No Work, No Food - 8

No doubt you have discovered that some Christians have rather simplistic notions about the state of Christianity and of churches in the first century, thinking that they were nearly perfect. And if we could just get back to that era again somehow, that we could have the kind of Christianity that we would desire and that would please the Lord.

But that notion is, like so many things, an unrealistic idea. It is a projected image that does not stand up to a careful examination of God's Word. In the first place, it defies truth about human nature and about salvation as taught to us in the Word of God, namely that Christians are always sinners saved by grace and are continually infected by our Adamic fall until that time when we get to heaven. And salvation, though it makes great changes within us and continues to change us into the image of Christ, does not complete that work until we are with the Lord. And so every church is a church of sinning people. Every Christian is less than the ideal image of the Lord Jesus Christ that we will be someday. So under those conditions, how do we imagine that early Christianity could have been so close to the perfect ideal when those churches, like our church and like all churches, were made up of redeemed sinners who were not yet fully sanctified? It defies truth about human nature and about the doctrine of salvation.

But such a notion also ignores information that is given to us in the Scriptures. As we learn about these churches and see them described on the pages of Scripture, we realize that they were a lot farther from the ideal than we may have thought. So there were not perfect churches in the first century, not even those that were very close to perfect. There were churches made of people, redeemed by the grace of God, rescued out of darkness, out of death, out of condemnation, out of idolatry, out of licentiousness, and yet nevertheless still people who were flawed in learning how to walk the Christian life, the Christian walk. And therefore these churches needed much correction and occasional discipline. That's an unwelcome word. So unwelcome word to children in our home.

They don't particularly enjoy discipline, nor do parents enjoy disciplining our children. But we know that it's necessary. There's an element of that that must be understood within the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now some people think that what the Bible has to say about church discipline is contained almost exclusively in Matthew chapter 18 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. And those are two major passages. But I call your attention to the fact that almost all of 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 also deals with the subject of church discipline.

It is a major passage on that subject. And it describes for us an exercise of church discipline where excommunication is not in view, but something else is in view. And therefore it teaches us another approach, another level, another appropriate exercise of church discipline that is not quite as harsh, as extreme as what is described in Matthew 18 where if he will not cure the church, let him be to you as a publican and a sinner.

Or in 1 Corinthians chapter 5 where that man was commanded to be put out of the church and no longer considered to be a brother in Christ. And yet we find in 2 Thessalonians 3 a style of discipline, a level of discipline that is applied to those who are acknowledged to be brothers in Christ but who are walking disorderly as our text describes it. So we need to give careful attention to this passage that we have a more full-orbed understanding of the subject of church discipline. So in my approach today I'm going to take first of all a look back, secondly a look ahead, and thirdly a look around.

Or if you please, a review, an overview, and a purview. I had to squeeze that word just a little bit to make it fit, but I think I can make it fit from what I found in the dictionary. Now why am I looking back? Well because it has been more than two months since we have been in our passage in 2 Thessalonians and I recognize that we tend to forget where we've been, where we've come from, what is the context that is going on here, and I think it is helpful that we do exactly that. I'll never get out of my mind that account of John Calvin when he was expelled from his pulpit and position in the city of Geneva and went to a rather obscure place in Germany and was happy to just be basically a quiet scholar because that's what he was and that's what he wanted to be, to study and write and publish and then after three years the city council realized things weren't going so well without him and so they invited him back, pleaded with him to come back to the city of Geneva and he reluctantly did not because he really wanted to but because he felt that that's what God wanted him to do and he knew that they really did need him and so he stepped into his pulpit the next Sunday after more than three years absence and he said, as I was saying before, and he went right into the next verse that was the next in his series in his consecutive exposition which was the way that he preached in his pulpit in Geneva, as I was saying before.

Well, as I was saying before, let me quickly review what I said before. Think first of all about the church at Thessalonica and how it came into being. It was a result of what we know of as the Macedonian vision. On his second missionary journey, the apostle Paul had revisited the churches planted on the first journey, first period of service, and then he looked around for the next place to go, a new place to go and preach the gospel where it had not been preached before, and every place he tried to go he was hemmed in. The Holy Spirit wouldn't let him go directly west toward Ephesus and wouldn't let him go north toward Bithynia and he finally ended up, just because he was going, trying to go whichever way he could go, he ended up in the city of Troas on the coast of what is now Turkey and had some interaction with Christians who were there.

