Let's turn in the Word of God together to Proverbs. Proverbs 26, and then 2 Thessalonians 3. Let's stand to hear the Word. Just a few words from Proverbs. One of the many places that this book reminds us of the folly of laziness, disorderliness, and idleness. Proverbs 26, 13, the lazy man says there's a line in the road, a fierce line is in the streets. As a door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on his bed. The lazy man buries his hand in the bowl, it wearies him to bring it back to his mouth. The lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. And now to 2 Thessalonians 3, being reminded that there is one word of God One message of salvation. Beginning at verse six. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you would draw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we were not disorderly among you. Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busy bodies. Those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. The grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our God endures forever. Return to our continued study of 2 Thessalonians. We have worked through 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, and we're coming to the end. 2 Thessalonians here, looking at chapter three, verses six through 15. And under the title, No Lazy Christians. A lot of people think about life like this. You have 20 years of school and youth where you enjoy yourself and you think about what you might want to do for life. And you have this intervening period, which is the unpleasant part where you work. And then somewhere in the future, hopefully as soon as possible, you get to stop working so that you can retire Well start you get to retire so that you can stop working rather and every now and then I read CNBC and For news on the markets and Financial realities in our nation and there seems to be almost every week a headline about somebody Who has figured out at some younger and younger age? 52 47 35 I've made enough money so that I don't need to work anymore. I and this is how you can do it too. Our whole culture seems to be interested in figuring out a way that you don't need to work anymore, that you can stop working. See bumper stickers where I'd rather be and then you can fill in the blank and it's one of a hundred different recreational activities. The point of life appears to be to stop working, to avoid work and then there's usually in every culture and every age, a large portion of the population who just doesn't work, expects things to be handed to them. And all of these views towards work are really completely at odds with what the scripture teaches us about work. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means a life of what we would call good works, of work. of devoted service to Jesus Christ. Of a new awareness that God has given me. A finite amount of time, money, and talents. And that He wants me to use them all for His glory. We're going to think about that this morning. as we look at 2 Thessalonians 3. At the end of the second letter, Paul has already written the word at the beginning of chapter 3, the word, finally. And so where we are, again, as a reminder, as I gave last week from the first five verses, the reminder is that we're at Paul's last words to this church. The last things that he thinks a church needs to hear. the last things that he as an apostle should say to this church. And he finishes the letter, in essence, he finishes the letter addressing a problem in Thessalonica, a serious problem. And the problem was of disorderly Christians, lazy Christians, people who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ, whom he had to use his last pen strokes to instruct to remind them to be true followers and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I want you to notice before we get into the text itself that there's a structure of the text. Verses 6 through 15 is what we're looking at. And I'm going to be preaching two sermons on this section, and that there's a sort of sandwich structure. Verse 6 and verses 14 and 15 deal with an outer command, and that's the command of how should the church deal with a disorderly brother? In other words, what should you do as a believer in Jesus Christ or as the body of Christ when you have unrepentant sin in the body? And we're going to deal with that next week. This week, we're going to look at the center section or the core of the text here, the inner, which is the problem that the apostle is urging the church to deal with. In other words, the basic problem, the basic problem this week. And we're going to address that problem and learn lessons from it. And then next week, the broader issue of how does the church deal with sin as the body of Christ? Well, what's the basic inner problem here? It's in verse six already. There's disorderly brothers. Disorderly brothers. What does disorderly mean? It means unbridled, without law or order, to act without discipline or irresponsibly. And that's the serious problem that is in the church at Thessalonica. And that's what we're going to deal with first, that serious problem. Then we are going to dig deeper and we're going to ask the question, why, for the apostle, is this such a serious problem? Why is he using such a sober tone? What is it that he's so worried about with these disorderly brothers. And then after that, we're going to look at understanding the Christian life, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. And a hint at the beginning, it is not about retirement, but it's about service to Christ. till your last breath. Well, the basic problem is these disorderly brothers. If you keep reading for more of a definition of what disorderly was, first of all, to be disorderly was not according to the tradition which he received from us. So there was earlier teaching. Now, if we keep reading, We were not disorderly. You yourselves know how you ought to follow us. We were not disorderly, for we did not eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil, night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. Well, let's pull some things here together. The disorderliness is this unbridled life without law or order. It's an undisciplined life. It's an irresponsible life. That's what the Greek word for disorder means. As we move to Paul's contrast, when he says we were not disorderly, it gives us a little more information. The more information is the not disorderly life is the life of laboring, toiling day and night. Hard work. Is the opposite for the apostle Paul of this disorder, and we know that the apostle was known for this hard work. We go to Acts chapter 18, just a few chapters after his time in Thessalonica. We read there that Paul was with Aquila, and he was of the same trade, and he stayed with them and worked. By occupation, they were tent makers. And if you ever heard of a tent-making missionary, it comes from that verse. Somebody who is working in a secular calling and preaching the gospel at the same time. And Paul, in his ministry, sought as much as he possibly could to do this. He would work, as it were, double time everywhere he went. pouring his life out twice over for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, day and night laboring, even with the understanding that he could have done otherwise. Look at verse 9, not because we do not have authority. And there he's referring to the idea that he expounds more clearly in 1 Corinthians 9 and other places in his letters, that it would not have been wrong for him who labored in the gospel to live by the gospel, in other words, to receive the gifts of the congregation for his labor, but he chose voluntarily not to, look at verse nine, to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For when we were with you, we commanded you this already. And that goes back to 1 Corinthians chapter four, Verse 11, you should aspire to lead a quiet life, mind your own business, to work with your hands as we commanded you that you might walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing. Paul's saying there's a problem in the church. These disorderly Christians, professing Christians, who are not walking according to the tradition, the teaching, or the example that we gave in our ministry, and the example was to toil day and night to work. And getting clearer now in verse 10, the apostle gets right to the point, for when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. The apostle Paul was not a communist or a socialist. I don't usually make political commentary from the pulpit, not really general sense. I'm not, I'm talking about philosophical systems here. He believed if you didn't work, if you were lazy, it was good and right that you would feel the pain of a hungry stomach. You don't work, you don't eat. Proverbs, we read Proverbs 26 a moment ago. As a matter of fact, this principle that the apostle is teaching to the church The one who sat at the feet of Gamaliel and who would have known, who did know the Old Testament, surely better than any of us knew the Old Testament. Laziness cast one into a deep sleep and an idle person will suffer hunger, Proverbs 19.15. Not a new idea. And Paul is connecting here, industry, work, labor and toil, day and night, a life of expending, gifts and talents and time and energy to what it means to follow Jesus Christ. But the two can't be separated. They can't be separated. And what he says here in our day and age, many would consider to be outrageous, this simple statement, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Paul is saying that there is that. Holy Spirit inspired scriptures are saying to you is that there's a connection between labor and food. and that there's a responsibility to be a worker. Verse 11, he gets even clearer. The reason Paul is on this topic, and this isn't a Matthew 18 situation, not a private offense, it's a public reality. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Freeloaders. Hands open. Doing nothing. Now, what was the problem? A little bit of what it isn't here, what it wasn't and what it is and in our context, what it wouldn't be. Places that we could apply this text and couldn't apply this text is he's not talking about calamities. He's not talking about natural disasters like what happened in Cookville, Tennessee. By the way, I was on the phone with Matt Vigora this week and in the Lord's kindness, the tornadoes in Cookville did not hit the church there or The believers that we know so well, but many people lost their lives there. Surely when that sort of thing happens, we have compassion as the church, we serve the needy, we give to those who are hungry. Unexpected layoff, a financial crisis wipes out someone's savings, medical bills, or a wife is abandoned by her husband and her children are hungry. This is not what Paul's talking about. He's not talking about mercy in time of need. He's talking about lazy, professing Christians who are busybodies in other people's business, demanding support for a lifestyle of dependency without service to Christ or to other believers. Now, there could be a reference here to the... some writers think there's a reference here to the Roman patronage system, where they're wealthy patrons who had clients who would depend on them and that Paul was reminding the Christians not to live in that kind of dependence, but to be independent and industrious as followers of Jesus Christ, to use their own time, gifts and money and talents for God. I'm not exactly sure if that's the situation, but what is abundantly clear is that the Apostle Paul was unhappy with the laziness. Calvin, In his regular, clear way, he says this about the text, Paul censures those lazy drones who lived by the sweat of others while they contributed no service in common for the aiding of the human race. And then he goes on, particularly to castigate the Church of Rome, he says, of this sort are our monks and priests who are largely pampered for doing nothing except that they chant in the temples in order to stay awake. Any class of people the apostle is dealing with here. Lazy drones, as he says, who live by the sweat of others while they contribute no service in common for the aiding of the human race. How did Paul address this? Very simply, if you keep reading the text, he says, now those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. Now this is an emphatic command. Look at verse 12 for a minute. We're going to unpack it. It's very emphatic. Now, those who are such, we command and exhort. He's piling up language of apostolic authority. He's intending to uproot the bad pattern and to see that it changes. And he's not giving pious advice, but he's commanding and exhorting and he's appealing to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, he is declaring with apostolic authority that the will of Jesus in heaven the great master, that this must change. We need to repent. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul, an ambassador for Christ, as if God himself were pleading through him, is now pleading for repentance from the sin of slothfulness, of laziness. And he knows that our Savior considered this to be a great sin. Think of the parable of the talents. that our Lord and Master, that when He distributes gifts to men, time, gifts, treasure, that He does it with an intentionality that we would return to Him for His glory, all that He has given us. And that when we do nothing, the unprofitable servant is cast into outer darkness, there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. but that to honor Christ is to use the gifts and talents and time He's given you for Him. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, that they would work in quietness, labor, apply themselves, and finally, eat their own bread. Now he's bringing it first full circle. Their end of their hunger will be by labor. Not busy work here, but wise, productive, diligent, God-honoring, dependent on Him for the increase, but trusting that He's called us to work, to labor. Get a job. Another place, he says to the Ephesians, that pays the bills. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give to the one who is in need. Ephesians 4.28. And what Paul is saying there is, find a job not only to repent of stealing, but in order that you might have enough. If he says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 5, he who does not care for his own house is worse than an unbeliever. Worse than an unbeliever. He says, get a job in order that you might not only care for those who have given you, but have more to give to those who are in need. In other words, work day and night, toil, apply yourself in order that you might take care of your responsibilities and be able to be generous. Now again, the whole tenor of the Scriptures concerning the mercy of God for the poor and the needy and the weak is not contradicted by this. It's not what we're talking about. We're not talking about the calamities and the sorrows of life. This is in no way in contrast to God's mercy on the poor. But it is a call to all. As a matter of fact, Calvin said, this applies to poor and rich alike. You can have idle rich. You've heard of the phrase, the idle rich, where you have enough money, you don't have to do anything. You can just sit around for the rest of your life. You've inherited enough. Know that all, Without distinction, rich and poor would take what God has given and offer it back to Him promptly and sincerely as service to Christ. Paul underlines the seriousness of this, and we'll get into it next week. He says, if you stay lazy, verse 6, we command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, if someone doesn't listen to this command, Withdraw from every brother that is disorderly. Look at verse 14. If anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, it sandwiches the whole section. Note that person. Do not keep company with him that he may be ashamed. But even Paul here noticed that note of grace and mercy again at the end, yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Why? Because you want him to repent. Then the encouragement. Encouragement is to keep on working. But as for you, verse 13, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. Those of you who are not disorderly, by God's grace, giving all that you have for me, says the Lord, don't grow weary in well-doing. There seems also to be here to be an illusion or a reminder to the church that even when there are those who are not heeding these commands, that we are not to grow weary in giving to the needy or the poor, even though some may at times seek to take advantage of them. But rather, with generosity of heart, stay focused on our callings and give generously, even as God has been generous to us. The encouragement is, but as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. Well, some of you might be wondering at the end of a letter that Paul would write, this seems to be sort of coming out of left field, or right field, depending on how you think about it, that this, this exhortation to the labor and industry of the Thessalonians, why is this so important to the Apostle Paul? Why this sober tone? Why is this worth the end of a letter? Why is this kind of sin worthy of disassociation if there's no repentance? Why is this sober tone come through at the end of the letter? Well, a few things. Coming to Christ, as I said last week, changes all of life. Verse 13 gives a hint of this change. Doing good. Do not grow weary in doing good. The Apostle Paul teaches again and again, and the whole New Testament does, that coming to Christ, to have salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, means a great change. It means to no longer have any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead give yourself to Christ in faith and love and good works. Paul describes that change in the Christian life. You who are once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now he has reconciled. Colossians 1 and verse 21, they used to be engaged in wickedness. And the great change in the Christian life is that we are saved unto a new life. We are his workmanships. Ephesians 2.10, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. that there's a new life of industry for Christ, of service to Christ. Titus 3 has the same reminder, the end of Paul's letter to Titus. And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful. There's this theme here of laboring under Christ for Christ. The good works are not a speculative idea here for the apostle. but they dig into the practical life that you live. That your nine to five job, your vocation, your calling is part of your service to Christ. That for the believer, the evil works which we left behind will be replaced by the good works which show up in real practical life. And