What are you going to do if they come for you? Jesus told us to turn the other cheek. The beatitudes tell us, “Blessed are the peace makers.” And in one of the most stunning Scriptures ever recorded, Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. And despite our peace loving, quiet living, respectful behavior, Jesus warned, “If they hated me, they will hate you.” (John 15:18)
Persecution is the norm for the Christian. Peter 4:12-16
I Pray that You Would live a Worthy life 11
The call of God is the governing factor in the life of every believer.
Your calling is your divine purpose. It is why God put you on earth.
If you don’t know your purpose, you will flounder.
If you do know and you live out your purpose, you will flourish.
Four calls in Scripture.
1. There is the call to ministry. Jn 15:16
2. There is our vocation. 1 Cor 7:20.
3. There is the call to salvation. Heb 3:15
4. There is the call to the Christian to live a worthy life.
Our Call is what it means to be a Christian.
It is a heavenly calling. Hebrews 3:1
It is the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:12-14
Our purpose is to live by the principles of Jesus Christ!
“Lord help me to live a worthy life“
I Pray that You Would Be Blessed! 11
God wants to be good to you and bless you. Mat 7:11
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Ps 23:6
“Oh that men would praise the LORD his goodness!” Ps 107:8
God’s goodness is not dependent on our circumstances.
God is good to everyone. Believers get ALL His good pleasure.
My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives. Jn 14:27
We get the peace of God which surpasses all understanding. Phil 4:7
“Lord help me to experience your goodness!”
I Pray that You Would Be Diligent for Christ 11
This prayer is the encouragement we need to serve in times of trial.
I will show you my faith by my works. Jas 2: 18
Let us not grow weary while doing good works. Gal 6:9
This is your work of faith and labor of love.” 1 Thess 1:3
You can tell how much you love Jesus by how you serve Him.
The motivation and energy to serve others starts in prayer
Not my will, but your will be done! Lk 22:42
“Lord help me to rise above my circumstances with faith that works!”
I Pray that You Would Glorify Jesus Christ 12
One simple, spiritual exercise that will change your life: glorify Jesus!
glorify ἔνδοξος endoxos or doxology means praise to God.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit – Glorify God. 1 Cor 6:19-20
There’s only one way to glorify Jesus; if you have God’s grace.
“Lord I want to glorify You!”
These are values persecuted and troubled believers need in their lives. You should pray these prayers for yourself. “Lord help me to live a worthy life in the good times and the bad times. Lord help me to experience your goodness no matter my circumstances. Help me to rise above my circumstances and be empowered with a faith that works!” And, most important of all, Lord Jesus I want to glorify You!” In Jesus Name; Amen.
We Christians don’t like to think of ourselves as the bad guys. In fact you won’t find a more law abiding group of people than Christians. Jesus told us to turn the other cheek. The beatitudes tell us, “blessed are the peace makers.” And in one of the most stunning Scriptures ever recorded Jesus commanded us to love our enemies.
And despite our peace loving, quiet living, respectful behavior, Jesus warned, “If they hated me, they will hate you.” (John 15:18) Persecution is the normal condition of Christian living. Expect it. In fact the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:12-16
12 Beloved, do not be shocked when a fiery trial comes to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you will also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s affairs. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God because of it.
Don’t be shocked. Persecution is the norm for the Christian!
We all know that times are getting worse. We have heard the warnings that Christian repression is coming. In fact, Incidents of arson, vandalism and other hostile acts against U.S. churches rose to over 436 last year, more than double the number recorded in 2022, and more than eight times the number of incidents recorded in 2018. According to a report by the Family Research Council, at least 315 occurrences of vandalism, 75 arson attacks, 10 gun-related incidents, 20 bomb threats and 37 other hostile incidents took place at churches in the US last year.[i]
And worldwide, the situation is even more desperate. Over 365 million Christians face hostility, discrimination and persecution. 5,898 were martyred last year. There were 5,110 churches attacked, and 4,765 Christians arrested for their faith.
