If You Are Going to Brag
2 Thessalonians 1:3-4 CSB
3 We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing. 4 Therefore, we ourselves boast about you among God’s churches—about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions that you are enduring.
I have already stated that I am not a fan of bragging. I had a relative who bragged, and it was hard to stomach. Maybe that is one of the reasons I am so opposed to bragging today. But usually when someone is bragging, they are bragging about themselves and what they have or what they have done.
In our verses for today, Paul is bragging about the Thessalonian church. Well, actually, Paul says he is boasting. But Paul was not boasting about himself or what he had done. He was boasting about the perseverance and faith that was displayed by the church at Thessalonica in the persecutions and afflictions they were enduring. The NLT says it was the persecutions and hardships the church members were suffering. Who brags about that?
But Paul was setting the Thessalonians up as an example to other churches. They were going through some difficult times, but... their faith was growing, and so was their love for one another. Notice Paul was not commending the Thessalonians for their methods or their preaching and teaching. He was not mentioning the growth of the church or how they were structured. Paul was all about their faith and love. And when you set markers such as those, then that becomes the target people shoot for. Paul was impressed with their growing faith and the love that they had for each other. Paul was impressed with how they were handling the problems and troubles that came their way. So if you are going to brag, these are qualities that are worth bragging about.
These verses do tell us that faith and love are visible and somewhat measurable. Flourishing faith and increasing love are obviously found in more than words and slogans. Flourishing faith, love, and endurance are evident. This church was not down and complaining. There had to be some joy about what they were doing. Faith and joy go hand in hand. There must have been a strong sense of fellowship and peace. Love makes a big impact on an environment. And the fact that these people were evidently not talking about their troubles gave Paul reason to believe they were strong even though they were being treated poorly. This church impressed Paul to the extent that he spoke about them as a proud father would to the churches he would visit.
Application
What would Paul say about our church? Don’t answer that. Another good question would be, what do we celebrate at The Ark? The growing faith and love of the people? How the church members are handling difficulties? I am not sure what Paul would say, but I do know what we should be celebrating. Let’s grow in our faith and love. Let’s handle the troubles that come our way without succumbing to complaining and blaming. Let’s be a church that Jesus could recommend to other churches. Not for what we have, but for what we do and how we live. May God give us more grace and better targets to shoot for.