2 Thessalonians 3:1-18, Disciplined: A standard worth pursuit.

Theological Proposition/Focus: God is a God of order and as such there he does have standards that he expects his people to work toward.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: The Christian life should be marked not by arbitrary movement but rather disciplined pursuit of Christ likeness.

Introduction:

Image: Following rules verse being disciplined

Have you ever watched a young man or woman develop into a disciplined soldier? The process is a fascinating. At first the individual follows a litany of rules. The bed must be made so that a quarter can bounce. The uniform must be perfect. The details matter and the measurements must be exact. As the soldier matures the specific rules seem to matter less and less the point is not the rules, the point is the discipline that comes from having followed the rules. My brother is an Air Force Major and while I am sure he still follows the rules, I can tell you the exact rule matters a lot less now and instead he is simply disciplined in all he does.

Setting the Stage:

Throughout the books of First and Second Thessalonians Paul has given extensive praise to the Christians in Thessalonica. The Christians are growing Christians who are living in light of the fact that Jesus is coming again. In other epistles Paul does a lot of correcting of false doctrine. In the Thessalonians epistles Paul heavily praises the Thessalonians. As such there is much we can learn about what I might call "more advanced Christian living" or disciplined Christian living. Thomas Constable, in writing about this section of 2 Thessalonians writes,

This last major section of the epistle called on its readers to live in the light of the truth previously revealed and by the grace of God just invoked.

Body

Prayer for one another is essential (1-5).

The first aspect of disciplined Christian living is prayer. Not only prayer for yourself, but prayer for others.

We need to pray that the message of the Gospel spreads (1).

Of all the things that Paul might have asked for, he asked for prayer that the Gospel would spread elsewhere as it had spread in Thessalonica.

Have you ever wondered how to pray, or what exactly to pray for? Something that is really interesting is that Paul asks for prayer that others grow/respond as the Thessalonians responded to the Gospel. I think it is reasonable that we pray for each other in this way. We can pray that others will accept the Gospel as those you know in the church have accepted the Gospel. It is fair to pray that an individual will come to place their faith in Christ as you have done so. The point is not pride in yourself or in our church but rather an understanding that God brings people to saving knowledge and so we can pray that God does so for others.

We need to pray for deliverance from wicked and evil people (2).

One of the realities that we all must come to grips with is that there are wicked and evil people in the world. There are people who resist the Gospel, people without faith. These people can become a significant source of problems for the believer and in the case of the Thessalonians, Paul asked that they pray for his deliverance from these people.

Notice the contrast here.

When preached the Gospel really generates two types of responses. Acceptance and growth or rejection and a turn to wickedness and evil.

We pray, knowing that the Lord is faithful and directs His people.

As we pray we should do so in confidence, confidence in the very character of God. God is faithful. Notice that in verse 2 there was an emphasis on the fact that not everyone has faith. People reject God, but God is faithful and he does not need everyone to accept him before he acts. God's faithfulness is a characteristic of God and we should pray with this faithfulness in mind.

Deut. 7:9, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Notice the final component of Paul's prayer in verse 5

Paul has asked the Thessalonians to pray but he also slips in his own prayer for them.

God's love, an entirely otherish love

What is significant about God's love? It is that God's love for others led Him to send Christ to die for others. God's love is the highest love, it is entirely otherish.

Christ’s perseverance

Think about what Christ endured. Christ endured the cross! Paul prays that the Thessalonains would have this type of perseverance.

Diligent work is worth imitating (6-13).

Idleness and disruptive behavior is grounds for separation.

In this case Paul appeals, in the name of Jesus!! to separate from those who are idle.

This is an incredibly strong appeal to be making. This is a command that is to be taken with the weight of all who Jesus is. It is hard to imagine giving a stronger command.

Actually, in 1 Thess. 5:14 Paul had warned the idle to get to work, apparently it had not worked.

And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

The model of appropriate response to sin in the church seems to be a warning followed by separation when the warninis unheaded..

I hate to burst your bubble, but I feel like I need to tell you that working, being productive is fundamental to who we are.

