Someone said, “Today’s mighty oak was yesterday’s little nut that held its ground.” I like that. Paul is encouraging the Thessalonians to hold their ground and keep growing.
The believers in Thessalonica were discouraged, and they needed encouragement. So Paul wrote his second epistle to the Thessalonians only a few months after he had written his first epistle to them. The year is about 51AD, and the occasion was that some had come from Thessalonica to Paul to tell him they were still struggling and had problems. There was a false letter supposedly from Paul. (Apparently Identity Theft is not new!) Also, some still weren’t working and some of the problems hadn’t been remedied. So Paul took pen in hand, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote his second epistle to the believers in Thessalonica.
In chapter 1, he encourages the suffering; in chapter 2, he enlightens the confused; and in chapter 3, he exhorts the careless.
Now in chapter 1, Paul is encouraging them in their suffering. Someone has called chapter one “a prescription for persecuted saints.” Paul shares three encouragements. The first encouragement, in chapter 1, verses 1-4, is encouragement of praise. It is praise directed to God for them in Thessalonica.
Verses 1-4 say, “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy…”—Silvanus is known as Silas, and Timothy is also called Timotheus—“…to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience…”—notice that—“…and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.”
It’s clear by the end of verse 4 that they were being persecuted and going through tribulations. These “tribulations” are NOT the seven years of the Great Tribulation, which happens after the rapture, in chapter 2, when the Antichrist is revealed. Rather these are persecutions that come from the world. The Great Tribulation will be from God. But as believers, we are not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:9
In verses 1-2, we see the opening greeting or salutation starts with Paul, who we know originally was Saul of Tarsus. He was converted in Acts 9 and became the great Apostle Paul. Silvanus or Silas was Paul’s traveling companion in Acts. Timothy was the pastor to whom Paul wrote in 1st and 2nd Timothy, and he traveled with Paul as well.
Paul was writing, verse 1, “to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The phrase “God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” appears in 1 Thessalonians 1:1 as “God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul makes it more personal when he says “God our Father.” Paul is reminding those who are suffering that they are children of God.
Sometimes one of the best things you can do when you’re going through suffering, sorrow, pain and trouble is to remind yourself that you are His child, He is your Father and nothing can come into your life except what He allows. It must be filtered through the love of God. When everything is going wrong and crazy in your life, remind yourself, “I’m His child. He is my Father.” Not one sparrow falls to the ground that He doesn’t take notice of. And we are much more valuable to Him than many sparrows. He sees, He knows, He understands. He is a Father who disciplines His children. (Read more here)
Then Paul wishes the Thessalonians “grace to you…”—which is God’s love poured out upon us—“…and peace…”—which is God’s peace or “shalom,” our fellowship with Him—“…from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Then beginning in verse 3, Paul makes the statement, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren.” It’s interesting that Paul doesn’t thank them; he thanks God. This is a very subtle but important point. Instead of praising or complimenting them directly, Paul lets them know that he is thankful to God for them.
Sometimes we can actually do a disfavor to people by telling them how wonderful they are, how great they are, how amazing they are, without including God, because there is a danger they can be filled with pride. The human body can be very sensitive; if you pat it on the back too much, the head swells. We want to be complimentary and encouraging to people, but we need to be careful.
But on the other hand, we can sometimes neglect encouraging people, and so they become discouraged. So where is the balance in the middle? Letting them know that you thank God for them. By God’s grace they are being used in your life to be a blessing to you.
What was Paul thankful for in verses 3-4? He was thankful for three things. Number one, he was thankful that their faith was growing. “We are bound…”—which means “we owe a debt”—“…to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly.” The words “grows exceedingly” is a picture of a mighty, oak tree. Whenever the wind blows on oak trees, their roots go deeper into the soil to become stronger.
In the early 1990s, trees inside the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona grew rapidly but collapsed before reaching maturity because the enclosed, windless environment lacked the “stress” needed to trigger the development of strong, supportive “stress wood”. Without wind, the trees failed to grow robust, supportive, or flexible, causing them to topple under their own weight.
What are the lessons here?
- Lack of Environmental Stress: The biosphere designed to be a perfect, self-sustaining ecosystem, lacked natural wind, which is crucial for structural development.
- No “Stress Wood” Formation: Wind forces trees to develop “stress wood” or reaction wood, a stronger, more flexible type of wood that enables them to withstand environmental pressure.
- Rapid, Weak Growth: Trees inside Biosphere 2 grew much faster than in nature but were structurally weak, leading to them falling over as they grew taller.
- Lesson on Development: The incident highlighted that environmental stress (like wind) is essential for developing necessary strength and resilience
Like trees, we Christians need adversity and stress to grow strong. When the wind of adversity, trials and suffering comes your way, it actually strengthens you and helps you need get your roots deeper into God, into His Word and rely and trust more on the Holy Spirit. Then your faith will grow “like a tree planted by the rivers of water…whose leaf also shall not wither,” Psalm 1:3.
So the Thessalonians had a faith that was growing exceedingly. Picture a large, strong, mighty oak tree. But some Christians are like tumbleweeds. Instead of being rooted, they roll and are “carried about with every wind of doctrine.”
