Hope for the End Times Series
Get the Word Out!
2 Thessalonians 3:1-5
As we come to the third chapter of 2 Thessalonians we are listening in on the last words the Apostle Paul has to say to his young converts in the church of Thessalonica.
And in these closing verses, he turns to very practical matters. He has answered some of the questions that had been troubling them because of false teaching they had heard.
In chapter 1, he talks about the return of the Lord Jesus. In chapter 2, he talks about the rise of apostasy and the rebellion of the Antichrist.
Then in chapter 3, he talks about responsibilities which believers have as they live for the Lord.
So, in a very practical, down-to-earth way, these verses give us encouragement and incentive as we seek to live for the Lord every day of our lives.
In these verses you will find basically three things. First, there is a
I. Prayer
verse 1
Here's the great Apostle Paul, the man who wrote at least half of the books of the New Testament. This great man of God, Paul, and yet his request of these young believers is to pray for him.
Prayer is one of those areas where all of God's people are on the same level. I have the privilege of praying for you and you have the privilege of praying for me. Each of us can share equally in the ministry of prayer one for another.
It's a great compliment when someone comes to you and asks you to pray for him. It is a very humbling thing when someone asks you to pray for them.
That means they have enough confidence in your walk with the Lord and your fellowship with God to ask you to pray for him. When somebody comes to you and asks you to pray for them, it is a great compliment to your walk with the Lord and your ability to get hold of God in prayer, as well as your integrity that they would trust you with their request.
And I would very sincerely ask you as brothers and sisters to pray for me. Even as Paul said, brethren, pray for us.
Now that’s kind of general. I’m afraid that far too often we pray too generally. That’s why I would encourage you to be here on Wednesday evenings in the small groups so you can know the specific needs in the congregation.
And I would say this also: If you’ve got something going on in your life that needs the prayers of your brothers and sisters, you ought to be knocking down the doors to get to prayer meeting so you can benefit from that time together. If you’ve got somebody praying for you, why in the world wouldn’t you want to get under somebody else’s burden with them?
To do that, we’ve got to know the specifics of the need. So Paul mentions some specific requests. There are two in particular.
First, he asks they pray for the success of the Word and the message. That’s in verse 1.
Pray for the success of the message that it may run swiftly and be glorified.
He's talking about the Bible. He's talking about the Gospel. He's talking about the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had come to the city of Thessalonica and preached the Word of the Lord.
Back in chapter 1, verse 8 of I Thessalonians, he said "For from you sounded out the word of the Lord..."
What a beautiful picture there. The Word of the Lord is compared to a trumpet sounding. There he's talking about the proclamation of the Gospel.
Now, in this verse he's talking about the progress of the Gospel. "That the Word of the Lord may run swiftly."
It's a picture of an athlete running in a race. A beautiful picture. A lot of imagery. A lot of figures of speech in the Bible and this is one of them. The Word of the Lord is pictured here as running.
That’s a reference to the progress of the Word of God. He is saying that he wants you to pray that
God's message will do what it is intended to do and that it will go where God intends for it to go and it will happen quickly.
And to emphasize that, he says in the last part of verse, "just as it is with you."
Did you catch that? Pray that it will happen in other places just like it did with you. The Word of God, like a runner, came running into your city and did what God's Word is intended to do and you ought to pray that happens everywhere it is shared.
Did you ever watch the Olympics begin, when a runner enters the stadium and lights the flame to begin the games?
Did you realize that flame is lit in Greece several months before the starting date of the games? They will go through certain ceremony and eventually that flame will be ignited by the sun. A series of runners will then transport that flame from Greece to the place where the Olympics will be held. And once that flame is in place, the games officially began.
That's the picture here. Peterson paraphrases
this statement this way: “Pray that the Master's word will simply take off and race through the country.”
He's talking about the success of the message of God's Word.
Then he says, "And be glorified." He means by that as the Word of God does what it's meant to do, and people are saved and lives are changed and miracles take place, God's Word might bring honor and glory to the Lord Himself.
Listen, that is exactly what happens when God's Word is preached and people are saved. It calls attention to the wonderful Savior.
Our wonderful God who saves people and changes lives as result of the preaching of the Word. Paul says that's what happened in Thessaonica. He says to pray that the same thing will happen as the Word of God makes progress.
You ought to be praying for your pastor every time I stand in this pulpit. Preachers are greatly dependent upon your prayers.
In fact, I would suggest you begin to pray for the service long before Sunday gets here. Do you pray before you come to the services? Let me encourage you to do so. Spend some time Sunday afternoon praying for the evening service.
On Wednesday afternoon as you are getting ready and getting the family together, pray that God will honor His Word and that the Word might run and be successful in this service.
Pray that God's Word might run, move rapidly with power and progress and that the Lord may get honor.
When you go out to make a visit, pray that God will
use you to take His Word and make it effective in the hearts and lives of people.
So that’s the first thing Paul request them to pray for. Pray for the success of the message.
Then he asks them to pray for the safety of the messengers.
Verse 2
He is saying that not everybody is saved. Not everybody is happy when the Word of God goes forth. So, we need to pray for the safety of the messenger.
God has been so good to us in our fellowship. To think about those who’ve traveled to Africa and not had any problems. God is good! Amen?!
We’ve got a group getting ready to go to Mexico in December, and I’ve asked Bro Jimmy to check into work in Acapulco. He’ll be there in early October. We need to be praying for the safety of the messengers.
We should pray that the power of God might keep them safe as they carry the news of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So first of all, there's a prayer. There is also a
II. Promise
Now here is a promise that you can claim and make your own. The Bible has wonderful promises but they don't mean a lot unless you claim them and make them your own. You have to take them and make them personal to you. Listen to it.
verse 3
Isn't that a beautiful promise? In the original text, actually the word, faithful, comes first. Faithful is the Lord. The emphasis is upon what God is like. Who this God is that we serve? He is a God who is absolutely, utterly dependable. Our God is faithful. I have found God faithful in my life. Have you? You may be a young Christian, just getting started in the Christian life. You can depend on the Lord.
The Bible says in II Timothy 2:13, "If we believe not, he abides faithful: he cannot deny himself." God is a faithful God. He can be nothing else but faithful. You can depend on God.
I Thessalonians 5:24 says, "Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it." He's faithful.
Listen to Numbers 23:19, "Hath he said, and shall he
not do it?..." Our God is faithful. You can depend on the Lord. He will never let you down.
Sometimes people will let you down. In fact, people who love you, your own family, sometimes will let you down. Friends will sometimes disappoint you. The preacher will disappoint you. The Sunday school class will fail you. They won't be faithful. People are frail. People are weak.
At our best, none of us are as faithful as we ought to be. But, I'm not commending you to your friends or family, I'm commending you to your Heavenly Father and faithful is the Lord! Amen! That's a wonderful truth to know that our God is a faithful God.
And the verse tells us not only who He is, but what He does.
"Who will establish you..." The word, establish, means to absolutely strengthen. It means that he will provide all of the support that you need. He is the faithful one, but he is the one who establishes you.
Now think about that: That's what he does on the inside. That's His inside work. That's how He strengthens you on the inside. He makes you strong on the inside.
But He also does something on the outside.
"And He will guard you from the evil one."
God says, I'm going to guard you. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to take care of you. I'll keep you from the evil one. The devil is real.
The Bible says there is a devil -- a personal devil.
The Bible teaches that. He is the evil one. He wants to do harm to God's people. But the Bible says that God is faithful, He will establish you and He will guard you from the evil one.
Remember the story of Job? God said to the devil, "Have you taken a look at my servant Job? There's nobody like Job in all the earth. What a wonderful believer this man is." I would suggest to you that’s pretty tall cotton when God says that of you!
Satan said, "Will he serve you if there’s nothing in it for him?”
Did you catch his argument? His allegation is proved right by a lot of Christians. He says, the only reason Job serves you is because he is prosperous. If you take away his prosperity, he’ll leave you high and dry.
Then Satan said this: Besides that, you’ve got this protective fence around Job.
And that’s true! Did you know you have a fence around you? That's what the Bible says. You are hedged around.
What happened to Job? Satan asked permission to touch Job. This is in the mysterious providences of God, the overall work of God, some of the strange work of God that we may not always understand, but God left the gate open for Satan.
And Satan brought an all-out attack against Job. You may be saying, we’ll that’s not very encouraging. Oh, but it is! How so?
God controls the gate! He’s in charge of the fence! Satan doesn’t just come against you any old time he wants to. God guards you from the evil one.
That’s the point I'm trying to make. God has a hedge around you and the only way Satan can get to access to you to ask permission from God to get inside that fence.
Think about the experience of Simon Peter. Jesus said, "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired you that he may sift you as wheat."
He had to get permission. So, for reasons that will ultimately only be known in the eternities, God allowed Satan within that hedge.
