“It is God’s work among us that creates sanctification, that makes us obey. But at the same time, moral effort is in no way antithetical to faith. It is, rather, the outworking and expression of true faith. In response to God’s gift and initiative, believers have a responsibility to let the power of Grace come to expression in our lives. Full dependence on God is wholly compatible with human exertions. The Christian is not passive, but fully cooperates with God for achieving his divine purpose…this is how God has willed that it will take place: your sanctification will take place as you strive.”

“Today, there is a tendency to fall into one of two ditches when it comes to understanding the work of Satan: either we fail to recognize at all that we have an adversary who is constantly seeking to destroy us, or we give him far too much credit and assume he has far more power than is attributed to him in the Bible—as directly responsible for everything that goes wrong in our lives…The truth lies somewhere between these poles. Paul seldom attributes human fallenness to the work of Satan, while on the other hand, he is quite ready to see Satan at work in the kind of persecution that would thwart the furtherance of the gospel. The plain reality, which Paul knew well, was that the Thessalonian believers were being constantly harassed by their ‘fellow citizens’ (2:14). But from another perspective this harassment was being directed by Satan himself. Paul simply assumed that such ‘trials’ or affliction for the sake of Jesus and the gospel would be part of the common experience of Christians.”

“There are many ways to avoid persecution and suffering for the gospel. We can avoid confrontation and church discipline, compromise with those who call themselves Christians but are not. We can avoid teaching unpopular doctrines of Scripture, such as this one on suffering, so as to keep people comfortable. We can compromise our purity from the world, so we don’t stick out like a sore thumb and gain the ire of those around us. We can assimilate, refuse to confront sin in the church, and refuse to draw attention to ourselves. And we can avoid sharing the gospel with the condemned and dying world around us. We can become like the enemies of Christ and his people who were unwilling to suffer for the sake of others. Like the opponents Paul condemns here, we end up being the enemies of mankind; those who possess the saving message but fail to share it, which would become evidence of our own condemnation. But this, church, is not what God has in store for genuine disciples.”

“The expectation, once again, is that all genuine believers, those who should have confidence that they are brothers, loved and chosen by God, will be imitating the holy, righteous and blameless conduct of the apostles as the apostles themselves emulate Christ. Those who follow Christ will not only emulate the apostles and Christ himself in what they abstain from, but they will be seeking to imitate them in the sense of their service, labor and toil, and caring for the people of God as if they were their own family. They will be utilizing every opportunity to be on mission, working day and night for the Lord, integrating gospel labor with manual labor, never setting aside the ministry to which they have been called…”

“Church, we must be on guard against deception. Now you might think, ‘But Josh, our message is divine revelation, how could deception come into play?’ In many ways. When believers are not bold, they are tempted to reduce the offense of the gospel. We think it wise to only share certain things or certain aspects of the gospel with our friends and family, so as to win them over with deception. It is a temptation to deceive regarding our own activity, presenting ourselves in a finer light than is reality; presenting ourselves as more sanctified, or more knowledgeable than we really are. It is a temptation to walk in deception in order to keep the peace, to fit in with the others around us, to reduce offense. But when deceit is considered a pathway to peaceful coexistence, then disaster is around the corner

Church, the Bible classifies deception as a sin, and it is found on nearly every sin-list in the NT. For this reason the Christian preachers shunned it as a legitimate means to gain converts. The motives were not personal enrichment; the message was not tailored for mass appeal…“

“Have you ever played Mario Kart? There have been several iterations, but the original was the first to have the unique feature of being able to race against the track record, the fastest completion of whatever track you are on. An ephemeral version of the track champion (a ‘ghost’ if you will) would be projected directly in front of you so that you could learn every twist and turn of the track. And if you were to follow directly on the heels of the fastest time ever, well then you too would finish the race in record time…It was of great benefit, then, that the new Thessalonian Christians were able, even if only for a few short weeks, to observe the behavior of Paul and his associates…Christ Jesus, of course, is our exemplar. He alone ran a perfect race. I like how the NIV translates Hebrews 12:1-2: ‘And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.’ But Jesus did not merely leave the church with a WWJD bracelet. He granted the Holy Spirit. I do not have to wonder ‘what would Jesus do?’ because I am given Spirit empowered models in the church to observe.”

“Many who have grown up in the church, like me, have endured prayer meetings where the content of the petitions are expressed only as a “technique for acquiring blessings;” long incantations for the purpose of procuring God’s favor. Or, alternatively, in reaction to such demanding and boisterous prayers of past experience, one can readily fall into the ‘fatalistic’ sort of prayer, where we only ask that ‘God’s will be done’ — which sounds quite pious, but quickly becomes insipid and anemic. I must admit to having lived in both of these ditches described, until I began to learn from the content and framework of the prayers found in Scripture. The prayers of Paul, for instance, are neither fatalistic nor magical, but relational. This means that we pray according to God’s will, in line with his values, and in conformity with his own character and purpose.”