Many
books have been written on suffering. I have a good number of them in my own library.
Most of them deal with suffering on an individual level, speaking about matters such
as losing a loved one, depression,
facing an unhappy marriage and the problem
of loneliness, and the
matter of physical/mental handicaps and so on. I have
not seen many books that speak about the
sufferings of a church as such – or
to put it in a different way – the suffering that the corporate body of
God’s people experiences, simply
because they are the church.
It
is abundantly clear that
every true church suffers because it experiences manifestations of sin in the church
and manifestations of sin against
the church. The church suffers together when
one of their leaders sin ; the church suffers when members sin ; the church suffers when there is disunity in the body ; the church suffers when
it is slandered or attacked by
outsiders The fact of the matter is this : Every church mentioned in the Bible suffers !
The Lord Jesus prepared His
disciples in this regard. John
15:18 - 16: 33 is a
lengthy discourse in which Jesus speaks about
the hatred of the world against Himself and against His people. He ends
His discourse in Jn. 16:33 with these insightful words: “In this world you will have tribulation.
But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
In
Matthew 16:18 , He assures His
disciples that in the midst of hostility (such as would lead to His death on
the cross) He would build the church: “… I will build my church , and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Lord Jesus teaches us plainly in the
gospels that the true church,
wherever she is found, must
expect opposition.
The
church, which is born in the book
of Acts on the day of Pentecost (2:41)
experiences this opposition almost
right away :
·
Acts 4:1-30
; Peter and John
are brought before the council of
the Jews who threaten them (4:21)
·
Acts 5:17-42; The apostles, the leaders of the early
church are arrested, put in prison, and the council of the Jews wants to kill
them (5:33) , but Gamaliel
a Pharisee, and member of
the council intervenes.
·
Acts 6:8- 8:3
;
Stephen (one of the first deacons
- 6:1-7) was seized by
some Jews (6:12) and killed,
becoming the first martyr of the church. The Pharisee Saul (later
Paul) had approved of his execution,
and he
became instrumental in the persecution
in the church in Jerusalem and
elsewhere ( 8:1; 11:19)
·
Acts 12: 2-3 ; James
the brother of John is killed by king Herod and Peter is arrested, but miraculously released.
·
As the
gospel spreads into gentile
territory opposition is encountered everywhere, seeking to arrest the rapid growth of the church. In Iconium
and Paul is stoned
in Lystra (14:1-23);
Imprisonment in Philippi (16:16-24);
persecution in Thessalonica and Berea (17: 1-15) and harassment in Corinth (18:12ff) and Ephesus (19:21ff) etc . This is the pattern amidst which the expansion of the church takes place – just as Jesus had said!
Every epistle written by Paul
indicates strong opposition to the gospel :
·
Rom 16:17,18 - I appeal to
you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create
obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by
smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
·
The letters to
the Corinthians were written because of divisions and quarreling in the church (1:10ff).
This was due to the fact that the Corinthians were not a God –centered church, but a man
centered church. Furthermore, loose
living and sexual immorality, idolatry , false doctrine and the
like opposed the work of the gospel. The
opposition here is of
an internal nature, as these church
people allow their own appetites and
opinions to rule the life of the church
. The problem is “libertinism” . The
second letter to the Corinthians reveals Paul’s much of Paul’s personal
sufferings and opposition which he
experiences as a servant of Jesus.
·
The letter to
the Galatians is
written because there are those who
have persuaded the Galatian
Christians to embrace another gospel (Gal 1:6). The opposition here is
that of religious bigots, and legalists who seek to destroy the gospel basis upon
which the church was founded.
·
The letter to the Ephesians makes explicit mention of
Satanic opposition. Eph.
6:10-18 describes the work of
Satan and the spiritual armour needed
to counter this formidable opposition.
·
Paul’s letters to the Philippians makes mention
of the opponents of the church (Phil
1:28), whilst his letter to the Colossians reveals
that there is a subtle
undermining of their faith by
philosophy, human traditions (2:8), self made religion and asceticism (2:23) and the like .
Though
I would like to comment on Paul’s
epistles to Timothy and Titus , and upon John
and Peter’s epistles in this regard, not forgetting to mention the fact
that the seven churches in the Revelation to John all encounter
sufferings and opposition of many
kinds (Revelation 2 &3), I think that I have made my point. You trust that you have been persuaded. The church of the
Bible is a suffering church.
We now specifically
consider the opposition
which the God centered church of
the Thessalonians encounters
in our text :
The
opposition encountered in the church
at Thessalonica is described as
twofold :
1.
