Lesson for October 11, 2020
The Book of II Thessalonians
Chapter 1:1-5
“Paul and 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 the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. The church at Thessalonica was founded on Paul’s second missionary journey and was composed of mostly Gentiles. Since the writing of I Thessalonians, false teachers had infiltrated this church. They were teaching that the church would go through the Tribulation and they blurred all the distinctions between the Rapture and the Second Coming, and between the Church and Israel. These teachers, in order to make their lessons acceptable, carried a letter and said it was Paul’s second epistle to them. It was a forgery, of course, and because of this forgery Paul had to send them a genuine letter in order to refute everything in the forgery.
This letter was a follow-up letter to the book of I Thessalonians written around 54-55 A.D. while Paul was in Corinth. The first two verses are the introduction to the epistle, after that this chapter has three principles which are taught: 1) mental attitude orientation, the main subject being thanksgiving as the illustration 2) time orientation, the subject being eschatology 3) functional orientation, the subject being prayer.
Mentioned with Paul was Silvanus, which is the given name for Silas. Silas is merely a nickname. He was a prominent member of the Jerusalem church, according to Acts 15:22. He was a companion to Paul on his second missionary journey and was said to have the gift of prophecy in Acts 15:32. He was the bearer of Peter’s epistles to Asia minor according to I Peter 5:12 and a well-known, prominent person. Timothy was led to Christ by Paul during the second missionary journey and had the gift of pastor-teacher.
The local church in Thessalonica is said to be “in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” God the Father is the author of the plan of salvation and the protocol plan after salvation. Every believer is in the plan of God the moment they believe in Jesus Christ as Savior, but not all believers execute the plan as God has designed it for them. Therefore, God can prosper a local church because of the capacity of the congregation to receive blessing, just as He can do for the individual believer with capacity. The source of grace and peace are said to be from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is the basis of entering God’s plan of grace and peace both positionally and experientially.
We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. Paul is giving thanks to God for the believers in Thessalonica who are executing the Christian Way of Life (your faith and love are growing). This was a great encouragement to him to know that the ones he had taught were continuing in their study and application of doctrine. Bible doctrine causes spiritual growth. This they did amid persecutions and afflictions. A believer may be in the midst of persecution for their faith, but no one can take the doctrine in your soul from you.
As a result of their spiritual growth, these believers were exhibiting a mental attitude of virtue-love toward one another. Accurate Bible doctrine changes you on the inside. Accurate Bible doctrine changes the way a believer thinks when it is believed and properly applied. Divine Viewpoint Thinking is the result of Bible doctrine resident in your soul. The pastors who had taught these believers had obviously done a fantastic job because these believers were continuing to be faithful while being persecuted and afflicted. Paul was so proud of them for their attitude of perseverance. It’s not always easy to stay with Bible doctrine when you’re continually being persecuted by others. But if you do, the application of that Bible doctrine will be the solution to handling anything Satan’s world system throws your way.
God has designed a certain amount of suffering for blessing for the believer who reaches spiritual maturity. He has designed a period of great prosperity. Then there is a period of adversity. God has designed the life of spiritual maturity so that whether it is prosperity or adversity His provision and grace are all-sufficient. In other words, God demonstrates His love toward you under varying circumstances of life. (Philippians 4:11-13)
This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. The plain indication of God’s righteous judgment is the fact that spiritually mature believers are going to suffer persecution and affliction. Suffering for blessing is part of God’s plan for the spiritually mature believer. It is God’s way of keeping us humble in every circumstance of life and testing our faith in Him to find out if we know the way to handle the suffering. (II Corinthians 12:7-10; I Peter 5:10)
If a believer takes the road of reversionism, all of the suffering will be deserved self-induced misery and divine discipline. If you take the road of positive volition toward Bible doctrine, all of the suffering will be undeserved suffering for blessing. So, God’s time for us on earth is broken up into periods of prosperity and adversity. The solution to both is the application of Bible doctrine.
A believer’s confidence in God and His Word will be intensified by suffering for blessing if a believer makes the appropriate application of doctrine. If you didn’t have suffering you would never know the mental stability that comes from the proper application of the doctrine you have learned. When you use doctrine in adversity you gain spiritual strength. Therefore, that strength you gain in adversity makes life much more enjoyable when you are experiencing spiritual prosperity.
