1 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse
17. The Apostle Paul is writing, he says,
But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in
presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your
face with great desire. wherefore we would have come
unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered
us. For what is our hope or joy or
crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence
of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory
and joy. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. There's something very endearing,
something very likeable in the evident affection the longing
that the Apostle Paul expresses here in these verses for the
believers in Thessalonica and I was reflecting on that because
this is, this of course is Valentine's Day today and this is almost
a little bit like a love letter because the Apostle is writing
to these brethren and he is speaking affectionately towards them,
he's speaking of the the care and concern and affection, the
love that he has for them as a church. And I wondered about
that. That's really the essence of
what we're going to be thinking about for a little while today. I wondered if perhaps it was
the obvious danger that these brethren were in from their enemies
that elicited this response from the apostle. A danger that Paul
was conscious had been instigated by his preaching amongst them
and by bringing them to a knowledge of the truth he had brought upon
them the opposition of their enemies, particularly amongst
the Jews in the synagogue and the troublemakers that they stirred
up as a result of that. And it seems as though Paul,
having been parted from the people, finds this affection even more
stirred up he would have preferred to have stayed with them and
to have endured with them the persecution and the hardship. I was reminded in thinking about
that how the Lord said when he was speaking to his disciples
in Matthew chapter 10, he said, think not that I am come to send
peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. And the Lord goes on to speak
to his disciples about the fact that parents and children would
be separated because of this gospel. Brothers and sisters
would be separated. That the gospel would have the
effect, not always of bringing people together, but of separating
people, bringing a sword. And the apostle is here showing
that he is appreciating the fact that these people have been split
from the community of which they had previously been a part and
thrust into this place of opposition and trouble. And perhaps his
affections are stirred because of that. And we see him here
reinforcing the close family ties that he felt for them, the
union that they possessed. in the family of God, in the
body of Christ. And Paul teaches us that we are
all one in Christ Jesus, the brothers and sisters in the faith,
and that our unity is in Christ, that there's a spiritual life
there and union that transcends the earthly relationships and
the differences and divisions that we encounter in our society. We thought, or we have been thinking
over the past few weeks about the history of this separation
with Paul and the church at Thessalonica. And we touched on it a few weeks
ago, how that he was hurried away from the city by the believers
in the night time. And he was taken to the little
town or the little city, a small city called Berea, close by. And then the troublemakers followed
him to Berea and he was taken from there to Athens when his
enemies, whom he calls the servants of Satan, pursued him to do him
harm. And I think this is what Paul
means when he speaks here about being taken from the Thessalonians. And yet, although he was absent
in person, he reassures them that his affections for them
were not in any way dulled and that he longed to come back and
he longed to see them face to face. And these assertions, not
only do they show boldness on the part, bravery on the part
of Paul, but they show how dearly the Apostle viewed those amongst
whom his ministry had been so blessed. And it shows that he
is faithful. meaningful in his references
that he has used where he speaks about using the analogy of a
nursing mother tending her children and a protective father guarding
and providing for his offspring. This was really how the Apostle
Paul felt towards the Thessalonians. And it seems that Paul is acutely
aware that he is being prevented from returning to Thessalonica.
It was his will to return. He wanted. Probably originally
from Berea he thought that he would go straight back to Thessalonica
and then perhaps later from Athens thought the same. But rather
it seemed that each time his thoughts turned to going back
to the city, another issue arose and the apostle was diverted.
And I think that that's a good lesson for us as well. Paul calls these distractions
the work of Satan. And perhaps we may see here something
of the ongoing and relentless efforts of the Jews and others
to be as disruptive as possible to the gospel ministry. But even as hardships frustrate
our will and detain us and distract us from the plans that we might
have, we remember that Even satanic troubles that come on the church
and individual believers actually accomplish God's will. Paul wanted to return to the
Thessalonians but the Lord was rather employing his servants
Paul and Silas and Timothy in preaching the gospel elsewhere. And it was the servants of Satan
who were also being used by God in order to push the apostles
into other places for other ministry. For the time being, Paul's presence
in Thessalonica was not as important as was his ministry elsewhere. And so the Lord moved him on,
though in Paul's own mind it was Satan's servants as the secondary
cause that prevented his return. And we might see these experiences
in our own lives where we feel as if Satan's servants are getting
us down, problems are arising that feel as if we are being
pressurized, that we are being attacked, that we are being opposed
in a very real and practical way, even in a satanic way. And
yet we have not to forget that it's the Lord's will that is
overriding all of these things and God's purposes that are at
work. And again, we can see something
here of the expression of Paul's care and concern for the Thessalonians. And I think it's worthy of mention
because they're strong and affectionate. He speaks, and also that we might
understand what it is that he's saying and see it in its proper
perspective. Paul's speaking on behalf of
himself and his fellow ministers, Silas and Timothy, calls these
believers our hope, and joy and crown of rejoicing. Now that's
really a delightful way to describe and express himself and express
the affection that he felt for these people. He calls them,
the church at Thessalonica, our hope, our joy, our crown of rejoicing. And I just looked at some of
the commentators on these verses, and I'm going to quote them because
