1 and 2 Thessalonians is a book for our times, for it shakes us up from the drudgery of work and from the stupor of social media, and wakes us to our cosmic reality. These letters are filled with incredible thanksgiving and stunning exhortations to persevere in the face of terrible persecution, and the central idea that grounds all of these is the reality of Christ’s return. Paul wants the church to live their lives with the end in mind, which means that they live it knowing that evil may abound as it rages on, but evil and evildoers will face a far more decisive and devastating end upon Christ’s return.
It is against this backdrop of thanksgiving, exhortations, and warning that we enter today’s text. Paul is finally ready to get incredibly practical. After labouring to help the Thessalonian church understand the urgency of living in the end times, Paul dives straight into the most practical course of action in the face of our eschatological reality.
(A) Pray for Word-driven transformation amidst a sinful world (2 Thess 3:1-2)
Paul was practical. He wanted the church to pray, and more specifically, Paul wanted them to pray for the success of their missionary work, for Paul was keenly aware that there will be significant opposition wherever the word of God is preached.
Before we explore the primacy of prayer, consider how Paul qualifies “wicked and evil men”, and what that means for the world we live in (2 Thess 3:2b). Wickedness and evil is not primarily qualified by heinous acts of radical depravity like murder, rape, and pillaging. Rather, wickedness and evil is qualified by faithlessness. This may not sit comfortably with our modern sensibilities, but it is what the Bible clearly teaches! This is certainly not to say that everyone who is faithless will carry out the sort of depraved actions that make the headlines. If this definition of wickedness and evil comes as a shock to you, perhaps it is time to consider whether you see sin the same way that God does.
God sees sin, first and foremost, as a rebellion against His person and a rejection of His goodness. The same message is echoed in Psalm 36, which tells us that “the sinfulness of the wicked” is known in how “there is no fear of God before their eyes.” And while this de-godding of God, as one theologian likes to put it, does not mean that the unfaithful routinely commit depraved infractions, it certainly means that they will be opposed to the truths of God’s word. Has this realisation struck you yet this Advent? Amidst the bright lights of Orchard Road and the Christmas carols that echo through our shopping mall, Paul’s words tear down any veneer of our culture’s hospitality towards God’s word. The fact of the matter is that God’s truths are antithetical at a fundamental level to every strain of popular, for not all have faith.
This helps us to understand why prayer is the most practical course of action in a faithless world - if the world’s biggest problem is their rebellion against God, then it makes all the sense in the world to turn to God for a solution. 3 practical implications follow:
By this time, the primacy of prayer should have nestled quite easily into your minds, but the honest truth is that prayer is rarely a priority. It is incredible that Paul, in highlighting the urgency of the end times and the warlike-nature of a Christian’s life, establishes prayer as the primary means of warfare for the Christian. It is prayer that God’s word would speed ahead and be honoured the way we have known it to have transformed our lives!
Friends, the frequency of our prayers indicates our dependence on God, and the content of our prayers indicates our priorities. There is nothing more that the world needs than to see God’s word speed ahead and be honoured. And since salvation is God’s project, prayer has to be our primary tool for warfare.2 Thess 3:1 indicates that this is also prayer that the church performs communally: God’s people pray together as a people for God’s people, and if the emphasis isn’t already painfully clear, we are to make communal prayer a staple of our Christian lives. Friends, what would your lives look like if you made regular prayer with another brother or sister a priority? What would your church look like if it gathered regularly in single minded focus with the advance of God’s word at the forefront of the agenda?
Finally, we remember that Paul wants they to pray for the word of God to speed ahead and be honored as it happened with them! Paul expects Christians to know experientially what it is like for God’s word to speed ahead and honored, and we should expect the same of ourselves. Do you know what it is like for God’s word to speed ahead and be honored? Matthew 2 gives us a wonderful example, where we see the wise men placing their faith in Scripture and travelling a far distance just so that they would witness the Advent of Jesus Christ. In contrast, the Pharisees and scribes who knew the same Scriptures had no care for Jesus’ Advent. We know that God’s word speeds ahead and is honoured in our lives when we say with the wise men that neither distance nor time nor cost are obstacles that impede us from running in faith to the truths of God’s word. We also know that we are not far off from the Pharisees if we have God’s word before us, but nothing of the wise men’s anticipation and love within ourselves.