We're not quite sure. The picture isn't clear as to how many Christians and was the church in Troas in existence and developing at that point or not, but it was there that in the middle of the night he had the Macedonian vision, and he saw a man from Macedonia in Greece beckoning, the Bible tells us, with his hand and saying, come over and help us. And in the morning when Paul related that to the rest of the missionary team, they all agreed that was God telling them where to go next and they got in a ship and they crossed the sea and they landed in Macedonia, northern Greece, and they went to the principal city of Philippi and had that interesting ministry there that eventually landed them in the Philippian jail.

And you know all about that. And then released from jail, the magistrates, now embarrassed by their mistake in the way they treated Roman citizens, and felt that they were in some danger. They encouraged them to leave town.

Quickly, quickly, get out of here. And they decided to do that. They left behind a good group of Christians and the church was moving forward and they decided to move on elsewhere. So they started down the road about a hundred miles south of Philippi, they stopped in the city of Thessalonica, having passed several smaller cities along the way. And they came to Thessalonica, which was the largest city by population in Macedonia.

A seaport town, a major commercial city, right on one of the major Roman roads. And there they preached the gospel, first in the synagogues, as they always did. And then when they were expelled from the synagogues, as they always eventually were, they continued to preach the gospel and a church was planted. And it is the church that we know of as the church of Thessalonica. But it wasn't long until the Jews rose up against them there and persecuted them. And they were driven out of the city of Thessalonica and they went on to the city of Berea.

These were more noble than those of Thessalonica, referring to the Jews, in that they studied the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. And so before Paul departed from Macedonia, he had by the grace of God planted three churches, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea. And then persecution, driving him out of Berea, he went all the way down south to Athens, preached that famous sermon on Mars Hill. God gave him a couple of converts, a very small number of converts in Athens.

He did not stay behind. As far as we can tell, no church was planted at that time in Athens. But he went on to another major city to the west of Athens, namely Corinth. And there he settled down and had a very fruitful ministry. He stayed there for a year and a half, and while he was in Corinth, he wrote epistles back to some of the other churches, and the first epistles were written to the church of Thessalonica. And we're studying those epistles now. We've been through 1 Thessalonians, and we're coming very close to the conclusion of 2 Thessalonians. Now, what did Paul say in these two Thessalonians epistles?

He had a lot to say. 1 Thessalonians is five chapters. In the first chapter, he talks about what a wonderful encouragement they were and what wonderful manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit he sees in their lives. And he attributed all that to manifestations of their election by God. Apparently, Paul wasn't one of these Calvinists, if we could call him that. Calvin, of course, hadn't been born yet.

But wasn't one of these Calvinists who was afraid to talk about election, except only in whispered tones to select people quietly so that nobody would oppose. Paul just talked about it openly, and he said, Here are the evidences I see in you that you are indeed the elect of God. That's chapter 1. Chapter 2, he described his ministry among them, told them and us how he pursued that ministry with diligence, with tenderness, like a nursing mother, like a good father, and so forth.

But notice something that we often overlook in chapter 2. Notice in 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 9, because this pertains to our text for today. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. We preach to you the gospel of God. There's his first reference to the fact that while in Thessalonica, he and the other two members of his missionary team worked to earn their own living rather than receive financial support from the church.

It goes on. He talks about the encouraging report that he received from Timothy in chapter 3. Timothy delivered that first epistle, traveling from Corinth to Thessalonica, gave them Paul's epistle, and then traveled back and gave to Paul a report of how the church was doing.

And it was an encouraging report for the most part, but there were some elements that Paul was concerned about. And they come up in chapter 4 where Paul is giving them practical exhortations and now note especially what he says in chapter 4, verses 10, 11, and 12. And indeed, you do so, that is, love one another, all the brethren who are in Macedonia, but we urge you to increase more and more, that, verse 11, you aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Do you hear some of the things that we just read in chapter 3 of 2 Thessalonians?

That you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing because you're earning your living, you're not lacking anything. Well, then a great deal of the first epistle is taken up with second coming clarifications. The last part of chapter 4, the first part of chapter 5, that's the part that most people are drawn to in the two Thessalonian epistles. And it is true that we find probably more about the second coming of Christ in these two short epistles than nearly anywhere else in one place in the New Testament. And that was an important theme, but that's not the only important theme in the Thessalonian epistles. And he closes out chapter 5 with more practical exhortations. And then first Thessalonians was followed just a few months later by second Thessalonians.

