We won’t spend a lot of time today talking about the context of 2 Thessalonians because it’s nearly identical to the context of 1 Thessalonians. You can simply scroll back ten days or search for the context of 1 Thessalonians to get more info. Paul wrote this second letter not too long after he sent his first letter to the Thessalonians, and the church was struggling with many of the same issues.

Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians:

1) To reassure those terrified by the thought that the day of the Lord had come.

2) To strengthen the Thessalonians in the face of unremitting persecution.

3) To deal with the problem of some of the church members refusing to earn their own living.

We’ll begin our study of 2 Thessalonians tomorrow.

Yesterday we finished studying the book of 1 Thessalonians, and all of the devotionals from that book have been added as an MS Word document to the “Quiet Times” page. You can visit that page on this site to download a study guide for 1 Thessalonians (or the many other books we’ve studied) by clicking on the link below:

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS DEVOTIONALS FOR BOOKS WE’VE STUDIED

Tomorrow we’ll begin our study of 2 Thessalonians.

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with them all.” (1 Thes. 5:14)

This is one of those verses that should be memorized. There have been times I have gotten frustrated with people in ministry only to find out that there is something deeper going on in their lives. Perhaps they’ve had a death in their family, or maybe they’re going through a tough time. When you’re confronting someone about something, it’s always best to be a “good doctor” first and evaluate what’s really going on by asking them the question: “How are you doing?”

By asking that question, you can determine which of the three conditions in the passage above exist for them. They are:

1) Idle: The original Greek word for this means “undisciplined” or “insubordinate”. This could either mean the person is irresponsible or one who has a hard time with authority. Either way, the Bible is clear that when any believer is idle, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we must confront them in a loving way. We should love them for who they are but also too much to let them stay the same.

2) Fainthearted: This is the person who is going through a tough time. As I mentioned before, I’ve gotten frustrated with people thinking they were being lazy only to find out they were going through a difficult trial. When we find out someone is going through a tough time (such as a death in the family or depression), we must be there for them and encourage them.

3) Weak: This is a younger believer who may not have strong convictions. There are times we must be patient and just help people to grow. An example of this happened to me two days ago. I’m leading a big summer mission trip that’s ten weeks long for 58 college students, and the mission project is pretty expensive (since it’s the entire summer). The mission project starts in two weeks, and two days ago a young lady called me and said she had decided not to go. Now, I’ll admit I was tempted to get angry with her because she would be losing the project hundreds of dollars ($3,000 to be more accurate) if she backed out. However, recognizing she is a young believer, I simply asked to re-consider. I also gave her Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 5:37 to “let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’” and explained to her how it would hurt the project financially if she backed out of her commitment. She prayed about it for a day and then decided to honor her commitment and take part in the summer mission project.

Can you think of good examples of when you have or haven’t been “a good doctor” by diagnosing a situation before reacting to it? I can think of so many times I’ve reacted poorly to someone, but these instructions in 1 Thes. 5 have helped me to react to people in a Biblical way and have saved me a lot of heartache.

Spend some time thanking God for his Word and, most importantly, for dying on the cross for the mistakes we’ve made. Confess any sin that the Holy Spirit reveals in your life, and surrender your whole heart to Christ today. Ask God to help you to “be a good doctor” and diagnose where people are and what their situation is before reacting to them too quickly and causing pain. Only God knows everything going on, and only he can change the heart of a man or a woman. Praise him for never giving up on us!

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“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.” (1 Thes. 5:12-13, ESV)

Because I’m the son of a pastor, these verses really hit home with me. My father served in a few different churches while I was growing up. Looking back, my dad really loved the Lord and desired to serve God faithfully. For the most part, he was treated with love and respect by the congregations. However, there was one church where one particular family held many of the leadership posititions. At that particular church, my dad had a hard time making changes that he thought the Lord was leading him to make. Whenever he did try to do something (such as purchasing a Sunday School curriculum or enlarging the parking lot so it was big enough), I noticed that the leaders talked poorly about him and resisted the changes.

I don’t know all the details, and I certainly don’t want to talk poorly about a church. I just know first-hand how a pastor’s family can be hurt when the pastor isn’t treated with love and respect. Since I’m now in full-time ministry, I also know that ministry is hard enough when you are loved by the people you’re ministering to. A pastor or missionary is on the front lines of ministry, and Satan attacks ministers every way that he can. Our pastors need encouragement so they can continue to “fight the good fight” and help to fulfill the Great Commission, so that many others can experience eternal life.

