2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 - Not Busy But Busybodies

Hello, and welcome to the end of another week of Tabernacle Talk. We might be concluding 2 Thessalonians 3 today.

We might end at verse 15. It depends on how much time we end up with. So we're going to start today in verse number 6, because it's a very interesting kind of walk through or progression of the book.

So church at Thessalonica, little church plant with a big impact in the world around them. They had just had their church planners, their initial pastors, Paul and Silas and Timothy, for a very short amount of time before they were run out of town.

And so they had gone out, they had heard about the church, some of the questions that they had had from having sent Timothy back to kind of check on them.

And so Paul wrote them the letter of First Thessalonians that kind of answered some questions for them, let them know about Jesus's return and the hope that there is in that, encourage them in some good things that they needed to be doing.

And then later on, Paul and Silas and Timothy, they hear about the fact that the Thessalonians are undergoing heavy persecution, even heavier than they had been experiencing before, which was obviously not something strange to Paul in particular.

But he encouraged them because some people had been telling them, the reason you're going through all of these hard times is because Jesus has returned and you guys are just kind of in for it now.

You're riding out the time of Jacob's trouble, as the book of Daniel calls it, or the tribulation as we know it today. And so you guys, you're just kind of out of luck. So it's really tough that Jesus didn't love you and return for you.

And Paul encourages them and lets them know like, hey, Jesus has, number one, not come back because all of the things that are spoken about in scripture, both with Daniel and then from Jesus's own words in Matthew 24, specifically with the

Antichrist, the man of sin, the son of perdition, the one who is like Antiochus Epiphanus, or Epiphanus, I got to read back up on what the correct pronunciation is for that name, who was kind of a Greek subsidiary back in, it was before the time when

the Romans came in. And you had Judas Maccabees and his, I think it's his four sons, that Antiochus Epiphanus had had no respect for the Jews. He was ruling over that region of the world, and he had actually been one that had gone into the temple,

much like the future Antichrist is going to do. He had offered a pig on the altar, which obviously, with the Jews, that being a non-kosher animal was a sign of incredible disrespect.

And so the Jews revolted, and they ended up being able to gain some victory, and so they gained a very short-lived independence that then the Romans came in and ruined those particular hopes.

So Paul is saying, just like Antiochus Epiphanus did a couple hundred years ago, this man of sin, this Antichrist, he's going to actually sit on the throne of God and call himself God.

And when those types of things are happening, the false signs and wonders and miracles being wrought by Satan to try and deceive the entire world, when that stuff happens, he says, then you can know that all of this is taking place.

But he reminds them, Jesus didn't forget about you. Jesus was the one that pursued you. He loved you, and he chose you for salvation.

And because of that, he's not going to get rid of you now. He didn't choose you because of all the great things you did. And so he won't reject you for any reason.

It is for his love and for his name's sake that he adopted you and that will not end.

And so Jesus is going to strengthen you and encourage you and give you hope and make you able to do every good work and word and to have endurance past all of these hard times that you're facing right now with your persecution.

And then he asked for them to pray for him. That is, he shares the gospel and is him and Silas and Timothy share the gospel that it would be effective, that they would be protected from evil people just as he's praying for protection from them.

I meant to mention in the last episode even kind of the callback to the Lord's Prayer. And in the particular lines, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil or from the evil one.

And that's one of the prayer requests that Jesus instructs us to pray for to the Father.

And here Paul and Silas and Timothy are echoing that to the Thessalonians, or the Thessalonians, that they say, will you pray that we would be delivered from the evil one?

And now we come to one last command, or kind of two last commands, that Paul and Silas and Timothy bring to the believers.

And if you watched the Bible Project video that I put in in episodes, I think it was like one in two of the Book of Second Thessalonians, you might have seen this. There are two kind of possibilities with this command.

Paul and Silas and Timothy, the writers, encouraged the Thessalonians not to be lazy and not to work. And there are two kind of possibilities of what this could mean or why that particular command in this circumstance.

And the one possibility that the video mentions first, it tends to be the one right now that I hold to, is that some of the people thinking that Jesus had returned or would very shortly return, that the tribulation period had already begun, and so

then they needed to be ready for Jesus to return for that catching up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air that Paul had mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4, that they went, okay, well, there's no point in working anymore then if all of this is going

to come. So they had just quit their jobs and they were kind of mooching off of other people and they were doing no work themselves. The other possibility is highlighted in the Bible Project video is that during this time period, you had many people

that did kind of like odds and ends jobs for the very rich people in Roman and Greek society and it wasn't like a source of steady income. You weren't like a perpetual bond servant or house slave, but instead you would just be doing stuff for people

throughout some time. And sometimes those particular jobs would be sketchy or immoral, that you would go get bad things for your patron or your sponsor.

And so there might have been some of that that Paul was saying, hey, I want you to like actually work some good work and not be participating in the immoral actions that the people around you are partaking in. Like don't enable that in others.

