2^nd Thessalonians Chapter 3– John Karmelich

1. There is a classical saying in Christianity which is a great opening line for this lesson:

a) “If you are not on the front line fighting the battle, you should at least be in the back line providing the ammunition”. The topic of this cliché is about spiritual warfare, and the great fight to win souls and mature people in their faith in Jesus.

i) I remember hearing a sermon about a pastor who wanted to borrow a great bible illustration from another pastor. When he asked for permission, the person who wrote the illustration said, “Share the ammo, brother, share the ammo!”

ii) Whether we like it or not, all Christians are engaged in this warfare. We are all called to tell nonbelievers about Jesus. We are all called to help mature people in their relationship with Jesus. We are all called to service in the church. We are all called to help hurting people and to reach out to others.

iii) You may be thinking, “Wait a minute, we have pastors at our church who do that thing. I help pay their salary and I leave that up to them. I have to work for a living or I have to raise my kids. That is their problem.”

iv) Those are the people who are regularly on the “front line”. Yes we are to financially support them, but more importantly is to prayerfully support them. That does not mean a quick “shot prayer” as part of a Sunday service. J It does mean to pray regularly for those who are on the “front lines” of Christianity.

b) This gets into the issue of “Just who are we to support anyway? Is it just my local church? Do I give to everyone and anyone who asks or sends me junk mail?” J

i) First of all, I would start with your local church. If this is the place where God calls you to minister to others than support that church. If this is the place where you are getting spiritually blessed, support it. If that church supports all the fundamental principals of a good bible-based church, support it. Support includes prayer and time as well as finances.

ii) Next, what ministry are you being “blessed by?” There may be some regional or national ministry that has blessed your life. Ask how you can support it. Pray for its success and pray for its leaders. Give your time and money if they ask.

c) Finally, you may see a ministry that God is “blessing”. It has been said that we should support ministries like we picking stocks in the stock market: “We look for stocks that are good investments”. The same concept should apply to ministries. Look at the ones God is blessing and if you feel called toward it, pray for it and support.

d) You know the old cliché, “You can’t take it with you?” Well, that’s not biblical. You can take it with you. The secret it is to “send it up ahead of you”. By supporting those on the “front lines”, be it prayer, money, or supplies, you are being obedient to God’s will and you join in the “reward” of those on the front line of that ministry.

i) “Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” (1^st Corinthians 3:8, NKJV)

2. Which, amazingly, leads us back to an ancient church in Thessalonica, Greece. J

In this chapter, Paul is giving commands for how this church should pray and behave.

a) It is not like Paul is saying, “Well my Thessalonian brothers, it was nice knowing you. I’m on my way to go save more people. Good luck in keeping your church going.” J

b) Chapter 3 is Paul’s final words to the church. It gives some specific advice on a few issues, but the “big-picture” idea is how the church is to survive and thrive.

i) Part of that issue is the concept of pastoral support. The chapter urges the Thessalonians to pray for Paul as much as Paul prays for them.

ii) This is “supplying the ammunition” to those on the front lines of Christianity. Without that “back-line” support, those on the “front-line” are ineffective.

c) This last chapter is Paul teaching, “Hey, its not up to me to keep your church growing and thriving, but its up to you. God desires to work through you. God started a “work” in Thessalonica and He desires to finish it. At the same time, God allows free will. If you want the church to die off, God will let it. The good news is if you prayerfully support each other, it will thrive and grow. If you act in love and service to one another, it will thrive and grow. If a congregation seeks God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength, than that church will grow in ways you cannot imagine.

d) On a related note, I personally can’t stand church marketing programs. There are countless books out there on “How to make your church grow”. There are programs that say, “Follow these 10 easy steps, and your church can grow like ours”.

i) First of all, God does not measure “success” by size, period. God measures success by significance and impact. God is interested in people “making a difference” for Jesus. God is interested in a group of people who have a strong faith in Him and outreach to the world around them. Church “success” does not come in numbers. It comes from obedience to what the bible commands us to do.

ii) The problem with marketing programs and seminars is the glory goes to the program and not to God. It violates a biblical principal:

a) “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah 42:8, NIV)

3. On a different note, the more I study Paul’s letters, the more I’m convinced he had Attention Deficit Disorder. J

a) You get the impression, he was about to end the letter at the end of chapter 2, with a nice closing greeting. Then he thought, “Oh, and one more thing”, and then came another set of instructions. Then came another positive thought that sounded like a closing statement, and then came another set of instructions.

