Hindered but not hopeless – 1 Thessalonians 2 v 17 – 20

It is generally thought that the Apostle Paul served Jesus as an Apostle for about 25 years, and during that time, not only did Paul experience much success, but he also experienced much adversity.

In 2 Corinthians Chapter 11 Paul records in great detail the persecution and physical abuse he suffered at the hands of the enemies of Jesus, and also the personal trials and tribulations he encountered. He wrote:

‘I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.

I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.

I have laboured and toiled and have gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches’.

Jesus’ prophesy to Ananias recorded in Acts Chapter 9 of how Paul will ‘suffer much for his name’ was fulfilled in every way in Paul’s life and ministry. But despite everything he went through, he refused to allow it to dictate and control his life and his ministry.

And the reason he refused, is because Paul had learned, and lived out, a great and timeless truth, namely how God is far greater than any difficulties he faced, which is also a truth you and I can hold onto during our times of difficulty.

As Paul wrote in Romans Chapter 8 ‘we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us’, and as the Apostle John also wrote in 1 John Chapter 4, ‘the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world’.

Friends, like Paul, you and I will also experience from time to time, all kinds of trials and tribulations. We too will experience trouble, difficulties, and hardship.

But when we do, because God is greater than anything the world and Satan throws at us, then also like Paul, we can refuse to let them dictate and control our lives.

This morning then we are going to consider yet another trial Paul encountered and how despite what he was up against, his faith and hope in his great and awesome God to resolve it, remained.

Now if you were here a few Sundays ago when I spoke on the backdrop to both Paul’s letter and the Thessalonian church, you would have heard how Paul’s relationship with the Thessalonian’s was one of deep friendship and affection.

In fact, so close and intimate was Paul’s relationship with them – which is clearly evident from the language Paul uses throughout the letter – that one commentator described 1 Thessalonians as being ‘a classic of friendship’.

Paul clearly loved the Thessalonian believers. And as our passage reveals, he had a burning desire to be with them. He desperately wanted to be reunited with them. But as it also reveals, he was hindered in fulfilling his desire.

Paul wrote in verses 17 & 18, ‘But, brothers, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you – certainly I, Paul, did, again and again – but Satan stopped us’.

You may recall that in my opening sermon on Paul’s letter, I drew upon Acts Chapter 17 verses 4 – 10 which record Luke’s account of the impact Paul’s preaching had upon some of the Jewish and Gentile inhabitants of Thessalonica.

Some accepted the Gospel message which led to the formation of the Thessalonian church, whilst others – mostly Jews – angrily and violently rejected it which led to a riot in the city, and Paul and Silas having to leave Thessalonica during the night for their own safety.

Because of the threat to their lives, Paul and Silas were forced out of Thessalonica, and in verse 17, Paul describes what happened, as being ‘torn away’ from them. The Greek word he used for ‘torn away’, literally means, ‘to be orphaned’.

The word emphasises the depth and strength of feeling Paul had for the believers at Thessalonica. For Paul, being separated from them, felt like the deep sense of loss children feel when their parents die.

Being separated from the church clearly affected Paul emotionally, which is reinforced by his reference to how ‘out of INTENSE LONGING, he – along with Silas and Timothy – made every effort to see them’.

In the King James translation of this verse, it says, ‘endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire’. The Greek word for ‘endeavoured’ means ‘to be diligent; to make a concentrated effort’.

Despite Paul making a ‘concentrated effort’ to return to the Thessalonian believers, he was stopped from doing so. However, instead of Paul ranting and raving at God and feeling sorry for himself, he chose instead to put his hope and trust in God that He would make a way for either him, Silas, or Timothy to return to Thessalonica – which is exactly what God did.

In verse 2 of Chapter 3, we learn how Paul was eventually able to send Timothy back to Thessalonica to ‘strengthen and encourage them in their faith’ – which is the reason why Paul was able to write how he, Silas, and Timothy, were separated from them ‘for a short time’.

Although Paul was continually hindered in fulfilling his desire to be with the church, he continued to trust in, and put his hope in, God and in His ability to overcome the difficulty he was faced with – which God very quickly it seems, did.

And what God did for Paul, He will do for us IF we follow Paul’s example. Friends, as I said earlier, and as I have said on many occasions from this platform, although we are Christians, we are NOT exempt from the trials and tribulations of life.

Jesus NEVER promised we would be free from life’s troubles and adversities. He did however, warn us to EXPECT trouble. In John Chapter 16 verse 33, Jesus said to His Disciples, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”.

