A Good God Doing What a Good God Does - 2 Thess Lesson 2

2 Thessalonians 1:5-12

Part 1

A Good God Doing What God Does

 Last week we began our study through 2 Thessalonians. In the first four verses of Chapter 1 we saw that Paul was obligated to thank God for what was happening in the church in the time between the first and second letters. Last weeks message was about a good church doing what a good church does. The Thessalonian church was a good church because the good work of God among them had continued to make progress. Their faith was greatly enlarged. Their love for one another was growing ever greater. And, they were persevering and faithful in the midst of persecutions and afflictions.

 As we saw last week, God allowed Paul to see the fruits of his labors. All the devotion to them teaching them the word of God, caring for them as a nursing mother and a spiritual father, the instruction he gave and the example he lived had all born meaningful spiritual fruit among these faithful followers of Christ. Paul was grateful, but he took none of the credit for himself. He was obligated to give thanks to God for His work. Paul saw this progress as an answer to his prayer at the end of the first letter that God would sanctify them entirely.

 The first four verses reveal to us that this was a good church continuing to do good. As we come to verses 5-12 we find that behind every good church doing good, there is a good God doing what God does. Read chapter 1.

We will be looking at verse 5 today. I hope you noticed that verses 5-12 focus on what God is doing in the midst of the persecutions and afflictions of the Thessalonians. The theme of verses 5-12 is a good God doing what a good God does. Paul writes chapter 1 to encourage the Thessalonians in the face of persecution. Paul encourages them by telling them of all God is doing, and how God is using the persecution for their good and His glory. Even in persecution and affliction there is a good God doing good in His people.

Behind every truly converted Christians, whose life is reflecting the transformative power of the gospel, is a good God doing what God does in the life of that individual. If this is happening in many individual within a church, it is the result of the work of God multiplied among many. This is why Paul said he was obligated to give thanks to God for their progress. He was obligated to give thanks to God because it was God who had caused their faith to be greatly enlarged, their love for one another to grow ever greater, and God was responsible for their perseverance and faith in the midst of the persecutions and trials they endured. As those in whom God had done these things, the Thessalonians themselves would have credited, not themselves, but God.

I hope we realize that if there is anything good that happens in our lives, it is because God is at work. If you are growing in the faith, God is at work. You are cooperating, but God is at work. If the love of the brethren increases, God is at work. If we persevere in persecution and affliction, God is at work. Behind all the good work of salvation and sanctification, God is at work. God is a good God doing a good work in those whom He has redeemed. God is always doing His work to bring our spiritual progress to fruition.

Now, we must never forget something very important. A good God does what God does, for His glory. If we take anything away from our time in His word today, we must come away with that understanding. God does what God does so that He is glorified. Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” The proper attitude of the Christian is to desire only God’s glory. We should say with the Psalmist in Psalm 115:1, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.” God alone deserves the glory. God desires all the glory. We desire to glorify only God.

 Why is that an important message for the church to hear today? Because the modern church believes that God is good, but that this good God does what He does for our benefit. The modern Christian believes that God is good, but a good God would never allow anything like persecution to happen. The prevailing thought among most evangelicals is that God blesses us because we are so important to Him. God loves us because we are so special in His sight. God saves us because He wants us to spend eternity with Him. God solves all our problems because He doesn’t want us to be unhappy. God delivers us from unloving spouses and brings us a new one because He wants us to be happy. God promises that we can do all things through Christ so our golf score will improve. God promises to make us healthy, wealthy, and happy because He heals all our diseases and blesses us with all we can claim to receive. God has a wonderful plan for your life. God delivers you from a meaningless, purposeless existence by sending Jesus so you can have a rich and full and meaningful life. The message of the modern church often makes it sound like God is desperate for us. The truth is that we stand in desperate need for Him. Therefore, the church comes to the conclusion that we, not God, are the ones for whom a good God does all these good things.

