2 Thessalonian 3:11-15

2 Thessalonian 3:11-15  We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.  Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.  And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.  If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him.  Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.  Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

As Paul continues his instructions on dealing with idleness in the church body, he restates his belief that those who lose focus and do not carry their part of the workload will head into troubles.  If they are not busy, he claims, they will be busybodies.  We read in the last breakfast how he told Timothy the same thing about the young widows.  He thought they should remarry so they would not get into the habit of going about from house to house.  He feared they would not merely become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.  This situation was grievous to Paul because it gave the enemy opportunity for slander.  (see 1 Timothy 5:13-14)  With our modern communications systems, we have developed the ability to send messages quickly and often.  We text and post hundreds of thoughts and ideas, often without giving much thought to what we say before we push the send button.  How often are we passing on gossip or unbelief or a half-truth or a discouraging word.  We know of people who try to post only positive messages on Facebook, but they find it hard not to react to the negativity of so many posts.  We sometimes wonder how folks have so much time to spend on the Internet, and why they would choose to spend that time posting angry even malicious information.  Paul tells the church: And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.  That should be our full-time occupation for our Lord.  Some of us need new eyes to take a look at ourselves and to see where we are and what we are doing and just how we are using our time.  Are we producing bread for the hungry and new wine for the thirsty?  

Paul emphatically sealed his words: If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him.  Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.  As any good parent, Paul, the spiritual father to the Thessalonians, says, you have people who are disobeying and straying from the truth.  Just as a parent would ignore an unruly child, having a temper tantrum, I want you to ignore the non-workers.  Give them a time out--time to think about their actions, time to reconsider and change their behavior, time to repent.  Lest they misunderstand his attitude and treat the wayward brethren too harshly, Paul adds instructions that make it clear he is not permanently excluding these idlers or casting them from the body.  He is discipling them.  He expects them to see the errors of their way and return to the fold.  So he softens his words with, Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.  Without this statement, Paul could have caused real damage in the church.  Those who were working hard could have looked down on the non-workers and rejected them as fallen believers rather than brothers in need of warning and prayer.  Those who had lost their way could have felt permanently shunned and without hope of returning to the church and to fellowship with their Lord.  This scripture has been used by churches to hurt many people and to cause severe pain in the lives of people who needed grace and love rather than stern judgment.  We must be very sure when we look to the weaknesses in someone else, remembering the words of Jesus: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."  (Matthew 7:1-5)

In our day, criticism has become an art form.  The media thrives on the attack mode.  We love controversy and revelations of people's indiscretions.  We heard on the TV yesterday that recently 85 percent of President Obama's ads and 99 percent of Romney's ads have been negative.  They have learned what works.  Also this week the press learned that one of the leading ads of the campaign was a lie, a cut and paste where words were left out to make the President say something he never said.  Now the President knew he had not said what the ad implied; but finally at this late date, a credible person  admitted the fraud.  How different the elections would be if the candidates would mention only what they believe in and their strengths to govern.  Maybe we are sometimes too involved in helping to promote the wrong work, the work of the enemy, the work of the world, instead of the work of the kingdom.  Sometimes we would do well to stick to a higher calling, a superior purpose.  God's Word is our compass, our guide.  In our daily reading through the Bible, we are in Jeremiah and Ephesians right now--quite a combination.  Paul exhorted the church: Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person — such a man is an idolater — has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.  (Ephesians 5:1-5 & 8-10)  How do we fulfill these words?  We sit at the feet of Jesus: praying, meditating, reading his Word, reaching out to others in the spirit of Christian love and kindness.  We rejoice in our salvation and reflect the inner peace of one who LIVES IN THE LIGHT!