More and More (2 Thessalonians 3:1-18)
Following Faithfully: Lessons in Discipleship from Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:37
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Key Passage
Key Passage
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith.
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you,
nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.
And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed.
Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Introduction
Introduction
Today, we conclude our journey through the books of 1 & 2 Thessalonians. I hope these books have been a beneficial journey for us all.
They are simple in their content, while profound in their application
We entitled this series, “Lessons in Discipleship from the Thessalonians”
My target through this series was to learn to grow as a disciple of Jesus.
And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
A Biblical Disciple is:
Following Jesus
Changed by Jesus
Obedient to Jesus’ mission to make more disciples
In this series, we have seen how Paul points to Jesus in numerous ways.
They have chosen through faith to make Jesus their Lord and strive to obey him in everything.
Jesus has changed their lives through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit
They had spread the Gospel from Thessalonica throughout the world.
Now, were they perfect? No.
Paul writes these two letters to continue to challenge this church to holiness and growth.
He writes so they will CONTINUE to follow Jesus
CONTINUE to be changed by Jesus
CONTINUE to make disciples and spread the Gospel.
As we go into our topic today, I want to take a look back at Jesus.
Jesus told a story that we can use as a platform to build upon today.
Matthew 25- Parable of the bags of gold
In Matthew 25, Jesus is talking about His return. He is looking to the hope and the justice to come when He makes his appearance.
Interestingly, this is the same context that we carry through the books of 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
Re-tell the story of the bags of gold
5 bags
2 bags
1 bag
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant!
He goes on to say, “At least you could have put it in the bank and let the bank work for a little bit, but you did nothing.”
Our topic today talks about our hearts and the work to be done for the Kingdom of God.
I think that our viewpoints of this might be limited to the church.
Throughout 1 & 2 Thessalonians, Paul connects sanctification to hope.
Because of the hope coming to us, we must continue to strive for holiness
With that in mind, we are going to tackle our text today:
Preachy Time
Preachy Time
The word that I want to carry through our text today is “sanctification”
Paul is going to tie a few independent thoughts together. All of them are a demonstration of maturity and unity within the church. I am going to call these “More and More’s” The reason is that we never accomplish these things in one moment, but we must grow in them more and more, as we will see.
As for other matters, brothers and sisters, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.
And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people, for not everyone has faith.
Grow More and More:
in prayer
As Paul concludes this passage, he asks for the prayer of the Thessalonians.
Paul was living out discipleship in front of them.
Paul was following Jesus
Paul was being changed by Jesus
And now, Paul is asking for prayer that as he spreads the Gospel, it would be received and spread rapidly.
Paul also asks for prayer that he might be delivered from wicked and evil people.
Paul was enduring persecution at this time. He would go on to endure even more as his ministry continued.
It isn’t that God wasn’t faithful.
The reality is that in a world of darkness, the light causes a reaction among those who love darkness.
The first thing I want to highlight is that Paul is asking for prayer from this infant church.
It might seem that the more mature person has the obligation to pray for the less mature person.
Or that prayer flows from our hierarchy of leadership, top down.
But prayer is needed for all.
Our eldership needs your prayer. I need your prayer.
And we need your prayer for the same reasons.
Do we want to see the Gospel spread rapidly? Yes.
Do we want protection from evil people? Yes.
Paul began 1 Thessalonians 1 with his prayer for the Thessalonians.
Now he is ending his second letter asking for prayer from them.
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.
Grow More and More:
in prayer
in dependence
God is faithful.
We have talked about the love of God
We have talked about the just nature of God
Now we look at the faithfulness of God.
God always shows up for work.
Whether we deserve it or not.
He is faithful in love
He is faithful in strength and protection.
We must depend on Him. We don’t fight our own battles, we must trust that He will.
We depend on Him because He is faithful
We see in this passage, Paul is asking for protection from the “evil one”
He is not praying that their lives would be simple and trouble free.
This world has enough trouble.
But he is praying that in the face of their tribulations, that they would press into the faithfulness of God and not be deceived by Satan.
We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
Grow More and More:
in prayer
in dependence
in maturity
I hate to be repetitive here, but the definition of a disciple plays here as well!
They did not just choose to follow Jesus and be changed by Jesus once. They are continually being changed by Him.
Mature in God’s love
Define Agape love
Love based on identity
Not love based on performance
Mature in Christs perseverance
This church was enduring persecution from their close friends and even family.
Paul points them to look at Jesus as their example.
John 1 says that Jesus came to his own, but his own did not receive him.
Jesus endured the suffering of His creation so that some may find salvation.
Jesus kept His eyes on eternity, salvation and the Gospel.
This is what perseverance looks like.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you,
nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
Grow More and More:
in prayer
in dependence
in maturity
in integrity
We will get to the word “integrity” in a moment. But in doing so, I want to navigate this text for a moment to wrap our heads around what Paul is saying.
This chapter has a disproportionate emphasis on the topic of idleness and disruption from people in the church.
I want to take the time and see this through the lens that Paul sees this.
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul gave this command, “You need to be sanctified. Avoid sexual immorality. Love one another. Mind your own business and work with your hands.”
I think it is interesting how Paul follows up with this:
I don’t need to talk about sexual immorality. They have repented and are striving to do what is right.
I don’t need to talk about loving one another. They are doing this more and more!
But about people being lazy and disruptive, those guys didn’t get my point.
Here is his repeated instruction:
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.
Paul pleads with them, using the authority of Jesus Christ.
Once again, as His disciples, if we want to know the will of God. If we want to know where and how to follow Jesus, our ears ought to perk up and pay attention to this.
Keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive.
Are we talking about unsaved lazy people? No. We are talking about saved lazy people.
Now that should be an oxymoron, but it appears that this is the struggle taking place.
There were people in the church who were idle
They were lazy
There were people in the church who used their idleness to be a disruption within the church.
They were noisy and lazy.
Paul instructs the church to keep away from these people
This sounds odd, because by keeping away from these people, it would seem to be divisive.
He will provide clarity about what it means to “stay away” here in a moment.
“The teaching you received from us”
This is the segment that I want to highlight.
Do we know exactly what Paul said to them face-to-face?
No.
But we do know what Paul included in his letters to this church, as well as what he said to other churches about this topic as well.
What did Paul teach us about labor?
The first passage I think about is Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Connected to that, what kind of an employee should a disciple of Jesus be?
Employee and Disciple
Works as unto God
Humble
Servant-minded
Honest
Loving
Sacrificial
Peace-maker
Joyful
Patient
Endures suffering
I would argue that a disciple of Jesus should be the very best employee a person could hire.
Beyond that, if a disciple is growing in these things, he would be a tremendous witness for Jesus in the workplace, wouldn’t you agree?
The problem often lies in the fact that we tend to think of discipleship as a “church thing” not a “life thing”
And, if God is growing us in maturity, with the list we just saw, what ought we to do?
Put them into the game!
It’s like the story that I just shared from Jesus.
He is growing us and changing us for His glory and for the world to see God.
If He is sanctifying us, then we must find opportunities to put that sanctification into action.
It is the complete opposite of laziness and disruption.
and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,
so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders
What or who is lazy?
I want to address a few things here, because I know that I will have to answer this after church.
There are two angles to look at this.
First is the practical employment laziness
If you aren’t able to pay your own bills and live on the couch in someone else’s basement, this verse is for you.
A believer should not be seen as lazy in any regard.
As verse 12 says above, this is not respectable. This is not dignified.
In the 10 commandments, it says, “6 days a man shall work and on the 7th day he needs to rest.”
We all argue about, “Does that mean you need to go to church on the 7th day or not?” and miss the point...SIX DAYS A MAN SHALL WORK!!!
Retirement
You can be retired and lazy or retired and productive
We have a number of people who look at retirement as more time to serve the church and people around them.
Praise God for that heart. It is a witness to a lost and dying world of a heart that is sanctified.
Disability
Similar to retirement, you can be disabled and lazy or disabled and productive
God did not create anyone who is incapable of labor and service in some way.
It is less about what you can produce and more about your heart to produce.
2nd Angle
Service to the church
It seems that in this passage there were people whose laziness had become a disruption to the church.
We are not only called to be productive in our lives, we are called to be laborers in the church as well.
Integrity
I want to introduce this word, “Integrity” to you.
Integrity
Oftentimes, we associate the word “Integrity” to mean honest or trustworthy.
I want to introduce a different view of this definition.
Integrity- Living an integrated life
Integrated means that everything has found its place and is working together.
My beliefs, my thoughts, and my actions are all aligned. They are integrated.
When these things work together, it is a picture of integrity.
When the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit changes me. Integrity means that He changes all of me.
My love is not just in church. It is in my family, at work, in the world and even when I experience conflict.
The love of God is integrated into every part of my life.
This can be seen when we talk about our priorities.
It is sometimes communicated that God has to become our top priority.
Non-Integrated Priorities:
God
Family
Church
Work
Friends
Integrated Priorities:
Relationship with God
Godly Husband and Father
Godly member of the Body of Christ
Godly employee
Godly model of friendship
In our passage, Paul uses himself as an example of integrity.
He said, “I was a model for you to imitate”
This is because he lived out his change in every environment.
We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.
Paul continues this line of thinking.
We ought not be idle or disruptive.
Some people are not busy, they are busy-bodies
I had to look this phrase up in the original language.
Busy means productive labor
Busybody means labor-waster
Labor wasters do work. They will often work very hard. However, their hard work is not productive.
It is divisive and self-serving.
Legit needs-
Lazy people take away from our ability to serve people who have legit needs...
May we not waste our labor on things that do not build up the Kingdom of God.
And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.
Grow More and More:
in prayer
in dependence
in maturity
in integrity
in good deeds
Jesus said Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
We grow in good deeds because it brings glory to our Father in Heaven.
May we grow more and more in good deeds.
This will result in God’s glory within His church more and more
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed.
Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.
Grow More and More:
in prayer
in dependence
in maturity
in integrity
in good deeds
in repentance
This passage may seem to contradict itself. However, I think it makes a ton of sense.
Earlier Paul instructed us to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive.
He continues and expands that thought here.
Paul says, “Take special not of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter”
Is he just talking about the lazy part? Or the whole letter?
I would argue that he is concluding the letter and he is instructing them to address anyone who is not allowing the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to grow them to maturity.
It says, “Do not associate yourself with them, so they may be ashamed”
Now, is the purpose so they will be shamed? No, the unspoken, but obvious purpose behind this is that they would feel shame for their sin and repent.
This is why he says, “Don’t regard them as an enemy, but warn them.
These people need a warning.
What is the warning. Repent from your sin and embrace the sanctification of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Conclusion
Conclusion
We have received the Gospel and become a part of the Kingdom of God.
We have been given a gift greater than the gold given to the servants in Jesus’ story.
We have the mandate to make every moment, every relationship, every opportunity count for the glory of God and the building of His Kingdom.
This is His Kingdom, not ours.
We are called to build something up that has been entrusted to us for a time.
Will we be a church of integrity? Or will we be lazy servants?
Gospel is a gift and a blessing.
Jesus is coming back. Will we grow to maturity?
Real Life in Action:
Head- How is God calling me to grow more and more?
Heart- Will God tell me “Well done good and faithful servant”?
Hands- Go to God in prayer and commit to the growth He calls us to.
