Insight for Living

Guest (Male): We don't like pressure, but pressure has a way of revealing what we're truly made of. In fact, the Bible teaches that hardship is like fertile soil, the very place where faith takes root and grows strong. For the church in Thessalonica, the pressure was intense. They were persecuted, afflicted, and pushed to the margins.

Yet when Paul wrote to them, he wasn't sympathetic. He was proud. He boasted about their faith. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll begins a new study in 2 Thessalonians called Steadfast Christianity, and he opens with a message titled Affirming the Afflicted.

Bill Meyer: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll begins a new study in 2 Thessalonians called Steadfast Christianity, and he opens with a message titled Affirming the Afflicted.

Chuck Swindoll: In his book, No Greater Power, Richard C. Halverson, former chaplain of the United States Senate, wrote this: Crush marbles and you get fragmentation, disintegration, hard, sharp pieces. You can get hurt if you're not careful. But crush grapes and you get fragrant, refreshing wine. Some people relate like marbles. The fear of vulnerability hardens them.

They protect themselves, allow no one to penetrate. Being vulnerable is high risk, and they want low risk. They bump up against others and ricochet around, never enjoying a vital relationship. In brittle lovelessness, they shatter when crushed and hurt others. Some people relate like grapes, he continues. They yield to pressure. They accept their weakness as essential to intimacy.

They give love, knowing love is always vulnerable, knowing love is the heart and soul of our faith. When crushed, they bring blessing, fragrant, redemptive blessing. Aren't those great words? In the book of 2 Thessalonians, Paul addressed the church at Thessalonica. Like a cluster of grapes, this body of believers was caught in the winepress of persecution and affliction.

Yet as these Christians yielded to God, they began to produce a fine wine full of faith, fragrant with love, with a sweet aroma that spread to all the churches in Asia Minor. In this letter, Paul did not focus on the winepress as much as he did the wine: the faith, love, and perseverance created as byproducts of pressure.

We're reading from our Father's word in 2 Thessalonians chapter one in the New Testament. 2 Thessalonians one. I'd like you to do something a little different than we normally have you do. Have a pen or pencil handy to mark three phrases I want to point out to you when I've finished with the reading. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting because your faith is greatly enlarged and the love of each one of you all toward one another grows ever greater. Therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which indeed you are suffering. For after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire.

Dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our testimony to you was believed.

To this end also we pray for you always that our God may count you worthy of your calling and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, in order that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Did you observe as we read the three statements of strong affirmation? Mark them.

Verse three, as an expression of gratitude to God for each, he said, "We always give thanks to God for you." And then in strong boasting and affirmation, verse four, he added, "We speak proudly of you." Mark that. We give thanks for you. We speak proudly of you. And verse 11: "We pray for you." In a big family like ours and in a larger family that reaches around the world, so important to remember words of affirmation.

They sort of tie us together and remind us we're not alone in this pilgrimage from earth to heaven. As a matter of fact, we're one. We're one in a bond.

Bill Meyer: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into 2 Thessalonians on your own, be sure to purchase our Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook by going to insight.org/offer. Chuck titled today's message Affirming the Afflicted.

Chuck Swindoll: It's funny at times to think back of stages in your life that you've passed through while you've been growing up in the Lord. I remember a stage I went through that was full of mottoes and sayings. Remember that time when those things seemed so important to you that you stuck them on your dashboard and you put them on your desk and you stuck them in your notebook and on occasion you put them in the flyleaf of your Bible?

I remember one six-word statement that I thought was so profound. It said, "Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives." That was my slogan for the year. I didn't win many friends or influence many people, but I really believed that that was a profound statement. As a matter of fact, I think it would be a little enlightening and maybe a little embarrassing if many who attend Sunday worship service had to admit to their neighbor that one of the parts of a Sunday morning ritual is finding your Bible before you come to church and then blowing the dust off.

It's always humorous to me how folks will not miss their Bible until that following Sunday morning, and it's been here all along, left right there in the pew where they left it last week. But there's another side of this dusty-dirty issue that I don't think that slogan reveals. Sometime a dirty Bible represents a clean life.

For example, it's interesting when you go through the Bible that you've used for years and locate some soiled sections, where the oil from your fingers has come off or you've smeared the print because you've read it so many times, rubbing your finger over the section. In fact, why don't you open your Bible and give to your neighbor, and let's have an inspection of how... no, I wouldn't do that to you.

But what you might want to do this afternoon is take the time to look through your Bible and see the parts that have really ministered to you. You'll be surprised. I can do that. This Bible I'm carrying today is one that I've been carrying since April of 1969, and there are some parts of it that are well-marked and well-worn and other parts of it that sort of cracks when I open it because I haven't been in there for a while.

During my pastoral internship back in the summer of '61, I'll never forget praying with a gentleman every week who loved the Psalms. As a matter of fact, he would pray through the Psalms. I remember kneeling by him, and portions of the Psalms in his Bible, honest to Pete, were worn off the page. The print wasn't there, and I thought that was the most spiritual-looking Bible.

