We’re back in Thessalonians today. We’ll finish up the book this morning. The major topic of both letters is the day of the Lord.  That’s the day the Lord Jesus comes from heaven to gather us to himself, to save us from wrath, to resurrect our bodies, and bring us to glory. 

We live between his first coming and second coming. This is a glorious time to be alive, because Jesus HAS come. We live under grace and the new covenant. The Spirit has been poured out.  God has revealed an amazing amount of glory and truth to us. But this is also a hard time to live, because Jesus HASN’T come again yet, to complete our salvation. 

Like the Thessalonians, we are STILL under pressure. We still experience disappointment and death, trials and pain. We still weep and groan.  SO what is it that keeps us going? What moves us to endure, to bear our cross, to keep doing good?  It’s the day of the Lord! 

The day of the Lord is set before us again and again to stir our hearts to persevere through this life for the REWARD OF THAT DAY. Jesus said, “Behold I am coming and my REWARD is with me.”  “Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Rev. 2:10) Paul said, “If we endure we will reign with Him.” And the Lord will award the crown of righteousness to us on THAT DAY.

Sometimes it is called the day of Christ, or the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, or THAT DAY, or THE day.  But it was clearly the focal point of the apostles and the new testament church. It’s the DAY we wait for, long for, and live for. It’s the DAY we want to be ready for, prepared for, and lay up treasure for.   

Paul said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me ON THAT DAY; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 4.6-8).  ON THAT DAY it will be worth it all. THAT DAY is why it makes sense to fight a good fight now.  As the old hymn said, “It will be worth it all when we see Jesus”.  “So bravely run the race till we see Christ.”

This is everywhere throughout the NT.  2Timothy 1:16
Paul asked the Lord to reward Onesiphorus with special kindness ON THAT DAY, for not being ashamed of his imprisonment and for searching diligently to find him. 

Phil 1:9, Paul said, “I pray that your love may abound so that you may approve what is excellent, and be pure and blameless for the day of Christ.”  There’s an ultimate sense that we will be blameless in that day because we are in Christ. The scripture also teaches us to actually pursue love, and purity, and blamelessness now, to prepare for THAT DAY. 

Paul exhorts us to build on the foundation of Christ with good works, or good materials that will stand the test of THAT DAY.  Paul said he laid a foundation which is Jesus Christ. Then he said, “But each man must be careful how he builds on it.” If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for THE DAY will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.”  

The reason to persevere in doing good is for the reward of the that day! 

Ultimately these truths are behind Paul’s command in verse 13, “brothers, do not grow weary in doing good!” Because of THAT DAY, do not get discouraged. Galatians 6:9 confirms that this is WHY we should not grow weary! “And let us not grow weary of doing good, FOR in due season we will reap, if we do not give up”. All your love, all your self-denial and sacrifice, all the good you do, day after day, year after year, all that will receive a full reward from the Lord IN DUE SEASON!  And the whole NT teaches that that due season is when the Lord appears!

Jesus said, “When you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed. “You WILL BE repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  We receive our rewards in that day we are raised to life. Luke 14:14 

Alright let’s work through verse 13, “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” Paul knows there is a tendency to get discouraged, or tired of doing good. There’s temptation to pull back, to coast, to stop doing good. That temptation is real, and powerful. You feel it in your own life. You’ve had a season when you let up, or lost heart. You see it in other people, who at one time were engaged with other believers, doing much good, energized in their faith, then they just kind of disappear. They got tired, lost their zeal, and for all practical purposes they dropped out of the race. 

Paul wants us to KEEP ON doing good. Doing good covers a lot! Doing good means living your life for the benefit, the blessing, the good of others. And we are to be eager, and passionate about that.  “He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Titus 2:14

Doing good starts with doing good to the people right in front of you. For mom’s (and also dad’s) it means doing all the good things daily to take care of your kids and family. Paul said “Let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.”  Do good to your next door neighbor, to people you run into every day at the grocery store, to the people you work with, to the electrician, or plumber, or painter who comes to work on your house.   BUT ESPECIALLY do good to believers. 

Doing good is often small things that encourage, and serve others at just the right moment. Sometimes it is doing really big things but often it’s small things in everyday life. It’s writing that note, making that call, bringing that food, doing whatever good thing the Spirit prompts you to do. 

Julie shared in our life group how Olivia sent her a card that said, “You matter to me”.  And Julie shared how deeply that touched and encouraged her and it brought her to tears. The night of Cindy’s funeral, we were all at Luke’s home for pizza. When we left, I cut across the front yard to walk home by myself. And my brother, Paul ran to catch up with me and walked those two blocks home with me so I wouldn’t walk alone. It was just two blocks and only took 2 minutes, but I will NEVER forget it.   

Doing good also includes doing the righteous thing. Young people do not grow weary in maintaining sexual purity, in guarding your language. Do not grow weary in standing up for truth in the midst of a culture that hates God’s truth.

I also think Paul had in mind doing good by working hard to meet your own needs. Here’s the context, “We did not eat anyone’s food without paying for it.  Instead, in labor and toil, we worked day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you.” Some of them misunderstood the day of the Lord to mean they could slack off in their daily work.  Some of them started living undisciplined lives, meddling in other people’s business instead of taking care of their own.  

