The Adversary’s Activities(1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:5)                              2010.02.07                                  Pastor Edward Cheng 

We learned from the previous section in 1 Thessalonians that if there is one characteristic of Christian ministry that stands above the rest and should be considered the most important, it has to be love for the people to which you’re ministering.  We see that over and over again through Paul’s writing – words he uses to indicate his love for the Thessalonians, emotions he expresses concerning being apart from them, analogies that describe his relationship with them.  Again, in this section, we see more of the same.  However, this time the love he has for the Thessalonians is specifically directed toward their spiritual well-being more than anything else.  As Paul describes how his love and concern for them is about spiritual things, we also find out that the “enemy” has exactly the opposite heart.

Paul tells us in 2:17 how he made every effort to see the Thessalonians because he felt that he was torn away from them.  Again, as I’ve said before, sometimes it helps to know the Greek (or Hebrew) background of a word and sometimes it doesn’t.  In this case, it certainly does.  The word for “torn away” is where we get our word “orphan.”  Like an orphan who is torn away from this parents against both the desires of the child and the parent, so Paul felt about his premature departure from Thessalonica and the people he loved.  He wanted to stay, but was run out by the Jews who opposed his teaching.  He tells his readers in 2:18 how he tried again and again to return to them, but was thwarted each time.  Why the eagerness to return to the Thessalonica?  Just to see them?  Just to spend some more time with them, as if on a vacation?  No.  We find out in 3:10 that Paul’s intent to visit has everything to do with building them up and encouraging them in the faith.  His desire is to finish the teaching that was begun a time ago and was stopped short because of the persecution they faced.  He recognizes that the teaching was not complete and regularly fears that because of the less-than-solid spiritual foundation they have they might be more susceptible to the temptations of Satan and fall away.  Through all this we see how his entire focus and love for them keys on their spiritual well-being.  He’s not so concerned with how they are doing otherwise: their success in their work, the achievements in the community.  While those are not trivial, they certainly are not on the mind of Paul as he longs to return to them.

Why then could he not return?  Apparently his efforts were thwarted by the work of Satan, whom he identifies by name.  The name, “Satan,” at its heart means “adversary,” which aptly describes Satan’s efforts.  If Paul has the heart to build them up spiritually, Satan has the “heart” (if I may use that word) to tear them down spiritually.  Paul wants to do what he can to strengthen them, while Satan does his work to weaken them.  It’s somewhat irrelevant what exactly Satan did to stop Paul from visiting the Thessalonians again.  Whatever it was, Paul recognizes that anything put in the way of spiritual growth and development is essentially the work of Satan.  For us, this is perhaps the best way to define what is and isn’t from the devil.  What is in our lives that detracts from our spiritual life and well-being?  What lessens our spiritual vitality and fervor?  Whatever it is, we know that this is not from the Lord, for the Lord’s desire is to increase our spiritual vitality, not take it away.  The Lord will never work to discourage us spiritually.  On the other hand, Satan will always work toward that end.

Paul was stopped by Satan from returning to Thessalonica to encourage his beloved friends in the faith.  He was worried that his work would have been for naught should Satan succeed in tempting them away from the faith he worked so hard to build in them.  However, we also recognize that the God we serve is so much more powerful than anything Satan can muster.  For we see how unnecessary Paul’s fears were.  Although he was scared that they would stop believing, in fact, when Timothy returned to him with a report of their faith, Paul learned just how strong it was (3:6).  Not only were they not teetering on the edge, they were serving as examples of those who believe to their neighbors (1:7).  While Satan may have been actively working to tear them down, our God was stronger than all of his efforts and continued to build up His children.  We praise the Lord this morning because He is always working for our good.  While it’s important to identify the things that do in fact detract from our spiritual lives, we don’t have to fear Satan as our adversary because the Lord works as our Advocate!