Old Testament: 2 Chronicles 8 & 9
Poetry: Psalm 3
New Testament: 2 Thessalonians 3
We don’t know how many variations of belief people in the early church fell into. We read indications of some in the Bible, like the legalism of the Galatians or the spirit-enthused group in Corinth. It may be that Thessalonica had a division, for a time, over how to understand the day of the Lord which might be seen in 2 Thessalonians 3.
It is remarkable what people can convince themselves of, at least briefly. In the 1960s in America, a group said it was not necessary that they eat food to live. They considered that it was fine to eat food for the pleasure of it, if you chose to, but that eating had simply long been assumed to be important. They claimed all one really needed to do for continued life was breathe air. That group died out, but there have been many such extremes in history.
We don’t know if false claims about the day of the Lord having already come affected the behavior of some in Thessalonica, but it could explain why some stopped working. We read of something like that attitude from part of the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 4:8). Paul had made a point of telling the believers in Thessalonica that they should work with their hands and lead quiet lives (1 Thessalonians 4:11). We know that Paul himself wrote more than once about how, as an apostle ministering the gospel, he had the right to receive financial assistance but chose to work. In his work he set the people an example, but not all of them maintained it (2 Thessalonians 3:8‑9). In Thessalonica it seems that some believers who were capable of working took advantage of others’ assistance, they stopped working and behaved as busybodies (11). Whatever the reason for their behavior, it needed to change. It was bad for those who were being lax, and for the community’s reputation with outsiders. But if a claim about the kingdom was the reason for their actions it gives a nice twist to Paul’s response – if they thought the curse on the soil was past, and that work was no longer needed for food to be produced, they were wrong (Genesis 3:19). They were to return to work if they would continue to eat.
Paul wrote that “undisciplined” people who did not obey the instructions of the letter were to be admonished and not associated with, so that they would be put to shame, but they were not to be treated as enemies (2 Thessalonians 3:11, 14, 15). They still could be brought around, and that is good. The extremes and oddities of Christianity would keep cropping up in the world, but all that Paul was asking from them was simple lives, lead with an appreciation of what Jesus had done for them. They were to live as examples of Christ’s behavior and speak his words. They were to do good, and not grow weary of it (13).
Lord, thank you for the many and differing blessings we have in work. Work may have its origins in a curse on the soil, but you are often willing to take what began as a burden and use it to show your power and your grace. Thank you for allowing work to sometimes be a platform for our creativity, an opportunity to form friendships, a way to gain joy in our efforts. At times we may feel we are doing little more than proving we can hold out against boredom – but please help us to remember our goal of serving our Lord even as we engage in worldly employment. Thank you when you help us to locate work, thank you when you help us to do it well, and thank you for helping us to find courage and opportunity to leave it at the right time. Thank you, for so many of us who do not work in paid positions, that there are others able to provide us with financial support. Thank you, Lord. Amen.
-Daniel Smead
Reflection Questions
- It has been suggested that the sharing of goods in Jerusalem when the church first started had special causes, in part with so many people having come from other areas. Do you think it helped set bad influences for some churches later on?
- If any of the “undisciplined” chose not to work, but rather left the church over this situation, do you think that shows they were more than just “undisciplined”?
- What effect do you think going through this effort at correcting the “undisciplined” had on the Thessalonian church after it had been completed?
Seek Grow Love 