BELIEVERS GLORIFY GOD’S NAME
November 12, 2006 - END TIME 2 / LAST JUDGMENT -
2 Thessalonians 1:1-5,11,12
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
We are almost half way through November, believe it or not. To many people November is a special month. There are lots of things that happen in November that prepares us for all the activities in December. We may think of football games, the end of the season, leaves that have fallen, and certainly thanksgiving, thankful living. Especially for you and I as believers, we realize that Thanksgiving isn’t just one Thursday in November. We realize that Thanksgiving is every day. When we come to November, it reminds us that our lives are thankful for the blessings that God has given us. Thanksgiving reminds us of appreciating what God has done for us. Thanksgiving is in our text, isn’t it? Thanksgiving is the way that we bring glory to God’s name.
In the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, "Hallowed be your name." In the explanation of that prayer in the catechism it says that God’s name is certainly holy in and by itself, but we pray that we would lead holy lives to glorify God’s name. We can’t make God’s name any holier than what it is. Our lives can glorify his name. That is what we are going to look at this morning as believers. Our life as a life of thanksgiving is a life that glorifies God’s name. In the letter that Peter wrote we find that he writes to believers in a similar situation. Here you heard how the believers of Thessalonica were being persecuted. Peter encourages the believers in his letter. We are told about their persecution, because the government did not like them. Their businesses and homes were taken away because they were believers. Yet, what does Peter write? He does not write to get even or revenge but live thankful lives glorifying God’s name. Peter writes to them and to us: "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us" (1 Peter 2:12). Not much has changed. Our world and even our nation in a sense is a pagan nation. Paul reminds us to live good lives among pagans that we may glorify God. Or theme this morning then is:
BELIEVERS GLORIFY GOD’S NAME.
I. Thankful for God’s grace;
II. Always praying for others.
I. THANKFUL FOR GOD’S GRACE
There is no mistake as this letter begins as to who wrote it and to whom it is written. Verse 1: "Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." We have Paul, Silas and Timothy. We know that Paul wrote the letter with the help of Silas and Timothy. We aren’t told how, but we do know that Silas and Timothy often delivered Paul’s letters to the churches. We know that Timothy took Paul’s first letter to the congregation at Thessalonica, and he listened for a response and reaction of the believers. When he got it, he came back to Paul. Paul realized that he needed to write another letter to the believers in Thessalonica. God founded the church in Thessalonica during Paul’s second missionary journey. This city was in northern Greece, part of that peninsula of Greece. It became a great thriving congregation. As we picture it in the northern part of Greece, we realize that for the most part the people there are going to be Gentiles and not Jewish people.
Paul continues in verse 2: "Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." He starts with this blessing, a blessing we hear quite often. Most of our sermons start with that blessing. There is a lot of meaning there. Grace -- God’s undeserved love -- is the cause of our salvation. God’s love for us caused us to be saved. Then Paul writes, "Peace." Peace is the result of eternal salvation. We remember the words of Jesus--peace that the world cannot give. Jesus gives peace to believers. God’s grace is the cause of your salvation and God’s peace is the result of God’s salvation.
The next verse: "We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more." Paul was going to be thankful for these believers. Paul’s thankfulness was not just because they were believers, but also because their faith is growing more and more. What had happened that their faith was growing more and more? It was God’s grace that worked faith in their hearts. God’s grace caused them to love God and caused them to love their fellowman. How can Paul say, "I am thankful your faith is growing more and more?" How does he know that? He can’t see into their hearts, can he? What he can see the result of faith. Paul writes, "Your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing." Paul saw their love for God in their love for one another. Paul was thankful for God’s grace, first of all, for himself. Paul was also thankful for God’s grace that was among these believers as it revealed itself in their love for others.
Paul adds: "Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring." Now Paul has a reason to use the Thessalonians as an example. He was excited to tell other congregations about their faith; not just because it was faith but it was a faith that endured persecutions and trials. They were facing some difficulties. There were trials and tribulations. We are not told what kind of trials they faced. They did not give up their faith.
In verse 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." God’s judgment showed them mercy and grace. Even though they suffered God still counted them worthy. They were worthy because by God’s grace, the righteousness of Christ covered up their unrighteousness. It really did not cover up their suffering, but they were worthy because of the suffering and death and resurrection of Christ. Paul encourages them to stand firm in that faith. He is always going to give thanks for them. He is always going to thank God for the grace that was shown them. In this Paul would give God glory to God’s name. You and I, as we study Scripture, realize how Paul tried to give glory to God’s name his entire life being thankful for God’s grace. This congregation would glorify God’s name even in their persecutions.
It was a miracle that there would be any believers at all in this thriving city of Thessalonica. It was an even greater miracle that the new believers would stand firm in that faith in the midst of challenges. Simply that is God’s grace. Simply God’s grace works the very same great miracles in our lives today. Realizing the blessing and miracle of even knowing God’s grace we are thankful. Paul says, we are "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves" (Colossians 1:12,13). Paul was thankful that there were others who share in God’s grace. He was not alone. These believers at Thessalonica were not alone. There were congregations established in Paul’s first journey, second journey, third journey and fourth journey. We are reminded today of believers throughout the world. We are able to give thanks for God’s grace.
God’s grace, his undeserved love, is a great miracle.
There are all too many today that do not understand God’s grace. God loves us in spite of the fact that we are unloving and often unlovable. God forgives us in spite of the fact that we sin every day in thought, word and deed. God’s grace covers all that up. There are many who lose hope in this life. There are many who are filled with despair because things don’t go their way. They don’t understand God’s grace. We don’t deserve to be saved or have faith. We don’t deserve to understand the mysteries of Scripture and the glory of God. We don’t deserve to inherit eternal life, but God’s grace saves us. A miracle. Last week we studied that fact from the book of Romans. It is worth repeating today: "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23,24). We all fall short, but we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. That is God’s grace, and we are thankful. Our lives are to be thankful lives that always reflect the glory of God’s name.
Our lives are changed, and we are different people in this world. As the years go by, it almost becomes clear to see the difference between the believers and the people who don’t know whether they believe or not. The difference is you and I don’t give in to every sinful desire. We are strengthened in our new man by God’s grace. With daily contrition and repentance, as Luther says, we drowned our old Adam (man). God’s grace gives us the power and the will to stand up against Satan. God’s grace gives us the victory over sin and provides us the strength to stifle our sinful nature. In Titus we are told: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. (Jesus is the salvation that has appeared). What does that mean for us? It teaches us to say ’No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age" (Titus 2:11). You see some people who don’t fully believe God’s grace. They give in to the sinful desires of the world, the temptations of their flesh and listen to Satan. They fall forgetting that God’s grace gives them the power to stand firm against Satan.
God’s grace is something to be thankful for. Day in and day out, living our life in the love of God’s grace, we want to bring glory to God’s name. We thankfully remember what God has done for us.
II. ALWAYS PRAYING FOR OTHERS
As Paul continues, he gave glory to God’s name by praying for others. Probably and hopefully as you listen to this text you may have picked it up already, didn’t you? Not only was Paul thankful and proclaiming grace and peace to these believers, he also was praying for them. Remember, Paul came and went whenever he started a church. He couldn’t be there, so the best thing he could do was to pray. Verse 3 says: "We ought always to thank God for you." He was always going to thank God with his prayers for them. How was he going to encourage them to stand faithful in the midst of persecution, trials and tribulations? He would do it with prayer.
Verses 6-10 (not included our text today) tell us about the Lord’s coming judgment. It is not just the judgment of righteousness for believers, but also the righteous judgment of God against the unbelievers. It would have been easy for this congregation in Thessalonica to say, "Why do we want to believe in Christ? Look at all the bad things that are happening. In the rest of the world, the unbelievers seemed to have it made." Paul writes in those verses that God’s judgment would be revealed at the end.
Verse 11: "With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling." Again, we have the phrase God may count you worthy. We are reminded that God had already counted them worthy, didn’t he? God saved them by his grace and showed them his peace. They didn’t give up their faith. They were suffering persecution and trials because of their faith. They remained true to their calling. God had called them out of darkness. He had saved them. They weren’t going to give it up. The prayer Paul prayed was that they would not give it up their faith or give in to temptations. Here is another blessing: "By his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith." He says, "May the Lord shower you with blessing upon blessing." The original has goodness and goodness and goodness again. Paul knew that the Lord would hear and answer. Paul prayed these things. He wrote this to encourage these believers not for the sake of their pride. Paul prayed not that they might say, "Look what we have done. We have been faithful. We have been good." No, grace is God’s undeserved love.
Why does Paul pray these things? "We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in him." The temptation was there for Paul to pray very fearlessly and fervently for these believers so that they would remain faithful and become a big congregation. Then maybe he could have said, "Look what I have done." Paul never, ever did that, did he? He says, "I am not praying so I get the glory, but that God’s name would be glorified." He was not necessarily praying that the believers would be relieved of their suffering, but that God’s name would be glorified. Very often we have seen time and again how the church grows and even flourishes in trials and persecutions.
