Good News About God's Church

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A few years ago, a businessman from my church handed me a little booklet titled, Why Go to Work? The booklet was written to encourage persons in the marketplace to rethink both why God expects for them to work and how God wants them to view their work. As I thumbed my way through the booklet, the following words caught my eye:

God in His love and grace gives His own the privilege of participating with Him in what He is doing. They are deceived, however, if they believe that they can contribute anything to what He is doing. (Vision Foundation, Why Go to Work? 25)

What a sobering statement! That you would view your work as contributing to God's work is to suggest that God somehow needs you to ensure His success. The sobering truth is that God really does not need you to accomplish His work; He can get along perfectly fine without you.

God, however, is not content to go it alone. He graciously extends to you an invitation to participate with Him in what He is doing in the world. You get the amazing privilege of joining with Him in a venture that is guaranteed to succeed. That assurance is what makes your participation in the work of His church so fulfilling. Despite the many challenges and setbacks, you can be confident that His work will succeed. In other words, because you know that you are on the winning team, you are not afraid to give your all on the field.

185As we turn our attention to Paul's second letter to the Thessalonian church, we see a church that continues to live out its faith. This infant church had welcomed God's invitation to participate with Him in proclaiming the gospel to their city (1 Thess 1:5), and although they were not without their challenges, their love for one another was growing, and their passion for the Lord was increasing. But where good things are happening for Christ, opposition is sure to follow, and the Thessalonians were no strangers to opposition, both from without and from within. Many of the issues addressed by Paul in his first letter persisted. In many ways their struggles only increased in the short time since Paul wrote his first letter. Persecution continued to challenge their faith (2 Thess 1:5-10), false teachers continued to stir up confusion about the Day of the Lord (2:1-3a), and lazy Christians continued to be a drain on the fellowship (3:6-12). Despite these significant challenges, Paul begins his letter by stating, "We ourselves boast about you among God's churches" (1:4). Only a few months had passed since they received his first letter, and apparently word came back about how the church had responded to his instructions. Although there were a number of matters that required his clarification, Paul could take much comfort in the news that the church was alive and well. In the first five verses he identifies four reasons why he was so thankful for them: they had a faith that was real, a love that was growing, a hope that was deep, and a future that was secure.

A Faith That Is Real

2 Thessalonians 1:1-3a

The city of Thessalonica had a strategic importance for the advancement of the gospel. Because of its bustling port on the Aegean Sea and its prime location on the Egnatian Road, tens of thousands of sailors, travelers, and immigrants were constantly making their way in and out of the city. Additionally, its stable government, bustling economy, and multicultural diversity made it an attractive place for Greeks, Romans, and Jews to live. With such a diverse population base, a thriving, outwardly focused, gospel-centered church had the potential to make a significant impact not only on the city, but also on the cities and regions beyond.

Of course, this is what brought Paul, Silas, and Timothy to Thessalonica in the first place. They knew that a vibrant, gospel-centered church in Thessalonica was strategic for the advancement of the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. After only a few weeks in Thessalonica, 186their goal of establishing a church was realized. But, as every Christian knows, whenever God begins to encroach on enemy territory, the enemy fights back, and he does so relentlessly. Satan was working tirelessly to extinguish the work of Christ in Thessalonica. He stirred up an angry mob of Jews who forced Paul and his companions to hastily leave the city. But he was not content merely to see Paul depart the city; he desired to destroy the church that Paul, Silas, and Timothy left behind.

Satan wants to do the same to your church and to you. It is no accident that your most intense moments of satanic attack often come after your most exhilarating experiences of spiritual victory. You would do well to remember that your enemy is not seeking ways to give you a bad day; he is on an all-out mission to give you a bad life (1 Pet 5:8).

Although he was not caught off guard by Satan's strategy, Paul was still the object of his tireless efforts to snuff out the gospel in Thessalonica (1 Thess 2:18). Paul knew that if Satan were attacking him, he would also be doing everything possible to destroy the faith of the new converts.

Satan's primary strategy in Thessalonica was to turn up the heat of persecution. The persecution began the moment they heard the gospel, and it never let up (1 Thess 1:6-7; 2:14; 3:3-4; 2 Thess 2:3-4). The reality of this persecution is what makes Paul's opening words in 2 Thessalonians all the more meaningful. Even under the incessant pressure and intense pain of persecution, the Thessalonians' faith held strong. Persecution, pressure, and trials will always reveal the genuineness of your faith. As Peter puts it, present trials purify you even more, so that "the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet 1:6-7). While the heat of persecution will purify a genuine faith, it will always wither a false faith. Just as the heat of the sun will ultimately wither a plant that lacks deep roots, so also will persecution reveal the shallowness of a superficial commitment to Christ (Matt 13:3-9).

