Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. Well, perhaps you read about this and was as amazed by it as I was. Intel recently has employed a futurist named Brian David Johnson. Now, it's his job to determine what life will be like 10 or 15 years from now. Johnson said this about the necessity of his job. It takes around 10 to 15 years to design, build, and deploy a new chip. This is why Intel needed someone who can look 10 to 15 years into the future and tell them what the world they are designing for will be like. The work that I do is very pragmatic. I am judged on my ability to tell people what is coming so they can do something about it. Now, when I read about Intel's desire to know the future so they can be actively working toward it, I wondered how the church today should be actively working toward what we actually know, not think, is coming. The Apostle Paul has been peering into the future with his first two letters to the Thessalonians. Here in his second letter, which we will conclude today, he has foreseen and foretold both the increasing spirit of rebellion already at work in the world, with its ultimate climax when the Antichrist is finally revealed. and then also his overthrow with just a word at the return of Jesus Christ. He has also indicated that in the meantime, the ever-increasing lawlessness all around us is right now being restrained. And I have preached why I believe 2 Thessalonians 2 indicates that the restraint is the Holy Spirit's presence in his church. Once the church is raptured, lawlessness will no longer be restrained, and the Antichrist will then make his full appearance on the world stage. Now, we have so many indicators that we are living right at the cusp, right at this very time that all of this is about to happen. The Thessalonians also believe that the time was so imminent to their own day 2,000 years ago. And in today's passage, we will see how several believers did the wrong thing with such a belief. They were so busy looking up and passively waiting for the Lord, they were neglecting God's clear instructions for their daily lives. And so, Paul sought to correct them by what he writes in today's passage. The title of today's message is, What to Do While Waiting. Now, without giving too much away this early in the message, let me just say, a believer who is looking for the Lord's return is not a dreamer. He or she is an active worker. Too many who were in the church of Thessalonica, to whom Paul was writing, and too many who are in the church today, we're living by the motto, I love ministry. I can sit around and watch it all day long. These believers have forgotten a vital truth. Christianity is an active, involved faith. Listen, by accepting Scripture's invitation to know what is about to happen, we are also accepting personal involvement in carrying out God's sovereign purposes. Paul's direct address to those living irresponsibly in light of their belief that Christ's return was so imminent, his response is very strong and decisive. In fact, he begins not with a request, not with an encouragement, nor even an exhortation. He responds, rather, with a command. Clearly, Paul has such serious concerns about what to do while waiting, and even a greater concern now is to be, because it really is so close, that Paul gave no effort to even be subtle. He's blunt, saying, do this and do it now. He calls them to prayer. Prayer for a very specific thing. And he uses vivid imagery. Let's begin our passage this morning in 2 Thessalonians chapter three, verse one. It reads this way. Finally, brothers, pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored as happened among you. Now look at that last phrase, as happened among you. It is clear that when Paul first preached in Thessalonica, he had spectacular results. their three to four week ministry in Thessalonica was unlike any other place that they had gone. Many were speedily converted. The gospel message was well received. Many were converted and the church was born in a very uncommon period of only three to four short weeks. We read about that in Acts chapter 17. Now, it is this kind of free movement of the Word of God that Paul asks them to pray would happen more often. And Paul used some imagery here that the psalmist used in Psalm 147. Psalm 147, verses 15 through 20, read this way. He sends out his command to the earth. His word runs swiftly. See, there it is right there. I believe Paul is referencing this, but the rest of the psalmist passage goes on and says this. He gives snow like wool. He scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word and melts them. He makes his wind blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know his rules. Praise the Lord. Now God's servants may be bound, but God's word will not be bound. Paul explicitly says this in his letter to Timothy. 