There wasn't a lot of time in between. And chapters 1 and 2, now we're in a three chapter epistle, chapters 1 and 2 are largely taken up with more teaching about the second coming. We've been through all of that, including a little bit more about the doctrine of election.

That gets impressive space once again. Look at chapter 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God, from the beginning, chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit of belief in the truth. Now, that's a text that destroys some of the attempts to explain away other passages that deal with the doctrine of the election. Well, election isn't to salvation, it is to good works. Election isn't to salvation, it is to the physical nation of Israel and so forth and so on. And then you say, well, what did Paul talk about in second Thessalonians 2, 13? God has chosen you from the beginning unto what? Salvation. Well, that pretty well knocks some of the misunderstandings out of the water, doesn't it? So Paul dealt with that.

When he comes to chapter 3, he begins, the opening part is a prayer for gospel success, for the word of God to spread freely with much power and fruitfulness. And then the rest of the chapter deals with how the church must deal with disorderly church members. Uh-oh, you mean they had disorderly church members? Clearly they did. You mean the church wasn't nearly perfect? Clearly it wasn't. You mean there were some things that needed to be corrected, strongly corrected? There was. This is how you deal with disorderly church members.

That's my review looking back. A look ahead, I'm simply talking about taking the entire section about disciplining unruly church members from verse 6 to the end in verse 15 because we're not going to have time to carefully exposit all of that this morning, so I want you to get an overview. And very quickly, here's what you have. It begins with a strong command to separate from disorderly brethren in verse 6, followed by what I've called a purposeful example in verses 7, 8, and 9, where Paul once again tells them, as he's told them before, reminds them really how he and the other members of the team had supported themselves financially while they were there as an example to them of how Christians are supposed to work and support themselves. Now we understand at least one of the reasons why Paul did that. Why did he do that? He tells us he had a right to receive financial support from the church, so why would he choose instead to work and support himself?

Well, here's the reason why, at least one of the reasons why. And now we understand that this church wasn't perfect in this respect. This problem of reluctant church members, that is, those who are reluctant to work, goes way back to the beginning. Paul saw it from the very formation of the church, the very earliest days of the church. It was going on then, and he thought instruction would correct it, but it didn't.

It's still there after several ways to instruct and correct. It still had not been corrected, and so now Paul comes to a very strong and forceful correction of what he identifies as a very serious problem. Not a trivial matter, a serious problem, a serious defect among the believers in Thessalonica. And so we come to an important principle in verse 10, which we'll look at a little bit later in more detail, but he just simply says, if a person won't work, he shouldn't eat.

We'll come back to that. He talks then directly to the disorderly, gives the disappointing report that had come to him in verse 11, and emphasizes that they must stop sponging off of others and get to work, followed by a general encouragement to all the church to not become weary in doing well, those who were living orderly rather than disorderly lives. And then he finishes up that chapter by giving detailed instructions as to how to correct the disorderly members. Here's what you are to do, step one, step two, step three. Here it is all laid out, and here's the purpose for which we are doing these things. So number one, review, number two, overview.

We're moving along pretty well now, aren't we? Number three, purview. Let's look around. Let's look more carefully at verses six, seven, eight, nine, and ten, starting with his basic command in verse six. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.

What are we looking at? Number one, we're looking at a command. We command you, brethren, this is not a suggestion, this is not a recommendation, this is not something that you would be better off if you would do it this way. Paul says this is a command.

In fact, he makes it clear that this is an authoritative command. In the name, we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not even an apostolic command alone, which is enough, properly understood, but I want to make it clear that this command comes to you from me from the Lord Jesus Christ. This is if Jesus Christ is standing here giving it to you. It comes to you from the Lord Jesus Christ. One of those rare times when Christ's full name and titles are put together, all three, the Lord Jesus Christ, why? To give more authority and weight to the command. I read recently that the reason for middle names is so that you'll know when you're in trouble. When I was a child and my mother said, Greg, come here, I didn't have any trepidation about coming.

When she said, Gregory Norris Barkley, you get here. I said, oh, there's something serious going on here. Here's a command in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an authoritative command.

