Genuine Joy - Week 3
1 Thessalonians 2:12-20
Genuine Joy
Connecting to one another
Share practical wisdom your father or mother gave when you were a teenager that revealed they had “the end in mind,” meaning that you would become an independent adult. Today what is your parents’ reward for their labor in you?
Context of Today’s Passage –
For the past two lessons, we’ve reviewed context through the historical events in Acts 16-17. For today’s lesson, we will review our context through Scripture’s overarching teaching on the Kingdom of God (also referred to as the Kingdom of Heaven when writing to a Jewish audience as Matthew does). The best way to summarize the Kingdom of God is as the sphere over which God rules.
1. God rules in the Universal or Eternal Kingdom: no matter where or when things exist God’s sovereign will controls them. 2. God rules in the Spiritual Kingdom, which is in the heart of every believer during all times, beginning with their new birth through the Holy Spirit. 3. God ruled in the Theocratic Kingdom over the chosen nation of Israel. 4. Jesus will rule in the literal Messianic or Millennial Kingdom in Jerusalem over Israel and Gentile nations for a thousand years. 5. God rules the Mystery Kingdom, which began when Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah and will continue until Israel accepts Him as Messiah just before His Second Coming.
Understanding the Truth with one another
Verse by Verse ~ Topic by Topic ~ Argument by Argument
Read 1 Thessalonians 2:12-20.
1. In verse 12, how are the words “kingdom” and “glory” interconnected? Or think of it this way -- How is Paul’s fatherly encouragement/exhortation/charge to walk in a manner worthy of the invisible Spiritual Kingdom NOW connected to the visible Messianic Kingdom they will walk in LATER?
2a. In verse 13 Paul contrasts the “word of men” to the “word of God.” In Paul’s day, philosophers traveled through cities preaching the “gospel” of the “word of men.” Today like-minded philosophers preach these false gospels. What are some general ways we can identify false gospels?
2b. Paul opens verse 14 with “For” to show how the Thessalonicans’ actions also provide proof that the word “at work” in them was the word of God. What is that proof? How is the church in Thessalonica a “model church”?
In verses 14 to 16, Paul references this history:
· Jews rejected and killed Prophets who spoke the word of God.
· Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah (Matthew 12) and later demanded His crucifixion.
· As believers shared the gospel in Judea, a Jewish region, Jews there persecuted them. (Paul once persecuted Christians himself before becoming a believer.)
· Now in Thessalonica, a Gentile country, both Jews and Gentiles persecute those sharing the gospel.
After Jewish leadership declared that Jesus performed signs through Satan’s power and rejected Him as Messiah, Jesus judged the nation of Israel. Read Matthew 12:30-32.
Jesus judged the sin of rejecting Him as Messiah as an unpardonable sin; this sin is unique to this generation in Israel who rejected Jesus during His life. *No one today can commit this sin. After His rejection, Jesus no longer offered the Messianic Kingdom to Israel as a nation and spoke of the Kingdom only in parables. In addition, Jesus warned them that this “evil generation” will suffer an “empty house,” referring to the judgment of 70 AD when Jerusalem and its Temple (house) are destroyed (Matthew 12:43-45).
In verse 16 Paul is referring to this destruction in 70 AD when he writes “so as always to fill up the measure of their sins.” Having rejected Jesus as Messiah, the nation of Israel reached the “measure of their sins.” In verse 16 when Paul writes “wrath has come upon them at last,” he means that God’s wrath is on the “threshold of fulfillment.” Time allowing, read Matthew 23:37-39, Jesus’ last tender words to His people during His public ministry.
*If a person rejects Jesus as his Savior and then dies, then, he will not enter heaven, so in that sense his sin is “unpardonable.” But the context here is addressing a specific sin that the nation of Israel committed when she rejected Jesus as her Messiah.
3. Discuss with your group the implications of the nation of Israel rejecting Jesus as their Messiah and the implications of the Jews persecuting believers in Paul’s day.
Although Jesus no longer offered the Messianic Kingdom to Israel after she rejected Him, He did continue to offer salvation through faith in Him to individual Jews and alluded to a Kingdom that would include Jewish and Gentile believers. Read Matthew 12:46-50 and 19:29. Then re-read 1 Thess. 2:14.
4. What are Jesus and Paul teaching about a family who suffers for the cause of the gospel together?
Some use verses 14-16 to justify anti-Semitism. This is a false application for these verses for many reasons, but to highlight a few -- 1. It’s clear in Scripture that not all Jews of Jesus’ time or Paul’s time rejected Jesus as the Messiah. 2. Throughout the Universal/Eternal Kingdom, a remnant of Jewish believers has always existed. 3. At the end of the Tribulation the nation of Israel will repent and call Jesus to return. Then Jesus will set up the Messianic Kingdom and fulfill God’s promise to Israel that their Messiah would reign over them for a thousand years.
In verses 17-20, Paul may be assuring the Thessalonicans again not to compare Paul/Silvanus/Timothy to traveling false preachers who taught for personal gain and then fled the area.
5. In verse 17, Paul says “we were torn away from you.” Literally, those words convey a tragic separation of parent and child. How does Paul’s language in verses 17 -20 convey his heart for his spiritual children and for his Lord?
6. We learned in this passage that some hindered Paul/Silvanus/Timothy from preaching to the Gentiles and that Satan hindered Paul from returning to the Thessalonians to disciple them. So if the best way to summarize the Kingdom of God is as the sphere over which God rules, how are we seeing God ruling over these enemies opposing Him? How will He judge them? How will He reward His disciplemakers?
Living the Truth as we are sent out
Overarching Question -- How can we live in FAITH, LOVE, and HOPE in light of the PAST and in view of FUTURE?
7a. What *obstacles are hindering you from making a disciple of the person (a child, family member, friend, co-worker, neighbor) you committed to last week?
Obstacles could take the form of a lack of knowledge on your part, prioritizing time together, an unbeliever working against you or unbelieving world in general, spiritual warfare, your own sin nature, or other natural circumstances.
7b. Why should you persist in overcoming these obstacles? Consider our lesson’s title as you answer
7c. How will you overcome these obstacles?
8. Paul knows that One Day he shall stand before the King who will test his work (2 Corinthians 5: 10). On that Day he will be able to point to disciples he persevered to make. And Christ will reward him with the Crown of Rejoicing (1 Thessalonians 2:19). How can you live this week as one who walks in the Invisible Kingdom with the Crown of Rejoicing tantalizingly suspended over the heads of people in your circle of influence?
Praying Through the Truth for one another
How can we pray for you in light of what you learned in 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20?
Paul wrote that they “thank God constantly” that the Thessalonians received the word of God and became disciples who made disciples. Spend some time praising God for what His word has accomplished in each of you and in the people you influence. (Know, Grace family, that we thank God constantly for each of you. We see the power of God at work in you!)
Pray about questions 7 and 8 in light of our mission “to lead our city into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and His Church.
God bless you, Grace family; we love you!
kpaulson@gracelaredo.org