“Believing, Loving, Working, Persevering” (2 Thessalonians 1:3–12)

“Believing, Loving, Working, Persevering” (2 Thessalonians 1:3–12)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, May 20, 2018 (Senior Saints Day and Honoring Graduates)

2 Thessalonians 1:3–12 (NIV)
     3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
     5 All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
     11 With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Believing (vv. 3–4)

a. Cause for thanksgiving (v. 3)
b. Evident to all (v. 3)
c. Growing more and more (v. 3)
d. Worthy of imitation (v. 4)

2. Loving (v. 3)

a. Love for one another rooted in faith (v. 3)
b. Increasing love for one another (v. 3)

3. Working (vv. 11–12)

a. Living worthy of God’s calling by his grace (v. 11)
b. God may bring to fruition by his power: (v. 11)

i. Your every desire for goodness
ii. Your every deed prompted by faith.

c. For the glory of the name of Jesus (v. 12)
d. So that you may be glorified in him (v. 12)
e. All Christian work is through faith and accomplished by the grace of God (v. 12).

4. Persevering (vv. 3–10)

a. Growing faith is tested through trial but perseveres (vv. 3–4).
b. Growing faith produces love for one another that endures through trials (vv. 3–4).
c. Growing faith continues to do good works in the face of persecution and trial (vv. 11–12).
d. Growing faith trusts God to make all things right on the last day (vv. 5–10):

i. To reward his children with his eternal kingdom (v. 5).
ii. To comfort and give relief to his suffering children (v. 7)
iii. To justly dispense justice to wrongdoers (v. 5–6, 8–9)
iv. This will all happen on the day of Christ’s return, so we must continue to endure in faith, love, and good deeds—even in the face of intense persecution and trials.

Main Idea: This is Paul’s prayer, and it is mine for us today as well: that we would be the people of Christ characterized by growing faith, increasing love, good desires and deeds, and enduring perseverance in trial. These are the marks of Christ’s people; may they be evident in us.