What else? It is a churchwide command. I command you, brethren. This is not just to the elders. They're part of the brethren, of course. This is not just the church leaders. This is not to deacons. This is not to a part of the church, except it's to the part that are being obedient rather than disobedient in the way they walk. But this is a command to all of the church.

You all have a responsibility here. This is to you, brethren. We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What more? It is a separating command that you withdraw yourselves from. Normally, all the admonitions are draw closer together, strengthen your ties of fellowship, work harder at relationships with one another. But Paul says there are some occasions when just the opposite must be done, that you withdraw yourself, that you separate yourself from some.

And from whom? It is a distinguishing command that you distinguish between believers. There are believers who walk orderly and there are believers who walk disorderly, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition or teaching which he received from us. So we must, to obey this command, we must distinguish between believers, between those who are obedient and those who are disobedient, and we must distinguish between behaviors, those who are disorderly and those who are orderly. That is, those who are disobeying apostolic instructions and those who are obeying apostolic instructions.

You've got to know which is which. And in the case of those who are disorderly, if they have been taught, if they have been warned, if they have been corrected verbally and still there is no response, then this is what you must do, withdraw yourself from them. They're walking disorderly, a term that means out of rank. It's a military term. They're like soldiers who are not walking according to the instructions of their commanding officer. They're out of rank. They're out of step. They're out of order.

They are out of the orders that have been given by Christ to the church as to how Christians ought to behave, and therefore they need to be corrected, a basic command. We have secondly an instructive example in verses 7, 8, and 9, and this helps us understand what he means by disorderly. Disorderly is a general term that could apply to a lot of things. Disorderly, out of rank, out of step. Well, exactly in what way?

Well, we know now what way. For, verse 7, you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not, there's this word again, disorderly among you. What does that mean? Verse 8, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil, night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we did not have authority, not because we didn't have the right to receive financial support from you, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us in this pattern of working for your living. Paul's example in that of Timothy and of Titus was not disorderly. That is, it was not an example of unwillingness to work, but it was the opposite, an example of hard work, labor and toil. It was an example of productive work. It produced a living so that we were not a burden to you. We were not looking to you to maintain our living, to feed us, to take care of our financial needs.

We did that ourselves by working. It was an example of sacrifice and proper conduct. We did this so that you would have an example of how Christians are supposed to live in this regard in particular, namely to work. We sometimes talk about a Protestant work ethic or sometimes talk about a Puritan work ethic. What it is is a biblical work ethic. Those who know and obey the Bible understand this is how Christians are to live. This is what they're supposed to do. They are supposed to work and support themselves. Paul says we showed you that by our example.

Therefore, we expect you to do as we did among you. Now the question is how is that possible in still being able to carry on an effective gospel work among them? We're not told exactly how, but I think it probably has to do in part with the fact that there was a whole team at work. If Paul had been there by himself, it would have been very difficult to carry on an effective ministry while he was also working many long hours, probably making tents in order to feed himself. That would really cut down on the preaching he could do and the evangelism that he could do, the instruction that he could carry out and so forth, but he had a whole team.

Furthermore, I think this is possible because it was a pioneer work, which means that Paul was not in a position where he had to study every week a new passage of Scripture to feed a congregation of people who were well established and who needed sound doctrine, who needed the meat of the word and required some pretty significant study in order to be able to do that, which is the ideal, of course, but he's dealing with brand new Christians. He's dealing with basic doctrine. He's dealing with foundational truths.

He's dealing with the ABCs. He's not having to spend a lot of time to study passages of Scripture in order to prepare to teach. Most of this, if not all of this, he could teach without any study whatsoever. Now, the time would come when the church would develop to the place where that would no longer be possible, and they would need full-time pastors who could feed them according to their level of understanding, but at this stage it was a pioneer work, and so it was possible to do this. I carry on communication with a pastor friend in the state of Washington who used to pastor in Illinois, left that pastor, went out to Washington, took a secular job, and then found a church that he became a part of, and ended up becoming a co-elder with another man who also was a tent maker, as we call it, bivocational, of a small church, a church of about 30, 40 people, maybe 50 at the most, but here are two men who are working public work and also sharing the ministry, and he says in that situation it's working fine because they share the teaching responsibilities and the congregation is small, and so he is very happy in that situation, but if the church grows to 100, if it grows to 200, if it matures to a higher level, it's going to require either the team's going to have to grow a lot to make this possible or, you know, like 10 or 15 men in a similar situation, or it's going to have to have no doubt one or more pastors who are giving themselves full time to the ministry, but in this situation it evidently worked. Now that brings us to a balancing principle in verse 10, the last verse in this passage that we're going to examine, but then we're going to bring some applications. Verse 10, what I call a balancing principle, For even when we were with you we commanded you this, If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

