Words of Encouragement

Introduction

[singing] Please be seated. Well, good morning. I want to invite you to open up in your New Testament to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. We’ll begin reading there in in just a moment or two. Glad you’re here this morning. Uh hope you have benefited from the things that we have done, the songs that we’ve sung, the prayers that have been prayed, and of course our remembrance of the Lord and the Lord’s supper. But as we study for just a little bit, I want us to to look at a passage that I’ll just be honest.

It’s going to be from the reading schedule this coming week. I got a little bit ahead of myself on that. And so we’re going to read it. We’re going to talk about it before we read it rather than the other way around. When you look at the letters of the New Testament, they were written not only to correct problems that existed among the churches at that time. They did that. But they also offered things like praise and encouragement as well, at least when such was possible.

And you can’t help but see that when you read through the letters of the Apostle Paul, for example. He was not only a corrector, but also an encourager. And it seems to me that we would do well to to learn from his example. I think that’s a great example to learn from. And so in our study, I want us to look at some of the encouraging words that Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica. And the first chapter of his second letter is going to serve as the the basis of our study for this morning.

And in this chapter, we’re going to find that Paul touched on some things that that were also found in the first letter he wrote to them. Um, which ought to tell us a little bit about how important those things were in the mind of the Apostle Paul. But I also want to approach them this morning again primarily from the standpoint of the encouragement that Paul’s words would have given to the disciples in Thessalonica. So I want us to begin reading in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.

We’ll just start in verse one where Paul says Paul Sylvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians and God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We all we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you, for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God, for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions, and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you be you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you’re also suffering since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony testimony to you was believed. And to this end, uh, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power 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.

1. The Encouragement That Comes From Praise

And so there are three things I I want us to to talk about from this passage. And the first of those that I want us to see is what Paul says along the lines of what Paul says is the encouragement comes from praise. When you read through Paul’s letters to this church, it’s hard not to notice that Paul wasn’t afraid to praise the Christians who lived in Thessalonica. Uh in fact, he had a number of complimentary things to say about them really in both of the letters that he wrote to them.

And so right from the start in this letter, his second letter, we find Paul praising them for their commendable qualities. He says there again in verse three, we ought always to give thanks to God for you brothers as is right because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you uh for one another is increasing. And therefore we boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all of your persecutions.

And so I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it’s been suggested that maybe the Thessalon uh the people of Thessalonica, the brethren there might not have felt worthy of that, you know, kind of thing, the compliments that Paul was giving to them. And I’ll just tell you, if so, uh they would have been neither the first nor the last people to find it difficult to take a compliment. And I suppose we all find it hard sometimes to accept the praise of others.

And especially because we’re all too familiar with our own shortcomings. We know where we failed. all those kinds of things. And the thing is Paul never said that they they were without without fault. And I don’t think he intended to give that impression. In fact, he deals with some of their faults really in each of the letters that he wrote to them. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t fitting for him to praise their commendable qualities. In fact, that’s what he said.

It is it is something that is good. We ought always to give thanks to God for you. He says, but I think there’s kind of an important practical lesson to be learned in this chapter. And I think what we can learn from Paul is is one of the ways you can go about encouraging people. That is, you can praise their commendable qualities without, you know, leading them to become arrogant about their accomplishments or something along those lines just, you know, resorting to flattery or something like that.

And so, let me ask you, what ought our attitude? what should it be uh toward our our brothers and our sisters who are who are doing well in some aspect of their service to God? How should we treat them? I think we find maybe an answer to that in this chapter. And we see it kind of contrasts maybe with the way things sometimes are done. Some people, it seems to me, when they when they compliment people, they almost resort to congratulation. You’re well done. I think you’re marvelous. I am so proud of you. whatever it is. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with words like that per se, but again, sometimes I think those sorts of things border on on flattery.

They also maybe have a tendency to promote pride and rob God of his glory. And so when people buy into the compliments, it’s not uncommon for them to think pretty highly of themselves. At least that’s one of the dangers that we face in that. It’s possible for us to become arrogant in that. And we they don’t understand that. As one person said, compliments are a lot like perfume. It’s okay to sniff it, but probably don’t drink it. You know, it’s just not a good idea. Just don’t go all out on that. And so, some people not being comfortable with complimenting somebody in that way, don’t want to come across insincere or like flattery or something like that.

Uh they may be grateful and they may thank God in their private prayers for what other people are doing, but they just don’t say anything to them about it. They replace flattery with silence, which may at times leave the other person just discouraged. And I don’t think that’s a good way to go about things either. We we need the encouragement of other people. And that probably says that we ought to give an encouraging word ourselves from time to time. And it seems to me that in some ways what Paul does here in this chapter is he avoids both congratulation, which sometimes corrupt, and silence, which sometimes discourages.

And the way he did that is he thanked God for them. And then he told them that’s what he was doing. He gave the God the glory, but he complimented them as well. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right. In other words, Paul recognized not only the good qualities that these disciples possessed, but he recognized who was ultimately responsible for all of that. So, he thanked God for them, and yet he let them know about that.

And so, let me ask you this. What What was Paul thankful for? He was thankful for the fact that their faith and their love, which were already commendable, that they had continued to grow and increase. He was thankful for the fact that they were continuing to persevere in the trials that they faced. As I said earlier, they weren’t perfect, but they were continuing to grow and they were continuing to press on, to endure. And what more can you really ask of people than for them to continue to grow spiritually and for them to remain steadfast in whatever they may face?

It’s interesting to look at at these verses in light of what Paul had said to them back in his first letter. In that letter, back in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and:e 3, he mentioned their work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope. And then later in that letter, chapter 3 and:e 12, he stated his desire that the Lord make you increase and and abound in love. He wants that to to grow. And that was happening not just with regard to their love but also with regard to their faith as well even as they faced these trials and difficulties that were coming their way.

They were continuing to make progress spiritually. Now let me ask you, have you ever gotten the the feeling that that not everyone who obeys the gospel necessarily understands the concept of spiritual growth? Sometimes it’s it’s almost like that’s a finish line. We obey the gospel and we are done at that point. But that’s not the New Testament picture, is it? It doesn’t occur to some people that things like faith and love are supposed to increase.

And it’s almost as if they believe that a person either has these qualities or they don’t have these qualities, but there’s no development of them. And so, have you ever heard someone say, you know, I I wish I had your faith? As if faith was kind of like a genetic endowment of some sort. It’s almost like they’re saying, “I I wish I had your complexion.” You know, same kind of thing. It’s as if they can’t do anything about that. Or have you ever heard someone say something like, “I I’ve lost my faith.”

As if it were just like a commodity of some kind. It’s like saying, “I’ve lost my car keys.” You know, what we need to see is that faith is a relationship of trust in God. And like all relationships, it is a living, dynamic, growing thing. or at least that’s what it’s supposed to be. Jesus would teach in various places that there are degrees of faith. In Matthew chapter 8 and verse 10, he comes across a gentile and he says, “I’ve not found such great faith in Israel.”

You know, this guy had greater faith than even among the Jews. Down in verse 26 of Matthew chapter 8, that same chapter, he talks about his own disciples and talks about them being of little faith. And so, there are degrees of faith. And I would suggest the same is true of love as well. That just like faith, love involves a living relationship whose growth we can take steps to nurture if we really want to do that. And the Thessalonians were evidently doing that with both of these qualities.

2. The Encouragement That Comes From Promises

We we need to follow their example. It seems to me. But the second thing that I want us to talk about in our lesson this morning is the encouragement that comes from I’m going to call it promises. uh verse various things that have been have been promised to us as the people of God. And and I kind of want to point out out several things along those lines in this chapter. First, Paul talks in this in this chapter about the the promise of reward. And so after saying something about their perseverance in the midst of persecution and afflictions, Paul went on to talk to them about in verse uh verse 5 of chapter 1, being considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also are suffering.

And this is one of the reasons God allowed them to suffer in the first place, so that they might be considered worthy of the kingdom of God. And he wasn’t suggesting there of course that their suffering had earned their standing with God. Uh but that their perseverance in these difficult circumstances said something about the one to whom they belong. It it identified them with with the Lord. And the thing is the Lord never promised that life on this earth would be easy for those who are concerned first and foremost with with his will.

