Read 2 Thessalonians 2:5-8

When looking at texts that speak of things that will happen before Christ’s return, it can be tempting to fall into one of two errors. Either to think that it will happen so far in the future that it has no relevance for us now, or to think that it must be relevant for us only today, and has no relevance for anyone in any other time or place.

Paul’s teaching on the Man of Lawlessness, otherwise known as the Antichrist, is exactly the type of teaching where this error can occur. But Paul wrote his letter to emphasise both the future and the present reality. The mystery of lawlessness is that it is present today but restrained, will one day be loosed, but will also be finally and effortlessly brought to heel at Christ’s return. This revelation of what was hidden but now unveiled encourages us to persevere and resist today, and also offers the promise of order restored in the future.

While rebellion against God has existed among humans since the Fall, rebellion will find a final focus immediately before Christ returns in the Man of Lawlessness. This was not written for the Thessalonians (or our) worry, but to forewarn and forearm, and to encourage that we have not missed Christ’s return and there is still better to come.

The difficulty for us, today, is that Paul was reminding the Thessalonians of teachings he had given in person, but has not been written down by Paul elsewhere. As a result, there is plenty of room for interpretation and speculation while we await the playing out of history to fill in the gaps.

This is why Paul in verse five states “do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?” The Thessalonians were there. They had the benefit of the full fleshing out of the teaching, not the summary in Thessalonians. However, if we needed that information to function, we can be sure that God would have revealed it to us in the Bible.

One of those uncertain pieces of information is the identity of the restrainer, who stops Satan from unleashing the Man of Lawlessness. “And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time” (v.6).

Apparently the Thessalonians knew the identity of the person or thing restraining the Man of Lawlessness. We do not. There is plenty of speculation on this identity, and it is a fair question to ask. Unfortunately, the passage does not make it clear.

We do know that verse six refers to the identity of the restrainer as neuter (“what is restraining him”) while verse seven speaks of a person. “For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.”

There are seven different theories about the restrainer. Three more plausible ones are that the restrainer is the Holy Spirit, the government (in Paul’s day, the Roman Empire), or the third option being the Gospel. People that hold to the popular modern views about Revelation (found in your local bookstore) favour the first. The government has a certain appeal (cf. Romans 13), although governments are also instruments of rebellion against God. The preaching of the Gospel is attractive since it must be preached to all the nations before Christ returns, so effectively God is the restrainer.

I lean to the last view, but agree with anyone who takes the view of Augustine: “I frankly confess I do not know what he means.”

What is clear is that the restrainer is at work today, restraining lawlessness. Lawlessness is already at work in our world today, even if not fully unleashed.

And most importantly, lawlessness will be brought to heel. “And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (v.8). There is no great struggle, but the casual swipe of Christ as he gloriously appears to restore order and bring to an end the world’s rebellion against their Creator, Lord, and King.

This passage reminds us that there are some parts of God’s salvation plan that are simply not necessary for us to know. We have a culturally inbuilt desire for religious certainty which exceeds the limits of revelation that God has given us (cf. Deut. 29:29). Passages where the meaning is unclear right now reminds us that it is okay to live in faith with questions, trusting that God will answer them in time.

In the meantime, we do know certain facts. Lawlessness against God continues today, even if restrained. As citizens of God’s Kingdom, we should devote ourselves to persevering through the world’s rebellion, and resisting by acts of obedience to God’s Law and mercy to all.

But best of all, we know that Jesus is returning to put an end to all lawlessness. In the midst of lawlessness and rebellion, this is a promise to rest our hopes in.

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:3-5

Christians of all ages have speculated about the identity of the Antichrist, or Man of Lawlessness which Paul speaks of in his second letter to the Thessalonian Church. From figures as varied as Roman Emperors, Attila the Hun, Napoleon, Hitler or Stalin, or your favourite politician you love to hate. If there is one thing we can all agree on, it is that we cannot agree on who the Antichrist is or will be.