So we're going to read through these verses. And if there's one of those that seems to you to make a little bit better sense of the verses, then certainly would invite you to that. Okay, verse number six.

Now we command you brothers and sisters in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from every brother or sister who is idle and does not live according to the tradition received from us. Few yourselves know how you should imitate us.

We were not idle among you. We did not eat anyone's food free of charge. Instead, we labored and toiled working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

It is not that we don't have the right to support, but we did it to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us. In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you. If anyone isn't willing to work, he should not eat.

For we hear that there are some among you who are idle. They are not busy, but busy bodies. Now we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to provide for themselves.

But as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person. Don't associate with him so that he may be ashamed.

Yet don't consider him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Okay, let's look at these verses and see what we can learn today. Verse number six first.

We have this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this is a very serious thing that he says. And he tells them keep away from every brother or sister who is idle and does not live according to the tradition received from us.

This is a hard statement for us in America to take into account.

When we think of people that we should stay away from, we don't often think the super laid back, kind of lazy, in common parlance, you'll hear people talk about, oh yeah, some person who is just perpetually on the internet, surfing the web from his

mother's basement. We don't often think that that's someone that we shouldn't spend time talking with or talking to.

It might not be the first person that many of us look to speak to, but here, it is a command in the name of Jesus Christ that we would keep away from. That is, that we wouldn't have as close friends or companions in our life.

First, these people that are idle, that are intentionally choosing not to work. Now, I know we've got many people in our church that are retired or that perhaps have different health struggles.

You are not the type of person that this passage is talking about. This is people that have the ability to work and are refusing to. They could be busy, but instead, they're just being busy bodies, as verse number 11 so eloquently puts it.

The other aspect is not just people that are idle, but those that do not live according to the tradition received from us, that is, from the apostles. Those that are not walking in God's way should not be your closest friends and companions.

Why would that be? Well, as 1st Corinthians says, evil relationships and communications, close friendships with people that do not follow God, it corrupts a good life in us. You are like who you spend time around.

If you spend all of your time with those that curse, spend all of your time around those that don't value the church or God's people, if you spend all your time around those that are immoral, or that just believe in sleeping around, or in getting

drunk and things like that, those types of influences on your life will not just hit deaf ears. If that is your closest companions and friends, the people that you spend the most time around, that will change you.

Sometimes we think that if we are around other people, that we will just automatically be a light.

But the truth is, we have to be near the source of light, and we have to obey what Jesus says in placing an importance on our brothers and sisters in Christ, in loving them, being around them, being in God's Church, receiving that encouragement and

that sharpening in our life, so that then when we, like Jesus, are a friend of sinners, are a friend of the outcast, are a friend of those that are struggling, that we are able to do it from a place of spiritual strength. But if we are always around

sinful, intentionally sinful and non-God-seeking people, that is going to be what our lives begin to look like. But here, in the name of Jesus Christ, we are commanded from God's Word to keep away, to not have as close associates, those that are lazy

and those that do not live according to what God's Word says. I want to encourage you, maybe one practical way that you can put this into effect is look at your calendar for next week.

How much time do you have intentionally slotted to meet with God's people? Do you have it marked in, I'm going to go to church to be with God's people. Maybe I'm going to go to a Sunday school class or a small group.

I'm going to get coffee with my friend from church because I know that they're going to encourage me in the Lord. They're going to help me think right. They're going to help me say the right things or do the right things in my life.

Look at your calendar and that will show you kind of where your priorities are in relation to God's people. Verses number 7 through 10 is going to be kind of the next section we're looking at.

He says, for you yourselves know how you should imitate us. We were not idle among you.

He says, if you want to know what it looks like to not just be a busy body, if you want to know what it looks like to work hard, think about how we were when we were with you guys. He said, we did not eat anyone's food free of charge.

Instead, we labored and toiled working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you. Paul, of course, was a tent maker. We learned about that in the Book of Acts.

And we saw how I forget which book I mentioned this in, actually. Paul, wherever he went, he worked more often than not as a tent maker, so that no one would think that he was just in it for the money for himself.

But what he instructed almost every church that we have a letter to, including even letters that he wrote to pastors like he does in 1st Timothy, chapter 5, he tells the local churches to take care, to financially sponsor their pastors.

But he lets them know, like, we worked so hard, and we didn't even eat at any of your houses for free. Like, we paid when we ate at your guys' house so that we wouldn't burden any of you.

Verse number 9, he says, it is not that we don't have the right to support.

There are some people today in kind of a reaction against some of the prosperity gospel or the guys that are, like, you know, worth a million dollars or they're in a poor area and, you know, they're making 250K a year or something like that.

A response that has been like, okay, pastors don't deserve to make any money. They don't deserve to get money. They should just work for free if they really love the Lord.

That is a concept completely foreign to the New Testament. Paul says, we have the right to support. He says, but we worked in the way that we did to make ourselves an example to you so that you would imitate us.