What was it about the Thessalonians' faith that made Paul so proud? He makes two observations in the first three verses: their faith was grounded because of their standing with God, and their faith was growing because of their passion for Jesus.

Real Faith Is Grounded (2 Thess 1:1-2)

Paul begins 2 Thessalonians in nearly identical fashion to the way he began 1 Thessalonians: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father 187and the Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 2; cf. 1 Thess 1:1). "Grace" is God's gift, which grants you the privilege to have a relationship with Him, and "peace" is the result as you acknowledge His grace by trusting in the work of Christ on your behalf. Those who acknowledge God's grace and rest in Christ's peace enjoy the blessings of being "in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 1). This means that we are granted access into His family, the church. As a family, we have a Father who not only loves and leads us, but He also brings us together to accomplish a common purpose.

If we read hastily past these opening words, we may miss the weight of what Paul is saying. He is not wasting his words. Paul wants the Thessalonians to be gripped by the reality of their relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Everything that will follow in this letter will be built on that foundation. Michael Martin states this well:

Although these words do not anticipate the specific content of the letter, they do remind the readers of the foundation on which the letter stands. It reminds them that their faith in Jesus is well placed, for he is God's Anointed One. Their place in the kingdom of God is secure, for the gospel is the message of what God himself has done through his Christ. And his gospel does not suffer from the vagaries and inconsistencies of human works and so-called wisdom. Therefore the believers' task is clear: they must continue to obey the Christ whom they have owned as Lord. Neither persecution (1:5-10) nor false teaching (2:1-11) nor human weakness (3:6-15) can be allowed to discouraging the church from persevering in their commitment to the one who called them into his kingdom. (Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians, 197)

A church must never tire of speaking about and resting in the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. No challenge is too great for any church that remains anchored to these wonderful truths.

Real Faith Is Growing (2 Thess 1:3a)

We would be hard pressed to find a pastor who would not wish for his church the commendation Paul bestowed on the Thessalonian church: "We must always thank God for you, brothers. This is right, since your faith is flourishing." Two things jump out of this verse. First, their faith 188was "flourishing." The verb emphasizes healthy and prolific growth. They are not growing a little bit—they are growing a lot. Second, Paul notes that it is "right" to give thanks to God for them. The verse could read that he is "under obligation" to give thanks for them. He is not rendering thanksgiving unto God on their behalf out of mere duty; he gives thanksgiving to God because they deserve it.

This raises the question as to why Paul felt so obligated to commend them to God for their faith. Paul seems to want to encourage them to keep growing in the face of the many difficulties that they are facing. The more I reflect on the many challenges that this young church faced, the more I am in awe at their level of zeal, tenacity, and commitment to Christ. Satan was throwing the kitchen sink at this church. They were being chased on the outside by their persecutors and being challenged on the inside by false teachers. The temptations of a secular city were lurking around every corner, and doubts about the future were lingering in their minds. Considering these pressures, the Thessalonians possibly began to doubt their ability to remain faithful. William Barclay suggests that the Thessalonians had most likely sent a message to Paul conveying these doubts. He contends that Paul's opening words were written specifically to build them up and to encourage them to keep pressing on:

Paul's answer was not to push them into the slough of despond by agreeing with them; it was to pick out their virtues and their achievements in such a way, that these despondent, frightened Christians would square their shoulders and fling back their heads and say, "Well if Paul thinks that of us we'll make a fight of it." (Barclay, Letters, 243)

Based on the enthusiastic way in which Paul applauds their growth in the first four verses, one can imagine that His words of encouragement must have brought much relief to this weary church.

A Love That Grows Strong

2 Thessalonians 1:3b

In one of the first letters written to the New Testament church, the apostle James wrote these penetrating words:

James's words provide the criterion by which genuine faith is measured: genuine faith will always produce genuine works. This truth is vividly portrayed in the lives of the Thessalonians. Their "flourishing" faith was producing a visible, "increasing" love (1:3b). These are two of the most distinguishing characteristics of genuine conversion. They are placed alongside one another repeatedly throughout Scripture. For example, to the Ephesian church Paul writes, "This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers" (Eph 1:15-16). He echoes similar words in his letter to the Galatians: "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love" (Gal 5:6). And to the Corinthians he says, "Now as you excel in everything—faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us—excel also in this grace" (2 Cor 8:7).

