Bread and Busybodies

2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13

            Ever been on a mission trip? There are always surprises. Sometimes, people come to Christ right in front of our eyes. Sometimes, nothing much seems to be working, but in every case, things happen, both to those who are served and to those who serve. Often, it takes time to see the evidence of the seeds that we plant. Christian leadership is not only a process of delivering truth; it also is an art form. It can be done effectively through the sheer will power of one, but it works better through the mutual cooperation of many. While he was still a general, Dwight Eisenhower used to demonstrate the art of leadership with a simple piece of string. He’d put it on a table and then he would say “Pull it, and it’ll follow wherever you wish. Push it and it will go nowhere at all.” 1

          Thessalonica was one of the strings that Paul had to learn to pull. It was a stop on Paul’s second missionary journey. Silas and Timothy were his companions on this three year trip to the port cities around the Aegean Sea. Paul preached there in the synagogue for three straight Sabbaths. Obviously, he and his companions had quite an impact, as they ended up having to leave town under cover of night. Their teachings were taken as a threat by local businesses and some of the local tradesmen wanted them run out of town.

          Although Paul preached in the synagogue, he obviously found time to preach to the pagan Gentiles there as well. Apparently, Paul succeeded in his efforts in Thessalonica, for the seeds of his ministry surfaced in the form of a church there, which was composed mostly of Gentiles. Paul’s first letter to that church is probably his first writing preserved in the New Testament.

In Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he dealt with some community issues. Some people were not working. They were waiting for the second coming of Christ. They were worried about what would happen to them if they died before he came. In his second letter, he again addresses some of these same issues. This time he is more forceful about what should be done. Even here, though, we can feel Paul engage in the push and pull tensions of leadership as he tries to help this new church.

Paul talks to the Christians in Thessalonica about idleness. There are people who are not pulling their load. Some of these same people are using that spare time to no good use. Paul calls them busybodies.  He says that if you are able to work and don’t, then don’t eat from the table where the church provides food. Either help to put it there or don’t partake.

Paul is not talking to those who cannot work. On the contrary, that is one of the ways in which the church served. It helped to provide food for the needy and less fortunate. This issue is not about work, but rather the willingness or unwillingness to work.  Paul reminds them of his own example. He talks about the time he was with them and his refusal to take money from them. He earned his own way. Elsewhere in Scripture, Paul has pointed out that it is his God-given right to be supported in ministry. [1 Cor. 9: 13-15, 2 Cor. 11: 7-9, 1 Thes. 2: 9] Nevertheless, he chooses not to exercise this privilege. He did not want to be a burden on the people he served.  Paul may have taken his example from Jesus himself. Legend has it that before his ministry, Jesus made the best ox-yokes in all of Palestine and that men came from all over the country to buy them.  So Paul says that idleness and Christianity don’t mix.  No work, no food. That covers one point in today’s passage, but Paul is not done.

Not only does Paul not like idleness, he also doesn’t like what these folks are doing with their new found spare time. These idlers are stirring the pot with gossip. Paul doesn’t like busybodies. He doesn’t like them so much that he tells his church friends to keep away from them. He still calls them brothers, so he is not dismissing them from the congregation. In fact, he talks directly to them in verse 12, saying that they are both commanded and encouraged to “do their work quietly and to earn their own living.” Why would Paul give such strong advice and yet not dismiss these people from the congregation?

Last week, a friend and neighbor of mine underwent a complicated surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. Examination of the tumor prior to surgery had indicated that it was growing, that it was invasive and that it was probably cancerous. But my friend is not a young man and such a surgery has risks. Why would he allow the surgeon to cut so close to the source of all his thinking, to the command center of his life? His decision was based upon the surgeon’s advice. Better to take the risks associated with the loss of some brain function than to allow the cancer to continue to grow and take over his ability to think.

Such was the case with Paul and the Thessalonian church. The idleness and the inevitable gossip that flowed from it were like a cancer on the congregation. Left alone, the situation would continue to deteriorate and the problem would continue to grow. Theologian William Barclay says that there may be greater sins than gossip but there is none which does more damage in the Church. Paul’s suggestions were like those of the surgeon. He advised cutting the idlers off from normal contact. But he didn’t go to extremes. Like the surgeon cut away the damaged tissue from the brain, so the idlers were cut away from the communication of the church. But also like the surgeon leaving the rest of the brain to function, the idlers were not cut off from the church itself. The cancer was their behavior, not themselves. They were not to be regarded as enemies, but rather warned as brothers, and Paul continues to refer to them that way.

How important was it for this action to be taken? In the case of a growing brain tumor, it must be cut away or its tentacles will reach out and co-mingle with good tissue. After awhile, you can’t tell the good from the bad. In the case of a group of idlers and gossips in a church setting, it is only a matter of time until they infect the healthy members of the congregation. Paul felt so strongly about this that not once but twice, he commands them in the name of Jesus Christ. This places his instructions in the strongest of language.

It’s a tough act to push someone away and yet do so in a manner that says they are not banished. It’s tough to accept the person while condemning his actions. It’s tough but it’s certainly doable. When our children get in trouble or do something out of line with what they have been taught, we don’t throw them away. But neither should we accept their behavior. To do so would be to put the proverbial fox in charge of the henhouse. Christian discipline is between brothers, ignoring anger, rejecting contempt and always acting in love.

Paul closes with an exhortation to the good guys in the church. He has chastened the idlers and the gossips. He has given advice as to how the situation should be handled. Now he turns to the faithful. Like the coach in the locker room at halftime, he exhorts and encourages. “Do not grow weary in doing good.” he says. That too is a tall order, but an order that we as Christians know all too well. The Christian life is not a sprint, but a marathon. We must never cease our efforts in Christ’s behalf. This is our act of love and it plays out on the stage of life in the ways we deal with our friends, our families and our brothers.

Do not grow weary of doing good. Do good to your friends. Do good to your neighbors. Do good to your family. Do good to that person who acted so nasty to you for no good reason yesterday. How can we live up to that standard? Easy! Do it in the name of Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

11/17/13

1 1001 Quotes, Illustration & Humorous Stories, Edward K. Rowell, baker Books, 2006.