At the beginning of this book we said there were three things going on there in Thessalonica that Paul wanted to address:
- Discouragement
- Deception
- Disobedience
These things came about because of the false teachings, shaken belief and a wrong response. The Thessalonians saints were young in the faith, as their faith was being built up, along came these workers of Satan to knock it down or scramble it up. This snuck in on them without them recognizing it. We see it all time. Satan brings these deceptions and distractions and deviations right before our eyes. And when we don't recognize them our faith is rattled. The Thessalonians weren't expecting this, all they knew was that things weren't going well. They were shaken.
From the tone of the first 2 chapters you can see that Paul is not just trying to remove the thorn of bad teaching but he is also trying to clean up the infection left behind. The one little false belief that was allowed in caused a lot of trouble. This entire letter creates the picture of your faith being this strong tower built on the solid foundation of the gospel message of Jesus Christ. The walls of that strong tower protect you from the attacks from the world. But that tower of faith begins to tumble when we allow a false belief into our midst. It's like a batch of bad brick & mortar and anything built with it, or on it, won't stand for long. That's our warning and the thought we carry into chapter 3.
So, Paul dealt with discouragement in chapter 1 and in doing so he left us with this question: In suffering and pain is your faith built up? He dealt with deception in chapter 2 and in dealing with that we faced the question: Is your faith real enough and solid enough to carry you through anything the world throws at you? And now, in chapter 3 Paul is going to deal with disobedience. And the question we face is this: Are you living out your faith in every part of your life, in every way?
2 Thessalonians 3:1-2
Prayer is the primary weapon for us to use in the ongoing, invisible spiritual battle that rages on all around us. Paul knew that and isn't shy about asking for the prayers of the other saints. He wanted them to pray for him in his ministry. Paul was sitting in Corinth when he wrote this letter. And there was an incredible spiritual battle going on there. There was a group of wicked and evil men who were acting unreasonably toward the gospel right there in Corinth. It was important for the Thessalonians to know there were wicked men everywhere. The battle raged in Corinth the same as in Thessalonica and here with us. We're all engaged in a battle and in that battle we should support each other in prayer.
These men in Corinth that Paul was dealing with said that what Paul was teaching was wrong and what they believed was right and so on. Simply put, they opposed the gospel. Opposition to the gospel still happens every day, everywhere. Paul called them unreasonable men. The gospel is reasonable. It makes sense. It is truth set forth by the God of the universe. But mankind in its sinful nature responds in an unreasonable way. The cross is an offense to our flesh.
Isn't it fascinating to watch a professed unbeliever respond unreasonably to something they say they don't believe? Jesus Christ and the gospel message will make any person that is still in their sins uncomfortable. That's the power behind the message. And that power is visible when the unbeliever feels threatened by something they say has no power.
We see Paul's heart in these first few verses. He just wanted the message of hope and salvation to run rampant through Corinth as it had done in Thessalonica. The gospel message has the power to save but there are many who actively oppose it. Paul knew that prayer was required and that prayer made a difference.
It's interesting that while Paul is dealing with these people and their problems he moves the focus away from them and their troubles. It's a big world out there. We tend to operate in our own little circle of influence. But the Christian has the ability to extend that influence far beyond their normal reach because of the supernatural power of prayer. Ministries are moved by prayer.
Paul was asking the Thessalonians to lift up his ministry in prayer. Because, he said, not all have faith. There were wicked men in every city. There are dark forces at work through wicked men to oppose the word of God. As the Thessalonians struggled with a phony letters, false teachers and persecution in Thessalonica, so did the saints in the city of Corinth. So do the saints everywhere. And we'll be fine if just remember that Satan is always trying to frustrate, confuse, discourage and dismantle or faith. There is always an active resistance to the work of God and that's all the more reason we should be obedient and remain active in prayer to resist the works of evil.