Paul was following the pattern set by Jesus, who declared to His disciples,

In this statement, Jesus reveals how faith and love work together. Faith is our response to Jesus' invitation to be His disciples (Luke 14:26-33), and love is the proof that our faith is real. Faith requires that we look up and see Him for who He is, and love requires that we look around and see others for who they are. This, of course, was what brought Paul such joy as he reflected on the Thessalonian church: their love for one another was telling the real story of their faith. This result was exactly what Paul had prayed for when he asked God to "increase" their love for one another (1 Thess 3:12); and it was the same response for which he had hoped when he called them to love one another "even more" (1 Thess 4:10). The Thessalonians had fulfilled his hopes and God had 190answered his prayers. No wonder Paul would say, "We must always thank God for you brothers. This is right" (1:3).

A Hope That Goes Deep

2 Thessalonians 1:4

By now you have most likely noted a recurring theme in the Thessalonian letters: Paul's emphasis on faith, love, and hope. This theme was first introduced in 1 Thessalonians 1:3-4:

Not surprising, then, is the discovery that Paul also commends the Thessalonians for their "endurance and faith in all [their] persecutions and afflictions" (1:4). A genuine faith will produce more than an external love for others; it will also produce an internal hope and trust in God. The Greek word translated "endurance" does not carry the idea of a passive acquiescence to adverse circumstances, nor does it suggest a gritting of the teeth until the trial passes. As Barclay explains, the word

describes the spirit which does not only patiently endure the circumstances in which it finds itself; but which masters them and uses them to strengthen its own nerve and sinew. It accepts the blows of life, but in accepting them it transforms them into stepping stones to new achievement. (Barclay, Letters, 244)

The person who has a genuine faith in God will view affliction and suffering through the lens of an enduring hope—not the kind of endurance that waits to thank God when the trial passes, but the kind of endurance that thanks God even if the trial does not pass. The very sobering reality of the Christian faith is that the possibility exists that God will not allow your trials to pass. There are tens of thousands of Christians all over the 191world who live under the incessant daily pressure of trials and persecution. This was true of the Thessalonian Christians. They received the gospel through persecution, they were following Christ in persecution, and they were trusting God to deliver them from persecution. For them, trials were more than a bad day at work, and persecution was more than a passing insult from a friend—consequential persecution and trials were a way of life. God may have the same kind of life in store for us. The question is, Do we have the kind of hope that will endure?

We will view everything that happens to us as either an opportunity or an obstacle. Obstacles are things that block our pathway, frustrate our plans, and make our lives difficult. God sometimes places obstacles in our path to accomplish His purposes in us, or even to discipline us (Heb 12:7-21). But if we trust in His sovereignty, we will view the things that happen to us not as obstacles that keep us from getting what we want, but as opportunities to depend more desperately on God to meet our needs. Hardship, trials, and persecution will reveal the genuineness of your conversion and the true depth of your faith. Trying times and adverse circumstances will draw the truly converted to God instead of driving them away from God. Paul knew this to be true from personal experience:

James said that you should "consider it a great joy" when you face hardships and trials because they bring forth the fruit of endurance, maturity, and ultimate happiness (Jas 1:2-10, 12). We can live with an expectant hope because our trials are working for us and not against us. Paul gives us the perspective that we need for facing our trials:

Given the opportunity, most people would gladly opt for a life free from burdens and pain. Some people even believe that if they have enough 192faith, then such a life is guaranteed. Their reasoning goes something like this: "If I fulfill my end of the deal by living faithfully, then God will meet His end of the deal by blessing me abundantly." Whether they admit this or not, many who serve the Lord in full-time ministry believe that this is true. They mistakenly assume that smooth sailing is ahead if they only walk with God, proclaim His Word, and love His people. To be honest, I believed this when I accepted my call to ministry. But 20 minutes into my first pastorate, I learned otherwise. And now, more than 20 years later, I am convinced more than ever that neither ministry nor Christianity is for the fainthearted.

Perhaps now we can begin to get a better picture as to why Paul was willing to "boast" about the Thessalonians "among God's churches" (1:4). Their growing faith and increasing love did not occur in a sterile environment. On the contrary, they were growing in the midst of some very trying conditions. A storm of persecution had settled in and showed little sign of letting up, but rather than being blown away by the storm, they remained firmly anchored to the unshakable foundation of their hope and genuine faith. Any seasoned mariner will tell you that the best way to ride out a storm is to anchor deep. The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we have an anchor and a hope that is "safe and secure," and His name is Jesus (Heb 6:19-20).

