Further Sojourning…Now Through 2 Thessalonians, Pt. 9
Study Guide, July 14, 2024
Pastor Clay Olsen
In thinking of our sojourning through the letters to these Thessalonian believers, before we finish our journey, there’s a need to pause a moment and focus again on Paul’s counsel for these believer’s personal sanctification while living in the midst of such a spiritually calloused culture…much like our own. Some of this is expressed in these opening verses to the third chapter. Take a look: 2 Thess 3:1-5- “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we are confident in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we commanded you. May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ.” NLT
Here Paul addresses the priority of prayer, the reality of spiritual warfare, and the sinful society around them, as well as dealing with sin in their own lives. And we’ll look again at those things, but he always comes back to connecting their spiritual growth to it all. So, think about this: D. L Moody was once delivering a message on spiritual growth. The people had been discussing wrestling with sin in their lives…how they should deal with besetting sins, how to remove sin…their focus was on dealing with their sin. Certainly, a noble intention, but a frustrating task, if your focus is faulty. What do we mean? D. L. Moody set out a glass and asked the question: “So how can we remove the air from this glass? They discussed it a bit and then suggested maybe using a pump of some sort. Then Mr. Moody took a pitcher of water and filled the glass with water and said, “Now there is no more room for the air.”
And then he began sharing how we often have our focus on the things themselves that we are dealing with in our lives, as in how to remove this sin or remove that problem and on and on. But the Scriptures turn our focus not first to removing these troublesome things in our lives, but they turn our focus first onto filling our lives with something else, or with Someone else, the Spirit of Christ. And then, it is as we become more filled, as we become more focused on the Spirit of Christ, as we turn our attention to looking to God the Holy Spirit to fill our lives, to fill our thoughts and purposes, then there is less and less room for these lesser things in our lives…especially things like besetting sins and such.
So often our attention naturally turns onto how to remove this problem, and that sin, or this difficulty, and so on. And in just focusing on those things that we are trying to remove, we then lose our focus on that which God has given us which He intends to replace what needs to be removed. In other words, ‘removal’ requires ‘replacement’. Unless the removal is connected with the replacement, the right replacement, you are still left with the wrong solution. Remember: Removal without replacement still leaves a space that’s going to get filled with something. As followers of Christ, we need to make sure that what fills the spaces in our lives is the right thing even if we do remove something that is wrong. And the right thing to replace everything is the ‘filling of the Holy Spirit’, or submitting to the control of God the Holy Spirit. We are to daily look to God the Holy Spirit to fill our spirit, fill our life, fill our mind, fill our heart, fill our habits… What we are seeking to do is to replace the presence of what is there naturally with the presence of what is there supernaturally …replace our focus on what is naturally there in our lives with our focus on the Spirit of Christ, who, although He daily indwells us, we need to let Him daily fill us, to be in charge of us, to be in control of us!
Remember, the renewal of our mind and heart is done not by removing what is there, but by replacing what is there…replacing what is in here…mind and heart…with what’s in here…the Scriptures, which reveal the very mind and heart of God! Make it a daily habit, a daily practice, to fill, to refill your life, your mind and heart, with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. And then throughout your day, focus on your filling, or focus on the One that you have asked to fill your spirit with His Spirit. And you see, then, it will not be by your might, or it will not be by your power, but it will be by God’s Spirit that you will then be better equipped to deal with things such as persistent problems, or besetting sins, or spiritual warfare through drawing upon God’s might, and God’s power, and God’s Spirit for it all.
Think about it: In the gift of our salvation, when we received Christ into our life, we received all of the Spirit of Christ, all of the Holy Spirit. Now, we are to, day by day, let Him have more of us. We have all of God. The question is: Does He have all of us? We are called to daily give God more of us…we are to make more and more room for Him in our heart and mind, so that what’s in here (the self) is being more and more replaced by what’s in here (the Scriptures) and by Who is in here (in the Scriptures). Think of it as ‘Spiritual Replacement Therapy.’ Hopefully, that will help us all in our progress of Sanctification and in our victories over the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Speaking of which, we see that Paul called for these Thessalonians to engage in their spiritual warfare with specific strategies. And the first and foremost strategy of course was prayer. Paul said: “…pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you. Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not everyone is a believer. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.”
Not only does our fellowship with God start with prayer, but our preparation for warfare starts with prayer. Prayer is both the first and the last steps in our training manual for spiritual warfare. In Star Wars the Jedi were called to use the ‘force’. In the Scriptures, God’s warriors are called to use the ‘Prayer force’. We are soldiers in God’s ‘Prayer-force’ who are called to use the ‘Prayer force’. For one thing, Prayer is a work of preparation. Note how Paul pointed out that prayer is what pre-pares the work of the Gospel. Prayer is what prepares people to honor the Lord’s message, as well as prepares hearts to be receptive to the Gospel. Prayer is actually the first step in preparing for any work or for any activity at all!