2 Timothy 2.9 says, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound. So now here is a question then. If this Is such a sure thing a definite certainty? Why are we to pray for it? Now, the first thing I want to say is 2 Thessalonians 3.1 gives tremendous significance to praying for what is already certain to happen. Have you ever noticed that's also true of the Lord's Prayer? When Jesus' disciples came and said, hey, John taught his disciples to pray, why don't you teach us how to pray? And Jesus gave the Lord's Prayer, so much of that is about things that are sure to happen. Hallowed be your name. It's gonna be hallowed, folks, but yet we're to pray for that. Thy kingdom come. It's coming, but we're to pray for that on earth as it is in heaven. Yes, we are encouraged to pray for things that are certain to happen. Now, let's do a little thinking about the nature of this and pull specific request right here for the certainty of God's word to move speedily. Now the word of the Lord is pictured here in our verse, in 2 Thessalonians 3, 1, as though it's an athlete running a race to achieve the glory of winning. The apostle loved to use dramatic figures of speech, just like the psalmist. And here God's word is personified as trying to win, which means being acclaimed as superiors to all the others in the race. The other competitors are each of the world's philosophies and theories and worldviews. The word of the Lord is running against the world's well-accepted words of wisdom. And here's what Paul is presenting to us. The word of the Lord will be recognized and acclaimed as superior to all other words and philosophies if we pray. Look once more at how Paul phrases it. Pray for us that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored. God will indeed cause his word to be glorified. We just saw that in the verses we read together in Psalm 147 and 2 Timothy 2.9. But now get this. He does not intend to win without giving you a part in this victory. Apparently, God does not intend to win the race of words without the prayers of his people. Oh, please hear me clearly. If you are wondering how you can make a significant impact for the Lord with your life, here it is. Devote yourself from here on out to praying for the Word of God to run and be glorified, for it to speed ahead of all the words of the worldly philosophies. The Lord will be victorious and you with it. There are a lot of things that people devote their life to accomplish. Some might want to write a great novel. Others see it as very high accomplishment to build a Fortune 500 company, coach a Super Bowl championship football team, or find the cure for cancer. Now, these would all be glorious achievements, wouldn't they? But let's just pretend that you had achieved one of these glories. Now, in the book of James, we read that our life here on earth is like a mist that appears just for a little while and then it's gone. Earthly life is like a steamy breath that you let out while you're walking to your car on a cold January morning here in Lapine. It only lasts about two seconds. So think of it, once we get to eternity, the age to come, your glorious earthly achievement, however great, will only be two seconds. Nobody should get excited about a two-second glory, especially when you have available to you an opportunity that is not two seconds. You have an opportunity for a glory that lasts forever. Once we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, the novel you wrote will be gone. The Fortune 500 company will have no value. The Super Bowl, faded memory at best. The cure for cancer, completely irrelevant now. But off to the side is Frank Smith. Frank was a Christian who spent 30 minutes a day on his knees, praying that the word of the Lord would run and be glorified. Frank's victory. Frank's achievement, Frank's glory will be forever. Anyone who yearns for significance, 2 Thessalonians, this verse right here, 3.1 is for you. Dedicating yourself to pray for the Word of God to run and be glorified brings greater glory than any great achievement on earth could ever do. Believers, this kind of praying is a high calling. I believe that there are many who are listening today of whom this is the kind of significance you have been longing for. So let me do some more thinking from our passage about the kind of prayer Paul here is calling you to do as we wait for Christ's return. Verse two. And that we may be delivered from the wicked and evil men, for not all have faith. Now let me ask you something. How many of you believe that biblical preaching, the proclamation of God's word, is not merely a human activity undertaken by human energy and ingenuity? I know that it is not. Unseen spiritual forces are always at work. Hence this call to prayer. Evil men oppose the gospel, and behind them stands an evil one. But behind the bearers of the Lord's message stands the faithful Lord. Now, go back with me and look again at that last sentence here, verse two. It says this. For not all have faith. When Paul writes for not all have faith, he is actually saying, as it's written in the original language of the New Testament, not all have the faith. All men do not have the faith. Those men that Paul refers to do not hold the doctrines as the apostles taught them. Now stop and think. This can only mean that Paul is discussing church members. Yeah, Paul is asking that they would pray for him to be delivered from those who were in the church. There were wicked and evil men in the church that were preventing the gospel from going forth. Now, rather than me say it, I think I'll let J. Vernon McGee pick up on this. He writes, my friend, let me urge you to pray for your pastor. Let me say something very carefully. I know what it is to be a pastor. A pastor has a great responsibility because very frankly, he deals with a great many folk who are unreasonable. Paul asks prayer that