Sermon(2 Thess 3:1-5): Paul's exhortation to the saints

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50026238469

 

 

 

Scripture reading: 2 Thess 3:1-5

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>> 1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph (‘be glorious’ in Korean version), as it did among you, 2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness ('patience' in Korean version) of Christ. <<

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Life gives us pleasure. There are many flowerpots in the veranda of the apartment where I live. There is also a small flowerbed in the veranda. Sometimes I bring some soil from outside and plant a tree in a pot. one day, small ants came with the soil into the apartment, and now there are ants' nests in all the pots. The ants have tremendous vitality, so if I put a new flowerpot in the veranda, they immediately move into it and make it their house as they like. (Cute little robbers!) Do you think I am bothered by the ants? Not at all! These ants like to live only in and around the flowerpots with wet soil. Not only do I not allow them to cross the threshold into the living room (for I can attack them by an insecticide spray), but they themselves would not come into the living room where there is no wet soil. It is not a suitable place for them to live in. The ants know their place and live only in the veranda without making troubles. (How clever they are! But some foolish human beings insist that they are the God, and will be thrown into the hell forever.) One day, the insects called 'wood louse' began to live there. And slugs began to live there. They are as big as a pinkie, in full growth. They live like the owners of the place. They are like leeches in size and shape. Little spiders, too, are living there. I let them live without killing them, and they forme a food chain and live in harmony. Sometimes it's fun to see how these live. At night, a group of slugs crawl out of here and there and occupy the veranda. (Sometimes some of them are trampled to death unfortunately in an accident.) Sometimes there is a slug that climbs up the door glass between the veranda and the living room and shows us the audience its sole (or possibly its belly). Worms also have love, life, and death. Sometimes I give them food scraps and they eat them so pleasantly. How lovelily the worms eat the food! Worms eat also meat well.

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We smile and have pleasure even to see the worms live, then how much more will we have delight in the man to whom we have preached the gospel, whose faith grows day by day? Today's Bible text is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonian Church saints. How does Paul judge the Thessalonian church members? “Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph, as it did among you. (v. 1)” Paul says that the gospel is spreading rapidly in Thessalonica. This means not only that there are many new believers but also that the seeds of the gospel sown in the hearts of the saints have sprouted and grown big like mustard trees. For the gospel to be accepted in me and to grow within me well, my heart must be a fertile ground. The word of God does not grow in him who doubts the truth of the gospel preached to him. The saints must accept the proclaimed word of God with the confession 'Amen!' and let their faith grow day after day. At the same time, the more your faith grows, the more humble you should become. The true gospel does not make you proud but humble. As the word of God grows in you, your religious wisdom and knowledge grow. A wise man can give up the transient worldly blessings and pleasure to obtain the everlasting life. Wise life is to live in order to exalt not me but Jesus. As the faith grows, the image of God and Jesus becomes clearer and clearer to me. The more I learn about God, the more clearly I can see him in my heart. The more I know about him, the more my heart is illumined with the light of truth, so that all ignorance, anxiety, worry, and darkness disappear from my heart, instead my heart is full of confidence, peace and joy. Paul says that the word of the Lord has been glorious in the Thessalonian church members. ('Glorious' in Korean version of the text.) When is the word of God glorified in me? It becomes glorious in me when it is alive and works in me. When the word of God comes upon me, the dark power of Devil, the deceitful power of Devil, the evil power of Devil withdraw from me, and the life of recovery and rebirth, the life of obedience to the word, the life of bearing sacred fruits appear in me. The word of God is glorious in me when I, who lived in sins and hurt God's glory, hear the word and live a glorious life of God's son. May God's word be glorious in you. Also, as the text says, the word of God becomes glorious if it is preached to the Thessalonian church members and spreads quickly and widely. It is disgrace to the word of God if it's power shrinks, but glory, if the power expands. My brethren, please preach the word of God diligently to reveal the glory of God's word. In this way, the rapid expansion and the glory of the word of God in the Thessalonian church made Paul's heart glad. When Paul thinks only of the Thessalonian church members, he is overjoyed. Like this, those who received the word of God should be delight to him who preached and taught the word to them. I hope that all of you will improve your faith and be delight to your pastor.

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Paul exhorts the Thessalonian believers who have good faith. That is, they have to take responsibility as much as their faith grows. If we want to go to church and learn the word and have great faith, we must be loyal to what is entrusted to us as much as we have grown up in faith. Those who learn but do not practice what they learn are fruitless trees. Do not be a man like a tree that does not bear fruits and is cut by an ax and is cast into the fire. Someone is popular with the believers and occupies high position in church, but only does what is not help to the pastor. If another faithful man occupied the position, he could be of great help to the pastor and contribute greatly to the growth of the church. So such an untrustworthy man, only occupying the position, not doing work, is inflicting great loss on the church. He should not do so! Do not be a man who occupies a high position but disrupts the church. Be a good believer whom Paul recommends.