Notice the power behind Paul’s prayer. As this chapter ends: "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." Here Paul is getting back to God’s grace, always praying for others. This brings us a challenge in the difficult times in our life, doesn’t it? We are to give glory to God’s name all the time. It is difficult in our day and age that teaches us to take care of ourselves. Our day and age teaches that we aren’t happy if we don’t have all the things we want. If we face trials and persecutions or hardships, we ought to be sad. Our Lord says that it is the opposite for believers. He says everything gives glory to God’s name even in the midst of our trials. In the midst of our sicknesses and troubles we are to give glory to God’s name. When people persecute us or when the world makes fun of Christianity, we still give glory to God’s name. No matter what happens we are thankful for God’s grace.
It is not always easy. We remember the examples we have in Scripture. Jesus, when he was going to be betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, "Now is the time for the Son of Man to be glorified". This happened when one of his own disciples would soon betray him. The Apostle Paul prays that the Lord remove a thorn in his flesh. The Lord said, "No." What does Paul say? He doesn’t shake his fist at God. He gives us the example how you and I would give glory to God’s name even in the depth of our despair. The Lord’s response is our encouragement. "But he said to me, ’My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).
It may not always be easy to see God’s glory in the midst of our sickness, troubles, trials, persecutions, heartaches, and sorrows. This list goes on because sin is in this world. He says in the midst of that we realize we can’t depend on ourselves. We trust in God’s power. In our weakness, we see God’s grace. In our sorrow we turn to God’s joy. In our heartache we pray for God’s comfort. This is giving glory to God’s name.
Another key here for us to remember is "for others." Is it all about me? Do I need to keep praying about myself? No, Paul doesn’t pray for himself, but prays for these believers. Again that is a challenge, because the world says to look out for number 1. Take care of yourself, and let the world take care of itself. Sometimes we might become greedy and selfish in our prayers. The Lord says we can pray for others. Today, take the membership list and find your name and pray for the next three people. Keep going down the list praying for three different families each day. That way everyone is praying for everyone else. There is a great blessing to be found there. Then we glorify God’s name. The Lord says as we pray for others he takes care of us, doesn’t he? He knows what we need more than we need to know for ourselves. Maybe our Christian friends know what we need even more than we might know what we need for ourselves. They may pray better for us than we can for ourselves. In Ephesians: "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18). The encouragement is to pray always and keep on praying. Scriptures repeat this encouragement because we simply don’t pray enough. Prayer is work. We have to stop and take time, think and honor God and give him glory.
We have one more passage to remind ourselves to pray thankfully for the believers that are here. Pray for the believers that have had a great or small effect on our life. Remember the faithfulness of the generations that have come and gone but they have kept the word of God alive. Imagine that! From thousands of years ago Noah and his family unto to today -- God’s word is still God’s word. Why? Because people were faithful and they wanted to give glory to God’s name. In Philippians Paul writes: "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:3-5). We can probably think of a person or two close to us to pray for with joy. We might be able to think of a person or two who are far away from us to pray for with joy. Then we can expand our horizons and pray for those we don’t know who are in the invisible Christian church -- those in Africa and Japan and Russia. We have missionaries proclaiming the Gospel who face persecution. It is against the law in some places to have a Bible or read out loud from Scripture. It is against the law in our own nation and in places and some circumstances to share the Gospel. Inside some prison walls people are not allowed to speak the Gospel or discuss religious things. But the persecutions we face pale in comparison to those who are put into prison, those who lose their lives still today. So we pray for them, others who truly need our prayers.
In all of this Paul says, "Give glory to God." Our world is growing darker and darker as the Last Day comes. Our Lord reminds the signs are there. His return is probably coming sooner than later. Give glory to God. We do that with our thankful, Christian living -- thankful living because of God’s grace. It is a miracle that you and I are saved. We are Gentiles with no physical lineage that goes back to the Jewish nation, God’s chosen. It is even a greater miracle that we remain faithful to the end. We are thankful for God’s grace. We share our thankfulness for God’s grace by praying for others who are truly in need, others who are truly suffering and battling the demons of this life.
Jesus spoke to his disciples about the city on the hill that could not be hidden. The light that is lit is not put under a bushel. Then Jesus concludes: "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). Believers glorify God’s name with thankful lives for God’s grace and faithful prayers for others. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM + www.kqnk.com
Last Judgment / End Time 2 readings: MALACHI 4:1-2a; HEBREWS 9:24-28; JOHN 5:19-24