Why do I call this a balancing principle? Because it balances what else the Bible has to say about Christians giving, Christians compassion, Christians helping others, but those instructions, as important as they are, as needed as they are, and we're not as free to give as we ought to be, but nevertheless those instructions are not without any clarification or without any definition, because here's a balancing instruction, there are certain cases when you ought not to give, you ought not to support others, even if they are in need. It really depends on why they are in need. And if they're in need because of slothfulness, then you're not supposed to support them, you're not supposed to help them. It balances Christian compassion with wisdom. This has been a problem all along, even when we were with you we taught you this.

We taught you this in the first epistle, but you didn't shape up when I taught it to you when I was with you, you didn't shape up when I wrote to you about it in the first epistle, now I'm writing to you in this epistle and I'm telling you shape up where there's going to be some consequences. The requirement is to work, if anyone will not work. This is not talking about those who cannot work, that's an entirely different situation. Christian compassion says we help the helpless, we help the needy, we help those who are in difficulty. If they are in need through, not through laziness, but because of illness, because of other circumstances, we help them gladly. But if anyone is unwilling to work, we shouldn't help him or her.

Because that person needs to feel the consequences of their disorderly conduct. The consequences for not working are neither shall he eat. If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. This is stronger than some people think. Paul doesn't simply say if you don't work, you probably won't have much to eat, that's true.

Depending on who's willing to support you foolishly, but if you don't work, you're certainly not going to have all the things you want. A lot of people have big eyes and little ability to supply what they want because they're not willing to work. When I was a boy, sometimes I heard the phrase, your eyes are bigger than your stomach, that is, I took more food than I was able to eat. I wanted it all. Gluttonous. Yeah, a lot of people that way, I want to have this, I want to have that, I want to have the other thing.

I envy other people who have these things. But did it ever occur to you that maybe they have them because they worked real hard and earned them, and you don't have them because you're not working? Well, no, I think they ought to be given to me without work.

Wrong conclusion, and we shouldn't encourage people with that wrong idea. Paul is not saying if you don't work, you will have nothing to eat, though that's true enough, but it's stronger than that. If anyone refuses to work, he shall not eat, or it could be translated, if anyone refuses to work, let him not eat. It's a command. Don't you feed him.

Refuse to support him. Now let me see if I can quickly draw some important lessons out of this passage. Number one, I see the importance of patient instruction. How many times did Paul instruct these people before he lowered the boom? There was verbal instruction. He said, when we were with you, we told you this.

That goes back to his preaching when he was in Thessalonica. It was verbal. Furthermore, it was visual. When we were with you, this is the example we showed you. So we told you, you heard it from our own lips, we showed you, you saw it in our example, thirdly, it was written. We wrote to you about it in the 1 Thessalonian Epistle, in chapter 4, verses 11 and 12 in particular, 1 Thessalonians 4, 12, as you know how we exhorted you, verse 11, and commanded and charged every one of you, as the Father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God, who calls you to his own kingdom and glory.

And I've skipped something here. Verse 9, For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil for labor night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached you the gospel of God. Oh, I already showed you the verses I'm looking for now. Verse 11 of chapter 4, I was in the wrong chapter, that you may aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. So we preached this to you when we were there. We exemplified this before you when we were there. We wrote this to you in our first epistle, and some of you still haven't received this instruction.

You're still refusing to work and looking for handouts from other people in the church who are loving, compassionate people, who have a giving spirit because they have the Spirit of Christ, who was willing to give so sacrificially. But Paul was patient in instructing them, verbal instruction, visual instruction, written instruction, and finally even personal instruction, because as this epistle is being read to the church, the disorderly are sitting right there hearing it read. In the first epistle, he said in chapter 5 verse 27, I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren. The same thing is true of the second epistle.