While time will reveal who Paul was speaking about, we are left with plenty that explains the Antichrist’s purposes. And while we might disagree about who the Antichrist will be, we can see the same devilish purposes at play in a restrained way today since many antichrists are busy today (1 John 2:18). Being forewarned is being forearmed, to resist the devil’s work today and the Man of Lawlessness’ work in the future, before Christ returns to put those schemes to an end.

It seems that Paul had already taught the Thessalonians about the Man of Lawlessness (v.5), so he only reminds them of important facts they need to remember which encourages them that Jesus had not yet returned. Unfortunately, that in-person detail has not survived.

Jesus’ return will not happen until “the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (v.3). This man, who we call the Antichrist (1 John 2:18), will rise up as the banner-waver for Satan by promoting disobedience against God’s righteous law. He is also the son of destruction, who like Judas Iscariot is doomed to hell (John 17:12).

As if rebellion was not enough, he also “opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, … proclaiming himself to be God” (v.4). He demands that people worship him, opposing the only true faith in the True and Living God.

He will do this by “tak[ing] his seat in the temple of God” (v.4). This statement is clearly full of speculation. Is this referring to a rebuilt Jewish temple, following the historic example of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Pompey, and Caligula (Matt. 24:15-16)? Or figurative language? 

Or, as I believe, a reference to the Antichrist seeking to corrupt the Church, which Paul elsewhere describes as the Temple of God (Eph 2:20-21), into worshiping him? Time will tell (unless you affirm the original WCF 25.6 as written, which is often qualified by denominations in our stream of Christianity today).

If he does as I believe he will, and attempts to subvert the Church for satanic purposes, then this involves corrupting church teaching and church office to point to him as the object of worship. There is plenty of this lawlessness at work today.

These pictures have parallels in the imagery of the Bible’s apocalyptic texts. For instance, Daniel 7 refers to a “little horn” (Dan. 7:8) which is the final scene in a vision of the empires of world history that would eventually succumb to Christ’s kingdom (Dan 7:9-15). In Revelation, a series of images portray the conflict between the devil and God through history. This includes imagery of a beast who reprises and combines the beasts of Daniel, and an accompanying beast who deceives and leads the world into worship of this beast (and behind it all, the devil).

This imagery is terrifying if you seriously dwell on it, until you remember that in the end Jesus Wins. The passages in Daniel, Revelation, or here in 2 Thessalonians were not written to scare us, but to reveal what is otherwise hidden. Like a road sign that warns of caution ahead, these passages are written to forewarn us, so we are prepared.

While we (probably!) have not seen the arrival of the Man of Lawlessness today, that does not mean the spirit of lawlessness is not busy at work today.

The description in these verses appear so relevant to every age, because they are present in every age, just not in final form. So while we may not see the man himself, we can see the work of the devil in our day and resist it.

The man of lawlessness wants two things. Rebellion, and apostasy. Rejecting God’s righteous law, and embracing the worship of anything other than God (which is worship of the devil ultimately). 

We also see the game plan of the devil revealed in this passage. The Man of Lawlessness will use all means, including coercion and deceit to ensure worship of himself. This is true in every age. We should not be surprised to see opposition to the gospel, from authorities and groups, and through false teaching and false teachers slipping into the Church.

So as believers, our response should be to hold firmer to Christ alone in affliction, to worship the Triune God alone, and to seek to please God by putting sin and rebellion to death in our own lives!

Forewarned is forearmed. The Man of Lawlessness will come. His spirit is at work today. But the good news is his arrival signals Jesus’ return.

Read 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3

I picked up my children from school this afternoon, and one was upset and concerned because he had gone to the wrong place (for some reason) and could not find me. He feared he had been left behind at school. I would never knowingly do that if it was in my power, of course, but the fear pops into a child’s head, just like the fear you have got on the wrong plane or train in an adult’s mind. Thankfully, it was nothing a good hug could not fix.

The Thessalonian church were worried that they had been left behind in a sense as well. Except it was a far greater concern than missed parents or missed transport; it was a concern that they had missed Jesus’ return. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians to calm their concerns. They had not been left behind. They had not missed the final completion of their salvation. Neither have you.