God’s righteous judgment means God judges the right time to send suffering for our benefit. Who is worthy for this kind of suffering? We can only be counted worthy to suffer for blessing when we have enough doctrine in our soul to handle it without becoming bitter toward God. God has been pouring out blessing as our capacity to receive it has increased. Now, when He pours out some adversity to test us, it because we have been counted worthy by God to suffering for His sake because of the amount of Bible doctrine in our souls. Suffering as a result of evidence testing means a believer has reached spiritual maturity and has been chosen by God as a witness for the Prosecution in the Angelic Conflict. This is one of the highest honors that God bestows upon a believer. Passing the test of undeserved suffering can be accomplished only by the proper application of Bible doctrine. (I Peter 4:12-14)
All suffering is divided into three categories: a) after salvation we can suffer self-induced misery by staying out of fellowship with God for a prolonged period of time through negative volition toward Bible doctrine. b) then there is discipline for carnality by advancing believers when they getting out of fellowship and quickly get back in using the Rebound Technique c) suffering for blessing as a test of our faith and for our continued advancement in the Christian Way of Life.
The kingdom of God in the Pauline epistles refers to the spiritual kingdom and emphasizes the priesthood of the believer in the Church Age. Paul was addressing believers who were part of the spiritual kingdom of God. Positionally, every believer is worthy of God’s kingdom, but experientially only believers living their spiritual lives are worthy of greater blessings in God’s kingdom. Suffering for blessing is an indication that a believer is worthy of greater blessings in God’s kingdom.
These believers in Thessalonica were faithful believers who were advancing in their spiritual lives. There were however some that were confused about end-times events which Paul will address. But Paul was always full of thanksgiving for those who continued to stay faithful to the teaching of the Word of God that he had provided for them. So, thanksgiving is a big part of Paul’s mental attitude expressed in this letter.
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph (victory) in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” (II Corinthians 2:14)
Gratitude is mental attitude that means thankfulness, appreciation, or gratefulness. Knowing who we are and what we have as a result of being in union with Jesus Christ should cause us to be grateful. As we grow up spiritually our gratitude will also grow. If we understand that our lives are in God’s hands and that He will direct our paths if we choose to allow Him to, we can have gratitude in any circumstance of life. (Colossians 2:6-8)
We must also learn to be grateful for even suffering in life. Quite often these situations are used by God to teach us valuable lessons. They can also reveal areas of weakness with which we need to deal. How we handle these hardships can be a springboard to advancing us in the Christian Way of Life by increasing our faith and our dependence upon God. (I Corinthians 15:54-57; I Thessalonians 5:18)
Christ’s obedience to the Father’s plan is the perfect example for us to follow. Did Christ complain about or find fault with the Father’s plan? Of course not! His attitude was one of humility and obedience. Jesus Christ had a personal sense of destiny. He knew exactly what the plan entailed and willingly executed it. We should be grateful that He did, because it was for our benefit, not only for salvation, but also as an example of how to live the Christian Way of Life. (Philippians 2:5-16)
A part of gratitude is being content with what you have. God warns against a lustful attitude and encourages us to be satisfied with what He has already provided. His promise to all believers is that He will never leave us nor forsake us. God knows even before it happens what each of us will face in life, and He has made every provision for us. Our responsibility is to exercise our faith by always giving thanks regardless of circumstances, knowing that God is working things out to benefit us. (Philippians 4:11; Ephesians 5:20; Romans 8:28)
Gratitude is a matter of having the right attitude. And attitude is everything! Our attitude is a mirror into our soul. God’s Word is very clear on this subject. We are told time and again throughout the Scriptures
that we are to do everything without grumbling and complaining. (Philippians 2:14-15) An attitude of gratitude and an attitude of grumbling, complaining and fault-finding are mutually exclusive. Our attitude lets us know whether or not we are trusting God in every situation. Life is not always easy, but trusting God should be. After all, He has the best in mind for us? (Ephesians 4:29-32)
When we complain, we are voicing dissatisfaction and discontentment with our situation to God. Therefore, we are complaining about what we think God is or is not doing, instead of trusting Him and using the Faith-Rest Technique. I wonder if we have considered that when we have a complaining and worried attitude, that we are actually criticizing God? Is this not the height of human arrogance? We cannot be trusting God and complaining and worrying at the same time. Remember many situations that we face are of our own doing, not God’s. God however will often use those situations to teach us valuable lessons. And God is always there to help us through any situation. An attitude of faith brings victory in every trial or test we face. If we pass the test with a good attitude, we have benefited ourselves. God never tests us beyond what we can handle, but we don’t know what we can handle until He tests us. And just because we can handle our situation correctly doesn’t mean that we will handle it correctly. Proper application of the truth from the Word of God is the key to victory in any test. (I Corinthians 10:13; I Thessalonians 5:18; I Peter 4:12-14)