“WORKING FOR GOD.” 2 THESSALONIANS 3: 1-18.
2 THESSALONIANS 3: 1-2, 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, 14-15.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO 2 THESSALONIANS 3.
Paul, directed by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote the first letter to the Thessalonians almost certainly from Corinth, where Silas and Timothy, senders of the letters, were reunited with him. The letter was most likely written in AD 50 or 51, with the second letter following shortly. Therefore 1st and 2nd Thessalonians are among the earliest letters we have from the hand of Paul, with only Galatians having claim to be earlier.
On his second missionary tour, Paul and his companions Silas and Timothy had come to Thessalonica by road from Philippi, where they had been spitefully treated. Acts 17: 2 records that Paul preached and debated in the synagogues for three successive Sabbaths. The congregation was predominately Gentiles.
Eventually, members of the Jewish community enlisted unscrupulous men to stir up animosity against the Christians. Paul, Silas and Timothy were whisked away by the believers under cover of night, and soon found themselves in Berea to the west. Paul proceeded on to Athens and then to Corinth where Silas and Timothy joined him and the two letters to the church at Thessalonica were written.
TEACHER READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3: 1-2.
Once again Paul comes to the end of a letter with the request that his people pray for him; There is something deeply moving in the thought of this giant among men asking for the prayers of the Thessalonians who so well recognized their own weakness. Nowhere is Paul’s humility more clear to see.
And the fact that he, as it were, threw himself on their heart, must have done much to bind even his opponents to him, because it is very difficult to dislike a man who asks you to pray for him.
Since Paul mentioned his concern for the gospel’s success before voicing concern for his own welfare, the implication is that he had his priorities in order.
Vs. 1 and 2 show the positive and negative reactions which the preaching of the gospel produce. It also shows how much Paul relied on the prayers of God’s people for the continuation of his ministry, If not for his own survival.
Paul’s discussion of the Christian attitude toward work will help us at this point. Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica that work is an integral part of believers’ faith in Jesus Christ. Let’s see what Paul had to say in 2 Thessalonians 3.
PLEASE READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3: 3-5.
Rather than feeling distraught over the present situation in the Thessalonians Church, the Apostle was confident. The reason for his confidence in vs. 3 was the faithfulness of God rather than anything about the Thessalonians. The character of God should be the basis for a Christian’s confidence. Because God has promised to supply believers’ needs, Paul could rest in the assurance that He would provide the strength to withstand temptation and trials and protection from the adversary, Satan, and His emissaries.
An additional reason for confidence was the conviction in vs. 4 that the Thessalonians would continue to obey the instructions of Paul and his cohorts in this letter. The missionaries were not relying on their readers’ inherent power to do what was right; their confidence was that since the believers were in Christ, the Lord would work in them to react favorably to this epistle.
This prayer-wish in vs. 5 expressed the apostles’ petition that Jesus Christ would open up the way for the readers to obey out of a growing appreciation of God’s love for them and consequently greater love for God, as well as increased endurance in the midst of trials, which the Lord’s example of perseverance stimulates within the hearts of believers.
Meditation on the love of God and the patient endurance of Christ motivates Christians to obey His Word and to endure trials patiently. The word direct, in vs. 5, means “clear away the obstacles.”
Apparently some in the church at Thessalonica had quit working and were living off other members of the church. Also, they interfered in the lives of others as busybodies and meddlers.
In 1 Thessalonians 4: 11-12 Paul had commanded the believers to “mind their own business, and to work with their own hands” so that they would “not be dependent on anyone.”
He had commanded the church leaders in 1 Thess. 5: 14 to “warn those who were lazy”. But apparently Paul’s challenge did not change everyone. Learning of the continuing difficulty with irresponsible believers, Paul was led to deal with this problem a second time.
In 1 Thess. 3: 2 Paul was aware of constantly being surrounded by “wicked and evil men” who opposed the gospel. For this reason, the church had to pay close attention to the lives of its members. Their lives must refute any accusations brought against them.
Although the believers’ enemies did not “have faith,” Paul reminded them in vs. 3 that the Lord is faithful. God’s faithfulness to His people enables them to overcome the faithlessness of their enemies. God is trustworthy to strengthen His people to withstand whatever difficulties they face. Furthermore, ”He will guard His people from the evil one.” These words could refer to evil in the world in general. It seems best, however, to understand these words as “evil men.”
Jesus taught us to pray in Matt. 6:13, “deliver us from the evil one.” Paul assured the Thessalonian believers that God is trustworthy to answer that prayer.
The problem of lazy, irresponsible people in the church remained. However, Paul expressed confidence concerning the Thessalonians. His confidence, though, was not in them but in the Lord. Paul was confident that these believers truly belonged to Jesus Christ. He could, therefore, be confident that the Lord would produce the necessary results in their lives.
Paul was certain that the church as a whole was doing what he had commanded. Paul asserted his apostolic authority. Christ commissioned His apostles to represent Him in the world and in the church. When they spoke, they spoke with the delegated authority of Jesus Christ himself. Paul expected them to comply.
Before proceeding to his command, Paul expressed a prayer on behalf of the believers at Thessalonica. Paul prayed that the Lord would direct them to God’s love and Christ’s endurance. We look to these words to mean our patient waiting for Christ’s return.
Paul’s commands are from an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. As such, they carry authority, and we are obligated to hear and obey them.
As we consider God’s love in Christ and Christ’s endurance on the cross for us, we know we can trust God’s faithfulness to us. He will strengthen us to face every opponent. He will protect us from the power of Satan. He will work in us to enable us to obey His will as transmitted through His chosen apostles.
PLEASE READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3: 6-9.
Now Paul turned to a specific problem in the Thessalonians church: every brother who walks irresponsibly and not according to the tradition received from us. There were those in the church who were not being responsible.
The phrase literally means they were being truants from their duty. These brothers were not working; they were being idle.
Who were these brothers? Since Paul identified them by the word brother, they obviously were fellow believers. There are several possible explanations. One explanation is that these Christians were so excited about the return of Christ that they saw no need to go about their daily business. They perceived that the return of Christ was imminent: in fact, there was a fear among them in the church that Christ already had come.
Paul previously had told them in 2 Thess. 2: 2, “not to be easily upset in mind or troubled, either by a spirit or by a message or by a letter as if from us, alleging that the Day of the Lord has come.” Listening to these rumors or possibly giving credence to a false letter might have led some believers to think there was no use in working since all had come to an end. Even among those who knew Christ had not yet returned were some who anticipated Christ’s return. Why pursue mundane material things? Why commit the error of building up earthly things at a time when all material things were about to pass away?
Another possible explanation for these idle believers is that in Roman culture there were wealthy citizens who attempted to maintain their high status by supporting a sizable number of “clients.” These clients were individuals and families who were socially and economically inferior to their wealthy patrons.
The patrons might support their clients in a variety of ways, but there were cases where the poorest of the poor clients depended on their patrons for everything, including their daily food. It is possible that some of these dependent clients were converted but brought their old depend-on-others attitude into the church.
We know that a large number of the early Christians came form among the slaves and poorer ranks of society. A by-product of a body of believers that has been infused with the love of God is a loving, generous spirit. Consequently, even though many of the Christians were poor, they willingly shared with one another as needs arose. It would become a problem, though, if many of the unemployed lower-class individuals stopped looking for work and just relied on the generous spirit of the church family.
Very possibly Paul was speaking about these people who had become so comfortable accepting the support of others without doing anything to provide for their own support or to offer reciprocal support for others. With a large number of lower-class workers in the church, these freeloaders would be a continual drain on the resources of others.
Even one person not contributing what he could in the common meals the believers shared together would lessen what could be shared and would put a greater burden on the others.
The culture of that day did not condemn idleness, so idleness was not necessarily a bad witness. The problem was in the church because these people were constantly idle. They had a continual habit of not doing anything productive.
The second problem was that they were being counterproductive. They were acting irresponsibly. Not only were they not working, but they were also “interfering with the work of others
They were being disorderly and insubordinate. Paul said, “Their insubordination is seen in that they did not behave according to the tradition received from us.”
How was the church to respond to these idle, irresponsible church members? They were to keep away from them. As a whole, church members were to avoid and separate themselves from these errant Christians. This was a command to the whole church because the exercise of discipline, to be consistent, is the responsibility of the church as a whole.
