Scripture Reading: 2 Thes. 2:13-17; 3:1-5
In this message we come to 2:13—3:5, a portion of 2 Thessalonians that contains a further word of encouragement. In these verses Paul covers a number of very precious matters. In 2:13 Paul says, “But we ought to thank God always concerning you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.” God loved us (v. 16), chose us from the beginning, and called us through the gospel (v. 14). He chose us unto His salvation, which is by sanctification of the Spirit, and He called us to the obtaining of the Lord’s glory. Now He is taking us on with eternal encouragement and good hope in grace.
In his word of encouragement Paul reminds the young believers of God’s selection, God’s choice. He tells them that from the beginning, that is, from eternity past (see Eph. 1:4), God chose them. It certainly is encouraging to know that before time began God chose us. This means that our being saved did not begin in time; rather, it began in eternity. In eternity past God considered us and selected us. From the beginning God chose us unto salvation.
The salvation unto which we were chosen by God is salvation in sanctification of the Spirit. Sanctification of the Spirit is the divine transformation. By this we are thoroughly saved from all old and negative things and made a new creation to obtain the Lord’s glory.
Sanctification is a matter of transformation, and transformation involves a process. Now, as saved ones, we are all in the process of being sanctified, transformed.
We may use cooking to illustrate the process of sanctification. The church life can be compared to a kitchen. When God called us and saved us, He purchased us as “groceries” from a large “supermarket.” In His “shopping” God called us. Now we are undergoing the process of being “cooked” in the “kitchen” of the church. This process of cooking is sanctification, transformation.
Because the church life is a kitchen for God’s cooking, the church will not always have an appearance that is neat and orderly. This is usually the situation in a kitchen when a good meal is being prepared. Do not expect your local church to be perfect. A kitchen is a place of process. Because of this process, many things are not ready, but they are in the process of being made ready. Sometimes I am asked how I can tolerate the situation in the church. I reply, “Why should I not tolerate it? The church is a kitchen. Wait for another period of time and you will see the results of the work that is taking place now in the kitchen.”
According to 2:13, salvation is in sanctification. This means that salvation does not immediately result in our going to heaven. No, God’s salvation is now in sanctification. God is sanctifying us. This should remind us of Paul’s word in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where he says, “And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly.” At present we are all undergoing the process of sanctification in the kitchen of the church life. We know what it means to be cooked in this kitchen. However, those outside the kitchen do not understand what we mean when we speak of the process of being cooked.
Do not expect that everything in the church life will be marvelous and orderly. This is not the situation of any local church on earth. Furthermore, we should not think that the local churches at Paul’s time were better than the churches today. On the contrary, because our cooking has been improved, the local churches in the Lord’s recovery today may be better than the churches in Paul’s day.
Often the messy condition of a kitchen indicates that an excellent meal is being prepared. The kitchen may be messy, but the food that is being cooked will be very tasty. If you want the food in your local church to be flavorful, you must be willing for your kitchen to be messed up.
Suppose you invite me to your home for a meal. If I see that everything in your kitchen is neat and orderly, I may be disappointed, for I shall realize that there may not be much to eat. But if I see that your kitchen is messy because of all the preparations for the meal, I shall know a feast is being prepared. When no one is cooking, the kitchen may be neat. But when a good meal is being prepared, the kitchen will not be so orderly. If everything in a church is neat and orderly, this may indicate that no one is doing any cooking. This means that there is a shortage in the process of sanctification.
I can testify that the kitchen of the church in Anaheim is messy. This proves that in Anaheim we are in the process of sanctification. God, according to His selection, has placed us into the process of sanctification. In the church in Anaheim we are experiencing a great deal of cooking; we are being sanctified and transformed. Sometimes when I am being cooked, I may wonder what is happening. Then the Lord reminds me that I have prayed for transformation and have ministered concerning it. In Anaheim I may say that I cook the elders, and the elders cook me. Furthermore, the elders are being cooked by the saints. Certain brothers and sisters seem to be especially given to cooking the elders. Actually the cooking in the kitchen of the church life is not done by any human hand. Rather, it is done by the Lord according to His wisdom and sovereignty.
