1 Thessalonians 2:13-16

October 11, 2020

Title: Honoring God’s Word

At the start of our series through 1 Thessalonians, it was pointed out that in the first chapter of this Epistle, Paul introduces the main themes of his letter. One of those themes was how readily and eagerly the people received the message that he brought to them. In 1 Thessalonians 1:6, he pointed out that they “welcomed the message” and in verse 5, he says, “our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power.” In our passage today, Paul returns to that theme of how the church had welcomed God’s Word.

For us, it can be easy to take the Bible for granted. Many of us grew up familiar with the Bible and many of its major themes. It can be easy for us to think of it as being something ordinary. It is hard for us to even imagine not having it available or not having at least a basic understanding of its contents. It is almost impossible to imagine hearing it for the first time, but that is what was true of the church in Thessalonica. And no doubt, hearing about Jesus for the first time would be as shocking as someone turning on a bright light in a dark room. And the reaction is the same, there are some who will desire the light, and be willing to adjust their vision to accommodate the light, and there are those who will seek to shut off the light because it makes them uncomfortable. In our passage today, Paul commends the Thessalonians for not turning off the light, but accepting the light as good, and realizing it is they who have to adjust their lives to it and not trying to adjust the light to fit their way of life.

I. Accepting It as the Word of God

When Paul speaks of the message, he is not just talking about the  Old Testament, but also the proclamation of the Gospel, even if it wasn’t necessarily in book form. He says in verse 13, “you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God” They acknowledged the Gospel as the very Words of God, not just human words about God. And that is a huge difference.

To accept the Bible as just human words about God is really to reject the Bible. The reason people do this is so that they can reject the authority of God’s Word. If it is just the human understanding about God, that is subject to change and interpretation, but since the Bible is not just about God but is directly from God, it carries authority and weight. It is not subject to change, for God does not change. It is not subject to our interpretation as to which parts are authoritative and which are opinion, for it is all God’s Word.

At the end of verse 13, Paul revisits the power in which God’s Word came to them saying it is “indeed at work in you who believe.” Because it is God’s Word, it also has the power to work. It is active and alive, because the Word of God doesn’t just speak, but it is a word of action. By His Word alone, God created the Heavens and the Earth. By His Word alone, the dead, both physically and spiritually, are raised and given new life. For when God speaks, things happen. So when God speaks His Word, it changes us. Human words cannot do that. Human beings can bring nothing into existence through words, but God can. If you downgrade the Bible to mere human philosophy, it loses its authority and its power.

And we need that power, because if we receive God’s Word as it is, and if we live our lives in accordance with it, chances are, the world will not be pleased with us. In verses 14-15, Paul acknowledges that this choice by the Thessalonian church to honor God’s Word had consequences, unpleasant ones, “¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews ¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out.”

II. Honoring God’s Word Can Lead to Suffering

The Thessalonians not only chose to honor God’s Word, but they continued to hold onto God’s Word even in the midst of intense persecution and suffering. Again, this is only possible because they knew the power and authority of the Scriptures. For it is worth suffering for the Word of God, it most often isn’t worth suffering to hold onto the words of man.

And this test came just weeks after they heard the Word for the first time. This was a difficult test, for the persecution did not come from without, but from within, from their own people. People who just weeks prior had been their neighbors, friends, family, and fellow synagogue members, had now turned against them. This test forced them to determine what they really believed about the Bible and the Gospel message: was it truly the Word of God or merely human opinion?

If it were mere human opinions that is easy to let go of, but God-breathed truth? That is much harder to turn away from. And the world doesn’t get it. They think we can just decide as a church what to follow, what to change, and what to ignore completely, but we can’t. To believe God’s Word is to accept it as God’s Truth. And God’s Truth doesn’t change. And they wonder why we would follow God’s Word, even if we may have to suffer the wrath of this world for it.

The world didn’t understand the boldness of the Apostles who continued to preach the truth of the resurrection of Jesus even when threatened with imprisonment and beatings, even death. The Roman Emperors didn’t understand the willingness of Christians to calmly face certain death from lions and other wild animals in the Colosseum. Because they don’t understand God’s Word and its power.  Early this week marked the anniversary of the death of William Tyndale. On October 6, 1536, he was strangled and his body burned at the stake for translating the Bible into English. But he was willing to die for the sake of the Gospel because he knew its power and authority.

We might wonder why does the world hate Christianity so much? Why does it hate the Bible? The reason is because it is truly God’s Word, and it is beautiful. And ever since the beginning of Creation, human beings, deceived by Satan and their own sinful desires, have sought to defile the beautiful things God has created. They take the beauty of God’s design for marriage and profane it with all kinds of sexual immorality; they take the beauty of birth and profane it with abortion; they even take the beauty of Creation, and worship creation itself while seeking to profane the Creator. And so the world, when it sees the beauty of God’s Word and the beauty of His work in the Church, seeks to profane it by any means necessary. And they think they will get away with it. For they mistake God’s patience for His absence.

But Galatians 6:7-8 vows, “⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”

The truth is, those who choose to dishonor God’s Word WILL suffer His wrath. And how much better to suffer the temporary and limited wrath of this world than to suffer the eternal and total wrath of God.

III. Dishonoring God’s Word Will Lead to Judgment

God has promised that if you dishonor God’s Word, you WILL suffer His wrath. Those who sought to hinder the ministry of the Apostles, those who tried to undermine the teaching of God’s Word, will be judged. For doing anything to try to prevent people from hearing the truth is the greatest sin we could be guilty of.  Whether it be by rejecting it as the authority of your own life, or worse yet, seeking to undermine it in the eyes of others, that sin, unconfessed, will not go unpunished.

And, yet, it is not just our fear of God’s wrath that leads us to believe, but more importantly, it is our certainty of His goodness for those who accept His Word. For even though the world promises us peace if we would turn our back on God’s Word, it rarely keeps that promise. That is what Paul is speaking of at the end of verse 15 through 16, “They displease God and are hostile to everyone”  The mob of this world is fickle. It turns on its own without warning. When Paul says, “they are hostile to everyone” this includes many of those who try to go along with them.  Yet, when it comes to God, His promise of favor for those who believe is just as certain as His promise of wrath for those who reject His Word. And maybe more certain, for Paul says in Romans 5:8-10, “⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

So our choice is – dishonor God and incur His certain wrath in the hopes of perhaps winning some measure of favor with the world, or honor God and His Word, and have the certainty of His favor while perhaps enduring some measure of wrath from the world. Seems like a no-brainer.

Those who mock God’s Word, v. 16, “heap up their sins to the limit.” No greater sin than to make light of God’s Word. None of us like it when someone calls us a liar, when people doubt our word, they are insulting everything about us. So, too, when we cast doubt on God’s Word, we are calling Him a liar, we are insulting everything about Him. That is a dangerous place to be. For God’s Word, His promises to you, He will keep. The question is, which promises of God are you testing by your life? Are you testing the promises of goodness for the believer, or are you testing God’s promises of wrath to those who go their own way?

So Paul encourages them, and he encourages us today, to keep on holding on to God’s Word. Don’t doubt its truth; don’t doubt its power. Don’t fear those who persecute you because of it, because friendship with God is worth far more than the fickle friendship with this world. May his prayer for the church of Thessalonica also be true of us:

¹³ And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.”  Amen.