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Second Thessalonians, chapter three, we will continue our verse-by-verse analysis of this amazing epistle. In a few minutes, we will be looking at verses six through 15, and from this text, we will learn much about a biblical work ethic. Now, some of you may hear that and think, my goodness, that sounds boring. I hope that will not be the case, but I want to remind you that God is passionate about his glory, and God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him. He is most glorified when we experience the joy of his presence within us. And the way we experience the presence the joy of the Lord in us is through our obedience, and therefore it is most important in the grand scheme of giving glory to God to understand his word, to apply his word. And in so doing, we experience great joy, great blessing, and he is glorified. You see how that works. It's really not that complicated. Joy is truly dependent upon our obedience, which produces holiness. And God delights in our happiness, and he delights in the beauty of his holiness in us.

So having said that, let's look at what Paul says to the saints there in Thessalonica, and ultimately to all of us. Second Thessalonians, three beginning in verse six.

"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.

"For you yourselves, know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you,

"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;

"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.

"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.

"For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busy bodies.

"Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.

"But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.

"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.

"Yet, do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."

Every pastor knows the importance of addressing difficult issues that arise in the church, and such is the case here with the apostle Paul. He speaks with great urgency and great authority regarding a devastating and very embarrassing issue that had arisen in the life of that early Christian community, and that was a refusal to work on the part of some of the people. Evidently, there was a group of undisciplined, unproductive individuals who were irritating others and interfering in the lives of their brothers and sisters in Christ and ultimately mooching off of them. Now we're not told why, perhaps they felt like work was beneath their dignity now that they were Christians; and certainly, that was the mindset in the Greco Roman culture. Certain people felt like they were to be privileged and to be special. Maybe that was what was going on, we're not told. Some may have thought, well, the Lord's about to come anyway, so why work? That may have been an issue, I’m not sure. Personally, I think it is highly likely that Paul is addressing those who depended upon wealthier patrons, which was common in the Greco Roman culture. Many folks of that day depended upon rich, wealthy patrons for food, for money, even for representation; and the wealthy patron then enjoyed the public honor that was bestowed upon them for their beneficence. G.L Green, one scholar, put it this way, "In this relationship, the patron was under social obligation to continue the economic and social support of his or her clients. To cut a client off would place the patron in a relationship of enmity with the client. Paul, on the other hand, taught Christians who were clients that they should not depend on their patrons for their support, whether or not the person was a Christian, and he reminded Christian patrons that they were not under any obligation to continue their support of those in the congregation who simply did not want to change their status and go to work." End quote.

So probably some of these believers were clients of some patrons that were in the church. We know that some of the wealthier Greek women had come to saving knowledge of Christ, and perhaps there were others that were there that were patrons. And maybe some of these clients had patrons outside of the church. We don't really know, but evidently, what was going on is there were people that simply refused to work, regardless of the motivation. We know that at the core of such an attitude is really the fundamental issue of pride, and pride, in this case, manifests itself in laziness - what the Bible calls "a sluggard." Biblically, a sluggard refers to a lazy person filled with pride, who lacks self-control. And as you might imagine, these folks were creating disunity and discord in the church. They were a burden to those who did work, and they were negatively impacting the loving harmony and effectiveness - the effective witness of the church. So this had to be stopped. It had to be stopped immediately. You see, left unchecked, this would ruin the church, as it does families, as it does communities and even countries. We need to look no further than what is happening in the United States to see the devastating consequences of laziness, especially when it is rewarded. The entitlement society in which we live is literally destroying our country. Taking money from those who work to give to those who won't is not only unfair to productive citizens, it is also unfair to the sluggard, because it enables that person in their sin. It animates their pride with a sense of entitlement, and ultimately produces a welfare culture, then the welfare culture becomes a breeding ground for poverty, for immorality, for crime and hopelessness, meaningless, bitterness, family breakdowns and an overall lack of motivation and certainly an entitlement mentality. Many people begin to think, "Well, why work when you can get free stuff. In fact, you owe me free stuff." And then this fuels the grievance industry that works hand in hand with the Democratic Party that uses entitlements to buy votes, all the while maintaining a permanent underclass that they can always depend upon to keep them in power. Well, God understands how this whole thing can just unravel in a church, in a family, in a community, in an entire culture, in a civilization.

He speaks about this numerous places in his word, for example, in Proverbs 10, verse 26 we read, "Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes," in other words, two things that are very irritating, "so is the lazy one to those who send him." In other words, sending a lazy servant on a mission is going to be a very irritating and unpleasant experience. That's the idea. Proverbs 15 verse 19, "The way of the lazy is as a hedge of thorns." In other words, the slothful person seems to constantly find obstacles along the way of their life. But he says, "the path of the upright is a highway." Proverbs 24 verse 30 and following, "I passed by the field of the sluggard and by the vineyard of the man lacking sense, and behold, it was completely overgrown with thistles; its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. When I saw I reflected upon it; I looked and received instruction. 'A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,' then your poverty will come as a robber and your want like an armed man." No wonder Paul would say, "If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either."

But before examining this text, I think it's very important that we all have a clear understanding of God's perspective on work - to understand a biblical work ethic - and this is crucial for us to really have a God-centered life, and therefore, reflect God's glory and enjoy his glory and so forth. So let me ask you to ask yourself, "Why do you work?" Is it to merely make money to pay the bills, otherwise you wouldn't work at all? Is it to merely make money so you can buy more things, so that you can get a big bank account, so that you can enjoy a great retirement someday? If you won the lottery and suddenly you were fabulously wealthy, would you still work? Do you hate work? Not so much do you hate your current job, but work itself? Do you see work as the result of the curse. Do you see any intrinsic value in work, or do you believe work just really doesn't have any value, just something you have to do? In other words, do you denigrate the importance of work? You see it only as kind of a necessary evil, and you wish you never had to work again as long as you live. Do you play at your work and work at your play? Do you put out just enough effort to avoid being fired, or do you give it your all? Ask yourself, "Am I indifferent to the quality and the quantity of my work?" In other words, are you always looking for ways to cut corners and take advantage of your employer? Do you work hard just to impress your employer for the purpose of making more money or or gaining a more prestigious position?

Well, how you answer these things, dear friends, really determines your work ethic; but it also determines your theology of work. If I can summarize it in just a sentence from God's perspective, work is a gift that he has given to us for our good and his glory. Work is a gift that he has given to us for our good and his glory. It is a means whereby we can put on display what it means to live in the image of God. For it was by the work of his hands that he has created all things. It's by the work of his hands that he continues to sustain all things according to his sweet providence. It was Christ who performed the great work of redemption in us, right? And he continues to do this. He is the one who continues to build his church. It is Christ who intercedes for his people every moment of every day as our great High Priest. It is Christ who has gone away to prepare a place for us. Think of the Holy Spirit and his great works; his great work of convicting sinners, of giving spiritual life to the spiritually dead, of dwelling within us and working within us so that we can be conformed more to the likeness of Christ. It's for this reason that Paul could say, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Do you realize that we will even work throughout eternity in heaven? You say, "Well, wait a minute. I thought it was a time of rest." Oh, yes, but the rest involves us serving God for eternity, and he's going to serve us. And so there's great joy. There's great blessing in that. Do you realize that God commanded man to work in the fourth commandment in Exodus chapter 20, beginning in verse nine, God said, "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall not do any work." You see, work is not a result of the curse, because God commanded Adam to work in the garden before the fall of man. In Genesis, chapter two, verse 15, the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to "cultivate it" and "keep it."

Indeed, God did not initiate work as a result of the fall, but rather he cursed it. He made it difficult. Genesis three, verse, 17 and following, we read, "The ground is cursed because of sin, and in toil we will eat of it all the days of our life by the sweat of your face. You will eat bread until you return to the ground." So dear friends, we must understand that God created us to work and to even enjoy it. It is ultimately a source of great blessing. It's an opportunity, even in this fallen world, to marvel at the skills that we can develop by his grace, and to experience the great joy and satisfaction that's part of creating things and developing things, accomplishing things. What a joy to magnify his name through serving God, through serving others. You know, it's only through work that man can obey God's command to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28). Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 2:24, "There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also, I have seen that it is from the hand of God."

