"That our God would count you worthy of this calling..."
Text: 2 Thessalonians 1:11
THIS CALLING
The word “calling” is appropriately used in a number of contexts:
1. Our salvation is a calling (invitation) from God.
2. Our service is also to be seen as a calling from the Lord.
COUNTED WORTHY
The apostle Paul added a new feature to the idea of God’s calling in the following text.
“Therefore we also pray always for you
that our God would count you worthy of this calling,
and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness
and the work of faith with power.”
2 Thessalonians 1:11
1. “Therefore we also pray always for you”
a) Prayer was very much an integral practice of Paul and his fellow workers.
b) There were a number of things that were beyond their human powers.
c) These were best covered in prayer.
2. “That our God would count you worthy of this calling”
a) The Thessalonians would have to walk worthy of their calling.
b) They would have to prove that they were worthy of entering into another stage of faith and ministry.
3. The “next stage”
a) This is within the next stage of God’s calling.
b) God would fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness.
i) Paul wrote of this in 1 Corinthians 2:9.
ii) There were blessings God has reserved for those who have proven themselves worthy.
iii) God would pour into their lives the fullness of His good pleasure.
c) This may be described as “the work of faith with power”.
i) Paul was certainly an example of this work of faith and power.
ii) He enjoyed extraordinary blessings from God in his ministry as an apostle.
iii) But this was not confined to Paul alone.
iv) His fellow workers were wonderfully blessed in similar ways.
v) This was the content of Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians.