You see, folks, in order for you to grow, you have to have pain, okay?
In order for you to grow in your faith with God, your understanding of God's Word, in
order for you to grow personally, pain is the main element that you need.
You need affliction and persecution.
You need to feel that which is sorrowful and do that which is difficult and hard.
And that is what really will drive you over the edge, in a sense, of your spiritual
growth, where you can grow exceedingly.
And so it can be said of the Thessalonians that their faith is growing because maybe
some of their church members have been put to death.
We saw that in chapter 2 of 1 Thessalonians, that potentially some of them are dying.
Chapter 4, of course, talks about the second coming of Christ, and he talks about not
sorrowing as other sorrow.
And of course, he's given them that reassurance because of the fact that potentially some
of them in the church have died.
They have died for their faith.
And so their faith is growing exceedingly.
The charity of every one of them toward each other is abounding.
I mean, this is a church that's thriving.
It's going forward.
It's not stagnant.
Okay?
He says in verse 4, so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for
your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.
So we see here the patience and the faith of the Thessalonians.
Now, what's another word for patience, endurance, right?
So their patience and their faith and the persecution, tribulations that they're
experiencing.
In verse 5, it says, which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye
may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer.
Now, this is very important for us to know, and if there's anything you get from
this chapter, make sure you understand this aspect right here.
Because he says in verse 5 that the persecution and the tribulation that they're experiencing
is the manifest token of the judgment of God.
Now, if you're halfway ignorant about the Bible, that might confuse you a little bit
like, what in the world?
So is God the one judging the Thessalonians by bringing persecution?
Is he the one judging these Christians because, you know, all these afflictions and tribulations?
If the tribulations and persecutions are the manifest token, in other words, they're
the indication of the judgment of God, what does that mean?
Well, often when we think of the term or the phrase judgment of God, we think
of God's wrath, right?
God's punishment.
But really, judgment just means his assessment, okay?
And so what this is stating is the fact that the Thessalonians going through tribulation
and persecution is an indication that basically God is with them, okay?
He's saying, which is the manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye
may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer, he says.
So what this is saying is this, you know, when you go through tribulation and persecutions,
the thought should not arise in your mind, oh, man, maybe God's not with me, you know?
Oh, man, why is God allowing this trouble into my life?
Why is he allowing me to be persecuted or to suffer afflictions and tribulation?
Why am I going through this?
Well, I'll tell you why it's an evident token of God's judgment.
And what is he judging?
He's judging that you're worthy of suffering that persecution.
So think about that.
You say, what do you mean?
If you're going through some persecution, some affliction, just know this, God deemed
it worthy, deemed you worthy to suffer that.
In other words, he's assessing you, the judgment of God assesses you and says, this
man, this woman is capable of withstanding persecution.