again, if you go to Ephesians 6, the apostle reminds bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters, according to the flesh with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart as to Christ. doing the will of God from the heart. That even a bondservant, a slave, was to take the labor of his hands and offer it gladly to his master because he'd be transformed by Jesus Christ. This is what the Apostle Paul is pressing on the church. This change is actually a restoration. This is what the Holy Spirit does. It's a restoration of an original. In Genesis 2 and verse 15, we read just before that, that God created a garden, the Garden of Eden. He made a man, Adam. He gave him a helper, Eve, and he placed him in the garden to tend it and to keep it, to work. You children, you young people need to hear this, that the work that you do, your chores at home, your schoolwork, if you have a part-time job, which is a good thing for a young Christian young man or woman to have. That you were made to do this in a perfect world. You were made to use your gifts and time and talents for the glory of God. And that when we come to Christ, the work of the Spirit of God is to enable us to work, to do good works. And that in the new creation, where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, Ephesians 2 and verse 10, Titus 2 and verse 4, there's a great restoration in the believer. A restoration that comes by the power of the Spirit of God. Now, these works are not the basis of salvation. Hear me out carefully. Rather, they are the fruit. of union with Christ. I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me bears much fruit. So, how does this work in the Christian life? Well, when you embrace Jesus Christ by faith, freely offered by the gospel, you're justified. Your sins to His account. His righteousness to your account. You will stand open and acquitted in the day of judgment because of the work of another, the finished work of another Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel says. But then, in light of your awe and wonder and adoration for Jesus Christ, good works flow from gratitude, and your life in the course of it is changed. What about that Christian life? A few lessons for the church here. First thing we need to be reminded of here is the dignity of labor. We're expanding a little bit more here on the principles in the text. Look at verse 13 again. As for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. God's design for you is to work. Why? Why don't you think about the privilege of what that is? For Adam, it was to participate in the works of God, as it were, as an under gardener. To go into the garden of perfection and glory, the sanctuary of God, and to gaze upon the works of God, and then to tend the works of God, reflecting His image for His glory. The Reformers understood that these principles and the principle of labor and these reminders of the apostle were rooted in what it means to be created in the image of God, and that to be redeemed is to be set free from slavery to sin, to be a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and to use gifts and time and talents for the glory of God. Luther is famous for this theology of labor and vocation. He would say the farmer shoveling manure and the maid milking cows please God as much as the minister preaching And more than that, that God Himself is actually milking the cows through the milkmaid. In other words, He was seeing a participation of the believer, the Holy Spirit believer, in the providential works of God as they labor to His glory. And that there was a liberating privilege attached to this. Calvin, no task then is too sordid, dirty, or base. Beneath us. There's no job that's beneath us. Provided you obey your calling in it, that it will then shine and be reckoned very precious in the sight of God. A lot of you do work that no one sees. That's easy to forget. Mother up in the middle of the night with a sick child. A job that will never make it into the headlines. Some of you have worked the same job for years and decades, giving yourself to it. The Lord is pleased when we use our gifts and talents, even in quite simple ways, for His glory. There's a blessing of labor. Psalm 128, verse 2, you will eat the labor of your hands and you'll enjoy it. Ecclesiastes 5, the preacher says that there's this great blessing of laboring, of work, and then to enjoy the labor of your hands, and to eat and drink and receive from the hand of God His blessing, His crowning on that labor. Psalm 90, Moses ends by praying, Yes, Lord, establish the work of our hands, establish it, as he offers his labor to God and sees that God would give His blessing on it. And we understand this to really give, in a biblical sense, meaning and purpose to our existence as we offer to God ourselves in service, reflecting the image of God. Baxter Richard Baxter your life must be laid out in doing God's service doing all the good that you can In works of piety justice and charity with prudence fidelity industry zeal and delight Remembering that you are engaged to God as a servant he is your lord and master and He entrusted you with his talents and you will give an account of how you improved upon them Your relationship to Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John chapter 13, you call me master and Lord for so you say, well, for so I am. He's your master. You are his bondservant. Think of the apostles, Paul to Titus, James, Peter, Jude, bondservants of Jesus Christ, Baxter again. Why does God give his law? Baxter says this boldly. He gives us laws to obey while we do our work. He does not give us laws to obey while we do our own work rather. But he gives us work to do in his law that we would do it right. Baxter, again, we're practical atheists if we do not do works of piety to God, and rebels against God if we do not do good works for ourselves and for others. Practical atheists. God doesn't need your work, but he calls for it as service to him. One of the ways you can teach your children to be disciples of Jesus Christ is teach them the original goodness of labor, Genesis 2.15. With that, you're gonna have to teach them the hardness of the curse. And that work doesn't always go badly because of unjust social