Sermon: Worthy of His Calling

Good evening tonight, we will be in Second Thessalonians chapter one. Uh, you can find that on page 989 in your pew Bibles page 989, second Thessalonians one, and we'll be covering the entire chapter verses one through 12. Let me go to the Lord before we begin.

Father, we thank you that you are not too high above us, that we need to drag you down to understand you. But Father, we praise you that your we, your word is near to us and that you have given us the person of your son Jesus Christ. I thank you that when we come to your word, we don't handle mystical legends, uh, but that your word is inspired and clear and sufficient. And Father, I also praise you that you have given us your Holy Spirit.

And I pray that he would be present among us tonight, that he would point us to Christ and that we might delight in Him as we come to the first chapter of Second Thessalonians. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Two Thessalonians chapter one, Paul Sylvanus and Timothy to the Church of the Thessalonians, and God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are always to give thanks to God for you brothers as is right because your faith is growing abundantly and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore, we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. 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 since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction, those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels inflaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction

away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and to be marveled at among all who have believed because our testimony to you was believed. To this end, we always pray for you 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, 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. This is the word of God.

If you have been with us the last few months as we have walked through the book of First Thessalonians, then the book of Second Thessalonians needs little introduction. Uh, tonight begins our evening sermon series in this book, this book was written only weeks or maybe months after First Thessalonians was delivered. Uh, as you'll notice, the greetings are, are almost entirely identical. Both were written from Paul Silas

and Timothy on Paul's second missionary journey from Corinth. And if you recall, as has been mentioned in sermon after sermon, acts 17 records the history of Paul delivering the gospel message to the Thessalonians and it came in the power of the Holy Spirit and in full conviction, and yet Jewish mobs arose and they drove out Paul and Silas. And so from the very beginning, the Thessalonian Church was conceived in persecution.

So as I came to this text and reflected on some of our previous sermons in First Thessalonians, I settled on a central question which will guide our study of this chapter tonight. And that question is, does Second Thessalonians add anything to the Christian experience? That is, how is this book beneficial to both the Thessalonians as well as to the modern Christian? We don't tend to accumulate memory verses from Second Thessalonians.

We don't tend to buy wall art from Etsy and hang it in our living rooms. In fact, uh, many of the topics that are covered in this book have already been covered in First Thessalonians. Paul has already encouraged the Thessalonians and their faith and their love. He's already taught extensively on the second coming of Christ. He's already admonished the idol. In fact, there are some critics who have looked at this book

and seen its redundancy and said, well, there must have been someone else who was writing this book pretending to be Paul because it looks so similar to First Thessalonians. But these critics make the unfortunately mistaken assumption that a truth can be said once and immediately understood and believed and applied. There's a, a growing mission, a growing movement in foreign missions that tends to think this way and this movement will

send missionaries out to unreached people groups to share the gospel. But once they've shared the gospel or maybe more like started a conversation about Jesus, they're told to get outta the way they're supposed to maintain minimal contact with their converts so that the spirit can do the work. But you see how this would deprive young believers of the food, the spiritual food that they need to grow. In one, the two eight Paul says, we are ready to share

with you not only the gospel, but also our own selves because you had become very dear to us. And so especially in the midst of persecution and paganism, the Thessalonians need mature believers like Paul, Silas and Timothy to continually affirm the Lord's work in them to teach gospel truths again and again and again and to repeatedly correct false teaching among them. And so as we come to the first chapter of Second Thessalonians, this is what Paul is doing.

And so an answer to our question, how is this book beneficial for the Thessalonians and the modern believer? Paul gives us three encouragement to live worthy of the coming kingdom of God in light of Jesus's second coming. These three encouragement are first verses three through four make use of every affliction to strengthen your faith. Second, in verses five through 10, keep an eternal outlook on suffering. And third verses 11

and 12, live only to be made worthy of your calling. So first in verses three to four, make use of every affliction to strengthen your faith. If you'll remember from the first book the introductions of the first book, Paul thanked God for the faith, hope and love, these three Christian virtues that were present in the Thessalonians. And here not only does he thank God that it is still there, that it is present in these believers.

It's not like a scarecrow in an open field that is visible but very lifeless. It is like the corn or the wheat that is growing and increasing abundantly. And this takes place not in an area where there's constitutional religious freedom. The Thessalonians certainly don't have access to unlimited sermon, audio or worship music for only $10 a month, but rather it takes place in the midst of bitter affliction and widespread paganism.

If the gospel came in the power of the Holy Spirit and in full conviction, then we would not expect their faith and their love and their steadfastness to be stagnant. But instead it should be growing and yet it grows in the midst of what Paul refers to as the persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. God uses these things as a catalyst. He orders earthly events and circumstances to produce that which is pleasing in his sight in his children.

