1 Thess 2:13-16; Protecting your soul from the outside pressure.

Thursday April 6, 2023

God works mighty power and joy within us even when danger lurks all around us.

1Th 2:13

For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.

1Th 2:14-16

Suffering and persecution for following Christ.

Mat 5:10

“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

1Th 2:14-15a

Act 9:28-29

And he (Paul) was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews; but they were attempting to put him to death.

And we continue to read that Paul was driven out.

Paul is careful to tell them and us to leave such people in the hands of God. Do not seek revenge, do not get angry or bitter. They are not worth throwing away your confidence and happiness. Leave them in the hands of God. No one is going to escape God’s justice.

1Th 2:15b-16

They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.

When the word of God works in you, what is happening outside of you does not hinder it. In fact, the outside situations are seen as opportunities for work and service. They are seen as situations in which the light of Christ can shine from you in the midst of them.

Therefore, the faithful believer is shielded from the situations of life that cause most people to suffer terribly within themselves.

We will be hurt by persecution and trial, but it will only strengthen our faith and resolve.

The analogy we can use is the human body that perseveres through fatigue, heat, cold, and hardship, like one might experience in special forces training.

Very quickly, the suffering occurring outside of you can infiltrate your soul, and by getting your eyes off God, it creates weakness within.

The problem occurs for the believer when the outside situations cause them to leave their faith in the word of God. The believer who is successful, like the Thessalonians, does what the will of God tells them to do. He loves his persecutors and prays for them and does good to them. He remembers that these trials will produce endurance in him or her. He remembers that those who persecute him can be saved by grace and he loves them like a gentle child, nursing mother, teaching father.

The theme of Peter’s first epistle was to encourage new believers who dealt with Christian suffering. Peter points out that we are to suffer like Christ suffered, and that is innocently. Christ never retaliated for any mistreatment He endured.

1Pe 3:8-9

To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; 9 not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.

1Pe 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation [deliverance unto true life] of your souls.

The Thessalonians, though very young in the faith, kept their faith and their eyes on the word of God and grew even more. And that’s another thing about the opportunity of suffering or persecution, it enhances your normal spiritual growth, accelerating it to new heights. The reward for keeping our faith in the word of God when it is difficult to do, is tremendous.

Jesus told us in the parable of the sower that those who worried and pursued riches and pleasure would not mature.

1Pe 2:20

For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

1Pe 3:13-18

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. (Isa 8:12) AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. 17 For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong. 18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God,

The meaning of “if God should will it so,” is that suffering will not always come when doing what is right. God must will it, or allow it. When we do what is wrong, suffering will always come, but this is not the kind of suffering that is going to strengthen us.

We are to live our lives spiritually and with a good conscience. A holy life will give no reason for the mistreatment.

1Th 2:14-16

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.

We must try to understand the extent of their persecution so that we can apply it to our lives today. Most of us don’t have a personal reference to turning from paganism to Christianity, in which a lifestyle of paganism (immoral and liberal) is changed completely into self-control and restraint. Peter’s Gentile readers in Asia had a similar experience, and Peter gives us a little more detail.

1Pe 4:1-5

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin [not sinless but in the manner of no longer living as the sinners], 2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries. 4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; 5 but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Peter’s readers had been treated with disdain by the crowd that they used to run with. Their neighbors, their families, their masters (many of them were slaves – remember, 20-30% of the population of the Roman Empire are slaves), mocked them and pressured them to return to their pre-Christian lifestyles. They had become social pariahs.

I think this is something that all Christians who leave the old world and embrace the new experience. The believer who walks in the light is maligned by those who remain in darkness.

Two major Christian duties are patience and suffering. In these we are to be avoiding sin. As James told us, faith without works is deadness. Peter understands something incredible, but simple enough, “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. He continues his thought that only in this ceasing from sin will the believer life a life for the will of God. We can’t serve two masters.

“ceased from sin” – perfect tense = happened in the past and is still happening.

There is a misconception in some pulpits that result in teaching that the perfect tense in Greek means that the results of the verb are eternal. That is not true. The perfect tense only means that the action happened in the past and the results of the action are still current at the time of writing.

Do you want to overcome a form of sin?

Faithfully obey the word of God and when suffering comes, stay the course, and the result will be, in real time, that you will cease from the sin and the results of that will be lasting as you remain faithful.

The suffering that Christians experience for following the Lord will continue to strengthen them, and at some point, they will become convinced that any form of sin is darkness and death and will want no part of it. Is it no wonder that God allows suffering in our lives.