Frankly, just being here at Tabernacle, I've had on multiple occasions people both in leadership and otherwise be like, hey, you know, we don't want you to burn out. You know, you're always doing stuff. You're always, you know, working.

You're at the church. You're making all this stuff. You're putting together these plans.

Man, it's just so much. And frankly, I want to be able to say with Paul, I want to show people that I actually like want to work hard. I want to put in the effort because I don't want God's work to be blasphemed.

I don't want anyone to be able to look at Tabernacle Baptist Church and Bryon Self and say that pastors are lazy or pastors don't put the work in or what in the world do we have this guy for?

Couldn't we get, you know, couldn't we go about some other way? Couldn't we just video in some stuff? I want to, like the Apostle Paul, give an example to others of let's have a good, diligent work ethic.

Now, certainly, as God rested on the Sabbath day, we are also to rest. But that's just kind of my heart of I don't want the work of God to be blasphemed because of any shortcomings on my part.

I want to encourage you, if you name yourself as a Christian and you're in the workplace, let no one outwork you. Let you be the example of what it looks like for someone to work wholeheartedly as for the Lord and not for people. Okay, back on track.

Verse number 10. In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you. If anyone isn't willing to work, he should not eat.

I do want to mention one thing because I saw a particular news person take this verse out of context to say that there should be no programs to help those that are undergoing food insecurity. This right here is a verse for the local church.

This is that the church is not responsible for taking care of those that have a refusal to work.

This is not talking about, you know, your widows, your orphans, some of those things that would be talked about in many other books of scripture, including James 1, among other places.

But this is for the formal elements of the church, our benevolence, that we are to help support those that are attempting to do what they can.

But anyone that can work, that can do a job, the church should not be perhaps just giving out, if you will, free handouts. This is from the specific words of Paul, where he tells them, if anyone isn't willing to work, he should not eat.

And then verse 11, we hear that there are some among you who are idle. They are not busy, but busybodies. And I want to encourage us, like, let's not be ones that are constantly running our mouths, but never working with our hands.

You know, running our fingers to type, but our feet are never operating. They're never taking us to do good to others. Let us be busy, not busybodies.

Verse number 12. Now, we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and provide for themselves, that these people that were idle, that were busybodies, they just need to do good work.

They should stop gossiping, and they shouldn't be relying on other people. They should be providing for themselves.

And then he tells the people that have been working for themselves, who have been seeing these people slacken off and going like, man, I wish I could do that. And he says, but as for you brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good.

And then in verse number 14, we've got another element of kind of church discipline as it's so called. And it says this, if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person.

Don't associate with him so that he may be ashamed. Those that are not walking with the Lord, we are to not make our close companions.

That there ought to be a difference between the people of God and the people that claim to be of God, but are walking just like the world that are ignoring what God's word says. There ought to be a difference.

And certainly verse number 15, yet don't consider him an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

This is a person that you love, that you care for, that you are warning that the path that they are going down is in direct opposition to the will and word of God. And so we're not in close relationship with that person.

We're not spending, you know, fun time with them. Instead, it has to be, hey, until this changes in your life, I can't be close friends with you. I love you.

I am for you. I want the best for you. But this does make a difference in our relationship until such time as this changes.

And the reason, from the end of verse 14, is so that he may be ashamed that there would be a Holy Spirit-inspired regret for an action that alienates oneself from God and from others because this person is not walking in relationship with God, but

they don't understand that. They don't understand the value of that.

And so through the people of God, exemplifying what God's Word says, it is a living picture that this person right now is still loved, is still a brother of Christ, but he does not have a close relationship with him right now.

And how can that person see that? Because the body of Christ still loves him, wants a relationship with him, but is not in close relationship with him while he is ignoring the Word of God and not following and obeying it.

There are people who certainly might think, man, that sounds so harsh, but it is the loving thing to do.

Because if a person thinks that everything is right with God, because everything seems to them to be right with God's people, they are never going to have the relationship with God that he desires for them.

But by the church following the Word of God, then the person can truly see what their relationship with God is like. And then they are able to feel shame because they don't want to be apart from God's people.

They don't want to be apart from God, not if they are a true Christian. And so it will motivate them to get back into right living. And that's the gospel way.

It is not that you shun them entirely, shut them out. It says, don't treat him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. It is someone you desperately love, that the circumstances don't change your relationship.

But it will change how close you are with that person. So, hope that some of that would be an encouragement to you. We are at 24 minutes in, so that works out great.

Tomorrow, we will finish out the book of 2 Thessalonians. And actually, I said tomorrow. It's next episode, which I believe is Monday now.

So, we'll be going through that, the end of 2 Thessalonians 3, and we'll kind of give a little bit of an intro to the book of Hebrews. And the authorship of Hebrews. So, I'm looking forward to that.

And I hope that our time in the book of 2 Thessalonians was an encouragement to you. Thanks for tuning in. Have a wonderful day.