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Good morning friends, today is Wednesday June 5 and let’s begin today reading the second of Paul’s letters to the Christians in Thessalonica.
We don’t know the length of time between the two letters, but it appears it wasn’t very long, probably a few months at most.
We also don’t know who, but evidently several people have brought word to Paul that his first letter caused quite a stir in Thessalonica. In fact, as we’ll see in chapter 3, evidently some of the Christians got so excited about the “day of the Lord” and the anticipated very soon return of Jesus, that they decided to quit their jobs and basically sit and wait for Jesus to come!
It also appears someone anxious to stir up confusion among the Thessalonian Christians, had written a letter and forged Paul’s name to it. We don’t have that letter, but Paul refers to it in chapter 2.
I wonder if this has ever happened to you? An email, a letter or card you sent, maybe even something you said was totally misunderstood, taken out of context, and then rumors start flying and soon you have a firestorm that only you can clean up by bringing clarity to what you meant.
That’s what Paul was facing. I imagine that after several people stopped through the town where he was and gave him troubling reports of what was going on in Thessalonica in response to his first letter, he simply had to write again… and so we have a second, shorter letter from Paul to the Christians in Thessalonica. Today let’s read chapter one.
You’ll notice Timothy and Silas are evidently with Paul when he writes this letter. We also see Paul clearly is writing to the church, the Christians, in Thessalonica specifically. It seems they are still facing persecution yet are standing up well under it and holding strong to the truths of the Christian faith Paul and others have taught them.
Notice in vs. 5-10 Paul again reaches back to his theme of God’s justice and judgment which is forthcoming against evil and wickedness and those who engage in it. You’ll note in vs. 8,9 Paul is very specific that those who have not accepted the truth of Jesus and His Gospel, nor trusted in Him for salvation, will be “punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord…”. I can imagine those first 10 verses are encouraging to people being persecuted, maligned, humiliated by people in Thessalonica who want no part of this Christian thing.
Now look at verse 11 “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours…” Obviously prayer was really important to Paul and his companions. How about you and me… really? What is our ‘prayer life’ like? I doubt any of us can imagine how much God delights in every moment we spend in conversation with Him, especially if our hearts are open to hear what HE wants to say to us! Have you ever made a study of Jesus’ reliance on prayer. . .and He was God among us, yet He needed frequent conversations with His Father.
Notice also this little phrase “that our God may count you worthy of His calling.”. Wow that’s powerful. What’s the message here? What is the Holy Spirit leading Paul to say? How can you and I be seen “worthy of God’s calling”? What calling you might be thinking? How about the calling to “BE for His glory”, a little phrase we will see many times this summer. It means our character, our attitudes, our words, our choices, our actions, our relationships with others, in fact our entire reputation… is God honoring and brings Him great joy. You and I are called by God to BE for His glory! Ponder that and let’s look deeply into ourselves, not just what people see on the outside, but what we know is on our inside.
Isn’t that what verse 12 is all about? “We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you…” What needs to change in each of us, if this is going to be clearly evident in our lives? Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to show us what Jesus would like to change in us… and the courage to invite His power to work that change in us. Oh I’m sure you’d agree that’s a great thought… but the reality is, God working His change in us in often not pleasant, but the end result is a much better you and me.
Ok, this chapter is short enough to read two or three times…and let it penetrate us, maybe even permeate us!
Pastor Doug Anderson
262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)