Thank God for Faith in Jesus!

 

Sermon for the 2^nd Last Sunday of the Church Year, November 14, 2021

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

2 Thessalonians 1:3–10  ³We are always obligated to thank God for you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love that each and every one of you has for one another is increasing.  ⁴So we ourselves boast about you in God’s churches in regard to your patient endurance and faith in all your persecutions and in the trials that you are enduring.  ⁵This is evidence of God’s righteous verdict that resulted in your being counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also suffer.  ⁶Certainly, it is right for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, ⁷and to give relief to you, who are troubled along with us.  When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, ⁸he will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  ⁹Such people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious strength, ¹⁰on that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. (EHV)

Thank God for Faith in Jesus!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, 

I suspect that, by now, you have noticed that the overall theme of this Sunday’s worship service is Judgment Day.  The idea of a final judgment has troubled mankind throughout history, and in our day, too, many are terrified that this world will end.  So, would it surprise you if I said that Christians can look forward to Judgment Day?  In our sermon text, the Apostles give us good reasons why we don’t have to fear that great and awful day, but rather, can anticipate our Savior’s return with hope and joy. 

St. Paul wrote this letter along with Silvanus and Timothy, and they begin by giving thanks to God for the faith of their Christian brothers and sisters in Thessalonica.  Paul wrote, “We are always obligated to thank God for you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love that each and every one of you has for one another is increasing.”  The apostles’ obligation wasn’t a matter of law, but rather humble gratitude that God had worked saving faith among these friends.  We should emphasize that their praise did not go toward those Christians but to God on behalf of the Thessalonian congregation.  Paul acknowledges that it is fitting and proper to give thanks to God for saving faith, because the source of Christian faith is God alone, for all are lost and condemned until the intervention of the Holy Spirit who alone gives faith in Jesus.  Thus, with St. Paul, we Thank God for faith in Jesus!

Paul thanks God, because the faith of the Thessalonians was growing more and more, as was the love that each and every one of them showed their fellow believers.  Reports coming back to Paul and his fellow apostles about the Thessalonians’ faith allowed them to use this congregation as an example of what God could do to transform people from hopeless, idolatrous pagans into hope-filled, faithful Christians. 

Now, each of us could likely find many examples of people who consider themselves Christians but whose faith seems to be of little consequence or value to them.  Therefore, we might well ask ourselves how much we value our own faith: are you and I willing to suffer, and even be killed, to testify concerning what Jesus has done for us?  Are we willing to set aside humanistic desires, or fears, to bear any hardship or persecution if it should come our way, while still boldly demonstrating and sharing our faith in Jesus?  Or, are we also tempted to abandon our faith in Jesus when trouble threatens, or worldly pleasure or physical security is offered in exchange for our faith?  With a gun to our heads, or a knife at our throats, will we still maintain our confession about Jesus?

The apostles testified, “So we ourselves boast about you in God’s churches in regard to your patient endurance and faith in all your persecutions and in the trials that you are enduring.”  The Christians in Thessalonica faced unusually strong persecution for their time.  After only three weeks of Paul’s preaching in the city, a number of Jews and Gentiles had become believers, but many Jews who did not believe reacted violently against Paul, and Christ, and their neighbors who had newly believed. 

Luke reported that this mob not only tried to arrest Paul, but failing that, they arrested Jason and other new converts and accused them of insurrection and treason against Caesar.  Those accusations, if judged true, would have meant certain death for these believers, and yet, even this wasn’t enough to satisfy the venom of those who rejected Christ.  After Paul left the city, that mob of unbelievers followed him to Berea to try to stomp out Christianity there. (Acts 17:1-14) 

Paul boasted about the Christian Thessalonians because they clung so strongly to the promises that they heard concerning Christ Jesus.  Even in the face of wicked persecution, those new Christians marched under the banner of Christ with the confidence that even death couldn’t separate them from His love and salvation.  It’s no wonder that Paul would Thank God for their faith in Jesus!

Speaking of the Thessalonians’ faith. Paul wrote, “This is evidence of God’s righteous verdict that resulted in your being counted worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you also suffer.”  It might sound like the Thessalonians were counted worthy by God because of their faithfulness, as if they were earning God’s righteous judgment.  But God’s righteous judgment is found at the cross.  At the cross on Golgotha, God meted out on His Son His punishment for all sin as Jesus suffered the death that all the people in this world deserved, including the Thessalonians, and you and me.  However, my friends, the faith God gives us in His Son is evidence that we are “being counted worthy of the kingdom of God.”  True faith in Christ cannot be hidden, for it shines out from the believer’s life.  Likewise, the believer can expect that he may have to suffer in this world simply because of his faith in Jesus.  The enemies who oppose the will and love of God still seek to drive Christians away from their faith.  The devil hates Christians just as much as he hates God.  Yet, our Lord tells us He will not abandon us in our time of trial but will provide a way for us to bear it. (1 Cor. 10:13)  So again, we Thank God for faith in Jesus!