So Paul told them, “We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. But as for you brothers, do not grow weary of doing good.”  So PART of doing good is to just to keep on doing your job, work hard, meet your own needs, pay your bills, take care of your own business. 

Alright that’s what doing good means. Paul felt a need to exhort us to NOT grow weary or discouraged in doing that.   I think there are several reasons WHY we need that exhortation.

*First: Doing good can be exhausting. It takes effort. It’s always easier to do less, and to give up, than to keep pressing on. Cindy’s Hospice nurse asked me the first day she came, “How are you doing as caregiver.” I said, it’s taxing. I love getting to be the one to take care of her but it is very taxing.  Doing good is taxing and we often need encouragement to keep going.  

Paul said his friend Onesiphorus diligently searched all over Rome, probably through all the prisons to find him. He put forth a lot of time and effort to do that.  If you are doing good to others, it WILL require effort, sweat and tears at times, God knows that.  And he wants to encourage you to not grow weary.

*Second: The spiritual battle we are all in, can wear us down. We wrestle against powers of evil and forces of darkness, and we feel that. We go through stuff inside us takes a toll on us. So put on your armor and stand firm in the day of evil. Pray at all times in the Spirit and do not give up. 

*Third: We can grow weary because of discouragement with results. If you are getting showered with praise and seeing all kinds of fruit from your effort, that’s great!  But often we are in situations where we do good, and we stay at it, we work, and give, and the things we want to happen or expect to happen, don’t. And that can make us want to quit. 

We do little things and we have to leave the results with God because God is the One who takes our obedience and He creates the eternal fruit. We obey. God makes the fruit. We just keep on doing good and leave the results with God. It’s when the Son of Man comes that we’ll hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Maybe not before then. 

*Fourth: Those who do a lot of good can get weary because of comparison with others.  We can compare the AMOUNT of work we do with others who are doing less. “I’m pouring out my life, I’m doing a lot, but here are all these people who aren’t doing that.” I met with someone not that long ago who was really angry that other people weren’t doing as much as he thought he was. Comparison is a dangerous game. And we can give up because our eyes are on other people, not on the prize that comes from Jesus on THAT DAY that he comes for us. 

There’s another way comparison can discourage people. Those newer to the faith, or who just haven’t jumped in with both feet yet, may see other believers who are doing a lot of good works, and they say, I could never do that.  So instead of doing what they can, they say, “I am going to do nothing.”  So we all need to hear this.

*For all these reasons we need to be warned, “Do not grow weary.”  Stay at it. Press on. Endure. Bear your cross! Finish the race! Keep doing good!   “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” 

God won’t forget the things you did in his name. Jesus said, “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones of mine because he is my disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward!”  God sees! God remembers! God rewards! And that day is coming soon! 

Verse 14 “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”  Paul was deadly serious about Christians obeying the apostolic teaching and instructions!  We dare not   trifle with the things in these letters.  

Paul said when someone flagrantly disobeys what is written, we have to deal with that. No, we are not breathing down each others neck looking for flaws. We’re not suspicious and critical of each other. We believe the best. But when a fellow believer disobeys what is written you must not continue to act like everything is okay. You should not fellowship with them, hang out with them, go shopping with them, or get coffee, like nothing is wrong! You have to stop pretending so they will stop pretending. The reality is, they are not obeying. And they need to be shown that!  

It’s a mistaken idea, that grace means we can let people live any way they want, and we are all just okay with that.  I got together with a man who had deserted his wife not that long ago.  I confronted him about his God-given responsibility to remain true to his wife.  His immediate response was listen I didn’t come here to have you put a guilt trip on me.  Where’s the grace? Paul would say warning someone is grace! And love!

Verse 15 Yet “do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” Paul was saying, “Don’t carry this in the wrong direction. We don’t want to destroy this person.”  We’re trying to help pull him up out of this disobedience. We always give people hope.  

Verse 16 “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”  Life can produce so much inner turmoil, conflict, frustration, anxiety. It’s such a terrible way to live. Yet many of us do, more than we should. BUT the Lord has something else to give you. He said, “My peace I give to you.” 

He is the Lord of peace. His peace is a real thing, a real presence from Him that puts our hearts at rest. Where are you going to heal your anxieties, your inner turmoil, your anger or frustration. Paul tells us to go to the Lord of peace.

May He give you “Peace at all times and in every way”. It’s an all inclusive peace. Peace in trouble, peace in suffering, peace when you’re misunderstood, or criticized.  Peace in the morning, peace at night. Peace in your mind and heart. This is a tremendous blessing to give to one another.   

Let’s begin to bless others with peace! 

Verse 17 “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.”  Forgeries were common. He assures them this is really from him. 

Verse 18 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  May you be aware of the grace of the Lord. May you experience his kindness, love and mercy in your heart.  Four times Paul said, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” (Philippians 4:23) The grace of Christ is to be with you to the very core of your being.   

The Pulpit commentary said, May the grace of Jesus be “near to the most intimate and most controlling part of your nature”.    Grace and peace are to be WITH you, something you HAVE, and experience. That is what I want for all of you.  

We’ve covered a lot today. But the message is simple. Do good. Don’t give up.  The DAY of reward is coming soon.  And the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus be with you, at all times and in every way, AS you wait for that DAY!  

Blessing:

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.