People of Performance

As he wraps up his letters to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul wants to warn them against idleness and remind them there is work to do. What does this mean for us? Join Dr. Marty Baker as he walks us through 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 and wrapps up our series in 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

As we conclude our study of First and Second Thessalonians, let us remember that the Apostle Paul, who founded this godly, growing church, invested a great deal of his writing time correctly their erroneous view of the return of Jesus and the Tribulation.  From what they had heard from misguided teachers in the body, many wrongly thought that they were actually in the Tribulation.  From several angles, Paul laid this tenuous thinking to rest by informing these saints the Rapture (or snatching away of the Church) had to occur before the Tribulation could commence.  The Church was not destined for this time of worldwide wrath, but it was destined to be the restrainer of evil because of the Holy Spirit’s presence prior to the revelation of Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist.

Starting with chapter two of his second letter, Paul turns addresses practical needs in light of the Lord’s imminent arrival for His Church.  Moving into chapter three, this practical counsel becomes more pronounced as Paul puts the finishing touches on a question that arises from these two chapters:

How Should We Live For Christ In Tough Times? (2 Thess. 3:1-18)

Or, put differently, “How should we live in chaotic, carnal days before the Lord’s return?” Paul gives saints three areas to concentrate on each day:

• Be People Of Prayer (2 Thess. 3:1-2). Pray specifically for your church leaders who are the tip of the proverbial spear in this battle with the unseen forces of evil (Eph. 6:10-18).
• Be People Of Progress (2 Thess. 3:3-5). Translated, doggedly weave biblical teachings into your life so your love of God grows.  Put another way,  love God by obeying His truth(s) no matter what the wicked, wild world hurls at you.  How are you faring?

With verses six through fifteen, Paul adds one more practical pointer. While encountering this final concept, you must ask yourself: “Lord, am I implementing these truths in my life, and if not, why not?” Determine today to change course and head over into God’s current.

Be People of Performance (2 Thess. 3:6-15)

In addition to doctrinal issues swirling around the young, growing church, they also had a few personal, practical issues.  Every church deals with this tension, and every wise pastoral staff and church leader deals with them so sinning saints can repent and mature in the faith.  What practical issue cropped up in this church? Some Christians were sapping off the church instead of serving.  In a word, some of the saints were lazy and idle.

You can hear their argument to justify their slothful behavior: “Paul said the Lord is going to return at any moment, so why not just sit back, relax, and wait for His glorious arrival?” These believers did not get the memo that they will account for how hard they served the Lord and will be rewarded accordingly (1 Cor. 3:10ff).  Like the ten foolish virgins in the Lord’s parable about being ready for His return (Matt. 25:1), some Christians opted to work less instead of more.  Paul forcefully addressed their lackluster performance in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 and 5:14; however, the fact Paul spends a whopping ten verses addressing them again tells you the spiritual couch potatoes didn’t get up and get moving. So, in these closing verses, Pastor Paul is even more direct in helping them move on to maturity.  Here is how he starts his word of reprimand:

⁶ Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.

Paul opens with an outright command to hard-working, spiritually industrious believers.  The fact he weds, again, the word “Lord,” kuriou (κυρίου) to the name of Jesus Christ underscores the divinity of Jesus because, as I have said, this word was/is a title for the God of the Old Testament (Ex. 5:23; Lev. 19:12; Deut. 18:22; Jer. 11:21 . . . and used elsewhere of Jesus: 1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 5:20; Col. 3:17).  By doing this, Paul underscores the importance of the ensuing command.  If you ever wanted to know God’s will, here it is.

. . . keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.

The infinitive “keep aloof” is classified here as an imperatival form (Wallace, Greek Grammar, DTS class notes, p. 44). The word is from the Greek stello (στέλλω), which, according to Danker and Friberg’s two Greek lexicons, denotes taking precautions around (2 Cor. 8:20) or purposefully steering clear of someone.

Who are you supposed to not be best buddies with? Christians who act “unruly.”  The Greek word is ataktos (ἀτάκτως). Literally, it denoted a soldier who wouldn’t follow orders from a commanding officer.[1] If a soldier arrogantly disregarded an order from an officer in the Greek Army, this indolence would have an immediate negative impact on the unit.  With a church full of military personnel, you instantly understand the importance of this term.  Applied to a church setting, it speaks of those few Christians who would rather do their own thing than follow the advice and commands of the Scriptures or the wisdom and counsel of their spiritual leaders (pastors, elders, deacons, and so forth).  In this context, the word references those lazy Christians who heard Paul’s counsel in the first letter but chose to blow it off and continue to enjoy their unproductive, lazy approach to the Christian life.  The word ataktos, unruly, in the Greek text is followed by the present tense verb, peripateo (περιπατέω), which denotes “walking around.”  The present tense nature of the verb suggests this wilfully lazy believer enjoys laziness as a lifestyle, which is the opposite of the Christian life. This is why they must be addressed and then shunned in some fashion.

Do you know anyone like this? While you serve hard, they are hardly serving, and, boy, do they love having you serve them and their children.  Typically, these slothful saints will be the first to criticize hardworking saints, and when confronted, they will respond negatively toward church leadership.  I’ve unfortunately seen them throughout my entire pastoral career.

Why does Paul counsel saints to steer clear of these types of Christians?  Let me list some reasons from practical experience: one, they will wear you down as they critique how you serve; two, they will discourage you, robbing you of the joy of service; three, their laziness will tempt you to throw in the towel, after all, it does grow wearisome carrying a heavy load while another is carrying little to no ministry load; and four, by keeping aloof you cause them to alone, and if they are along more often than not, then perhaps they might see the error of their way and repent and get back to working for Christ.

So, I must ask you a personal question: Do you have a saint in your life you need to steer clear of because they are not pulling their ministry weight? Remember, you don’t pull away until you have first pulled alongside them, as Paul did when he addressed the slothful saints in the first letter. He set the pace by admonishing them. Noutheteo ( νουθετέω) is Greek for “offering counsel and instruction for avoidance or cessation of inappropriate conduct” (Rom. 15:7); additionally, are you friends with some saint who typically disregards the Word of God or thumbs their nose at the wisdom and counsel of their spiritual leaders? Again, you need to steer clear of them if they won’t repent of this behavior so their sin doesn’t become your sin.

If anything, Paul set the pace for hard work, a sign of great godliness.  Listen up, and you will see what I mean:

 ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you; ⁹ not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, that you might follow our example.

Why should the loafer be “disciplined” by being held at arm's length by other more industrious saints? They do not follow Paul’s teaching about work, nor that of the Scriptures (v. 6), and they certainly didn’t learn anything from Paul’s godly example.

Everyone at Thessalonica Bible Church knew what hard was all about because Paul had set an example for everyone to follow.  When he showed up in town, he eventually didn’t receive money or food assistance from the new parishioners.  On the contrary, he preached and performed by putting his tent-making skills to use . . . most likely in the local harbor where many sails needed mending, as well as many travelers with tents in need of repair.  Paul could have rightfully received monetary assistance from this church (1 Cor. 9:3-14; 1 Tim. 5:18), but he chose not to in order not to be a financial drain on the church and to show saints how to work hard.

Consider Paul’s statement here, especially if you are in leadership.  Your life should reflect hard work in every area of your life.  Your work ethic, inside and outside the church, should be an example to others.  Instead of being a sapper, you should be a server. Which are you? In addition, if you are a leader, you shouldn’t always be looking for others to plug ministry holes so you can get on with leading.  Sometimes, you have to get down and dirty yourself.  Can you say Fall Festival?  With over 2,500 people attending this year, it took several hundred volunteers to pull it off and make it a success.  It was good to see leaders not just leading but serving in practical ways.  This was Paul’s example, and more would do well to emulate it, for it is a sign of spiritual maturity.

Paul was so adamant that believers serve instead of soak he made this eye-popping statement:

 ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat.

