Introduction to 2 Thess. 3:6-15 PT-1 How to look at Work

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/4/2014 11:51 PM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Introduction to 2 Thes. 3:6-15 PT-1

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  2 Thess. 3:6-15

            Message of the verses:  We are winding down our study of 2 Thessaloians and it is my hope that we will finish this book sometime this month.  The subject that we are going to be looking at is work as in his commentary on 2 Thessalonians, John MacArthur entitles his chapter on these verses “Work: A Noble Christian Duty.”  As I listened to the messages that he had on these verses he had much to say about work and so we will attempt to bring an introduction to these verses in our SD for today. 

“6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, 8  nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; 9 not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example. 10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. 11 For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. 13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. 15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”

Paul, as he does in most of his letters, begins by teaching theology, and then after doing that he will show his readers how these theological teachings can be used in their lives.  It is interesting that Paul has a pattern in most of his letters, and another thing that he does in most of his letters is at the beginning of them he will pray for his readers who will receive his letter, and then at the end ask them to pray for him, something we have seen in both of his letters to the Thessalonians.

John MacArthur writes “People from Paul’s day to the present have had a wrong view of work.  In fact, our society proudly displays its skewed view of work on the back of its cars.  ‘I owe, I owe, so off to work I go,’ reads one bumper sticker, reflecting the view that work is a necessary evil; nothing more than a way to pay off debts and fund one’s lifestyle.  Another, extolling the virtue of laziness, proclaims, ‘Work fascinates me—I can sit and watch it for hours.  License plate frames announce that people would rather be fishing, flying, RVing, golfing, skiing, sailing, hiking, camping, four wheeling—anything but working.  In our materialistic, self-indulgent society, many people play at their work and work at their play.  Others work only to achieve prosperity, success, fame, and early retirement.

“Such perspectives rob work of any intrinsic value.  In essentially valueless work, people display that disdain for the effort itself in doing only enough to avoid being fired, getting away with whatever cheating they can, considering long hours and hard work to be counterproductive, remaining loyal to their opportunity and employer only until they get what they perceive as a better, more lucrative opportunity, and in general showing utter indifference to the quality of their work.”

In the Jewish lifestyle of Paul’s day many of the Jews did not want to work, but only wanted to study the Law.  The Greeks did not want to work either, thinking it was beneath them to do any manual labor.

This kind of bad attitude made its way into the church, and we will have seen this in the verses that we are studying in this section, and Paul gets on them for having this kind of attitude.

When we looked at the book that Solomon wrote entitled Ecclesiastes, Solomon asked some questions “What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun? (1:3).”

“For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? (2:22)”

“What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? (3:9)”

            “This also is a grievous evil—exactly as a man is born, thus will he die.  So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind? (5:16)”

            The book of Ecclesiastes is a book, unlike the rest of the books in Scripture, in that Solomon writes mostly syndicalism in the book, as he looks at the world from mans perspective. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “David” (2 Samuel 12:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Publius was the chief man of what place?
Answer in our next SD.

12/5/2014 12:28 AM