Do Not Be Weary in Well Doing

Intro:

Good evening.

I have just a couple of verses from which I want to draw the majority of our lesson tonight.

They’re found in 2 Thessalonians and Galatians.

They both were written by Paul, inspired by God, and say more or less the same thing.

I want to begin by reading the verse in 2 Thessalonians, and giving a little background to go with it, and then we will go to the parallel verse in Galatians, and spend a little more time in that verse’s context, and then the lesson will be yours.

By way of introducing these two verses, I want to ask you tonight:

Have you ever been discouraged?

Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t do anything right at a given moment?

Have you ever felt unloved, unappreciated, or unworthy?

Have you ever been depressed?

Have you ever been stressed out?

Have you ever felt like giving up?

Have you ever grown WEARY?

If you answered “yes” to one or more of those questions, then congratulations, you’re a human being!

You may be a CHRISTIAN human being — and I hope you are — But you are still human! (Which implies with it — weakness, weariness, and difficulty — It comes with the territory)!

So with that said, I want to encourage you tonight to not become WEARY in well doing. And we have two verses that say that, which we will begin to look at now.

2 Thes. 3:13

2 Thessalonians 3:13 NKJV

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

We studied this probably about two months ago when we studied First and Second Thessalonians.

Hopefully, from that study you remember that the church at Thessalonica was going through an intense persecution.

Thessalonica was the congregation that, at its inception, the Jews had rioted and followed Paul around from city to city trying to stop him from converting people to Christianity.

You can brush up on that in Acts chapter 17, and included in that reading is the charge - “These who have turned the world upside down have come here, too!” (Acts 17:6)

They abused a man by the name of Jason who had taken up for Paul and the Christians.

Things got so bad that verse 10 tells us that the brethren had to send Paul and Silas away by night to Berea — (And the rioting Jews just kept following them after that).

So the church at Thessalonica had a tumultuous beginning, and even though 1 Thes. 1:6 says that the Thessalonians “received the word with much affliction,” to the point that they “became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe” (verse 7), verse 8 says that from them “the word of the Lord (had) sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also IN EVERY PLACE.”

Thessalonica was a GOOD CONGREGATION — very faithful!

And they needed to KEEP being faithful, keep living righteously in the world!

Thus, near the end of their second letter, Paul says, “But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good!” (again, 2 Thes. 3:13).

Do you know what the context of that verse is?

It’s in the context of those few who were a BAD example, Christians the Thessalonians would have been aware of who were BUSY BODIES, lazy, trouble makers, and those who walked disorderly.

Thus, Paul is telling the faithful Christians at Thessalonica — “Don’t you be distracted and discouraged by the few who are doing wrong! You keep doing right. You don’t grow weary in doing good!”

Let’s read through this context and see just that!

(Read 2 Thes. 3:6-18).

Finally tonight, that one other verse that I mentioned, along with its context:

Gal. 6:9

Galatians 6:9 NKJV

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

A very similar verse, with a promise attached to it!

And the promise is this — We WILL reap our reward in heaven — IF we do not lose heart!

How does the apostle Paul close out this letter to the Galatians?

Before we answer that, remember that if 1 and 2 Thessalonians are very PLEASANT letters because, in spite of the persecutions those Christians were facing, the congregation there at Thessalonica was a very SOLID, good congregation …

But in the case of the Galatians, we actually have the UNPLEASANT occasion of Paul having to address grievous error there — Because Judaizing false teachers had duped them into wanting to return to the Old Law!

That’s why we read in Galatians 3:1 - “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?!”

You can also read Gal. 1:6-10 and get an idea of how frustrated Paul was with the congregations of Galatia!

And yet, Paul still has a very similar conclusion of this epistle as he had to the church at Thessalonica!

I find that fascinating!

(Read Gal. ch. 6).

6:1 - This parallels 2 Thessalonians 3:15 - “Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

6:2 - What does that say if we don’t bear one another’s (sin) burdens?!

6:3-5 - This parallels 2 Thes. ch. 3 in the sense that you had some who were NOT bearing their own load, so Paul had to encourage the Thessalonians not to let that get them down.

6:6-8 - This is talking about eternal consequences for the way we live our lives, and then notice …

6:9-10 - These verses go hand and hand, and they show that our “doing good” includes doing our best to do good works that help others, both those in and outside of the faith (which parallels nicely with Titus chapter 3 that we studied last Wednesday night, if you remember).

6:11-15 — In case you missed it, Paul has one final reminder that the Judaizing false teachers trying to cling to the Old Law have it wrong!

Notice also:

Paul only boasts in the Lord!

Which that should be our attitude as well!

6:16-18 - Paul concludes with well-wishes of peace and the mercy and grace of God.

Conclusion:

So we ask ourselves tonight:

ARE we growing weary while doing good?

Are we failing to bear one another’s burdens, and thus failing to fulfill the law of Christ?

God in His manifold wisdom set up the church in such a way that we have a support system to carry one another along!

Yes, we at the end of the day each have to carry our own load!

But also at the end of the day, we’re HERE for one another, too!

We’re here for one another when we get weary, when we fail, when we want to give up.

Don’t do that.

Don’t give up!