So the question remains, “What you going to do when they come for you?” Our message today answers that question. And the basic answer to that question is this: You need to be prayed up so that when that time comes you are ready for it. And in fact the best way to prepare for hard times is to begin praying right and living well, right now. Today I will give you four powerful character qualities that you can pray into your life right now that will enable you to successfully endure difficult times when they come. And believe me, they will come.
So let’s understand where we are in the book of 2 Thessalonians. Paul has been talking about persecution. And his warning to us is to GET READY for persecution, because it’s coming. In fact, verse 4 sets the scene and explains the context:
We ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.
In the context of persecution, Paul pauses to pray for the people of the Thessalonician church. This is his prayer for them, and this is my prayer for you when you face troubles, problems and persecution.
I Pray that You Would live a Worthy life 11
There are a few things we need define in order to live right. The first is our calling, and the second is our worthiness.
What is our calling? In every age the call of God has been the governing factor in the life of every believer. It is our solemn responsibility to learn what is the nature of our calling, and having discovered it, to walk consistently in it.
Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling
Your calling is your divine purpose. It is why God put you here on this earth. Why has God placed you here? Do you know? If you don’t know your purpose, you will flounder; if you do know and you do everything in your power to live out your purpose, you will flourish.
There are several different calls in Scripture. 1. There is the call to ministry. We saw an example of that last week in the commissioning of Pastor Craig. God calls and gifts some to leadership in the church. 2. There is our vocation. 1 Corinthians 7:20 says that is a calling as well. While the world thinks that you must find the right profession in order to be happy, God’s viewpoint is a little different. In God’s eyes finding the right profession is not as important as living a God honoring life in whatever profession you land in. You bring honor to your profession by living for Jesus. 3. There is the call to salvation. Even now the Holy Spirit is calling and convicting and wooing sinners to himself. Today if you hear God’s still small voice calling you, answer him and trust Him as Savior. 4. And then there is the call to the Christian to live a worthy life. That’s the one we are looking at today.
Our Call is what it means to be a Christian—to find out who we are in Christ, and to live out this truth daily. This is how God calls all Christians to live. Many Christians don’t live worthy of their calling because they don’t know or understand it—they don’t know all that Christ did for them, or how he calls them to live in light of what he did. Every believer must discover this calling and live our lives to fulfill it.
Hebrews 3:1 says “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.” Our calling is a heavenly calling, and it is patterned after Jesus Christ. Live the way Jesus told us to live, and you will fulfill this calling.
In Philippians 3:12-14 Paul says, “12 Not that I have already attained perfection; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have already arrived; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Ours is an upward calling. Our God given purpose in life is this: to live by the principles of Jesus Christ! This is why were put on earth! This is our calling. Once you understand this, you will throw yourself into the study of the Scriptures and do everything you can to apply them to your life.
In order to live worthily. Axios (worthy) has the root meaning of balancing the scales—what is on one side of the scale should be equal in weight to what is on the other side. our actions should match our words. The believer who walks in a worthily of his high position as a child of God will do his best to live that out.[ii]
In order to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, we must practice godly character. This is what Paul is praying would take hold of the Thessalonians while they are persecuted. And this is my prayer for you. Lord help me to live a worthy life in the good times and the bad times, in prosperity and persecution. This is a worthwhile life. This is my calling.
I Pray that You Would Be Blessed even though persecuted! 11
Did you know that God wants to be good to you? And he just doesn’t want to be good to you, he wants fulfill ALL his GOOD PLEASURE and GOODNESS in you! God wants you to experience his good pleasure and his goodness even when you are in the midst of persecution or problems.
Therefore we also pray always for you that God would fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness in you
In the great Shepherd’s Psalm, David sang, Ps 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
And in Ps 107:8 David prayed, “Oh that men would praise the LORD his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!”
