BY JOHN ROSS
Well Good Afternoon Everyone! It’s certainly great to be here. This week was a little exciting. I guess I could just say, “It’s nothing more than a false alarm which is a good thing to be able to say after the fact.” But doctors have a way of taking what you say and turning it into something you don’t want and as a result you have one. So, it turned out although I was complaining about a few, what I considered minor symptoms, they took those to be serious and decided to throw me into the hospital and poke and jab and whatever. But at the end they agreed with me that they were fairly minor symptoms and had nothing to do with what they thought. So, I want to thank everybody for thinking about me but this was a false alarm and those are the types of false alarms to have. When you’re sitting in intensive care, you like to know that it turns out that way.
This is going to be a first for me for a sermon. This is a Part II sermon. I’ve actually done one. It didn’t start out that way, but it turns out that that’s what it’s going to be. I spoke a couple of months ago about Thessalonica and we went through 1 Thessalonians. And today we’re going to go through the 2 Thessalonians.
The reason is that it’s—we did 1 Thessalonians. We went through it, but that wasn’t the whole story. 1 and 2 Thessalonians are really two very tied together letters. They happened within a few months of each other and they are very instructive about how the Church grows up, how the Church reacts, how the Church does things. And I think it’s instructive for us to kind of go through it and to understand this because Paul went through this with these folks. And it was something for him, I’m sure. If there had been a telephone instead of the distances involved in a letter, this all might have happened in a week. But it didn’t. It happened over time, over months. And because of that, we have more documentation of what was said and what was done than probably normal. And we have to read between the lines in a few cases, but when we put the lines together and we read between them, we start to see some things about their lives as Christians and their lives as a Church that really parallel all of God’s Churches throughout time and what we face and what we do. And they’re instructive in how to continue to deal with going forward.
So as way of background, I want to cover a couple of things that we covered last time, but just by way of background. If you remember the last time we spoke, one of the points I wanted to make is that the Church is truly local. And it’s about the local Church. It’s about the individuals who make up the local Church. It’s not about the global Church. There really is no global Church in the sense of how God views the Church. He views the Church as a bunch of individuals who He is calling and He has put together and that they are locally in a place. And that how they live their lives and how they learn and what they do with their lives is what makes the Church. Not the other way around. The Church doesn’t make the local individuals of it. It’s the individuals who make up the Church. It’s their character and their focus and what they do with their lives that’s important.
And these apostles wrote letters to these Churches. And when they wrote these letters, they addressed them to a Church. If you read the letters, you can sense they are addressing it to the individuals of the Church, to the interaction of those individuals, how they’re developing as a Church and how they’re developing as a group.
If you’ll turn to Acts 17.
Thessalonica—just to remind everybody—was a kind of an
unusual city. It was a “free” city in
the
And it was a large city, about 200,000 people lived
there. That’s rather large.
And, of course, the Word of God came to them. It came into that city. In Acts 17 we read that Paul and others had passed through Thessalonica where there was a synagogue. And they stopped. Verse 2,
Acts 17:2. Then Paul, as his
custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the
Scriptures,
So he taught them and he reasoned with them. This is the first they had probably heard of the Word of God. And he reasoned with them. And certain ones amongst that population were converted and became Christians and became the Church at Thessalonica.
But like any city back in that time not all were converted. Not all were convinced. And there were those Jews—verse 5, we see that the Jews who were not persuaded. So he was preaching in the synagogue. Of course, that would have been to Jewish people. And there were some who were not persuaded. And verse 5,
Acts 17:5b. becoming
envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob,
set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason,
Jason was one of those who was being converted at the time.
Acts 17:5 cont. and sought
to bring them out to the people.
He was looking for Paul who had been this rabble rouser. He had only been there for a few weeks. Three weeks and already they were trying to lynch him.
Acts 17:6. But when they did
not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city,
crying out, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.
So Paul had a reputation already. They knew about this Christian faith that had been going through the Empire. This happened around 50-51 AD. So Christ had been crucified for about twenty years at this point. So the idea of Christianity was not unknown in the Empire. People knew about it. They knew it was going from city to city. And it was viewed as something that “turned the world upside down.” And they didn’t want that in their city and they were going to stop that.
Acts 17:7. “Jason has
harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar,
So this was sedition. This was treason what these people were doing by believing God.
Acts 17:7b. saying that
there is another king—Jesus.” 8) And
they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these
things.
Of course, if you’re a free city, self-governing within the Roman Empire and people start talking about there’s another king besides Caesar, of course, you’re going to get worried. Aren’t you? Because what would be the end result of if everybody in the city started to say that? You wouldn’t be a self-governing ungarrisoned city. You would have Roman troops sent there and they would correct you in your understanding. So, of course, they got scared of what it would mean to their life and to their way of life.
