Encouragement in Suffering

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Suffering Helps Us Grow

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Like the first letter, this letter was written by Paul and mentioned in the salutation is Silas and Timothy. Both of these men were well known at Thessalonica. Again Paul wants only the best for these people, "Grace, to you, and peace." Grace, the free and unmerited favor of God that was theirs by reason of their faith in Jesus Christ. It, alone, will bring peace and happiness.

It would be well at this time to remind ourselves that at this time, in Thessalonica, the Christians were being persecuted. Paul knew this and he wanted, in the very first part of this letter, to acknowledge their persecutions and afflictions and to assure that as the result of them, they would grow spiritually.

Notice the weapon that Paul uses on Satan, it is the same one that Job used, the phrase of God. After Job had lost his family and all that he owned, he phrased God. Job said, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

The story is told of a minister who preached on this very text, using Job as his scripture. The next day, one of his members came rushing into his study, her clothes were torn, she was full of cuts and bruises and her hair was totally disarranged. As she came in, she shouted, "It works, it works." It had been a bad day. Her clothes dryer had broke so she had to hang out her clothes on a line, naturally it rained. Her son had fallen on the school yard and cut himself up very badly. On the way to the school to pick him up, she was involved in an accident. She was ready to throw up her hands in despair, but she remembered the minister's sermon, and she gave thanks, and you know what, it worked, phrase God, it worked.

This is not just pie in the sky, it really works. We truly grow in suffering, and the Thessalonians were evidence of this and Paul was reminding them of it. Good things were actually happening to them as the result of their persecution. Notice what was happening.

1. Their faith was growing. Someone has said, "A faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted." Tribulation and persecution is God's way of strengthening our faith. Now, suppose we are not persecuted, does this mean that we are not tested? Certainly not. We are tested every day by the temptations of life. Money, time off from work, things not going to our liking, loss of loved ones, loss of our job, just to name a few. If we trust the Lord in all of these, they will strengthen our faith. In his first letter, Paul prayed that their faith would be "perfected". Here in his second letter, he gives thanks to the Lord for answering his prayer.
2. Their love was growing. Paul says in verse 3 that their love for one another was increasing. Suffering can do one of two things, it can make us skeptical and sarcastic or it can make us loving understanding. Obviously, these people were abounding in love for one another. Persecution had drawn them together. Faith and love work hand in hand. The standing comment in the Pagan world at the time of Paul, about the Christians was, "Behold, how they love one another." This was not common in the Pagan world.
3. Their patience and steadfastness was growing. Paul, in Romans, calls it endurance. Patience is the best weapon against the toils of life. Most of life's problems are taken care of with time. Notice what the people of Thessalonica were enduring. First, there were attacks from outside the church, and second, there was doubting within the church.

God never wastes suffering. James says in Chapter 1 of the book of James, "Trials work for us, not against us." "If we trust the Lord, then trials will produce patience and maturity in out spiritual lives." A parallel might be this. God can grow a mushroom over night but it takes many years, many storms to grow a mighty oak. So suffering can increase our faith, increase our love and increase our endurance. So in this way, it can help us to grow spiritually.

Suffering Prepares Us for Glory

In these verses, God promises three things to those who suffer, reward, repay and rest.

First, reward. Verse 5 indicates that through suffering, we are made worthy of the Kingdom of God. This is one of God's purposes for allowing us to suffer. Please note, Paul is not suggesting that suffering "earned" them their place in the Kingdom of Heaven. Faith is the only way that we can become a part of this kingdom, however, suffering does refine us as fire refines steel. Our Lord never promised us an easy life, actually He taught that we would face difficulties in life and if we do not, we should take a long look at our relationship to the Lord.

Second, repay. Paul promises that God will repay. Repay the lost and repay the saved. The lost often prosper in this world and the saved often are persecuted which causes people who live for the day to ask, "Why try to live a Godly life if you are going to be persecuted for it?" Paul answers, "You must look to eternity." Salvation may bring a few years of affliction, but what is that to an eternity with God?

"Repay", has to do with judgment, but the judgment that Paul speaks of here in these verses are not the same as the one spoken of in First Thessalonians. Lets compare the two events.

First Thessalonians	Second Thessalonians
Judgment of the saved	Judgment of the lost
Christ returns in the air	Christ returns to the earth
He comes for his church, secretly, the dead in Christ first, and then those who are alive.	He comes openly with His church.
Occurs before the Tribulation	Occurs after the Tribulation.

So we see that there is a reward for suffering in this world, payment for suffering in the world to come and now we see that there is "rest".

"Rest", the word literally means "relief and release". At the Second Coming, all who are saved will be caught up to be with Him in the air, then our rest will begin for eternity. Have you ever wondered what it will be like when we see our Lord? Will we be embarrassed, ashamed, will we be troubled because of our sins? Paul says that when we see Christ, we will be RELEASED (from our consciences) pardoned, not judged. God has already judged our sins at Calvary, only our "good works" will be judged.

So reward, repay and rest are promised to those who suffer for Christ's sake. With this promised to us, the present suffering should be of little concern. This was Paul's message to the persecuted church at Thessalonica.

Suffering Glorifies Christ

Three ways that we glorify Christ in our suffering. One, it makes us worthy of His calling, two, it helps us in our daily walk, and three, it helps us in our witness.

Verse 10 says that at the Second Coming, Christ will be "glorified" by the Saints, the saved, therefore, Paul says in verse 11, "It is our prayer that you may be made worthy of this calling." So in our present situation, we are called. God "calls out" those whom He saves. We should, by His Grace, try to be worthy of that calling. To those persecuted people Paul was saying, "Trials do not make a Christian, they reveal what that Christian is made of." God does not need a trial to know our worth, but we do and so do others. Whatever worth we obtain through trial, will not be done through our strength, but rather through God's Grace.

Secondly, Paul prayed for their daily walk. Every day we have a purpose, a tempting and a witness. Every day our faith is tested. The ability to meet those tests in our lives do not come of our own strength but from God's power as we thrust Him. Our "walk" in life is linked to our "trust" in God and our ability to be open to His power. We cannot be victorious over sin if we rely in our own strength. So "faith" and "trust" is the switch that turns on the power needed to "walk" worthy of the Lord.

Thirdly, Paul prayed for their witness. We must first be worthy of God's calling, then be trusting of His power to be a "useful witness". Truly, these three are like building blocks, each one depends on the other. If we live worthy and trust God, we will have a favorable witness. This was Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians.

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