This was no casual suggestion from Paul. He gave his as a command----in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul had a strong dislike for the behavior of these believers. It was not because they weren’t working but because they refused to work. They could have been productive but instead they stirred up trouble. Does any sin cause more damage in the body of Christ than dissension and gossip? Yet these were the very things these irresponsible Christians were doing. In obedience to the Lord, Paul said, stay away from these individuals so they don’t cause any more trouble and damage in the church.
To bring them to their senses Paul quotes his own example. All his life Paul was a workman and a man who worked with his hands The Jews glorified work. ‘He who does not teach his son a trade,” they said, “Teaches him to steal.” Paul was a trained Rabbi: but the Jewish law laid it down that a Rabbi must take no pay for teaching. He must have a trade and must satisfy his daily needs with the work of his hands. So we find Rabbis who were bakers, barbers, carpenters, masons and who followed all kinds of trades.
The Jew believed in the dignity of honest toil: and they were sure that a scholar lost something when he became so academic and so withdrawn from life that he forgot how to work with his hands. For Paul, long, exhaustive hours were the norm.
His purpose in working so hard was so that he would not be a burden to any one. Had Paul required the young group of believers to provide his support, he would have put a great hardship on them, especially considering that many of the churches came from the lower classes of society. If Paul was going to be a burden to anyone, he was going to be a burden to himself.
Paul’s practice and example not only unburdened the church but it provided a defense against his critics. There were some critics who questioned Paul’s motives, and he had written in his first letter that he had no “greedy motives” and that his conduct was unquestionable. Even though Paul had a right to support, he chose not to exercise that right. Had he done so, his opponents would have challenged the credibility of his message.
Paul’s greater desired in living financially independent from the Thessalonian Christians “was to provide an example to you so that you would imitate us.” What specifically were they to follow? Does this mean that no minister of the gospel should accept money from the church? While there are many pastors who serve as volunteers, Paul was not setting volunteerism as a criteria for leadership.
First of all, he was writing to all believers, not just to the church leadership. Second, the example Paul waned them to imitate was in not being a burden to others in the church. Many of our churches are not in the situation the Thessalonians church was in; many churches can afford to pay their pastors and other church leaders without it being an undue burden on the church.
While we commend and celebrate those people who choose to serve bi-vocationally or without pay, we also commend and celebrate those churches that have the means to take care of their pastors financially. Churches should do what they can to provide for their pastors, but pastors should never make salary or benefit demands that burden the church, or call into question the pastor’s motives for serving the church. That is the positive example Paul was providing.
PLEASE READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3: 10-13.
Paul’s own life and ministry provided a strong example of what responsible behavior looked like. While that in itself should have been enough motivation for the erring believers to do what was right, Paul reminded them again of his teaching. Paul’s tenure in Thessalonica was not long---perhaps as little as a few weeks—but he wasted no time in giving the new believers clear teaching and instruction. What Paul told them, he expected them to follow.
When we were with you, this is what we commanded you: “If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.” It is possible that this command did not contain a new idea to his hearers. It is possible that his command was a well-known Jewish proverb based on God’s words to Adam concerning work in Gen. 3: 19, “You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground.”
There is an assumption grounded in God’s words to Adam: “You will eat, but you will have to work for it.” While we may view God’s words more as an expression of what life would be like for man outside the Garden of Eden---hard work---it came to be seen as a dictate for behavior. Even common sense tells us the same thing: If you want to eat you’ll need to work for it. Whether the Thessalonians recognized this as a Jewish proverb or heard it for the first time from Paul, the point is that it was a command. And a command is meant to be followed.
It is the refusal to work that it is important. This has nothing to do with the unfortunate man who, through no fault of his own, can find no work to do. This has been called “the golden rule of work.” Deismann has the happy thought that, when Paul said this, “he was probably borrowing a bit of good old workshop morality, a maxim coined perhaps by some industrious workman as he forbade his lazy apprentice to sit down to dinner”
After all in this we have the example of Jesus Himself. Jesus was the carpenter of Nazareth, and legend has it that He was so good a carpenter that He made the best ox-yokes in all Palestine and that men came for all over the country to buy the yokes that He made so well.
A tree is known by its fruits and a man is known by his work.
Once a man was negotiating to buy a house; he bought it without even seeing it; he was asked why he took such a risk; his answer was, “I know the man who built that house, and he builds his Christianity in with the bricks.” The Christian, just because he is a Christian, should be a better workman than anyone else.
