PLEASING OR NOT PLEASING TO GOD (1 Thessalonians 2:13-16)
INTRODUCTION:
God’s great plan of salvation, the redemption of mankind from his sinful state into a state where man stands justified before God, where God by the Holy Spirit is doing His work of sanctification in us, conforming us to the image of His Son, and where we look forward in hope to the end result when we will be glorified. This threefold process in which we are saved from the penalty of sin, Christ died for our sin and God justifies the one who puts his faith in Christ. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, we are being sanctified, or set apart for God, and by the Spirit's power we are saved from the present power of sin, we can triumph over it in Christ. One day when Christ comes to take us home to be with Him, we will be glorified which means we will be saved from the presence of sin, we will be changed in an instant, our sinful nature with be gone removing the presence of sin from us forever. This is the glorious side of God’s plan of redemption and in contrast to this is those who reject the gospel, who reject God’s offer of salvation and all that awaits them is endless shame and the punishment of eternal damnation because of their rejection. This contrast is clearly seen in our passage today when the comparison is made between people who made the most of limited spiritual opportunity to people who have wasted great spiritual opportunity and privilege. We see this waste of great opportunity and privilege throughout redemptive history demonstrated by the Jews, illustrating for us the extreme tragedy of apostasy. On the other side of this the Thessalonian believers represent for us the former reality of making the most of limited spiritual opportunity by believing God’s word and accepting His offer of salvation after only a short initial exposure to it before Paul and his companions had to leave.
Paul clearly shows us in this passage a people who were pleasing to God, a people we can rejoice with seen clearly in the believing Thessalonians, and a people who were not pleasing to God, a people we can be sad for, the unbelieving Jews and all those hostile to the Gospel. These very opposite responses to God’s truth and offer of grace motivated Paul to give the reasons he rejoiced with and for the Thessalonian believers and why he sorrowed for the unbelieving Jews. Let’s pray and then read our passage for this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to 1st Thessalonians 2:13-16. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
1st Thessalonians 2:13-16,
“For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13–16, NASB95)[1]
THE THESSALONIANS RECEIVED GOD’S WORD (1st Thessalonians 2:13)
The time that Paul, Silas, and Timothy spent ministering and preaching the gospel in Thessalonica is unknown. They were there long enough to receive a gift from the church in Philippi more than once. They were there long enough for Paul to set up his tentmaking business. We know that Paul reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue for three weeks and saw miraculous results as some Jews, a large number of God-fearing Gentiles and some leading women came to faith in Christ. Paul and his companions ministered to this new church teaching them the truth of God’s Word. Their time in Thessalonica ended abruptly when they were forced to leave to protect the believers there and for their own protection. Paul was concerned that the faith of the new believers might falter due to persecution. But that was not the case, after Timothy returned to Thessalonica to encourage the church and then returned to Paul in Corinth with a report that the new believers were standing firm in their faith and growing. God had been faithful to watch over this newly formed church. For the second time in this letter Paul gives thanks to God for the Thessalonian believers, he was thankful for the privilege of ministering to them while he was there and acknowledged that it was God who empowered him to speak the truth to these young believers.
Paul now gives the reason that he and his companions constantly thank God for these believers, and it is because they received the word of God. In other words, they were willing to listen to the preaching of the word of God and they were receptive to it. Paul writes that they received the word of God that they heard from Paul, Silas, and Timothy. What Paul is saying is that he and Silas and Timothy spoke the words, but the words that they spoke were not their words, they were God’s words. This is why Paul has already referred to his message several times as the gospel of God. The words of God are more powerful, are complete truth, and in all ways superior to human opinion which is what the Thessalonians were used to hearing from the many “spiritual” teachers who spoke in their city. Because Thessalonica was so strategically located and was easily accessible by land or sea, and because they accommodated many gods and religions, the city attracted many false teachers, philosophers, and religious leaders. The citizens of the city heard a wide range of human wisdom and religious teaching. But in contrast to all that they had heard, Paul’s preaching came with power and authority, and they accepted it as the true message of salvation from God.