b) Chapter 2 appears to be the main topic of this letter, which has to do with the events of Jesus’ Second Coming. Chapter 3 is an “epilogue” of miscellaneous instructions given to the church at Thessalonica.

c) OK, time to stop rambling. J Let’s finish 2^nd Thessalonians:

4. Verse 1: Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.

a) Someday I’m going to organize a topical study of all the times where someone in the bible commands us to pray for something specific. It is less often then you think!

i) When you go through say, Paul’s letters, there are really not that many specifics that Paul asks us to pray for. There are lots of generic discussions of prayer in the bible, but the times when a specific request is made is not as common.

b) I mention that because here in Verse 1 we have a specific prayer request.

i) To paraphrase Paul, it is saying, “Hey, pray specifically for me and my companions. I don’t want you so much to pray for our health, or our well being, but pray that our specific task that God has called us to be accomplished. That task is to preach the Gospel message. Further, pray that people may receive the message rapidly and the message sink in (i.e., “be honored”).

ii) To further paraphrase Paul, “Hey, remember how fast the Gospel message spread in Thessalonica? Pray that the same thing happen elsewhere. Remember how the church was formed and grew in a matter of weeks? Pray the same thing happens elsewhere. Notice how your church is thriving despite persecution because you are grounded in your faith? Pray that the same thing happens elsewhere”.

c) I heard a quote this week from Jon Curson that applies here: “Great pastors do not make for great congregations, great congregations make for great pastors”.

i) The secret of a successful church is a praying, faithful congregation and not a great leader. It is the “flock” that makes a church successful and not the leadership.

ii) There is a classical story about Charles Spurgeon that fits here. For those who are not familiar with Spurgeon, he is considered one of the great bible expositors of all time. He had a large church in England in the 19^th Century. Imagine preaching to 3,000 people at once with no microphones! In this large church, a group of visiting pastors asked to see the boiler room. They wanted to know how to heat a building of this size. Spurgeon took them, on a Sunday afternoon to a room full of people on their knees praying for the Sunday night service. Spurgeon said (in a sense), “That gentlemen, is our boiler room”. The “heat” of those prayers is what provided Spurgeon with God’s power to “warm” the congregation.

a) My point here is like Jon Curson’s comment, is that a great congregation makes a great pastor, not vice-versa.

iii) Paul understood the secret of his success was people praying for him. Paul was not afraid to ask people to pray for him, and so am I. I understand that the only way this writing ministry is successful is only if people pray for it, and I thank God they do.

iv) If you are unhappy with your pastor, pray for him! If you are grumbling that people aren’t getting saved at your church pray for that church! The “problem” is not with the pastors, the problem is with the congregation! God can and does use anybody willing to work in His name. The source of power of any pulpit comes from prayer closets.

5. Verse 2: And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.

a) Verse 2 is another prayer. Paul is saying in effect, “Look we are not going to “bat a 1,000” when preaching the gospel. Some people are not going to get it. Some people are going to reject it. Some who reject this message are going to do so violently and come after us.”

b) The price one pays to be a witness for Jesus is that it comes with persecution. I’ve already beaten that point to death in previous lessons. What is new “here” is that Paul is asking for help to combat that prayer. Paul is saying, “Hey, I’m preaching the Gospel. The price I have to pay for preaching the Gospel is that I’m going to persecuted. Whether I like it or not, this is going to happen. Pray for my protection.

i) This ties to my opening cliché of “be on the back lines supplying the ammunition”. The ammunition is our prayer support for the church leaders.

c) Notice Paul does not pray for the death of the wicked. Notice Paul does not pray for their harm. Paul prays that he be delivered from them.

i) It is similar to Jesus statement of “deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13).

ii) Whether we like it or not, evil men exist. Satan exists and cannot be eradicated until Jesus himself performs that task one day. God “does this” to keep us close to Him and dependant upon God for power over Satan.

iii) This is why we pray to be protected from the evil one.

iv) This gets back to my opening theme of proper attitude of a congregation. How does one specifically pray for the leadership of a church? One of the things we do is ask that they be protected from evil. Satan loves an ineffective ministry. If he can get the leaders to “trip up” somehow, that will become a bad witness for Jesus.

d) If you read through the Book of Acts, Paul faced death a lot. He understood the price it took to be a good witness for Jesus. Yet Verse 2 of this chapter tells us that Paul did not have a death wish. If anything, he simply asked for prayer so he could live to preach another day. Paul understood the price he had to pay to preach the Gospel and “all” he was asking in return was prayer support. Personally, I don’t think that’s too much to ask of any pastor or person who is on the “front lines” of Christianity.

