Right Things
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
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Key Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:13
“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.”
Imagine two boys who grew up on the same family farm and with the same parental influences, but who adopted vastly different philosophies. The youngest was a great fan of hunting and fishing. Work, for him, was a temporary inconvenience whose greatest advantage was that it afforded him money for a boat and a four-wheeler. His philosophy was, “Why work when you can play?”
The older brother bore a heavier sense of responsibility. He knew how to have fun, but also found joy in feeding cows, growing corn, repairing equipment, and laboring long hours for a better life. His philosophy seemed to be “Why play when you can work?”
There is little doubt as to which brother the Apostle Paul would have chosen to spend time with. Paul was a working man. He had grown up as a scholar who worked to support his studies. He became a traveling missionary who supported himself as a tentmaker. When he was not making tents, Paul was making disciples. He was always busy.
Today we might characterize Paul as a driven man, a workaholic, a Type A personality. Paul seems to have given little time to leisure, for his greatest joy was in his work. Paul probably lived a more balanced life than his words suggest, but there is no question that work was important to him, and he had no patience at all for idle people who sponged off of others – especially if they were idle Christians. [DD]
A bad influence (v. 6)
Paul’s initial encounter with the Thessalonians is recounted in Acts 17:1-10. His second letter to them urges maturity, warns against imposters, speaks to the question of Christ’s return, and addresses indolence. [DD] Paul had emphasized the importance of work and personal responsibility in his first letter to the Thessalonians (4:10b-12; 5:14), but with little apparent effect: the church still had a significant population of idlers. The word for “idleness” can denote undisciplined and disorderly as well as laziness. The two are related: undisciplined people may tend to be both slothful and disorderly. [DD]
The issue may have related to beliefs about Christ’s return, which Paul had addressed earlier. Some church members may have been so excited by the prospect of Christ’s imminent return that they quit working to await him. Occasionally, we read of cult-like groups in America who have left their jobs, sold their assets, and gathered in an isolated spot to wait in anticipation of the second coming. Paul also believed Christ would return soon, but that was no reason to slack off. If anything, it should compel more focused efforts to spread the good news while time remained.
Paul’s sharp words may also indicate the presence of some believers who were simply lazy. As in many early churches, communal meals were probably frequent. Church members may have pooled their assets into a common fund for mutual support (as in Jerusalem, Acts 2:44). The church, then, offered a perfect haven for habitual moochers. Persons with a penchant for idleness might enjoy living off the largesse of their harder working friends. Paul had little patience for those who would take advantage of their Christian family.
The solution Paul proposes seems strange to us: “Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us” (v. 6). This seems to be a form of church discipline, though Paul clearly intended for the faithful to remain in relationship with their slacker friends. Did this mean that the family freeloaders were to be turned away from communal meals? Some have argued that the church in Thessalonica was composed mainly of men who worked together in a communal business. [DD] If so, those who didn’t work would naturally be cut out of the profits.
Paul’s advice could serve two functions. By distancing themselves, laboring Christians would avoid the bad influence and disruptive behavior of their lazier brothers and sisters. Secondly – hopefully – the ostracized idlers might come to appreciate the serious consequences of their slothful ways and return to life as productive persons.
Paul raised the issue again a few verses later: “Have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed” (v. 14b). Paul clearly hoped such persons could be restored to full fellowship. Thus, he instructed church members to treat those who were indolent, not as enemies, but as fellow believers who need to be warned for their own good (v. 15).
Paul’s instructions could lead us to wonder what attendance would be like in our churches if everyone who didn’t pull their own weight in supporting the church’s activities and finances were turned away at the door. It’s not unusual for the church to attract people who want all the benefits of church membership with none of the responsibilities. They “want to be fed” but invest little and complain if the worship service doesn’t pump them up. What might Paul say to them?