I remember when I would pray with him and he wasn't looking, I would rub really hard in those sections, rub and rub and rub. I thought of sandpaper that maybe would make mine look like his Bible. Worn Bible. Now, chances are good that the least-used sections of your Bible are those books that begin with the numeral two. You probably never thought of that before, but it's true.

There are three of those in the Old Testament, and there are five of them in the New Testament. And if you toss in one book that begins with the letter three, there are six of them. Funny, in God's sequels in His Bible, in His book, we are much better acquainted with the first of those books or letters than we are the second.

I want to have you turn to the least-used page in your Bible, the table of contents. Seriously, I want you to locate your Bible has one, and I want you to find the table of contents. When's the last time you were in church and somebody said turn to the table of contents? I mean, this is basic stuff. In your table of contents, you'll notice under the Old Testament the three books that begin with the numeral two: 2 Samuel—we don't know that quite as well as we do 1 Samuel—2 Kings is another one, 2 Chronicles especially.

I noticed when people read through their Bibles that the place they usually stop the project is around Kings or Chronicles. We don't really know much about 2 Chronicles unless we get serious about this business called Bible study. Now over in the New Testament, you'll find 1 Corinthians, but you'll know it a lot better than you will 2 Corinthians.

Chances are good you'll know 2 Corinthians 5:17, maybe 2 Corinthians 6:20, but you know very little more about 2 Corinthians than a few random verses. Look down at 2 Thessalonians. There's another one. We're pretty sharp on 1 Thessalonians—talks about the return of the Lord, talks about our being ready for Him and watching for His return—but 2 Thessalonians, what's in that book?

How about 2 Peter or 2 Timothy? That might run a close second with 1 Timothy, but probably we know the truth of 1 Timothy better. And 2 Peter, not as well known as 1 Peter. And 2 and 3 John, look down there. Sometime ago, I preached a series of messages on the one-chapter books of the Bible, and I was astounded at how many people told me they had never even read the one-chapter books of the Bible.

And especially would that be true of books that start with that number two. Well, I want us to study for a period of time this second letter written to the Thessalonians, one of those sort of unknown New Testament letters. I think the second letters are sometime like second children; they struggle for identity. They go through a bit of a process of time before they finally find their place and they know their purpose in life.

Our interest will focus on this rather obscure letter, which is only three chapters in length, has only 47 verses. And would you believe you can sit down and with feeling read it orally without stopping and it'll take you less than eight minutes? I know, I did that this week. And I found some things by doing it once and then, well, I thought, "Eight minutes, I could do that again. Not that busy." So I read it through again.

And by the third time through, and all of the project taking less than 25 minutes. My math has never been as good as my reading. Less than 25 minutes. I discovered a couple or three things about 2 Thessalonians I probably would not have known had I dug right into the trees because I'd have missed the forest.

For example, and it is not a moot point, the full name of the Lord Jesus Christ appears three times in each of the three chapters. I don't know of another New Testament book that that's true. It upholds the mighty name of our Lord Jesus. It focuses attention upon Him. It calls His name into power. It's a wonderful reminder as you work through the fearsome circumstances that became the anvil upon which Paul forged out this letter.

I notice also in the 2 Thessalonians letter that Paul signs it at the beginning of the letter, which is common in the New Testament letters. I wish we did that today, but we don't. But in the third chapter toward the end, he makes a big deal about his signature. And you might wonder why. I did when I read it. Turn back to chapter three of 2 Thessalonians. Look at verse 17.

"I, Paul, write this greeting with mine own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter. This is the way I write." Did you know that that was in the Bible? I didn't, and I've read this a number of times and I'd never stumbled across "this is the way I write." You know, everyone has his or her own distinguishing handwriting. And if that person writes you enough, you don't even have to look and see who wrote the letter because you know the handwriting.

Doctors especially have interesting handwriting. They have great education; they just can't write. It's amazing. You read it just as well out of a mirror than you could while you look at it straight on. It's hard to read doctors' handwriting. Paul says, "I have a distinguishing handwriting, I have a distinguishing style, and if you ever want to check if this letter is mine, check it with this letter, check it with this signature. This is the way I write."

Before we find out why that was so important, you might ask yourself, "What's the big deal about these 47 verses? Are they really that important?" Look up from verse 17 to verse 14. I think after I read this verse, you'll say, "Yeah, it's pretty important." "If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame." Yeah, I'd say that's a pretty important letter.

This is one of those rare letters, and he doesn't have many of them, where he literally says, "If you find someone who won't walk according to this truth, back off." But he adds in grace, "Don't regard him as an enemy, admonish him as a brother." I'd say it's a significant letter. Now, why is there a second letter to the Thessalonians?

These are fine people, like the Corinthians and like the Colossians and like the people of Ephesus and other spots in the New Testament world. These are believers, and their world is a tough world. But why would he take the time, having written such a fine and rather lengthy first letter, and write on the heels a second? Some feel it was within days he wrote the second letter.

