Thoughts From 2Thessalonians - Day 1

              2 Thessalonians 1

 Paul, Silas[a] and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. 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 is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 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."

            In baseball, when you are a small market team, you keep players the allotted number of years that you can pay them the league minimum and then when those years are used up, they usually can go to free agency and the teams with lots of money acquire their services. This can be somewhat delayed by giving them a "large" contract early on in exchange for more years of service. It's a gamble from the team's perspective because they are paying a player before they have proven anything in the big leagues large sums of money, betting that they are going to be successful in the majors like they were in the minors. It is also a gamble for the player because 5 years from now, he may be so good that he could be making $25 million per year instead of $10 million he committed to as a wide-eyed newbie.

         What does this have to do with the passage? My mind went there when Paul talks about when the Day of the Lord comes, his prayer is that we may be found worthy. I remember when the Brewers signed Aaron Ashby, a pitcher, to one of those contracts. Instead of receiving $400,000 per year, he was getting  $7 million. His response was," I hope I can prove myself worthy of the cost they are paying for me." To be honest, up until this year, he hasn't. Now, 4 years later it has all come together and he "is worthy" and playing a big role in our playoff run. However, during those 4 years, he has been terrible. Imagine his shame around management, fans he'd see in public or even teammates in the minors bitter that he is getting so much money while they are doing so much better and making a pittance of what he is.

          God has paid a big price for you - his only son, and as He looks at you is He thinking, "What a waste."? When the angels see you are they thinking, "What did God ever see in them?" When fellow believers see you are they thinking, "(S)he is a waste of pew space."? Paul encourages the believers in Thessalonica, those "on the team", that they are to act on every good deed that has been prompted by the Holy Spirit and every desire for goodness that the spirit brings to their minds. He tells them that God's desire for them is to look like a bunch of little "Jesuses". His Son came to die in order to form His likeness in people all over the Earth who receive Him. If we are looking like Jesus, God is glorified. His investment was worth it. If we are not any different from the unsaved people in our life, you can almost sense His disappointment.

         When you stand before God someday, is He going to say "Well done, my good and faithful servant!" or will you be ashamed on that day?

Thoughts From 1 Thessalonians - Day 7

  As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.  For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;  that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable. 1Thes. 4:1-4

And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery Ex. 20:1-2

        Before God goes on to give Moses the 10 Commandments He says, "I am the Lord your God". They are already His before they obey anything. Why? Because they applied the blood on the doorposts in an act of faith trusting the blood of the lamb to save them. In 1Thessalonians 4 Paul calls them his brothers and sisters while they are practicing sexual immorality. Why? Because it says in Chapter 1 that they received the gospel. It's like now that you are saved, here is how you should live.

       Quite often we see repentance as turn from sin and follow Christ. That is more sanctification than repentance. Repentance is turning from following self to following Christ. To admit that you are wrong and He is right. Once you have done that, the rest of life is a process of becoming like Christ and one area is our sexuality. People don't have to quit living together, quit pornography, leave homosexuality to get saved. However, once they become His, then God will start convicting them of sinful areas in their life that need to change.

       I illustrated it like this to the grandkids. I have a 5 inch bendable Jesus figure that I covered with Play Doh so it looked like a big oval lump of clay. I said, "This is you and you just got saved. You asked Jesus into your life. As God starts revealing sins to you, with His help and sometimes others keeping you accountable, you start removing sins from your life. For example your desire to have your own way, be first, always win even if it means cheating... as you master those a piece or 2 of clay gets removed." I then peel off 2 or 3 pieces of play doh and they start to see bendable Jesus underneath. You get the point. This is sanctification. This is God's will for us - to start looking like His Son. 

      Let's not try to clean people up before they get saved. Just present the simple gospel and let God do the cleaning up later.

         

Do The Work

"  But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Tim. 4:5

        The first time I heard "do the work" I was regrettably watching The Bachelor. Pictures surfaced of a female contestant in college going to a plantation in a period dress with her sorority where they pretended they were in the Gone With The Wind era. The black bachelor was then faced with what to do with his favorite girl who was now a racist. In the end they broke up and she apologized for her ignorance and she was told to "Do the Work." What that seemed to mean was to read black history, the stuff we aren't taught in school, go to museums like civil rights museums, watch documentaries... Whatever... it wasn't spelled out the what, the time, the end, it was just "Do the work".

       Paul is telling Timothy in this passage to "Do the work." It wasn't to educate himself on racism in the 1st century, although that is a good thing, but rather to do the work to evangelize. We are all familiar with the great commission and realize being an evangelist was not just the job of Timothy but all believers so it behooves us to figure out what he means here. We usually think of evangelism as talking, debating, apologetics, reasoning, preaching, speaking or whatever else it takes to lead someone to make a decision to follow Christ. But what is the work?

       You've heard it said that "People will care what you know when they know that you care." That takes work. I must confess that as I look ahead to a long flight then drive to our clinic in the Phillipines for a Medical mission, at the age of 68, going to a hot climate in July looking in kid's mouths and ears as an OB/GYN doesn't thrill me. Yet probably over 100 will pray to receive Christ. It strikes me that I am doing the work of an evangelist. Over the past number of years we have done free car washes, wrapped Christmas presents at the mall, had free oil changes and gone through a neighborhood changing light bulbs, built handicap ramps all for the opportunity to share Christ. Having a neighbor over for supper that you have nothing in common with is work,  wouldn't you agree.

         Then getting up an hour early to pray for the lost or fasting takes some work.

     Why not call someone today and offer to watch their kids so they can go out for dinner in hopes of someday sharing the gospel. Let's do the work!

