II Thessalonians;
Not here to entertain goats
3:1-15 How should we work?
Vs. 1-2 Pray for the work
Vs. 3-5 Remember that it’s God’s work
Vs. 6 Stay away from those who refuse to work
Intro
The opening of the 3rd chapter is what a lot of folks on Sundays look forward to hearing, “Finally brethren” as they know that the sermon is about done. I think a good deal of pastors like myself are fellows that need no introduction but could sure use a “conclusion”!
Vs. 1-2 Paul now asks for two prayers for himself while he served in Corinth, which I believe is an appropriate tie into the truths that he just spoke of that will enable the believer to “Outlive, outlove and outlast the world”. Paul was writing this 2nd letter from one of the most wicked cities in the ancient world, Corinth.
This city was a 2 port town located on an isthmus with the temple to the sex god above the city where every night over 1,000 prostitutes entered the city to offer their brand of salvation to those who lived there. The city became so infamous that in Greek plays the womanizing drunk was always called a Corinthian.
Prayer for the word of God to be effective: Paul is asking for prayer that the work that He had performed through the word in Thessalonica would have a similar effect upon Corinth. Saints, that’s the amazing thing about the gospel is its ability to transform those who willingly receive it. On Monday night my wife and I were watching a PBS special on Fred Rogers ( of Mr. Rogers TV show fame) and his impact upon the liberal elite of the media by simply living out loving others as Christ has loved us. One of the directors for the extremely liberal NPR (National Public Radio) said, “Imagine what our world would look like if everybody simply practiced this in their day-to-day life like Mr. Rogers?”
Far too often we Christians equate failure with the Word of God instead of with us the instruments to simply live out its truths! Dear ones, there is no limit to the power of the Word of God operating through the Spirit of God, when the Child of God simply yields to living it! Notice that Paul’s request is sandwiched in between the desire that God be the only one to get the glory for the work!
I believe that is the number 1 reason for the ineffectiveness of the Word of God in the world today: Far too many instruments want to either take all the glory or at least share in it! The preaching of the Word in the pulpit has too often been replaced by the entertainment of the world on the platform. Dr. Donald Coggan, Archbishop of Canterbury, has said of Christian pastors: “It is their task to feed the sheep—not to entertain the goats.” “If you can explain what is going on, then God isn’t doing it!”
Prayer from those who hinder the word in the Church: If Paul had not added the words “for not all have faith” we may have assumed that Paul was speaking about those outside of the Church but that phrase speaks of the fact that Paul is describing those in the Church who are “unreasonable and wicked”. Paul was asking for prayer through the opposition from within the Church. Wow, on both sides of this prayer, the ineffectiveness of the gospel was not from outside the Church but from within its walls.
There is a false assumption that evil has increased in the world which has hindered the gospel from having an impact on our society but apparently, from Paul’s perspective the problem was not from the outside but rather from within! Could it be dear ones that the problem is not God’s fault, not the world’s fault but our own? When diagnosing any problem the first thing you want to eliminate is the simple and obvious “owner malfunction”!
Vs. 3-5 That flows right into Paul’s assertion that “The Lord is faithful” If something isn’t working right with the Word of God the problem is not with the Word and it isn’t with the Lord both are 100% faithful. Nothing is lacking in those two which only leaves us humans! So if I’m lacking consistency in my life, failing in my walk and working for Him I cannot turn around and say, “Well Christianity just doesn’t work.” I just love Paul’s confidence not in the Church but in Christ that His work will enable them to both, “Do and do some more”.
Paul was not in a hurry to see results; he knew that the Lord was at work and was willing to wait and see the faithfulness of the Lord in their lives. That’s a hard thing to do as a pastor, wait and watch the Lord work through folks that are flawed, hurry along the work in people, and become impatient with them in the process.
I’m afraid that many a dear saint has been treated poorly by leadership in the body from impatience. But not so with God who knows what He is working within us “mud pies”. The love of God gives us security, and the patience of Christ gives us consistency and we Christians ought to be offering each other the same!