And, of course, at this point, Paul left. And he had fled the city immediately. But now these people were going to be persecuted. They didn’t leave. They didn’t stop just because Paul left. The persecution was going to continue.
So by way of background, that’s where we’re at with this
Church. This is how this Church
started. This was the events that had
led up to it. This was the environment
that they found themselves in being persecuted, on trial by the local citizenry
because they were afraid of what the impact of a Christian Church would have to
their status in the
So Paul then was gone for a while. And by way of remembering, he wrote them a letter, 1 Thessalonians. And he asked, “What’s going on?” He hadn’t heard. And he sent some people in and they came—I had the time line here. He sent some people to Thessalonia to find out what was going on. They came back to Paul to report what was going on. He wrote them then this letter of 1 Thessalonians to commend them. And he went through that.
And we went through it last time. We won’t do it again. Although we will refer back to it, because 2 Thessalonians addresses the same issues as 1 Thessalonians but the other side. And that’s what’s interesting about it. By putting the two together you get to see both sides of the issue, how people were going to one extreme to another and why the issues were what they were. And out of that, hopefully, we can get some understanding of like where they should have been in the first place between these issues and how dangerous it was what they were doing in doing these things.
So, 1 Thessalonians was written. First of all, he was extremely happy that the Church had prospered. That their faith had grown. I mean these are all good things that they had done, but they needed some correcting. And there was a few gentle corrections in there, corrections on how to live, how we should live our lives, some corrections on prophecy. Not too much, but a few things. And he sent that letter.
So now we find ourselves a few months later after this letter was sent. And now another letter is sent. Now obviously there was another correspondence of somebody had gone to Thessalonica and had seen what was happening. And now more reports had come back to Paul. And now he had to write another letter, another letter to the Thessalonians, the second one. And this time he had to cover some more issues that he covered in the first one. He had already covered these issues and now he was going to cover them again except he talks about them differently now.
So, let’s turn to 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians 1 and we’ll start in verse 1. And he says,
2 Thessalonians 1:1. Paul,
Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ: 2) Grace to you
and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul always started out his letters asking God to give His grace to them and to be aware of their needs from the Holy Spirit of what they needed.
He says in verse 3,
2 Thessalonians 1:3. We are
bound to thank God always for you,
So these people even at this second letter, we see here that in verse 3,
2 Thessalonians 1:3. [He is]
bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your
faith grows exceedingly,
So their faith continued to grow. So this Church isn’t in decline. It isn’t falling apart. The faith continues to grow.
2 Thessalonians 1:3b. and
the love of every one of you abounds toward each other,
And it’s interesting that he starts it out that way because—you don’t need to turn here unless you want to but—in John 13 verse 34, Christ told them that in verse 34, He says,
John 13:34. “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that
you also love one another.
And in verse 35, He says,
John 13:35. “By this all
will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So verse 3, Paul is confirming to them that they are disciples of Christ. That they are followers of Christ. That their faith is growing and “the love of every one of you abounds toward each another.” So he’s affirming right to the basics that this Church is a Church. That they are growing in faith. And that they are God’s people. There’s no doubt about that. We’re writing a letter now to God’s people. Not to unconverted. Not to persuade somebody who isn’t converted. These people are in God’s Church and they are strong.
In verse 4, he says,
2 Thessalonians 1:4. So that
we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith
in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.
So he acknowledged that they were continuing to experience tribulations and persecutions. So when he left, it didn’t stop. The fact that he left didn’t stop what was going on. And this is important to know because these people were growing in faith and growing in love towards one another inside of persecution and tribulations. And he acknowledged that to them.
Now in verse 5, he says,
2 Thessalonians 1:5. Which is manifest evidence of the
righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the
So once again, he re-emphasizes to them that they are God’s Church. That this tribulation that they’re going through and how they’re reacting to it is evidence that God is working with them. It’s evidence of that. And, that because of that, they’re counted worthy to be in God’s Kingdom.
In 1 Peter 2 verse 19—once again, you don’t have to turn there—he says,
1 Peter 2:19. For this is commendable, if because of conscience
toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20) For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults,
In other words, beaten for what you have done.
1 Peter 2:20b. you take it
patiently? But when you do good and
suffer, if you take it patiently, this is
commendable before God. 21) For to this
you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that you should follow His steps:
Verse 22.
1 Peter 2:22. “Who committed
no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”;
23) Who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He
suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
So once again, he is giving evidence of what he’s heard back to them in this letter that these are true Christians. That these people are doing what God had commanded them to do. And that they were living like the example of Christ, how they were supposed to live. In the face of persecution and tribulations, these people had it. They were doing it right.
