Sometimes a church congregation starts to drift into wrong or faulty beliefs and practices, and church leaders need to firmly but lovingly correct them. Wrong thinking and behavior needs to be addressed and nipped in the bud as soon as possible. The church in Thessalonica was a good church, and didn’t have too many problems, unlike some other congregations in those beginning years of the early church. However, there were a few things that the Apostle Paul heard about, that if left untended could grow into something worse. In our Scripture passage today from Paul’s second letter to the Thessalonian church, he brought up a few items that needed to be corrected.
The first behavioral issue that Paul brought up in our Scripture passage has to deal with being careful with whom we, as believers, associate with. Paul instructed the Thessalonian Christians, that if there was a fellow believer in their congregation who was not behaving properly, was not living the way a believer should, or was persistently involved in some type of sin, that the congregation should withdraw from him (vs. 6-7). This is not specifically referring to excommunication, but rather a way to show that wayward believer that his actions and behavior are not fitting for one who names the Name of Jesus, and for them to amend their ways.
If a Christian falls into willful sin, and no one in the church says anything, they may believe that there is nothing wrong with what they are doing. Also, as we all know, sin can be contagious. The more we associate with people who practice sin, the more likely it is that we, too, will soon participate in that behavior. Paul did not want to see this happen. He wanted to stop the spread of sinful behavior and to restore the wayward ones, so he instructed us to withdraw our fellowship from them.
There was a second problem that Paul sought to address in this letter, and that was there were several in the church there who had quit working, had left their places of employment, and were becoming a burden to others (vs. 7-12). There was a false teaching that was slowly spreading around some of the early churches that Jesus was going to return right away, literally any day now. So some quit their jobs to just sit and wait for that moment. It was almost as if they believed that if they were busy at work when He returned, they might miss it. Without their jobs and income, these folks were becoming a financial burden to the rest of the believers, as they took advantage of the early church’s charity to support their idle behavior. Paul strongly admonished these folks that if they will not work, they shouldn’t eat at the congregation’s expense (vs. 10).
Today we don’t generally see believers quitting their jobs to just wait for Jesus’ return. Our belief in the Lord’s return should not give us an excuse to be lazy. It should inspire us to work hard and do our best, so that if we are still alive when Jesus does return, He will find us diligently at whatever work He has us doing.
Every so often we do find people who try to take advantage financially of a local church. Paul’s admonition should hold true in these instances, too. Willful laziness and idleness are not behaviors the church should support. Of course there are legitimate reasons one might not be working, such as poor economic conditions, which we know is a problem in many countries and can’t be helped, and there are people who are physically or mentally disabled and cannot work. The Scripture here is talking about those who just don’t want to work, and would like to live off the charity of the church. This, Paul said, was wrong. Although the Lord is the ultimate source of all we have, He has given us the responsibility of working in order to provide for our basic necessities. God will not reward laziness.
Being lazy and idle led to another problem, which Paul continued to address, and that was becoming busybodies (vs. 11-12). Without any work to occupy their time and minds, these folks were sticking their noses into other people’s business and becoming gossips. This was wrong, and one of the many reasons Paul wanted them to find some sort of worthy work. Remember, idle hands are the devil’s workshop!
In closing, Paul reminds us to never give up doing good to others (vs. 13). He instructed us to refuse to support those who are just being lazy and are busybodies, but to not forget the worthy poor. Jesus always taught us to show compassion to others.
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