Spend time today praying for your pastor and church leaders. Confess any sin these verses reveal in your life, and make a commitment to be more encouraging to your spiritual leaders, especially your pastor. Encouragement often flows downward (pastors often give encouragement but don’t often receive it) naturally, and church members must be intentional to encourage their church leaders. Pray for your church leaders’: 1) spritual life – that they would fall more deeply in love with God; 2) direction – that they would be senstive to the Lord’s leading and would follow him closely; 3) protection from spiritual forces of evil; and 4) for their family.

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“Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come to them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to suprise you like a thief. For you all are children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.” (1 Thes. 5:1-5, ESV)

There have been a lot of “Day of the Lord” movies and books written over the years. I watched one of these movies as a child, and seeing people just disappear one day scared me to death. I didn’t want to be one of those people who was left behind. I wanted to go be with Jesus.

While apocalyptic movies and books aren’t altogether bad (I enjoy watching some of them), they can be confusing and unhealthy if they’re used as evangelism tools. First of all, the Bible is clear that the Day of the Lord is only known to God. There are many schools of thought concerning when Jesus will return, and the only thing clear is that it’s unclear of what it will look like. The only thing we really do know is that Jesus won’t return until the good news of Jesus has been preached everywhere. “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14, ESV).

Secondly, we need to be motivated by good news, not bad news. The good news of Christ is that although we deserve punishment for our sin, Jesus took our punishment upon himself when he died on the cross for us. This death changed everything for us, and now we have eternal life with God. Embracing this good news and reminding ourselves of it every day leads to gratitude toward God, a deeper love of him and a knowledge of his character, and ultimately a desire to follow him and do what pleases him. When we’re motivated by bad news, we’re only motivated to “not do bad things.” This doesn’t lead to intimacy with God.

Spend time thanking God for sending his Son Jesus so that on the Day of the Lord, we will live with God eternally. How does Christ change everything for us? How should this good news motivate us? Write down a list of people with whom you can share this good news, and make a commitment to follow Christ whole-heartedly. Jesus changed everything for us, and now we have hope that everything’s going to turn out right. Our story has a happy ending.

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This passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 and the first part of 1 Thessalonians 5 (tomorrow’s devotional) are very interesting because Paul gives some clarification of what the “Day of the Lord” (the day that Jesus returns and all believers go to heaven) looks like.

The main reason Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians is because the newly planted church in Thessalonica was looking forward to the second coming of Christ, but when some of the Christians in the church died, the rest of the believers were concerned that they would miss the second coming of Christ. Paul wrote this passage to inform them of what would happen to the believers in the church who had died.

“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thes. 4:13-18, ESV)

I don’t know about you, but this passage is encouraging to me. My wife and I have experienced the loss of loved ones. It’s comforting to know that those who know Christ will be with him forever. At the same time, however, this passage is a reminder that I need to be intentional to share Christ with loved ones who don’t know Christ. I may be the only one close to them who has a relationship with God, and I must do my part to share the most important message they could ever hear – the message of eternal life.

How do these verses encourage you? How do they convict you? What steps of faith do you need to take this week to share Christ with others around you? I once heard an atheist say that if Christians really believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, the most evil thing they could do is to keep Christ to themselves. Even that atheist recognized the importance of Christians sharing their message of hope, and he said he respected evangelical Christians for sharing their hope with others.

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“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.” (1 Thes. 4:9-12, ESV)

In this passage, Paul gives some instructions on how we should live our lives to please God. I find these verses challenging, especially the phrase, “mind your own affairs.”

How many of us mind our own affairs? We constantly compare ourselves to others, and we hone in on others’ weaknesses because it makes us feel better about ourselves. If we’re honest with ourselves, we also talk poorly about other people when they’re not around. This is an area I’ve grown a lot in, but I still sometimes catch myself being critical of others. When we focus on others’ shortfalls, we forget about our own sin and our own struggles. We forget how far we fall short of God’s standard of perfection.

When we take away our criticism of others and mind our own affairs, we can focus on our own lives and the sin we’re struggling with. This is very healthy because we can be broken before the Lord over our sin. We can come to Christ with broken, repentent hearts, and experience his love, his forgiveness, and his transforming power. When we truly repent of our sins and surrender our hearts to the Lord, God changes our lives. These verses above aren’t just commands. They’re instructions on how we can be transformed by the life-changing power of God.

Spend some time today in prayer, confessing any sin that comes to mind. Are there people around you that you’ve been critical of? In what ways have you not been minding your own affairs? Come to Christ with a broken, repentent heart, and ask him to help you to experience his life-changing power. True joy is found when we experience the love and forgiveness of the God who created us. Real joy is only found in Christ.

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“Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” (1 Thes. 3:11-13, ESV)

In this entire chapter, Paul recounts Timothy’s report that the Thessalonians are standing strong in their faith. He tells them it’s his prayer that he will be able to return to Thessalonica to encourage and strengthen them in their faith.