 Rarely will you hear, in the modern church, that what God does He does for His glory. Listen, there isn’t anything more important to God than His glory. More important than even those God redeems is God’s glory. He alone is worthy of glory and honor. All He does He does for His glory. His name alone is to be exalted in heaven and on earth. God will not share His glory with another. The last being to aspire to ascend to the place of glory reserved for God alone was Satan and he was cast out of heaven and his fate is a bottomless pit forever. If we fail to understand just how important God’s glory is to Him, we fail to understand God.

 Now, I have said all that by way of introduction to our passage today because we are going to see that the focus changes and Paul will emphasize what God is doing in the church of Thessalonica. The work we see God doing is a work that would be rejected by the modern church. The modern church would look at this work and deny that a good God would do something like this. Verse 5 tells us something that most don’t want to hear. Verse 5 reveals a truth that is concerning for most people. The message of verse 5 is that persecution and afflictions are the very things God is using to prove that we are worthy of the kingdom of God. Verse 5 tells us that persecutions and afflictions are things that a good God uses to do what a good God does.

 As we said last week, Paul writes this second letter with three objectives. The first objective, in Chapter 1 is to encourage these believers in the face of the persecution and affliction they were enduring. So, what he writes is intended to encourage and edify and equip the suffering Thessalonians to continue to stand faithful. I want you to understand that what he writes in verse 5 is perhaps the most insightful and encouraging thing in this chapter. 

 What Paul is saying in verse 5 is that their perseverance and faith in the midst of persecutions and afflictions, which they were suffering on behalf of the kingdom of God, was proof that they will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God. Paul is actually speaking about this persecution and these afflictions as if they were a good thing. They are good because their perseverance and faith in the midst of them is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that they will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which they were suffering.

 As we consider verse 5 I want to ask you a few questions. How would you like to have proof positive that you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God? What better thing could a good God do for us than to confirm, with proof positive, that we will be considered worthy of His kingdom? Can you think of a better thing a good God could do than to prove that you will be considered worthy of His kingdom?

 More questions. Do you ever question whether or not you are worthy of His kingdom? There are a lot of people within the church that should question their worthiness for the kingdom. Jesus said a lot about tares being sown among the wheat and that there would be many who would claim to have done great things in His name, only to hear dreadful words of rejection from His lips. 

 On the authority of the words of Jesus it is clear that it would be good for the wheat among the tares to have proof of their worthiness for the kingdom of God. We agree that it would be a good thing if God were to confirm in us our worthiness of the kingdom of God. If there was a fool proof way to confirm this, how many of us would sign up? Before you answer that question, would it be important to know what this fool proof way of proving our worthiness involved?

 Let me give you a few things that are not reliable proofs of one’s worthiness of the kingdom of God. Most people today offer their belief as proof of their worthiness of the kingdom of God. They are convinced they are in because they believe. Many people offer their own goodness as proof of their worthiness of the kingdom of God. They believe they are good people and as long as their good outweighs their bad, their ticket to heaven gets punched. Our president believes this. He said this week that if he can bring an end to the war in Ukraine, he might have a good chance to get into heaven. Some would offer their high moral character as proof of their worthiness. Some would offer the evidence of some experience they had. I’ve heard some good ones. Some would offer the evidence of their prayer they prayed to ask Jesus into their heart and their baptism. Some would offer their church attendance and good standing in the church. Some would offer their vast knowledge of the Scriptures. Some would offer, as Jesus said some would, their prophecies in His name, the working miracles, and the casting out of demons in His name.

 These may be the things we would offer, but these are not reliable. The plain indication of God’s righteous judgment that one is considered worthy of His kingdom is perseverance and faith in the midst of all the persecutions and afflictions we endure. It was the Thessalonians perseverance and faith in the midst of all the persecutions and afflictions that was a plain indication. “Plain indication” is translated from a Greek word which means “proof.” The most reliable proof of worthiness of the kingdom of God is perseverance and faith in the midst of all the persecution and affliction.