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First, Paul exhorts the Thessalonian church members to be eager to pray. “Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph (‘be glorious’ in Korean version), as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men; for not all have faith. (2 Thess 3:1-2)” Paul was a foreign missionary. He was the commander of the battlefield. Paul now calls on the Thessalonian church to pray to God for him so that the gospel he preaches will spread quickly as in Thessalonica. My brethren, what do you have to do now? It is the intercessory prayer for the preaching of the gospel. Do not go again at a loss of time to a place where you have visited for sightseeing, do not indulge in vain entertainment, do not waste today in vain, but make even short time to pray for the rapid evangelization of the word. Don't judge pastor's sermon to be good or bad, instead only pray in earnest for his sermon. Pray for his sermon 10 minutes a week with true love for him and listen to the sermon on Sunday. If you have prayed for the sermon yourself, the sermon will be 10 times as inspiring and moving as before to you even if the sermon has the same quality as before, because you will be ready to hear it. If my heart is humble and filled with love, God's words touch me. Have you failed in life? You've failed not because the pastor's sermons were bad but because you haven't lived according to the sermons. Pray for the successful propagation of the word of God even for your own sake. Pray God that the words proclaimed from the altar might live and work in you, and live and work in the whole church. Pray that the words extend beyond the walls of the church and change the world.

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Paul also asks the Thessalonian church members to pray to God for him. There are people in the world who do not live by rational judgment but follow evil desires. The Devil seizes the hearts of such men so that they would persecute and kill those who preach the gospel such as Paul. Paul wants the Thessalonians to pray for him so that he may not fall into the hands of those wicked men. Brethren, say intercessory prayers to God for your pastor always lest he be not under the attack of the evil ones. Even in church, evil men attack the pastor. The simple-minded saints, who do not pray, stand on the side of the wicked and bully the pastor. They incur punishment to themselves. Please do not judge the pastor by your taste. Never dispute on his sermon if it is not a heresy! And do not question about the pastor's personal hobby as far as it is not against ethics and morality. Do not ask the pastor where he spends his salary. (But you may ask him if he was too poorly paid this month.) Every one of those trivial arguments is an evil deed that attacks the pastor. You are believers who should pray to God to prevent the wicked from attacking the pastor. Never forget it! How can the sheep bite the shepherd? If it is not a crazy sheep ... The protection of angels be on those who are good shields for their pastor!

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Paul encourages the Thessalonian church to do throughly what he has taught. “And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command. (v. 4)” Paul is convinced that they will continue to live this life of obedience as now. 'You are doing and will do the things' means that. How much confidence do you give to the pastor? Does your pastor trust in your faith and personality? only those who are truly born again obey today and will obey tomorrow, and those who live with the Holy Spirit give confidence to others. Some people trust the words of other false pastors more and go to ruin. The pastor whom he first followed was a good man speaking of only the gospel of truth, but a foolish believer is seduced into the heresy of the wicked man who has approached him, and becomes a member of a heretic religion. Some disobey the pastor's advice that they should get out of the den of Devil immediately, and fall into eternal downfall. Disobedience and doubt are indeed evil minds that destroy yourself. The greatest enemies of the saints are disobedience and doubt, too. Perhaps, is your pastor known as a heretic to outsiders? Are you being led by a man who has been judged to be a heretic by the orthodox churches? Go away from him right away! Ordinary pastors practice ministry without such condemnation from the orthodox churches. If your pastor is he who hears such condemnation, he is surely a false pastor, thus you should depart from him to the orthodox church at once. However, if your pastor is a right (orthodox) pastor, you must obey the teachings he gives you, in order to live, be blessed and win. God, your Master, has set him over you as your shepherd, so his words are God's words. So disobeying him is disobeying God. Do you want to be blessed even though you disobey God? Get rid of that delusion!

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Paul exhorts the Thessalonian church believers to be in the love of God and in the patience of Christ (v. 5). Love must be the principle of our life of faith. Without love, all religious life is nothing. All works without love are of no benefit to oneself. All religious life without love is hypocritical. Religion without love, religion without truth is a good example of corrupt religion. We must first accept God's love. Those who accept God's love will be grateful for everything that has happened to them. Because everything that happens to me is done in God's love for me. We must also love God with all our heart, will, and strength. Idolatry is a nonsense to us, and there is nothing in the world we love more than God. If God wants something from me, I will gladly give him what he wants. He who loves God has Abraham's willingness to offer his son Isaac to God. We love our neighbors with this strong love for God. Above all, we love the Church, the body of Jesus. He who dwells in God's love knows no fear. “The Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from evil. (v. 3)” He who lives in the love of God is the one who believes in his faithfulness. So there can be no fear of the world to him. Fear comes from a doubt about the faithfulness of God. Such doubt is a proof that we do not dwell in his love. If you love, you do not doubt, and trust. Love and peace of mind are companions. How can you hope the peace in heart without love? 'The patience of Christ' Paul mentioned can be interpreted as 'our patience in relation to Christ'. Then we must live a life of enduring suffering until we have a final victory with Christ. As Christ has won by cross, so we believers must bear the cross that has been laid upon us and endure to the end to wear the crown of victory. He who abides in God's love is indeed able to bear this cross. God is trustworthy and makes us strong enough to bear the cross. We are called to make a final victory with Jesus. Jesus says to us, 'I have already defeated the world.' Therefore the victory is already ours. Brethren, fear not, be strong and bold. Jesus the King of all kings is your Lord. You are not a newborn suckling, but a mature strong soldier of Jesus, so all the words of Paul in today's text are exhortations to you. Do not forget it!

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Jesus, the captain, love you and strengthen you to triumph!

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Chong Tack Kim

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                                  - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -