1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 • Perspective on Suffering

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How well do you handle suffering? Do you understand the purpose and reward for endurance through the trials you may be facing right now? Staying faithful during troubles requires endurance, and there are rewards for endurance. In the last article, we looked at why the Bible is God’s Word and completely trustworthy to gain the biblical perspective about any issue of life. This is post #6 in the Thessalonians series. In this article, we will gain the biblical perspective on suffering.

Listen to this blog as a similar podcast from the Perspective Bible Study of 1 and 2 Thessalonians:

Dare to Be Different

In the last year of His ministry on earth, Jesus called the crowd to Him along with His disciples and issued a challenge. We find it in Mark chapter 8,

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:34-35)

Jesus challenged His disciples to dare to be different from their world.

Later, Paul took that challenge and lived it out in his life. He gave up everything for Christ and chose to stay faithful to Him no matter the cost. He had modeled this for the Thessalonians while living in their presence. In full view, he showed them how to handle persecution. But that did not stop his concern for them while he was absent, especially because he was forcefully sent away from them by said persecution (Acts 17:5-10). Those who rejected the gospel were doing everything they could to keep others from hearing it and receiving it to be saved.

You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16)

It was a tough time for them all—Paul and his team as well as the fledgling church in Thessalonica.

Through the past 2000 years, many Christians facing persecution have chosen to stay faithful to Jesus no matter the cost. But staying faithful no matter the cost requires endurance.

Staying Faithful Requires Endurance

Troubles come to all

In 2 Corinthians, Paul wrote these words,

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that outweighs them all. (2 Corinthians 4:17)

As you read through the book of Acts and many of Paul’s letters, you can see what happened to Paul over the years. Beatings, shipwrecks, being robbed, imprisoned, chased down, going hungry. How can he call those “light and momentary troubles?” Could you?

Jesus said to His followers that we will have trouble in this world.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

All of us will have trouble. It does not matter where you live, how much money you have, or what kind of success you have gained. Some troubles like illness and natural disasters come from living in this fallen world and are common to everyone. Other troubles like persecution and rejection are related to being a child of God living in an unbelieving world. Then there are those we inflict upon ourselves because of sin still present within us—our own bad choices—or troubles that others inflict upon us because of their bad choices. Either way, we get stuck with the results.

Recommended: Read more from the life of Deborah about the source of troubles in our fallen world and handling them with courage and peace.

Jesus helps us

Any kind of suffering is painful. We do not need to pretend that it is not painful. We can grieve over the losses or what is being denied to us that we desire. Jesus understands the pain we experience.

Jesus wants to help us not only survive a lifetime of ups and downs but also to thrive as we live through them. For that, you and I need to have something called endurance, something that Jesus had and that the Bible says is good for us. But endurance is only learned when there is a challenge to our comfort. Who likes that?

Biblical Endurance

The Bible teaches that endurance is required to live this life and stay faithful to God no matter what. You might have an idea about what endurance means. In our culture, we have endurance races and endurance tests. Endurance is a good word, but biblical endurance encompasses so much more. It is more related to the word perseverance, a word that Paul used in 2 Thessalonians.

Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. (2 Thessalonians 1:4)

Perseverance is not a common word for us today. It used to be years ago.

By definition, perseverance is holding to a course of action, a belief, or a purpose without giving way.

Holding to—without giving way. Staying faithful no matter what. That is the picture of biblical endurance. And biblical endurance has both purpose and reward. So, let us learn a few truths that will illustrate the purpose and reward for endurance. These truths help us to stay faithful to Jesus no matter what.

Truth #1: Endurance Is Good for You

The Greek word translated “endurance” or “perseverance” in the Bible is a strong word that means “bearing under.” It is holding up a load with staying power and stick-to-it-iveness. It is the tenacity to hold up under some long-term burden, not just getting stuck in traffic. If we think of that as suffering, we are trivializing what the Bible teaches. Endurance carries the idea of whole life experience. The troubles that develop endurance are not those of an afternoon.

Biblical endurance is the quality that enables a person to stand on his or her feet when facing a storm head on. Endurance is good for us. It teaches us “staying power” for a long-term burden.

