Beware the Unruly

Call to Worship

Psalm 105:1–6 LSB

Oh give thanks to Yahweh, call upon His name; Make known His acts among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Muse on all His wondrous deeds. Boast in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh be glad. Inquire of Yahweh and His strength; Seek His face continually. Remember His wondrous deeds which He has done, His miracles and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!

Old Testament

Jeremiah 15:15–21 LSB

You who know, O Yahweh, Remember me, take notice of me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that for Your sake I endure reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your words became for me joy and gladness in my heart, For I have been called by Your name, O Yahweh God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, Nor did I exult. Because of Your hand upon me I sat alone, For You filled me with indignation. Why has my pain been perpetual And my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable? Therefore thus says Yahweh, “If you return, then I will cause you to return— Before Me you will stand; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My mouthpiece. They for their part may turn to you, But as for you, you must not turn to them. “Then I will make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze; And they will fight against you, But they will not prevail against you, For I am with you to save you And deliver you,” declares Yahweh. “So I will deliver you from the hand of the evil ones, And I will redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless ones.”

New Testament

Matthew 16:21–28 LSB

From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay each one according to his deeds. “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Intro AG: TS: After blessing the Thessalonians and seeking their prayers, he now turns to order in the church.

There were those among them who were being lazy busybodies. RS:

2 Thessalonians 3:6–15 LSB

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who walks in an unruly manner and not according to the tradition which they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we did not act in an unruly manner among you, 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; not because we do not have the authority, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would imitate us. For even when we were with you, we used to command this to you: if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat. For we hear that some among you are walking in an unruly manner, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that working with quietness, they eat their own bread. But as for you, brothers, do not lose heart in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this letter, take special note of that person to not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

I. The recipients (3:6–11, 13, 14b)

Paul lists three kinds of individuals needing to be rebuked.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 LSB

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who walks in an unruly manner and not according to the tradition which they received from us.

Paul offers instructions in dealing with unruly people in the church

Not just teaching, a COMMAND.

With the full weight of his apostleship behind it.

God is through Paul issuing a binding command.

Think of this as a court order. There are serious consequences attached to defying the court.

Here, Paul required obedient Christians to seperate themselves and have no fellowship with the habitually disobedient.

He identifies 3 types of unruly ones who were ignoring the traditions which Paul had given through inspiration.

Paul points to his own lifestyle and calls upon them to follow his example.

This isn’t the first time.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 LSB

You also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

A. The lazy (3:6–10)

2 Thessalonians 3:6–10 LSB

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we did not act in an unruly manner among you, 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; not because we do not have the authority, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would imitate us. For even when we were with you, we used to command this to you: if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat.

They had among them lazy people refusing to work

In citing his own example, Paul, who had a right to be supported by them, had labored himself.

working night and day.

Why? He didn’t want to be a burden and he wanted to be an example.

Paul goes so far as to close this line of reasoning with:

2 Thessalonians 3:6–10 LSB

if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat.

This isn’t about the disabled, the key word is “willing”

Paul is talking about those who who choose NOT to work.

Many passages instruct us to care for those who can’t care for themselves.

widows

orphans

etc.

Sadly, we have a society where many choose NOT to provide for themselves.

Those who can, should work to earn their own support.

They should work hard.

Dave Ramsey has a good saying,

There’s a great place to go when you’re broke, to work!

Having been temporarily disabled, I wanted nothing less than to get back to work!

Paul is echoing other Scripture that teaches us to work.

It is part of creation order and included in the 10 commandments!

Exodus 20:9–11 LSB

“Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of Yahweh your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female slave or your cattle or your sojourner who is within your gates. “For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

the rhythm of life as we are designed is to work 6 days and rest 1. 1 in six is set aside as holy and dedicated to the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:11 LSB

and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,

B. The busybodies (3:11, 13)

2 Thessalonians 3:11 LSB

For we hear that some among you are walking in an unruly manner, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.

