Good morning all.
We have come to the last sermon on the Gospel Life series
! that looks into the two letters of Paul wrote to the believer in Thessalonica.
!
Acts 17, we call it that they became followers of Jesus after Paul
risen with them from the Scripture over three weekends,
explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and raise from the dead,
and pointing out that Jesus is the Messiah he is proclaiming.
Paul was forced to leave this newfound church after being with them for three weeks
and have to go down from Thessalonica to Beria.
And the Word of God, the Gospel, continues to work among them.
Paul tells us his gratitude towards God at the beginning of the two letters,
for the Lord's message rang out from them,
and their faith in God has become known everywhere around their area.
The believers in the area became their witness and reported
how they returned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
and how they are waiting for Jesus' return from heaven.
God raised Jesus from the dead,
and Jesus will return to rescue us from the coming world.
People traveled through Thessalonica.
Witnesses of faith have worked in these new believers,
even though the person who brought them the gospel,
Paul and his own companions,
was forced to flee the city when the opposition planned to kill them.
The Thessalonian church continued to live out their faith,
showing love to people traveling through the area,
based on their hope in Jesus.
Paul says in the beginning of his first letter,
the 1 Thessalonians 1-3, that
we always thank God for all of you
and continually mention you in our prayer.
We remember before our God and Father
your work produced by faith,
your labor pumped by love,
and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he reiterates his thanksgiving to God
in the beginning of his second letter.
In 2 Thessalonians 1-4,
Famous English preacher, Charles Spurgeon once said,
conversion is a turning into the right role.
The next thing is to walk in it.
A daily going on that role is as essential as a first starting,
if you reach the desired end.
To strike the first pole is not all the battle.
To him that overcome, the crown is promised.
To start in a race is nothing.
Many have done that who have failed,
but to hold out until you reach the winning post
is a great point of the matter.
Perseverance is as necessary
to amend salvation as conversion.
It is with great concern for their salvation
and grow in their faith
that Paul writes the two letters to the Thessalonians.
And he prays for them in the final chapter of the two letters.
His prayer for them tells us a lot of his intention.
He prays in what Michelle has read out to us in verse 5.
May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love
and Christ's perseverance.
So let us today look at three aspects of perseverance.
Paul has called upon God to help direct the Thessalonians
into God's love and Christ's perseverance.
And Spurgeon is of the view that perseverance
is as necessary to amend salvation as conversion
because they both understand the temptation
of the lies of Satan for the believers to give up.
When writers of Hebrews urges to persevere in chapter 10
to hold unswavingly to the hope that we profess
and not giving up meeting together,
he points out that the habit of giving up is a real thing.
To endure and persevere is not easy,
especially when it's unpleasant and painful.
Paul continued to pray for the Thessalonians
that they may be considered worthy of the calling of God
in 2 Thessalonians 1, chapter 11.
And God might fulfill every desire for goodness
and work of faith by his power.
And he says in verse 12,
When we persevere and demonstrate
that we are worthy of the calling of our God,
our Lord Jesus will be glorified in us
and we are glorified in him.
It is important and necessary to persevere
because it helps us to fulfill the ultimate reason we have created.
Perseverance is the key to understand the meaning of our existence.
For the ultimate reason you and I are made
is to glorify God and fulfill and fully enjoy him forever.
Our way of life, how we live and conduct ourselves
means to win the respect of those who are outside of the relationship with God.
We are who God used to bring his lost children back into his love.
Your salvation is not exclusively for you yourself to enjoy.
We are all saved for a reason.
We are saved to be on God's mission
to help his lost and dark world
get back to their loving Father and Lord.
And you will fulfill that calling by persevering.
Perseverance is necessarily important
because it is also not easy.
And Paul was using a lot of military terms and language in his two letters
because as believers of Jesus,
living out a Christian life among wicked and evil people
by staying faithful to God can be a daily battle.
We are pulled from all sides
and there are two main enemies of perseverance we face,
one from the outside and one from within.
Last Sunday, our senior minister Steve introduced us
to the concept of a man of lawlessness
from chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians.
The most important point is to understand
the secret power of lawlessness that is already at work
and not to miss the forest for the tree
and to focus on finding out who is this man of lawlessness.
So let me encourage you to look at our listen to that sermon again
to show up your defenses against the first enemy of perseverance.
The one that can come from outside trying to get into our mind,
the deceitful and delusion of the works of Satan
that is in this world.
