2 THESSALONIANS 3:1-17 - Waiting With Gospel-Honoring Work

Introduction

Several years ago I was helping a new pastor move his furniture into his home. Among the items that needed to be moved in were his washer and dryer set, which had to go down into the basement of the Depression-era house. So you know what that meant—the only exterior access was through the old storm-cellar doors in the yard, down old stone steps that were just about wide enough to get the dryer down into the cellar! After a few false starts and some creative use of three dimensional space we finally wrangled both appliances into place in the basement. Whereupon the pastor turned to me and said, “Not bad for two guys who graduated from seminary!”

See, that’s funny because preachers aren’t supposed to be good at manual labor, right? Part of that comes from the unfortunate trend towards “foppishness” in 19th Century ministers in Europe and America, and part of it comes from the old Gnostic error from the medieval age that says only “spiritual” endeavors are worthwhile, and plain old physical labor is beneath the dignity of honorable men.

But of course, that wasn’t always the case in Christianity. In fact, the passage that we are studying today is the foundation of what the sociologist Max [Veber] famously dubbed “The Protestant Work Ethic”. In the 1600’s Captain John Smith famously established the rule in the Jamestown Colony based on 2 Thessalonians 3:10:

2 Thessalonians 3:10 (ESV)

10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

Christianity—and indeed, Protestant Christianity—is widely regarded even by secular sociologists to be one of the driving forces that shaped the United States through the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

But it certainly seems like those days have passed us by—As John MacArthur points out in his commentary on this chapter,

License plate frames announce that people would rather be fishing, flying, RVing, golfing, skiing, sailing, hiking, camping, four wheeling—anything but working. In our materialistic, self-indulgent society, many people play at their work and work at their play. Others work only to achieve prosperity, success, fame, and early retirement.

1 and 2 Thessalonians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chapter 26: Work: A Noble Christian Duty

But it’s not just in the world around us; even believers can succumb to the notion that the only “work” that really counts is ministry-related work. If you’re not evangelizing, preaching, church planting, Bible teaching or something spiritual, then you’re not being effective for the Kingdom of God.

But what I want to show you this morning from our text is that

The Gospel is HONORED by ANY work that is DILIGENT, PRODUCTIVE and PERSISTENT

Take a look at the structure of the chapter, and you’ll see that in the first five verses Paul is praying that the Gospel would run free:

2 Thessalonians 3:1 (ESV)

1 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you,

He is praying that his ministry would be delivered from faithless, evil men who wanted to stop the Kingdom work he was doing:

2 Thessalonians 3:2 (ESV)

2 and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.

He is praying that the church in Thessalonica would be guarded from Satan’s attacks and would be steadfast and patient as they wait for the appearing of Christ at His Second Coming:

2 Thessalonians 3:3–5 (ESV)

3 But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

And so what does that faithful patience look like? What does a church do while it is waiting for Christ’s return? How do you live your day-to-day life, Christian, in a way that causes the word of the Lord to speed ahead and be honored? It looks a lot like work! Paul calls the Thessalonians not to be idle in their waiting:

2 Thessalonians 3:6 (ESV)

6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

Paul says that hard work is an apostolic tradition! The word “tradition” (as we saw last week) literally means “things handed down”—Paul is saying that he and Silas and Timothy deliberately set the Thessalonians an example of what Gospel-honoring work looks like:

I. Gospel-honoring work is DILIGENT work (2 Thess. 3:6-9)

Down through verse 9 there are at least three ways that Paul identifies the kind of hard work that Christians ought to be known for—whether they sit behind a desk or run a lathe or repair cars or change diapers or write music or drive a truck—you are called to honor the Gospel that you have believed by being diligent in your work. In verses 7-8 Paul says of their work

2 Thessalonians 3:7–8 (ESV)

7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.

Diligent work means that

You PAY your own WAY (vv. 7-8a)

You earn your keep; you support yourself. As an apostle, Paul in fact did have the right to rely on the provision of others for his support:

1 Timothy 5:17–18 (ESV)

17 Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”

But he wanted to be an example to the First Century equivalent of the twentysomething-aged men trailing their mother in Walmart filling up her shopping cart with pizza rolls. Don’t be that guy. Don’t be the one who always excuses yourself at the restaurant just before the waitress brings the check to split up. Honor the Gospel with your diligent work. Pay your own way.