God’s goodness is not dependent on our circumstances. You can be in the midst of trial and trouble and persecution, and still experience God’s goodness!
Matthew 7:11 says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
God is good to everyone. He gives us dazzling sunshine in the summer, beautiful snow in the winter; He sends us fields of marigolds and daffodils in the spring. Everybody gets some of the goodness of God. But the believer gets ALL His good pleasure, and all His goodness. We get his fullness!
That’s what Jesus meant in John 14:27 when he said, “Peace I leave to you; My peace I give to you. Not as as the world gives do I give to you.”
And that’s what Paul meant in Philippians 4:7, that we get the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.”
You can experience the goodness of God if you want it. His goodness is always there. What’s the old saying? “God is Good…” (ALL THE TIME!).
I pray that you would be blessed! “Lord help me to experience your goodness!”
I Pray that You Would Be Diligent for Christ 11
I don’t know about you, but when I feel mistreated or overwhelmed, I just want to curl up and hide. I don’t want to face the world; I don’t want to serve Jesus; I don’t want to do anything. But that’s the point of this prayer for the persecuted!
Therefore we also pray always for you that God would fulfill the work of faith with power
God knows when we are harassed; He knows when we are overwhelmed; and this prayer is just the bit of encouragement we need in times of trial. Listen to the words of this prayer again: That God would fulfill the work of faith with power! “the work of faith with power!”
What is the work of faith? James 2: 18 notes, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary while doing good works, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
1 Thess 1:3 calls this “your work of faith and labor of love.” When you love Jesus, you want to serve God. That’s one of the ways that you can tell just how much you love Him! We Christians should check ourselves to make sure that we are not growing weary, but instead we are energized by God’s spirit.
This is the work of faith with power? How do you get the power of God to do works of faith? Where do you get the motivation and energy to serve others? It starts in prayer, and in complete dependence on the Holy Spirit. When you pray, “not my will, but your will be done in my life!” God infuses you with His power.
I pray that you would be empowered by His might in well doing. “Lord help me to rise above my circumstances with faith that works!”
I Pray that You Would Glorify Jesus Christ 12
This is the bottom line. Your life will instantly be better when you do one simple, spiritual exercise. When you glorify the name of Jesus Christ! Try it! “Lord, I glorify Jesus. I want Jesus name to be lifted up and adored. It’s what I want to do. I want Jesus to be glorified in me.”
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The word glorify comes from the Greek word, ἔνδοξος endoxos from which we get our word doxology meaning praise to God. One of the most powerful things you can do with your lips is to praise the Lord! It will change your life. You should glorify God with your lips, and you should glorify God with your life. In fact 1 Cor 6:19-20 say
Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Listen, there’s only one way you’re ever going to glorify Jesus, and that is if you have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. Only when God does a supernatural work in your life, changing your indifferent heart to one of humble gratitude to Jesus for the amazing work that He did by dying on the cross for our sins, only when grace invades your life will you ever want to honor Jesus this way. If you have it wonderful, praise Him! If you don’t, you have no idea how much you need the Grace of God.
I pray that you would glorify Jesus. “Lord I want to glorify You!”
This is Paul praying for persecuted believers. These are values persecuted, harassed, harried, troubled believers need in their lives. We need these four principles to become part of our character so that we will be able to live them out in times of trial. You should pray these prayers for yourself.
Would you bow with me in prayer:
Lord help me to live a worthy life in the good times and the bad times. Lord help me to experience your goodness no matter my circumstances. Help me to rise above my circumstances and be empowered with a faith that works!” And, most important of all, Lord Jesus I want to glorify You!” This is my prayer now, and this is my prayer should I face trial, trouble or Persecution. In Jesus Precious Name; Amen.
[i] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/feb/20/attacks-on-us-churches-more-than-doubled-in-2023-f/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20report%2C%20at,incidents%20fell%20into%20multiple%20categories.
[ii] https://bible.org/seriespage/12-how-live-life-worthy-christ-s-calling