They had gone a step further!

In their idleness, they had become “busybodies”

It was not unique to Thessalonica!

1 Timothy 5:13 LSB

And at the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house. And not merely idle, but also gossips and busybodies, talking about things not proper to mention.

A busybody- Gk word means to behave as one who meddles intrusively and unprofitably in the affairs of others.

Literal Translation: It combines peri (meaning "around") and ergazomai (meaning "to work").

The Picture: It literally means "working around" your own job instead of actually doing it—bustling about with a lot of useless motion and no productive output.

They cause distraction and disturb others rather than doing productive work.

2 Thessalonians 3:13 LSB

But as for you, brothers, do not lose heart in doing good.

They should mind their own business and do good.

No matter what others are doing, believers are to work diligently and not grow tired. Avoid the distractions busybodies throw our way.

B . The disobedient (3:14b)

2 Thessalonians 3:14 LSB

And if anyone does not obey our word in this letter, take special note of that person to not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

Disobedient- any who ignore Paul’s teaching in this area.

Do not associate with them. JM- This means to “mix it up” in the sense of social interaction. Blatantly disobedient Christians were to be disfellowshipped (v. 6) to produce shame and, hopefully, repentance if they refused to obey the Word of God

Jesus taught this in Mat 18

1. Speak privately

2. Take witnesses

3. Church speak as 1 voice

Point was and remains restoration not kicking them out!

Galatians 6:1 LSB

Brothers, even if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, each of you looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.

II. The rules (3:12, 14a, 15)

Paul gives steps to be taken in dealing with these individuals.

Step 1—identify them (3:14a)

2 Thessalonians 3:14 LSB

And if anyone does not obey our word in this letter, take special note of that person to not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame.

Take special note-

Mark them

Identify them

Our world loves to throw the phrase “don’t judge” around. Yes, Jesus said those words, but they are lifted out of context and misrepresent what He taught.

They see it as forbidding all discernment. As us having no right to proclaim the truth of God and call sin sin.

Claude-

This is a great tension to work through. Matthew 7:1 ("judge not, that you be not judged") is often lifted out of its context, which is actually about hypocritical, self-righteous judgment — Jesus goes on to say "first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye" (Matt. 7:5). The removal of the speck still happens.

He's condemning the manner and posture of judgment, not the act of moral discernment itself.

Here's how the discernment thread runs through Scripture:

Jesus himself qualifies the command

— "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." This is the interpretive key: Jesus isn't banning judgment, he's banning superficial judgment.John 7:24

— Immediately after "judge not," Jesus commands discernment toward false prophets: "you will recognize them by their fruits."Matthew 7:15–20

— The process for confronting a sinning brother assumes the church must be able to identify sin and, if unrepentant, treat him as an outsider.Matthew 18:15–17

Mark the disobedient and busybodies.

Step 2—Lovingly admonish them (3:12, 15a)

This gets to the very heart of the matter.

2 Thessalonians 3:12 LSB

Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that working with quietness, they eat their own bread.

2 Thessalonians 3:15 LSB

And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

They are not our enemy! They are our brothers and sisters. Our relationship with them is vital!

We must admonish them to return to orderly walking!

We must lovingly pursue a sinning brother or sisters reconciliation.

Remind them of the truth.

Hold them accountable

Look upon the person not as an enemy but as an erring brother or sister.

The context is discussing believers, not the lost.

It is not our job to condemn the lost. We call them to repentance, but never condemn.

Conc

Paul identified 3 problematic types of people:

The lazy

The busybodies

The disobedient

Work, don’t be a busybody!

He gave them steps in how to handle them:

Identify them

Lovingly admonish them.

Citations

APA (7th edition): Anthropic. (2026). Claude's response to "What verses from the Bible explain discernment" [Large language model response]. Claude (Sonnet 5).

MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Commentary)

The Outline Bible (Section Outline Three (2 Thessalonians 3))