Friends, we will encounter troubles, problems, difficulties, challenges, and hinderances. They are inevitable. But if, like Paul, we put our trust and our hope in Jesus the overcomer of the world, then He will either overcome whatever we find ourselves up against for us, or He will help us to overcome them.

As the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 46 verse 1, ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble’. Whatever we are faced with, we don’t face it alone because God is ever-present with us through His Holy Spirit, and He will bring us through the other side.

Now in verse 18, Paul reiterates to the church how he especially wanted to be with them, but he also tells them that despite numerous efforts to make it happen, Satan stopped them. As well as being separated from the Thessalonian believers by the actions of violent men, Paul and his companions were also separated from them by the actions of Satan.

Paul was blocked by Satan from returning to Thessalonica – which reminds us of how Satan, the spiritual enemy of God and the enemy of God’s people, is constantly seeking to hinder and destroy the witness, ministry, and indeed the lives, of God’s people.

You see folks, the last thing Satan wants, is to see people respond to the preaching of the Gospel, and to see the church of Jesus Christ grow numerically and spiritually. His agenda is to limit the church of people and power, and in the case of Paul, it involved him ‘hindering’ or ‘blocking’ Paul’s return to Thessalonica.

Now we are not told what form Satan’s ‘blocking’ of Paul took, but whatever it was, Paul recognised how it was solely the work of Satan, which reinforces the reality of Satan, and how we as God’s people, must remain alert and be on our guard against his plots and schemes.

As the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter Chapter 5 verse 8, ‘Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings’.

Brothers and sisters, the Bible makes it very clear that Satan, who is also known as the Devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Destroyer, the Deceiver, the Father of Lies, is a real spiritual being whose sole purpose is to cause as much chaos as he can, to kill and destroy as much as he can, too spiritually blind and deceive people to the truth of the Gospel as much as he can, to stop the Ministry of God’s people as much as he can, and ultimately, to fill Hell with as many people as he can.

To deny the existence of Satan and his demons who are his foot soldiers and who are his instruments of evil, deception, lies, chaos, and destruction, is a very foolish thing to do, and its especially foolish if Christians deny his existence.

As I said, the Bible and also Jesus who encountered Satan during Satan’s temptation of him on the Mount and during his passion in the Garden of Gethsemane, could not be any clearer about Satan and his activities.

He is real; he exists; he is at war with God and God’s people, and any Christian who denies what the Bible says and teaches about him, is not only very foolish, but they have been deceived by the Deceiver, and they have fallen for the lies from the Father of Lies.

Having expressed his longing to be with the church and his deep frustration about how he was hindered from being with them, Paul turns his attention back to the believers. He writes: ‘For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes? IS IT NOT YOU? INDEED, YOU ARE OUR GLORY, AND JOY’.

As Paul reflects upon their spiritual growth and development, their love for one another and the Lord, and their steadfastness in the face of opposition from the enemies of Jesus, he is not only filled with hope and joy over the kind of church they have become, but he is also filled with hope and joy over the ‘crown’ he and his companions will receive when Jesus comes back to rapture His church.

In the King James translation of this verse, it says, ‘Crown of Rejoicing’, and the ‘Crown of Rejoicing’, is one of five ‘crowns’ mentioned in the New Testament which will be awarded by the Lord to His people following His return to rapture His church.

The ‘crowns’ are basically ‘tributes’ given by Jesus to His people for tasks they faithfully carried out during their time on Earth, and each ‘crown’ is received in the presence of God the Father.

The first of the five crowns is the ‘Imperishable Crown’ which Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians Chapter 9 verses 24 & 25.

He writes, ‘Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last’.

2000 years ago, Corinthian society was highly competitive. The city boasted an Olympic style event every other year which included foot races.

Now, as any athlete will tell you, the point of participating in a race is to win, and winning takes a lot of hard work. If they were to have any chance of winning, they had to exercise great control over themselves and their bodies, and this was facilitated by a strict training regime.

As well as regular physical training, it also involved strict diets, sleep schedules, abstaining from harmful drugs, and caution in their behaviour. Through it all, their focus would be upon winning the race and attaining the winner’s prize or reward which, back in Paul’s day, was a wreath made from pine leaves that would have been placed upon the winners head like a crown.

The wreath symbolised their victory. But as Paul indicates, over time, the wreath will perish and die thus rendering the winner’s victory short lived. As Christian’s we too are running a race – the race of faith – and we too are running to receive a crown, the ‘imperishable crown’ which, unlike the athlete’s earthly crown, will never perish, spoil, or fade.