In our times, many people have the vain hope that if they ignore God and His Word, Judgment Day will never come.  At the same time, many of our contemporaries are terrified that the world as we know it will end.  This fear comes up continually in the talk about climate change and pandemics.  It drives our politics and many economic decisions whether rational or not.

Some others hold out the wishful fiction that a loving God would be unwilling to condemn anyone, except maybe the really bad people, for example, those they disagree with or condemn.  Do not be misled, Judgment Day is a sure thing, because God is not only perfectly loving, He is also perfectly just.  He will carry out His vengeance against those who abuse His children as Paul explained when he said, “Certainly, it is right for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, and to give relief to you, who are troubled along with us.  When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, he will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  Paul reminded the Thessalonians that Jesus would reveal Himself, again, on the day God has chosen, and that day will bring final separation between the two sides. 

For the time being, Jesus commands us to turn the other cheek if someone might strike us.  Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, He taught, “Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath.  For it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)  In our world, we see the devil still rages, but Paul teaches us that those who reject God’s grace, human or angel alike, will be banished from God’s presence forever.  Those who were tormenting and persecuting the Thessalonians would certainly not go unpunished.  They would be repaid with eternal tribulation.  Likewise, any who persecute God’s children will suffer forever in hell with their leader, Satan.  Those who war against God, in any place and time, will eventually be repaid with eternal suffering.  Not because they are worse sinners than us.  Rather, they will be punished for their rejection of God’s Son.

Our heavenly Father has already punished all sin in the suffering and death of His Son.  Because of Jesus’ life and death, God has already declared the whole world “not guilty.”  Therefore, it would seem sensible that no one would ever want to reject that “not guilty” verdict.  Yet, that is exactly what the unbeliever does.  Indeed, Satan is actively working to get you to throw away your salvation. 

However, for faithful believers, Judgment Day will bring “relief.”  All those believers who have trusted in Christ as their Savior—believers from the time of Adam until the day Christ returns—will receive permanent relief from every trouble.

That relief is our eternal rest in the care of our loving Savior.  Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)  By His holy life and sacrificial death on our behalf, Jesus won for us forgiveness of all sins, life, and salvation, and in the victory of His resurrection, we have an eternal home in heaven. 

So, what makes the difference in the final outcomes of the various people on Judgment Day?  The difference is faith.  Those who have faith in Jesus as their Savior from sin will be welcomed into His heavenly home as brothers and sisters who inherit the eternal mansions of the Father.  But for “those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus,” Judgment Day brings a horrible eternity.  The Holy Spirit says, “Such people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious strength.”  Those who have rejected Jesus, and yes even those who never heard about His salvation, stand condemned to everlasting pain.  Our Lord makes it very clear that all unbelievers are without excuse.  His salvation is free to all.  It has been available since mankind’s fall into sin when God, in His great mercy, promised a Savior for the world and then gave His only begotten Son to deliver us from the fate of eternal death.  Anyone who rejects God’s free grace will be banished from His presence forever.  So, Thank God for your faith in Jesus!

Earth’s last day will be, for Christians, a day of great rejoicing.  Paul tells us that on Judgment Day and forever after, Jesus will “be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.”  Paul is able to rejoice at the thought of that end.  Here, again, we are reminded that Paul began this section by giving thanks to God.  Paul praises God because the Lord had worked faith in the hearts of these believers through the testimony they heard.  They would be part of that eternal choir that glorifies God and gives praise to the Lamb around His throne in heaven.  You and I, also, are part of that heavenly choir, even now, as we Thank God for faith in Jesus! 

Because of who He is, God certainly deserves our worship and praise.  Yet, believers praise God because His Son provides for us the perfect righteousness mankind had lost so long ago in the Garden of Eden: a righteousness we had no ability to regain.  Jesus earned that holiness for us with His perfect obedience and trust in His Father’s plan.  Then having lived righteousness on our behalf, Jesus paid for our sin with His suffering and His death on the cross.  The blessings of His work are given to you and me through faith as the Holy Spirit works that saving faith in our hearts through the Word and Sacraments of our God, so that for now and all eternity, we join with all the saints and holy angels saying, Thank God for faith in Jesus!  Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life, everlasting.  Amen.