Sermon Tone Analysis
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A Flourishing Church
2 Thessalonians 1:3-
A few months had passed since Paul had written the first letter to the church in Thessalonica.
And Paul had kept up with this beloved church of the apostle through correspondence, possibly of a courier who delivered the first letter.
It’s likely that when the courier returned he apprised Paul of their condition.
The word returned that though they were really a church to be proud of, there were still some issues to be resolved.
It’s these issues that prompted Paul to write 2 Thessalonians.
The Church at Thessalonica was a church that was flourishing in their faith and increasing in their love for one another.
Wonderful marks of a Flourishing Church.
And yet they had some difficulties, some error affecting them, and they had some issues.
Paul wrote this letter to encourage them in the Lord.
And he warned them of bad actions.
And so, the book breaks down into 3 pretty clear sections: The first Paul desired to Encourage them in persecution; second, he sought to Affirm the Lord’s Return; and finally, to Avoid those who behaved irresponsibly.
Let’s look at each of these first — their difficulties.
I. Difficulties — Encouragement in Persecution
Having received the report that church Paul loved was under severe persecution, he desired to encourage them despite the persecution.
Paul had a habitual prayer for the church in Thessalonica.
And we can see that he prayed for the right things with the right motives.
He prayed not out or ritual or routine, but as a way of life.
Besides the external demanding activities of teaching, preaching, planing, writing, working, discipling, traveling, and suffering was the deeper level of Paul’s spiritual life — He had an unbroken communion with God.
His heart was fervent for God and that passionate desire for God permeated everything in his life and saturated his communion with God.
And this came for rightly praying for the church.
2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
What does prayer for a church look like?
Ultimately it is “that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you.”
And notice how “the name of our Lord Jesus is glorified by you.” — It is that they would be mature.
What does it mean to be mature?
It’s important to understand that maturity is deeply engrained in their sanctification.
Sanctification is to grow in Christlikeness.
Now, to really understand how that happens is to understand that sanctification, like justification, comes only through God’s sovereign grace, though not apart from human obedience.
So throughout Paul’s epistles are filled specific commands, prohibitions, and exhortations.
God’s sovereign purposes, prayer, and obedience are all the necessary elements of sanctification.
So, here we see what may appear to be a paradox, but it really introduces the deeper issue of relationship between prayer and the sovereignty of God.
And so Paul prayed that God would “consider you worthy of His calling, and will, by His power, fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith.”
Paul’s prayer is consistent with God’s will.
Since God alone is good, the desire for goodness would be consistent with God’s will because it is His very nature.
This is why David wrote:
God will grant the request of those who delight in God.
What better to prayer for this church than that every desire for goodness be fulfilled, or completed.
And not just every desire for goodness, but also the “the work of faith.”
The word fulfill governs not only “every desire for goodness” but also “the work of faith.”
The work of faith is that which genuine saving faith produces.
Genuine faith produces what Paul calls the work of faith.
There is no such thing as faith that does not produce the fruit of good works.
So, Paul prays that every desire for goodness and the work of faith would be fulfilled — completed — so that the name of Jesus would be glorified, that is honored and exalted.
For this to come in us — What’s it going to take?
Grace!
God’s unmerited favor.
Paul prays for God’s grace for them to be complete in every desire for goodness and the work of faith.
Did you notice how he began?
“In view of this...”
What is this?
It’s the persecution they were under.
2 Thessalonians 1:
Paul is thankful not for the size of the congregation, or the buildings, the budget, or their popularity — but that their faith was flourishing and their love for each other was increasing.
Literally, Paul is Proud of this church.
Literally, Paul is Proud of this church.
Literally, Paul is Proud of this church.
Why is he proud of them?
What made Paul most proud was their faith had flourished and their love increased despite the persecution!
Persecution strengthens believers’ faith by driving them to God.
And this was to Paul’s immense joy and satisfaction.
It is encouraging to know, and the apostle wants to make sure they truly know this, is that it is righteous that God will judge them to be worthy of His kingdom and their persecutors of “vengeance with flaming fire.”
God will then pay them with eternal destruction from His presence when He returns.
It’s in view of this that Paul prays “for every desire for goodness and the work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified by you.”
So, Paul encourages them in their persecution.
Secondly, Paul affirms the Lord’s return.
II.
Error — Affirmation of the Lord’s Return
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
They were troubled by the persecution and they were troubled by the idea that the Lord had already returned and Paul sought to encourage them with the Affirmation of the Lord’s return.
False teaching that the Lord had already returned had cause great anxiety, as you can imagine.
Paul terms it “upset in mind” and “troubled.”
This we see as he gently pleads with them.
We see this in what he says in verse 1 —
“We ask you, brothers, not to be easily upset in mine or troubled.”
He doesn’t want them to be shaken from their spiritual composure or disturbed in their spirit.
And he tells them don’t be shaken either by:
A spirit
A message
A letter
A spirit refers to someone claiming to have a prophetic word, a word of prophecy — “God told me.” “I saw a vision.”
A message refers to someone standing up among the congregation and giving their interpretation of what Paul said.
A letter speaks of someone who claiming they had received a letter from Paul, which is why Paul made it clear in 3:17, that all his letters contained the greeting by his own hand as a mark of genuineness.
So, his distinctive signature became the sign of genuineness or the distinguishing mark.
“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way.”
Don’t be led astray.
That day — What day?
The Day of the Lord, the day Jesus returns — will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed.
The apostasy
The man of lawlessness
The apostasy — This doesn’t mean that there will be those who are God’s genuine children who will “fall from grace.”
There is no such falling away.
This means on a large scale, the visible Church will forsake the true faith.
You understand there is a difference between “the visible Church” and “the Church.”
There is a great deal out there that calls themselves the Church, but are not Christ’s.
The man of lawlessness — This movement of apostasy will have a leader, who is called “the man of lawlessness.”
He is called that not because he never heard of God’s law, but because he openly defies it!
He is not Satan himself, and
He is not identified with “the beast out of the sea” in and 17.
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