Now, once again, please understand that laziness is really a function of pride, and the sluggard will come up with a myriad of ways to justify his reasons for not working. He is ruled by his flesh. He does not understand God's perspective. He is not living for the glory of God, and if you confront him with his sin, as I have done on numerous occasions, you will find that you will be attacked, and he will give you a well-rehearsed list of all of the reasons why he should be treated special; why he deserves special treatment and shouldn't have to work. Proverbs 26 verse 16, Solomon summarized this so perfectly, he said, "The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly." You see the sluggard finds no real joy in life; no fulfillment, no sense of accomplishment or delight in living for God's glory. What you will find is that they live with a perpetual sense of boredom, frustration and anger. They see work as a curse, not as a blessing, and the lazy man sees no value in work. And Solomon captured this in a variety of passages in Ecclesiastes. For example, chapter one, verse three, "What advantage does man have in all his work which he does under the sun?" The rhetorical answer is, well, none, so why work? "For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun?" Chapter two, verse 22; or chapter three, verse nine, "What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?" Or chapter five, verse 16, "This also is a grievous evil, exactly as man is born, thus will he die. So what is the advantage to him who toils for the wind?" Or chapter two, verse 11, "I considered all my activities, which my hands had done, and the labor which I had exerted; and behold, all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." You see, this is the kind of unbiblical mindset that many people have when they do not understand what it means to live for God's glory. This kind of ungodly mindset finds even more justification to avoid work when a sluggard can find other people who will work for them, who will get other people to take care of them. In fact, lazy people tend to work harder at getting out of work than they would if they went to work in the first place. I think we all would agree with that. They learn how to game the system.

I can speak from first-hand experience. I remember when I was young, we all can think of examples like that in our lives. The amount of fraud and abuse in our entitlement culture today in the United States is just beyond calculation. It's a devastating reality. But when we understand work from God's perspective and humble ourselves to his will, then everything changes. Suddenly we realize that this is a great gift. This is an opportunity to live out what it means to be in his image, and then we enjoy the blessings of being productive for his glory. Indeed, we are to do all things for the glory of God, including work. Solomon also summarized this, for example, in Ecclesiastes two, verse 24 as I read earlier, "There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that. It is from the hand of God." Chapter three, verse 13, "Every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor. It is the gift of God." Oh child of God, please hear this, you need to thank God every day for the gift of your career - for your job, for your responsibilities, for even your health - to be able to do what he has asked you to do. You need to do those things with all of your heart; to work with joy and enthusiasm, to be concerned about the quality as well as the quantity of your work. Take pride in what you're doing because you're doing it for God's glory.

Paul summarizes in Ephesians, chapter six and verse five, he says, "Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ, not by way of eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with good will render service as to the Lord and not to men." Likewise, Solomon summarized this in Ecclesiastes five, beginning in verse 19, "Furthermore, as for every man whom God has given riches and wealth, he has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor. This is the gift of God, for he will not often consider the years of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the gladness of his heart." Folks, the sluggard is not occupied with the gladness of his heart. As I said earlier, his life is boring. He's frustrated. How miserable would it be to really not have any job, to just kind of float through life and to know that you're basically good for nothing. What do these people do with all of their time? I think of the old adage, "idle hands are the devil's workshop, " right?

By the way, as a footnote, I was thinking about this, when your kids say to you, as they will often do, "I'm bored." Please know they are not saying, "I want to be productive. Put me to work." That's not what's in their heart at that point. They're basically saying, "You need to entertain me. You need to orbit around the gravity of my self-centered demands." Well, that's foolishness bound up in the heart of a child. The rod of discipline will drive that far from them. So when that happens, one of the rods that we can use is to tell them, you know, "You need to find a way to be productive. I'll tell you what. I'll give you five minutes to do that, otherwise you won't have any supper tonight." You know, it's amazing. I was thinking, you know, when I was a little boy, I played with little matchbox cars. Some of you kids, some of you shake your head; I played in the dirt and my goodness, we had pocketknives, and we carved hickory whistles - probably aging myself here - I made my own slingshot. I shot everything that moved and didn't move. I had a BB gun. We had, you know, a bicycle. Folks, I don't think...I was trying to think, I don't know if I was ever bored. I'm not sure, I may have been, but I think of our kids today. I mean, they have X boxes, they have these life-like video games, they have cell phones, Netflix, YouTube, computers, all of these things. And I'm constantly hearing parents say, what I do with my kid? They're bored. You see, what we must understand that is that boredom is far more a function of self-centered pride than it is a lack of something to do, and that's a hole, dear friends, that can never be filled. Beloved know this: a self-centered child who is always bored will grow up to be a self-centered adult who is always angry, always discontent, always frustrated. There is not enough entertainment in all the world that can satisfy that kind of a heart. Proverbs 13, verse four, we read, "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing." In other words, he craves but his appetite is never filled. And yet it goes on to say, "while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied." What a joy to know that when our children, when any of us, come to a saving knowledge of Christ, we can humbly, then find our delight in the Lord, and he will provide for us endless opportunities to serve him, to be productive, to enjoy life; everything from raking leaves kids to reading books, from making slingshots or carving hickory whistles. We're going to have to do that. I know some of you are looking at me like I have no idea what he's talking about. Well, we'll take care of that. But folks, life in Christ is filled with wonders, and when you understand that you will never, ever, ever be bored. So pursue Christ.