A good example (vv. 7-9)
Instead of following the sorry standard of the inactive members, Paul encouraged the Thessalonians to model their lives after the positive pattern that he and his fellow missionaries had set for them. His advice might seem presumptuous to us, but Paul was so confident that challenging readers to imitate his example is a common theme in his writings (cf. 1 Thes. 1:6; 1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil. 4:9).
Paul claimed that he and his companions never ate a heel of bread in Thessalonica without paying for it, but worked long hours to support themselves and the ministry (vv. 7-8, see also 1 Thes. 2:9).
Paul did not feel unworthy of support, nor did he have ethical quibbles with a minister being paid by those to whom he or she ministers. Paul insisted on that right, not only in v. 9, but elsewhere. In 1 Cor. 9:14, he recalled Jesus’ command that the laborer is worthy of his hire (Matt. 10:9-10; Luke 10:7-8) by saying that “those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:14).
There were times, apparently, when Paul accepted the hospitality of others, as in Philippi where Lydia insisted that Paul’s party lodge at her home. Luke, who was with Paul, said “And she prevailed upon us” (Acts 16:15). Later, when Paul was in prison and could not work, he gratefully accepted support from his friends.
Among the Thessalonians, however, Paul chose to support himself and set an industrious example from the beginning. Perhaps he had observed the problem of hangers-on in the churches of Antioch or Jerusalem, and he wanted to help new churches avoid this problem by emphasizing his hard-working ethic. “This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate” (v. 9).
The balanced treatment Paul gives to the issue, especially with regard to clergy, echoes in some ways how some modern ministers are “full-time” and supported by the church, while others are bi-vocational, working another job while receiving part-time support. Non-clergy folk can also devote many hours to the work of the church, but entirely as volunteers. All of these have a place in the picture, but Paul had no patience with those who enjoyed the benefits of the church but gave nothing back.
A stern command (vv. 10-13)
Here is Paul’s message in a nutshell: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” (v. 10). Note that Paul’s concern was not with those who are unable to work, but with those who are unwilling. The veteran missionary was not suggesting the persons who are physically or mentally incapable of working should be left out in the cold. Following Christ’s lead, the church has always been concerned with those who are unable to provide for themselves (Matthew 25).
What lit Paul’s fuse was the unhappy news that “some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work” (v. 11). The NRSV translation fails to do justice to a wonderful play on words in which Paul uses two forms of the same term. We could capture Paul’s wordplay by translating “some of you are not busy, but busybodies.” [DD]
The problem was compounded in that the layabouts were not only lazy, but were minding everyone’s business but their own. This led to disorder and dissension in the church family. A slacker lifestyle does not affect the slacker alone.
Paul did not mince words: “Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living” (v. 12). Such quiet work is the opposite of noisy loafing, and its value is manifest. The roots of the “Protestant work ethic” are deep. Contemporary church traditions that promote honest labor as a cardinal virtue (such as Amish and Mennonite communities) certainly have a friend in Paul.
“Do not be weary,” Paul said, “in doing what is right” (v. 13). Or, “do not give up doing good.” Here Paul has combined the ethic of diligent work with the responsibility to do good. He wasn’t interested in members working to earn a living alone: he wanted them to work for good.
Adult Teaching Resources
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This PDF contains the Teaching Guide, Digging Deeper, and Hardest Question pages.
Read Scripture online: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Youth Teaching Resources
Parent Prep
“Kids these days.” It’s a phrase that is often repeated, and most often I hear it about the lack of activity that our students have. “They are always on their phones or their devices.” Is the second thing that I hear. It is ironic that the third thing I hear is “Students are too busy now-a-days.” So which is it? It could be both. Our students can be overcommitted, but they can also be like rocks when they need to be active. Maybe they need to be idle because of their busyness, or it might be that they are idle because their interests haven’t been met. Check in with your student and see what you can find out.
Additional Links/Resources
Read Scripture online: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Download the PDF for youth teaching resources using the button below. This PDF contains the Teaching Guide for this lesson:
Video
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“Balance” from The Karate Kid
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