In fact, he taught that we would face difficulties as a result of that decision. uh persecution in some sense will come. But he also promised a future reward to those who are faithful in all of that, didn’t he? And so in Matthew chapter 5 and verse 10, for example, in the midst of the sermon on the mount, Jesus would say there, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your your reward is great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are in good company. In other words, and you find that same thing, of course, in other passages. There is a connection between suffering in the present and rewarded and and being rewarded in the future. And the writers of the New Testament made sure to point out uh point this out to people who might have otherwise become discouraged by the things that they were having to experience and endure.

And so for example in cir in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 16 the apostle Paul would say there we do not lose heart though our outer self is wasting away our inner self is being renewed day by day for this mo this liked momentary affliction he says is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient. They are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And you can find that same that same pattern in in other places in the New Testament as well.

Here here’s what’s going on. But but don’t forget to look to the future that there’s something better that is awaiting. And and Paul in this in this same chapter talks about the the promise of repayment as well. And regardless of how things may look in this world, we’re told that really everything’s going to turn out well in the end for those who are faithful to the Lord. When the Lord returns, the the wicked will be the ones who are afflicted and the righteous are going to be rewarded.

And Paul talks about that here beginning in verse 5 of our text talks about this this suffering you’re going through and you persevering and all of that. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which also your suffering since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. And so he begins to talk about there’s going to be two sides to this equation.

And when you look at the way things are in this world, sometimes it just doesn’t look fair. The people who are trying to do what’s right and trying to be the people that God wants them to be, sometimes they’re on the wrong side of this equation. They suffer as a result of of of their faithfulness sometimes. What Paul’s saying is there’s going to come a day that’s not going to be the case anymore. And when that happens, those who have caused the problems, those who do the persecuting, it’s all going to be turned around for them as well.

One thing that seems to have bothered you know God’s people in times past and again still today is this the seeming prosperity of the wicked when compared especially when the difficulties sometimes faced by those who are godly. That’s the that’s the whole you know point or the what’s going on for example in Psalm 73. It’s one of my favorite psalms. Psalm 73. And I want to read the first few verses of that psalm. This is a psalm of Asaf. And Asaf, what he does is he starts with a conclusion.

He’s going to tell you where he got to. And he’s going to tell you how he got there. He says in verse one, “Truly, God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” Okay, that’s the conclusion. How do we get there? Says, “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped because I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” You see what I’m saying in all that? He said, “I, you know, God’s good to Israel and I know that to those who are pure in heart, he is.

But here’s the thing about that, and you continue reading through the psalm. We don’t have time this morning, but basically what he says is I was having problems and I was trying to do the right thing and I I came to the conclusion at some point or I looked at it. I was tempted to look at it and think, you know, is this even worth it? And eventually he reached the right conclusion. Yes, it will be because I need to look to the end of the matter.

You know, sometimes people have been tempted to think, why live a godly life if it’s only going to lead to suffering? It’s not really worth it. And as Christians, we are we are called upon to live for eternity rather than merely living for the present. That’s the answer to this. In fact, living with eternity’s values and view is is what makes our lives as Christians meaningful today. We walk by faith, not by sight. As Paul said in that passage we looked at a moment ago, we we don’t look to the things that are that are transient, the things that are temporary.

We look to the things that are eternal. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 5 and:es 6 and 7, we are always of good courage. Why? We know that while we are at home in the body, we’re away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are looking forward to what’s better. Once read a story about two farmers and one of them was a believer in God, the other one was not. And when the harvest time came, the the the one who was a unbeliever taunted his believing neighbor.

his believing neighbors crops hadn’t done as well as his own. And he said to him, you know, kind of in a taunting way, I thought you told me that it paid to believe in God and be a Christian. The implication is it didn’t. And his neighbor replied, it does pay. But God doesn’t always pay his people in September. The end of the story is not done. There’s a great day coming and we want to be on the right side of things on that day. And so we have to keep in mind what kind of future the unbeliever faces.

And I want you to look at the words Paul would use in our text from about verse 6 to about nine. Here’s some of the things Paul mentions. Affliction, flaming fire, vengeance, punishment, eternal destruction. Any of that sound appealing to you? Paul was telling the Thessalonians that those who had rejected Christ and cause trouble for them would receive from God precisely what they gave to God’s people. He will he will repay them for what they’ve done.

And we need to recognize is is the right thing for God to judge sin and to condemn sinners. That is a a a righteous thing that a holy God can’t allow sin to go unpunished. Some people have a hard time with that and will say things like, “I can’t believe that a loving God would judge people and send them to hell.” And when people say that, it is a sign that they don’t understand the holiness of God or the awfulness of sin. Yes, God is love. There’s no doubt about that. 1 John 4 and verse 8, but God is also light.