2 Thessalonians 3:3-5
So, Paul said, not all men have faith but the Lord is faithful. Paul had confidence that God would establish them and guard them so they could go on growing in holiness, living their lives in Christ. Notice the word 'establish.' We've seen it before in Paul's letters. It's being rooted deep in the foundation of Jesus Christ. It's having your system of beliefs built up. It's having your eyes focused on the things of the Lord and not the things of the world. It's being spiritually walled off from the world when you are in Jesus Christ. He is our strong tower, our place of refuge and protection. And none of this is of you, it's of Him. Nothing can come against you, not because of what you've done, but because of what He's done. The Lord is the one who establishes you and guards you from the evil one. Our job is to simply quit fighting the battles our own way.
Paul had confidence in the Lord's ability to establish the Thessalonians, the Corinthians and Christians everywhere. He had confidence that they would quit resisting and be obedient to what Paul had commanded them as an apostle of Jesus Christ. What we see here is that to be established and guarded from the works of Satan we act in obedience and allow the Lord to direct our hearts in love and patience. Out best guard and defense against Satan is obedience to the Lord and yielding to the work He is doing in our life. Paul is telling this to a group of people who are suffering and being persecuted. They needed to be obedient, patient and loving. How much easier should it be for us to hear this message? We can have this same confidence. We will be established and guarded in the Lord but it won't be by our works. It will be by our obedience to Christ. It will be by yielding to Him and learning love in patience.
These first five verses seem to have an air of persevering and staying faithful in Christ. The underlying tone is that no one said it would be easy to live the Christian life. And we're building to the question this chapter brings before us. Is your faith real enough to be a vital part of your life? Is your faith built into every facet of your life?
2 Thessalonians 3:6-9
Paul exercises his authority as an apostle by giving this command. He doesn't do this very often, so that shows this is a serious problem and serious matter to him.
If you look back in the first letter, Paul said this :
But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing....(1 Thessalonians 4:10b-12)
And then in also he wrote:
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all....(1 Thessalonians 5:14-15)
Paul had already warned them of the conduct of some people. At first it was a gentle exhortation to point out where the Lord would have them change. Now, he brings the same issues before them but this time there are commands given in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Thessalonian saints were instructed to withdraw from a brother who was being disorderly. The word disorderly here was used to describe soldiers who broke rank. These are people who are holding onto the ways of the world and not walking in obedience to the Lord.
In other places, Paul described himself as a bondslave of Jesus Christ. Sometimes believers are described as being 'sold out' to Jesus. The point in each case is that the believer is totally committed to following Jesus. Paul is saying there were people among the Thessalonians that weren't sold out. They were playing a game. Those guys might have said, I want heaven and blessings and protection from evil, healing and so on, but I don't want the bondslave part. They rejected the obedience and ranks of Christianity; desiring the blessing, not willing to pay the costs.
Our walk in Christ is the walk He determines for us. We don't get to pick and choose what parts you like or don't like. Paul isn't allowing these guys to lay back and poison the fellowship of believers. He's saying, you guys know what is expected, you saw us. You saw how we walked and there was nothing disorderly about us. We worked hard, paid our own way, bought our own food. And we did those things so no one would feel burdened by us. Paul said, they had the authority to do otherwise but they chose to be an example of walking in rank.
So, the fellowship there was not to allow this to go on. They were to withdraw from those who were disorderly. This is church discipline. As with all church discipline, this wasn't done as punishment but to bring them to repentance. By putting them out to be among unbelievers they might feel the absence of the fellowship and they might see their mistake, and they might repent and be accepted back into the fellowship.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
Here's another commandment from Paul as an extension of the first. There are those who want to work but can't. There are those who work but aren't very good at it. Some are more productive at work than others. But, for those who will not work when they are able, they shall not eat. Paul didn't offer exceptions. It's a pretty straightforward rule.
2 Thessalonians 3:11-12
Paul laid out the commandments and now he's telling them to apply them to their fellowship. Paul, Silas and Timothy were all the way down in Corinth and heard the stories about these people who were disorderly and weren't working. These guys weren't busy earning a living or paying for groceries, they were busybodies concerning themselves with everyone else's business. This is the role faith played in their life, it was an excuse to be lazy.