Paul disliked the busybody intensely. There may be greater sins than gossip, but there is no sin which does more damage in the church. A man who is doing his own work with his whole strength will have enough to do without being maliciously and pryingly interested in the affairs of other people.
As we noted earlier, and how Paul now stated specifically in vs. 11, there are two ways this irresponsible behavior was being manifested. First, these irresponsible Christians were not working at all, and second, they were interfering with the work of others. The second problem grew out of the first.
Their interference could have come in two ways. First these errant believers still needed the basics of life, and by being passive and not working their need was being met through the benevolence of the church family. This was really unnecessary because they could have worked, but their passivity in this regard was interfering with the church’s ability to meet the legitimate needs of others.
Second, these church members could have been more than passive freeloaders. They could have been actively interrupting the productive work of others. I love the word picture the King James Version paints. It calls them “busybodies---sticking their noses in other people’s business. The work of others may likely refer to the ministry of others. Had these people been responsible for themselves and engaged in work, they might not have had time to interfere with the work of others.
Paul had a word for these folks: Now we command and exhort such people. Paul’s use of these strong verbs---command and exhort gives his next words an extra measure of emphasis. He also reminded them that he was not just giving his own advice or command: he was commanding and exhorting them by the One who gave him his authority: the Lord Jesus Christ
The command he gave was just the opposite of their idle, resource-draining and interfering lifestyle: by quietly working, they may eat their own bread. Earning their own bread and taking care of their own needs would certainly take a drain off of the church.
A heavy work schedule, however, wouldn’t solve the whole problem. They may have had less opportunity to interfere and cause problems, but the attitude behind such interference would still need to be dealt with. Less opportunity does not equal no opportunity! Paul’s solution and command---was for them to go about their work quietly.
A busybody is
rarely quiet, but that is exactly what Paul said they needed to be.
It’s not a matter of fading into the background and never being
seen or heard from again. The principle is that we are to focus on
our own work, do it diligently, and not be concerned about how others
are doing their work. If we all focused on doing our own work
diligently instead of wasting efforts trying to micro-manage others
people’s work and ministries, how productive we would be!
Lest
the church body take Paul’s commands and react harshly to the
errant church members, Paul offered this encouragement: “Brothers,
do not grow weary in doing good.” The right thing to do
would be to follow Paul’s direction and “keep away” from this
irresponsible one, but to do it with gentleness and love. Even toward
those who take advantage of us and abuse our generosity, we should
never stop showing love. In so doing, we can lead them to repentance
and becoming stronger followers of Christ.
PLEASE READ 2 THESSALONIANS 3: 14-15.
Paul then commanded a strong corrective action to deal with the irresponsible brethren within the church. He commanded his readers to not associate with any who refused to obey his instruction in this letter.
Paul did not command action without careful consideration. Previously in 1 Thess. 5: 14 he had commanded the church to “warn those who are lazy.” Continued reports from Thessalonica showed Paul that his earlier instructions produced no results. Instead, the situation had deteriorated.
Still, Paul did not command immediate withdrawal of fellow ship from the offending church members. The church was to withdraw fellowship only if these irresponsible members did not correct their behavior following the receipt of this second letter. Paul followed a carefully escalated approach to solving a serious problem in the church.
In vs. 13 Paul told the church to do good, and now he told them not to associate with the irresponsible person so that he may be ashamed. The church does not shame the person, but it lovingly dissociates itself from him in order that he might turn his thoughts on his own actions and feel ashamed of what he has done.
Church discipline can never be redemptive if the offender thinks he is being treated like an enemy. Yes, he is in the wrong, but he is our brother in Christ! Disassociation will not have its affect if the person does not know why he is being so treated. Discipline communicated clearly and lovingly will help him see that he is loved and help him see his wrong.
When Christian discipline is necessary it is to be given as a brother to a brother. It is to be given, not in anger, still less in contempt; it is always given in love. (a member of IBC decided to start a liquor store—2 men of the church called on him to ask him not to do this. He persisted and church fellowship was withdrawn.)
THE MONTH OF AUGUST STUDY THEME IS “AFTER THIS, THEN WHAT?”
WE BEGIN NEXT SUNDAY WITH “ONCE AND FUTURE LIFE.” 2 COR. 4 & 5
A. V. DAUGHERTY <altav@swbell.net.>