Okay, in verse 7 then of 2 Thessalonians 1, it says,
2 Thessalonians 1:7. And to give you who are troubled rest with us
when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
So, he’s commended them for enduring this persecution. He’s told them that the payment for those who persecute God’s Church will be tribulation. So, they understand that. But that they will have a rest. That there’s a time coming when they won’t be in tribulation, when Jesus revealed this end time prophecy and this is important because later on he talks about this. They understood this part about it that there was a rest for the troubled coming when Christ returned. But later on we’re going to see they had a problem about understanding when Christ was going to return and what they should be doing when Christ returns.
In Revelation 6 verse 11—you don’t have to turn there, but—it talks about the rest. It says,
Revelation 6:11. Then a
white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they rest a
little while longer,
So when he referred to this rest, he was referring to the return of Christ. That they were to be given these robes and they would have a rest.
Now verse 8 in 2 Thessalonians 1, it says,
2 Thessalonians 1:8. In
flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do
not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So he was trying to remind them that these people who were causing them persecution and the troubles that they were having were not going to go unnoticed by God and not unpunished by God. That He would do that.
In verse 9, he says,
2 Thessalonians 1:9. These
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
[Eternal] and from the glory of His power,
10) [And] When He comes in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and
to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was
believed.
So, when this Day comes and God returns in His full glory that they will understand it and they will get their rest. And those who persecute them will receive their just rewards for what they’ve done.
So he’s kind of explained why that they are Christians. They’re living by Christ’s example. They’re doing it. They’re not doing it for nothing. That what they’re enduring as far as persecution is going to be dealt with by God in God’s time frame. And that they should take comfort in that.
Now we go to 2 Thessalonians 2 because there crept in a misunderstanding of these people about this coming of God. And this misunderstanding had to do with people saying that Christ had already come. That He had already returned. They were going through tribulation and they had understood that there was going to be this persecution. And certainly they had been told that Christ was going to return. And now they thought He was going to return, but what’s interesting is why some of them started to think that.
Chapter 2 verse 1.
2 Thessalonians 2:1. Now,
brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering
together to Him,
So he’s laid in perspective what the Day of the Lord means to them. That they will have to endure this persecution until the end and that they are doing it. But they are doing it rightly. That they’re not reviling men. They’re not returning back to those who persecute them with persecution of their own. That they’re taking it just like Christ had instructed them to do that.
It says, but in verse 2,
2 Thessalonians 2:2. Not to
be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter,
as if from us, as through the day of Christ had come.
So Paul had been told when they came back after this first letter that these people were now thinking that Christ had already come. But you can imagine if you think that there is going to be a rest and you’re supposed to endure persecution until Christ comes and now people are telling you, “He’s already come,” your faith could potentially start to get shaken. Shouldn’t it? Because when He comes, you’re supposed to receive this rest and He’s supposed to take out His wrath against these folks. And if that’s already happened and you’re continuing to have persecution, something isn’t making sense.
But why did they think that? Why was that going through the Church that He had already come? Well, believe it or not, Paul gave them that idea. He gave them that idea in the first letter. You don’t have to turn there unless you’d like to. We’re going to spend a few minutes there. We’re going to go back to 1 Thessalonians and read a few Scriptures and see where they got the idea that Christ had already returned. And because some of them had thought that, this was starting to cause some trouble in the Church. They didn’t understand prophecy. They’re starting potentially to have doubts and people were starting to wonder what was going on.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, we read this last time, in verse 13. Now this is Paul. He was correcting something that they had misunderstood from his visit. Remember he had been there three days, had gone, had sent somebody back to check up on them and found out that they were growing in faith.
Now what’s interesting is they had this prophetic error, but they were growing in faith because prophecy and faith are not the same thing. Because you misunderstand prophecy doesn’t mean that you can’t have faith and that your faith can’t grow. First lesson to take away from this, okay? You got something wrong in prophecy that doesn’t mean that you aren’t growing in faith and you aren’t enduring persecution the way that you should, living the way Christ did and therefore eligible to be commended by Paul and by God for living the Christian life. But these people had some prophetic problems.
In 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 1, Paul wrote them in that first letter. He says,
1 Thessalonians 4:13. But I
do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen
asleep, lest you sorrow, as others who have no hope.
So he was addressing what they had been concerned about is those who had died before Christ had returned. Kind of a simple thing, but they were concerned about that.
1 Thessalonians 4:14. For if
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him
those who sleep in Jesus.
So people were concerned that if they had heard this and Christ was supposed to return and they died before He come, what was going to happen to them? There was this concern raised up. They didn’t realize that God was going to raise them all up and they’d be there.
1 Thessalonians 4:15. For
this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord
will by no means precede those who are asleep.
So he gave them some more information and thankfully he gave us some more information because we needed it too.
1 Thessalonians 4:16. For
the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, [and] with the voice of
an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
And the dead in Christ will rise first.
So in verse 18, he goes on there, but in verse 18 he says,
1 Thessalonians 4:18. Therefore
comfort one another with these words.
So in his first letter after he had preached to them for the three weeks and then had left, this misunderstanding had come about about what was going to happen if you die before Christ returned. What was going to happen to you? Did you lose out? And so he was giving them some instruction that they shouldn’t worry about it.
And now 1 Thessalonians 5.
And maybe if he had stopped there, they wouldn’t have had a problem. But in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 1, he continued to give them some more information about what was going to happen. Because they obviously were concerned about this, this timing of when Christ was going to return.
1 Thessalonians 5:1. But
concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should
write to you. 2) For you yourselves know
perfectly
Now he said they knew this, but apparently they didn’t understand it. They knew it, but they didn’t understand it.
1 Thessalonians 5:2b. [knew]
perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
And from that some in Thessalonia had decided He snuck back. Christ has returned! And now they’re concerned that Christ has already returned. And so now we have this second letter coming back, because we know what he meant by that. We know that he meant that Christ was going to come back when we least expect it. And nobody’s going to expect it—like a thief in the night. But they had taken that and they had misunderstood it and now some of them said, “Well, He’s coming back like a thief. Hey, you didn’t know this, but He’s already come back!”
And so now, we go back to 2 Thessalonians, the second letter, and we’re in chapter 2 and we’re in verse 3 and it says,
2 Thessalonians 2:3. Let no
one deceive you by any means; for that
Day will not come
And now he’s going to tell them, “Wait a minute! I said it was going to be like a thief in the night. But it isn’t like you’re not going to know a lot of things.”
2 Thessalonians 2:3b. will not come unless the falling away
comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,
So, he’s trying to correct what they had misunderstood. I mean he didn’t tell them that Christ had returned. They just misunderstood what he said. So he’s starting to tell them that there’s some things that are going to have to happen that haven’t happened yet. You can see that they haven’t happened. And, therefore, don’t worry about this misunderstanding. You shouldn’t think Christ has come, because when He comes, you’re going to know it.
2 Thessalonians 2:4. Who
opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped,
so that he sits as God in the
Okay. In three weeks of preaching, I imagine Paul said a lot of things. I bet they just didn’t remember them. And he’s trying to remind them. “I did say it.” But you can know how it is. A few, six, seven, eight, nine months ago, you were here and we had three weeks of constant going, dinners and talking, and understanding stuff we’d never understood before. It’s easy to understand why they might not quite remember it exactly the way it should, so hence, the writing of this letter.
And these letters got preserved for us so that we don’t have to sit here and say, “Well, now I remember when so-and-so came and told us about all this twenty years ago and this is what they meant.” Obviously memories fade. We’re not remembering things always the way we should. So that’s why we have the Scriptures. These people didn’t have the Scriptures and didn’t realize it, but they were actually creating the Scriptures that we were going to live by so that we could understand.
It says, verse 6,
2 Thessalonians 2:6. And now
you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. 7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already
at work;
So Paul recognized that the forces, this mystery of lawlessness that was going to lead up to the Great Tribulation and all the persecution that was going to follow was at work and had started to be at work here in the Church. He had seen it. And he recognized it, but Christ hadn’t returned yet because there was this restraining going on. Something was keeping it from being really bad or as bad as it’s been described to us in the book of Revelation.
Verse 7.
2 Thessalonians 2:7. For the
mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the
way.
There is a restraining going on. And it’s holding things back from ending. Things are being held back by God.
Let’s look at a couple of Scriptures. Let’s not turn to this one, but 1 John 2 and verse 18. It says,
1 John 2:18. Little
children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is
coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the
last hour.
There are those people who are antichrists it says. Of their behavior and their actions and how they treat God’s Church and who they’re listening to and there’s been many of them that have come. But they’re not The Antichrist. And John was letting people know that there is one final Antichrist coming, but there’s many more that have been here already. We’ve seen them. They’re against Christ. They’re trying to destroy Christ’s Church. But they are nothing compared to what’s going to be coming! But you need to know that it’s happening.
Now let’s investigate “restraining” for a moment. Let’s think about this. There’s a restraining going on to keep things from happening. If we go to Job, Job 1 verse 6, verse 6 through 12, we read about this relationship between God and about Satan. We know Satan is the father of all lies and that he is moving things in a certain direction. It says, Job 1 verse 6, it says,
Job 1:6. Now there was a day
when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among
them. 7) And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from
walking back and forth on it.” 8) Then
the Lord said to Satan, “Have you
considered My servant Job, that there is
none like him in the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and
shuns evil.” 9) So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for
nothing?