A Future That Is Secure

2 Thessalonians 1:5

We will have difficulty understanding why God uses hardship, suffering, and pain to accomplish His great purposes from our limited earthly perspective. While we may concede their immediate value in producing humility before Him and fostering dependence on Him, most of us never stop to consider that God uses our pain to produce something much bigger than what we presently see. Listen to how John Stott explains this:

It takes spiritual discernment to see in a situation of injustice (like the persecution of the innocent) evidence of the just judgment of God. Our habit is to see only the surface appearance, and so to make only superficial comments. We see the malice, cruelty, power and arrogance of evil men who persecute. We see also the sufferings of the people of God, 193who are opposed, ridiculed, boycotted, harassed, imprisoned, tortured and killed.... We are tempted to inveigh against God and the miscarriage of justice. "Why doesn't God do something?" we complain indignantly. And the answer is that he is doing something and will go on doing it. He is allowing His people to suffer, in order to qualify them for a heavenly kingdom. He is allowing the wicked to triumph temporarily, but his just judgment will fall upon them in the end. Thus Paul sees evidence that God's judgment is right in the very situation in which we might see nothing but injustice. (Stott, Gospel and the End, 147; emphasis in original)

Those are powerful words. In the remainder of chapter 1 we will see how Paul describes the judgment of the wicked. But before jumping ahead to examine this in much greater detail, let's first explore the matter of how suffering counts us "worthy of God's kingdom" (1:5).

A careful reading of verse 5 reveals that our suffering, God's judgment, and our worthiness to enter His kingdom are inseparably linked together. Paul writes, "It is a clear evidence of God's righteous judgment that you will be counted worthy of God's kingdom, for which you also are suffering" (1:5; emphasis added). What may appear at first to be a confusing statement is actually one of the most comforting statements that you will find in the Bible. Only God can take the concepts of "suffering" and "judgment" and turn them into words of comfort and expectation. That is exactly the point that Paul is conveying to the Thessalonians. Their suffering was not what secured their salvation; their suffering was the evidence of a salvation already secured when they identified themselves as followers of Jesus Christ (Rom 8:17; 1 Pet 1:6-9; 2:21). Stated another way, they were not made worthy of the kingdom because they suffered; they were counted worthy of the kingdom because they suffered.

As strange as this may sound to our ears, their suffering was evidence that God loved them, not a sign that He had abandoned them. Paul is reassuring them that their suffering has an eternal purpose. This paints an entirely different picture of suffering than many of us have of it. We can imagine how such a picture would dramatically influence the way in which we live. With this picture of suffering in mind, listen to how Paul challenges the Philippians:

Paul could thus rejoice with and brag about the Thessalonians because their enduring faith in the face of suffering was yet another sign of their genuine conversion.

Now that we have a clearer picture of the connection between our earthly suffering and our eternal glory, we are in a better position to understand what Paul means by "God's righteous judgment." While possibly Paul has in mind God's future judgment of the unrighteous (1:6-10), more likely he is speaking about the righteous judgment of believers by means of God's loving discipline. In this sense, the present trials of the Thessalonians would fall under the chastening hand of God. As Leon Morris puts it, such chastening would not necessarily be punitive but would instead be part of God's refining process in the lives of His people as He "uses tribulations to bring His own people to perfection" (Morris, Epistles of Paul, 116). Adding to this thought, James Grant offers the following helpful insight:

God has designed suffering to work for us and not against us. He has designed it to change us, to consume our dross and refine our gold. He will supply his all-sufficient grace through the fiery trials of life, and those trials are actually evidence that God is for us and not against us. (Grant, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 159)

The writer of Hebrews helps you see why God disciplines His people:

Did you catch the statement "so that we can share His holiness"? God uses discipline to bring about your sanctification by producing the "fruit 195of peace and righteousness." Therefore, the presence of pain, suffering, and trials are actually proof that God keeps His promise to keep you "sound and blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 5:23). Through His loving, albeit sometimes heavy, hand of discipline, God is preparing His people for their future home in heaven.

C. S. Lewis wrote, "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world" (Lewis, Problem of Pain, 91). Clearly God was using His megaphone to get the attention of the Thessalonian Christians. Their pain was proving their legitimacy as God's own people. By their faithful endurance they were demonstrating their worthiness to be citizens of God's kingdom. God could have stopped the persecution but chose to use it as a tool in their preparation for the glory that was to come (1 Thess 5:23-24).

God has an eternal purpose for your affliction and pain, but what about an earthly purpose? Is there any present value to your "momentary light affliction" (2 Cor 4:17)? Let's briefly consider two of God's earthly purposes for your pain:

God uses pain to draw us into a more intimate union with Him. Our natural inclination will always be to allow the lesser (though not always unimportant) things of life to crowd out the more important things in life. At the top of this list is our daily walk with God. Nothing in life should be more important than this. Yahweh is a jealous God (Exod 34:14) and is not content to play second string on your team or to play second fiddle in your band. Isaiah reminds us, "This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, says: I am the first and I am the last. There is no God but Me" (Isa 44:6).