The word accepted in this first verse is translated from a Greek word that means an inward welcome of the message, in other words a moving of the truth of the word of God from the mind to the heart. The Thessalonians’ belief and trust in what they heard from Paul and his companions is an indication for us that God had given them faith for salvation. Paul in this verse calls attention to what the Thessalonian believers affirmed, that is that the message they accepted was not the word of men, but that it was in truth, the word of God. Those who received letters from Paul knew that what he taught to them was from God. In his letter to the Galatians, he told them where he had received his message, he wrote in Galatians 1:11-12, “For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 1:11–12, NASB95)[2] Paul’s message was the word of God.
Unlike man’s words, the word of God is active, it is not empty or without power. Paul says that after the Thessalonians accepted the word of God, the word began to perform it work in the lives of these new believers, which simply means to work effectively, efficiently, and productively on a supernatural level. The word of God always performs God’s purposes in the lives of all who believe. The word of God works in us who believe in a many ways: it saves us, it sanctifies us, it grows and matures us, it builds us up, it ensures our spiritual success, and it gives us hope. Human wisdom makes many claims, but no human wisdom can produce any of the results performed by God’s word and wisdom in a person’s life. Our Scripture reading this morning from 1 Corinthians 1 spoke of the emptiness and folly of human wisdom compared to God’s wisdom.
The Thessalonian believers grew spiritually because in faith they believed the message of the cross, and that belief dramatically and powerfully affected their daily lives. Paul was thankful and rejoiced with the Thessalonians that they had received the Word of God and accepted it by faith when they heard it from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.
THE THESSALONIANS IMITATED THE SAINTS (1st Thessalonians 2:14a)
Paul had written in chapter one that the proof of the Thessalonians’ full acceptance of the Gospel, and their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was seen in their becoming imitators of Paul and his co-workers, Timothy and Silas, and imitators of the Lord. Paul expands on this and adds that these believers became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus in Judea. Giving further proof of their salvation and further reason for Paul to be thankful to God for His work in saving the Thessalonians.
How could the Thessalonians be imitators of the churches in Judea? When there was a high probability that not one of them had ever been to one of these churches to see a pattern they could follow. The Holy Spirit in doing His sanctifying work in the Thessalonian believers was making them a duplicate of His work in Judea, in that both churches experienced intense suffering through persecution.
Judea was a Roman province in the southern part of Israel. It was where the church was birthed on the day of Pentecost, and it was home to the first churches. During the first few years after the church was born, believers founded local assemblies throughout Judea and they, by the time this letter was written to the Thessalonians, were all mature churches, having benefited from the refining of persecution.
Paul refers to these churches in Judea as the churches of God, which emphasizes God as their source and their foundation. The fact that Paul uses churches instead of the singular church shows us that their were a number of local assemblies scattered throughout Judea, individual assemblies who were in Christ Jesus. True churches are both of God and in Christ Jesus because all individual believers are in Christ.
THE THESSALONIANS PERSEVERED IN SUFFERING (1st Thessalonians 2:14b)
Paul spoke of the Thessalonians suffering at the hands of their own countrymen in imitation to the churches in Judea who had suffered persecution from Jews. This persecution in Judea had begun with the stoning of Stephen and following that the Jews intensified their persecution being led mainly by Saul of Tarsus. When the resurrected Lord Jesus confronted Saul on the road to Damascus and he was saved, the persecution lessened some. But it was not long before persecution came again to the church, this time it included the murder of an apostle, James, by the hand of Herod. At this same time Peter was imprisoned. The churches in Judea had a history of dealing with severe persecution and they persevered in their suffering. Paul writes that the Thessalonian church was imitating this experience of the Judean churches by enduring persecution from their own countrymen.
Just as the Judean believers had suffered persecution from their own people, the Jews, not long after receiving the Gospel, the Thessalonians endured persecution from those in their own country. If you remember from my introduction to these books the persecutors in Thessalonica were unbelieving Jews and Gentiles hostile to the Gospel. This mob of Jews and Gentiles sought to bring Paul and his companions out for judgment. Thinking they were at Jason’s house, who most likely was one of the Jewish people who had been saved under Paul’s preaching, the mob attacked his house. Not finding Paul, Silas, and Timothy, they took Jason and some of the other Thessalonian believers before the city officials. This one episode illustrates the kind of persecution the Thessalonian church was suffering.
