How They Persevered

Introduction

I want to begin this morning with a test. And I’ll give you a warning. I can look at you and know the answer. So no cheating. Are you old enough to remember having listened to Paul Harvey on the radio? I remember I said I could tell by looking at you whether you are old enough to remember Paul Harvey. Paul Harvey, to my memory, had two radio programs. He had the standard news program that he would do, and he would deliver the news in his unique fashion. But he’s probably best remembered not just for delivering the news, but for his second radio program that was entitled The Rest of the Story. If you’re not familiar with Paul Harvey, he would tell this story sometimes about a famous person and kind of build it up and then give the punchline of what happened after that.

The rest of the story. Many times things you didn’t know about that person or that event.

Next kind of stories.

We want to know what happened, what’s going to happen.

In fact, turn with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 17, where we read one of these stories about the gospel being preached in a particular area. People responding positively to that gospel. And then the story moves as Paul travels to another city. But we want to know the rest of the story. What happened to those people? Well, sometimes we just simply don’t know. But sometimes, as in the story we’re going to talk about this morning, otherwise the lesson would be really short. Sometimes we do know the rest of the story. We know what happened to these Christians in these particular locations. Many times because of epistles or letters that Paul or someone else would write back to these Christians. And so I want us to talk about the church at Thessalonica.

And kind of talk about the rest of the story. And this lesson will fit in with our annual family focus. We’ve been talking about being rooted and built up. We’re going to see that the church at Thessalonica was that. And we’re going to talk about the endurance or the perseverance of these Christians, of what happened to them and how it happened, that they could remain faithful. You know, we think about a church being planted or people obeying the gospel. In fact, when we look at this text, we’re going to see that it says a great multitude. How exciting that must have been. For Paul or some other preacher of the gospel to come in and preach the gospel, and it have such powerful positive impact upon them, that a great multitude would obey the gospel.

We think, what a wonderful thing. What good news. And there could be nothing but good news, but we know from reading the book of Acts that that wasn’t always the case. That in the midst of that good, positive spiritual news, there was devastating consequences to that. Because not everybody accepted the gospel positively.

Passively. But many would actively oppose. And what would these Christians do in the face of not apathy, which is discouraging enough, but what would these brand new Christians do in the face of active opposition and persecution? Read with me in Acts chapter 17, as we will find out the rest of the story this morning. Acts 17, verse 1. And when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where they were a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went into them and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ. And some of them were persuaded.

And a great multitude of devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, these who have turned the world upside down, have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there’s another king, Jesus. And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things.

So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go. Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews, and these were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness and searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore, many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowd. There’s the beginning of the church at Thessalonica. Great news. Some of the Jews, a great multitude of the Gentiles obeyed the gospel.

But then there’s the bad news. The Jews who weren’t persuaded began to cause trouble. And I think it in some understated terms there, it says that they dragged Jason and they attacked the house of Jason. I don’t know what all was involved in attacking the house of Jason and dragging Jason and some of the brethren. But this persecution that was many times laid upon Paul and Silas and Timothy and these others are now being laid upon these brand new Christians. And understandably, Paul and Silas leave and leave them there to deal with it. Brand new Christians. To our understanding, not a seasoned veteran among them. All of them babes in Christ. Suffering. Persecution. And now Paul and Silas, again, understandably, but Paul and Silas leave them.

And they have to bear the brunt of that persecution and that opposition alone. That’s certainly a case where I’m glad we know the rest of the story. Because if you’d asked me to predict, it wouldn’t have been a good prediction. My prediction might have been they won’t make it. They don’t have the knowledge that they need. They don’t have the grounding, the foundation that they need. They don’t have the strong members or an eldership there who can support them and help them and guard them. They ain’t gonna make it, would have been my skeptical prediction. But they did. And let’s talk about how they did that. Turn with me now to the book of 2 Thessalonians. The apostle Paul has had to flee. And shortly thereafter, probably about a year, maybe a little bit more than a year, he writes this letter back.

Paul is concerned as we would be. How are they going to bear up under this persecution? They’re brand new. And so he writes these two letters, 1st and 2 Thessalonians. We believe he writes them very shortly after leaving Thessalonica on this second missionary journey. We also believe he wrote them almost back to back to this church. And he’s dealing with some misunderstanding. That’s to be expected. There were some things they didn’t know and needed to be taught, particularly maybe about the second coming and some things about that. But he also writes back to them applauding them in both letters for their perseverance and for their endurance in the faith. In the face of terrible odds, they remained faithful. And let’s look at how they did that, with the view of not just learning the rest of the story, but with the view of making that the rest of our story.