How often do you encourage and strengthen other brothers and sisters in their faith? Too often, we as believers just go to church to hear a message from the pastor, and then we just go our own way. However, as we study the New Testament church, it’s clear that the believers constantly ate together, prayed together, and encouraged each other. The older believers took the time to build up the younger believers in their faith.

This year on campus, I’ve been encouraged by a freshman guy named Jason who is on the golf team. As I met with him weekly for discipleship, we prayed together, and I trained him how to lead others toward Christ. What encouraged me is that he took the things I taught him and immediately put them into practice. When I taught him how to share his faith, he shared Christ with a couple of his friends on the golf team. After I taught him to lead a prayer meeting, he started meeting with another believer on the golf team for prayer. A few weeks ago, I trained Jason how to mentor a young believer. He then told me his plan is to return to campus in the fall and find a freshman athlete who he can mentor and encourage in his faith.

How are you doing? If you’re a new believer and need to find a more mature believer to strengthen and encourage you, consider asking someone at church this summer to mentor you. If you’re a more mature believer that is ready to mentor a younger Christian, click on the “Mentoring” tab at the top of this website and learn how to mentor others. Find a teenager or college student in your church to mentor this summer, and make a commitment to encourage them. Spend time in prayer today asking God to lay someone on your heart who you need to encourage. Keep your eyes open today and look for opportunities to encourage others. It’s not a matter of if you come across someone who needs encouraged, but when you come across someone. We all need encouragement no matter how well we’re doing. By encouraging one another, we strengthen the body of Christ and help to make it healthier. In short, we help others to be the men and women they were created to be.

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“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thes. 2:13, ESV)

As you’re reading this passage, picture Paul writing to the beloved church he planted in Thessalonica. He had traveled there months earlier on his second missionary journey and had seen a good number of people accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. Imagine the joy he must have felt seeing God at work in the Thessalonians’ lives, and imagine how much he loved and cared for these new believers. However, because of persecution, he was suddenly driven out of Thessalonica to Corinth. He sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to train, equip and encourage the believers, but Paul wanted to be the one to go back. As he sat down in Corinth to write this letter to the Thessalonians, he was encouraged that the church was still thriving, but at the same time he was very concerned at hearing that many of them were questioning their faith.

1 Thessalonians 2:13 above is a very important verse. Not only was Paul re-assuring the believers of their salvation, but his words assure us today that the Bible is the Word of God. While it was written by human hands, a soverign God was in control of what was written down. Just as God created the sun, moon, stars and humans, he used the hands of the Biblical authors to communicate his words to us.

What is significant about the fact that the Bible is the Word of God? What if God wasn’t intimately involved in every word written in the Bible? How would that change things? The fact that the Bible is inerrant and infallible is everything to the Christian faith. If one thing was untrue in the Bible or if there was one error, what would that say about God? It would say that he wasn’t in complete control when the Bible was written. If one line of the Bible wasn’t true, how could we trust any of it?

Spend some time praising God for his sovereignty and thanking him for giving us his Word. Thanks to the Bible, we can understand who God is and how we can have an eternal relationship with him. The Bible helps get rid of misconceptions we many have about him, and it helps guide us away from the sin that destroys us. The Bible means everything to us, and we need to study it daily so we can grow in our intimacy with God. Confess any sin God reveals in your life today, and make a commitment to follow whole-heartedly after him. Only the God that created us can give us our heart’s desires. Only he can give us real joy!

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“For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.” (1 Thes. 2:3-4, ESV)

In these twelve verses of 1 Thessalonians, Paul underlines the missionaries’ authenticity as preachers of the gospel of God. He reminds the believers that he and the other missionaries didn’t use flattery, and that they didn’t deceive or do anything out of selfish ambition or greed. Everything that Paul did stemmed from his motivation to follow God, and he ministered as a worker approved by God.

How are you doing? Could someone describe you as a worker approved by God? Are you connected to a body of believers? Are you motivated to share the gospel with everyone you know who doesn’t have a relationship with God? Do you volunteer in your church just to do something or check something off your list, or do you work for the Lord because you love him? Are you a worker approved by God like Paul?

I must admit there are times I get caught up in the busyness of life. When that happens, I do things for God just to check them off my list rather than because I love the Lord and am motivated to follow him. This passage reminds me that I need to constantly check my motivations, and when my heart isn’t in the right place, I must confess my sin of legalism and surrender my heart to God.

Spend some time in prayer asking God how you’re doing. If the Holy Spirit convicts you by revealing that your heart hasn’t been in the right place, confess your sin and ask God to change you from the inside out. When we remember the gospel – the good news that Christ died for us, we can have a thankful heart and a deeper love for God. The gospel transforms us and helps us become the men and women God created us to be – workers approved by God.