2008-02-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Today, we will look at 2 THESS 3: 6-15, a passage that deals with making a living while at the same time seeking God's Kingdom. Any real understanding of it is seated in knowing about both Jewish attitudes toward laziness and Paul's upbringing. PR 12: 24, gives us an idea of Jewish thinking on the subject. "Hard work will give you power; being lazy will make you a slave." PR 15: 20 also helps. "Keep company with the wise and you will become wise. If you make friends with stupid people, you will be ruined." The same can be said of PR 15: 10, "If you are lazy, you will meet difficulty everywhere, but if you are honest, you will have not trouble." And a final citation which lends illumination is PR 14: 26, "Reverence for the Lord gives confidence and security to a man and his family." As for Paul's upbringing as Saul of Tarsus, he was raised to be an intellectual and a man of deep, abiding faith in God- in accordance to traditional Jewish law and ritual. As a young man, Paul was definitely opinionated with his thinking biased in the direction of legalistic Judaism. That is why he could be comfortable at the time with his role as a worker for the Sandhedrin [Jewish ruling council] persecuting Jewish Christians. It was not until his amazing conversion to Christ [AC 9: 1-6] that Paul's remarkable intelligence would be used for God's purposes.
Thessalonica was the capital city of the Roman province of Macedonia. Paul established a church there after he left Philippi. Due to Jewish opposition caused by their jealousy of Paul's success in preaching to the Gentiles, Paul was forced to leave and went on to Berea. Later Timothy wrote to Paul about the church of Thessalonica. In the 1 THESS, Paul writes to the church there about the return of Christ. There was some confusion over this issue, which included the belief that Christ's second coming, the Day of the Christ, had already come. In 2 THESS, Paul explains that it has not yet happened and that the events of the Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, must come first. In addition, Paul gives advice regarding the need of the believers to remain steady in their faith in spite of trouble and suffering, to work for a living as did Paul and his fellow workers, and to persevere in doing good.
Anyone saying that our faith in Jesus' second coming means that all we have to do is go up on a mountain and wait is using this as an excuse for laziness. Nowhere in the Scriptures are we told we don't have to work for a living. That is made clear as far back as GN 3: 17. We have a obligation to protect our siblings in Christ, as outlined in RO 14: 13, "So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make your brother stumble or fall into sin." 2 THESS 3: 6b is a warning, however, to avoid those who have been told to earn a living and who refuse. "Keep away for all brothers who are living a lazy life and who do not follow the instructions we gave them." It is safe to assume that this is after attempts have been made to help these people help themselves, in accordance with the dictates of MICAH 6: 8, "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Paul goes on to use himself and his assistants as an example, as they had continued to work for their own livings, all the while that Paul was ministering to the people. You'll remember that Paul was a tentmaker like his friends, Priscilla and Aquila [AC 18: 1-3]. 2 THESS 3: 8, "We did not accept anyone's support without paying for it. Instead, we worked and toiled; we kept working day and night so as not to be an expense to any of you." I have often said before that there are times when a person's example set is even more powerful than his words. Paul goes on to say that those refusing to work are not allowed to eat in (10).
Paul also warns the people "not to become tired of doing good," in (13), and follows this with a repetition of his initial warning of avoiding these lazy people, in (14). In examining our own lives, it would be pretty rare for us to go through our whole lives without meeting such lazy people, people who have been helped to mend their ways, but refused this help. At some point, we have to make the decision to walk away from them, or else be pulled into their aberrant attitudes and actions. The comment in (13) would lead me to believe that every effort to help these people help themselves had been made before the decision to avoid them. The same assumption can be made in reading 2 THESS 3: 14b-15, "Take note of him [the lazy believer] and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed. But do not treat him as an enemy; instead, warn him as a brother." In no way is Paul ever suggesting that we stop loving this lazy believer or that we stop praying for him. We are challenged to examine our own lives to see if we are living up to the ideals Paul is discussing here. Are we the lazy one? Are we allowing another lazy person to pull us into his way of thinking and acting? Have we reached the difficult place where we must avoid someone who is refusing to mend his lazy ways? Are either they or us making excuses for laziness and slothful behavior? Tough questions, but Paul wants us to look at them anyway, for the sake of building God's Kingdom within and outside of ourselves.
PRAYER: O Lord, through Paul, You encourage us to live orderly lives with a healthy, balanced work ethic. Your only motivation in doing this is so that we can one day gain Your Kingdom and a life of eternal bliss with You in heaven. Your love is exposed openly by these assertions in 3 THESS 3: 6-15. One of the most pervasive bad habits we have is offering excuses, having the victim mentality with regard to using the talents You give us to earn a living while seeking Your Kingdom. We live in a difficult economy, one in which while unemployment is low, so are salaries for most people. As costs increase in our society and buying power decreases, except for the very wealthy. What are we to do? You tell us we are to work hard, which may take more than one job, and that we must make godly decisions about what we buy and how we use our time. This prayer is being written at a time when materialism and misuse of mammon has never been greater. We appeal to You to give us Your wisdom in decision-making. PS 51: 6, "Sincerity are truth are what You require; fill my mind with wisdom." We acknowledge that we can't make good decisions about our time and resources without Your intervention. PS 32: 8-9, "The Lord says, 'I will teach you the way you should go; I will instruct you and advise you. Do not be stupid like a horse or a mule, which must be controlled with a bit and bridle to make it submit." The words of verse 9 may seem harsh, but they are spoken by You in love, with our best eternal interests in mind. You have given us each special talents to be used for building Your Kingdom. Often those talents can be used for earning a living too. If we don't know what those talents are, then we should submit to a test of our vocation to learn what they are. You have promised to provide for our needs [PHIL 4: 19] and will keep that promise, but we understand, Dearest Abba, that we must do our part too. You are a loving and compassionate God, to Whom we offer our loyalty, praise, thanks, glory, honor, and faithfulness. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I am led to delve into what is meant by a disciplined life in the area of management of mammon. God is the best and most perfect of all Promise-keepers. Back in GN 3: 15, He promised us a way out of the bonds of evil to which we have been born. "I will make you [the serpent] and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite their heel." One might be injured by having his heel bitten, but it isn't life-threatening in the same way as crushing one's head would be. The serpent represents evil, and the promise of a way out comes through God's sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Who is the Sin-Sacrifice, perfect and acceptable to the Father for us all [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; HE 8: 12; HE 10: 10]. There is nothing accidental about God's plan. It is foreshadowed in GN 22: 13 when Abraham, who was about to sacrifice his only son of the promise, Isaac, was told by God to sacrifice a ram caught in the bushes instead. God says in GN 22: 16-17, "I make a vow by My own name, that I will richly bless you. Because you did this and did not keep back your only son from Me, I promise that I will give you many descendants Your descendants will conquer their enemies." Therefore, when God asserts in PS 37:11, "But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing, and shall have wonderful peace," we can take Him at His word.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn