SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/22/2014
9:05 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
Work With Your Hands
Bible Reading & Meditation
Reference: 1 Thessalonians 4:11c-12
Message of the
verses: We are finally getting to
the last SD that I will do on 1 Thessalonians chapter four for this month. We will be looking at probably the most
important section of the book of 1 Thessalonians next month, and that is the
rapture of the Church for verses 13-18 give the best account of the rapture
found in the entire Bible. Believe it or
not I did read a book many years ago about showing the rapture of the Church
from the Old Testament feasts that the people of Israel did and it was very
interesting.
Work with Your Hands:
(1 Thessalonians 4:11c-12): and
work with your hands, just as we commanded you, 12 so that you will behave
properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.”
Thessalonica was a Greek city and so we can assume that
even though the Romans ruled the world at this time that this letter was
written that the people that Paul was writing to were Greeks. I have mentioned that this city is still a
thriving city in Greece in today’s world.
My point in mentioning this is that the Greeks did not believe that a
Greek should work with their hands, but only the slaves should do manual
labor. Being new believers this may have
been a new thing for them.
John MacArthur writes:
“Apparently many of the working class and slave laborers from among the
Thessalonians converts had taken the attitude that, since they had become free
in Christ, perhaps they were no longer subject to their masters and obligations
of their jobs. The new believers’
preoccupation with Jesus’ return may have intensified that attitude.” I think that this may have been the key
element in Paul giving this exhortation to them to work with their hands in
order to support their families so that they would not have to depend upon
others to take care of them. We see this
also in the second letter to the Thessalonians, and eventually we will be
looking at that letter too if God wills it.
Paul writes “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat,
either.” This comes from 2 Thessalonians
3:10.
Paul has written to this young church that they were to
love, to live quietly, and to mind their own business along with working with
their hands and this is an evangelistic part of this letter. If people do these types of things then
non-believers will notice them and wonder why and how they can do them and will
ask questions. MacArthur writes “for
him, the key to evangelism was the integrity Christians manifest to a sinful,
confused, and agitated world.”
MacArthur ends his commentary on this chapter with the
following: “Such practical,
straightforward living, is the foundation of all evangelism. Believers who sacrificially love other
people, exhibit tranquil lives, conscientiously focus on keeping their own
lives in order, and faithfully carry out their daily responsibilities in the
workplace (thus avoiding any welfare dependence)—all the while proclaiming the
gospel in light of the return of Christ—are the most effective witnesses to
their unsaved neighbors and loved ones.”
6/22/2014 9:30 PM
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