Unreasonable and
Wicked Men |
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Elder
Mark D. Rowell |
“Finally,
brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have
free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: and
that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men:
for all men have not faith.” 1 Ths 3:1-2
The Apostle
Paul, in closing his final letter to the Church of the
Thessalonians, presents a final encouragement (and warning)
to the believers who had endured so much. The geographical
location and political disposition of the region brought all
sorts of philosophies to the city which caused problems with
the Thessalonian Church. Over a period of about 360 years
leading up to the time of Paul’s letters, the city was 1) a
major political hub of Macedonia under Alexander the Great,
2) became a Macedonian regional capital city of Rome, and 3)
was made THE capital city of all the Greek provinces under
the Roman Empire. On top of all that, the Jews had
established a synagogue in the city. There is much more that
could be said about the history of this city but suffice it
to say that between the Greeks, Romans, and the Jews, there
was obviously much going on around the Church of the
Thessalonians that caused great suffering in the church.
A biblical
experience of Paul while in the city of Thessalonica is
found in Acts 17:1-9. Paul spent three sabbath days
preaching and teaching in the synagogue. What’s interesting
about this account is that “…some of them believed, and
consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a
great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.” (Acts
17:4) Paul’s preaching had an great effect on the Greeks.
However, reading on into the next verse it also had an
effect on the Jews, though not in the same positive light:
“But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy…and
assaulted the house of Jason…” Reading through the book of
Acts shows us that the Christian Church suffered greatly in
almost ALL regions where local bodies were being
established. However, this particular region, all the way
down to Athens, proved to be especially problematic to
Biblical Theology.
When Paul was
in Athens (Acts 17:22-34), he stood on Mars’ Hill and began
his sermon with “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all
things ye are too superstitious.” (v22) Paul was saying
they were so broad in their “religion” that they failed to
be established in the TRUTH! I encourage the reader to read
on to the end of this chapter, where you will notice it says
“And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some
mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this
matter.” (v32) So much like at Thessalonica, the Athenians
were split - some mocked, other believed.
With a brief
background in place, now let’s get to my text. Paul seeks
the prayers of the church that the Gospel would literally
run rampant throughout the region, and be fruitful and find
place among all the believers, just like it had at the
Church of the Thessalonians. This shows that the church was
faithful in what they were doing in spite of the problems
being experienced that we spoke of earlier. There are
several references to this faithfulness in both letters:
from 1 Thessalonians: 1:3-6; 2:13; 3:6; from 2
Thessalonians: 1:3-4; 2:13.
We have
further proof that the word of God does have “free course”
as we find in Acts that the word was preached and received
in Jerusalem (Acts 6:7), Joppa (Acts 9:42), Antioch (Acts
13:49), and Asia (Acts 19:20). I really appreciate how Luke
expresses it in Acts 19:20: “So mightily grew the word of
God and prevailed.” Readers, the word of God continues
to have free course today! The Gospel is just as powerful
and true today as it was when Paul was traveling across the
world and preaching it! This is so evident during worship
service when a man is blessed by God to proclaim the good
news of the Gospel and the congregation is blessed by God to
hear and rejoice in the Gospel message! May we ever continue
to pray according to Paul’s request! Pray that the word of
the Lord continues to have free course among us all! But
Paul wasn’t done with his “prayer request” to the church; he
had one more.
The second
half of Paul’s requests was for deliverance, and a very
specific one at that. He asked that the church pray for
deliverance from “…unreasonable and wicked men:”
Wicked (or evil) and unreasonable (out of place, or harmful)
people would like nothing more than to bring an end to the
preaching of the Gospel and to destroy the church. Go back
to what Paul dealt with in the synagogue in Thessalonica.
These unreasonable and wicked men aligned themselves with
“lewd” fellows, caused a riot in the city, and attacked the
house of a believer (Jason), and accused HIM of
turning“…the world upside down…” LIARS! They turned the
world upside down, not Paul or the believers! My dear
readers, just as the Gospel still has free course today, so
also do unreasonable and wicked men try what they may to
destroy it. But “…be not deceived, God is not mocked…”
Furthermore,
Paul clearly states that “all men have not faith.” This
shows that the contention that Paul was concerned over was
within those who were dead alien sinners - those wicked men
who David describes as those who “…through the pride of his
countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his
thoughts.” (Psa 10:4) John Calvin erroneously says that
Paul’s “have not faith” expressions is “… both ambiguous and
more obscure.”, but I couldn’t disagree more! This
“expression” is actually extremely clear in both its content
and intent. Paul’s concern for the church was toward those
who through their evil and wickedness desired to destroy the
church by any means available. That was the case during
Paul’s ministry, and it’s still the case today.
But I say,
fear not! Let me close with more of Paul’s words, but this
time from 2 Corinthians 1:8-10. Paul said he was in such a
place that he “…despaired even of life:” But he was
encouraged so also as we should be encouraged: “But we
had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”
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