Author: Ben Bourland

“This is positive proof of the just and right judgment of God to the end that you may be deemed deserving of His kingdom, for the sake of which you are also suffering. [It is a fair decision] since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with distress and affliction those who distress and afflict you, and to [repay for loss or harm suffered] you who are so distressed and afflicted [by granting you] relief and rest along with us [your fellow sufferers] when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in a flame of fire,” 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 ->me: Starting 2 Thessalonians today.  Written just a few months after 1 Thessalonians. Here in the first few verses he commends the saints for their growing faith and love for the people around them. Paul is saying in these 3 verses, that this living with faith and love is the proof that they will be deserving of God’s Kingdom; they do these things (demonstrate their faith and heap love on others) even in the face of persecutors and suffering. What Paul is saying is that those who persecute will receive their just punishment when Christ returns but the saints will be repaid for the loss, suffering, and persecution they experienced on earth when the Lord Jesus returns. The takeaway message for me today is to stand firm in my faith even in the face of scorning and persecution – my hope is in the One Who will come in crazy glory with all His angels in the end. Living with a love for others; a love like Christ had for us to give Himself on the tree.

“And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah). Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ->me: I did my QT this morning but I have been stewing all day on the impact of these verses. God Himself sanctifies but we must consecrate ourselves. CONSECRATE is defined as “devote (something) exclusively to a particular purpose”. I must make the choice to follow; to trade my will out for the will of God…then, the Lord (God of Peace) will sanctify me entirely/completely. SANCTIFY is defined as “cause to be morally right or acceptable”. He does this over time (over my lifetime if necessary) and it is completed in and through His Son. When I have been called (drawn) to Him by Him, He will be faithful in completing the work He set out to do in me as I pursue Him…but I must consecrate myself in service to Him. I must commit to always choosing His will over my own in every circumstance and situation. Understanding what this means and how one goes about living an upright and righteous life, in faith, is every Christian’s own struggle to prayerfully search God and His word to understand.

“Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit; Do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets. But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast. Abstain from evil [shrink from it and keep aloof from it] in whatever form or whatever kind it may be.” 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 ->me: The Holy Spirit is like a fire (remember the tongues of fire in Acts?) and if quenched will cause one to fall into darkness and cold. Believe in what is written in the prophesies by the prophets. Prophets were more FORTH-tellers and FORE-tellers; they were simply ones who could say “Thus saith the Lord”, but it should not be overlooked that this might, and sometimes did, involve foretelling the future. Do not be gullible and take to heart everything that you hear; test everything through prayer and God’s word. However, when you have confirmation through answers received in God’s word and supported by the Holy Spirit, hold fast to those things. Lastly avoid all visible forms of evil. How often I try to justify things I know are evil (against God’s will and teaching) telling myself that this is just how it is today. This is evil in its self. The testing of all things has been one of the best rewards of being close to the Lord. There are things I now hold to so tightly because the Lord has made Himself clear and I feel the truth in my bones.

“Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]; thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ->me: These are the 3 ingredients to being in God’s will. 1) Be Happy: I know a lot of brothers and sisters in Christ who struggle with this. They are overwhelmed by their circumstances and forget that when they are operating in the will of the Almighty, they can rest joyful in the knowledge that God is in control and they are exactly where He wants them to be. This is not a (happy) face that I put on; it is a condition of the heart that has faith in the knowledge of my salvation (what is there to be concerned about when I believe this?). 2) Be praying consistently: This is one of the biggest learnings in my Christian walk that has never returned void. It is not a moving of the lips, but an elevation of the heart toward God. Relying on God for all I have and am; being conscious of His presence and yielding to His will. 3) Thank God in ALL circumstances: Everything that comes to me (spiritually, physically, or possessions) is from the Lord. This includes the trials He uses to teach me what I need to learn. Grasping onto the joy I have being IN Jesus, through prayer (heart elevated to God), I should be thanking God continually.

“Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and build up) one another, just as you are doing. And we earnestly beseech you, brethren, admonish (warn and seriously advise) those who are out of line [the loafers, the disorderly, and the unruly]; encourage the timid and fainthearted, help and give your support to the weak souls, [and] be very patient with everybody [always keeping your temper].” 1 Thessalonians 5:11&14 ->me: Based on what I have going on my life right now, these verses are a great reminder of why I am here. This is the Christian life in community. In almost all of Paul’s letters he gives instruction like this. The importance of our role within the body of believers can not be understated. My prayer today is that the Lord would reveal those weak souls in my life who I can come alongside and encourage. I looked up the biblical definition of ‘loafer’ and it is most described as ‘culpable idleness’ or ‘inadequate or indifferent’. I see this as someone who is not allowing themselves to be used by God; someone who is in a position to help others but just pats the person, struggling spiritually, on the back and says “you’ll be ok, you’ll get through this”. I need to make sure I am not that person, that I am growing my relationship with the Lord in such a way that I can come alongside those hurting/struggling and encourage with appropriate scripture and prayer.

“For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we do not belong either to the night or to darkness. Accordingly then, let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us keep wide awake (alert, watchful, cautious, and on our guard) and let us be sober (calm, collected, and circumspect). For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. But we belong to the day; therefore, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” 1 Thessalonians 5:5-8 ->me: This passage of the first 8 verses of chapter 5 are so good and comforting for the believer who anticipates the Lord’s return. It is impossible to know the day or the appropriateness of the time of His coming. We should not get caught up in the complacency that is seeking global peace. Obviously I want a peaceful earth but I should not let my awareness and vigilance be determined by a worldly set of creature comforts and ideals. I hear Paul saying – don’t be spiritually asleep like those of the world but stay spiritually awake as well as deliberate in obedience to the ways of the Holy Spirit by sticking to the word and steadily growing and increasing in my knowledge of God. I love the mention of the breastplate of Faith and Love (in Ephesians he says breastplate of righteousness | so Faith and Love are the ingredients of righteousness) and keeping your mind protected through the hope of our own Salvation secured through a belief in the One Who will return to redeem us!

“For this we declare to you by the Lord’s [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him in death].” 1 Thessalonians 4:15 ->me: The passage this verse is taken from is widely used at funeral services. A passage that encourages the saints at Thessalonica to have a hope in the believers that had died before the second coming. In fact, the entire New Testament regards believers who have died as only being ‘asleep’. In the same passage here were Paul talks about believers who have fallen asleep, he says the we can have hope because Jesus DIED and rose again. He did not say ‘Jesus fell asleep and then rose again’, no; Jesus endured the horror of death–> the wages of sin for us so that sleep would take the place of death for the follower of Christ. Is that not awesome??? So all of my loved ones (Papa, Pappy, Grandma, Nana, and all the others) are just sleeping until the Lord returns. If I am ‘awake’ when He returns then the reunion will not only be with Jesus but with all of those who fell asleep before. The other awesome thing about this is that when I see Jesus on that day, I will never be out of His presence again….for all eternity. Ahhhh……

“…make it your ambition to live quietly and peacefully, and to mind your own affairs and work with your hands, just as we directed you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders [exhibiting good character, personal integrity, and moral courage worthy of the respect of the outside world], and be dependent on no one and in need of nothing [be self-supporting].” 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 ->me:  At first blush this passage may seem to give permission to just focus on your work and allow yourself to be lost in it; permission to use this verse as an excuse for not having an appropriate work/life balance.  I need to remember that the Thessalonians were super generous and loving and there were, no doubt, those living off the generosity of others in the church.  Paul is saying that this looks deplorable to the watching world.  Our actions and behavior in not supporting ourselves, if able, are a bad witness to the world around us.  Additionally it can cause us to be an undue burden on those whose provisions could go to someone much more needy.  He is saying to not be afraid to work with your hands (the Greeks deplored working with their hands, thinking it was the work of slaves); don’t be so prideful that a job working with your hands to provide and income is beneath you.  I love my job and my job provides greatly (that is an awesome, blessed, and stewardship demanding thing), but it is just that, a job.  The moment it becomes an idol, that is a whole different problem.

No verse today but my time with the Men’s Group (Building Faithful Men) was so good. We reviewed our reading of Side By Side by Ed Welch. This book was about helping one another on this walk here on earth in our faith. Personally I learned that I need to be proactive about reaching out to others. God reached out me and I need to draw close to others. In my ministry, the best I can do is make sure that my heart is right with the Lord so I can be sure to hear His voice by knowing intimately His character and instruction. The is not only focusing on the garden God has put me in but also the world in which I operate and live. I am so thankful for this group of men our pastors for seeing this as such an important part of our church. Blessed!