Wow.  His words make you take a deep breath. Note what he didn’t say. Paul didn’t say people shouldn’t eat if they couldn’t work.  There are always those who can’t work because of physical limitations and those in between jobs and need the church to help them get on their feet.  Paul is not talking about saints who can’t work for whatever reasons.  He’s talking about saints who chose to loaf and lounge and want the church to help them.  As I’ve said, they are sappers, not servers. Right. If this is the case, Paul says these saints should get no assistance from the church.  Talk about tough love, but it’s all designed to wake the sleeping sloth so they can move onward and upward.

In my first pastorate, we had a family who fit Paul’s description to a tee.  The elders gave them money for years to pay bills and purchase food.  They eventually received more money than anyone in the church, and the more we shared, the more needs they had.

I remember driving out to their mobile home in the country one day with two other elders to offer them more assistance.  Walking into their living room, to my right was a massive glass cage with bright lights.  Inside the “cage” was a giant lizard.  It must have weighed several pounds.  As I talked with the residents about their unusual pet, they informed me of the special food this kind of lizard needed to survive. As they spoke, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What are you doing with a pet like this?”

To my left was, you guessed it, a mammoth television.  I didn’t have any TV that came near the size of this one.  You can imagine what I was thinking.

Looking into the dining room, I noticed a large, custom tri-cycle sat where you would place a table and chairs. “What’s that?” I asked. The owner, who was probably six foot four and two-hundred-and-fifty pounds, replied, “I’ve always loved trikes, so I thought I’d build my own.” Again, you can imagine what words went through my mind.

On our way home, one of the elders piped up and said, "You can give some Christians $25,000, and they would still have needs.”  Boy, wasn’t that the truth.  A few weeks later, that truth became crystal clear when I noticed the man of the house sporting a new and humongous intricate dragon tattoo on his body.  No telling how much it cost.  But the presence of the tattoo never stopped him from asking for more assistance from the church.  Eventually, we put the brakes on that gravy train to call the sappers to be servants.  You can guess what happened. They changed churches. Convenient, huh?

Once more, ask yourself another personal question:  Are you giving to another saint who should not receive help because they will not work inside and outside the church? Stop enabling them by putting a hold on your sacrificial, loving gifts, and perhaps they may turn from their sin and get to work.

In verse 11, Paul turns and places a finer point on his discussion about “unruly” loafing believers.

 ¹¹ For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.

Some in Thessalonica Bible Church didn’t work, while others worked hard at being busybodies.  The Greek for “busybodies” is periergazomenos  (περιεργαζομένους). This present tense participle, which denotes ongoing activity (which points to a lifestyle), is composed of a preposition, peri, which means “around.” It’s stapled onto the verb meaning “to work;” hence, the derogatory term means to work around in a circle in an area that is not yours.

What is a busybody? Some synonyms might help you craft a working definition: eavesdropper, troublemaker, mischief-maker, interferer. It is a person who meddles in the affairs of others, typically under the guise of helping or caring for them.  The help, however, is usually unwelcome and uninvited, and the busybody’s primary goal is to get close to you so they can gather information to use against you later.  Frequently, a busybody is so busy working in and around your life that they don’t have quality time to take care of their own life, let alone have quality time to work on something worthwhile.  As such, busybodies destroy the church's unity by dispensing gossip and driving wedges between people.  Have you ever met one?  Are you one?

It is challenging for a busybody to see themselves as such. In their mind, they are an excellent and much-needed addition to the church.  But in God’s mind, they are a pain and drain to the church.  Here are some questions to ask yourself to discover whether this is your sin or not:

• Next time you start to involve yourself in a situation, stop and ask yourself, “Is this really any of my business?”
• When you are involved with working around others, do you find yourself asking many (sometimes) inappropriate questions so you can isolate juicy facts?
• Do you place things on prayer lists that should never be there at that level of detail?
• Do you find yourself offending people you are merely trying to help? Maybe your questions are offensive and bothersome, and that’s why people run the other way.
• Is love motivating you to care for a given person, or do you desire to collect facts to add to your arsenal against this person?
• What real work are you engaged in at church? At your office?
• Do you spend excessive time following people on Instagram or Facebook, and do you find yourself divulging what you discover to others who are clueless?
• Do you read your teen’s emails or text messages?
• Do you quite often pump your married son or daughter-in-law for information so you can be your passive-aggressive self later?
• Can you hardly wait to advise someone whether they want it or not? “Well, if I were you . . .”