And, of course, we’re familiar with this story. But verse 10, Satan says,
Job
In other words, God has put up a hedge around Job to protect him, to restrain Satan from doing what Satan might want to do to him or what evil that Satan could do to him or what evil Satan could influence him with.
Job 1:10b. around his
household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and
his possessions have increased in the land.
But now verse 11, it says,
Job
Satan didn’t say, “Let me go do it.” Satan realized he was restrained. He could do nothing. But he said, “God, if You would stretch out Your hand and take all that he has because I can’t do anything. You have this hedge around me. I’m being restrained. I can’t do it. But if you would do it.” So we see that God has great power over what is going on with Satan and his demons. They are operating under a set of restraints and that God controls those restraints.
Job
So, He lifted up the restraints. Now all that he had, his possessions, everything
Job 1:12b. is in your power; only do not lay a hand
on his person.” So Satan went out from
the presence of the [Eternal].
And, of course, we know the rest of the story what he did. But God puts restraints around the evil that’s around us. He puts restraints. He is restraining and controlling when these events will happen and when they will hit the point that it is time for the return of Christ.
Back to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 8, it says,
2 Thessalonians 2:8. And
then the lawless one will be revealed,
So remember back in verse 7, this mystery is already at work and He who restrains him until He is taken out of the way, and now verse 8, it says,
2 Thessalonians 2:8. And
then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the
breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. 9) The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power,
signs, and lying wonders,
In verse 10,
2 Thessalonians 2:10. And
with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not
receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11) And for this reason God will send them
strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12) That they all may be condemned who did
not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
And, of course, we know that in this case that “condemned” doesn’t mean “destroyed.” And it doesn’t mean that they’re going to be eternally lost. They’re going to be condemned because they will have lived through this and seen this and then they will be given a chance, because God has restrained them from seeing the truth. He’s restrained the forces of evil. And He’s restrained people from seeing and accepting the truth, to let them live the life that is without God.
Romans 1 verse 18, once again you don’t have to turn there. We’re going to come right back here. It says,
Romans 1:18. For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
man, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19) Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has
shown it to them.
In other words, if you look around this creation, it is obvious there is a God. But they don’t see it. It’s obvious. It’s manifest in their own existence. They should understand that there is a Creator, but they don’t. They don’t see it.
Romans 1:20. For since the
creation of the world His invisible attributes
are clearly seen,
Why? Because in the creation, we see the design. We see the Creator if we’re looking and if our minds are open.
Romans 1:20b. being understood
by the things that are made, even His
eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21) Because, although they knew God, they did
not glorify Him as God,
So in their studying and understanding of their environment and this universe and this existence, they still did not glorify God. They didn’t give Him His credit. Even though they saw it! They tried to come up with other explanations, other ways this could have happened. But didn’t recognize it for what it was that it was God’s creation, His power, His glory.
Romans 1:21b. but became
futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
So we have before us an existence of persecution, people of Thessalonica. The Church in Thessalonica was being persecuted. They were living the Christian life. They were good examples. They were good examples to other Churches even. We’ll read that a little later that they were living that well. But they had some problems. They had some understanding of prophecy that they didn’t understand. They didn’t understand God’s power in holding this stuff back. And so he’s giving them that further instruction so that they understand it.
Now back to 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. It says,
2 Thessalonians 2:13. But we
are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord,
because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification
by the Spirit and belief in the truth,
14) To which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God had chosen them. They had to realize that. And he wanted to remind them of that. That it was no accident that they were God’s Church in this city and that they were enduring this persecution. They were chosen for this role. In their lives, in their living of their lives and living in Christ’s example, they were living out what God wanted them to do and God needed them to do in His plan in this city to be a witness, to live that life. Each and every one of them locally was living it and needed to do that.
So in verse 15, he says,
2 Thessalonians 2:15. Therefore,
brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by
word or our epistle.
So they were supposed to remember the words that he told them when he was there that first time. And now he added another thing, my epistle. This letter he had written them before, it was now part of what they were supposed to hold fast. We now know why these are in the Bible. These were basic instructional documents for this Church as they were growing and trying to understand.
It says verse 16,
2 Thessalonians 2:16. Now
may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and
given us everlasting consolation and
good hope by grace, 17) Comfort your
hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
So they were supposed to be doing a work, good works, which they were doing. And they were supposed to understand these words and let it comfort their hearts because they were enduring persecution. So much persecution that they believed that it was the persecution that qualified for the return of Christ.