Truth #2: Endurance Makes You Stronger

Think about how we can prevent osteoporosis, a condition where bones have lost so much density they get holes in them, making them weak. Bones that look like Swiss cheese are not good for anyone, especially older women. But to have strong bones requires regular intake of vitamin D and calcium plus load-bearing exercise. Nutrition alone will not develop strong bones. Bone needs to be stressed to become stronger.

Bible study alone will not develop endurance. Just like load-bearing exercise makes your bones stronger, troubles that challenge your faith do that too. Biblical endurance through suffering makes us stronger.

Truth #3: Endurance Is Necessary to Grow Up into Maturity

Growing up

Think about the process of human development. Teething, learning to walk and ride a bike, and adolescence are painful but necessary parts of developing into adulthood. The goal is to grow up into a fully functioning, responsible adult. Right?

What if my Daddy never let me go away from home and experience the challenges of personal decision-making? I could not grow up. What if my heavenly Father never let me know any needs? I would not know how to rely on Him for real strength.

Here in America, we don’t necessarily desire endurance. We get sidetracked with our comforts and our rights. Without endurance, we become satisfied with immaturity. We have men and women refusing to grow up into maturity. In the workplace. In the home. And in the church. That is what happens when we overprotect children from going through troubles so they do not develop endurance and maturity. They have a huge hurdle to cross when it comes to following Jesus.

Good character

Believe it or not, good character is enhanced through tough challenges.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

Paul declared that any kind of suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character. Character is moral strength, integrity, and fortitude.

Good character is enhanced through tough times as you endure and overcome them. God uses suffering with another purpose.

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 8:2)

He tests you to humble and to test your heart whether you will obey Him or not. That is a good thing. God is still testing hearts, in and out of the wilderness.

On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. (1 Thessalonians 2:4)

God did not leave the Thessalonians to their own resources.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 3:7-8)

God provided strength to endure the trials and persecutions they were facing from their own townspeople. And this in turn produced spiritual and moral character recognizable by all. God strengthened them so that they were able to stand firm in the Lord in spite of the severe suffering.

God’s goal for us is to be mature and complete. Endurance is His tool to help us reach that goal, to grow up.

Truth #4: Endurance Is Necessary to Reject Corrupting Influences

Corrupting influences

Being away from his spiritual children did not stop Paul from being concerned about them and the corrupting influences that could ruin them. Paul quoted Menander, one of their Greek poets, regarding this very issue:

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33)

Bad company corrupts good character. To corrupt means to destroy the honesty of something, to contaminate something so as to render it useless.

Think of how rust eats away at the strongest iron. Good character can be corrupted by bad influences. Sadly, the ones leading the charge against the Christians in Thessalonica were those who were once held in high esteem by the God-fearing Gentiles. They had worshiped God together at the local synagogue. It must have been confusing to the Thessalonians why the Jews who had the real God and the promises about the coming Messiah would not accept Jesus Christ as their long-awaited Savior.

Recognizing bad company

How do you recognize bad company? Paul gave us some good word pictures in 2 Corinthians.

You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.  (2 Corinthians 11:19-20)

Some characteristics of corrupting influences are these:

• They enslave you to make you do what they want by their own rules.
• They exploit you by taking your things and making money or gain off of you.
• They take advantage of you. That means they know your weakness and use it to gain power over you, impressing you by outward show and clever talk.
• Corrupting influences push themselves forward, lording over you, even bullying you.
• They slap you in the face, meaning they are cruel, mean, and abusive.
• They are idle, ready to join any anti-authoritarian mob. The bad characters are people with nothing of purpose to do in life. They have no noble goals. The Greek philosopher Plato called them idlers. Apparently, such idlers were a problem for the church in Thessalonica. See how Luke described them in Acts 17.

But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. (Acts 17:5)

Your response

What should you do when you encounter people with those characteristics? Just read Proverbs chapters 1-9 for ideas!

The Bible says these are fools and being friends with them is companionship with fools. Flee from them—stay away from them. Get as far away as you can. You can live without them. You do not have to put up with them.