he may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. Did you know that there are wicked persons in the church? A pastor needs to be delivered from such folk. Now, was Paul praying for his troubles to be removed? I made such a big deal last week saying that Paul never prayed for those who were being persecuted to have it removed. Uh-oh, did I misspeak? Doesn't Paul ask the Thessalonians to pray that way right here? Was I wrong last week in leading you to believe that it may not be the right way to pray for somebody who is suffering hardship, that we just automatically, first response prayer is, oh God, remove this trouble out of their life. Well, don't misunderstand this verse. Paul is not asking for prayer for no persecution. That would be entirely contrary to the New Testament. After all, elsewhere, Paul himself says, all who live godly lives will suffer persecution. And Jesus himself talked in John 16, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Paul is not trying to duck out of all of this right here. Let's recount Paul's experience in Europe so far. He first arrived in Philippi and started preaching. Very soon, he was thrown in jail, beaten badly, and had to leave before he could establish very much. Now, in that sense, the gospel had been hindered. But when he got to Thessalonica, and only lasted no more than four weeks before riots started, the gospel spread very quickly. unhindered. In Philippi, Paul was persecuted and the gospel was hindered. But in Thessalonica, where he also suffered persecution, the gospel was unhindered. This is prayer that the gospel will not be hindered, as it was not in Thessalonica. Not that he would escape any suffering. Do you see it here? Pray that God's word will win the race as it did in Thessalonica. In praying for this, ask that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men who want to hinder it. The apostle wanted all hindrances to the gospel swept aside so that it might make rapid progress in the world. And that is exactly what we should be praying for. I think I'll let J Vernon McGee speak for me again. Here's what else he writes. I find that spreading the gospel is hindered more by people in the church than by anything else. No liquor industry, no bar room, no gangster ring has ever attacked me. At least I have never known about it. But I have had so-called saints in the church attack me. As you know, in our churches, we have the saints and the aints, and there are a lot of aints. they can give a pastor a rough time. Well, as we wait for Christ's return, pray for God's word to win the race of words in our society. Pray that it will significantly win here in Lapine, throughout all of Oregon, throughout our nation, throughout our world. Pray that our missionaries would see God's word be victorious through their efforts. Please pray for me as your pastor to be unhindered in proclaiming God's truth. Pray for our youth workers, Eric, Vreya, Reva. Satan is skilled player on life's chessboard. He knows how to move his men to check the advance of the gospel. But prayer can annul even his formidable advantages. and he is no match for the Holy Spirit. Verse three. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. God does not exempt His people from the natural disasters and the ills of life. He does not promise immunity from ever being disliked, suffering from discrimination, persecution, or even death. But what He does promise is that He will establish us and ground us on His truth. as we wait for Christ's return. Pray for God's word to win the race of words. Devote yourself to such praying. But there is something else that Paul now moves on to, something else to do while we wait. The apostle moves from the need to spread the word in the world to the need to obey the word in the church. From evangelism to obedience. Now what is striking as we move on, I want you to notice this, is not so much the instructions which Paul issues in these next verses that we come to, as much as it is the authority with which he does it. Nothing is more impressive in this chapter than the repetition of the words command and obey. And there's a military ring about these verses. It starts here in verse four. Look at it here. And we have confidence in the Lord about you that you are doing and will do the things that we command. Now, I have been allowing J. Vernon McGee to interject his thoughts, and I wanted this time to allow Warren Wiersbe to do the same. Here's what he says. The word command that Paul used in 2 Thessalonians 3-4 means a military order passed down from a superior officer. In a battle, it is not enough for only the officers to fight. Every man must do his duty. This is also true in the work of the local church. What if an army were to run with the same lack of obedience, order, and discipline that we often see in the local church? It would never win the war. If soldiers attended drill whenever they felt like it, they would never be equipped to face the enemy. If the recruits disobeyed their officers' orders the way some church members disobey the word of God, they would be court-martialed. Wow. Verse five, this militaristic sense continues. Verse five says, may the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God, and to the steadfastness of Christ. They're gonna need the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ resonating in their