2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, Sanctification: It matters to God.
Theological Proposition/Focus: God is working to grow His people and this growth is evidence that His people are not subject to his just judgement.
Homiletical Proposition/Application: Spiritual growth is so important that it is worth our prayer time and when it happens we should give thanks.
Contents
- 1 Introduction:
- 1.1 Image: How do you know? What would be sufficient evidence? The burden of mathematical proof.
- 1.2 Need: We need to grow spiritually but only God can do the work.
- 1.3 Subject: Spiritual growth
- 1.4 Preview: In 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 we are going to see that spiritual growth is often rooted in faith and love as a work of God and that it is something that we should pray for in anticipation of the day when God's justice is metered out on the world.
- 1.5 Setting the Stage:
- 2 Body (Read the entire passage)
- 2.1 Meaningful spiritual growth is often rooted in faith and love (1:3-5)
- 2.1.1 Faith will often grow in the midst of persecution and trials.
- 2.1.2 Love for one another is critical for spiritual growth.
- 2.1.3 Image: Pruning a Tree, not just growth but meaningful growth.
- 2.1.4 Meaningful spiritual growth provides important evidence of salvation.
- 2.1.5 MTR: Ask yourself, how can I maximize my opportunities to grow in faith and love?
- 2.2 The coming just response of God provides hope for those who are growing spiritually (1:6-10)
- 2.3 Meaningful spiritual growth is a work of God (1:11-12)
- 2.3.1 God is the only one who can make you worth of the calling he has placed on your life.
- 2.3.2 The power of God is the only power sufficient to bring goodness out of your life.
- 2.3.3 God is the only reason we can bring glory to God.
- 2.3.4 MTR: Pray that God would work in you to produce meaningful spiritual growth.
- 2.1 Meaningful spiritual growth is often rooted in faith and love (1:3-5)
- 3 Conclusion:
Introduction:
Image: How do you know? What would be sufficient evidence? The burden of mathematical proof.
In higher Mathematics, everything is about proof. Every claim you make has to be provable from some set of basic assumptions that everyone can agree upon. Simply showing that something happens a lot does not constitute proof. There were times when an excited undergraduate student would come into my office and tell me "I have found something really cool look every time you ... the result is ..." My response was always "every time? can you prove it to me?" Often the answer was no, and I would end up bursting their bubble by telling them to show me if it worked with the number one million two hundred sixty-four or something like that. With their head dropped they would walk away realizing that this really cool property they thought they had discovered was in fact just a coincidence.
Need: We need to grow spiritually but only God can do the work.
Subject: Spiritual growth
Preview: In 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12 we are going to see that spiritual growth is often rooted in faith and love as a work of God and that it is something that we should pray for in anticipation of the day when God's justice is metered out on the world.
Setting the Stage:
One of the most important questions we can ask when considering an introduction to Second Thessalonians is why did Paul choose to write a second letter? The answer is threefold. It seems that Timothy returned to Paul and Silas after delivering the first letter to Thessalonica and now the team responds to the news Timothy has brought.
Apparantly news of the coming Day of the Lord caused some confusion and Paul worked to clarify.
The presence of persecution was still an area of major concern.
Paul needed to restate the notion that as Christians living on earth we should be diligently working.
We have spent a lot of time recently talking about the second coming of Christ. The second coming of Christ is one of the most important doctrines. Jesus is coming again and we need to live in light of that fact.
Body (Read the entire passage)
Meaningful spiritual growth is often rooted in faith and love (1:3-5)
Faith will often grow in the midst of persecution and trials.
Love for one another is critical for spiritual growth.
Paul had asked that their love increase in 1 Thess. 3:12, now he rejoices that it has.
Image: Pruning a Tree, not just growth but meaningful growth.
Have you ever seen a tree that was poorly pruned. Trees that are poorly pruned look a lot like giant weeds. However, a properly pruned tree is a piece of art. It is growing in the right direction, it looks good, and it remains healthy.
"Faith is the root; love is the fruit" [1]
Meaningful spiritual growth provides important evidence of salvation.
MTR: Ask yourself, how can I maximize my opportunities to grow in faith and love?
The coming just response of God provides hope for those who are growing spiritually (1:6-10)
God's relief from the persecution and trials is assured.
God is going to punish those who do not know God.
God is going to amaze those who do know God.
MTR: Carefully consider the fact that God is going to provide relief.
Meaningful spiritual growth is a work of God (1:11-12)
God is the only one who can make you worth of the calling he has placed on your life.
The power of God is the only power sufficient to bring goodness out of your life.
God is the only reason we can bring glory to God.
MTR: Pray that God would work in you to produce meaningful spiritual growth.
Conclusion:
Image:
- ↑ Thomas L. Constable, “2 Thessalonians,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 714.