Paul and his co-workers left Thessalonica immediately after this mob uproar but from Paul’s letter it is implied that this was not the end of the church’s persecution. The Thessalonian believers stood firm in their faith, they persevered through the persecution and triumphed in their suffering, even being joyful in the Holy Spirit through their affliction according to chapter 1, verse 6. This joyful perseverance in the face of persecution was further evidence to Paul of the true conversion of the Thessalonian believers and again Paul thanks God for them.
THE fate of not pleasing God (1st Thessalonians 2:15-16)
Paul makes an abrupt transition in verse 15 as he begins his criticism of the Jews. It is almost as if the mention of the word Jews at the end of verse 14 immediately propelled him into the harsh words of verses 15-16. The unbelieving Jews were the exact opposite of the believers in Thessalonica. Remember as Paul begins to speak these critical words against the Jewish people, he was himself Jewish and even though his words are harsh he truly cares for his people and these words speak of the sorrow in his heart that the Jews he speaks of have rejected their Messiah, the Lord Jesus.
This is not the first time that Paul has spoken of the unbelieving Jews with words of condemnation. Paul knew that the Jews he spoke of had long resented him and wanted to silence him. Just reading through the book of Acts you will find example after example of the Jews hostility towards Paul, even plots made to ambush and kill him. Paul knew that the Jews whose hateful attitude would not change over time, instead it would most likely intensify as the church in Thessalonica continued to grow and thrive even without the apostle being there. Because of this Paul makes a strong statement about the spiritual condition of these Jews. This statement gives three reasons that we should be sorrowful for them. First, they rejected God’s Word, second, they hindered the messengers, and third their judgment was assured.
THE JEWS REJECTED GOD’S WORD (1st Thessalonians 2:15a)
Paul begins in verse 15 with a very clear contrast to the Thessalonians’ immediate acceptance and love of the truth. The long history of the Jews is filled with their rejection of the message, and their rejection of the messengers that God sent them. Paul first mentions the Lord Jesus, their Messiah, who came declaring the truth of God, and they killed him. Paul then mentions the Old Testament prophets that came proclaiming the word of God to Israel and they killed them also.
The Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, support what Paul says here about the Jews killing the Lord Jesus. It is true that the Romans executed Him, but only at the insistence of the Jews. Now I understand and so did Paul that it is not all Jews of all time who were responsible for killing the Lord Jesus. But understand, the apostate Jewish mob that insisted that Pilate crucify Jesus was guilty of murdering Him, and that mob of Jews represented the historic peak of the Jewish people’s unbelief and opposition to God’s will. Paul speaks the words of God here and God’s disapproval of the Jews who apostatized down through their history.
The Jews guilt for the murder of the Lord Jesus also relates to their deadly hostility toward the prophets. That they persecuted and murdered them is not detailed for us in Scripture, but the author of Hebrews gives us a description of what happened to them in the end of Hebrews 11. Verse 37 says, “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated” (Hebrews 11:37, NASB95).[3]
This hostility that the Jews had toward anyone who brought God’s word to them was also extended to the apostles of Christ. Paul wrote that they drove them out. They had been driven out of many places where they had shared the Gospel, including Thessalonica, and their leaving there, their driving out was instigated by the unbelieving Jews. This rejection of the Jews to God’s Word and to God’s will truly saddened the apostle’s heart. His desire was that the Jews would turn to the Lord Jesus, their Messiah, and embrace the truth of the Gospel.
THE JEWS HINDERED THE MESSENGERS (1st Thessalonians 2:15b-16a)
We have seen in this book already how the Thessalonian believers honored the messengers of God, but the unbelieving Jews tried to silence or stop the messengers from sharing the Gospel. These unbelieving Jews by hindering the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles thought that they were doing a great service to God, much like Paul when he was still Saul, he believed that the persecution of Christians was serving God. Paul after his conversion realized how what he was doing in persecuting Christians was not pleasing to God, and he declares the same of these Jews that were hindering the spread of the Gospel, what they were doing was not pleasing to God.
