Year 2, Day 291: 2 Thessalonians 3

Concern For The Word

As Paul concludes his second letter to the Thessalonians, notice Paul’s focus.  Paul is concerned about the spread of the Word of God.  He’s likely sitting in prison.  In fact, he’s sitting in prison because of his stance on the Word of God.  But yet it is this very impetus of his jailing that he is concerned the most about!  That is devotion to the cause.

Last week I was able to listen to a man from Africa talk about his experiences in Ethiopia.  For four years in the 1980’s he was imprisoned, beaten, and starved beginning at the age of 14.  They showed pictures of him just before he was imprisoned and just after.  He said that he was arrested because when the Communists came into Ethiopia they made everyone confess that nothing was higher and more important than Communism.  This man refused to say it because he believed that God was higher than Communism.  Like several other Christians who would not recant, he was imprisoned.  I remember sitting in that room with tears pouring down my faith as I heard what this man said.  That’s faith.

You would think that in times of imprisonment that the reason for the imprisonment would become a bitter point.  You would think that people would start to resent Christianity when they are imprisoned because of it.  Don’t get me wrong.  Some do.  But there are others like Paul and like the Ethiopian man who stood before me and shared his story.  There are some in whom the Gospel grows stronger when they are imprisoned because of it.

That is what we see here as we finish Paul’s letter.  He prays that the Word of the Lord would spread before them and that they would be spared from evil men.  Paul can’t wait to be free so that he can go back to proclaiming the Word of God to people!  He can’t wait to be free so that he can go back to telling people how to live lives in the grace of God and in a relationship of peace with that God.

Work

Then Paul talks about idleness.  I really want to talk about this point deeply.  This conversation is important on at least two levels.

The first level is a wonderful tie into the last major point of 1 Thessalonians and the first major point of 2 Thessalonians: the return of Christ and the Day of the Lord.  Paul has just finished telling them to be ready.  Paul has spent all this time making sure that they understand how important it is to spiritually prepare oneself in the time that they have.  He now revisits that point here in a conversation about idleness.  We do not want to allow idleness in our life at all because idleness will not promote a culture of preparedness for the Day of the Lord.

The second level is far more practical.  Paul is actually being quite blunt when he speaks about idleness.  What is the call of the Christian?  “Go, make disciples, baptize people in the triune God, and teach people to obey everything that Jesus taught us.”  The first word in our commission is “go.”  One cannot follow our commission and be idle at the same time.  Here that point again.  One cannot be idle and be obedient to God at the same time.  I know there are people who like to see in shades of gray out there, but on this point there is nothing but black and white.  Either you are going and obeying our commission or you are not.

To make my case even stronger, think about this topic from the perspective of Satan, the Great Deceiver.  Suppose I am in Christ {Lord willing, that is not a difficult supposition to believe!}.  If I am in Christ, then Satan has already lost the battle over me.  But that doesn’t mean that Satan is done with me.  Would Satan not desire to keep me occupied with doing nothing rather than out spreading God’s Word?  Is not creating more and more Christians who are idle “busybodies” a win for Satan?  I believe Satan absolutely wants us to get hung up on non-spiritual issues and “busyness” rather than discipleship.  I genuine believe the truism that “Idle hands are the Devil’s playground.”    I believe it for the traditional reason: hands that are idle are likely to find themselves in trouble soon.  But I also believe it for a very spiritual reason: hands that are idle are not hands that are obedient to God and out making disciples.

Then we have Paul’s conclusion.  Do not grow weary in doing good!  Oh boy, do we need to hear that again and again, don’t we?  We are to warn our brothers and sisters who appear to be falling to the wayside!  We are to live in peace with one another and be confident that God’s peace will be with us when we are going about His will!

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