1. Their Faith Grew Exceedingly

How they persevered is how we can too. Three simple principles that we see repeated over and over in the New Testament. In fact, we see repeated over and over together in the New Testament. Are you in 2 Thessalonians? Turn with me to chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul writes back to these Christians who are living in terrible circumstances, and he says this in the beginning of this second letter, 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 3. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations which you endure.

Paul acknowledges what we would have guessed that persecution didn’t just stop after Acts chapter 17. It didn’t just stop because Paul and Silas left. It continued. And they were bearing that persecution.

But Paul says, we give thanks to you. Because you didn’t fold up and quit. You’re still there. You’re still serving the Lord. And here’s how they did. He says that their faith grew exceedingly. The three points we’re going to make this morning are very basic. I’ll just warn you. But they are fundamental to our being able to persevere in the face of whatever obstacles we might have to endure. He says, you are still there. You’re facing the persecutions, the trials, and you’re still doing it with the faithfulness to God intact. And the reason is because your faith has grown exceedingly.

Because again, they were all babes in Christ. They had to be on the fast track, so to speak. To grow up spiritually, quickly.

We’ll be coming back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and put a bookmarker there and go back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. In the first letter, he speaks of their faith. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 2, we give thanks to God always for you, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith. Labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our Father. I don’t know if I’m making too much out of this, but in the first letter, that again was written shortly after he left, he says, you have faith. And then in the second letter, the follow-up, he says, now your faith has grown exceedingly. There’s a different language there. And I think that’s purposeful.

In the first letter, he says, your faith. And in the second letter, your faith that has grown exceedingly. Now, let’s imagine a different scenario. These babes in Christ who were facing opposition and physical persecution and hardship. What if their faith had not grown? What if their faith had not grown exceedingly? Would it be the same story? Would the rest of the story be very different? I think so. And in some sense, it wouldn’t have been surprising. This brand new church, these brand new Christians, all babes in Christ, facing this persecution, the apostle and his helpers have to leave, and they’re left there to fend for themselves. It wouldn’t have been shocking to learn that in a couple years that they just gave in to the persecution.

It was just too hard. It’s kind of shocking that the opposite happened. That they were able to grow and to continue, and the answer is that their faith grew. Now, here comes the question for you and I. How did that happen? How did their faith grow? How can my faith grow? That’s essential to my perseverance. It’s essential to me enduring in the face of obstacles, whether they be temptation, persecution, whatever. How can my faith grow? Here’s a couple ways. James, remember, we won’t turn over there, but you remember in James chapter 1 in verse 3, he says, talks about the trials that they underwent, that they were to rejoice in even in the face of trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And so sometimes our faith has to be tested in order for it to grow.

And so maybe, just maybe, the persecution helped them. They had to make a decision, didn’t they? They couldn’t just be these passive Sunday only kind of Christians. You don’t do that when you face persecution. You’re facing a persecution, you’re facing a test, you’re facing a decision. I’m either going to do this or I’m not. We have an expression today, I’m all in or I’m out. Persecution forces us to that decision. Challenges and even temptations and other hardships that we might face. And so let’s look at those, those struggles that we all undergo, the difficulties, the discouragement, the temptations, the oppositions, we look at those as opportunities for me to make the decision. Am I serious about this or not? Is my faith going to grow or is it going to die?

Our faith grows as our knowledge grows. Rufus talked about the story of Jesus watching the disciples’ feet and Peter’s objection to that, and Jesus saying to Peter, Peter, you don’t understand this now, but you will.

Peter’s faith grew. And it needed to grow. Those same disciples, those same apostles, when faced with the challenging teaching of our Lord, ask of our Lord, increase our faith. Think what they were saying in that moment. I don’t know that I can do what you just asked me to do. So increase my faith. When faced with dark moments, when faced with temptation and struggles, we need to simply pray that same three-word prayer. Increase our faith. We can grow in our knowledge and our understanding. Our faith grows as we get closer to him in whom we have faith. Our Christianity is not just some kind of academic exercise of me learning commandments and memorizing verses and doing certain things to check off some kind of list. It must become a relationship that we sustain.

