingdom, or to Glorify God, and the reason you are doing that thing is because you have faith, Paul prays to God that he bring it to fruition! God is all powerful, he is sovereign, and his purpose for us is to worship Him and Glorify Him, so of course if we have a desire for Goodness, or we have deeds that are prompted by faith; God will bless our plans and bring our deeds to fruition and use his power to help us! Look at the contrast there! If you are motivated by Faith, and are desiring goodness, God is on your side. He is powerful to help. If you are disobedient to the Gospel, you are being opposed. By the Almighty God.. All Mighty, All Powerful, Creator of the world. He can either be on your side, and your help and your comfort —- or he can be against you, and your opposition, and your terror, and you will face his vengeance. Remember proverbs 21:15 When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. Paul prays this because he wants the Name of Jesus to be glorified among them , and he wants them to be glorified in Him. The Glory goes two ways. The Glory of God, and the Name of Jesus are glorified among his church. WE give him worship and honor and glory. Then He glorifies his beloved. His bride, His church . He glorifies us in Jesus. He does this not because we deserve glory, but because according to His Grace! This is an undeserved, unmerited gift. The gift is forgiveness but it’s also grace to do have these desires to advance the Kingdom of God and see Goodness, and do these amazing deeds and have God’s support. The Grace comes from God, because he uses his Sovereign will, and his power to bring our desires to fruition. God’s grace means mercy towards sinners, and a withholding of just wrath towards enemies. The Grace of Jesus Christ means obedience and trust in the Father’s will. It means being a vehicle of God’s forgiveness, instead of taking it upon one’s self to deliver God’s wrath. Jesus was the voice to un-teach the lessons of God’s righteous judgement. The Law taught fairness and retaliation, punishments that fit the crimes. Justice is good, but it isn’t our job. Jesus taught, “you heard it said an eye for an eye.. but I say turn the other cheek.” There’s a difference between the Law and Grace. There’s a difference between what’s right, and what is merciful. There’s a difference between, “someone should punch that guy in the face” and , “we should pray for that guy”. God calls us to be the agents of his mercy and kindness, not the agents of his wrath. When we do that, we become a church who glorifies the Name of Jesus and reflects His Glory!