There are four great responsibilities for us to fulfill: believe the truth, guard the truth, practice the truth, and share the truth. If we fulfill these duties, we will experience joy and power in our lives, and growth and blessing in our churches.
2 Thessalonians Ch. 3
“Bees or Woodpeckers?”
3:15 Main Teaching
Vs. 6 Commanded by the Word
Vs. 7-10 Imitation by example
Vs. 11-15 Encouragement from the church
Vs. 16-18 Provision of the Lord
Intro.
An article that first appeared on June 3rd, 1995 said that NASA delayed it’s next week’s launching of the space shuttle Discovery for two to three months out of safety concerns that arose when woodpeckers punched dozens of holes in the foam insulation of a fuel tank on the spacecraft as it sat on a launch pad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. “The little birds got the better of the big bird in this case,” NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham said.
The space industry experts estimated the launch delay could cost as much as $1 million to repair. This is a great illustration of Paul’s closing remarks about a little problem of some who had too much time on their hands and began to poke their beaks into people’s business instead of working for the kingdom of God.
Church problems left un-dealt with can be like physical problems left unintended, they just get worse. The longer they stay that way the more potential they have to infect other parts of the body.
In chapter 4 of 1st Thessalonians Paul warned folks to “mind their own business” he told the leaders of the church to warn the unruly but apparently, these folks hadn’t repented and the Church was providing them the provisions and opportunity to continue their spread of trouble. These folks “woodpeckers” were lazy, a source of false teaching, and were spreading gossip about others in the church. Paul’s antidote was that they needed to get to work. To assist them in this Paul gives four motives to encourage the busybodies to get busy!
Vs. 6 Commanded by the Word
Vs. 6 Commanded by the word: Paul’s words may seem a bit shocking to us when looking at the needs of the downtrodden as we are conditioned to provide for those who lack. But instead, Paul says that the body of Christ is to “withdraw from them”. This command was not by Paul’s authority but rather by Jesus Christ. Paul clarifies that this is aimed at the professing believer who is walking disorderly not according to tradition which they had been taught.
God’s plan for mankind was to work before the fall and sin turned work to toil but didn’t change God’s original design. God seems to have always called people to service who were already at work as the Bible is full of their testimonies. All Rabbis were required to have a trade and as a pastor for the first 9 years of ministry, I worked as a goldsmith in my own business until I could no longer do both. Jesus said in Luke 19:13b “Do business till I come”.
Some like to quote Genesis 3:17-19 as saying that work is a part of the curse as it says, “Cursed is the ground for your sakes; in toil, you shall eat of it all the days of your life…In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” But that only speaks of man’s condition towards work after the fall. Before the fall, we are told in chapter 2 verse 15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.”
God gave man an endless cupboard of resources on which to live, six days in which to labor, and the seventh as a day of rest. It is also important for us to realize that we are created in the image of God and as such we see that God is a worker! We as His creation reach our greatest potential and fulfillment by exercising our given abilities and resources in work.
Satan has developed a campaign aimed towards humanity to discredit work, making it a four-letter word and coming up with slogans that say, “The worst day___________ is better than the best day of working!” The key to fulfillment on the job is to see every routine the way that Paul wrote of it in Colossians 3:17, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”
Vs. 7-10 Imitate those who work
Vs. 11-15 Encourage those who aren’t at work
3: 16-18 Closin
Vs. 7-10 Imitation by example
Vs. 7-10 Imitation by example: Paul also points these believers to his practice while among them for those 4 weeks. It is amazing to recognize the productivity of the early Church and specifically Paul whom God used to write 1/3 of the New Testament. Paul had the right biblically to be supported in the ministry but he laid down his rights to be an example to young Christians.
He didn’t just point to the authority of the Word he pointed to his example of obedience to it. Later on, as the Church became established he received love offerings to help in new works. It is always appropriate for a leader to say, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ” and never “Do as I say, not as I do!” It is unfortunate to witness God’s servants today living in such a way that makes them “rich and famous”.
It is important that we read this sentence carefully as Paul doesn’t say “cannot work” but “will not work”. People who cannot work often need the help of the body of Christ and Paul is not writing about them but there are those who say they cannot work but the truth is they can work but choose to not work. Paul goes beyond saying not to give them money or not to give them food.