So certainly he's using the ministry of Paul, Silas and Timothy, but in this case, he's also allowing unrelenting suffering to produce faith, love, and steadfastness in these believers while the devil and his perpetrators try to stamp out the work of the Holy Spirit and the hearts of believers, God is just fanning it into flames.

I was talking with one of our college students who went on the hurricane relief trip a few months ago with SEF and he came to me after that trip and he asked me, Ben, did God cause the hurricane? Isn't that the million dollar question? And I, I walked through some of the Old Testament and our understanding of the curse of sin and God's purpose for natural disasters and what he brings as a result of that. And I said to him, if God was not in control

of natural disasters, then I would be terribly frightened of whatever did cause that hurricane. And then I asked him, when you talked to the people whose houses were swept away and they were destroyed, were they angry with God? And he replied, I don't think I've ever seen stronger faith. And their faith wasn't, wasn't that God would rebuild their houses and that they would get their life back together and that their income would be sufficient

to support their family, their faith was in the fact that God actually loved them and that he sent his son to die for them. He then went on and said, I don't think I've had a chance to show that kind of faith. And some of you have never had an opportunity to exercise that kind of faith. You've never had so much earthly comfort removed from you that God alone is your source of joy and strength, and there's a danger to being deprived

of that kind of suffering. There's a danger that we blur the lines between faithful Christians and nice friendly people. Or perhaps you begin to fail to recognize sin in yourself and in other people because you're not familiar with the tangible consequences of that sin. Or maybe you've grown so comfortable in this world that it's difficult to rely on the promises of God and then doubts start to creep in this world. Seems all right as it is.

Is Jesus really coming back to make things much better? Would God really condemn more than half the world to hell?

I know these thoughts because they've run through my own head, because I've been tempted with these things and certain seasons of life. Sometimes it seems that Christian suffering is only a thing that happens in the Bible and overseas. But I also know many of you, and I know that for many of you, you are burdened with suffering beyond what you feel you can bear.

You are no stranger to pain and loss, to slander and to shame. Maybe you feel like you haven't handled it well, maybe it hasn't really made you all that stronger, but what this passage tells us tonight, what it tells the Thessalonians tonight is something that you can almost never see for yourself. And that is that God is bearing fruit in you, in abundance.

And brothers and sisters of URC as I have watched you suffer afflictions, your response to suffering demonstrates a deep dependence like on God and his eternal promises. And that's something worth giving thanks and praise to God for because it's exactly what he intends to produce in you. Our second encouragement comes from verses five through 10, keep an eternal outlook on suffering. In verse five, Paul says that suffering in faith

is evidence of God's righteous judgment. The Christian's desire to be considered worthy of the kingdom of God should be at the forefront of all that they do every day. When you wake up and when you go to sleep should be at the forefront. I want to be considered worthy. And Paul gives us two different ways. He gives the thesal loins two different ways to approach momentary afflictions in light of eternity. Verse six, through my verses six through nine,

remind believers to take seriously the wrath of God. And verse 10 calls them to hope in Jesus coming so first verses six through nine takes seriously the wrath of God. Now, some may take issue with this saying, why should a joyful and loving Christian meditate on the despair and torment caused by God's wrath? Jesus says that perfect love casts out fear. Shouldn't we be dwelling on this instead? But Paul knows that the Thessalonians,

these young believers, they must know in the midst of fierce and unrelenting persecution that God's wrath against evil is complete and eternal.

So without using euphemisms or beating around the bush, Paul lays out for the Thessalonians the nature of God's wrath for their comfort. He tells them who will suffer God's wrath In verse eight, it is those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice that God's wrath isn't just limited to oppressive regimes who commit horrible atrocities against their people. It doesn't grant a free pass to anyone

who has suffered for what they believe. This standard doesn't depend on whether your good works outweigh your bad.

It doesn't grant salvation to just anyone who believes in some suture supernatural being and strives to live a good life. And yet the standard is not harsh or cruel, but it shows that our God is a gracious God. We might ask is, is a standard difficult to attain? Is it difficult to know God the creator of the universe? No. Jeremiah 31 says, the Lord says in Jeremiah 31, for this is the covenant I will make with them after those days declares the Lord,

I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, know the Lord. For they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins. No more. The knowledge of God is not limited to the most intellectual

or the most spiritual among you, or even the luckiest, but to the greatest as well as to the least God makes himself no.