Remember Paul’s answer to the question of what should we pray about? It was one word: ‘Everything!’ Pray about everything! And we know that God has chosen to use prayer as a way of changing us, but He has also chosen to use prayer as way that He changes others…and changes other things. For, as Paul also points out to these Thessalonians, prayer is not only a ‘preparation’ for the works of God, but prayer is also a ‘protection’ in the warfare that God’s people face. He says, “Pray, too, that we will be rescued from wicked and evil people.”
There’s a reality check for us all! And where do we find wicked and evil people? There were certainly some in Thessalonica. And there were some in Corinth, and in Galatia, and in Athens, and Jerusalem, and Rome…and basically…everywhere there are people, there will be some wicked and evil people. Now certainly, there are degrees of wickedness and of evil…that’s one reason there are degrees of sentencing in Gehenna Hell. But what this reality calls for us to understand is that God’s people are to use the protective nature of prayer to help protect others in the spiritual warfare that is going on in every community and in every country in our world. God’s people are to be a praying people who serve as a ‘prayer force’ in protecting others from the wickedness and evil that infects our world. And while we are not responsible for the wickedness and evil that is done in this world around us, we are still responsible for praying against whatever wickedness and evil that is being done in this world around us. God has given us certain responsibilities to carry out as His children and servants. Prayer is a daily responsibility that we each have as we serve God through serving others by praying for them!
In fact, ‘responsibility’ is another strategy for victory in spiritual warfare, and it is to be one of the key characteristics of God’s people. Followers of Christ are to be the most ‘responsible’ people anywhere. Responsible, in terms of, we can be counted on to do what is right, when it is right, for whom it is right, and for the right reasons.
And why do we point this out? Because in Paul’s inspiring teachings on the prophetic events ahead for God’s people, like the coming Rapture of the Church, and the events of the Tribulation to follow, and the final return of King Jesus with His Church to rule and reign over the Kingdom upon Earth, some of these Thessalonian believers began using the imminence of the Lord’s return as an excuse for not carrying out their daily responsibilities. Take a look: 2 Thess 3:6-15- “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” NASU
Could it be that the saying “They are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good” started with some of these Thessalonians? Actually, that saying seems a little off anyway though, because followers of Christ are to be the most heavenly minded people on Earth…but at the same time also the most responsible and faithful doers of good on Earth as well! In fact, one of the most striking descriptions of Jesus is from Acts 10:38- “…He went about doing good…” How great is that? And how’s that for answering what you and I should do each day? Like Jesus, you and I are to just go about doing good! Now, we’re not talking about copping a judgmental attitude of being a ‘do-gooder’…but we are talking about adopting an attitude of being a ‘good-doer’!
But that was the problem with some of these Thessalonians, in that they were no longer doing the good for God and for others that they should have been doing. Instead, they were using these prophecies of the Lord’s soon return as an excuse for their irresponsibility. Rather, the prophecies of our Lord’s soon return are to inspire us even more to be doing whatever good we can be doing in doing the works that God has given us to do, knowing that our good works and our faithfulness not only matter to God, but they will also be rewarded for eternity.
But nowhere in the Bible does God ever reward bad behavior. Paul told the Thessalonians not to allow others, even other believers, to manipulate or take advantage of others who were trying to be faithful and responsible in both their daily worship of God and their daily work for the help of their families and others. God is a God of ‘Justice’ as well as a God of ‘Mercy’. No one manipulates, or takes advantage of, or abuses others without God taking note of it, and it will be judged by Him.
Remember the principle: Privileges are the rewards for responsibility and faithfulness…. Losses are the results of irresponsibility and unfaithfulness. That principle runs throughout the Bible and on into the Kingdom of God. It’s supposed to guide families and churches and communities and countries as well. But that’s another study…or studies! Remember, America needed another statue…we have the Statue of Liberty…we also needed a Statue of Responsibility!
We have some more to cover as we conclude our sojourning here, but we can conclude with Paul’s counsel to us all to ‘go not grow weary of doing good.’ Where have we heard that before? Gal 6:9- “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Certainly, the doing of good can get ‘tiresome’, but it doesn’t have to be ‘wearisome’. We may tire in our physical energies, but we don’t have to grow weary in our spiritual energies. And why” Because in verse 10 Paul says, “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” NASU Doing good for others, and especially for fellow believers are opportunities to please God. Our service for others always pleases Jesus. And everything that pleases Jesus will bless us, will bless you even more than the good that you did for others. God will see to that…some now and even more in His Kingdom that is soon coming.