2 Thessalonians 3:1-18, Disciplined: A standard worth pursuit.

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is a God of order and as such there he does have standards that he expects his people to work toward.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: The Christian life should be marked not by arbitrary movement but rather disciplined pursuit of Christ likeness.

Introduction:

Image: Following rules verse being disciplined

Have you ever watched a young man or woman develop into a disciplined soldier? The process is a fascinating. At first the individual follows a litany of rules. The bed must be made so that a quarter can bounce. The uniform must be perfect. The details matter and the measurements must be exact. As the soldier matures the specific rules seem to matter less and less the point is not the rules, the point is the discipline that comes from having followed the rules. My brother is an Air Force Major and while I am sure he still follows the rules I can tell you the exact rule matters a lot less now and instead he is simply disciplined in all he does.

Setting the Stage:

Throughout the books of First and Second Thessalonians Paul has given extensive praise to the Christians in Thessalonica. The Christians are growing Christians who are living in light of the fact that Jesus is coming again. In other epistles Paul does a lot of correcting of false doctrine. In the Thessalonians epistles Paul heavily praises the Thessalonians. As such there is much we can learn about what I might call "more advanced Christian living" or disciplined Christian living. Thomas Constable, in writing about this section of 2 Thessalonians writes,

This last major section of the epistle called on its readers to live in the light of the truth previously revealed and by the grace of God just invoked.

Body

Prayer for one another is essential (1-5).

The first aspect of disciplined Christian living is prayer. Not only prayer for yourself, but prayer for others.

We need to pray that the message of the Gospel spreads.

Of all the things that Paul might have asked for, he asked for prayer that the Gospel would spread elsewhere as it had spread in Thessalonica. Have you ever wondered how to pray, or what exactly to pray for? Something that is really interesting is that Paul asks for prayer that others grow/respond as the Thessalonians responded to the Gospel. I think it is reasonable that we pray for each other in this way. We can pray that others will accept the Gospel as those you know int he church have accepted the Gospel. It is fair to pray that an individual will come to place their faith in Christ as you have done so. The point is not pride in yourself or in our church but rather an understanding that God brings people to saving knowledge and so we can pray that God does so for others.

We need to pray for deliverance from wicked and evil people.

One of the realities that we all must come to grips with is that there are wicked and evil people in the world. There are people who resist the Gospel, people without faith. These people can become a significant source of problems for the believer and in the case of the Thessalonians, Paul asked that they pray for his deliverance from these people.

Notice the contrast here. When preached the Gospel really generates two types of responses. Acceptance and growth or rejection and a turn to wickedness and evil. When we pray we can pray that the Gospel is accepted and that those who do respond with wickedness and evil are not able to harm the evangelizers.

We pray, knowing that the Lord is faithful and directs His people.

As we pray we should do so in confidence, confidence in the very character of God. God is faithful. Notice that in verse 2 there was an emphasis on the fact that not everyone has faith. People reject God, but God is faithful and he does not need everyone to accept him before he acts. God's faithfulness is a characteristic of God and we should pray with this faithfulness in mind.

Deut. 7:9, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Notice the final component of Paul's prayer in verse 5

Paul has asked the Thessalonians to pray but he also slips in his own prayer for them.

God's love, an entirely otherish love

What is significant about God's love? It is that God's love for others led Him to send Christ to die for others. God's love is the highest love, it is entirely otherish.

Christ’s perseverance

Think about what Christ endured. Christ endured the cross! Paul prays that the Thessalonains would have this type of perseverance.

Obedience to Paul's instruction is expected (14-15).

Disobedience warrants a prescribed treatment.

Prescribed because it has a specific goal, restoration.