Our personal application and experience of God’s speeding word also shapes the way we think of others. It would be hypocritical to pray that God’s word would speed ahead without living out the desire in our relationships. It is also especially dangerous in the build-up to Christmas to think of evangelism solely in the frame of our church’s Christmas service. There is so much more we can be doing with our days, and especially in this Advent period. Will you consider praying that God will give you a greater zeal to see His word speed forth and honoured in the hearts of your non-christian friends? Act on this by prayerfully considering to share the gospel or read the Bible with a friend.
(B) Praying with God-vested confidence for our salvation and sanctification (2 Thess 3:3-4)
If you’ve been following us in this study series, you’ll know that the Thessalonian church are really quite a special bunch. Paul is full of thanksgiving when he remembers them, and their faithfulness is one of their standout features. Hence, it would be completely natural to expect Paul to contrast the faithlessness of wicked and evil men with the faithfulness of the Thessalonians. But Paul presents an even greater contrast: “But the Lord is faithful.” (3:3a)
The Lord’s faithfulness was not an abstract concept for the Thessalonian church, for Paul spent 3 days showing them God’s faithfulness in the Old Testament, and Paul’s very life would have also been a testimony for the Thessalonians (c.f. Acts 17:2-3). Consider what the Thessalonians might have known about God’s faithfulness through the table below:
Paul would have been familiar with OT passages like Isa 59. Passages like these would have taught them about their past separation — how God separates Himself from the wicked, and the result of this separation is that life breaks down. The death and decay that is plastered on our news media feeds - often to the point of desensitisation - is testament to this truth. In our sinfulness, we feed into the brokenness of the world we know, and we are incapable of working out our own salvation.
But the Thessalonians would have known, as we know now, that God’s “own arm brought him salvation” and there is a present salvation. These verses give us a stunning picture of God dressing Himself for decisive victory against sin. God’s victory results in a reverent fear in our hearts that is coupled with His radiant glory in our sight. The climax of this action is Jesus Christ (Isa 59:20), who comes to redeem a people utterly lost, that they might be filled with God’s Spirit according to His eternal covenant.
Most poignantly, the significance of Paul (who brought terrible persecution to the church) writing to the Thessalonian church (which had a mix of Jews and Gentiles), would not have been lost upon his readers. God is faithful, and seen to be faithful, for He transformed a man like Paul and draws all nations to His light and glory (60:3).
This was the Thessalonian’s present experience of salvation, and it is ours too! All around the world today, and even at this very moment, God is reconciling the worst of sinners and the most hardened of hearts to Himself through the speeding ahead of His word. The good news of Jesus Christ goes forth to call peoples of every nation to rejoice, for God is faithful in salvation.
But that is not all. There is a future glory, and the best is yet to be. The Thessalonians would have believed so, for they lived in the midst of terrible persecution. Imagine the hope they would have clung on to for the ultimate restoration of all things. We will enjoy the final defeat of sin and know the goodness of God’s creation in its fullness. We will rest secure in an unfading and imperishable inheritance. And best of all, we will be with God forever.
Friends, Paul wanted the Thessalonian church to have their hearts set afire with eager expectation of this promise. Do you long for heaven in the same way? If you do, take heart, for God is faithful. If you feel in your heart a greater inclination for life in the here and now, then go to God and ask that He will show you Christ in the radiance of His glory, that your very affections would be transformed in alignment with His will.
These verses show us clearly that salvation is God’s project, and God’s doesn't give up on His projects (2 Thess 3:3b-4). There has been murmuring in Christian circles for a long time concerning the assurance of our salvation, but Paul is delightfully clear here: Salvation belong to the Lord, and He is a faithful God. He will establish and guard you against the evil one.