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians had covered the topic of Christ’s return. When Christ came, both the living and dead in Christ would rise to be with him (1 Thess. 4:13-18). That actual date would come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:1-8). They were not destined for wrath but salvation, and this was cause for encouragement (1 Thess 5:9-11).

In his second letter, Paul taught that at Christ’s return would bring good news for believers and doom for unbelievers who rebel against God and persecute God’s faithful (2 Thess 1:5-12).

But what if they had missed it? That was what worried the Thessalonians. Somehow, they had come to believe that they had missed Christ’s return, somehow. In some way, it had already begun. But if that was the case, why were they still undergoing persecution and affliction?

Paul turned to this worry in chapter 2. The main topic Paul addressed was “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him” (v.1). Word had reached Paul that some of them had become “quickly shaken in mind or alarmed” (v.2) and he asked that they not be so.

Perhaps through ill intent, or a misunderstanding, the Thessalonians believed that Paul had taught Jesus had already returned. Paul, who had not made it there in person to find out, thought this was due to “either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come” (v.2).

Whether by some prophetic utterance or a claimed teaching, or a forged letter claiming to be from Paul, somehow they had the wrong end of the stick. But what mattered more to Paul than how they had been led amiss was the content of that teaching. It was certainly not apostolic teaching from Paul.

Paul proceeded to explain why they had not been left behind. “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction” (v.3).

Just as you cannot put away clean clothes until they have been washed, dried, and folded, so too Jesus would not return without specific events first. Paul described those as a rebellion, and the revelation of the man of lawlessness.

As Jesus taught before he died, there would be various signs that preceded his return and the end of the age (cf. Matthew 24, Luke 22, Mark 13). Some of these involve the advance of the Gospel. Some are signs of God’s pending judgement. And some are signs of opposition to God.

Paul is speaking here of signs indicating opposition to God. Paul indicates that there will be a period of more intense rebellion against God and the revealing of a final, single Antichrist figure before Jesus returned. Since that had not happened yet, the Thessalonians could relax. Jesus had not returned and forgot about them.

Fears of Jesus’ return seem to pop up like mushrooms throughout Church history, and it is no less true today. Go to some sections of a Christian bookstore, and you can have your fill of fiction and non-fiction claiming it has happened, is happening, or will happen next week.

The truth is, we do not know for sure. No man knows the hour (Matt. 24:36). It could be next week. It could be yet a while longer. We should not get overly worried about world events, but focus on the big picture – Jesus is coming back.

Instead, like the virgins of Jesus’ parable (Matt. 25), we should be ready for Christ’s imminent return. Ready to endure a period of trial if necessary, and ready to not follow false Christs that arise. And ready not to submit to the rebellion of this present age, even if it means we suffer at the hands of everyone from political and economic elites to our unbelieving neighbours, friends, and family.

The final completion of our salvation at Christ’s return awaits. They had not missed it. Neither have you.

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:10-12

Watch any award ceremony or an interview after a sporting victory, and you will likely see the winner thanking their colleagues, friends, family, and supporters for enabling their victory. They view the victory as almost a shared achievement, even though it is them individually who succeeded.

Jesus’ return will be the final victory and glorification of Jesus by everyone, everywhere. Nobody will be able to deny Jesus that victorious moment, then and forevermore. As Christians, we look forward to that day. Paul also encourages us to see it as a shared victorious moment, when we too will share in Christ’s glory. Our lives as believers centre around looking forward to, and getting ready for, that great victory ceremony.

Verses 5 to 9 have spoken of the final destination of humanity, either to salvation or to judgement. Paul’s introductory verses now progress to making clear when this final sorting will occur – at Christ’s return.

The day of Christ’s coming would grant relief from the present suffering that the Thessalonians were enduring (v.7), at which point God would also bring fiery judgement and eternal punishment on all who do not believe in the Gospel (vv.8-9).

Jesus’ return was also where he would be “be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed” (v.10). Jesus would be glorified by those he came to save. 

The exaltation of Christ, begun by the resurrection of Christ after his great humiliation at the Cross (Phil 2:4-9) will find its completion when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11).

Jesus’ return will also cause believers to marvel at Jesus, the suffering servant who reigns on high, mighty and victorious over everything! We will finally see in living colour the amazing victory of Christ fully revealed for all to see.

The glorification of Christ and marvelling in him will occur “because our testimony to you was believed” (v.10). Jesus would be glorified among his saints because Paul preached the Gospel to them, and they believed.

For Paul, this glorious future was cause for continued prayer. Paul wanted the Thessalonians to mature spiritually, “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” (v.11). 

Spiritual maturity is a bit like dressing up for the award ceremony, except the clothes are the good works prepared beforehand for us to enter into (Eph 2:10), demonstrating that we are saved by God’s grace through faith, and not through our own works (Eph. 2:8-9). Knowing we are destined for such a glorious future event, why would the Thessalonians not want to “look their best” by pursuing sanctification? God would surely fulfil the good works they did, trusting in God to empower them to accomplish good for God’s glory despite their present troubles.

Because while the Thessalonians shared in Jesus’ troubles and afflictions in their own walk of faith, they would also share in Christ’s glory. God would bless their labours “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” (v.12).

It was not works that would glorify the Thessalonians. Not theirs, anyway. The Thessalonians would be glorified because they were believers and so rested in the grace of God and their Lord Jesus. The process which began with their conversion, and through the Holy Spirit working in their lives to make them holier (2 Cor. 3:18) would find its glorious completion at Christ’s return (Phil. 3:20-21).

All this, for the Thessalonians and for us the same, is the result of God’s grace. It reflects the longing of Christ that we would be united in and with him in glory (John 17:24). We should strive for the glory of Christ because it responds to the longing of our Saviour and Lord to be present with us, just as we long to be reunited with friends and loved ones.

This passage also encourages us to constantly seek Christ’s glory. Jesus is coming again soon, to be glorified in his saints. In the meantime, we have the opportunity to glorify God and Jesus through our own behaviour so that it might be said that we are worthy of the calling that God has exercised in our lives. And because it is through the Gospel we receive that glory, to share it with others that they may share in glory too.

We have a bright future ahead of us. The sufferings, troubles, afflictions, and if they come, persecutions, of today are nothing compared to the glory to come. When things are hard, it is tempting to give up. But the end is near. The final victory of Jesus is close at hand, when he will be glorified and we will share in that glory.

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

The truth of eternal punishment is unpopular today. It is the ultimate conclusion of the reality of an ultimate authority (God) with an ultimate standard to which we are all held to account. There must be a reckoning for failing to meet the standard. Since our world does not want to be held accountable to God’s standard, they reject the idea of eternal punishment in Hell. The seemingly unloving nature of Hell is also something believers seek to shy away from.

We cannot shy away from what the Bible teaches, even when it makes us uneasy. Hell is a terrible reality. The eternal punishment of hell is terrible, because of its nature and its duration. It is terrible, but it is ultimately just, because it is the sentence pronounced by an infinitely holy and just God.

In the previous opening verses of 2 Thessalonians, Paul taught that everyone will stand before God to receive his righteous judgement. All will give account for their acts, and for their treatment of those God has saved through repenting and believing the Gospel.

For those who refuse to repent; who “do not know God and … do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (v.8) will be the just and righteous outcome for their unbelief and unrighteous rebellion against God.

“They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (v.9).

While it may seem it sometimes, we do not live in a Creation where there are no consequences. There are always consequences, felt now and later. Paul makes it clear that unbelief will be met with punishment from God.

It is simply untrue to suggest that everyone will ultimately escape punishment. God is certainly a loving God, but not to the exclusion of his other attributes like justice and anger at sin! As Hebrews 9:27 points out, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”. There are no second chances. Jesus warned the Jewish leaders “unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

That punishment is described as “eternal destruction”. Some people teach that destruction means a form of annihilation, similar to how a destroyed building is a pile of rubble. But destruction used here does not refer so much to pulverisation as it does to the loss of everything worthwhile. An analogy might be in the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, which left nothing of worth in the city especially compared to God’s blessing in the days of David and Solomon.

This eternal destruction being an ongoing loss and punishment is also in keeping with Jesus’ teaching on eternal punishment. For instance, Jesus says in Matthew 25:46 that the unrighteous “will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life”. Eternal punishment is the opposite of eternal life.

This also explains the phrase that Hell is “away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” which seems to conflict with God’s everywhere-present nature. God’s presence and glory is a comfort for believers (cf. Num. 6:24-26). Being away from God’s presence in the Old Testament was a ritualistic cutting off from the blessings of God and instead being an object of God’s wrath.

Ironically, those who want nothing to do with God in this life get their wish in the next, but not as they would like it. Separated entirely from God’s love (expressed to all through his common grace, and to believers additionally by God’s saving grace), they instead experience the full impact of God’s anger at their sin. Instead of the light of God, only “the outer darkness… [where] there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12).

The terrible reality of these verses, and others in Scripture which speak of eternal punishment (many of which we have not touched), should awaken us to the terrible reality of sin. We all tend to downplay our sin, or that of those we care for, but God does not. If we view eternal punishment as unfair or unjust, it suggests that we do not fully realise just how terrible our sin is to an infinitely holy and just God.

The terrible reality of hell should serve as a warning for the consequences of unforgiven sin. And even though, in Christ, our sins are forgiven, it shows us how deeply offensive to our adoptive father our sins are – so why do we continue sinning so?

And the terrible reality of hell should spur us to a desire for the lost. We proclaim the gospel so that others too might escape the coming judgement, and instead repent of their sins and give thanks to a loving and merciful God.

Because the terrible reality of hell should also throw us at God’s feet in thanks for his great mercy. Apart from God’s great saving love shown to us through Jesus, this would be our fate too. Thanks to Christ, we receive the blessings of eternal life.

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8

“Judge not!” may be the most popular incomplete and incorrect quotation of Scripture by modern Westerners today. Our culture does not like the idea of judgement, and emphasises love and tolerance over it. In fact, they can be very judgemental about the whole thing! The cultural concept of a god, if one is acknowledged, is of a completely non-judgemental being. Not the God of the Bible.

Because while the God who reveals himself in his Word is indeed the most loving being that exists, God also is one who is fully and completely just, and will bring righteous judgement upon all who do not repent and believe. This view may not be popular with the world, and may bring us exclusion or persecution, just as the Thessalonians were afflicted and persecuted. But as Paul asserts in 2 Thessalonians, all will stand before God’s throne to give account and receive judgement.

Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica opened with thanksgiving and boasting over the Thessalonian church’s faithfulness. This faithfulness was despite the various afflictions and persecutions they were enduring. The Thessalonians were growing in their faith and love, and this growth gave them the strength to endure.

This growth in faith and love, in the not-so-loving context of afflictions and persecution, was evidence that they were believers. “This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering” (v.5) Paul stated.

God was not punishing the Thessalonians through afflictions and persecution. Their lives of faithfulness and love in the face of affliction was evidence that God’s judgement was right. Instead, God had judged them righteously as deserving of membership in God’s eternal kingdom. It was because of their membership in the Kingdom that they were suffering. Their membership in God’s kingdom did not exempt them from suffering.

In other words, their status as believers marked them out as targets by the unbelieving world for affliction and persecution. They were “enemy combatants” and treated accordingly by the world, even though they showed love and care for the unbelieving world surrounding them.

But would the world get away with its mistreatment of the Thessalonian believers? No, they would not, “since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you” (v.6). Here, Paul states that God is a proponent of divine retribution for sin. 

God’s righteous judgement includes vindication and justice for the citizens of his kingdom for the unjust treatment they received at the hands of an unbelieving world. Yet while we might prefer that this judgement occurs at the time of affliction, God works to his own timetable.

God will “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” (vv.7-8).

The day of vindication and relief for believers will be the day of Jesus’ return to judge the living and the dead. That point will be the one when believers will finally be relieved of their afflictions, and unbelievers will finally receive God’s vengeance for their sin.