Paul continues and says that not only are they displeasing to God, but they are hostile to all men. This hostility that they had toward all men was not a racial prejudice, but a religious prejudice. They resented and hated any religion but their own—but they especially hated the gospel of Jesus Christ, whom they had rejected as their Messiah. They viewed Him as a satanic, counterfeit messiah. They made this hatred toward the Gospel known by, as Paul writes, hindering the messengers of the Gospel from speaking to the Gentiles so that they might be saved. The Jews refused to believe the Gospel, and as a result they did not want anyone else to hear it and be saved, so they sought to silence it. This was not just something that Paul had come up against, but from the early days of Christianity the Sanhedrin had tried to silence the Apostles from sharing the Gospel in Jerusalem. In fact, they commanded them that they were not to speak in the name of Jesus. When the Apostles continued to speak the Gospel, the Sanhedrin wanted to kill them to silence them. This shows us how strongly the Jews rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ and just how determined they were to silence it, even if it meant murdering the messengers.
THE JEWS JUDGMENT ASSURED (1st Thessalonians 2:16b)
The Thessalonian believers had endured suffering, they had persevered in persecution and had come through it triumphantly in the hope of eternal glory. But the unbelieving Jews faced an entirely different future, they would face eternal punishment that they would not be able to endure.
The result of the Jew’s hostility toward God’s messengers and God’s Word, Paul writes, is that they always fill up the measure of their sins. Literally this phrase means that they heap up their sins to the limit. God has a well-defined point at which people reach the limit of their sins. This expression by Paul comes from the kind of expression first seen in Genesis 15:16 which says, “… for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” (Genesis 15:16b, NASB95)[4] In other words God brings judgment only when sin has reached a certain limit.
Paul writes concerning the unbelieving Jews, “But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.” (1st Thessalonians 2:16b, NASB95)[5] The wrath that Paul speaks of is God’s wrath and the verb tense in Greek shows that Paul is so certain that God’s wrath will come that he says it as if it has already occurred. Historically it had taken place in the Babylonian exile. His expression of God’s wrath coming upon them most likely includes the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, although at the time this letter was written that destruction was still 20 years in the future. This term wrath used this way always carries with it the wrath of the end times that will come when Jesus returns to earth in judgment. This term also points to the damnation of people who reject God. For Paul that truth is so certain that he writes of it as if it already occurred. The unbelieving Jews that Paul was talking about had met the prerequisites for future damnation. They had completed the measure of their sins in rejecting the only truth of salvation and murdering their Messiah and His messengers, and Paul writes that God’s wrath will come upon them to the utmost. This phrase “to the utmost” means that God will pour out His wrath on the unbelieving Jews to its extreme limit, or you might say to its fullest expression. Their future punishment in the Lake of fire was by that time irreversible. Understand that I am not saying that God is finished with Israel, there is a remnant reserved for Him and one day He will fulfill all the promises made to the nation and all Israel will be saved.
CONCLUSION:
Today, just as in Paul’s day, the choice between God’s blessings and God wrath is still a choice each of us must make. We can like the Thessalonians receive and accept the truth of the Gospel. We can agree with God that we are sinners, that we have rejected Him and sinned against Him and that there is nothing that we can do to remedy that separation between us, that enmity that exists between us. In faith though we believe that Jesus Christ has done something to bring us back into relationship with God. Jesus Christ took the punishment we deserve for our sin upon Himself and He paid the penalty for sin by dying in our place on the cross. We in faith believe that He died, that He was buried, and that on the third day after His death He rose from the dead, triumphing forever over sin and death. When we believe this our sins are forgiven, we are justified before God, made right in His eyes through His Son, the Holy Spirit indwells us and begins His sanctifying work in us, making us like Jesus, and this gives us hope for a future, a glorious future in a glorified body in the presence of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
Or we can be like the unbelieving Jew and reject the Gospel, reject Jesus Christ, and reject His messengers and hinder them from preaching the Word of God and the future you face will be very different from the one the believer faces because you will suffer eternal condemnation, and your eternity will be one of loneliness and torment away from the presence of God.
If you have chosen to receive the Gospel, then you have every reason to rejoice, and I rejoice with you. But if you have chosen the path of rejection then I am sad for you and I pray for your salvation.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.