Do you see Paul’s pastoral heart at work? Paul knows that our greatest concern is not the machinations of wicked and evil men in their opposition to the gospel, for our war is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers and principalities. There is real evil, and it is our realest threat. But God is faithful, and He who is in us is greater than the evil one who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4). We rest secure in the truth of God’s word, and say together with Paul that even as sufferings, persecution, and hardship come, we are not ashamed. For we know whom we have believed, and we are convinced that He is able to guard until that Day that which has been entrusted to us.” (2 Tim 1:12).
However, Paul also stresses that this security is not grounds for complacency. Rather, the surety of salvation means that we will continue to submit to God and love His ways. That’s why Paul has confidence that the Thessalonian church are walking in obedience, and will continue to walk in obedience!
Let us not believe the lie that salvation-secured means we are free to pursue licentiousness. God’s word holds up the truth of our assurance with the reality of our growth at the same time, and we should do the same. All who are saved will grow in their love and obedience to God. Because God is faithful, He will ensure that all who are saved are will not be lost. Furthermore, since we will not be lost, we will keep growing in our love and obedience to God!
If you are a Christian today, rest yourself in this truth. Salvation is God’s work, and He will hold us fast. Salvation also means that we will keep walking in love and obedience - if there is any area of your life where you are really struggling to taste the sweetness of God’s commands, go to Him in humble dependence and repentance. He is a faithful God, and there is grace enough to overcome every sin.
(A) Pray for gospel-shaped growth in our hearts (2 Thess 3:5)
Paul concludes this exhortation with a prayer of His own - that the Lord would direct their hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ - and it is amazing that He does so (2 Thess 3:5).
Friends, the real reason for our prayerlessness, or misdirected prayers, is not that we don’t know better. It isn’t that we are lacking in a sense of duty, or that we are lazy and ill-disciplined. Instead, is that the fullness of the gospel has yet to become our everyday reality. And that’s what Paul prays for - that the truth of the gospel would be pressed into their hearts! Isn’t this amazing?
One phrase that describes this is “gospel centeredness”. This is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot today, or even rejected by many. But in its essence, it is what Paul reflects through these 5 short verses.
The place of prayer and the priority of prayer reflect a keen awareness of God’s primacy and the gospel’s priority - gospel-centredness!
The God-vested grounds of confidence in the surety of our salvation and sanctification reflect a personal trust of God’s sovereignty and goodness - gospel-centredness!
The twin-energisers of God’s love and Christ’s steadfastness, pressed into our hearts, reflects Paul’s personal knowledge of true biblical transformation - gospel-centredness!
The love of God radically reforms our lives when we realise what it actually is. 1 John 4:10 gives us an amazing definition: “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent us his only Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Love is not cheap sentimentality, nor is it a noble endeavour initiated by us. Love begins with God, and it goes beyond a mere proposition by taking on the form of God’s very own Person - Jesus Christ. And this is love, that Jesus Christ would look upon a wretched and rebellious humanity, condescend to associate Himself with us, and die the very death that we deserve. What greater love is there than this? And how amazing is it that God would reveal His love to us in His very person?
There is also much to be said about the steadfastness of Christ. To adapt an old Augustinian saying,
“I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful, but I have never read in any of them: I am the good shepherd, I know my own, and I lay down my life for my sheep. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
The one who secures our salvation is Christ, for Christ secures us to Himself. And in securing us to Himself, we know that we will bear good fruit of growth, putting sin to death and growing in holiness as we labor with all of the grace that He lavishes upon us (John 15:5).
Knowing a love so amazing and a steadfastness so deep has to change your life. If you are a Christian, immerse yourself in this goodness! Nothing less will do, and nothing else in this would will ignite in your soul a fervent desire to see God’s word speed ahead and be honoured. You need the gospel pressed into your heart before you have a real desire to see the gospel go forth. And if you’re not a Christian, the same Jesus - steadfast and full of love - stands with His arms wide open. For all who will repent and believe in Him, His love beckons.