 In most of the world to day those who claim the name of Jesus Christ suffer persecution and affliction. To become a Christian in many parts of the world today is to put your life at risk, or subject yourself to rejection by your family, or imprisonment, or beating, or torture. Because we live in America we have a hard time relating to this. And most of the church of America would reject the idea that persecution and affliction is a desirable experience, or a valuable experience for God’s people. They have been taught all these false notions about suffering. They don’t believe God would ever allow it for His beloved, special, exalted children. So it would never be consistent for a good God to allow these kinds of “bad” things to happen.

 But Paul tells us something very different. It is perseverance and faith in the midst of persecutions and afflictions that are the plain indication of God’s righteous judgment. God’s judgment is righteous. I think we know this. God’s judgment is righteous. God makes no mistakes in His judgments. Job 8:3 asks a couple important questions. “Does Go pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?” It is a friend of Job who asks this in Job 8. While the friend misjudges what is going on with Job, he rightly understands this truth about God. God would never pervert justice. God always judges righteously. Psalm 9:8 says of God, “He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.” Psalm 111:7 says, “The works of His hands are truth and justice.” All the way at the end of the Bible, Revelation 16:7  records the voices of those around the altar of God saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgment.”

 Clearly, Paul tells us that it is the righteous judgment of God to allow His children to be subject to persecution and affliction. It is God’s righteous judgment to use perseverance and faith in persecution and affliction as proof that His children are worthy of the kingdom of God. This would surprise most people in the modern church of America today, but both biblical history and church history show us that this has always been God’s righteous judgment. God has always used persecution and affliction as the plain indication of the worthiness of His redeemed for the kingdom of God.

 Walk with me through this brief review of biblical examples from Genesis through Revelation. Historically, persecution began with Abel. Righteousness brings out a violent response from sinful people. Able foreshadowed what would happen to Christ. Joseph was persecuted by his brothers. Moses was persecuted by the very people he led out of bondage. David was persecuted by Paul even though he was faithful and loyal to King Saul. Elijah spoke God’s truth and was persecuted by Ahab and Jezebel. They intended to kill him. Jeremiah was imprisoned, mocked, beaten, and thrown in a well, all because He spoke God’s truth. Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den because he prayed. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace because they refused to bow to anyone or anything but God. Jesus is the Supreme Example of unjust persecution. Stephen was martyred for his faith in Christ. Peter and John were beaten and imprisoned and rejoiced that they were considered to suffer for Christ. Paul suffered consistently severe persecution. In Revelation 2-3 you read of the persecution endured by the churches of Smyrna and Pergamum.

 Following the Biblical review of persecution, there is the history of the church. “In the first century A.D. Christians suffered some of the most horrible persecutions imaginable. Around the summer of A.D. 64 there was a massive fire in Rome and tradition holds that it might have been started by the emperor Nero in an attempt to do away with a rotting part of the city. Nero blamed Christians for the fire, and the fury of Rome exploded upon the church. Nero was glad to lead the persecutions because it kept all eyes away from himself as a possible candidate of the disaster. The persecutions under Nero are reported to be among some of the worst in early Church history, and he is reported to have killed both the apostles Peter and Paul.

       The Roman emperor Domitian followed in the footsteps of Nero as was one of the cruelest persecutors of Christians. It’s possible that Domitian wanted to snuff out Christianity altogether because he thought it lead to sedition. Rome would tolerate any religion as long as it could be set aside for the sake of obedience to the emperor. Early Christians were willing to serve an emperor, but not when he claimed to be deity, or when obedience to him contradicted an obedient life to God. Domitian interpreted the Christian behavior as a challenge to his authority and the authority of Rome. Domitian vigorously moved to destroy Christians because he was afraid their views might spread and Rome might become weak and divided. He was afraid of internal disintegration. One Bible scholar describes some of the persecutions as follows:

Some, suffering the punishment of parricides, were shut up in a sack with snakes and thrown into the sea; others were tied to huge stones and cast into a river. For Christians the cross itself was not deemed sufficient agony; hanging on the tree, they were beaten with rods until their bowels gushed out, while vinegar and salt were rubbed into their wounds…Christians were tied to catapults, and so wrenched from limb to limb. Some…were thrown to the beasts; others were tied to their horns. Women were stripped, enclosed in nets, and exposed to the attacks of furious bulls. Many were made to lie on sharp shells, and tortured with scrapers, claws, and pincers, before being delivered to the mercy of the flames. Not a few were broken on the wheel, or torn in pieces by wild horses. Of some the feet were slowly burned away, cold water being dowsed over them the while lest the victims should expire too rapidly…Down the backs of others melted lead, hissing and bubbling, was poured; while a few ‘by the clemency of the emperor’ escaped with the searing out of their eyes, or the tearing off of their legs. (Herbert B. Workman, Persecution in the Early Church, 1906, p. 299-300)

        To endure this was 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. 

What was the result of this kind of persecution? The result was a pure and powerful church. Persecution weeded out those who were not seriously devoted to Christ. Only those who were truly transformed and deeply committed were willing to endure such suffering. In the early church, being part of the church meant you were ready to give up everything for Christ. Early Christians did not hesitate to deny themselves, and take up their cross to follow Jesus.

 Because of this, Christians were together, united and living in tight-knit community. Acts 4:32 says, “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul, not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.” Acts 4:31 tells us that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word with boldness.

 As the persecution intensified the more powerful the witness of the early church Christians became. The evidence of faith and peace among Christ’s followers hit unbelievers hard. The best example of this is what happened to Paul and Silas at Philippi in Acts 16. The early church father Turtullian was correct when he said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

 The idea of suffering as a Christian is so foreign to the American church of today, even though it is so prevalently taught in the New Testament that we ought to expect it. Jesus said in John 15:18-21, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” 1 John 3:13 says, “Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you.” 

Turn with me to look at the words Peter wrote to scattered Christians in 1 Peter 4:12-14, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the suffering of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.”

These early Christians were facing the fiery ordeal we heard about just a few minutes ago. Peter says that this came upon them for their testing. What was the result of this testing? For those who endured, there was the proof that they were considered worthy of the kingdom of God. Those who refused to remain faithful to the faith, they were proven to be unworthy. This was God’s righteous judgment. Those who were faithful could keep on rejoicing. They were blessed.

Would we consider persecution and affliction this severe as a blessing? What was it about the early church that set them apart from what we know of the modern church in America? They understood that the most important thing was the glory of God. They saw the persecution and affliction as a good thing, coming from the hand of a good God, who was proving them to be worthy of the kingdom of God. They weren’t attached to the things of this world. They had a right perspective on the eternal verses the temporal. They kept looking to the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. They did not love this world or the things of the world. They cared only that Christ was exalted and God was glorified. Peter wrote in verse 16 of 1 Peter 4, “but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.” “This name” is “Christian.” We are to glorify God as Christians, especially in suffering persecution and affliction.

The Thessalonian church was a good church. It was not a perfect church but it was a good church. It was a good church because a good God was doing what a good God does. God was giving the plain indication, the proof, that His judgment was righteous, and that these believers were worthy of the kingdom of God. How precious is that proof? How valuable is that proof? How important is that proof? I don’t know of anything better than the evidence of God’s righteous judgment, that we would be proven worthy of the kingdom of God.

Are we kingdom minded, or worldly minded? If our mindset is of this world, we would run from persecution and avoid it at all cost. If our mindset is a kingdom mindset, we would look at persecution as an opportunity to glorify God and to manifest the plain indication of His righteous judgment. We would welcome the proof of our worthiness for the kingdom of God.

We began our service with the reading of 2 Cor. 4. I want to go back there and close by reading a portion of that passage again. Read 2 Cor. 4:7-18. 

Let’s pray.