Never Tire of Doing God's Work

Introduction

The Japanese have a word “karoshi,” this word literally means to work oneself to death. Japanese culture has a strong work ethic in which people will sometimes work over 100 hours of overtime a month, many time without overtime pay. Their work ethic is so skewed that some companies have resorted to turning off their lights at 7pm to force employees to go home. This is not forced work by the company, but the work ethic of its employees.

Could you imagine that work ethic here in the US. There are a lot of people who would do anything they could to not have to work. This is a problem that has plagued western society for thousands of years. The Greek elite enjoyed leisure and philosophy more than they enjoyed hard work. Roman citizens would spend days celebrating and neglecting their work. The colony of Jamestown almost collapsed because they had a common store system, which meant that everyone could take food from the store house even if they didn’t put into it.

Luckily for the settlers at Jamestown John Smith showed up and changed the rules using the very scripture we read this morning. If you don’t work, you don’t eat. This very problem had been plaguing the church in Thessalonica. They were so sure Jesus was coming back soon that they did not want to work for anything. They just sat and waited, expecting others to do the work required.

The church today has a little of this syndrome. Not that most people are not willing to feed themselves, but its more spiritual. The people in churches are not willing to do the Spiritual work set before them. They are not willing to do the work of the church and the work of spreading the Gospel. They would rather leave it to just a few. But the problem is.......

Idleness leads to disruptive behavior

2 Thessalonians 3:11 NIV

We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.

We all need to be doing something

no person can ever sit completely idle

It takes great patience and training to sit completely idle

Even Christian acetic monks spent their time in prayer

We need to do the right things

Just because we are working a lot or doing a lot does not mean we are engaging in the right things

Deuteronomy 6:18 NIV

Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors,

If we are filling our lives with worldly tasks we often neglect our spiritual lives.

Those who are are spiritually idle are the ones who most disruptive

Being spiritually idle leads to discontentment

discontentment leads to meddling, gossiping, or disruptive behavior

These behaviors lead to trouble in the faith community

Let the Holy Spirit Lead Us to His Work

2 Thessalonians 3:12 NIV

Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

We will always be faced with the immediate need of worldly tasks

Worldly tasks are right in front of us

Spiritual task are often unseen and only sometimes felt

Our choice will always be with worldly tasks

those who leave spiritual tasks to others in the church are not “earning the food they eat.”

They are not doing what God requires of them

We must surrender to the Holy Spirit

This means we don’t rely on our strength

Rather, we give up our own strength and will and let the Holy Spirit work in us

John 3:30 NIV

He must become greater; I must become less.”

When we become less He becomes more

The more the holy Spirit fills us the more we will feel the urge of Spiritual tasks over worldly tasks

Then the less Spiritually idle we become

Never Tire of Doing God’s Work

2 Thessalonians 3:13 NIV

And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

We often get tired of doing worldly work

We will never tire of doing spiritual work

Matthew 11:30 NIV

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Conclusion

When we are following the leading of the Holy Spirit, when we are doing the work that God has led us to do we will never tire of it. When we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit God’s work will never be too much for us. It is only when we become spiritually idle that we become overwhelmed with the work that God has set before us. And when we feel overwhelmed by the work that God has placed in front of us it is a good indicator that our spiritual health may be suffering.

If we have allowed our spiritual health to suffer we may need to take a break from the Godly work we are doing to get our Spiritual life back on track. We do this because our spiritual life is the most important aspect of our lives, if we are not right with God we will never be right with the world and we will never be able to truly do the work that God has placed in front of us. So I urge you today, brothers and sister, to surrender to the Spirit and allow him to lead you in the work God has and will lead you to do.