However, if we are to receive the ‘imperishable crown’, then we too must enter a strict spiritual  training regime which also involves self-control, self-denial, and faithful endurance. Unlike the athlete’s crown of victory which is given to one person, the Lords’ imperishable crown of victory will be given to all those who faithfully endure for His sake. Let us make sure you and I are among them.

The next is the ‘Crown of Rejoicing’ which, as I said a moment ago, is the crown Paul had in mind in our reading. In Paul’s joyful letter to the church in Philippi, he wrote in Chapter 4 verse 4, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice’.

As Christians, we have more in this life to rejoice about than anyone else. We have been redeemed by God; we have been forgiven by God; we are no longer under God’s condemnation; we are loved by God whose love for us is wide, and long, and high, and deep; we are citizens of God’s eternal Kingdom; and one day we will dwell eternally with God on the New Earth that He is going to re-create.

Friends, whilst we may go through times of trial in this life, we can still rejoice in the Lord because what we have been given by the Lord in this life, and what the Lord has in store for us in the life to come, far outweigh its all.

If we are able to rejoice, despite the trials and tribulations we encounter from time to time, the ‘crown of rejoicing’ will be our reward.

The third crown is the ‘crown of righteousness’. In 2 Timothy Chapter 4 verses 6 – 8, Paul wrote:

‘For I am already being poured out like a drink offering and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day – and not only me, but also all who have longed for his appearing’.

When Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, he was in a Roman prison awaiting imminent execution. And as he reflects back upon His life of service which he lived in anticipation of Jesus’s return, and as he looks forward to entering Heaven and being with Jesus, he also looks forward to receiving the ‘Crown of Righteousness’ that will be given to Him by Jesus.

As believers in Christ, we are declared ‘righteous’ by God. At the Cross, Jesus who was sinless in every way, took upon himself our ‘unrighteousness’ in the form of our sins, and he imparted to us His ‘righteousness’ which is to be manifested through the way we live our lives.

In Romans Chapter 4 verse 5 Paul wrote: ‘to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness’. In 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 21 he wrote, ‘God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God’.

In Philippians Chapter 3 verses 8 & 9 he wrote, ‘What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith’.

And in 1 Peter Chapter 2 verse 4, the Apostle Peter wrote, ‘He himself bore our sins in his body on a tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed’.

If, like the Apostle Paul we live holy, righteous lives in anticipation of Jesus return, and if also like Paul we die before He returns, then when we enter heaven God will also reward us with the ‘Crown of Righteousness’.

The fourth crown is the ‘Crown of Glory’. Again, in 1 Peter Chapter 5 verse 4, Peter wrote, ‘And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away’.

In this passage, Peter is specifically addressing church Elders who are also shepherds of God’s people, so it appears therefore that the ‘Crown of Glory’ is a reward faithful, enduring, Godly Pastors and Elders will receive from Jesus either in heaven should they die before he returns,  or when he returns, for shepherding, ministering to, and teaching His people.

And the fifth and final crown is the ‘Crown of Life’. In Revelation Chapter 2 verse 10 which records Jesus’ letter to the church in Smyrna, he wrote, ‘Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life’.

The ’Crown of Life’ will be given to all believers who continued to love God and remain faithful to God during their time on Earth, but it will be especially dear to those who endured sufferings and persecutions in all its different forms, even to the point of death.

Brothers and Sisters, 5 heavenly Crowns or tributes await all those who love the Lord, who live for the Lord, and who eagerly await the Lord’s return – The Imperishable Crown; The Crown of Rejoicing; The Crown of Righteousness; The Crown of Glory; and The Crown of Life. May they be Crowns that will crown the heads of every believer in Hadleigh Baptist Church.

As I finish, we all face difficulties and hardships – that is simply part of living. As long as you and I continue to live on this Earth, we will encounter personal trials and tribulations, and we will encounter opposition to the work of the Lord from the physical and spiritual enemies of the Lord

Paul wasn’t exempt from these, and neither are we. But as we have just heard, we, like Paul, don’t have to resign ourselves to defeat.

Friends, we may be hindered, we may be discouraged, we may be persecuted, and we may be hard pressed on every side, but because nothing will be able to separate us from the love and power of God, and because we are more than conquerors through our great and majestic God who loves us, we are not and never will be, without hope. AMEN.