And then some of them had become confused because some of them based on the first letter had started to think, “Well, maybe Christ has come,” because didn’t Paul say, “He was going to sneak back”? Well, that’s not what Paul said. He didn’t mean it in that sense that He was going to sneak back, but some people took it that way. They thought He was going to sneak back and now He was back and they were still enduring persecution. And, oh, by the way, probably some of them remember, “Well, didn’t he tell us we were going to be caught up in the clouds and meet Him when He came back?” And if that didn’t happen, “Am I a Christian? Did I miss it?” Creates doubt! You can see how that might fester in a Church, especially when they’re undergoing persecution. They might doubt that God is still working with them or ever was working with them.
Okay, 2 Thessalonians 3, he moves on. This time he says,
2 Thessalonians 3:1. Finally,
brethren, pray for us,
So, he’s dealt with this prophecy question, but he says,
2 Thessalonians 3:1. Finally,
brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you,
So he’s trying to encourage them again after he’s corrected them on this prophecy thing. That “No, you didn’t miss the boat. You misunderstood that. Don’t worry. You haven’t been left out. Put these things together. Even if you die before He returns, you don’t have to worry, your place is secure. God will be faithful. You will be there. He will keep His Word for you.”
2 Thessalonians 3:1. may run
swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2) And that we may be delivered from unreasonable
and wicked men; for not all have faith.
So, he’s asking them now to pray for him and those that are
with them that they may be delivered because Paul was undergoing
persecution. And we know he was because
even Paul thought Christ was going to return.
That even though—now understand this is 50-51 AD—the temple wasn’t
destroyed until 70. So the temple hasn’t
been destroyed yet. There still is a
temple in
And in verse 3, it says,
2 Thessalonians 3:3. But the
Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
So he knew it was important that we be protected through this restraining just as Job was. That we be protected from this evil one and that they needed to understand that. That this persecution was coming about because of the evil one, but it was still being restrained. It wasn’t the persecution that was going to actually lead to the return of Christ tomorrow. It was the persecution that was going to lead up to it over time, but it was still being restrained.
Now in Philippians—you don’t have to turn here
but—Philippians 1, Paul expresses the same types of feelings for the Church at
Philippians 1:3. I thank my
God upon every remembrance of you, 4)
Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5) For your
fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6) Being confident of this very thing, that
He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
That if they were going to have faith, they needed to have faith in that premise that Christ was going to work this out. And that He was going to be there and He was going to complete this work in them. And that they weren’t going to be left behind and they wouldn’t miss anything. They had to have faith in that.
And it was clear that they and Paul and even ourselves don’t understand the full flow of the plan. How many times in our years in the Church have you run across someone who says, “You see these events? This is this many days now till this is going to happen, because it can’t get any worse than that.” Well, I’ve learned to say, “Oh yeah?” It can get a lot worse.
I mean we are so protected with this restraint that God has put around us. What would it be like if He didn’t do that? We have no idea how bad it could really be because God is restraining this. We think we do because we’re discomforted and we’re having this problem or that problem which God said we would have these trials and that He wouldn’t let them be more than we could handle. Why? Because He’s putting restraints on how bad they get. And they’re tailored to us.
And we can take the lesson from Job that when He released the restraints, He didn’t release them and say, “Okay, do whatever you want. I’m walking away.” No. “You do this, but don’t do this.” Why did He put that restraint? He knew Job could handle it up to that point. He knew what was going to happen. He was going to try Job. Not to impress Satan, but to make Job a better Christian or in his case a better believer in God, to build his faith.
But He kept the restraints on because He knew that if He took them completely off that even the elect would be deceived. Right? If He took them completely off, we stand no chance whatsoever.
Our faith is interesting. It comes from God. It’s hard to say “our faith,” because it’s ours, but how strong is it really? How strong is it? How is it not being propped up by God every day through the restraints that He puts around us?
These people needed to understand that. They were growing in faith. They had strong faith. They were being used as an example of faith to other Churches in the area of ever-increasing faith. But don’t forget where that faith comes from! And who keeps that faith together and that restraint that’s going on around you that’s protecting and helping you just like a small fire with embers trying to grow into a bigger flame. Those embers sit there and say, “We’re just going to start burning.” They don’t realize all the work that’s going on around them so they have a chance to keep them going, to fuel them, to help them to move to the next level.
But we can be confident in that. It’s not something we have to be afraid of. We can be confident that God is doing that and that He will do that and that He can do that. We should be confident in that. Not that we’re going to do it but that we’re confident that He’s going to build it in us. He’s going to do to us through trials and tribulations just what we need to grow to that next level.
Back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 verse 4, it says,
2 Thessalonians 3:4. And we
have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will
do the things we command you. 5) Now
may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of
Christ.