We might then ask, well, if it's not difficult to know God, is it difficult to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ? This obedience that re that is required is not some grand performance for the Lord, but it is a receiving, a resting, a trusting in Christ's perfect obedience and on his death on the cross to satisfy God's wrath. So no, it is not difficult to obey the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, some of you might come here tonight, enter these doors

struggling with doubts about the word of God. Perhaps in your mind are playing out all these debates about the claims of Christianity and that's what your head is consumed with. Or maybe you just feel like God has let you down lately, brothers and sisters, this passage tonight, God is making himself known to you. He is revealing his son freely come to him. He welcomes you with open arms and gives you an eternal hope.

Do not be like those. I hate to think of it. Any of you on the last day Facing the vengeance of Jesus Christ, he will come inflaming fire with an army of angels to inflict vengeance and condemn those who reject his word and his people and he will condemn them to eternal destruction away from his presence. They will never know the joy of being with him, the kindness of his smile, the love in his voice, and the beauty of the kingdom that he's preparing right now.

So take seriously the wrath of God, but also as you keep an eternal outlook on suffering, Paul tells Thessalonians to look with hope to his coming on that day. The Lord Jesus will be glorified in his saints marvel at by those who believe. I hope this is something that you regularly meditate on. What will it be to behold the Lord Jesus as he's glorified in his saints? I can tell you that in that moment, nothing will matter.

Nothing from this life will matter except the glory of your savior. And that is Paul's hope for the Thessalonians. A few months ago, many of you may have heard about this in the news, uh, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 70 Christians were stolen, kidnapped from their homes in the middle of the night. They were dragged to the village church and they were executed at four in the morning.

And when you live in a place like that, you have to be ready to go. I don't mean ready to flee your home to the safest village down the road. I don't mean ready to defend yourself with a weapon. Someone comes into your home. I don't mean ready to fight for justice in the courts of law. I mean ready to go meet your savior.

Whether he comes down in the clouds or he calls you home. Are you go ready to go meet Jesus? Are you waiting with faith, with love, with steadfastness, with a full expectation that he will come and say you are worthy?

Are your prayers filled with how long? Oh Lord.

And come quickly Lord Jesus, and as you wait. In the meantime, Paul gives us our final encouragement in verse 11 through 12, live only to be made worthy of your calling. Verse 11, he says to this end, we pray for you that God would make you worthy of his calling. This is Paul's hope that God would use their afflictions to set them apart as his own, that their hearts would be fully devoted to their God. Hebrews 1320 through 21 says, now, may the God

of peace equip you with everything good that you may do His will working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight. It's not always a a easy or pleasant thing to ask God to do that which is pleasing in his sight. I'm not sure that the Thessalonians expected the suffering that they would endure when they first heard the gospel and committed their lives to Jesus. Can be a painful thing to pray. Lord, do whatever it takes to make me

love you more than anything else in this life. I can tell you one man who probably prayed a prayer like that a thousand times in his life. Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish Presbyterian who exercised significant influence over the Westminster Assembly during his life. The Lord took from him his first wife, six of his children. When he opposed corruption in the church, he was persecuted and stripped of his ordination. Then later in his life on his death bed,

he was sick with an illness. The English parliament charged him with treason, deprived him of his church, took away his income, and as he lay there dying, he received a summons to appear for his charge for treason. And this was his reply. He said, tell them I've got a summons already before a superior judge and I refuse to answer my first summons. And before your day arrive, I will be where few kings and great folks are.

His suffering taught him the sweetness of Christ when earthly comforts failed him, his confidence in His God magnified. Not only does our eternal calling give value to suffering, but it gives immense significance to daily acts of faith. Verse 11 shows us that apart from God's grace, any resolve for good and work of faith is pointless, empty and short-lived. But when done in full reliance on his power and his grace, it brings eternal glory to his name.

My friends what in honor that the Lord of the universe, the king of heaven, would be honored by your simple acts of faithfulness. Do you think about that every time you go to work, husbands and wives, when you love each other, when you encourage your children in the Lord, children, when you obey your parents, you're giving glory to the Lord Jesus. And you're not doing these things because, oh man, you expect some great favor coming your way from God.

Or you're gonna look better than all your siblings and all the Christians around you. No, you're doing it because you just love giving glory to Jesus. Isn't that right? And so brothers and sisters pray and then strive for this end that God would make you worthy and His name would be glorified in you both in your suffering and your daily acts of faith. Psalm 27, 4 says one thing, have I asked of the Lord that will I seek

after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, keep your eyes fixed on your precious savior. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would lift our eyes to eternity that Christ and His promises for us would become more real than anything that we love on this earth and any suffering that we endure. I ask that you would be a rock in the midst of suffering

and in our acts of faith, do this for your glory. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.