And in the second half of the verse 8, Paul describes another characteristic of Gospel-honoring diligence:

You aren’t AFRAID to SWEAT (v. 8b)

Paul describes the kind of work that he and Silas and Timothy modeled for the church:

2 Thessalonians 3:8 (ESV)

8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.

The word toil in Greek carries the idea of painful or difficult labor. The word he uses for labor (Gk. kopos), includes the idea of troublesome labor. Paul wasn’t afraid of the blisters and calluses and bruises and bloody scrapes that came with an honest day’s work. Michael Landon’s great line in Little House on the Prairie is still a great summary of this idea: “God put a certain amount of sweat into a man’s body, He didn’t intend for it to stay there!”

Diligent, Gospel-honoring work means you know how to pay your own way; you aren’t afraid to sweat. In verse 9 Paul makes it clear that (as we saw a few moments ago) he was deliberately foregoing his right to refrain from hard labor for a reason:

2 Thessalonians 3:9 (ESV)

9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.

This is another characteristic of Gospel-honoring, diligent labor:

You SET a good EXAMPLE (v. 9)

Paul and Silas and Timothy set a good example of hard, diligent labor for the Thessalonians. Which means, among other things, that if they were trying to set an example for their people to follow, they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot by whining about hard work. They showed their people that hard work is to be rejoiced in as a gift of God; they did not complain about it or try to find shortcuts around it or find excuses for not doing it.

This is significant—because in fact they could have gotten out of the work and no one would have given it a second thought. But Paul and Silas and Timothy chose to give themselves up to hard, exhausting, difficult work. They wore the dirt of an honest day’s work like the badge of honor that it is, and their diligence and industry honored the Gospel that they represented!

In this way then, Christian, you honor the Gospel by your diligent work—paying your own way, not afraid to sweat, setting a good example of cheerfulness and gratitude for the work set before you. And as Paul continues in verses 10-12, we go on to see that

II. Gospel-honoring work is PRODUCTIVE work (2 Thess. 3:10-12)

Look with me at verse 10:

2 Thessalonians 3:10 (ESV)

10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

In verse 8, Paul set the example of not eating anyone’s bread without paying for it—a work ethic that honors the Gospel isn’t a freeloading attitude. Here he echoes that same idea, only this time from a negative standpoint. But the meaning is plain—a Gospel-honoring work ethic means that you

Take RESPONSIBILITY for yourself (v. 10; cp. Acts 20:35)

This is the verse that Captain John Smith famously quoted when he became the president of the failing Jamestown Colony in 1608. The colony was on the verge of collapse in part because many of the colonists were from the English aristocracy, and felt that manual labor was beneath them. So Smith quoted the same words that Paul commanded the idle members of the church in Thessalonica: If you will not make your own way, no one else will do it for you. Of course, when a fellow church member is willing to work but cannot, due to illness or injury or calamity or other circumstances beyond their control, God’s people must care for one another and look after one another. Paul makes that clear in his address to the elders in Ephesus in Acts 20:35:

Acts 20:35 (ESV)

35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

But if you simply refuse to take responsibility for yourself; if you insist on finding every shortcut you can or excuse you can muster rather than pay your own way, then you are dishonoring the Gospel that you claim to love.

And there are times when that refusal to work takes more subtle forms—Paul follows up in verse 11:

2 Thessalonians 3:11 (ESV)

11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.

Productive work means that you

Give an HONEST day’s work (v. 11)

Paul says there’s a difference between being busy and being a busybody. Like the old Seinfeld episode where George Costanza figured out he could walk through the halls of his job carrying a manila folder and wearing an exasperated expression on his face, and everyone around him would say, “Wow, that Costanza is so busy!”

Paul says don’t be that guy. you are not honoring the Gospel when you’re carrying a hammer and a length of 2” x 4” around the jobsite all day looking busy but avoiding any actual labor. You’re not honoring the Gospel when you are always wearing that exasperated George Costanza expression in front of all of your friends telling everyone how crazy busy you are all day, and yet somehow the laundry never makes it out of the dryer and every family supper comes out of a drive-through bag.

And don’t think you’re honoring the Gospel by spending your day trying to evangelize the guy next to you on the shop floor and never actually doing any of the actual work you’re getting paid for. If all you do is recite Ray Comfort lines at him all day and never pick up your tools, what is he going to think of your Gospel?

Honor the Gospel with an honest day’s work—Paul goes on to directly address those who would rather look busy than actually be busy in verse 12:

2 Thessalonians 3:12 (ESV)

12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Notice here that he isn’t scolding them—the word translated “encourage” is related to the word used to describe the Holy Spirit in John 16 as the Comforter. Paul is “coming alongside” the busybodies in the church, the ones who find ways to look busy, to encourage them to

Take PRIDE in your living (v. 12; cp. Col. 3:23)

I take this as his meaning here in part because of the encouragement that he says he wants to deliver, to

2 Thessalonians 3:12 (ESV)

12 ... encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

The idea of working “quietly” has a couple of instructive points for us. The first is that you see the contrast between those who are busy versus those who look busy. Those who really are busy people rarely draw attention to the fact! they don’t need everyone to know how busy they are; they simply go about their business of an honest day’s work, rejoicing in the work of their hands and thankful to God for every bolt they tighten, every paper they file, every diaper they change, every hedge they trim, every song they compose, every truck they load, every paper they grade—all of it in the spirit with which Paul exhorts the Colossian church:

Colossians 3:23 (ESV)

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

The second instruction we find in this verse comes in a practical sense from the word “quietly”—the Greek word underneath it can also mean “well-ordered” or “organized”. Paul is encouraging his readers to be good at your work. Know how to do your job, keep your work space clean, be organized in the way you pursue your daily chores. Have a schedule; don’t stumble through each day at the mercy of whatever task you’re furthest behind in. Have a plan.

Another important part of this kind of well-ordered work is that you finish what you start. As we’ve noted in the past, the Biblical definition of laziness isn’t an inability to work at all; it is the inability to finish what you started. Proverbs 26:15 describes the sluggard as someone who can’t even finish the chore of feeding himself:

Proverbs 26:15 (ESV)

15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.

Gospel-honoring work means finishing what you start—Paul picks up that thread starting in verse 13:

2 Thessalonians 3:13 (ESV)

13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

With that, we come to our third characteristic of Gospel-honoring work:

III. Gospel-honoring work is PERSISTENT work (2 Thess. 3:13-18)

As they honor the Gospel that they love by their work, Paul encourages them:

Don’t grow WEARY (v. 13; cp. Gal. 6:9)

It can be wearisome to continue to work hard, putting in an honest day’s work and seeking to honor God in your diligence, especially when your workload is expanded by the busybodies and deadweight around you. It’s easy to say, “You know what? If they’re not going to pick up their end, I’m not going to bust my tail either!” But Paul reminds us—you aren’t working for them; you’re working for Christ, who sees what you’re doing, and He sees what they’re doing, and He remembers!

It can be wearisome to spend yourself in good work, loving others and sacrificing for them; seeking to serve and honor and build up your brother or sister in Christ, only to see them throw away everything you’ve done for them. It’s tempting to say, “That’s it—I’m done!” But Paul says that you do not have the option of walking away in weariness—do not grow weary, because your labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:58)! Paul would go on to encourage the church in Galatia:

Galatians 6:9 (ESV)

9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Honor the Gospel by your persistent work—don’t grow weary, and in verse 14 he says

Don’t get DRAGGED down (v. 14-15; cp. Gal. 6:1)

2 Thessalonians 3:14–15 (ESV)

14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

Paul knew that some of the recipients of this letter would not take his encouragement well: “Who is he to say that I am a busybody? How dare you question my work ethic?” But his encouragement wasn’t just a suggestion—it was an apostolic command. And those who refused to submit to his authority as an apostle in this matter; who still refused to pull their own weight and be responsible for their own affairs, who found ways around an honest day’s work and kept relying on someone else to pick up their slack—those members were dishonoring the Gospel. They were representing Christ as lazy and irresponsible. They were taking the name “Christian” and making it synonymous with “busybody” and “sluggard”. They were refusing to obey God’s commands given through His apostle—and so Paul says, “Don’t associate your Christian life with their laziness—don’t allow them to go on with their sinful refusal to work an honest living. Let them go in their slothfulness until they are ashamed of themselves!”

But notice that Paul is quick to remind his readers that the lazy members among them were not their enemies!

2 Thessalonians 3:15 (ESV)

15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

Don’t let people who claim the name Christian drag you down by their laziness and unsubmissive hearts—and don’t let yourself be dragged down into treating them as adversaries!

A solid work ethic is fertile soil in your life for abundance and blessings. Obeying God’s commands for diligent, productive, persistent work will very often lead to a life of stability, comfort and provision. This is the way God made the world, and when we obey Him in the way we work, He has ordered it in such a way as to reap blessings.

