1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 - Working

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. 10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. 11 For you know how, like a father with his children, 12 we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Target Date: Sunday, 5 June 2022

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

Labor – κόπος (kopos) - In secular Greek kópos means a. “beating” or the “weariness” caused by it, and b. the “exertion” (e.g., of manual work) that brings on physical tiredness. kopiáō, then, means “to tire,” “to wear oneself out.”

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. – 1 Corinthians 15:10

To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; 12 and we toil, working with our own hands; - 1 Corinthians 4:11-12

Hardship – μόχθος (mochthos) – In the New Testament, always found paired with “labor”.

The Greek for “labor” means hardship in bearing; that for “travail,” hardship in doing; the former, toil with the utmost solicitude; the latter, the being wearied with fatigue [Grotius]. Zanchius refers the former to spiritual (see 1 Th 3:5), the latter to manual labor. I would translate, “weariness (so the Greek is translated, 2 Co 11:27) and travail” (hard labor, toil).

Working

Burden - ἐπιβαρέω (epibareo) – Extra weight, particularly from outside.

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 would 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, so that you would follow our example. – 2 Thessalonians 3:8-9

Thoughts on the Passage:

Paul, and presumably his colleagues, had little choice but to use the workshop as a place for communicating the gospel since so much of their time was spent there. A recent study by Stowers (“Social Status”) has shown that Paul probably did not participate in street preaching and other forms of public mass appeal. Of necessity his mission work was with individuals and small groups

The interesting point is that the choice of “non-payment,” or to go without a salary, was not the vote of the congregation but the decision of the leaders. Paul’s intention was to provide an example of what this particular church needed, not to establish a precedent for how churches in general should limit their provisions for their pastors.

Laying down your life doesn’t merely mean dying for someone, but committing yourself to seek their good regardless of the time and resources and toil and hardship required.

That is what it means to be a parent or a spouse.

Paul’s trade – tentmaking – probably more appropriately, leather-working.

because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. – Acts 18:3

Being in Christ infuses everything we do with spiritual meaning. Work, even when secular or mundane, is given meaning by God through Jesus Christ.

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. – Ephesians 4:28

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. – Colossians 3:23-24

Paul’s Farewell Address in Ephesus: In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” – Acts 20:35

What about the gift(s) the Philippians sent to Paul when he was in Thessalonica?

You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. 17 Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. – Philippians 4:15-18

This was probably not mentioned in this letter because they did not provide ALL his needs; their gift helped to lift a bit of the burden, but did not free him from it.

It may be that the money sent from Philippi was not sufficient to remove completely the need for manual labor in Thessalonica; it may be, too, that there was a desire not to embarrass the Thessalonian Christians by mentioning gifts received from other Christians. There was no occasion to make the Thessalonian Christians feel ashamed of themselves by using the kind of language which Paul uses to the church of Corinth in 2 Cor 11:8, 9.

I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you; 9 and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. – 2 Corinthians 11:8-9

The difference in tone can be easily attributed to the differing circumstances of the epistles:

The Corinthians had been reluctant, rather than unable, to give.

The Corinthians thought themselves mature and above petty concerns, rather than continuing in humility.

The Corinthian church was not involved in active, organized persecution.

The Corinthian church had the means but not the willingness; their stinginess was a symptom of their spiritual problem.

The instruction of Jesus when He sent out the Twelve:

Do not acquire gold, or silver, or copper for your money belts, 10 or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worthy of his support. – Matthew 10:9-10

This does not necessarily set a model for missions today, but it does teach important lessons for us all:

Trust God for your provision.

Do not trust in the stuff you take along.

Don’t get distracted from the job of making disciples.

My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 Do we not have a right to eat and drink? 5 Do we not have a right to take along a believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or do only Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? 7 Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not use the milk of the flock?

8 I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? 10 Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. 11 If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? 14 So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. – 1 Corinthians 9:3-14

What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. – 1 Corinthians 9:18

For many, payment (or attendance) is a way to measure approval or worth. Paul and Silas needed neither of these things, assured in the Spirit that they were entrusted with the message of the gospel.

Teachings:

Being in Christ infuses everything we do with spiritual meaning. Work, even when secular or mundane, is given meaning by God through Jesus Christ.

Applications:

For the Christian:

How do we act when we are exhausted? When there is too much work and not enough day? Do we perform our work and still use the time for God’s glory? Do we teach as we sew? Enough of this artificial separation between the parts of our lives – your work is no less sacred than your worship.

