This coming Sunday our sermon text will come from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14. It is especially timely that we consider this passage as we approach a national holiday that annually reminds us that human history has been one of perpetual war.

If you get familiar with the historical setting of this letter, you will find that conflict (spiritual war), trouble, coming tribulations, and the threat of greater hostilities against the Church loom large on the horizon. Surely the first-century saints in the little Thessalonian Church were terribly alarmed, both by what they were experiencing and by the future troubles that Paul had promised were on the way (1 Thess. 1:6; 2:14; 2 Thess. 1:4-5; 2:1-12).

It is this very thing that we have in common with our first-century Christian brethren. We also know a lot about anxiety and fear. And we are all very familiar with the persistent disquietude of soul that seems to plague us, particularly in light of the conflicts and hostilities that greet us with every sunrise.

In response to this, the Apostle Paul supplies some concrete help in navigating through such times as ours, and doing so with hope and peace. We encounter his inspired assistance in the words of verses 13-14:

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is enormous help here for all troubled and anxious hearts! I can’t wait to discover it with you this Lord’s Day!