Genesis 1:28 suggests that God always intended for Adam to work in His creation.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

The apostolic example was one of diligent work.

We can fill in some of the details from other writing from Paul to understand what this looked like.

Paul was a leather worker in Acts 18:1-3.

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.

Paul suggested that he worked hard in Acts 20:34-35

You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”

1 Corinthians 4:12

We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

Diligent work is actually a prerequisite.

Ephesians 4:28

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

Notice the context of 2 Thess. 3:13, in this case, doing good is buckling down and getting to work!

Yes, there are times that hard work might be discouraging but we must understand that it is what God made us for.

Obedience to Paul's instruction is expected (14-15).

Disobedience warrants a prescribed treatment.

The first thing we must realize is the weight of Paul's commands. Verses 14 and 15 show us that Paul's commands are not just mere suggestions but rather commands that carry significant weight and punishment for failure to follow them. The commands that Paul references are the commands contained in this letter. This is a strong indication that Paul understood the significance of what he was writing. Perhaps he did not know that he was writing Scripture, but he certainly knew he was writing with authority.

The Greek word σημειοῦσθε (take note) in verse 14 is a present middle imperative and could. be used of recording symptoms in a medical diagnosis.

Here I get the idea that Paul is calling for each individual to take note of individuals who are refusing to obey his command to work diligently. Why because there was a prescribed treatment for such individuals.

Prescribed because it has a specific goal, restoration but also an important function, shame, which would be hard for some to carry through.

As we work together in the church we need to understand that there are times when the consequences of sin are hard to see given. But compassion does not ignore sin, compassion deals with sin in God's prescribed manner. The goal of discipline is restoration and this is an important goal. So important that we cannot allow our own sense of compassion to interfere with the restorative process.

Nevertheless, we also must be careful not to go too far. Paul warns that

There is a distinction between a disobedient brother and an enemy.

This means that the individual who is disobedient should not be treated with animosity. Rather instead we employ a model of discipline that seeks their growth and restoration.

The word in verse 14 is συναναμίγνυσθαι (associate with them), this is not the same as ἀνάθεμα (cursed) used in 1 Cor. 16:22

In other words there is a process of helping someone to obedience and it doesn't necessarily begin with completely anathomizing the individual immediately!

Image: Marcus Aurelius and Behavior in the Gymnasium

In Meditations 6:20, Marcus Aurelius, who was a Roman Emperor from 121 AD to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher talks about how to interact with someone who is misbehaving at the Gym. He uses very similar language to Paul about not counting such a person as an enemy, but simply avoiding them. The point here is that we need to have a high standard, in this particular case those who refused to work needed to be disciplined. However, the purpose of discipline is not to inflict pain but rather to push someone to repentance and change.

Ultimately, Christ brings us grace and peace (16-18)

Image: Good-byes what do you want to say?

On December 30th of this year I was leaving to head home from Colorado. We were at a small airport and my nieces and nephews all came to see me off. My brother's and I had all the bags ready to go and so I went upstairs to the observation deck at the airport to say goodbye to my nieces and nephews. I hugged everyone and started walking down the stairs when I heard a small voice from up the stairs say "we love you uncle Nathan." Those words were precious, when it was all said and done Lydia wanted me to know of her love. Parting words are indeed precious.

In this final section of Second Thessalonians we get to hear Paul's parting words with a church that he has come to love deeply. Let's look at what is deeply imbedded in this worlds.

God is a God of peace.

Think about everything that is going on in Thessalonica. There have been persecutions, there have been questions about the coming day of the Lord. In the midst of all of this Paul wants them to know that their source of peace is God and he prays that God will grant them his peace

In every way

We can have peace, but only through God.

God is a God of grace.

In addition to peace, we can enjoy Christ's grace.

The standard Greek way of saying good-bye was Ἔρρωσθε (be strong), Paul instead states Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ πάντων ὑμῶν.

The disciplined life of a Christian is not one of personal strength but rather one of Christ's grace!

Turn to Christ!