This will not be a quiet appearing but a dramatic one, arriving with his angels in flaming fire. There will be no mistaking Jesus’ appearing, nor the reason he has returned.

While some may try and argue that they were not given a chance to change their ways, this judgement will also be shown to be entirely just. It is not arbitrary but based on rejecting God’s standard of righteousness. And it is not for lack of opportunity, but for rejecting God and the opportunity to repent and rely on the Gospel to escape the coming fire.

As with other passages which deal with judgement and Christ’s return, these verses are meant as an encouragement for us to persevere and endure.

The afflictions and persecution we may face are not God’s punishment, but are evidence that we are loved by him and members of his kingdom. We have passed through judgement by the power of the Gospel to enjoy God’s favour, not his anger. If we were not loved by God, those who oppose God would not attack us.

They are also afflictions which will end. Justice will be done at Jesus’ return. Evildoers will not get away with it. They will face God’s righteous judgement.

By knowing God as revealed in Christ and in God’s Word, and in resting in God’s Gospel, others may escape God’s righteous judgement, poured out on Jesus on our behalf, and theirs too. This is the one great decision for every person – whether to open your heart to God and embrace the forgiveness he supplies, or reject him and receive God’s righteous judgement in vengeance for sin.

In God’s righteous judgement, there are still many today who will escape God’s vengeance at Christ’s return through repenting and believing the Gospel.

Are you one of them?

Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4

What makes a successful church? Is it a large number of people attending every week? A massive budget? A good looking church building? Lots of programmes and activities? That sounds more like a business than a church. Paul would not likely consider those marks of a successful church.

What then would Paul consider a successful church? Thankfully we have an answer in Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian Church. Paul’s idea of a church that is successful, one that he liked to boast about to other churches, is one where its members grow in faith and love. That growth equips them for God’s service, and allows them to ensure hardship.

Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica continues developing themes which Paul and the congregation there discussed in his first letter. It was likely written around 51AD, within a relatively short period after his first letter.

Paul’s opening to the congregation there is extremely similar to his greeting in his first letter. “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (vv.1-2).

As in Paul’s first letter, he also greeted them on behalf of his missionary companions Silvanus (Silas) and Timothy. However, in 2 Thessalonians Paul speaks of God as not just the Father of Jesus, but as our Father. In the same way, the source of grace and peace is explicitly said to be from both the Father and Jesus.

In these verses, Paul reminded the Thessalonians that as believers they were adopted into God’s family. The Father was not just the Son’s father, but was their father by adoption too. They too were children of God.

Secondly, the source of God’s favour and peace was not just Jesus, who had purchased it on their behalf by his life of perfect obedience and his perfect sacrifice, but God the Father who sent the Son on this saving mission.

Grace and peace flow to his children, through Jesus Christ. This flow comes from their faith, which unites them to Christ and makes them God’s beloved children by adoption.

Paul then spoke of how he ought always to give thanks to God because “your faith is growing abundantly” (v.3). Their faith was not stagnant, nor was it wilting and shrinking, but growing more and more, like the camellia in our front garden which this summer finally decided to take off.

Secondly, Paul spoke of giving thanks to God because “the love of every one of you for one another is increasing” (v.3). The Thessalonians were more than just club members, they were family. In the same way we encourage our children to demonstrate love and care towards each other, so too they should love each other more as siblings in God’s household.

That they were doing so was an indication of the Holy Spirit at work in their lives. God as the true source or proper, ordered love, was working in them to help them love each other more, just as the Holy Spirit was working in their lives to grow their faith.

This growth in faith and love was important. It gave them “steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring” (v.4). When the difficulties of life came upon them, as it always does, they did not wilt and wither but trusted in God’s goodness and relied on it to carry them through.

It was this steadfastness and faith in the face of troubles which caused Paul, Silas, and Timothy to “boast about you in the churches of God” (v.4) as an example to them and to give glory to God. Not buildings, bodies, and budgets.