Thoughts From 1 Thessalonians - Day 6

  "How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?"   1Thes. 3:9

             It's easy to lump this verse in with all the others in this whole theme of "to lead someone to salvation and then actually see them following Christ is the greatest pleasure one can have here on this planet." If we rush through it, we miss the other greatest pleasure one can have on this planet which leads to the previous greatest pleasure one could experience on this planet.

       Paul definitely has great joy in seeing "his children" growing up. Don't we all? What a pleasure. As tough as it can be to raise kids, now that it's done we wish we could time travel back and relive moments but we can't so we relive it through our grandkids. The thing we miss in this verse is that Paul has this joy... "in the presence of our God"!

      Do you ever go to church and certain days you are overwhelmed with the presence of God and other days you are going through the motions? Or the same goes for your quiet times? Isn't this the greatest thing in life when you bask in the presence of God? When Paul is praying or worshipping, his mind goes to his children in the faith and it sends his heart into an attitude of thanksgiving and offering praises to God which is rewarded with an overdose of God's presence. When your week is filled with the cares of this world and you go to a place where you might find God's presence ... crickets. But when you are about His business and living for His kingdom, hang on because you are going to experience what we are made for.

       The question is, are you looking for the presence of God?

Thoughts From 1 Thessalonians - Day 5

" So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. 2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, 3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. 4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know. 5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. 8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord." 1 Thes 3:1-8

            I can hear my dad (who is in Heaven) saying, "Now that's really living". He loved to say that quote and I feel like it was in response to usually something food related. An exotic chocolatey warmed dessert with ice cream melting over the top and after the first bite, "Now that's really living"! If the good things on Earth are just a foretaste of what Heaven is going to be like, I wonder what he is saying, "Now that's really living", to now?

          We see in this passage what would get Paul to say that in verse 8. If I could paraphrase Paul would be saying, "So they rushed to Jason's house looking for me to assault me and possibly kill me in mob violence, but when they couldn't find me, they beat you guys up? I warned you that people don't like Christ followers. But Timothy tells me that this didn't dissuade you at all and you are still grateful for me and the gospel and are following the Lord even stronger! When I heard that, I clasped my fingers behind my bald head, leaned back in my chair and said to Timothy, 'Now this is really living'".

        What is going on in your process of following Christ that elicits that response? Maybe basking in the presence of God as you worship. Maybe you have led someone to the Lord recently. Maybe you are discipling someone and seeing them grow. Someone came to me after class the other day and said she was just at a friend's daughter's 10 year birthday party. Her friend, who is 50 said I went to this doctor I didn't know (me) pregnant and 40 years old looking for him to recommend termination. Instead he prayed with me. Now I'm a Christian, and I have a 10 year old daughter to celebrate! Now that's really living! Aaaah 

Thoughts From 1 Thessalonians - Day 4

 

"Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe. 14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone 16 in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last.17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. 18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way. 19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? 20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy." 1 Thes. 2:8-20

                We talked earlier on about how Paul would present the good news and a few would believe and he would disciple them as long as God let him. In this passage we get a glimpse of his discipling methods which we should model both in discipleship groups and even raising kids to follow Christ.

                First of all, he loved them. He didn't see baby Christians who kept messing up or just didn't get it as a nuisance but like they were his own flesh and blood and they were technically because as believers we are all one family. He encouraged, comforted and urged them. Who are you discipling? Do you  love them or are you annoyed by their lack of follow through.

               Second, he spent major time with them. He didn't Zoom conference once a week but went to where they were. He lived among them. If we are talking about discipling youth, he went to their games and practices.

               He taught them the word of God. How to study it, memorize it, interpret it. As I disciple some youth I've been tempted to give them some books to read that have been formative in my life. Maybe later. Right now let's get to know the Word of God.

              You've heard it said, "do as I say not as I do." This is the worst thing you can do in discipleship. Model Christ-like behavior so that they can imitate you.

               For me, this is convicting. There are a dozen things I'd rather do than sit with people and converse. I was amazed when my wife had someone over the other day and they talked for 3.5 hours. How is that possible or even fun? However, people is what the kingdom is made up of and we must learn to crave their company.

Thoughts From 1 Thessalonians - Day 3

" You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our authority." 1 Thes. 2:1-6

         This is how Christianity started out. People who were intimately associated with Jesus and/or His teachings, went out to people who weren't and told them the good news. Then, if they were able to form a group of believers, the apostles would teach them more than just the good news but how does Jesus want us to live and even modeling it so the new believers could become imitators as we read in the last passage.

         Now we have to be careful of error creeping in. Paul knew the truth, he got it directly from the Lord and the disciples and he was saying "you can trust what I'm saying." Fortunately, we have the Bible and we can check teaching that we are hearing against the Bible.

        Now we have to be careful of impure motives. preachers can make a good living by being guest speakers. If you get a book deal or a huge following on social media or podcasts you are set. Ulterior motives creep in. Paul made sure they knew that wasn't the case with him.

        Now we have to be careful of people trying to change the gospel so as not to offend anyone. Don't mention sin, hell, judgement, sexual sins, abortion, politics, substitutionary atonement, the wrath of God, etc. Speakers flatter people and tell them how wonderful they are.

       We need to keep it simple. We are sinners separated from the God who made us and loves us. He sent His Son, Jesus, To pay the penalty for our sins on the cross and if we believe that and receive that free gift of forgiveness, He cleanses us and sends His Holy Spirit to live inside us to give us power to transform and eternal life in Heaven with a restored relationship with our maker. Some will believe but most won't but we don't need to change that message to have more people like us or improve the acceptance rate. We just proclaim the Good News as Jesus did.