I probably couldn't say it as well as they do. But John Gill
says on this that they were not the foundation of Paul's hope,
which was Christ, nor were they the thing hoped for, which was
eternal life, nor the ground of their hope, which was the
blood and righteousness and sacrifice of Christ, And Hawker says on
this, he points out that for both Paul and the Thessalonians,
they rested wholly upon Christ, because Christ is all the joy
of the church, both in heaven and on earth. And yet these terms
that the apostle employs do show the solid hope that he had in
the genuine work of grace that had been enacted in the lives
of these people and his confidence in the salvation of these brothers
and sisters in the city. He knew that their election and
their effectual calling were true and right and they were
to him a sure and certain thing. And he felt great joy at being
instrumental in the hands of Christ to bring these saints
under the sound of the gospel, preaching to them and being party
to their faith and to their belief. even the suffering that they
were going through for the sake of Christ. Everything indeed
that Paul saw in them proved the grace and mercy of God towards
them in Christ. And that was a great blessing
and encouragement to the apostle in his own service and for the
conversion of these brethren. And I think that that is something
that we can all have a sense of in our own fellowship, in
our own connections and ties with one another. We remember
the hymn, blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in one
accord and there are ties that bind believers together and those
ties are principally the love of God towards us and the mercy
of God and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the ministry
and comfort of the Holy Spirit, so that as we share in these
things together, our own affections grow and the ties that bind us
together are strengthened and enhanced. We view one another,
do we not, as heirs together with each other in the wonderful
works of the Lord Jesus Christ. We view ourselves as being possessors
of the common salvation, with which all the blood-bought people
of God are redeemed and ransomed and cleansed. And whether we
look back into the history of the church and the Old Testament
believers or the New Testament believers or through the ages
when we read biographies and histories or sermons of the experiences
of the true church during the ages, we feel a common bond with
those in times past and with those that we know and share
fellowship with today. And this is what the Apostle
is talking about in this delightful little phrase of our hope and
joy and crown of rejoicing. And I think The Apostle takes
a moment here to remind the Thessalonians of the coming again of their
Saviour. Because remember, he's writing
to a church that is being persecuted and he reminds them of the Saviour.
He reminds them of the Saviour who lived, died, rose again,
ascended up to heaven and is most surely coming again. And this is such a comforting
thought for all believers in times of trial and persecution. If we are going through deep
trials, perhaps it's physical, perhaps it's emotional, perhaps
it's psychological, perhaps it's spiritual, perhaps it's because
of the anxieties that we have for the things that are going
on around about us, the circumstances, whatever it might be. The knowledge
That the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again and that things
will be put to right is a great comfort for the Lord's people.
And it is true that we will all soon be taken from this world,
this world of suffering, either when the Saviour gathers us to
his bosom individually or returns to judge the world in righteousness
and deliver his whole church together at once into his everlasting
presence. But the other thing that Paul
reminds these believers of in talking about the return of Christ
is that we all ought to realise also that there shall come a
day of accountability, when the Lord's people will see their
enemies cast down and the vengeance of God will be visited upon them. In a world where many people
feel that there's no justice, The promise of Christ's return
is a reminder of how the judge of all the earth does right and
always shall do right. And I think the apostles' final
repetition of these words of affection is significant also
because we're reminded how Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, had once been
on the other side of the issue, had once himself been one of
those very Jewish persecutors of the church, wasting it, wreaking
havoc with people's lives, just like these dear folks who now
profess faith and bowed the knee to the message that Paul preached
and to the Christ that Paul preached. Was there not perhaps a sense
of personal glory and joy in this for the apostle? That such
trophies of grace were a reflection of Christ's mercy to him, to
such a one as Paul himself. Are we not all privileged to
have been constrained by Christ, called into his service, and
blessedly, gloriously, fruitfully employed at his behest to serve
the cause of God and truth? And maybe we don't see ourselves
as fruitful boughs and fruitful branches in the vine that is
Christ, and yet that's Christ's own promise to us. there will
be fruit for the branches that are connected to the vine. And when Christ returns, it will
be demonstrably so. Paul's confidence in the election
and the effectual call and the thorough conversion of these
brethren from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of Christ's
extends to their presence together with him in the presence of Christ
forevermore. And what a prospect that is.
We may well lose friends here in time. We may well witness
the passing of our brothers and our sisters, our husbands and
our wives, our families. And we may feel the sadness of
their passing into another realm before us. but soon we all shall
be together again. Every possessor of grace in this
world shall share the glory of the world that is to come. Every
believing sinner shall live to see the perfect holiness that
presently is hid from our eyes and yet waits in all its fullness
to be revealed when Christ returns for his church and people. And
we rightly may, and I think we should, glory and joy in the
success of the gospel here in this world, for we shall most
certainly glory and joy for the success of the gospel in the
world to come. When we look around and see that
blood-bought throng there worshipping the Lord, what a privilege it
will be to be amongst those who are gathered. We'll rejoice to
see Him who has done all things well and we will be revealed
as being in Christ. We will reign forever and with
us shall reign all His people. So by faith we believe that these
things are true. So there's nothing premature.
in beginning to rejoice now, and there is nothing stopping
us from doing so. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.