Once again, it is God that is directing and running this show. And that He will direct our hearts. And that’s what Paul was praying for. Okay?
Now once again, we move on and he changes thoughts here again. He goes back to another issue that he addressed back in the first letter. Now in the first letter, 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 11—let me turn there real quick. I forgot to write this one down. Believe me I know where this is at because I was all over it last night. Well, anyway in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 11, he addresses something that had been referred to there about how we should live our lives. And they had not quite understood that. So in verse 6, it says,
2 Thessalonians 3:6. But we
command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw
from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition that
he received from us.
So he’s talking about how we need to behave in the Church. And he’s addressed that before, but they didn’t quite get it. They didn’t quite understand it. And it’s because of the issue on prophecy that they didn’t understand how they should live.
You see there’s a conflict that we even have gone through. And some of us may yet be going through it. Some of us have gone through it once. Maybe some of us are on our tenth time through it. But there’s this conflict that we face as Christians that we understand that Christ is going to return quickly. He’s going to return quickly. And that we can’t predict when He’s going to return. We don’t know the time. We don’t know the hour.
This creates a couple of dilemmas in our lives as Christians. Some of us think, “Well, it’s our job then to figure out when He’s going to come.” Okay? We try to figure out the time and the hour and the events and read the Scriptures and try to put them altogether and it’s 2012.
That’s what they told me on TV the other day. They figured it out. Two years ago, it was 2009. Of course, 2009 is here. Okay, we need a new date. Well, now Nostradamus says it’s 2012. He wasn’t saying that ten years ago when they were showing these stupid shows, but now he’s saying that. Okay?
But we think somehow it’s our job to figure that out. That’s one of our dilemmas. But we also can misapply that. And we’ve seen that where people become so believing that He’s going to return immediately. It’s just around the corner. I mean anyone who denies that is denying that Christ Himself that He’s not going to come back.
And we start to think we don’t really need to do anything right now with our lives. Not necessarily our spiritual lives, but with our physical lives. So we don’t prepare. We don’t get an education. We don’t get a good job. We don’t work. We don’t take care of ourselves because Christ is coming back.
And I lived through this as I started as a really young person in the Church. I’m not sure where each of you started, but I started at age seventeen. So at that point where I had to decide to go to college or not to go to college and I went through all the people telling me that, “Well, why would you want to spend four years in college if you’re not going to make it? Christ will return before then. So what a waste! Why not do something else?” One of those things, how am I going to live my life?
And he needed to address this because—believe it or not—back then they had the same problems. People took this “returning as a thief in the night” it’s going to happen as quickly as possible. The persecution is upon us. And there were people who basically had stopped living and said, “I need to focus on being spiritual. I need to focus on getting myself ready. That’s more important than the physical.” Is it? Is it?
So, let’s read these verses understanding that as a background that this is a dilemma that the Church has faced then and it faces now. Every Christian faces it this idea of waiting, but “What should I do while I’m waiting?” In verse 6,
2 Thessalonians 3:6. For we
command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
This is after he had—remember we just finished this part where he had given a great thanks for them in their prayers and he was very thankful that they were there.
2 Thessalonians 3:6b. that
you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the
tradition which he received from us.
So this is something Paul felt he had taught them. This was how they were supposed to do this.
It says,
2 Thessalonians 3:7. For you
yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among
you;
Now he uses this word “disorderly.” And what we think is that they’re somehow causing problems because they’re acting up or whatever. He’s referring to “disorderly” being they are not living their lives day-to-day like a Christian should be living his life which is being productive and being self-sufficient and self-reliant. And if you’re not being that, then you’re “disorderly” because your day just kind of seems to flop around. It doesn’t seem to have any purpose. You’re not creating anything.
It says verse 8,
2 Thessalonians 3:8. Nor did
we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and
day, that we might not be a burden to any of you,
So that was the example that he had given them. That he, Paul, who had been personally taught by Christ, who had come to them to meet with them, he labored himself to take care he could feed himself because he didn’t ask them to support him. He was giving them an example that although—and moving on here—in verse 9, it says,
2 Thessalonians 3:9. Not
because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you
should follow us.
In other words, he said, “I have the authority to ask you to take care of me because I was working. I was doing God’s work with you.” And certainly, having to preach and everything else takes time. I mean he spent hours in the synagogue talking, but he didn’t ask them for help. He looked to his own needs. And he did that because he wanted that to be an example to them that although the work of God, this preaching of God’s Word is the most important thing in the world, as a Christian who’s living God’s Word, it’s not the only thing we’re supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to be taking care of ourselves. We’re supposed to be setting an example of being self-reliant.