And the closer we get to God, the greater our faith. Our faith must grow exceedingly. One last point, and then we’ll move on. Are you content to just be average? Are you happy just being a mediocre Christian? Let’s illustrate it this way. You’re going to have a major surgery. Do you want your surgeon to be mediocre? When you inquire of him, the nurses say, he’s okay. You step on board the airplane fixing to take a flight across the country. And maybe you ask one of the stewardesses. What do we know about the Pilate? He’s one of our most mediocre pilots. Or do you want somebody who’s striving at least for excellence? Are you happy just being okay? They persevered because their faith grew exceedingly. Go back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.

2. Their Love Abounded One Toward Another

Here’s something else they did. 2 Thessalonians verse 3. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 3. We’re bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other. Why is there still a church at Thessalonica these years or years later? After Acts chapter 17. It’s because their love abounded. One toward another. You know, we’re talking about that in our Bible class, this idea of one another Christianity. And one thing that stood out to me, go hold your finger again here and go back to the book of Acts, chapter 4. We were looking in our Bible class this morning of the story of those early Christians. Acts 4, verse 32 is where we’re going to start.

Again, this is a text we looked at this morning in class, where those early Christians were helping one another out of the motivation, and we made the point this morning, out of love. So much so that they were selling and giving their possessions to one another. That’s what verse 32 talks about. Neither did anyone say that any one of the things he possessed possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. Verse 34 says, nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles’ feet? We know those verses. But have you ever noticed that kind of awkward verse in the middle there, verse 33?

And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. That seems kind of awkward, and at first glance, maybe out of place. Verse 32 is talking about their desire to sell their possessions to help one another. Verse 34 and 35 says they did that. And then in the middle there in verse 33, he talks about what the apostles were doing in their preaching. Why is that there? In the middle of a context talking about their care, their love for one another, their giving, selfless giving to one another. Do we see that when we have this love for one another, this selfless sacrificial love for one another? Yes, our physical, material needs will be met.

And what a blessing that is. That no child of God should ever starve or do without. Because he’s got somebody that loves him and will even sacrifice to meet that need. Yes, the physical, material needs are met. But does verse 33 awkwardly sandwiched in there and talking about material needs? Does it teach us that this will also help on this spiritual plane? That the cause of Christ, which is ultimately not just feeding the poor and the needy, but it’s about the salvation of souls, that that cause will be fostered and promoted by this sacrificial giving love. That when that’s going on kind of behind the scenes, then the gospel can be preached and obeyed. Isn’t that a point a couple chapters later in Acts chapter 6 when it became a problem and that wasn’t being done properly?

What did the apostles say in Acts chapter 6? It is not desirable that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. We’ve got a spiritual work to do, so you take care of this physical work so that we can be about the Lord’s greater business. Do you see how that this love for one another, borne out in concrete ways, doesn’t just meet our physical needs.

The flip side of that is when we’re not loving as we ought to be, when we’re not caring and giving and devoted to one another as we ought to be, guess what happens? Not only are physical needs not going to be met, but far greater consequence is the cause of Christ will suffer. The spiritual cause of Christ will suffer as well. I think those verses teach us that those are inextricably connected. We can’t be promoting the spiritual message if we’re not practicing in very real ways selfless love. The church at Thessalonica persevered because their love abounded. Lastly, turn over back to 2 Thessalonians. This time in chapter 2.

3. They Lived in Hope

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, this is 2 Thessalonians 2, 16, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work through what? Through your good hope. They were able to persevere because of hope. And really, we could argue that these two letters were written to address that subject of their hope. Paul talks about the second coming in both of these epistles to further establish their hope. Faith, love, and hope are really the only things that will cause us to persevere? They lived in hope. They were being taught to endure in hope.

How could they go through what they were going through? Because Paul was reminding them this life is not all that there is.

Conclusion

A better city whose builder and maker is God. Now you know the rest of the story. How could these brand new Christians and really a hateful, ugly town, face persecution and continue on? Their faith grew, their love abounded, and they lived in hope. What will be the rest of my story? Will I survive what I’m facing?

Or will I be another cautionary tale of those who began the race but lost? Would you become a Christian this morning, knowing that you will face opposition and persecution, but knowing that like these good brethren, you can persevere. Your faith grows, your love abounds, and you live in hope. Would you begin that journey with us today? If we can help you in any way, why not come right now as together we stand and as we sing?