2 Thessalonians 1:5 Persecution and Worthiness

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This lesson is part of a series of lessons on the book of 2 Thessalonians. In this lesson I'm going to look at chapter one, verse five, and talk about the connection between persecution and being considered worthy.

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Transcript:

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. This lesson is part of a series of lessons on the book of 2 Thessalonians. In this lesson I'm going to look at chapter one, verse five, and talk about the connection between persecution and being considered worthy. 

2 Thessalonians 1:5 contains a statement, “so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God”. The Greek word that is translated “considered worthy” is used three times in the New Testament, one of which is here in 2 Thessalonians. Let's start by looking at the other two usages of that word, to see what else the Bible says about being considered worthy. Then we'll come back to 2 Thessalonians and see what this passage tells us. 

The first passage where this word was used is Luke chapter 20, verse 34. The context of this verse is that the Sadducees asked Jesus a question about the resurrection. They brought this hypothetical scenario where there was a man who had a wife and the man died so his brother married the widow. Then that brother died so the third brother married the widow and so on. Eventually seven brothers had her as a wife. Then the Sadducees asked who she would belong to in the resurrection. Jesus responded with the statement we see in Luke chapter 20, starting in verse 34.

Luke 20:34   Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; 36 for they cannot even die anymore, because they are like angels, and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 

Jesus referred to those who are considered worthy to attain to the resurrection from the dead or to that age. That age is the future age when God's saints are with Him. The only ones who will attain that age are those who are considered worthy. In this particular passage Jesus did not describe how someone becomes worthy. He simply referred to the fact that some will be considered worthy and some will not. 

The second passage where this Greek word was used is Acts chapter 5. In this passage the religious leaders told the apostles to stop preaching, but they kept preaching anyway. The Jewish Council wanted to put the apostles to death. However, a Pharisee named Gamaliel convinced them not to do that. His reasoning was that if the apostles were teaching something false, then eventually they and their followers would go away. The Council listened to Gamaliel and did not execute the apostles. Let’s read what happened next starting in verse 40.

Acts 5:40   They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

The council did not execute the apostles, but they did flog them, which is still a very serious, very painful punishment. Notice when the apostles left the presence of the council, they were rejoicing. They were rejoicing because they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for the name of Jesus. 

Think about the mindset of the apostles. When they were punished, when they were persecuted, they rejoiced because they thought that meant they were considered worthy to suffer shame. That is a very different mindset than the mindset we often have in the 21st century, particularly in American Christianity. I'll talk about that more in a little bit. 

Let’s go back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and start reading at verse 3. Paul wrote the following to the Thessalonians.

2Th. 1:3   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 toward one another grows ever greater; 4 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. 5 This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 

Paul believed it was necessary for him to give thanks for the Thessalonians because their faith was greatly enlarged and their love for one another was growing greater. In verse four he wrote that he spoke proudly of the Thessalonians among the churches of God because of their perseverance and faith. The reason he spoke proudly of their perseverance and faith was because they persevered and had faith in the midst of persecution and affliction. 

Then in verse five he wrote that because of God's righteous judgment, the Thessalonians will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which they were suffering. In other words, the Thessalonians were suffering persecution and affliction, but in the midst of their suffering they had perseverance, their faith was enlarged, and their love for one another was growing larger. Paul believed that because of that, they will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God. 

That’s a very different mindset about suffering than we have here in the in the 21st century, particularly in American Christianity. Here in America, we have a long tradition of freedom: freedom of religion and freedom of speech. We often thank God for those freedoms and rightly so. We are very fortunate to have the freedoms we have had for the last several centuries. We've had the freedom to practice whatever religion we want to practice. We have had the freedom to criticize the government. It is right that we're very thankful for that. 

But at the same time, we’ve adopted a mentality of thinking that if we have to suffer, then we are unfortunate and there's something wrong. However, we saw in the passage in Acts that the apostles rejoiced when they suffered because they believed suffering meant that God considered them worthy. That's similar to what we see in 2 Thessalonians. When the Thessalonians persevered through the persecutions and afflictions, that meant God would consider them worthy of the kingdom of God. 

If the apostles rejoiced because they thought persecution meant they were considered worthy, then at some point maybe we should ask whether the lack of persecution in our lives is an indication that God does not consider us worthy. The Thessalonians were considered worthy when they had perseverance, faith, and love despite their persecution. If we don’t have the same opportunity to demonstrate perseverance, does that mean we are not considered worthy? It is right to be thankful for religious freedom. However, we should not get into the mindset of thinking that we are unfortunate if and when we have to endure persecution.

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