God yearns jealously for your friendship (Jas 4:4-5) and thus refuses to allow lesser gods to take His place. He also loves you too passionately to allow you to walk away from Him. Therefore, because He yearns for you jealously and loves you passionately, He will use whatever means necessary to bring you back to Him. And the tool that He often uses is pain and suffering. Timothy Keller makes the point well:

Some suffering is given in order to chastise and correct a person for wrongful patterns of life (as in the case of Jonah imperiled by the storm), some suffering is given not to correct past wrongs but to prevent future ones (as in the case of Joseph sold into slavery), and some suffering has no purpose other than to lead a person to love God more ardently for 196himself alone and so discover the ultimate peace and freedom. (Keller, Walking with God, 47)

The process of preparing you for heaven begins at the moment of conversion and lasts until you finally see Jesus. God is not going to allow your personal sinfulness to derail His purifying work in you. He may choose to use pain, persecution, or both, but God always finishes what He starts.

From the moment of your conversion, God begins the work of shaping and pruning you to be more and more like Jesus (Rom 8:29). Because God is passionate about you reflecting the image of His Christ, you can be confident that He will take the necessary measures to remove anything that distorts His image. When His hands meet your resistance, you can anticipate that discipline will follow. And there is no question that God's discipline will always achieve its intended purposes both in this life and in the life to come (Rom 8:30-39).

Conclusion

How do we evaluate the effectiveness of a church? If we ask ten people that question, we are likely to get ten answers. However, if we are looking for an objective means for determining the overall health of a church, then I suggest we look to the Thessalonians. After all, any church that the apostle Paul was willing to boast about "among God's churches" deserves our careful consideration. Above everything else, the Thessalonian church was a gospel-centered church: their faith in God was rooted in the gospel, their love for one another flowed from the gospel, and their hope for the future was because of the gospel. From this gospel-centered focus we see three essential characteristics for every healthy church: gospel preaching, gospel people, and a gospel passion.

197Gospel preaching. Preaching and teaching must be centered on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The gospel is not an addendum to be hastily added to the end of a sermon; the gospel is the scarlet thread of redemption that must run through every sermon preached. While not every biblical text is evangelistic, every biblical text will be gospel-centered. This raises the question, How evident is the gospel in your church? Would a gospel-centered focus be evident from the moment that a person walks in the door, listens to a sermon, and meets your people? Go back and reread the Thessalonian letters, and you will discover that this church was built on the gospel.

Gospel people. The most effective means by which to measure the depth of gospel preaching in a church is to take a long, hard look at the people in the church. Genuine conversion will always be marked by life transformation. God did not call the church to be a building, but He did call the church to be a body. The church is not a place where a crowd gathers to worship; the church is a people who take their worship with them wherever they go. Gospel preaching always bears the fruit of gospel people who are deep in their love for God and wide in their love for others. The Thessalonians personified the gospel by loving God with all their heart and loving others as they loved themselves (Luke 10:27).

Gospel passion. God never commanded the people on the outside of the church to come inside, but He did command the people on the inside of the church to go out. God calls those who put their trust in Jesus Christ not to sit and play it safe, but to get up and take some risks. However, you will never take the kinds of risks that the gospel demands until you first rest in the hope that the gospel provides. You will never be passionate about something in which you don't fully believe. You may be able to fake your passion for Christ for a season, but it will be sure to wither when the heat of affliction comes. How far you are willing to go and how much discomfort you are willing to experience for the sake of the gospel will say much about what you truly believe.

Reflect and Discuss

1. What is the difference between contributing to God's work and participating in God's work?
2. Why was Thessalonica the prime location to plant a church? What are the advantages that your own church could avail itself of?
3. What are some possible reactions that a church may have to adversity and persecution?
4. 198What is the significance of Paul's mention of grace and peace in his salutation? How does this apply to you as you live out your faith?
5. What are the distinguishing characteristics of genuine conversion?
6. Based on his first letter to the church, why is Paul so delighted to learn that their love for one another was increasing?
7. Describe the various ways that your hope enables you to face both your challenges and your opportunities.
8. What are some of the reasons Paul was so willing to boast about the Thessalonian church? How might someone boast about your church?
9. What did Paul say to the Thessalonians to encourage them to be faithful in the midst of their persecutions?
10. How does this passage challenge the way you view the presence of pain in your life? What can affliction and pain teach you about how God deals with those He loves?