I want to also add, in this context that laziness leads to poverty, although it is not always the cause of poverty. Proverbs six, verse six and following we read, "Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest" - Your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man."

Well, enough introduction; among those baby Christians in Thessalonica, in that newly established church, there existed a group of people who could work. They had opportunities to work, but they refused to work. Paul had already confronted this issue in chapter four of his first epistle, but to no avail. So he comes here in verses six through 15, and he addresses it forthrightly with great authority. Bear in mind they read these letters to the congregation. Imagine what it would have been like for those people who refused to work, to hear these things. Quite embarrassing, to be sure.

Well, I wish to examine this text under three headings this morning, we're going to look at his exhortations to the disobedient. Secondly, his exhortations to the obedient, and then finally, the example of Paul and Silas. So notice in verse 11, number one, his exhortations to the disobedient. He says, "For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life..." "Undisciplined,"  the same word is unruly. Up in verse six, it means "disorderly." It means "out of order." And he goes on to say, "...doing no work at all, but acting like busy bodies." Now in the original language, this is a rather catchy little play on words. He says such persons are not working, which means not busy - "mēden ergazomenous" - but are rather busy bodies - "periergazomenous." So it sounds alike. It's a play on words. You're not working, you're busybodies. And busybody, by the way, literally means one who moves around. So to paraphrase it, he's saying, basically, instead of you being productive by working, you're hanging out with your church friends, looking for a handout, driving everybody nuts.

By the way, Paul used the term "busybody" to describe some of the grieving widows in First Timothy five. You remember, some of them wanted to be put on the widow's list to receive benevolence, and he knew that they were in danger of succumbing to sexual temptation. He knew that those kind of women are easy prey for charlatans. And so he instructed them to remarry. And then in First Timothy five, verse 13, in addition to that, he said "they learned to be idlers going about from house to house." And not only idlers, but also "gossips and busy bodies saying what they should not." So the busybodies of Thessalonica here in Second Thessalonians that we're reading about, were undoubtedly involved in the same kinds of things.

Now notice, in verse 12, he says, "Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread." In other words, stop being a burden and start being a blessing. Get some order in your life. Get some discipline in your life. Do something; you're driving everyone crazy with your wandering around and hanging out. We all know people like this. They're there. They're like a blister. They show up when the work's all done, right? Then they hang around until dinner time, hoping for an invite. You know how you feel with that? You know you've worked all day, you're tired, and you just want some time with your family. These people were like us. You know, they wanted a time to relax, but oh, here comes old Thurlow, with his hound dog eyes looking all pitiful, hoping for you to ask him to eat and all of this stuff. Well, imagine if Thurlow's family shows up as well, you see. By the way think what that says to your children if you don't do anything. All we have to do is look at what's happened in our country, and we see the devastating consequences of that. And we've had some of that here at Calvary Bible Church. Some folks never show up until there's a free meal, and then the whole family comes and descend upon the food tables like a plague of locusts. I mean, that happens. It happens in every church. But we must understand that this would not only have been an extreme irritant to the rest of the people in the church that were working, but it would also bring great reproach upon that church from outsiders who already thought the Christians were nutty people to begin with. Moreover, these folks are living in clear defiance of the apostolic authority that God had placed over them. So this is a serious issue.

So we move secondly to the exhortations that Paul gives to the obedient beginning in verse six, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from..." literally shun - you are to ostracize, you are to separate yourself - "from every brother who leads an unruly life." In other words, a life that is out of order. The ones that are refusing to work, "and not according to the tradition." In other words, their life is not consistent with the tradition which you received from us. "Tradition," the term literally means "that which was handed down." So they're living in direct violation of what we have commanded them to do. And in First Thessalonians, in the first epistle, chapter four, verse 11, Paul told them, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands just as we commanded you, so that you may behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need."

So basically, what Paul is saying here, in verse six, is consistent with what we would call the third stage of church discipline. There are four stages. Ultimately, you may remember what they were. Jesus delineated them in Matthew chapter 18, the first stage is when you see someone living in blatant, egregious, unrepentant sin, you go to them privately, and you call them to repentance. If they refuse to repent, you go to the second stage, and that's when you bring two or three witnesses. You bring some others that come in and see the whole situation and pursue them in love. Stage two can be something that is repeated many, many times. And those witnesses in stage two then guarantee that there's been clear communication, and they provide witnesses should the matter later be taken to a public level, which is stage three. And that's what Paul is doing here. He's taking it to stage three. The offense of the unrepentant brother is then mentioned before the church. Normal fellowship is then broken off, and the congregation is instructed to pray for that individual, to pursue them for the purpose of reconciliation - which is the ultimate goal of church discipline - and if they're still unrepentant, then you go to stage four, which involves the public dismissal or disfellowshipping of that person. Then that person is to be treated as one who rejects the gospel of Christ and warned of the consequences of his sin and exhorted to return to a saving relationship with the Christ that they once confessed. So this kind of behavior was not to be tolerated.

Now I want you to notice how Paul went on to encourage and exhort the faithful. Verse 13, "But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good." In other words, be careful not to become so frustrated with these people that you ignore the legitimate needs for benevolence that may arise within the church community. And he may also here be absolving patrons from their responsibility to continue to support those in the church who just simply refuse to work and just want to mooch off of them. You know, it's, let's face it, it's easy to grow weary of doing good. We all struggle this in our culture. I was thinking about this, I get calls all the time from people in the community wanting a handout, and most of them, I would say a good 95% of them, are con artists - and we've kind of learned who they are and there's a lot of people that are drug addicts, alcoholics and so forth -  but there are some people who have legitimate needs, and it's hard to ferret that out. It's easy to discern within your own church family, but it's hard when you look at the community at large. But we are told in Psalm 41:1, "How blessed is he who considers the helpless." Proverbs 28:17, "He who gives to the poor will never want but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses." So Paul is encouraging them here not to throw the baby out with the bath water, if you will. Don't stop all benevolence just because of a few dead beats. I would remind you of what he said in Galatians six, beginning in verse nine, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season, we will reap if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." That has to be the priority, in other words, the church body. That's the priority of our benevolence.

But then Paul continues his exhortation here in verse 14, he says, "If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person..." literally, mark that person. And again, here I have to imagine in my mind's eye what the faces of those people must have looked like when they're hearing this letter read publicly, mark that person, take special note of that person, and then he says, "...and do not associate with him." In the original language, it literally saying, "do not mix up together with." In other words, don't mingle with that person. Don't interact with that person any longer socially. Why? So that he will be put to shame, and that phrase literally means to "turn in on oneself." In other words, this will help them examine their heart in the midst of this rejection. And by the way, the rejection is literally to be a living illustration of what is going on between that person and a holy God because of their disobedience; that fellowship is broken. There needs to be repentance, there needs to be restoration, there needs to be reconciliation. This is why it's so important for us to have tough love in these kinds of situations. And of course, this becomes a powerful motivation to repent.

But he goes on to say, in verse 15, "Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." In other words, since these individuals have not yet been excommunicated from the fellowship, they're to be treated with love, and in this case, very tough love. And so basically, he's saying, "look, when it comes to these people, you need to tell them, 'No, we cannot hang out anymore. No, you cannot come over to the house and watch a movie or have a meal. No, you cannot partake of communion. No, you can't come to church anymore. The only interaction that we can have with you is the loving, forthright interaction of calling you to repentance.'" Powerful stuff.

