Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends on this Friday,
When you send a greeting to someone, what have you found to be the words which convey your true desire that those people would be blessed? Words are meaningful and powerful yet so often we use them flippantly. What if someone you greatly respected said to you: “Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”? (2 Thess. 1:2) Would those words be a catalyst to you, propelling you to live vibrantly, courageously, withstanding the persecution you might be facing?
It’s with those words of greeting and blessing that the apostle Paul began his second letter to Christian friends struggling under persecution in Thessalonica, Macedonia in the year 51ad. You may notice it’s also how he ended his first letter?
Has there been a time in your life when you’ve been overwhelmed by the Grace and Peace of God? When was that? What were the circumstances in your life that caused you to believe that Almighty God was pouring out HIS great blessing of His undeserved kindness upon your life? That was God’s Grace!
Did you find a deep, almost unexplainable peace well up inside you that defeated all your worry, fear, anxiety, anger and all other emotions which were trying to defeat you at that time? That was God’s Peace and sometimes it really is peace “beyond all understanding”. (Phil. 4:7) Could I invite us all, right now, all over the world, to take a moment and talk with God, THANKING Him for His great GRACE and PEACE, that in His love for you and me, He has lavished upon us? (Eph. 1:8)
I wonder if Paul, Silas and Timothy paused, as Paul was dictating this letter, and did together there in Corinth, what I’ve just invited all of us to do? Oh, how both they and we have so much to thank God for, don’t we?
I think that thought propelled Paul to start writing again: “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.” (2 Thess. 1:3,4)
Honestly now my friends, could those words be spoken over you and me? Do those words describe what can be seen in us? What does GROWING FAITH in God look like? What did Timothy report back to Paul, following his visit to Thessalonica, that convinced Paul, Silas and Timothy, that the young faith of these new Christians was developing, growing, strengthening? As you look around your network of friends, who are those who live their lives rooted deeply in strong faith in God? What is their story? Where does that deep faith come from for them?
James wrote this: “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” (James 1:2,3) Peter wrote that the genuineness, the authenticity of our faith is proven in the trials, the struggles and suffering of life. (1 Peter 1:6,7) And Paul wrote to the Roman Christians that our suffering produces perseverance, character and hope. (Romans 5:3-5) So reflect a moment, in your life, what have been the events which have strengthened your faith in God? What lessons did you learn as you trusted God in difficult times?
Did you notice Paul also celebrated the evidence that their ‘love all of you have for one another is increasing’. Once again, I ask the question: What did Timothy experience in Thessalonica, that he reported back to Paul and Silas, that led them to conclude these Thessalonian Christians were experiencing the powerful work of God growing, stretching, deepening their authentic love for each other? Was it hospitality for those pushed out of their homes or jobs due to persecution? Was it comfort for the grieving? Was it generosity for those in great need? Was it courage to defend those overwhelmed by the persecution?
I wonder how you measure the authenticity and depth of true, Jesus style love among the people you know? What does 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 look like practically where you live? How are you personally experiencing it?
One of the things Paul evidently loved to do was tell stories. As he and his team moved from town to town, bringing the story of the Gospel of Jesus with them, they knew the people would view the theology Paul proclaimed as little more than truth words unless they could also tell some authentic stories of real people whose lives were dramatically changed by the power of the Gospel of Jesus.
That’s why Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: “we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.” Oh how that stirs deeply in me. I’ve been to some of those places where men have the scars of beating on their backs or the scars of shackles on wrists and ankles or even the electrocution burn marks on legs, arms and necks, all because of the persecution they suffered in their refusal to deny Jesus!
What, my friends, are the persecutions you are enduring as a follower of Jesus? How is your faith in Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit alive in you, enabling you to endure? Are the stories of your endurance being told in other places and as listening ears hear YOUR story, are their hearts being encouraged and their courage strengthened?
You see my friends, Paul is describing one of the great characteristics of the global ‘ekklesia’ of Jesus. As we hear reports of what God is doing in other places, and how lives are being transformed ‘out there’, our hearts are drawn to celebration, even if we’ve never been to those places. When we hear how Holy Spirit transformed and empowered lives are pushing back the darkness of evil, and how families and even cities are being changed, we are deeply moved knowing these are our global brothers and sisters in Christ!
Such news is the contagious, catalytic miracle of God’s alive and growing church! I imagine Paul had a great smile on his face, perhaps raising his fist to the sky in celebration as he dictated these words. He was so proud of these Christians in Thessalonica who refused to be silent, refused to be stifled, refused to be inconsequential in their city. They were making their lives count and the darkness was being pushed back as the Thessalonian Christians stood courageously in their faith in Jesus!
Could the same be said of you and me today, as the societies in which we live reject Jesus and God’s truth? As our story is being told elsewhere, is God using it to encourage believers in other places whose faith may be faltering?
I’m offering you today a great song of courage, sung by 250 Christ followers in India. As you may know, a change in government in India over the past several years has dramatically increased persecution against Christians, yet listen to these dear folks singing, look at their faces, it’s the very same powerful song I gave you yesterday… that Jesus Christ is the firm foundation of His Church globally!
Today’s Scripture is 2 Thess. 1:2-4.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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