Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
One of the important aspects of parenting or coaching is discipline and instruction for improvement, would you agree? In contrast is the person who enables wrong behavior or turns a blind eye when some coaching could be helpful. Look around your city, your network of relationships: who are the coaches helping the floundering people settle and improve; and who are those enabling dysfunctional thinking and behavior?
As the apostle Paul closes his second letter to the Thessalonian Christians, he has some challenging words to address this issue.
Paul is pacing as he dictates, Timothy is scribing Paul’s words in the Greek language on a parchment. 2 Thessalonians 3:11 “We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy, they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge to settle down and earn the food they eat.” (2 Thess. 3:11,12)
Yesterday we looked closely at those two troubling words IDLE and DISRUPTIVE. A report had come to Paul that some people in Thessalonica had actually quit their jobs and were sitting around idle waiting.
Waiting for what? Waiting for the return of Jesus Christ to earth. as the angels had predicted the day Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem back to heaven, 40 days after His resurrection. (Acts 1:9-11) By the time Paul was writing this letter in 51ad, that ascension of Jesus had taken place almost 25 years before!
The idleness of these people was foolish, and it was also disruptive. Unemployed yet facing the same need for living every day, they were depending on friends and family to feed and house them! Rapidly, the new Christian movement in Thessalonica was getting a bad reputation among non-believers.
Paul confronted it head on: “Such people we command and urge to settle down and earn the food they eat.” It’s clear, common sense, and calls for immediate action.
Then Paul continued: “As for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy but warn them as you would a fellow believer.” (2 Thess. 3:13-15) You notice, I’m sure, Paul’s frequent, repeated use of the phrase “brothers and sisters”. By my count at least 7 times in these short, three chapters.
Christianity is a unique God designed relationship between humans and God which results in a multi-dimensional change in that human life. One of the many remarkable aspects of becoming a true Christian is ADOPTION.
God actually adopts people, who have trusted Jesus Christ to be their Savior, into His family and specifically into a direct Father-son, Father-daughter relationship. Almighty, Holy God the Father becomes our perfect, heavenly Father. All of the wonderful attributes of a perfect Father are found in God the Father. All the characteristics of a perfect Father-child relationship should be found in the dynamic, alive, growing, loving relationship between you and God. Are they?
If I also have the same type of relationship with God the Father, then you and I are related. I am your spiritual brother in Christ! Now pause a moment and reflect. What are the implications of this miracle, especially if there are nearly 1 Billion authentic, born again, Christian, followers of Jesus Christ around the world today! Paul obviously found this so fascinating he repeated the phrase ‘brothers and sisters” more than 20 times in his two letters to his friends in Thessalonica. What do you think their response should have been in how they treated one another?
Siblings in a family normally have both a freedom and a responsibility to challenge each other when life is getting out of control and one of the siblings is behaving in a way that brings shame to the family. That is exactly what Paul is calling us, the Christian family to do.
We should encourage each other, but also challenge each other to live God honoring lives. Do you see Paul urged his readers to distance themselves from fellow Christians who were NOT living God honoring lives and while distancing, to also challenge them to see the areas of their life which are actually bringing dishonor to God!
My friends, are we doing that with one another? Are we helping each other with encouragement to excellence in God honoring living or are we turning a blind eye or maybe, actually enabling dishonorable behavior and attitudes? Yes, Paul is saying we have an obligation to help each other see the areas in our lives which need correction and improvement.
We all understand ‘blind spots’ right? Our inability to see ourselves objectively, clearly. Therefore, true Christians help shed the light of truth on any area of life that is allowing darkness to find fertile ground for growth!
Paul concludes calling Christians to live in peace, not by overlooking sin or dishonorable living, but by bringing the truth of God, wrapped in the love of God, presented in a firm enough manner so as not to be ignored.
Finally, look… Paul is taking the stylus from Timothy and writing his farewell with his own hand: “I Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters… The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.” (2 Thess. 3:17,18) Paul handed the stylus back to Timothy, perhaps he blew on the words he’d just written, to dry the ink. Looked at Timothy with a smile, then at Silas. The letter was complete.
I wonder if Paul gathered the three of them together around the parchment and prayed, asking God to bring it safely to Thessalonica, and to open the minds of those who would receive it, so they’d fully understand what the Holy Spirit had been speaking into Paul’s mind, as he dictated it? That, my friends, is the miracle of Scripture.
The Holy Spirit REVEALED to an author what God wanted written and INSPIRED that author to write it correctly. Then when those words were read, the Holy Spirit ILLUMINATED the minds of those reading to understand what God was saying to them! That is exactly what should happen each time you and I read the Bible, today! The Holy Spirit should open our minds and hearts to understand HIS teaching!
So, let’s pause here and pray, asking the Holy Spirit to help us understand this part of Paul’s third chapter, especially as it relates to how God might want to deal with any problem in us, or invite us to help a ‘brother or sister’ in Christ see something in their life that God wants to change! In fact, may I urge you to read the entire third chapter at one sitting? And here’s a song to help us reflect on this…
Today’s Scripture is 2 Thess. 3.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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