hearts in order to obey the commands that Paul is about to give them in the verses we come to now. The steadfastness of Christ is needed to level out the mountain-to-valley emotional extremes that come with a situation that Paul is about to address. And the love of God is to be obvious in the actions that Paul commands us to take. Here's what I want you to notice in this rather lengthy section of verses we're about to undertake here. Even though Paul is gonna make several different points, there is one issue that these verses are dealing with. This section of his letter is about church discipline. He initiates the topic, and then he'll talk about one of the tangents to it, and then he comes right back to the church discipline issue as the main point. So let's take a look at it now, verses six through 15. Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have the right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Now the church at Thessalonica had its problems. just like any church. In this section, we learn not only about how to deal with the problem that was going on with them, but also how to deal with any sin in the church where a member or members are being obstinate, openly, defiantly disobeying God's word and consequently negatively affecting the church's ministry. Now keep in mind that Paul initiated this discussion by calling for them to manifest the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ there in verse 5. Now what was the problem in Thessalonica? Some members of the assembly had misinterpreted Paul's teaching about the return of Christ. They left their jobs and were living off the generosity of the church. They were idle slackers while others were working. Yet they expected the church to support them. They were defiant. They were obstinate. I say this because Paul has already addressed them in his first letter. You may remember when we studied 1 Thessalonians, my explanation about those who Paul referred to as ataktoi. He uses the same term here in these verses, that Greek word again comes up, the term ataktoi. It's a Greek term. It means, well, it's a military term. It refers to unruly soldiers who are out of rank. Ataktoi is a very good word for Paul to be using here. These were so unruly, so far out of rank, that they were also spreading gossip about people in the church. Now they had time on their hands and gossip on their lips. Action needed to be taken. When problems are not solved, they grow and they become worse. A sliver left in the finger can become so infected and cause a toxic condition so serious that surgery becomes necessary. If you tell your doctor that you stepped on a rusty nail, he will immediately give you a tetanus shot, even though the wound may appear insignificant to you. Church problems. are like physical problems. If left unsolved, they grow and they become worse, and they infect many people. The local church is a body, and what germs are to the physical body, sin is to the spiritual body. Any open, defiant, I don't care what the word of God says, Sin must be handled with the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. You know as well as I do, a church discipline is not administered very often today. It's viewed with distaste whenever it is. Church members leave. Well, that's not very loving. We've had to do it here. We're a much smaller body right now, because we made the determination to obey what God's Word teaches. Jesus and Paul have a different opinion about it not being very loving. Both command it. We see it here, it's a command that Paul is giving. And it's commanded in Matthew 18, Galatians 6-1, 1 Corinthians 5, just a few places. where Scripture tells us about it. Here in our passage today, we're given some very practical guidelines on how it should be exercised with the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. Let me suggest five principles that we see here in our passage about this whole thing of church discipline. Number one, church discipline should generally be reserved for matters affecting the health or the well-being of the entire church community. It's not for petty issues or difference between church members. In the middle of Paul's instruction about how to discipline the ataktoi, Paul breaks away in verse 13 to write this. Look what he says in verse 13. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. You see, the faithful Christians were discouraged by the conduct of those careless saints who refused to work. Well, if they don't have to work, why should I? It was affecting the entire church. There's probably a significant hesitation to help those who had a real need, a legitimate need, feeling drained by the ones who could work but chose not to. It'd be easy to abandon all acts of benevolence. They knew they were being played for the sucker. They were being ripped off. And so Paul writes, no, no, no, no, no. That's the wrong response to this church-wide problem. Don't grow weary in doing good where there is genuine need. And that's what so often happens when church discipline is refused. People just throw up their hands, and they say, I'm out of here. They get very weary of the matter and the situation if it's not addressed right. And so Paul says, no, no, no, no, don't grow weary in doing good. Instead, I want you to administer church discipline to the ones who are affecting ministry so negatively. Number two, it should be reserved for clear cases of defiance. The apostle had already admonished them in his first letter, but they grew worse. They were getting worse and worse and worse with it. Now they were becoming gossips. They were quite bold with their disobedience. Number three. The nature of church discipline which Paul commanded was a measure of ostracism. Loyal church members were to keep aloof from them, is what he tells them. Look at verse 14, it says this. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Number four, the spirit in which the church discipline is to be administered must be friendly, not hostile. It's to be done gently. Look at verse 15 again. It says, do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Number five, the purpose of this discipline is positive and constructive. It's not to humiliate delinquents, and even less, it is not to destroy them. It is rather to make them feel ashamed so that they would repent. There's a fine line between putting a person to shame and shaming a person. When a person is put to shame, the individual feels sorry for those sins and laments the pain caused to others. Such a repentant person eventually seeks to make things right, and that's what the goal of church discipline is. Now, shaming a person, however, leaves little room for repentance and restoration. It doesn't have that as its goal. It tends to be spiteful. It tends to be vindictive. It tends to be all of that instead of redeeming the person and being concerned about that person's relationship with the Lord. You know, one of the reasons, perhaps, church discipline is not exercised today is church members may feel, well, what's the use? It isn't like it was during the first century when a community had only one church. Ostracism may have worked when there was no other church to run away and join instead. You won't accept me here? Okay, I'll move my membership up the road, no big deal. Please look at the instructions Jesus himself gave for church discipline in Matthew 18, because he addresses that. There is an answer to that. Matthew 18 verses 15 through 18 says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you've gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you. that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, and here's the answer to that, what we see all too often today. Verse 18, truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be what? Bound in heaven. That's a serious thing. A person who thinks it's no big deal when a church legitimately exercises church discipline ought to take note of this. Yes, you can go up the road to another church, but church discipline has a binding authority in heaven that is only loosened when the church loosens it. God can still make the disciplinary effect work. And I think this verse is telling us that he will, whenever a church does it properly. The disciplined person can still be shamed into repentance by God himself. Ostracism by the disciplining church is not the only tool available to God. What should we be doing as we wait for Christ's return? Number one, join the church, the work of the church, by praying for its efforts in proclaiming God's word. Earnestly ask that it would not be hindered. If the only involvement you have in prayer is the time each Sunday that you sit in church That is not joining the work of the church. That is neglecting the work. So commit yourself to expanding your regular daily prayer time to include prayer for our church. Pray for your pastor, pray for the youth workers, pray also for the Bible study leaders and the kids church workers. If you don't pray at all, would you begin praying? at least a few minutes every day. If you already pray a few minutes, would you aim for 15? If you were right now praying about 15 minutes every day for our church and for the Word of God to speed ahead, would you make 30 minutes your goal? While we wait for Christ's return, Second, join the work of the church by being concerned about its purity. As I mentioned earlier, this matter of church discipline, it's not a popular thing. So many churches today simply refuse to do it because there is not enough concern for the purity in obedience Be concerned about your own obedience to the Lord, yes. And love others enough to be concerned about their relationship to the Lord, to where if you see them with an obstinate attitude, couldn't care less, I'm gonna do my own thing, even though I know and it's clearly against God's word, love them enough to approach them and seek reconciliation. take the biblical steps as necessary. Even though our culture says that's not a loving thing to do, it sure is. It sure is. Pray fervently that the word of God moves speedily ahead here in our church. Pray that we would, with the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ, be concerned about purity in our own life and in the life of our brothers and sisters all around us. While history moves towards its completion, while we wait for the return of Christ can you say from the heart, let the word of the Lord run and be honored throughout the world. And let the word of the Lord be honored and obeyed in our church. Now I'll close with a benediction the way that Paul closed his letter, verses 16 through 18. Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine. It is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.