Has to be tied in with his remark about "this is the way I write." There's urgency in that. In brief, he wrote 2 Thessalonians to clear up a misunderstanding. That's the purpose. You see, he had said a lot about the Lord's return in the first letter. Chapter five, go back there, will you? Of 1 Thessalonians chapter five. You'll see what he says about the coming of the Lord.

Verse two of chapter five: "You yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape." Note the change in pronoun. "But you, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you like a thief."

"For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation."

He's getting into this sense of urgency, and he says, "Let's be alert. Let's get a little rapture fever. Let's remember that any day now, the clouds will split, there'll be a blast of the trumpet, and the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will be raised first. That day is upon us. Be alert."

After that letter arrived and they read it, would you believe that a word began to travel among them within days that they had missed the coming of the Lord? You see, oh, how could they... well, you know how talk goes in a church. And somebody spilled the beans from some... well, look at how he puts it in chapter two of 2 Thessalonians. It didn't just occur in someone's mind. There was an actual active deception that had occurred against the church at Thessalonica.

2 Thessalonians 2:1: "Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ"—there's one of those times His full name appears—"and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken." That's why he wrote the letter. "I don't want you all shook up. From your composure, or be disturbed either by"—mark it—"a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come."

Got the drift? In one of three ways, the people had begun to believe that they had missed the coming of the Lord. A message, a sermon that he had preached, perhaps. Or as he says first, a spirit. Someone had passed the word that Paul had had a special revelation, and hadn't they heard about it? The coming of the Lord has occurred, and they're still here.

Someone else had said, "Didn't you hear about the sermon he preached when he was standing by the sea or when he was on that island or after he left you en route to the next spot? God gave him a new message and he declared it. Haven't you heard?" And some had said that there was a letter that had arrived as if from him.

There are some New Testament scholars that believe that there actually was a forged letter that arrived in Thessalonica. The city is known today as Thessaloniki, still in existence in Greece. Somebody had sent a letter and it had been signed by Paul, allegedly. So when he signs this letter, he says, "This is the way I write. You can check this writing with that letter." Seems to imply that.

By the way, this is a real good time for me to pause and say a couple of practical things about misunderstandings in the church. People still spread messages that are not true, don't they? We tend to do that in a weak moment. So I'm going to draw from just the overview of what we've seen thus far a couple of very practical pieces of advice.

First is this: If you have been misunderstood, don't delay in trying to clear it up. Paul didn't wait very long. One of my sources said it was within days that he wrote 2 Thessalonians. Don't just let the information continue to gather speed and momentum. If you hear there's a rumor out, go to the source. If you can't find the source, go to someone who heard that rumor and correct it.

Now, sometime it's like gathering the feathers that have been shaken out of a pillow on a windy day. You can't get them all back, but you can try. Paul tried. As a matter of fact, the word is out in a particular section of our country every two or three years that Cynthia and I have been married before, and we are now married to each other having been married before.

Always makes me laugh because if they knew how young we were when we first got married, they'd know it'd been impossible for us to have been married before. And so we send the message back and say, "No, we're still together, never been married anybody else." She got a sympathy card regarding my death not long ago. She needs sympathy because I'm alive, not because I'm gone. And she had to send back, "Thank you for your sympathy, but he's still alive and going on to get." Let's clear it up.

So if you happen to know information that's going around and it's not true, just jump on it. Like a hen on a June bug, just get on it and clean it up and then go on. Sometime you can't do that, so you've just got to go on.

Bill Meyer: Yes, Chuck and Cynthia are still married—since 1955, in fact. That's 71 years. We're just getting started in Chuck Swindoll's study of 2 Thessalonians. It's a series he's calling Steadfast Christianity, and there's much more to this letter from Paul that Chuck wants to show us, so please keep listening through the entire eight-part series.

Insight for Living has created a brand new Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook for 2 Thessalonians. This spiral-bound resource is available right now by going to insight.org/offer. One of the themes that Paul weaves into his letter to the Thessalonians is leadership. Paul poured his life into a small band of believers in Thessalonica, mentoring them, challenging them, and refusing to let them settle for anything less than God's best.

That's what great leaders do. And today we're offering a book that will inspire you to lead in whatever capacity God has called you to, whether that's at home, at church, or in the workplace. Few stories in all of Scripture illustrate effective leadership more powerfully than the story of Nehemiah. Chuck Swindoll's classic book, "Hand Me Another Brick," draws timeless principles from Nehemiah's remarkable rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall, principles that are just as vital for today's pastor, ministry leader, board member, teacher, or anyone who has a role leading others.

You can request your copy when you send a generous gift to Insight for Living. It's our gift to you. Chuck Swindoll's book on Nehemiah is a rich, readable journey through one of the Bible's greatest leadership narratives, full of practical wisdom for anyone who wants to make a difference right where God has placed them.

You can request "Hand Me Another Brick" when you send your donation and request in an envelope addressed to Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034. That's Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas, 75034. Or call us at 800-772-8888. Or just go to insight.org/donate.

I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck Swindoll continues our study in 2 Thessalonians called Steadfast Christianity tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, Affirming the Afflicted, was copyrighted in 1986, 1991, 2002, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.