From
your own countrymen (14-
16)
2.
Satan
hindered us (17-20)
These
two descriptions of opposition experienced by this God –centered church are indeed typical
of the experience of every church seeking to be God centered.
This
first manifestation of opposition is perhaps the most surprising : the greatest
attacks upon the church are from those closest to us.
“For you, brothers, became imitators of the
churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same
things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,
Paul
here compares the opposition which Christians at Thessalonica faced from their countrymen
( i.e. fellow Greeks) with that
opposition which Jewish Christians in Judea faced
from their own countrymen , and all this
because they had turned to God and
had embraced the Lord Jesus
Christ as their Saviour. That
fact brought about great opposition. Some of you can testify how your own family
members can become your enemies as a result of you having embraced the
gospel. It seems so irrational
that they should do this, but this is the effect that the gospel of Christ has on the world. Every true believer becomes
a thorn in the flesh of an ungodly
society (because they expose the sin
which they love), and the response of
that society is, “away with you! I don’t want
to hear you or see you!”
In
vv. 15,16 Paul illustrates this
by describing the killing of
the Lord Jesus ( and the prophets) by
their own countrymen.
He speaks about the
opposition that the early church
experienced as it was driven out of
Jerusalem by the Jews. Note, that
Paul himself had a large role to play in the early persecution of the Jewish church !
By
reminding the Thessalonians of this historical fact Paul reminds them
(and us) that suffering at the
hands of one’s own countrymen and even our family ( cf Matt. 10:36) is to be
expected. It is not unusual.
Take note of what Paul has to say about those who oppose
Christ and His church : “… and (those who) displease[1]
God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that
they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But
wrath has come upon them at last!
The
sad truth about these Jews that opposed the church was
that they thought themselves to
have a great zeal for God, but in reality
they were blind leaders of the
blind.[2]
They thought they were pleasing God when
they persecuted Christians, but in
reality they were doing the opposite. Jesus
spoke about this in John 16:2: “They will make you outcasts from the
synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is
offering service to God.”).
The truth is that pleasing God starts
with trusting in God’s own Son!
So
Paul writes this to help the
Thessalonians to see that such
opposition was to be expected , and they
needed to know that they were not forsaken. God was on their side. Such opposition was in fact
an indication that they were in
a right relationship with God and
that these blind zealots were in fact those that God was going to judge. God sometimes allows men to go on in sin, i.e.
to fill up the measure of their sins[3],
because of His patience , long-suffering,
and mercy, giving them opportunities
along the way for repentance (see 2 Pet. 3:9; Rom. 2:4).
We
are familiar with God’s historical dealings of Israel, in which
His wrath was poured out on them, as Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 28:15-68. The exile of the Northern and the Southern kingdoms in
722 B.C. and in 586 B.C respectively are
an illustration of this .
We
need to remember that when Paul wrote
this letter in about
AD 50-51, that the city that had killed the Lord Jesus was only 20 years away from its destruction , for in AD 70 Jerusalem was utterly devastated by the Romans.
All
this points forward to a still
greater day of wrath at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1:10, 2:16) when
He will crush all enemies and
opposition.
So
then there is no need to grow despondent
at the thought of having to face opposition.
God remains in charge! This perspective needs to be had by us at all times ! For this we cannot trust the daily headlines .
We must trust in the Word of the Lord .
Satanic Opposition (2:17-20)
But since we were torn away from you[4],
brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more
eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to
come to you—I, Paul, again and again… In
the midst of opposition and crisis such as the church frequently
experiences it is important to have
encouragement from our brothers and sisters in the Lord. The Thessalonians
needed such encouragement and Paul wanted
to come to them. I know
of such encouragement through
men like Erroll Hulse and Martin Holdt
and many others that have visited us and encouraged us.
Now
take note of Paul’s next statement
: but Satan hindered us. As
Paul wanted to visit this
afflicted church he found that Satan was hindering[5]
them from doing so. Paul recognizes this
not simply as the work of men ,
but as the work of Satan. The source of all opposition to God’s work is ultimately Satan who uses
demonic forces , and of course people – even people in
our community , and shockingly even people in the church to do his work .
Let
this then be our perspective, as we dear
people at Eastside continue to hold on
to the gospel, and are not afraid of opposition. Let us be careful at all
times that we (leaders and members alike
) do not become the opposition and so
give the devil a foothold . Continue
in the same prayerful mindset as
you see here in the example of Paul ,
holding on to biblical principles of
churchmanship , and we shall see
ourselves not tempted in this regard . Amen
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