And in him is no darkness at all. Same book, 1 John 1 and verse 5, God is both. He is kind and severe. we’re told in Romansap 11 and verse 22. And and the thing is we have some say in which of those we experience by our response to the gospel. And so Paul used the word vengeance in this passage, but we need to be sure that we don’t confuse vengeance with things like revenge. You know, they sound a little bit alike, but the purpose of God’s vengeance is to satisfy his holy demands.

The purpose of revenge is to pacify a personal grudge. And God doesn’t hold a personal gr grudge against people. He sent his son to die for them and he pleads with them to return to him. But if sinners prefer to not know God or obey the gospel as we see in verse eight of our text, then God has no other choice but to judge them. It’s in fact a promise that he has made. But Paul also spoke of the promise of relief in this passage. You know, those who don’t know God and who don’t obey the gospel will be afflicted.

But the righteous will receive relief. Paul says when the Lord returns, they’re going to be on the other side of that equation. And this is related to the idea of being rewarded. But there’s a different emphasis here. And I want to take a moment to to to talk about what is involved in this relief that Paul mentions. The word relief means release or the relaxation of tension or pressure. And it’s the opposite of the affliction that Paul talked about.

And so in this life, God’s people sometimes feel pressure. Ever felt that pressure? Paul talked about in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 8 being under great pressure far beyond our ability to endure. That’s what he experienced and that may be what we have to deal with this in this life at some point. But when Christ returns we are going to be released from the concerns like that and what a relief that will be. Those who are who are not right with the Lord will face punishment and eternal destruction.

The other things we mentioned a moment ago. The saved will enjoy rest and find relief and the lost will be separated. The saved will see his face as it says in Revelation 22 and verse4. We will be in God’s presence. As Paul said in the passage we read earlier in 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 17, this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. And at that time, among other things, there will be a relaxation of the tension and the pressure that we face as we live in this world.

3. The Encouragement That Comes From Prayer

It’s always there on some level, isn’t it? That’s why we need to keep looking to the future. That’s why we need to understand that this is worth it if we will be steadfast, if we will persevere, because there is something better coming. Don’t give up. But then the final thing that I I want us to talk about this morning is the encouragement that comes from prayer. You know, Paul prayed for the Christians in Thessalonica, and that’s that’s certainly encouraging all by itself. But I want you to notice the content of his prayer on their behalf.

Look again at verse 11. To this end, we always pray for you that our God may make you worthy of his calling, may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 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. The translation I’m reading from this morning says that that Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians was at least in part in verse 11 that our God may make you worthy of his calling.

And if we’re ever to be worthy of God’s calling, it will be as a result of the fact that he has made us worthy of his calling. Some translations say that our God may count you worthy or that you may be considered worthy of the calling of our God. And however you look at it, being worthy of God’s calling is tied in one way or another to the way God views us. And therefore, any other assessment of our lives really, or let me put it this way, that is the only assessment of our lives that really matters.

How does God view us? You ever really thought about the fact that it doesn’t matter what other people think about you? And I don’t Yeah, people sometimes take that in the wrong direction. I get that. I don’t care what people think and I’m going to do whatever I want. That’s not what I’m talking about this morning. But in some sense, it doesn’t matter what other people think about you. It was obvious to the disciples of Thessalonica in Thessalonica what other people thought about them.

They were being persecuted. That didn’t really matter in the long run. But what did matter is what God thought about them. Whether or not he considered them or whether he counted them worthy of the calling that he had given them. And the truth is it doesn’t even matter what we think about ourselves. in some sense that expression you know we’re probably concerned more about that than we are anything else most of the time but that doesn’t ultimately matter either Paul made that very point actually in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 he would say there in 1 Corinthians chapter 4:1 this is how one should regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God Paul the other apostles he says moreover it is required of stewards that they be found faithful but with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court in Fact, I do not even judge myself.

He says, for I’m not aware of anything against myself that I’m not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. His point’s the same. His view of us is the only one that really matters. The only assessment of our lives that counts in the end is God’s. And what we need to recognize is that assessment will rest at least, you know, to to some degree or another upon what we have made of them. Or maybe a better way to say that is what we have allowed God to make of them.