God has selected us unto salvation in sanctification and not merely to have our sins forgiven. There is no need to be cooked in order to experience the forgiveness of sins. We simply need to pray, “Lord Jesus, I repent. I confess that I am a sinner. But, Lord, I believe in You, and I thank You for dying on the cross for my sins.” A person who prays in this way can be saved and have the forgiveness of sins. But this is not sanctification. After we experience forgiveness, we need to undergo the process of sanctification.
The Lord intends to sanctify us, to transform us. Transformation is a process that is not necessarily enjoyable. Nevertheless, we need to learn how to enjoy the Lord even when we are being cooked.
In verse 13 Paul tells us that sanctification is of the Spirit. Do you know where the Spirit is? You need to realize that the Spirit is in you to sanctify you. In 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul speaks of sanctification, and this sanctification is of the Spirit. The indwelling of the Spirit is actually our sanctification. The Spirit indwells us with just one goal — to sanctify us, to transform us, to change us metabolically. This is sanctification of the Spirit.
In verse 13 Paul also speaks of belief of the truth. In this verse the word “belief” actually means faith. The faith of the truth comes before salvation in sanctification of the Spirit. God chose us from the beginning unto the faith of the truth and unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit.
In verse 14 Paul goes on to say, “To which also He called you through our gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The words “to which” refer to salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, as mentioned in verse 13. In eternity God chose us unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, and then in time He called us unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord. Salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth are the procedures. Obtaining the glory of our Lord is the goal.
First God chose us and then He called us. He chose us unto the faith of the truth and unto the salvation in sanctification of the Spirit. Then through the gospel He called us unto the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord is that He is the Son of God the Father, possessing the Father’s life and nature to express Him. To obtain the Lord’s glory is to be in the same position as sons of God to express Him.
I doubt that the majority of today’s Christians understand what it means to be called unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 14 Paul does not say that God has called us unto the obtaining of forgiveness, justification, or reconciliation. He says that God has called us unto the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus. In John 17:22 the Lord said in His prayer to the Father, “And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.” The glory which the Father has given the Son is the sonship with the Father’s life and divine nature (John 5:26) to express the Father in His fullness (John 1:18; 14:9; Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3). This glory the Son has given to His believers that they also may have the sonship with the Father’s life and divine nature (John 17:2; 2 Pet. 1:4) to express the Father in the Son in His fullness (John 1:16). I doubt that many Christians have this understanding regarding the glory of the Lord Jesus.
The glory of the Lord Jesus is that the Father has given Him the Father’s life and nature for Him to express the Father. This is the glory the Son has given to us. This means that the Son has given us the Father’s life and nature so that we may be able to express God the Father. What a glory! God has called us unto the obtaining of this glory, the glory of the divine life and the divine nature to express the divine Being. Although you may never have considered this before, this is the truth according to the revelation in the New Testament. Hallelujah for such a marvelous glory!
In 2:15 Paul goes on to say, “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our letter.” We should not think that tradition is always bad. The traditions to which Paul refers here are excellent. We need to stand firm and hold to these traditions.
Verse 16 says, “Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal encouragement and good hope in grace.” According to this verse, what we have is not temporary and transitory comfort and strengthening, but eternal encouragement. This eternal encouragement is by the divine life. It is sufficient for any kind of environment and situation. Therefore, it is with good hope.
Eternal encouragement is related to the divine life. Whenever you are disappointed, you need to be reminded that the divine life is within you. If you consider even a little that the divine life is inside of you, you will be encouraged. Do you know what kind of life you have? You have God’s life. The very life of God has been given to you. Eternal encouragement, therefore, is actually eternal life.
We can be encouraged simply by considering a little about the eternal life we have received. If you feel weak, be reminded that you have eternal life. In this way you will be strengthened and encouraged. This eternal encouragement is sufficient for any environment and situation. God has loved us and has given us eternal encouragement.
God has also given us good hope in grace. This hope is the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), which is the hope of the Lord’s coming (1 Thes. 1:3), when we shall be either resurrected or transfigured into glory (1 Thes. 4:13-14; Phil. 3:21; Heb. 2:10). This good hope is in grace, and grace is nothing less than the Triune God processed to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. In this grace we have a good hope. We may say that grace is God Himself in Christ for us to enjoy that we may be sanctified by His Spirit and encouraged and established with eternal encouragement and good hope.
