MOTIVATING CORRECTION
2 THESSALONIANS 3:6-18
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
8 Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all.
17 The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Intro:
- In Paul’s first letter, he told the church to “warn them that are unruly,” and he told the busybodies “to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.”
- Apparently the troublemakers and busybodies did not repent or get right. Paul will now devote the rest of his letter to this problem and how the church should address it.
What was the problem? Some members of the church had misinterpreted Paul’s teaching on the second coming of Christ, left their jobs, and were living off the generosity of other church members.
Paul expected the church to work together in solving this problem. To assist them in the task, Paul gives four motives to encourage the careless believers to turn from their sin and start earning their own wage.
1. The Exhortation Of The Word (v. 6)
- Many of the believers at Thessalonica thought the end times and the return of Jesus was right upon them. Others thought they missed the rapture. Some thought they were living in the tribulation.
- In connection with this confusion about their place in God’s prophetic plan, some were using their sincere (but wrong) belief regarding prophecy and its fulfillment as an excuse for inactivity.
They were so busy looking up and passively waiting for the Lord – or looking around worried about their afflictions – that they were neglecting God’s vision for their daily lives.
Paul takes a clear and direct approach toward this behavior. He issues a command.
- We saw this word command in last week’s lesson. It is a military term that means “
- Paul commands the church to “keep away” from such people, i.e. the unruly. The church was to avoid those people to show them that their behavior was unacceptable, so that they would repent and return to the community of “brothers” (cf. v. 15)
2. The Example Of The Apostle (vv. 7-10)
As an Apostle and preacher of the gospel, Paul had the right to expect and
Paul mentioned the fact that he “worked night and day” so as to not be a burden to the church in his previous letter. He again refers to how he set the example of meeting his own needs through labor.
- His example is a great encouragement for the church to imitate him.
3. The Encouragement Of The Church (vv. 11-15)
- V. 13 – “And you, brothers, do not lose heart doing good!” (literal translation)
- The bad example of the lazy believers was discouraging the hard workers. Paul encouraged them to not grow weary. “You’re doing the right thing. Stick with it.”
Sin in the life of a believer always affects the rest of the church. Why? Because as members of His body we are connected to each other. The bad example of a few saints can destroy the devotion and hinder the service of the rest of the church.
Paul gave the sins of this group.
1) They were
- They were disobeying orders, and this brought confusion and division to the church.
2) They were
- Paul said that these busybodies need to get back to work, but what if they don’t? What is the church to do?
If they will not heed the warnings of Paul, then the church will have to discipline them. (vv. 14-15)
What is church discipline? Church discipline is to a church member what family discipline is to a child: it is an exercise of, and evidence of,
In the case of the “lazy saints,” Paul told the believers to exhort them, warn them, and if they did not repent, withdraw fellowship from them.
- This probably meant that these believers were not permitted to partake of the Lord’s Supper, and that the church members would not invite them into their homes.
- This course of action does not apply to every level of discipline, but it does here with these lazy workers.
Charles Swindoll:
“I know such an approach sounds exceptionally harsh to our modern ears. But if we really understood what was at stake as much as Paul did, maybe we wouldn’t put up with those kinds of poisonous attitudes and actions like we do. 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. Shaming a person, however, leaves little room for repentance and restoration. It tends to be spiteful, vindictive, and punitive rather than redemptive.””
- “Have no company” literally means “do not get mixed up with.”
- We are to steer clear of sinning saints, however, we’re not to treat them like enemies.
4. The Enablement Of The Lord (vv. 16-18)
- No one can say, “I’m not able to do what God wants me to do.”
Why? Because God has made every provision for us to obey Him.
Paul says, “May the Lord of peace give you peace” (i.e. peace in a church that was divided by the issue of these lazy folk). God is able to do this. He enables us.
- How does He do this? By His
- Note in verse 18: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
- If we depend on the grace of God, we can do the
Application:
1) Join the work of the church through
2) Join the work of the church through
3) Join the work of the church through