But that same soil is also fertile ground for a harvest of pride in your life. It is all too easy to work hard for many years and be obedient to God’s design for honest labor, and when the fruits of your labor are around you to look around at others who are languishing in their idleness and think to yourself that you’re just a little bit superior to them. You know what Paul’s warning about here, don’t you? Because you’ve felt that same kind of wicked pride flow through your own heart: “Well, if they would have just gotten their butts out of bed and looked for a job, maybe they wouldn’t be so bad off! I busted my tail for forty years to get where I am!”

But Paul is reminding his readers that they have no right to look on another Christian’s laziness or idleness as if they were their adversary—they are to “warn him as a brother” (the phrase can also be rendered “instruct” him as a brother…) As he would go on to write to the church in Galatians:

Galatians 6:1 (ESV)

1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

Don’t regard the idle brother as an enemy—because if you are honest with yourself, you know that you are just as likely to need the same admonishment someday!

In verses 16-17, Paul closes out not only his teaching on this subject, but the entire letter. And I think in this benediction there is at least one more instruction for us about Gospel-honoring work. As you obey these commands for the way you carry out your work while you wait for Christ’s return,

Don’t MISPLACE your PEACE (v. 16)

2 Thessalonians 3:16 (ESV)

16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.

And when it comes to considering a Christian work ethic, I think that this is an important reminder—your peace does not come from your work ethic. Your security in this world does not come from your ability to work hard and accumulate wealth. Ask Job in the Old Testament how well his wealth protected his peace? God calls you to rejoice in the work of your hands, to thank Him for every good thing that you receive by your hard work, but not because it comes from you!

1 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)

...What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Your peace in this life does not depend on your ability to work hard—it comes from the Lord of Peace Himself! He is the One who gives you all the good that your hands have worked for, and He is the only One that will give you that peace at all times and in every way.

Your peace in this life does not depend on your ability to work hard—it comes from God alone. And more importantly, your peace in the next life does not depend on your ability to work hard in this life. Jesus told the parable in Luke 12--

Luke 12:16–21 (ESV)

16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

You may be here this morning and have the respect and admiration of everyone that knows you because of your rock-solid Christian work ethic. Your whole life you have paid your own way, you’re not afraid to sweat, you set a good example, you are productive and honest in your labor, and over the years you have been established in the work of your hands. Your diligence and persistence has paid off, and now you and your children and your children’s children have a rich inheritance of this world’s goods to use and enjoy.

But if you think that is enough, that being a hard worker in this life is all that God requires of you, then the Scripture calls you a fool today. Because your peace before God does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. If the only treasure you have laid up for yourself is here on this earth with no thought of what it means to be rich toward God, then you need to hear what Paul is saying at the end of this letter.

The peace with God that you must obtain cannot come from your work ethic; it cannot come from the works of your hands. The peace with God that you must have when He comes on that Day will only be yours by the blood of Christ shed for you on that Cross. He is the Lord of peace, because He has satisfied the wrath of God against your sin by His death. If you have been trying to make yourself worthy of God’s approval by your lifelong commitment to hard work, you have nothing to look forward to on the Last Day but watching everything you have achieved crumble to dust at the Appearing of His glory and power. But if you will do the work that God has commanded, you will stand on that Day. Jesus says in John 6:29,

...“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God who knew no sin was made to be sin, suffering under the wrath of God so that you would be spared. It is the work that He has done that has purchased peace with God, and He offers it to you this morning freely. There is nothing that you must achieve, nothing that you must become, nothing that you must endure or accomplish or build in order to receive this peace. The “work” you are called to do is to believe that the work He has done is sufficient to deliver you from the penalty for your sin. Stop depending on your own abilities, your own attempts at righteousness, your own accomplishments. Depend on His work for you on the Cross. Come—and welcome!—to Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION:

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

Why do Christians sometimes have a weak understanding of the place of work in their lives? What pressures in the world around us affect our attitudes towards work? What attitudes might some Christians have that make “secular” work less important that “spiritual” activities?

What are some Biblical reasons that Christians should be excellent workers at any job they have? How does your attitude toward work reflect on the Gospel?

How did Paul and Silas and Timothy demonstrate a strong work ethic? What are some examples of diligent work that they set for the Thessalonian believers?

Describe a situation in which the behavior of others might make you “weary”. What can you do about it?

How might some people mistakenly look to their work ethic to provide them peace in this world? Read John 6:29 again. What “work” must we do to have peace with God?