So it's almost like here's one final chance. All of you disorderly, however many there were, more than one clearly, listen to what I'm instructing the church to do if you don't shape up. I'm telling them to separate themselves from you. I'm telling them to withdraw from you. I'm telling them to discipline you. But not until, and this is my point, not until he had patiently instructed them time and again and time and again, verbally, visually, in writing, personally, as they were present, as the epistle was read. But finally, after all of that being ignored, Paul says, okay, enough's enough.

Bang, this is what's coming next. Another lesson we learn is the responsibility of church members for one another. These instructions are written to the whole church, as I pointed out, not just to the elders. Remember what our church covenant says? Paragraph four, we further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love, to remember one another in prayer, to aid one another in sickness and distress, to cultivate Christian sympathy and feeling and Christian courtesy and speech, to be slow to take offense but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay. That's a summarizing statement that makes reference to the 20-some times in the New Testament when we read of things that we Christians ought to do to one another, love one another, pray for one another, and on and on and on it goes, all the things that we ought to do, the one-anothering passages in Scripture. They are often passed by too lightly, but they are strongly emphasized in Scripture that Christians have a responsibility to one another and, as we are learning here, that even includes correction. Christians have a responsibility to correct one another. Now, it needs to be done graciously, kindly, lovingly, and making sure that we have already taken care of the beam in our own eye, but it does need to be done.

Lesson 3. It is important to understand the different levels of church discipline. Not all corrective discipline has excommunication in view. In this passage, Paul says you separate, you withdraw from every brother, but you don't count him as an enemy. You continue to admonish him as a brother. Now, the end of the discipline in Matthew 18 by Jesus is, let him be to you as a heathen and a publican. In other words, no longer consider him to be a brother.

He's out. Same thing in 1 Corinthians 5. Put that so-called brother out, out of the church. No longer consider him to be a brother. But here's a disciplinary situation where the person is being corrected, he's being disciplined by the church, but still is counted as a brother but not treated as a brother in good standing, not treated as a brother in full fellowship. He's treated as a disorderly brother for the purpose of helping him get back in order.

As we'll see in next week's passage, the purpose is to shame him and to bring him to repentance. We need to understand different levels of church discipline. Sometimes this discipline is called, trying to remember what it's called, it's called, and the term just flies from my mind.

I thought I had it right there. But it is the Mennonites and people like that call it shunning. We don't use that term, but they shun disobedient members of the group in order to shame them into submitting to the truth of God's word or to the rules of the organization as the case may be.

This is a public rebuke, a public rebuke. You don't want to do that, but sometimes you must for obedience to Christ and the health of the church. Now there's a fourth lesson, I'm almost to the fifth, but that is simply this, that our rights must be submitted to the greater good. Did Paul have a right to financial support?

Clearly he did. I won't go to the passages that teach that. But he sacrificed that in order not to be a hindrance to the reception of the gospel, he makes that clear in 1 Thessalonians, and in order to be an example of the Christian work ethic, which apparently was a particular problem in Thessalonica and again in Corinth. I think it had a lot to do with Greek culture. Paul had left Asia in Turkey, he'd gone into Greece, and the Greek culture had a strong pattern of wealthy people patronizing not so wealthy people, and a whole system of patronage grew up where there were people who planned not to work, but to spend their lives at the expense of their patrons who they would flatter and honor in various ways.

That's what the patron got out of the deal, and the person who was being patronized got his living without working. And Paul says, not among the people of God. That's something out of Greek culture which is ungodly, unbiblical, unchristian, contrary to the way Christians are to walk. And so Paul was willing to relinquish his right to financial support in order to teach them this truth. And the fifth lesson from this passage is this. Refusing to help the unqualified, that is people who aren't qualified biblically to receive our help, refusing to help the unqualified, listen to me, is as gracious, it is as godly, it is as pleasing to the Lord as is giving to those who are truly in need.

Have you ever thought of it that way? To refuse to give to those who are in need is sinful. To give to those who ought not to be helped is also sinful.

That's something we probably seldom considered. But it is not loving, it is not gracious, it is not godly to enable sloth. Those who are unwilling to work should not be maintained by others. That's not helping them. That is neither loving nor helpful.

Even if, I would submit to you in closing, even if they are your own grown children. But I can't bear to see them suffer. God says they need to suffer.

If a person will not work, then neither should they eat. You've got to live by truth, not by your feelings, if you really want to help them, if you really want to love them, if you really want to please the Lord. Shall we pray? Father, teach us thy ways and show us thy paths. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.