Here are some of the deception and delusion that Satan used.
Christianity, having faith and hope in Jesus,
has been presented as a cruel underdog
that denied freedom to abort life,
whether it's an unwanted pregnancy or euthanasia.
Believing in Jesus is a runner-up to the champion of life
that restricts people from expressing their sexual orientation and desire.
becoming a Christian is taking on a minority, troublesome, unpopular choice of life
that will derail your career.
And everything the Bible teaches goes against a pursuit
to be the center of your universe.
It's silly to hand over the control of your life to someone else.
And when everyone is living for themselves,
it seems ridiculous to live for others
and live in obedience of some writing that is archaic and irrelevant to contemporary life.
It's so lame and primitive to need some religious crutches to get by in your life.
Only the intelligent people need religion.
These are the attitudes that sum up the first enemies of perseverance,
the noise from the world that worked out by Satan.
The second enemy of perseverance is from Rufinus.
It's our tendency to become idle and destructive
and end up being a busybody.
It appears that some Thessalonians may have quit their job
in anticipation of Jesus' return.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 10 implies
that they are able to work, but are willing to do so.
These people end up going around eating others' food without pain,
exploring and taking advantage of others.
Paul has alluded to this ungodly behavior in his first letter.
In chapter 4, verse 11,
to call upon the believer to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.
You should mind your own business and work with your hands,
just as we told you.
However, the situation seems to have worsened
to the point that Paul has to highlight and instruct them against
as his parting note in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 10-11.
For even when we were with you,
we used to command this to you,
that if anyone does not want to work,
neither shall he eat.
We hear that some among you are idle and destructive.
They are not busy.
They are busybodies.
The term busybody describes someone who meddles in the affairs of others,
pries into things they are not their concern,
and infouse themselves where they are not needed or wanted.
It goes beyond being merely inquisitive
and enter the realms of destructive and sinful behavior.
Paul alludes to many sinful behavior
that can come from within us.
So some are blatant,
and others are not so obvious,
especially in 1 Thessalonians 2.
2 Thessalonians 3.
Your own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
not in passionate lusts like the pagans
who do not know God,
and that in this matter,
no one shall wrong or take advantage
of a brother or sister.
The temptation to sin is real.
It is a daily battle that all Christians encounter.
No one is immute or has the ability to stop sin.
Ourself can become our worst enemy
when it comes to living a disciplined, godly life as disciples of Christ,
especially when we are not taking ownership of the wrongs we have done.
Our desire to be loved by God often jeopardizes our obedience towards God.
We are often easily distracted and have this fear of missing out,
which drives us to continue scrolling from social media
to keep up today with the latest gossip.
Instead of avoiding and fleeting from sin,
we often test the boundary,
thinking we are good enough to overcome temptation.
Jesus teaches in Mark 7 and Matthew 15
that sin is what comes from within us,
coming from our hearts that corrupts and defiles a person.
It's not the environment that causes a person to sin,
but our desire from within to be equal or greater than God.
Our rebellion to not wanting God to be our rulers of our life
that causes us to sin against God and others.
Trying to do good is such a battle.
Trying to stay faithful to the call we have received from God
drains us every day.
We are so prone to growing tired of doing what is good,
and so Paul encourages us in verse 13 of our chapter today,
So, how are we to fight these enemies from outside and from within?
How are we to persevere?
The simple answer is, we can't.
There is no way we can persevere until the end
to bring glory to God
without the interference of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Relying on our own strength and might,
we will get no way.
Paul prays to Jesus continuously throughout these two letters.
Paul referred to Jesus in various forms
and by his full title up to 20 times within these two letters.
As Jesus is the only way to the Father,
he is also the only way of perseverance.
The sanctity of Jesus in our life
is the only way to persevere.
Only when we remain in Christ,
we are able to stay faithful to the end
as Paul prays in 1 Thessalonians 5, 23-24.
May God himself, the God of peace,
satisfy you through and through.
May your whole spirit, soul, and body
be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who calls you is faithful,
and he will do it.
God is the one who will keep us faithful
to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
John 15 tells us that this works of Jesus.
You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Remain in me as I also remain in you.
No branches can bear fruit by itself.
It must remain in the vine.
Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
Apart from me, you can do nothing.
Jesus' word is what makes us clean.
As we accept Jesus' teaching,
we become acceptable to God
and craft back into God,
become a branch of the vine.
Keeping ourselves in God's word
is how we remain in him.