Verse 10,
2 Thessalonians 3:10. For
even when we were with you, we commanded you this:
Because he knew this would happen! People would say, “Oh, I’m just doing religious things now. I don’t have time to do that stuff. You guys need to help me out here, because I need to focus on the spiritual thing. That’s more important. My eternal life is more important than my day-to-day living.” So he set this as an example. He said,
2 Thessalonians 3:10b. we
commanded you this: If anyone will not
work,
Which was okay. Well, then
2 Thessalonians
In other words, you’re responsible to take care of yourself. Not to be a burden on others. And why is that? Because he knew that that would be a bad example for God’s people to set for the rest of the world if we were all just sitting around doing nothing expecting everybody to take care of us. What kind of example is that of this great Being who’s calling us into His Kingdom? No, we have to be self-sufficient. God made us to be that way and so we need to be what we are, what we were created to be.
2 Thessalonians 3:11. For we
hear that there
Now here’s the crux of the problem.
2 Thessalonians 3:11. For we
hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner,
In other words, they’re not accomplishing anything. He’s not saying they’re doing anything productive.
2 Thessalonians 3:11b. not
working at all, but are busybodies.
They’re busybodies. They were just focusing on this spiritual. And I would guess—dollars to donuts—that they’re the ones that had decided that Christ had already returned. So that’s what they spent their whole day worrying about. And so because of that, they were just spending their time and now they were causing problems in the Church because they had too much time on their hands. They’d lost perspective of what they were supposed to be doing as Christians, living a life of example. Instead they were spending their days thinking about all this stuff that’s really great to think about in the Bible and prophecy and everything else and started to come up with all these things. And he described them as “busybodies.” And we know what that is.
It says,
2 Thessalonians 3:12. Now
those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that
they work in quietness and eat their own bread.
Just “work in quietness and eat [your] own bread.”
Back to that 1 Thessalonians. It was 4 verse 11, because remember back here he told them in 4 verse 11,
1 Thessalonians 4:11. That
you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work
with your own hands, as we commanded you.
You see he had that in the first letter, but it really hadn’t taken hold. They really didn’t catch that piece. And so he had to remind them again. And now he’s reminding them in this letter.
Now think about where this is at in this letter. This is the very last thing! Because this was the thinking he needed to address because this—although being the last thing—was what led to the other things being a problem because there were people who were not living the life the way they should. And so they were causing problems.
Verse 13,
2 Thessalonians 3:13. But as for you, brethren,
Now this is, once again, kind of a “Don’t go too far the other way though.”
2 Thessalonians 3:13b. do
not grow weary in doing good.
In other words, “Don’t use this day-to-day living thing that I’ve told you you need to do to feed yourself. Don’t let that stop you from doing good things. Don’t ever get weary of that. You should always do good.”
And he wasn’t talking about not helping those who needed help. He was talking about those who just refused to help themselves. And some people fall into that category. Some people do need help. It happens. And we should be charitable or whatever. But it’s not—it’s recognizing the difference between those who need help and those who refuse to help themselves.
But he does tell them this:
2 Thessalonians 3:14. And if
anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep
company with him, that he may be ashamed.
In other words, try to bring him back through letting him know you know what he’s doing. And point out to him what he’s doing.
Verse 15,
2 Thessalonians 3:15. Yet do
not count him as an enemy, but
admonish him as a brother.
In other words, you’re not supposed to look down on them, treat them like they’re the enemy. They’re not. They’re just misguided.
2 Thessalonians 3:16. Now
may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be
with you all.
So he had to address this issue, these issues, from the first time he spoke to his first letter which led to—the first letter had to correct some issues from when he spoke. And now the second letter has corrected issues from when he spoke and when he wrote them. And we didn’t get a third letter.
So I’m hoping these people took this to heart. But I’m really hoping that we take it to heart! That we understand the difference and we understand what we’re supposed to be doing. And that we understand the role of Christian living, of living the example of Christ in our lives and how important that is.
And how you can do that and you can still be wrong on prophecy. You can still have some errors. Remember he praised them over and over again and gave them examples of how they were Christ’s people in this city. But they had some problems and they needed to work on them.
And we need to do the same thing because the Church is not global. The Church is local. We each individually make it up. And all of us together make up whatever—if there is a global Church—whatever that global Church is. Whatever that is it’s the sum of all of its parts of us living the life.
We need to adhere to God’s Word. We need to adhere to the teaching that Paul gave these folks. That Christ gave to Paul, and that he passed on to these folks. And both of them and God have passed on to us through this Scripture. We need to have this proper perspective because like Thessalonians, we’re local.
And although we don’t have Paul writing us letters, we have something better. We have Paul and Peter and Mark and John and the prophets in the Bible. We have it all to put it altogether to live our lives the way we’re supposed to be living.
Transcribed by kb