The same is true for the church today. We are tempted to fall into our modern, economic and consumer-minded ways and assume that successful churches have large facilities, great numbers of attendees, or massive annual budgets. While these things can be a blessing to a congregation of God’s people, and those in that position should constantly thank God and consider how to glorify God with those resources, what makes a church successful is actually how it relates to God and to each other – God’s adopted children.

Any church, big or small in resources and people, is a successful church if it is one which encourages growing in faith and in love for one another. These churches do that which pleases God – worship and glorify him, in good times and bad – and that is what we ought to do. That is what caused Paul the apostle to boast in his day, and should encourage us in ours.

Paul’s encouragement towards growth in faith in love tells us what is important. That we do the same. Through dwelling in God’s Word daily, through prayer and renewed trust each day, and through loving each other. As we trust God our Father more, our faith and love will grow, and we will be strengthened to endure difficulties, steadfast in Jesus Christ.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:23-28

Self-improvement is big business today. Regimes, videos, books, podcasts (sponsored by some VPN provider). Improve your wellbeing. Improve your fitness. Improve your waistline. Someone, somewhere, is probably offering an “improve your holiness” self-help programme too (the heretic Pelagius probably forgot to copyright his work).

The Bible is big on improvement too. But not self-improvement. Becoming more holy, absolutely. By God’s grace, not our own works. In his conclusion to his first letter to the Thessalonian believers, Paul prays for the complete holiness of all his message’s recipients. But not by their own efforts, but by God’s power, through God’s grace.

Paul’s previous sentences encouraged the Thessalonian Christians in their responsibilities toward God, by living to please God and not quench the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. His concluding remarks continue the message of the Spirit’s work by praying for God’s work in their lives.

Paul’s blessing sought the complete holiness of the Thessalonian believers. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.23).

This verse may sound familiar, it is one we sometimes use as a benediction in our services.

Note that Paul prayed that it is God who sanctifies completely. To sanctify something is to make it holy. For instance, in the Old Testament, the priests, their clothes, and the temple implements were set apart and ritualistically made holy so they could be in God’s presence.

Sanctification refers to the way in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives to change our thoughts and actions to reflect patterns which please God, rather than the natural sinful patterns we are all born with and lovingly cultivate apart from Christ. It is an ongoing process of transformation which continues throughout our life in Christ. Its source is God, not self-help.

Sanctification also has an extent. As Paul prayed, our sanctification will be “complete” or through and through. It is also complete in the sense of its thoroughness. Not just part, but “your whole spirit and soul and body”; that is, all of us.

Sanctification also has an end goal. That is, that we may “be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. When our walk in this stage of life ends, the work of sanctification reaches its end as we are a finished product ready for God’s presence.

Paul’s prayer for sanctification is a confident prayer. “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it” (v.24). That confidence is based on God’s nature and sovereign call. Because God calls us to salvation, he is faithful to his promises to make us fit for his presence. God will not go back on his word.

Paul recognised he was also a work of sanctification, and receiving holiness by grace. So he asked the Thessalonians to pray for him, too (v.25).

He also encouraged the Thessalonians to loving fellowship by greeting “all the brothers with a holy kiss” (v.26). This holy kiss, which in our stoic culture is replaced by a handshake or perhaps a hug, reflected fellowship, brotherhood, and reconciliation. All products of God’s working holiness in our lives.

These exhortations were not intended for some alone, but for all. So Paul “put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers” (v.27). Just as the Old Testament was read as Scripture in First Century Church services, so too Paul’s letter was to be read to all. Because one of the ways in which the Holy Spirit works in our lives is through hearing God’s Word.

Paul’s letter ends with a final blessing. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you” (v.28). As we are made more holy, we become more aware of our sin. To this awareness, Paul commends the remedy; the grace of Christ as our Saviour and Lord.

Paul’s desire is for our improvement, yes, but not through our own efforts which will never be enough. Paul desires that we are made holy, fit for God’s presence, by God’s own power and act. 

Paul is confident that his desire will be fulfilled in the life of every believer, including you and me, because God is faithful to his promises and does not give up on his renovation projects! As we see the continued sins in our lives, knowing that God is still working with our complete holiness as the end is something which should encourage us.