The reason for Paul’s drastic action is to prevent those who will not work from becoming a leprosy upon the church as they have an abundance of time, provisions and instead of using it for good serve themselves as busybodies who concern themselves with others by stirring up trouble. One old guide observed that people are like mules: When they are at work pulling and packing they cannot kick but when they are kicking they cannot work!
There are two types of people in the church: those who notice a need and say to leadership and everyone then can, “They need to do something about that!” Then there are those who see a need and come to the leadership and say, “I’d like to do something about that!”
Vs. 11-15 Encouragement from the church
Vs. 11-15 Encouragement from the Church: Paul was a direct man and here he comes right to the point: “If you can work then get to work and earn your own living!” He was concerned that the idleness of some would affect the whole thus he wrote, “Do not grow weary in doing good.” Jewish Rabbis taught, “He who does not teach his son a trade, teaches him to be a thief.”
The Church has a responsibility to encourage folks not to be idle and instead to with quietness…get to work! A lack of work leads a person to have too much time on their hands which leads them into trouble.
Some in Thessalonica had confused being busy working with being “busybodies”! The word busybody literally means “to be working around” goofing off not accomplishing anything. Having warned those who were idle Paul says that the next step is to take action as he tells the church how to handle those who “will not work” by giving them four guidelines:
- Vs. 13 “Do not grow weary in doing good”: In the context of those who will not work those who do work are exhorted to not give up on those who will not work. Keep working at those who will not work so that they will learn to be productive!
- Vs. 14a “Note that person and do not keep company with him”: Though we aren’t to give up on them we aren’t to go along with them either. This is going to involve what most folks seek to avoid, “confrontation”! When you see a person who will not work take note of it and if you see it again take aside and lovingly confront them on this. We have found that to get the body of Christ involved in service we need to:
- Offer introductory opportunities
- Invite people to work alongside us
- Leadership needs to be seen doing the little things
- Continue to verbally remind the Church that they are the Church
- Encourage new opportunities that are along their interests and talents
- Vs. 14b “That he may be ashamed”: Apply some good old-fashioned “positive peer pressure”. This can be difficult in the normal church body when less than 10% are doing all the work. But here at Calvary Chapel, we have over 80% involved in weekly ministry in some capacity. So when the 20% that aren’t involved view the 80% that are having fun and fellowshipping they feel left out and want to join in!
- Vs. 15 “Do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother”: Don’t get too carried away to the point where the person isn’t encouraged and feels like a 2nd class citizen. Balance is always a difficult thing to maintain and the idea is to help them get to work not help them out the door!
God has designed us to work and we generally feel better when we are working, as we have a sense of satisfaction that we have accomplished something. I personally believe that a lot of addictive behaviors can be attributed to idleness and not being busy. Many of these addictive pursuits fill the mind with temporary satisfaction supplanting natural endorphins that a person would get from work.
Vs. 16-18 Provision of the Lord
Vs. 16-18 Provision of the Lord: Paul closes this letter with a wonderful promise: “That the Lord of peace will give you peace always and in every way.” The final motivation was for the body to realize that the Lord was more than able to provide what was lacking in their life. He grants us His peace, His presence, and His grace that will enable us to live as He has called us to.
No matter what our problem is, we can experience His peace through it! Adversity often carries anxiety which is usually more troubling than the problem, so Paul reminds them that they can skip the anxiety and go right to peace. In Matthew 8 the disciples go into the boat with Jesus to cross over the Sea of Galilee and as Jesus fell asleep in the bow a severe wind came up and the boys believed that the boat was going to sink and woke Jesus up.
He must have given them the look as He said. “I told you we were going over not going under and rebuked the wind and the waves as calm was established.” Paul took up the pen and the parchment to close this letter by writing “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” Paul was real and the fact that he would take the time to write about the power of the gospel to transform even while suffering from the world for its proclamation spoke to the truth that Paul was convinced of the value of the truth. Here was a man at work, at peace admonishing those to “stay the course!”