It's by remaining in Jesus
that we will get anywhere in life.
John continues to record Jesus saying,
If you remain in me
and my words remain in you,
ask whatever you wish
and it will be done for you.
This is to my Father's glory
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourself to be my disciples.
Paul has full confidence
that the Thessalonians are doing
and will continue to do
the things God commanded them
because the word of the gospel
is working among them.
Lord Jesus is at work in their life
through his word.
Looking back at Paul's prayer
in 2 Thessalonians 3, verse 4,
we have confidence in the Lord
that you are doing
and will continue to do
the things we command.
May the Lord direct your hearts
into God's love
and Christ's perseverance.
His prayer for the brothers and sisters
in Thessalonians,
we feel the way
we are to persevere.
He continues to pray
in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 16 and 17.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God our Father,
who loved us by his grace,
gave us eternal encouragement
and good hope,
encouraging your hearts
and strengthen you
in every good deeds and word.
Our encouragement and strength
to persevere
come from the word of God.
Other writers
in the New Testament,
such as James,
echo Paul's teaching
in the beginning of his letter.
In James 1, verse 2-5,
it says,
Consider it pure joy,
my brothers and sisters,
whenever you face trial
of many kinds,
because you know
that the testing of your faith
produces perseverance.
James acknowledges that
there will be times
in our Christian life
that we find testing.
We will feel the pull
to give up,
but he encourages us
to let perseverance
finish its work
so that you may be
mature and complete,
not lacking anything.
And if anyone of you
lacks wisdom,
you should ask God,
who gives generously
to all without finding fault,
and it will be given to you.
How are we to persevere?
Especially when we find ourselves
lacking in all kinds of ways,
we ask God to help us.
You can ask boldly,
and it will be done for you,
because when you hold
to Jesus' teaching,
putting them into practice,
showing yourself
to be Jesus' disciple,
God will overcome your enemies
and get the glory.
And that is the ultimate reason
to create us
and put us into this world.
It's the will of God
to give you life
and give it to the full.
Again,
the writer of Hebrews says
in chapter 12,
verse 1 to 3,
Therefore,
since we are surrounded
by such a great crowd
of weakness,
let's throw off everything
that hinders
and the sin
that so easily entangles.
Sin will try to entangle us,
and it's easy to stumble.
There are so many things in life
that will hinder
our growth as disciples,
so do not ignore
our enemy from within.
Let's throw off everything
that hinders and the sin
that so easily entangles.
Let's run with perseverance
the race marked out for us,
fixing our eyes on Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of faith.
For the joy set before him
he endured the cross,
scrawling his shame,
and sat down
at the right hand
of the throne of God.
How are we to run
with perseverance
the race marked out for us?
We are to consider Jesus.
Consider him
who endured such opposition
from sin
so that you will not grow
weary and lose heart.
Consider Jesus.
Fix your eyes on him
who is the pioneer
and perfecter of faith.
He is the person
that makes it possible for us
to persevere till he returns.
By giving up his life
for our life,
he marks us worthy
of God's calling for us.
Keep marveling
and meditate on how he
endured opposition
from us sinners.
He created us
for his glory
and the glory of the Father.
But instead of acknowledging
his lordship over our life,
we disown him
and left him
to face our cross.
We put Jesus on the cross
to face the punishment
we deserve
for our rebellions
against our creator.
Paul prays
in the end
of 2 Thessalonians
chapter 3
verse 16.
Now,
may the Lord
of peace himself
give you peace
at all time
and in every way.
The Lord be with you all.
Jesus
is the only one
who can
and he will
give you peace
when you submit yourself
under him,
when you repent
and believe
his good news
for your salvation.
He can
give you
peace
because he went
through and
endured the suffering
of the cross
and purchased
peace for us
by his blood.
And God
hath raised him
from the dead
as a proof
that we too
will be risen
with him
into eternal life.
For God
did not
appoint us
to suffer wrath
but to receive
salvation
through our Lord
Jesus Christ.
He died for us
so that
whether we are
awake or asleep,
we might live
together
with him.
The gospel
life
is a life
worth
persevering
because it
is as valuable
as the life
of the Son of God.
For God
so loved the world
that he gave
his one and only Son
that whoever
believed in him
shall not perish
but have eternal life.
May the Lord
direct your hearts
into God's love
and Christ's
perseverance.
The grace
of our Lord
Jesus Christ
be with you all.
through God's work