For the Backslidden:

For the Unconverted:

Primary Preaching Point:

Building Points:

Why does Paul work when he deserved to be cared for in his gospel labors?

Why does he choose this?

What is the advantage to the church?

What does this say to the church in caring for others?

Why do we need to work – what is its purpose?

Sermon Text:

We move forward this week to the next paragraph in the second chapter of Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians.

I remind you, as I often do, that we are still in that section of this letter where Paul and Silas are reminding the Thessalonian church of the example they provided for them to follow.

I will also remind you that their ministry in Thessalonica was short, although we are not really sure how long they were there before they were forced by the magistrates to leave.

We know for certain the first three weeks, Paul and Silas went to the synagogue in Thessalonica.

When the Jews rejected them, they went to the Gentiles in the city.

We are told, you will recall, in Acts 17 that there was great success of the gospel among the Gentiles of the city, causing the Jews to become jealous.

This is what makes the time they were there indeterminate. We don’t know how long this great harvest among the Gentiles went on.

We find from the second chapter of 1 Thessalonians that some period of time passed between their rejection of the synagogue and their expulsion from the city.

Because we are not told in Scripture how long a time passed, the amount of time they were in Thessalonica is proved immaterial.

I only bring this up to caution us not to assume the time was close to the three weeks we are given;

We see from much of what we will discuss today that they were there much longer, perhaps as long as six months.

I mention this because we do need to know this was not a short-term stay, but these apostles were committed from the outset to a full sojourn among this church.

To place ourselves again in the context of the chapter, let’s read verses 7 and 8 again with verse 9:

But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. 8 So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.

For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

This progression from love to labor is very familiar to parents.

And Paul and Silas cast their love for the Thessalonian believers in that very light – the love of a nursing mother for her infant.

Their love was not just a sweet feeling in their heart;

It brought them to labor and toil.

And we should note it here that this effort they put forth was not because the Thessalonian believers demanded it, but because the apostles gave it.

There are few (if any) parents who cannot identify moments of great labor and toil for the sake of their beloved child.

Early mornings, late nights, working a paying job through the day to keep a roof over their head and food in their belly.

For these apostles, this was the same thing.

They tell us here we worked night and day.

If we stop there in our reading, it might be easy to imagine them talking about something like a heavy preaching schedule.

Many faithful servants of God have carried out enormous preaching loads, some preparing five or six separate sermons a week.

And we should take nothing away from the labor and toil these men of God carry out because those messages they preach in the pulpit are bathed in prayer that people never see.

These men and their labor are a great gift of God to the church, men who, like the apostles in Acts can devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:4).

But here in Thessalonica, Paul and Silas did not have that opportunity.

The verse continues we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you…

The type of work they are talking about is not what we might consider “church work”.

They are talking about doing something to earn a living in what we might call “secular occupations.”

They were not receiving money or support from the Thessalonian believers – they had to earn money to live.

And even while they worked this toil and labor, they say we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.

Two different labors, two sets of toil.

And they did it because

1. They loved the Thessalonians and

2. They didn’t want to place any obstacle to the gospel.

We will see this example of their working labor among the Thessalonians again.

For many, this is one of the major teachings to come out of these epistles, summarized in 2 Thessalonians 3:10:

if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

I will not go into the specifics of this teaching today, but I will caution us all that this verse has been used too often to close our hearts and hands to others in spite of the teaching all around it.

But the full treatment will have to wait until we reach the passage in due time, God willing.

For today’s passage, we see Paul and Silas using their conduct as an example for the Thessalonians to follow: in love, generosity, diligence, and obedience.

But even as they remind the Thessalonians of their example, they recognize this is not the most efficient way of proclaiming the gospel.

If the apostles in Acts couldn’t be bothered to serve tables because it was a distraction from their prayers and ministry of the word,

How much more for these missionaries who went about in these strange lands proclaiming the same gospel?

And these apostles worked their jobs and preached the gospel wherever they went.

We see details of Paul’s work when he was in Corinth:

[Paul] left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, 3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers. 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. – Acts 18:1-4

This is exactly the same pattern we see in Thessalonica – they worked and they preached.

And we also see that, when he had an opportunity because God had sent a gift, he devoted himself completely to preaching and teaching.