Now this faith that is growing exceedingly is more than salvation faith. When you initially trusted Jesus and believed on Him for salvation, it didn’t take a lot of faith. It just took the object of your faith being correct. You needed a little faith in a great Savior. D. L. Moody said, “A little faith will take your soul to heaven.”
But Paul is talking about a second kind of faith here. It is sanctifying faith. There is saving faith and there is sanctifying faith. Once you become a Christian by believing in Jesus Christ, you then trust Him every day of your life, come what may. That is sanctifying faith. No matter what comes into your life—sunshine or sorrows—you are trusting Jesus, holding onto Jesus, looking to Jesus, you’re grounded in Jesus. It is a growing, sanctifying, gradually-growing faith.
There are a lot of Christians who are saved, who are going to heaven, but they’re not having heaven on earth. They’re not experiencing the joy of the Lord. It’s because they’re not growing in their faith. They’re not growing in their trust. They’re not putting their confidence in God. “Have faith in God” and grow.
In a storm that troubled them, Jesus rebuked His disciples in the boat on the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 8:26. He said, “Oh, you of little faith.” He was asking them why they doubted, why these fears arose in their hearts.
God asks the same things of us: “Am I not your Father? Am I not in control of your life? Do you not know that I care about you? Nothing happens to you but what I allow.”
So Paul encourages the Thessalonians by saying, “I thank God that your faith is growing.” They are learning daily to trust more in Jesus Christ.
Back in 1 Thessalonians 3:10, Paul said that he was “night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith.” So Paul prayed that they would have an ever increasing, growing faith.
Trials and suffering are allowed by God to strengthen our faith. They are food for our faith. This is one of the chief ways that God grows us as believers. By suffering. Without suffering, there is no growing faith.
So we need to feed on God’s Word and submit to God’s will.
The second thing Paul was thankful for was that their love was abounding, verse 3. So their faith was growing and their love was abounding. “The love of every one of you all abounds toward each other.”
Here’s another word picture. The first was growing, as in a plant or tree. The tree’s roots go deep and are strong through the storms of life. The second word picture is abounding. It’s a picture of a river. This imagery is that of a mighty river overflowing its banks. It’s not drying up; it’s overflowing. And it’s overflowing in a good way, not in a destructive way. The blessings of your love are overflowing to others.
The danger in suffering is that it can make us self-absorbed and bitter. Have you ever known someone who goes through suffering who becomes bitter instead of better? Instead of making them, it breaks them. There is a saying that says, “The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.” So the issue is not the problem; two people can go through the same trial, but one gets hardened and one melts. Trials can either make you better or bitter; it all depends on how you respond to your problems.
One of the keys of life is going through bitter experiences. And we all go through bitter experiences. We can come out of them better or bitter. Because we are broken, we should depend on God, rely upon His grace and get grounded in His Word. God makes us; He doesn’t break us or destroy us. He’s making us better believers.
So suffering, mixed with faith in God, and reliance upon His grace will produce the love of God overflowing out of our hearts to others around us.
Think about the fact that God fits you for service through suffering. You want to be a blessing? Then you have to be broken. Wheat has to be crushed before it can be made into bread. Incense has to be thrown on the fire before its odors are set free. Roses give off a beautiful fragrance, but if you take petals off a rose and crush them in your hand and take a whiff, its fragrance flows even stronger.
And many times God crushes us. Then He opens His hand and lets the fragrance flow. It’s the fragrance of Christ. So if we look to the Lord in our sorrows, then we can look to others in love. It overflows from our lives. How important that is.
The third reason Paul was thankful is in verse 4. He was thankful that their perseverance was increasing. Their love was overflowing, their faith was growing and their perseverance was increasing. “We ourselves boast…”—which literally means “speak proudly”—“…of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith…”—Paul couples perseverance with faith—“…in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.”
“Persecutions” are from a hostile, unbelieving world. They come from the outside. “Tribulations” is a general word for any trouble. It means to be “thrashed” or “pressured.” So it means we’re suffering on the inside with what could be an eternal, emotional or spiritual suffering.
Notice he says, “that you endure.” That phrase is in the present, continuous tense. So it means you are presently enduring all these sufferings and tribulation.
The word perseverance is steadfast endurance. The imagery of that is of a wind blowing against you, and you have to lean into the wind to make progress against it when you walk. It’s the idea that you keep on going; you don’t throw in the towel.
So it starts with a growing faith, then becomes an overflowing love and then an increasing perseverance in the midst of your suffering.
In Romans 5:3 Paul says, “We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.” In James 1:3, it says, “…knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.”
You’ve heard the old adage that if you pray for patience, trials come. “Lord, I didn’t pray for trials; I prayed for patience!” There is no shortcut.
How can you be steadfastly enduring if there’s nothing to endure? How can you be patient if there’s nothing to be patient with? So God tests our faith. A faith that isn’t tested cannot be trusted.
Would you trust a bridge that has never been tested?
So your faith must be tested and tried through suffering. And God sanctifies us, prepares us and makes us more Christ-like through suffering and adversity. So don’t be discouraged in your suffering. Notice that your faith will grow, your love will overflow and your patience will increase, if you look to God and trust Him and get grounded in His Word.
In the next post, we will look at how God balances the scales of injustice.
Darrell
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