2 Thess 1. The Meaning of Life Found in God’s Harvest.

Class Outline:

Thursday July 6, 2023

 

Theme: There is nothing more important in the age before Christ returns than bearing fruit.

 

In Mat 13, Jesus teaches about a mystery age which He calls the kingdom of heaven.

 

Mystery age of Mat 13:

“The new phase of teaching will be to prepare the disciples for His rejection and also for the interregnum which will intervene between His death and His return from heaven in glory to establish the Kingdom on earth.” [McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom]

 

This age includes the church and the Tribulation. The fact that only one return of Christ “at the end of the age” is mentioned does not mean that a rapture will not happen between the church and the Great Tribulation. Christ is only relaying to us a few of the major characteristics we are going to see between His first and second advent. Believers in the Rapture (of which I am one) believe that Christ will remove the church before the beginning of the Great Tribulation.

 

The mystery that was unknown to the OT was the interim period here depicted until the second coming of Christ.

 

The whole age is going to be characterized by conflict and the victory of the faithful.

 

The faithful in this age of sowing are the good soil who produces fruit. It is the fruit of the Spirit in which the faithful are committed to the obedience to all of God’s will.

 

In the first three categories we find characteristics of this age.

 

Concerning the parable of the sower, Jesus said:

MAR 4:13

“Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?”

 

MAT 13:18-23

"Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

 

This is what this age is about - being good soil in the midst of all things that contaminate soil.

 

Those who are good soil will come together in churches and be lights to the world about the Lord and His word.

 

Activity of the devil against the gospel.

[click to fly in] Affliction and persecution of the word.

[click to fly in] Worries that the world puts forth.

[click to fly in] Deceitful promises of riches.

 

Jesus promised that there would be a concerted effort to contaminate His crop. The revelation of the NT promised that the effort would increase with time until it rapidly increased at the end of the church which would be a precursor for the greatest effort at contamination in the man of lawlessness or the antichrist.

 

In the next parable, Jesus shows us that this condition is going to continue in this age until He returns. It is an age of sowing.

 

MAT 13:24-30

Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 "But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 "But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 "The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28 "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' The slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' 29 "But he said, 'No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

 

Followed by the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven, keeping it simple, we see the incredible growth of the kingdom in this age.

 

And then Christ interprets the parable of the wheat and tares.

 

MAT 13:36-43

Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 "So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

 

At the end of the age, after the Tribulation, the judgment will come.

 

The sowing of the tares by the evil one, the devil, is for contaminating the kingdom and also for counterfeiting it.

 

In the midst of the age, we to ever grow the fruit of the Lord in our lives.

 

2TH 1:3-4

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; 4 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.

 

During this age, while judgment is in the future, the behavior of flesh is proof that God’s coming judgment is righteous.

 

2TH 1:5

This [the work of evil] is a plain indication [proof] of God's righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering.

 

Judgment comes at the end of this mystery age.

 

Paul has been relating the coming of Christ to the relief of the Thessalonians who have been suffering for their faith. He draws the persecutors into his picture.

 

When we see how unhappy, shallow, unfulfilled, incapable of love the people are who do not know God (who always have the potential for great evil if pressed), is it not proof that God’s judgment is righteous.

 

Do not mistake that to mean that anything we deem evil, God must judge. He’s not waiting for our disapproval. The discerning eye that sees true evil is one who has walked long enough with God so as to discern true goodness. And when we know true goodness, we look at a shallow, unhappy people around us, people who keep making sinful decisions and suffering in their souls for them, and we must agree that the world itself is proof of God’s righteousness.

 

The end of the church is said to have an increase in apostasy.

 

There are doctrinal characteristics to apostasy as well as lifestyle ones.

 

Lifestyle apostasy (2TI 3:1-5):

[click] Love of self, love of money, spirit of pride, blasphemy, disobedience to parents, lack of thankfulness, lack of holiness, lack off natural affection, unceasing enmity, slander, lack of self-control, savagery, opposition to goodness, traitors, recklessness, high-mindedness, love of pleasure, a pretense to worship without godliness of life.

 

Just like our slide from yesterday that had the deeds of the flesh on it… I wanted this to be impactful.

 

[Yesterday’s slide] Flesh (unredeemed mankind):

Sexual sin, uncleanliness, lack of moral restraint, idolatry, occult rituals accompanied by drugs, hatred, contention, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, self-willed opinions, envy, drunkenness, drunken revelry, and other things like these.

 

This is the world we are striving to be like Christ in. We can have an attitude that it is too hard or we can see that God has designed this and in it we can shine.

 

There are doctrinal characteristics of apostasy:

Denial of the Trinity (1JO 2:22-23).

Denial of the Incarnation of Christ (1JO 2:22).

Denial of the return of Christ (2PE 3:4).

 

The Lord is going to repay… rejoice and also pray for others.  For believers that they will produce fruit in their lives - that’s what matters. And for unbelievers that they will hear the gospel and that you will be a light to them for the gospel.

 

2TH 1:6-10

For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed.

 

We have this daily challenge to live as the life that Christ gave us in the midst of difficulty, hindrances (directly or indirectly caused), persecutions, and everything that the world of the flesh always is; every day it wakes up.

 

The greatest way that you can tell that you’re not affected in a negative way by negative people is that you love them and do good to them, and that you are happy doing it.