That applies to us as women as well as to our children. What we listen to, watch, and read can also be companionship with fools. We are emotional creatures, and our emotions often dictate our actions. Who do you let influence your emotions? It is easy to get caught up in the wrong causes.

Recommended: Read this article, “Acts 13: Support Causes Aligned with God’s Purpose.“

For believers who are idlers, God’s admonition to them is right here in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.

God will give you the strength to reject corrupting influences and stand firm for Him. Endurance is necessary to do so.

Truth #5: Endurance Teaches You to Depend on God More Than on Yourself

Here is a popular saying that you have probably heard and likely seen on Facebook: “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” Is that true or false?

Dear reader, that statement is a false teaching. It is bad. Why? Look at what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Paul was in the center of God’s will, doing everything that God purposed for him to do. Pay attention to what he plainly and unashamedly stated,

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. (2 Corinthians 1:8)

Did you catch it? They were under great pressure, far beyond their ability to endure. Paul used a Greek term that meant exceedingly, beyond our strength and power. Oh yeah. God gives us more than we can handle. On our own, that is. Look at Paul’s next words,

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9)

Going through troubles is God’s will for us. He allows things in our lives to challenge us, but His motive is not to trip us up. His motive is not to make us fail. He wants to develop that endurance in us. It is not so we don’t need Him any longer but that we would rely on Him more.

Dear believer, what do you and I tend to rely upon? Usually, it is our own inner strength. Our life experiences. Our skills and know-how. Our own logic.

Paul had tons of experience figuring out how to get out of a messy, painful situation. But after all those years of walking with and serving God, if God wanted Paul to rely on Him rather than on his own figuring out, you can definitely know that God wants you to rely on Him more than on your own figuring out whenever you have pain and trouble. That is a given. God gives you more than you can handle on your own so that you will learn to rely on Him more.

What if you believed that God does not give you more than you can handle? Then, something comes along that just wipes you out, that floors you, that takes every resource you have, and the pain is still there. That kind of teaching leads to a sense of failure because you could not handle whatever God gave you. Ask anyone who has a life-long debilitating injury or illness. Ask anyone who has a physically or mentally challenged child. Ask anyone who has seen one job loss after another. Do not add to their pain by making them feel like failures!

God gives everyone—you and me and our neighbors—more than we can handle on our own in order to drive us to Him. To rely on Him. To gain the confidence in Him so that we will depend on Him more. Endurance teaches us to depend on God more than on ourselves.

Conclusion

After Paul was forced to leave Berea, Silas and Timothy stayed behind to keep the work going in the new church, and it spread widely. Paul later sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to encourage the believers and then to report back to him on the condition of the church there. Timothy’s report gave Paul reason to praise God for the healthy state of the church. Suffering had strengthened them. Because they faced severe times and held firmly to Christ, they became a model of faith to their whole region. Their source of wisdom was the Scriptures, and their dependence was upon God.

Paul added this when he found out they were standing firm in the Lord,

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

As we learn to endure suffering, God gives us staying power for a long-term burden, which will happen sometime in our lives. We get stronger spiritual bones. We get mature faith that represents Christ well on this earth. We get wisdom to reject corrupting influences. We get the strength of the Lord on us as we depend upon Him more than on ourselves. And we get to love those who hear the gospel and believe in Jesus Christ because of our witness. We see that God is worthy of our trust.

The beginning of Psalm 40 echoes this:

I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him. (Psalm 40:1-3)

Sing that new song from what you learned through any suffering.

Recommended: To learn more about how God teaches us through trials, read “Pathway #6: Keep Moving Forward.”

In the next post, we will look at living to please God, especially in how we use the bodies He gave to us.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart with His perspective on life in the present and in the future. Then, live securely in Him during this time of waiting.

The above information is covered in our Perspective Bible Study of 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

Related Resources:

• Satisfied Series 13 Podcasts on 1 and 2 Thessalonians
• Pathway #6: Keep Moving Forward
• Deborah: Face Trouble with Courage and Peace
• Dare to Be Different from Your World-Romans 12:1-2; Mark 8:34-35

AI was not used to generate this post.