structures or calamities. Sometimes it's because God is reminding us that we're sinful and in a sinful world. And there is often a certain futility to labor that we feel deeply. Read the book of Ecclesiastes. Yet, for the believer enabled by the Spirit of God, it remains good to work. And God does promise to crown it with His blessing. Teach your children to be workers in response to Christ, to mow the lawn, to do their chores, to have a right place of rest and recreation, to understand that their school is for God, that as you raise them, be discerning about their gifts and talents. Not everybody has to go to college to be pleasing to God, but help them discern what God has given them, and then to use that for His glory with liberty in Christ. Your own cheerful example when days are hard and long. Are you whining and complaining about the work that God has given you to do? Or are you cheerfully doing it as under the Lord? You young people here, I addressed you last week. Let me do it again, directly. What has God called you to do in this life? Not play video games. Not to sit around and do nothing. But God in Christ calls you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and when you follow Him, you give everything you have for His glory. You work without complaining. When your mom or dad says, clean your room, you hear the voice of Jesus, and with a cheerful If you're consumed with sports and YouTube and video games or living to retire resentment that you have a job to do every day Consumed by resentment need to repent of those things God gave you gifts and talents and time and life for him How about the gospel for the lazy Maybe the word this morning is for you directly Paul and Thessalonica said there's disorderly among you We talk about the person of Christ. We also talk about the work of Christ. John 17, at the end of his ministry, what did he say to the father in the high priestly prayer? I have finished the work you gave me to do. It's a remarkable statement, especially for lazy life wasters that we are by nature. I just told you, and we prayed about this, a few days ago I was beside the bed of someone whose life appears to be ending. It's not ended already. You young people don't think you're going to live forever. You might not. It doesn't matter what age you are. It's short. What have you done with the time, the days, the moments? Go back to thinking about the work of Christ. Humming Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, to do the works of His Father. What were those works? To be obedient to death, even the death of the cross. To take every moment of His mortal existence in love to the Father, leaving nothing behind to the cross. To do good works to the very end. And what a good work that was. Instead of the first Adam, the rebellious gardener, to be the second Adam, the new gardener, the Christ who said, I am working and my Father is working and who has worked his great work at the cross. And then the word says he's still working right now. He's still the God man. He's still in our flesh. He's on the throne. He's ruling and reigning and providing for the whole of the universe and all creation and for you. And His work isn't complete yet. It's complete in its victory. His death and resurrection. But He is making all things new. And one day He will make a new heavens and a new earth. The glory of the Gospel is that He's done all these things for you, not asking anything from you, but offering salvation on the basis of His own person and work. And saying, enter in. Even to this, the joy of your rest as you come to Me. even though you've been lazy and you've wasted countless days and hours, not just even on nothingness, but on evil works. And he says, come to me, I'll cleanse it all. I'll clothe you in my perfect righteousness and my own good works. And I'll set you free from tyranny. and futility and to live a life for nothing, destruction. And I'll give you abundant life and everlasting life. And one day I'll give you a reward for the works I enabled you to do and taught you to do by my word and spirit so that when you come to the gates of glory, I'll say, well done. good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your rest. He says this is all free. This is all free. So you run to Him to be saved from the futility of sin, the futility of an empty, wasted, useless life. You come again to the Lord and Master of the universe and you submit to your life to His glory and His direction. You devote your life. A few years ago, I was at the bedside, another sad bedside of a dying young girl. One of the things I noticed was her mother. Her mother's devoted service to a daughter. Every pain, every moment of thirst, you don't have to ask a mother to pour out her life to serve. If you have to, you know there's something desperately wrong and wicked. You don't have to ask a mother to lay down her life for a daughter in that situation. Why not? Very simple. Love compels service. The deeper the love, the freer the service. That's what it is to be a bondservant of Jesus Christ. He gave His entire mortal existence for yours, knowing He'd end it at the cross. You have only one life to live. It'll be very short. Who will you use it for? Where will you pour your sweat, your tears, your energies? Another practice for the next big game? A little more for your 401K? Or are you thinking bigger things? Lord, take my life and let it be always, only, Lord, for Thee. Let's pray. Lord, our God, confess that you have equipped us and given us life, equipped us with time and talents and treasure. You've prospered us in so many ways. But there remains in us that root of selfishness, of self-service, where we're blinded to the needs of our neighbor and we forget your glory. What do we think we deserve? when we ought to give. Lord, we forget the one who worked your works, O Father, perfectly in our place, the lazy, the rebellious, the ungodly. Lord, we praise you for him and we pray that we, with unbroken devotion, again this morning, would use the lives you've given us for good works, the works that you've fashioned beforehand that we should walk in them. Fill us with your word of spirit and joy in believing and living this way. Grant us repentance of all our sins, we pray in Jesus' name.