Day #331

Sermon - Audio
1 & 2 Thess - Reading
1 & 2 Thess - Audio

Daily Insights - Please Comment

What’s going on in 1 Thessalonians?

• On the whole, the church at Thessalonica wondered about believers who had died before the return of Christ, the nature of Christ’s return, and the idleness among some believers who thought Christ’s return was close at hand. Paul responds to the needs of this church with love and straightforward teaching.

Texts:

• “May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.” (3:13)
• “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (4.16)

Time of writing: Written in 49 or 51 CE during the early part of Paul’s 18 month stay in Corinth.

Comments:

• 1.3: Paul often connects faith, hope, and love in his letters. In 1 Cor 13.13 he reminds us that the greatest of the three is love.
• 1.5: The gospel comes in word and power--looking back at Acts 17.3 we find that Paul “explains” the gospel. This word in Greek means “to open someone’s heart or mind”. In Acts 16.14 we read, “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” The power that Paul refers to in Acts 17 most likely is the power of God opening minds to accept the message.
• 2.2: “gospel of God” This way of speaking of the gospel is unusual for us. We think of the gospel of Jesus. Paul here conveys that God is the author of the gospel message (we will hear this phrase again in Thessalonians, as well as “the gospel of Christ”).
• 2.9: Paul, in a round about way, takes aim at Christians in Thessalonica who are being lazy.
• 2.13: The people accept Paul’s words as the very words of God and respond accordingly. This small reference issues a huge challenge to us as we may say with our hearts that the Bible is God’s word, but our lives fail to show it.
• 3.4: Paul’s regular insistence that being a Christ follower means suffering.
• 4.1-8: Paul gives a quick summary of what it looks like to live life in the kingdom of God. The importance of being a person of holiness is central. This is stunning to us since we are more attuned to being people of fun. This theme of holiness is sounded many times in the New Testament including Ephesians 1.4 where we are told, he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
• 4.13-17: In one of the most powerful and hope inspiring passages in the New Testament, Paul addresses the deep concern and sorrow about Christians who have died.
• 5.12: On more than one occasion Paul has to remind churches of the importance of respecting leadership. It seems that people struggle with this no matter when or where they live. In spite of the struggle Paul calls on the church to “esteem them very highly in love”. The word “esteem” in Greek means “an extraordinary degree, involving a considerable excess over what would be expected”.
• 5.14: Those who are idle show a lack of understanding of the creational mandate of Genesis 1.28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” They fail to understand that God calls them to be co-creators with him and not just wait for him to show up and bring his kingdom.

What’s happening in 2 Thessalonians?

• Paul is writing to the Thessalonians to encourage the persecuted believers,
• The church was very concerned about the day of the Lord believing that it had already occurred.
• The church continues to struggle with those who will not work.
• Letter is thought to be written 6 months after the 1 Thessalonians and deals with similar themes as 1 Thessalonians.

Texts:
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (2.13)

Notable:

• Chapter 2 sounds very much like the book of Revelation as it speaks of end times. The imagery is vivid and somewhat uncomfortable for comfortable Christians who have not experienced persecution.
• Compared with 1 Thessalonians this letter is quite blunt and at times harsh as Paul takes on the issues facing this church.

Comments:

• 1.1: “...in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” The word “in” tells us that the church at Thessalonica exists by the power of God. It is not simply a human organization. It has its being in and through the Father and the Son.
• 1:3-4: Paul’s words strike us as odd. Our Christian culture tells us that “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”. This teaching is at odds with 2 Thessalonians where persecution and suffering are a part of faith and yet their faith is not shrinking but growing. N.T. Wright in his book After you Believe reminds us, “Jesus didn’t say, as do some modern evangelists, ‘God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.’ Nor did he say, ‘I accept you as you are, so you can now happily do whatever comes naturally.’ He said, ‘If you want to become my followers, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.’” Mark 8.34
• 1.5-11: In powerful prose Paul speaks of condemnation of those who are persecuting the church. The words bring to mind the book of Revelation more than a letter to a church. What especially catches our attention in these verses is the “so that”. This life of suffering is finally to bring glory to Jesus Christ. The final focus is not on us, but on Christ.
• 2.1-11: The people are afraid that somehow the events of 1 Thessalonians 4.13-18 have already occurred. Paul assures them they have not and points out some of the things than have to happen before the day of the Lord. These happenings reminds us of Jesus words about “wars and rumour of wars” in his discourse on the end times.
• 2.3: “... the man of lawlessness is revealed.” This second prerequisite, elsewhere called the “antichrist” (see 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7), will personify hostility to God and his revelation. He will disclose who he is, the rebel par excellence. He is the son of destruction, the one whose destiny is to be defeated and destroyed when Jesus returns (2 Thess. 2:8). ESV Study Bible
• 2.13: “firstfruits” To those who are afraid that the day of the Lord has already come Paul assures the people that they are God’s “firstfruits”, therefore, they have nothing to fear.
• 3.4: Paul’s words feel a bit uncomfortable to us. He expects that the people will do as he commands. We expect suggestions to be considered as we are part of the Church, not commands to be followed.
• 3.6-12: Paul now issues three commands to church members. They are to avoid those who are using the coming of Christ as an excuse for not working, they are to refuse to give food to those who will not work and those who are not working are to begin to work.
• 3.17: Paul typically dictated his letters to a secretary but then signed them.