But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. – Acts 18:5

Their arrival was not simply pressure for him to focus on proclaiming the gospel;

When they arrived, they brought a gift from the churches in Macedonia;

And it was this gift that allowed Paul, for a time, to use the time he had spent on earning his own bread into proclaiming the gospel as well.

We see him thanking the Philippian church for their gifts in his epistle to them:

You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. 17 Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. 18 But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. – Philippians 4:15-18

Now we shouldn’t wonder why Paul did not mention these gifts in the epistle to the Thessalonian church;

The gifts, while gracious, supplied him for a time, but did not sustain him entirely.

So after the blessed respite from his labor, he returned to his tasks.

It was his normal situation.

We saw earlier from Acts 18:3 what Paul did – he was a “tent-maker”.

But since the tents were most often made of leather, his trade could better be described as a leather-worker.

We see his work in Ephesus, where Paul tells them:

In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” – Acts 20:35

It was also in Ephesus we have this note:

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. – Acts 19:11-12

These items God was using for these extraordinary miracles were:

Handkerchiefs – literally “sweat-cloths” – the things a laborer would use to wipe the sweat off his face.

A sweat-stained bandana, if you will.

Aprons – similar to a tool belt or nail apron in appearance, in which the laborer would carry his tools for work.

God was not using holy silks or bottles of oil that had been specially “blessed” by the apostle,

People were being healed through Paul’s work items that were carried away, possibly stolen, and given to the sick.

I certainly don’t want to push this too far, but there is something about what God uses to accomplish His purposes.

Sweaty cloths and stinking aprons are a far cry from what we have grown to expect God to work through.

There are too many who feel they cannot worship without a light show, projection screen, band, microphones, and air conditioning.

Likewise, we find it hard to think of apostles stripped to the waist, covered in sweat, teaching the gospel of God while cutting, piercing, and sewing great sheets of leather.

It is almost as foreign as a Savior who carried hundreds more wooden beams than the one He was nailed to.

All that to say – faith in Jesus Christ gives great dignity to work.

Earlier I used the terms “church work” and “secular occupation”.

These are convenient divisions to help us in the discussion of work,

But we shouldn’t take it any further than that.

There is no formal priesthood with holier jobs than everyone else;

That is one of the gravest mistakes of the Roman church.

A minister of the gospel is no more inherently holy than a carpenter, bookkeeper, or bank teller.

And there is no reason at all that the carpenter, technician, accountant, or teller cannot have a greater impact than the finest preacher.

Truly, you (all) SHOULD have a greater reach, opportunity, and success in the gospel than I do.

Why? – you may ask?

Because it is the job of the servants of the church (that is what “minister” means),

It is the job of the elders of this church to

[equip] the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ - Ephesians 4:12

We teach, we train, we encourage so that YOU can carry the gospel into your world,

Living a sanctified life and proclaiming the mercy of God through Jesus Christ.

For those of you who do not formally teach or train believers, even what you might call secular work is important.

The world, our culture, will tell you that some jobs are more important, more dignified, even higher-class.

The world will say that, but the word of God says otherwise:

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? – James 2:2-4

It is not just the wealth of these that is contrasted; the poor man has to work and may have more physical needs than the rich man,

But, James continues, did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? – James 2:5

I don’t care what you do – if you do an honest job, there is dignity in it.

Because even the job we have is given to us by God for His glory.

Paul tells the Colossians:

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve. – Colossians 3:23-24

You think your job is unimportant, merely putting food on the table?

Scripture says you work for the Lord Christ, no matter what you do.

And then, finally, we see a great purpose in our work.

Paul explains to the Ephesian church:

He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. – Ephesians 4:28

We work so that we have something to share with one in need.

What a great responsibility – to know God is putting goods and money in our hands so that we can share with others.

There are some here also whose labor does not necessarily “earn” money – children, homeschooling parents, stay-at-home parents.

Your toil and labor is no less significant simply because there is not a paycheck attached to it.

The jobs you parents perform are so important – you are training young ones to become great men and women of God one day.

What is a mere 8 – 5 job compared to that responsibility?

And children, you have jobs also.

For many, the work you do around the house is an opportunity you have to bless your parents who have spent themselves on your behalf.

At the very least, each task you do well is one less that someone else will need to do for you.

Your attention to your studies also honors your parents, allowing them to do other necessary things rather than monitoring your attention to your schoolwork.

Christian, the days may be long and the work hard,

For us all, the desire may not be there to do things like we should.

But your perseverance even in these “little things” will be rewarded by our great God and Father if we perform them faithfully.