What we have allowed him to do with us because he wants and he is able to sanctify us entirely. Paul talked about that actually 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23. God can do that. He can sanctify you entirely and he does that through the gospel. But I just tell you, you can’t do that apart from your will in the matter. We can resist that. And so those of us who are Christians, it it talks about our calling. Many times with 2 Thessalonians 2 and:14, we are called through the gospel.

We are told in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9, it is referred to as a holy calling. In Ephesians 4 and verse one, Paul said that we must walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. And that walk may include several things, but one thing that is certainly involved is holiness. You know, Paul had just finished contrasting the destinies of the the wicked and the righteous. And his prayer to God for these Christians was that they might be found worthy of the call they had received. He didn’t he wanted them to keep pressing toward the goal.

They weren’t done yet. And the truth is, neither are we. I it’s interesting to me that many maybe even most of the calls to holy living that we read about in the New Testament are made in light of the coming judgment. Have you ever noticed that? For example, second Peter chapter 3 11 and 12. Peter talks about the destruction of the world and he says there since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to be you ought to live holy and godly lives.

He says, “As you look forward to the day of God,” that’s a pretty good summation of what life’s all about right there. Live a holy life because the judgment day is coming. But we also need to recognize that that it’s not enough merely to to want to do what’s right. We actually have to get to it. And maybe that explains why Paul would say there in 2 Thessalonians 1:1 that he prayed that God would fulfill every resolve for good. and every work of faith by his power.

When God calls you through the gospel, he expects you to to do something to walk in a manner worthy of that calling. But let me also say that he is working in us to narrow the gap between what we were when we became Christians and what he’s called us to be. He’s there for us. He doesn’t demand things of us, walk into the other room, close the door, and say, “I’ll I’ll monitor your progress somewhere along the way.” That’s not the God we serve. Paul was praying for God’s help in the lives of these people to whom he wrote with full confidence that God would give it.

And the end result of all that Paul says there in our text in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 12 Paul said it’s 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. You see that’s the direction all this is heading. That’s the goal of the whole thing. Not only that we will be glorified in Christ, that’s important, no doubt about it, but also that he will be glorified in us.

Conclusion

And that’s our goal. That’s our aim. Or is it so distracted by so many things that we forget what life is really about. And what Paul said is, “I’ve been praying for you that God will accomplish in you his purposes because that’s really what life is about.” Can you see how Paul’s words would have been encourage encouraging to the disciples in Thessalonica? I mean, he praised them for their commendable qualities. He promised that their afflictions, which they were enduring, would be replaced with reward and relief.

He promised that those who were afflicting them would be repaid for what they were doing when the Lord returned. He told them that he was praying for them that God might count them worthy of the call they had received and help them to accomplish his will. And Paul wanted them to glorify Christ by their lives and also be glorified in him upon his return. The truth is that there is no goal in life that is more noble than that. So, let’s keep it in mind as we live through the week.

It’s easy when we come together on occasions like this to think spiritual thoughts and do spiritual things. But then we walk out those doors, don’t we? And we walk smack dab into the world, face to face, day in day out, moment in, moment out. And here’s my appeal to you this morning. Let’s be the people we’re supposed to be. Let’s accept the call. Let’s let’s be people who are who are focused on the relationship we have with the Lord. Let’s take the long view of things. Let’s look to the end. No matter what we face, we we have all kinds of struggles.

We have all sorts of things that that want to get in the way of us being servants of God. And what I’m saying this morning is let’s not let them. Let’s maintain the right view and let’s encourage one another to do that very thing. If you’re here this morning and you’re not a a child of God, why not? Paul talks about uh those who do not obey the gospel in this passage and when you look at what he says about that good things do not happen. If that is the is if that’s the response, if you’ve never obeyed the gospel of Christ, why not this morning?

Jesus said, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” And that’s what we would request of you. It’s not all. There’s repentance and there’s confession, but it is a a summary statement about what is done when someone obeys the gospel. When they believe in Jesus, repent of their sins, and confess him, they’re then buried with Christ in baptism, they’re raised to walk in a new life, the kind of life we’ve been talking about this morning. If you’re here and you’ve never done that, why not this morning?

Or if we can help you in some other way, we ask you to come as we stand and as we sing. Broken