ASSURED PERSECUTION, ASSURED VICTORY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

And God will use this persecution to show His justice and to make you worthy of His Kingdom, for which you are suffering. In His justice, He will pay back those who persecute you. And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven.

2 Thessalonians 1:5-7a

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

It’s not easy being a Christian. It isn’t.

Why?

Because as soon as a person chooses to believe in Jesus, they also choose a new life that will always run counter to the ways of the world and sometimes radically so.

In his second letter to the church on Corinth, Paul wrote this regarding the incredible transformation that happens when someone places their trust and hope in Jesus as Savior:

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (5:17 NKJV).

Old things have passed away and these old things are the ways a person used to live before becoming a new creation in Jesus. To further describe what this change looks like, consider these words from the first two verses of Romans, chapter 12:

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.

Note here the need for total surrender of one’s former self as they offer themselves up as a “living sacrifice” which is “holy and pleasing to God”. A Christian can’t “conform to the pattern of the world” anymore; they are to instead be “transformed by the renewing” of their mind, a renewal that is carried out by the Holy Spirit.

So why the need to cover this?

Because a Christian needs to know that they come into direct opposition of the world when they choose to align their lives with the life of Jesus and the leading of the Holy Spirit. And this opposition often spawns the act of persecution. It’s been true since Jesus walked the earth.

Indeed, Jesus was persecuted throughout His adult ministry, culminating with His unjust arrest and conviction, brutal beating, and horrific crucifixion. Before He was nailed to Calvary’s cross, Jesus had this to say to anyone who would choose to follow Him:

“Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also.” John 15:20

Now, the Apostle Paul experienced these words in two ways: first as a persecutor and then as the persecuted.

We first hear about Paul by way of his other name, Saul, in the first verse of Acts, chapter 8. He had approved and supervised the execution of Stephen, one of the seven Christians chosen by their peers to serve in support of the twelve disciples so they could dedicate their time to Gospel ministry.

Saul was a fervent Jew who actually thought he was doing good in eradicating the Jesus movement in and around Jerusalem. That is until he had a very personal encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-19).

What was the end result of this encounter?

Saul became a new creation for here’s what he did as soon as he had regained his sight:

Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once, he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. Acts 9:19-22

Those in the synagogue were astonished at what they witnessed because Saul was a new man in Jesus. An enemy before, he was now an advocate who would dedicate the rest of his life to carrying out the Great Commission and bring the Gospel to anywhere that God led him.

Going back to Damascus, how did the Jews handle this new Christian Saul?

We find out in the scriptures:

After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall (9:23-25).

Jews hatching a conspiracy to kill the new Christian convert Saul.

Sound familiar?

It should because the same playbook was used to kill Jesus and later the aforementioned Stephen.

Immediately after choosing to believe in Jesus, we find Paul experiencing persecution and all Christians will in the course of their life in one form or another. Jesus promised it would happen and all His promises come to be.

This is what led Paul to write these words to his protégé Timothy in his second letter to him:

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12

It was a truth Paul knew all too well on a personal level.

With this, we look at our verses for today from 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1:

And God will use this persecution to show His justice and to make you worthy of His Kingdom, for which you are suffering. In His justice, He will pay back those who persecute you. And God will provide rest for you who are being persecuted and also for us when the Lord Jesus appears from Heaven. Vv. 5-7a

As was the case with the new Christian churches in the first century, attacks happened with regularity, especially from member of religions that were far more established. This threat was born mostly from a place of power and pride as the other belief systems began losing believers to Christianity.

And so Paul sought to encourage his brothers and sisters in the midst of persecution, letting them know that they were supported by a mighty, just God, a God who would make them worthy of His Kingdom as a reward for the work they were doing through His Son and the suffering that came with it. The Apostle also wanted the Thessalonian Christians to know that their assailants would not go unpunished for the persecution they imposed, both in the short and long term. All who attacked those who served in His name would be held accountable.

Going back to Jesus, He said more words to help the persecuted church, past and present. Consider this from His Sermon on the Mount:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10-12

No matter what suffering anyone who serves Jesus goes through for the sake of His name and the cause of the Gospel, salvation is assured, a salvation that includes eternal rest from persecution. Until that time, believers are to persevere and be glad if they are mistreated because of their Christian work because they are sharing in the same experience that Jesus did, a life experience that culminated in Him ascending into glory.

Friends, that same glory was assured for the Thessalonian Christians as much as it is for all those who believe in Jesus today. So let us boldly go forth in our work Jesus called us to, fully aware of the resistance and rejection that will come from the world but also fully aware of the gift of everlasting life awaiting us, a time when we will say goodbye to the world and hello to the magnificent, majestic Kingdom of Heaven.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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