Encouragement in Times of Persecution
2 Thessalonians 1:1-12
Introduction
How many of you think that Jesus is coming back to earth this week? The Christians in Thessalonica thought he was coming back during their time. They were grateful to God for Paul’s first letter, but it did not immediately solve all their problems. In fact, the persecution grew worse and some believers thought they were living in the time of the Tribulation. Then a letter arrived claiming to be from Paul, stating that the day of the Lord was actually present. This casual real confusion, amongst the believers.
Some of the believers concluded that since the Lord’s coming was so near, they ought to quit their jobs and spend their time waiting for Him. This meant that the other members were under an extra burden to care for them.
It was in response to these needs that Paul wrote his second letter. He began with their most pressing need, the persecution they were experiencing because of their faith. In this first chapter, Paul shared three encouragements with his suffering friends, which I believe can be a encouragement to us as well today.
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I. The Encouragement of Praise (vv. 1-4)
• Paul gave a statement of praise to God for what he had been accomplishing in their lives.
• He was practicing his own admonition.
• One of the best weapons for fighting Satan is praise.
• In spite of his pain, Job was able to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord!”
• No doubt the Thessalonica believers did not consider themselves to be very spiritual as they suffered, but Paul detected what God was doing among them.
• You and I are the worst one’s to evaluate our own lives.
• Many times others can see the spiritual improvements when you and I miss it completely.
• Look at the blessings Paul give thanks for and encourages his friends with
1. Their Faith was Growing (v. 3a)
• A faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.
• New believers must expect their faith to be tried, because this is the way God proves whether or not their decision is genuine.
• Faith, like a muscle, must be exercised to grow stronger.
• Tribulation and persecution are God’s ways to strengthen our faith.
• An easy life can lead to shallow faith.
• God’s Hall of Fame of great men and women of faith in Hebrews 11 all suffered in one way or another, or faced tremendous obstacles, so that their faith could grow.
2. Their Love was Abounding (v. 3b)
• Again, this was an answer to Paul’s previous prayer in 1 Thess. 3:12, “and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you.”
• Suffering can make us selfish; but when suffering is mixed with grace and faith, it produces love.
• When Christians suffer, their faith reaches upward to God, and their love reaches outward to their fellow believers.
3. Their Testimony was Helping Others (v. 4a)
• Not only can suffering help us to grow, but we can then help others to grow.
• God encourages us so that we may encourage others.
• Have you ever noticed that after you go through something big in life in the suffering realm of things that you run into someone that is going into that same type of suffering?
II. The Encouragement of Promise (vv. 5-10)
• No mater how difficult their present circumstances may have bee, the Thessalonians has a secure and glorious future ahead of them.
• We are all prone to thing that suffering proves that God does not care, but just the opposite is true.
• Furthermore, they way we act in times of trial proves to others that God is still at work.
• Three experiences are involved in the promises of God for His people:
1. Reward (v. 5)
• This was one of God’s purposes in permitting their suffering.
• It does not suggest that their suffering earned them the right to go to Heaven.
2. Recompense (vv. 6-10
• God will recompense affliction to the lost, but rest to the saved.
• To recompense means “to repay”.
• Certainly, the wicked who persecute the godly do not always receive their just payment in this life.
• In fact, many people ask the question, “Why live a godly life if your only experience is that of suffering?”
• As Christians, we must live for eternity and not just for the present.
• In fact, living “for eternity” is what makes our Christian life meaningful today.
• If we always judge our lives by how today went, we will always be beaten down
• We are to walk by faith, and not by sight.
3. Rest (vv. 7a, 10)
• God will recompense tribulation to the lost, but rest to the saved.
• The word rest means, “relief, release, not under pressure.”
• It is the opposite of “tribulation”
• The word describes the releasing of a bowstring.
• In this life, God’s people are pressured, “pressed out of measure” and under the burdens of trail and persecution.
• But when we see Christ, we will be released.
III. The Encouragement of Prayer (vv. 11-12)
• Paul prayed for his converts.
• There were three concerns in Paul’s prayer:
1. Their Worthiness (v. 11a)
• Trials do not make a person; they reveal what a person is made of.
• When our faith is tried, we are revealing our worth.
• God certainly knows our hearts even before we are tried, but we do not know our own hearts.
2. Their Walk (v. 11b)
• Character must lead to conduct.
• Paul prayer that they might have a resolute will, empowered by god, to do what He wanted them to do.
• Obedience and service do not spring from human talents and efforts, but from God’s power as we trust Him.
Quit a few years ago, I bought a cordless electric shaver. I plugged in into the outlet on the counter next to the medicine cabinet in our bathroom, for its initial charge up. After a couple of days, I noticed that the shaver was running to slow. I thought it was detective. I soon discovered that the outlet only worked when the light was on. When the light was off, the shaver received no power to charge it up.
The incident taught me a spiritual lesson: It is easy (by force of habit) to trust a source of power without checking to see if the switch is on. Christians need to have the “switch on” to receive the power we need from God to endure in this world.
3. The Witness (v. 12)
• Jesus will be glorified in His people when they return with Him to heaven; but he should also be glorified in our lives today.
Closing
Tonight we have taken a look back to our fellow Christian brothers and sisters in Thessalonica and seen what they were going through in their time of persecution, and I hope that through their experience we ourselves can grow and serve in a way that is pleasing to God. I pray that we would not be a people that allow one bad day to determine our whole lives, but allow the truth of God’s word about the future to determine how we will carry ourselves until that day comes. Amen.