Some saints have said to me, “Brother Lee, we have heard your ministry for many years. It seems that actually you are ministering just one thing. It is marvelous that you can give thousands of messages on the same thing.” This is not my way of ministering; it is the biblical way and the way practiced by Paul. Have you noticed that in Romans Paul speaks in one way, but in 1 Corinthians he talks about the same matter in another way? Now we see that in 2 Thessalonians 2 he speaks regarding the same thing in yet another way.
I especially like the last part of chapter two, verses 13 through 17, for in these verses Paul presents important matters to new believers. His writing here is simple, but the content is profound. First Paul says that God chose us from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit. Then he says that God has called us through the gospel unto the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 16 Paul says that we have been given eternal encouragement and good hope in grace. Paul does not use the expression “eternal encouragement” in any of his other books. John speaks about the same thing, but he uses different terms. In 2:16 Paul refers to eternal life as eternal encouragement. In this verse the relative pronoun “who” may refer both to the Lord Jesus Christ and to God the Father, yet “has loved us and given us” is singular. This indicates that Paul regarded the Lord and the Father as one.
We need to learn to use the expressions Paul used, such as eternal encouragement. If you see that a brother is weak or disappointed, you may say to him, “Brother, have you not received eternal encouragement? Eternal encouragement is the eternal life that is within you.”
Suppose a person who is very unhappy has a diamond in his pocket. Simply by looking at the diamond, he may be encouraged and become happy. We have the real diamond, and this diamond is the eternal life as our eternal encouragement. Do you realize that you have such a diamond in your pocket? Why, then, do you look at your troubles and sufferings instead of at this diamond? Oh, praise the Lord for the diamond of eternal encouragement! This encouragement is eternal life and good hope in grace.
In verse 17 Paul says, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father, “Encourage your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.” If we want God to encourage us, we need to encourage ourselves. If we help ourselves, God will help us. But if we do not help ourselves, God will not help us. If you are not willing to eat the food on the dining table, others cannot help you. But if you eat, everyone will be willing to help you. This is an illustration of the fact that we need to encourage ourselves and establish ourselves, and then God will encourage and establish us.
In 3:1 Paul says, “For the rest, brothers, pray concerning us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as it is also with you.” For the word of the Lord to be glorified is for the divine riches contained in the word of the Lord to be released and expressed in the believers’ living. We all need to learn how to let the word of the Lord run and how to cause the word of the Lord to be glorified in us.
Verse 2 says, “And that we may be delivered from improper and evil men; for not all hold the faith.” The ministers of the word of God need such a prayer for them by the saints.
In verse 3 Paul declares, “But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” We are guarded by eternal encouragement and good hope (2:16-17). Only the eternal life can guard us from the evil one. The whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19), but the divine life with which we have been born of God keeps and guards us from him (4, 1 John 5:18; 3:9). We have a part within us that has been regenerated, born of God. That part, which is actually the Lord Himself, always guards us.
In verse 4 Paul goes on to say, “We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that what we charge, you both are doing and will do.” The charge here is like those in 1 Thessalonians 4:2-4, 9-12; 5:11-22; 2 Thes. 2:2, 15; 3:6, 10, 12-15.
In verse 5 Paul concludes, “And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ.” The Lord directs our hearts by the leading of the Spirit, through whom the love of God has been poured out into our hearts (Rom. 8:14; 5:5). The love of God in this verse is our love toward God that issues from the love of God (1 John 4:19) that has been poured out into our hearts. On the positive side, we need to enjoy the love of God so that we may love Him in order to live for Him. On the negative side, we need to participate in the endurance of Christ so that we may endure the sufferings as He did to stand against Satan, the enemy of God.
In 2:13—3:5 Paul once again touches faith, love, and hope. This indicates that 2 Thessalonians is a continuation of 1 Thessalonians. This portion of 2 Thessalonians is a conclusion of Paul’s writings to new believers concerning the basic structure of the Christian life for the church life. As we have pointed out, this basic structure includes faith, love, and hope. By faith we have been saved into sanctification. We have been called unto the obtaining of the Lord’s glory, and we have eternal encouragement, which is eternal life, and also good hope in grace. Now according to 3:5, we need the Lord to direct our hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ.
