Bible Passage: 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: November 16, 2025

Bulletin – November 16, 2025

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

We are a people and a culture in search of relief.  Have you ever noticed that?  How many products at the pharmacy promise “relief”?  There is medicine for pain relief and indigestion relief and the relief of seasonal allergies.  There are medicines that promise relief from itching and burning.  There is sunburn relief and dandruff relief.  There is medicine for the relief of upset stomach and diarrhea.  Some of you will remember the ads from years ago, “Plop! Plop!  Fizz!  Fizz!  Oh, what a relief it is!”

What if your biggest problem isn’t dandruff flakes or indigestion?  What if you are a Christian who is undergoing pressure and persecution for your faith?  What if there are people who are making your life miserable just because you love and trust Jesus?  Such was the case for the believers in the city of Thessalonica in the 1st century.  But Paul had a message for them.  He didn’t tell them to take a pill.  But he did tell them Relief is On the Way!

 Maybe we should take a moment and acquaint, or reacquaint, ourselves with the Thessalonian Christians.  The apostle Paul had first visited the city of Thessalonica on his Second Missionary Journey.  And things had gotten off to a promising start!  The Lord blessed the proclamation of the Gospel there.  A large number of people were converted to Christianity.  But there were some there who did not like this new development.  So they rounded up some rough characters and started a riot in the city.  The mob went to the home of a man named Jason looking for Paul and his companions, because Paul was staying with Jason.  When they didn’t find Paul there, they dragged Jason and some of the other Christians to the city officials and demanded they be punished for aiding and abetting Paul.  That night, when it was dark, the Christians in Thessalonica got Paul and Silas out of town under cover of darkness.  Christianity was off to a rocky start in Thessalonica.

But God’s Word had worked in Thessalonica!  Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit had called, gathered, enlightened a small flock in this hostile city!  There was now “Church” in Thessalonica.  And Satan hated that!  And that persecution that started when Paul first arrived continued.  The faith of the new Christians in Thessalonica was under assault.  But with strength given by God, they were standing firm in the faith.  In the verse right before our text, Paul wrote:  [A]mong God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. (2 Thessalonians 1:4)

 Their perseverance in persecution is the evidence, Paul says, of the rightness of God’s plan to give relief to them on the Last Day.  Paul writes, Certainly, it is right for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, and to give relief to you who are troubled…(v. 6-7)  Relief was on the way!  That is what battle-weary believers through the ages have needed to hear.  We long to know that there will be an end to the suffering.  We long to know that God is paying attention and cares that his people are mistreated and abused in this world.  We long to know that justice will be served.

Many of the psalms have this theme.  It was a recurring theme of King David in his psalms.  In Psalm 4 David prays, Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.  (Psalm 4:1)  In Psalm 143 David says, The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground. (v. 3)  So he cries to the LORD, Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. (Psalm 143:1)  This has been the cry of God’s people throughout all time.

What we are really crying for is relief from sin.  Sin is why the tasks of life seem long and difficult.  Sin is why we often fail to trust our God and grow anxious.  Sin is why we don’t cope as we should.  Sin is why we get “stressed out.”  Sin is why the world hates the children of God.  Sin is why Satan paints a bullseye on Christians.  Sin is why there is all this pressure all the time!  We really want relief from sin and all that sin has done!

And God gives relief.  The relief has begun through Jesus Christ.  We begin to feel the relief as soon as the medicines of God’s mercy are ingested and applied.  Sweet, blessed, calming, comforting forgiveness is given.  Through Word and Sacrament.  Relief is applied topically to the head through water and Word in Baptism.  Relief comes through our ears as we hear forgiveness proclaimed.  Relief comes orally as we eat and drink forgiveness in Christ’s meal.  We begin to feel the “tightness” of sin loosen.  Ah, sweet relief!  In Jesus!

But the fullness, the full experience of this relief, will come on the day Paul describes in our text as that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. (v. 10)  That is the day we will also gain relief from those who trouble us Christians here.  Paul writes, When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, he will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.  Such people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and his glorious strength. (v. 6-9)

Those words are not pleasant.  The thought of people hearing those dreadful words from Jesus, Away from me! (Matthew 25)  And they create tension, don’t they?  My sinful nature hears those words and giggles, “Boy, are they gonna get it!  I can’t wait!”  But these words were not written to satisfy our sinful desire to see our enemies “get it.”  They were written to reassure and comfort us.  They are written so that we know our Lord sees us, and cares what is happening to us, and in the end will set things right.  They are written so that we know relief is on the way!

Amen.