Now that raises a question or two in my mind. What would God ever allow Satan to get inside that fence?
It might be because there is some stuff inside the fence with you that doesn’t belong there.
Go back to Simon Peter. Jesus said, “Satan has desired to have you. . .Why? That he may
sift you as wheat."
Now why do you sift wheat? There's some trash in the wheat that affects the quality of the wheat. It has to be removed. There was some trash in Simon Peter’s life. Some pride, some arrogance that needed to be sifted out of Peter’s life.
So the Lord said, "Okay, devil, put him in the sifter and get rid of the chaff."
So sometimes the Lord allows the devil to sift us or allows the devil to get inside the fence because there is some stuff in our lives that ought not be there and he wants to get rid of it.
The truth of the matter is that Satan is actually God's garbage man. God lets the garbage man sometimes take some stuff out of our lives that ought not be there.
So that's one way. Sometimes God opens the gate and let’s Satan have access to you to accomplish the purpose of God.
But there's another way Satan can touch you. You can open the gate and leave on your own. Listen, you can take yourself outside of God's fence of protection.
Listen to Ecclesiastes 10:8, "anyone who knocks down a wall might be bitten by a snake." Get the message?
There's a sense in which God keeps us and then there is a sense in which we keep ourselves.
We’ve learned recently from our study of Jude that we are to keep ourselves in the love of God.
If you decide you want to live outside of God's protective care, the Bible indicates you’re just asking for trouble. But the good news is if you will stay in God's protective care, only by permission can the devil touch you.
What a wonderful promise to claim for yourself! Faithful is the Lord. God is faithful. God can be utterly depended upon. Then finally we find here a
III. Prescription
Look at verses 4 and 5.
Now here we find a prescription for your daily life and here it is.
First of all, do the will of God.
Paul is very tactful in the way he goes about it. He's very complimentary. He says, I have full confidence about you that you are going to do the things you've been commanded to do -- the will of God.
Listen, you need to make up your mind that you are going to do the will of God. Just make that your decision. God says to tithe? Then I’m going to tithe. God says go to church? Then you can count on me. I’ll be there. God says to be kind? That’s what I’m going to do. Just make up your mind.
Why would you want to do that? Because the will of God is the very best possible life that you could ever experience.
Romans 12:1-2
God's will is good. God's will is perfect. God's will is acceptable. You can count on the will of God.
It's a wonderful life to live just doing the will of
God. Make up your mind to do the will of God.
What an exciting way to live your life! To be involved everyday in doing the will of God. Every morning when you wake up you ought to pray, "Lord, I want to do your will today. I commit myself to do
your will today."
Just one day at a time. Wonder what God's will is for me thirty years down the road? Don't worry about that. Think about today. Just concentrate on right now. Live for Jesus right now.
When you go to work or school in the morning say, I'm going to do the will of God with His help today. As you live for Jesus on a day by day basis, make up your mind that it will be the will of God. Nothing more, nothing else, nothing less. What a way to live.
That's our part. We do the will of God and then God commits Himself to do His part.
Verse 5
Listen, if you will do the will of God, God will direct your life. He'll lead your life. What a beautiful word here -- direct.
The Lord will guide your life.
I Thessalonians 3:11 puts it this way, "Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you."
We are living in a wilderness. We are living in a desert land. We have a God who has committed himself to guide us. When the Children of Israel were going through the wilderness, the Bible says that by day there was a cloud. A pillow of cloud that led them. At night that cloud became a pillow of fire that led them. We have a hymn we used to sing,
Guide me, o thou great Jehovah
Pilgrim through this barren land.
Let the fire and cloudy pillow
Lead me all my journey through.
In the Old Testament they had a cloud to guide them. But you and I have the blessed Holy Spirit in our hearts and the Lord has committed himself to guide our lives if we are committed to do His will.
You do His will and he says I'll direct you hearts into the love of God. I'll fill your life with my love.
Is that not exciting? To just live every day of your life being guided by the Lord into his love while patiently waiting for the return of Christ.
What a way to live. It is a prescription for life. You can't be in the way, you can't be doing the will of God until you have done the first thing that is the will of God for you.
The Bible says it is the will of your father in heaven that you come to repentance. The Bible says it is not the will of God that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
That means it is the will of God for you that you repent of your sins and receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.
That's the first step of life. If you are willing to make that first step and give your life to Christ, you will start on a journey that will end in the love of God and in the patient waiting of Christ.