Beloved, may I pause for a second and remind you that God is serious about obedience. He is serious about purity in the church. He is serious about holiness, and he is serious about how we love one another, especially in the context of sinning individuals within our family, within our church family, this is serious stuff.

Well, then finally, number three, he gives the example of himself and Silas. Notice verse seven, "For you yourselves know..."  In other words, folks, you have first-hand knowledge here. "You yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you." By the way, teaching by example was a well-known method in antiquity. And Paul and Silas, and even later on Timothy, were great examples of a very disciplined God honoring work ethic. They were industrious. They were not indolent.

Verse eight, "...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." Obviously, now this is a stark contrast to the undisciplined sluggards that were mooching off of others. In First Thessalonians, chapter two and verse nine, he says, "For you remember brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God."

So back to chapter three and verse nine, he says, "...not because we do not have the right to this..." Now, let me pause here for a moment. Paul elaborates on this concept. In other words, the right for a minister of the gospel to be basically paid, supported, by the church. You can read about that in First Corinthians, nine verses three through 14. If a church can, they should support their pastor - their pastors - so they can refrain from the kind of labor that would distract them from serving the body. Galatians, chapter six, verse six, "The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him." He instructed Timothy in First Timothy 5:17 that the elders who rule well "are to be considered worthy of double honor," especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching and so forth. So the point here is that that Paul is reminding them, look, you know our character and our conduct with you. We toiled night and day. We didn't want to be a burden to any of you.

Verse nine, "...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. 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." So they had warned them about this before; First Thessalonians chapter four, as well as in chapter five. And by the way, hunger is a great motivation for working, right? If you have a lazy child, and we all do, let's admit it, we were all lazy; some of us are still lazy. I fight it at times. Come on, let's just be honest with ourselves. There are times where we just don't want to do the things we know we need to do. We're all prone to this. But if you have a lazy child, give him some responsibilities. And if he pouts and he complains, just don't feed him, believe me, he won't miss many meals. So there was no justification for refusing to work, especially given Paul's example.

And I might add that I think there's a broader application here, with respect to Christian ministry. Every missionary and every pastor needs to have this kind of work ethic. I mean, we need to be the example in the Christian community. We need to set the pace. And frankly, a church will never rise above the level of its pastor and elders. And there should be no one in the church that works any harder at serving Christ than the pastors and the elders of the church. Paul understood this, so he worked hard not to be a burden to those new believers; but he also wanted to make sure that they knew that he wasn't in it for the money. You remember why? Because all of the charlatans of that day were in it for the money, and they kept coming through to all of the people they wanted, basically two things, sexual favors and money. So this was very important. I might also add that I'm convinced that, unfortunately, the motivation of many so-called Christian pastors today has much more to do with money than the glory of God. I believe that so many today are really nothing more than entrepreneurs. They're not shepherds.

Well, how sad to think that, despite Paul's example, despite these clear exhortations, there were still a group of people that refuse to work, and worse yet, they refuse to submit themselves to the clear authority that God had placed over them. So the result: church discipline. Blunt, to the point, with full authority, but with utmost love for the purpose of restoration.

Well, I challenge you, dear friends, to examine your own heart. What is your work ethic? How would your co-laborers and supervisors describe your work ethic? What about you stay at home moms? Are you disciplined? Are you productive? I hope so. And for all of us, are we concerned about the quality of our work as well as the quantity? Do we joyfully, do we diligently pursue our vocation that God has called us to? Or are we like the ungrateful, unproductive sluggards mooching off of others. Just think how that would affect your testimony. You say, "Well, but Pastor, I hate my job and I hate my boss." Then find another job. Find another boss. But until you do, give it your very all for the glory of God. First Timothy, six, verse one, Paul says, "All who under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor." Why? "So that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against." So folks, this is why we must have a good work ethic, amen? I pray that we will all follow Paul's example, because when we do, God is honored, we are blessed, and sinners will see the transforming grace of the gospel.

Let's pray together,

Father, thank you for these truths. They're so practical to each of us. We all struggle with this in various ways at various times. So I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will truly cause these words to bear much fruit in each of our hearts. Thank you for the jobs, the careers, even the health that you give us to serve you. May we all look for more and more ways to serve you that we might experience more of your goodness and your grace, for it's in Christ's name that I pray, Amen.