These first 2 commandments were for the general population. They were for the believers that were walking in rank. Now Paul offered a commandment for those lazy folks among them. He's speaking right to them. It's time to get to work in quietness. To work in quietness is to perform the work set before you diligently to earn your own way, eat your own bread rather than meddling in the affairs of others and then eating their food.
And then Paul speaks to everyone else.
2 Thessalonians 3:13-15
In Paul's response you kind of hear that the rest of the congregation was getting frustrated with some slackers. They were ready to withdraw their support of the truly needy because of these lazy ones. Now the church has always been willing to share and take care of each other, that's what we're supposed to do. But there's always a few that want to find where the line of acceptance is; these are the lazy ones looking for a free ride. And it's clear that even among a group of Christians there will be lazy people.
Paul didn't want the rest of the people who were working hard and earning their way to be frustrated with doing good. Instead he wanted them to know they didn't have to just ignore these freeloaders. They were to be marked. They were to be named among others so the fellowship didn't keep company with them. This was done as an admonishment of a brother, not as some punishment. The hope was this person would miss being part of the fellowship and would find their way back in. This is church discipline. It's almost a thing of the past, though it shouldn't be.
Among God's people there is a responsibility to act a certain way. If people are breaking rank they must be dealt with. Because there will always be those that are just takers. They'll take whatever they can squeeze from the church and its people. Yet, they never have anything to offer.
2 Thessalonians 3:16-17
Paul makes a note that he signed the letter. He did this on every epistle. It was his mark of authenticity. Paul brings this to their attention because of the phony letter they had previously received. They couldn't always go by the writing because different people could have actually written the word but Paul wanted them to know his signature or his mark that was always at the end. Paul wrote that part with his own hand so the forgeries would no longer cause them confusion.
2 Thessalonians 3:18
Now at the beginning we said this phony letter and false teaching caused 3 things to happen. There was discouragement, deception and disobedience. The discouragement came from the suffering they had to endure. Paul said they suffered, not because they were in the tribulation or under the wrath of God. They suffered because they were found worthy. Their suffering was allowed by the Lord to grow them in their faith. And at the end of their suffering there will be a time of rest when the Lord comes and calls us home.
The deception Paul dealt with was this thought that they had missed the rapture and they were living in the day of the Lord. And Paul straightened them out on the day of the Lord. But he also encouraged them to stand fast on their faith. They had the truth in their life. This gospel message was very real and Jesus was their sure foundation. They didn't need to freak out every time someone challenged that. In fact, when the challenges come, is when it really pays off.
And finally, Paul dealt with the disobedience. There is a rank, a tradition of teaching. That way is obedience to God, hard work and responsibility for putting food on your table. There is also the responsibility for each of us to not grow weary of doing good just because some slackers are taking advantage of it. There is also the responsibility for each of us to name these people when they come among us.
So, Paul dealt with discouragement, deception and disobedience and in doing so he left us with these questions:
In suffering and pain, is your faith built up? God doesn't allow the suffering and pain to break us down or discourage us. He allows it to build us up, to strengthen our faith. So, our faith will carry us through greater times of pain and hardship because our faith is a living and active faith capable of doing just that.
Is your faith real enough and solid enough to carry you through anything the world throws at you? We often believe it is when we are on the mountaintop. Then, when we've descended into the valley we quickly change our mind. Paul says, don't be so easily shaken. Remember, don't doubt in the dark what you know to be true in the light. Stand strong, your faith is real, it's founded in the living God. Don't throw it away at the first sign of trouble, hold tight to it. It will carry you through anything.
And finally, are you living out? Does your faith show up in every part of your life? Are you walking in obedience? Or, do we claim Jesus Christ on Sunday and Wednesday for a couple hours. Do you trust him 24-7? Is His grace sufficient in every circumstance?
From our prayer life to the workplace, our belief and trust should show up in our walk, our talk and in every part of life.
Amen
©2018 Doug Ford
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