God's Rightous Judgment

Michael McCoy

2 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted 7 months ago • Presented 7 months ago

2 Thessalonians 1:5–10

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Part 1 from these passages. We will learn that we can have assurance of being in God's kingdom, but we will also see the importance of our obedience as a witness to His righteous character.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction:

The passages of scripture we will study this morning might surprise us in at least two ways.

God’s moral clarity. He does not suffer from our confusion.

Our generation thinks the power of personal choice turns evil into good…at least for them (and who are we to judge!).

Our responsibility as believers to represent the righteousness of God’s moral clarity through our unqualified, obedient behavior.

We must guard against importing “the study of the end times” upon Paul’s teaching for the weeks to come.

After our study this morning, hopefully we will see three things:

We can live assured of God’s vindication.

We can know God considers us worthy of His kingdom.

We have a responsibility to represent God’s righteous judgment to the world through our obedience.

When someone looks at our lives, would they conclude that God is righteous?

Do our lifestyles evidence His righteousness?

Modern persecution of Christians, if only for the name is real.

We must be aware that for many believers in the world, identifying with Christ calls for an ultimate commitment, especially in the midst of other religious and political ideologies which take an “ancient view” of the use of violence.

Contextual Background

False teachers have confused the Thessalonians, and perhaps left them worried, about missing the second coming of Christ.

Paul has expressed his own gratitude to God for the Thessalonians’ growing faith and increasing love in terms of moral obligation (see 2 Thess. 1:3).

Their loyalty and love enabled him to praise their endurance and faith “in all your persecutions and tribulations which you are forbearing.”

These last two nouns, endurance and faith, carry over the for the profound statements to come.

Assurance of Being in God’s Kingdom

The first core thought we should analyze is Paul’s statement designed to reassure the Thessalonians of their inclusion in God’s kingdom.

καταξιόω: to consider something of a comparable merit or worth—‘to regard as worthy of, to consider as meriting, to regard as being valuable for.

Paul assumes, in this sentence, the reality of this claim.

God has judged the Thessalonians worthy of the kingdom of God.

The kingdom is something they are worthy of now but also have not fully or completely realized/experienced. They await the kingdom’s arrival, just as we do.

God’s Judgment Is Righteous

We also know that Paul asserts that God’s judgment is righteous.

God has adjudicated the Thessalonians to be worthy of His kingdom.

Because the kingdom is yet future, there is more God has always planned to do.

God intends to vindicate his suffering people.

2 Thess. 1:6-7.

God is a God of righteous vindication.

Dt. 32:35-43.

We know that God intends to avenge His people.

Romans 12:19.

Rev. 1:6.

Rev. 6.

This future, eschatological judgment, is part of bringing His kingdom into physical reality.

Paul uses this statement, so it seems, as a lynchpin.

It connects ideas to the present, namely, the assurance of the Thessalonians worthiness of the kingdom of God - in God’s view.

It prepares the reader for the thoughts about the judgment to come. God is righteous on both accounts.

ἄνεσιςa, εως f: relief as a cessation or suspension of trouble and difficulty—‘relief.

Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 245). United Bible Societies.

Lifestyle: Evidence of God’s Righteous Judgment

How we conduct ourselves in the world matters.

Paul points to the endurance and faith of the Thessalonians as the evidence or verification of God’s righteous judgment.

Through our obedience, we see the affirming evidence of God’s righteousness to consider us worthy of His kingdom.

1 John teaches the same idea in different terminology.

Obedience evinces God’s righteous judgment that we are worthy of His kingdom.

Paul has more than just this in mind.

2 Thess. 1:6 shows this.

Note the explanatory statement: “since/in light of the fact that...”

The endurance and faith of the Thessalonians witness that God is righteous to repay those who trouble them while giving them “rest.”

Conclusion

What do our lifestyles say about God’s righteousness?

What we refer to as “the end time” is more than a glorified body and a heavenly home. God will execute judgment upon all those who practice evil, thus demonstrating their rejection of Him.