If you are a busybody, what should you do? Paul tells you in the following verse:

 ¹² Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.

Work hard and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. You might need to read that one more time. Work hard, care for your needs, and stop looking to others to help you because you won’t keep your nose to the grindstone.

How should you behave if you are not a busybody? Good question. Paul gives a clear, concise answer in the following three verses:

 ¹³ But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

Live a life of good works every day. What good works did you do this week? If you didn’t do any, you are probably a busybody.  If you touch lives with good works, you are growing spiritually. And if you are looking for good works, they are all around you:

• Rake the leaves of homebound neighbor.
• Wash the car for a widower.
• Cook dinner for a person who just came home from surgery.
• Bring a neighbor's trash cans in because you came home first.
• Buy a gift card for a young couple to enjoy a dinner out on the town and volunteer to watch their children.
• Watch someone’s dog while they are out of town.
• Invite a college student or two from George Mason over for Thanksgiving.
• Volunteer in the children's and youth departments.
• Use your musical abilities on the worship team.

The sky is the limit.

Why does Paul caution us against becoming weary of doing good works?  Good question. Paul knew firsthand that some people don’t say “thank you” when you go out of your way to bless them. Just experience that ingratitude a few times, and you’ll start thinking about withdrawing. He also knew how easy it is to get your feelings hurt. You know the drill.  You give sacrificially to a person in their hour of need, but in your hour of need, it’s just crickets.  You start connecting the dots, “Oh, I don’t think I like this.  I helped them, but they can’t help me.  Maybe I won’t help anymore.”  There are many more reasons why a Christian could get burned out doing good works, but don’t ever give in to them, for we are created for good works (Eph. 2:10).

What do we do about busybodies who are content with how they function in the body? Paul’s advice is as pointed as ever:

¹⁴ And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame. ¹⁵ And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother (2 Thess. 3).

Once more, Paul teaches we should pull away from people who are busybodies and not real hard workers inside and outside the church. Of course, admonishing another believer involves telling them the sin they are involved in so they can know how to move forward, spiritually speaking (Rom. 15:14). In this context, Paul is telling us to verbally let the person know you do not appreciate how nosy and intrusive they are, and you believe they need to live differently. If they repeatedly continue to be a busybody, then you distance yourself from them.  What does this mean?

• You might not go to dinner with them like you used to.
• You might not have them over to your home for a social gathering like you did in old times.
• You might not be Johnny-on-the-spot when they email or text you.
• When you receive an invite from them, you say “no thanks.”

Why should you distance yourself from the busybody? So that in their aloneness, they might have time to consider their sin, feel shame, and repent.  All of this, of course, is dependent on you telling them why you are pulling back for a while.  If you don’t have this complicated conversation, you are in the wrong because you are not setting your brother or sister up for victory.

And speaking of your brother or sister in Christ who are busybodies, how should you not view them? As enemies.  No, they are fellow brothers and sisters, and they need to be admonished lovingly as such with the hopes they can confess their sin and grow in the faith.  God’s goal for them (and you) is not isolation but maturation. That should be our goal as well.

Ah, this is all such practical advice for us as we await the Lord’s glorious return.  When He returns, may He find us all working hard inside and outside the church, for hard work is becoming the life of a godly, growing Christian, and it is the very thing that will catch the eye of the non-Christian.

With all of this great, timely preaching now behind him, Paul turns to offer a benediction that is just as applicable today as it was 2,000 years ago:

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. The Lord be with you all! ¹⁷ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. ¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all (2 Thess. 3).

Three things stand out here that we all need as we live for Jesus Christ in hard times before His glorious arrival:

• Number one: That our lives would always know His inner, tranquil peace.
• Number two: No matter how tough and trying the times are, we never lose a wonderful sense of His presence with us.
• Number three: That regardless of what the Devil may hurl at us, we’d always know our good God is making sure we sense and see His amazing grace on in our lives.

[1] Friberg, Analytical Greek Lexicon.