In the meantime, we can continue to look to the Cross and see God’s love and (our undeserved) favour expressed to us there, as Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so we could be reconciled with the God of peace. We can rest in Christ’s saving act, hear God’s Word proclaimed, share fellowship with each other, and pray for each other as Paul sought prayer for his own sanctification.

God is working to make us completely holy by his grace. He is faithful, he will surely do it.

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15

One of our congregational values is “building a covenantal community of love and care”. This is not a job description for the elders and deacons only, but for all of us. As individuals in a congregation, we believe it is important to love and care for each other. But what does that look like in practice? Have you thought about what it means to build a covenantal community of love and care?

Thankfully, the Scriptures teach us what a covenantal community of love and care looks like. One of the passages which teaches us about this is verses fourteen and fifteen of 1 Thessalonians 5. In it, Paul encourages the Thessalonians to minister to each others’ needs, and to do good, not evil. If we follow Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, we too will build a loving and caring covenantal community.

After encouraging the Thessalonian congregation to love and support their leaders, Paul turned to the way in which individuals in the congregation, and the congregation as a whole, could care for each other. He did this by urging them to action (v.14).

The first way that the Thessalonians could minister to each others’ needs was to “admonish the idle” (v.14). The word idle could also refer to the unruly and undisciplined, but likely in this context is referring to idleness because this is a frequent mention in Paul’s two letters to Thessalonica.

The Christian life is not one of idleness but one of diligent work. Not to earn our salvation, but to complete the good works prepared for us beforehand (Eph. 2:10). This takes many shapes. The way in which we work in a job instead of slacking off. The way in which we work in raising children instead of full-time outsourcing to the screen. The way in which we study instead of socialising all the time. The way in which we use our spiritual gifts to build up each other. 

Idleness is leaving aside our God-given responsibilities, and relying on others to carry the slack. A rowing team will not move far if only some of the rowers are at work. We care for each other by working alongside each other. When we see capable and able people not doing so, we should encourage them to work for the Lord.

Secondly, Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to “encourage the fainthearted” (v.14). Truth is, some of us are more discouraged than others. All of us face discouragement from time to time. Personal sin. Life setbacks. External pressure or persecution. A trusted person lets them down. When we see discouraged among us, we should encourage them by pointing them to God’s goodness and God’s promises both in the Bible and their own lives.

Paul also encouraged them to “help the weak” (v.14). This could have many applications. Some people need more assistance than others due to their health, physical condition, age, or circumstances. Others may be weakened spiritually by sinful or moral temptations and conflicts. Helping those in these circumstances sets us apart from the world, which throws the weak under the proverbial bus through one means or another.

Whether reproving the idle, encouraging the fainthearted, or helping the weak, the Thessalonians were to “be patient with them all” (v.14). Change is not a flip of the switch. It takes time and effort. We must patiently bear with one another, even in our own weaknesses. As we show patience, we bear one of the fruits of the Spirit.

But beyond this, a covenantal community of love and care is one which shows grace and goodness to everyone. “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone” (v.15).

This is a negative and positive application of the golden rule, and reflects Christ’s teaching regarding loving enemies and avoiding vengeance (cf. Luke 6:27-36). We should see that none of us indulge in personal vengeance for wrongs done against us, as hard as that sometimes may be. Ultimately payback for wrongs is for God to pour out, either on the unrepentant sinner or for the repentant, poured out on Christ at the Cross instead.

Whether it is a fellow Christian or an unbeliever, the answer to evil is not more evil but good. That does not mean we cannot seek justice through the appointed channels, but revenge and retaliation are out; restraint and goodness are in. In a world of bloodlust and tit for tat, turning our desire for revenge over to God and showing the love of Christ is like a bright light in a dark night. This is not an easy thing to do, but it is God’s command. We need his help in this.

A covenantal community of love and care is a congregation which cares for each other where they are, and helps them fulfil their calling as God’s children. Through discouraging idleness, encouraging the fainthearted, helping the weak, and showing grace and goodness to all, we reflect Christ’s love to each other and to a world which needs Jesus.