6. Verse 3: But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

a) Verses 1 and 2 focus in Paul’s request of the Thessalonian church.

b) Verse 3 is the Thessalonians wondering, “OK, we’ll pray for you Paul, but what about us? You’re no longer in site. How we will survive? Who will guide us and protect us from Satan? “ With that in mind, re-read Verse 3.

c) There is a balance in Christianity between trusting in God and at the same time to continually pray for God’s help.

i) One extreme is to say, “I prayed one time for God’s protection 23 years ago. God’s answering that prayer and I don’t have to pray again.” J

ii) The other extreme is to say, “I need to pray every 23 seconds for God’s protection. If I forget, I’m doomed because God’s protection expires after 23 seconds. J

iii) God wants us close to Him. He wants us to pray regularly to remind us that He is there and is watching over us. Our problem is our short-term memories. Our problem is we get our focus off of God and unto our problems. Therefore, we pray regularly for God’s protection, partially to remind us that God is still there.

d) At the same time we have to have faith during those rough moments that God is working. That is what Paul meant in Verse 3 by “But the Lord is faithful”.

i) That’s why Paul said “The Lord will strengthen and protect us from the evil one.”

ii) We as Christians have to have trust in those words in Verse 3.

iii) Remember it is not our faithfulness that is on the line, but God’s. Personally, I don’t have a lot of trust in my faithfulness. I mess up constantly. On the other hand, I can sleep well trusting that God is faithful.

iv) Let me give an example. “Lord, once again, I am in deep do-do here.” J I don’t know how I’m going to get through it. I don’t know what is going to happen next. I do know that You are faithful to protect me. You promised You would never leave me nor forsake me. (Hebrews 13:5). Therefore, God, Your reputation is on the line, and not mine. Teach me the lessons you want me to learn from this situation. Strengthen my faith during this situation so I can be a good witness for You.” Rescue me from this situation so that You may be glorified by it. In the meantime, I’m going to trust that You are working through this situation, Amen.”

7. Verse 4: We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.

a) In Paul’s short time in Thessalonica, He gave them the basic instructions on how to live the Christian life. He taught them about Christian conduct, which we’ll discuss in depth over the next set of verses. The two letters to the Thessalonians are full of commands by Paul as to how the Thessalonians (and us) are to live.

b) Now Paul is writing his last words to them. It is Paul saying in a sense, “It is not necessary that there be a 3^rd Thessalonians or a 4^th Thessalonians. I, Paul, have confidence that God will be your instructor, and not me. Paul is saying he no longer has to worry about the Thessalonian church as long as they follow Paul’s instructions.

i) That is the idea for us. God gives us a book of instructions and says, “Read this, here are your instructions. At the same time we pray regularly both individually and collectively. We gather together with other Christians, as God never wants any of us to be a solo act. If we do that, than God is working in our lives. In that sense, Paul no longer had to worry about the Thessalonian church.

ii) It is as if Paul is saying, “I don’t have to teach you any more things. Do what I have told you when I was there. Here are a couple of more things in these letters. Now stop looking to me for further instructions and get moving. “ J

c) Paul’s “confidence” does not mean he stopped praying for that church.

i) That would be contradictory to what Paul said earlier in this letter.

ii) Paul mentions three times in these two letters how much he regularly prays for this church. (1^st Thessalonians 1:2, 2^nd Thessalonians 1:3, 2:13)

iii) Paul is confident that God is trustworthy. Therefore Paul prays for this church.

a) That is the application for us. We are to pray for our church and whatever ministry God calls us to support, regularly and with confidence that God is faithful and will do what He says He will do in His Word.

b) The success of our church is not up to “them” (say, the pastoral staff) but up to “us” (the congregation). This gets back to Charles Spurgeon’s “boiler room”. Regular prayer by and for the church is the secret of its success.

8. Verse 5: May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

a) Verse 5 is a great verse to be read in balance to Verse 4.

i) Verse 4 is Paul saying in effect, “I have confidence that you will persevere. “

ii) Verse 5 is Paul praying that the Thessalonians persevere.

b) Notice that Verse 5 is “up to God” and not “up to us”. The prayer of Verse 5 is directed for God to act as opposed to the Thessalonians to act.

i) That is a nice little model of how to pray for others. Start with God working in their lives and then focus on the individual’s or the group’s behavior.

c) The last phrase of Verse 5 says, “Christ’s perseverance”.

i) When you read through the Gospels, Jesus is focused upon his mission.

a) Four times in the Gospels Jesus uses the expression “my time” or “my hour” referring to Jesus purpose and mission.

b) You get the impression that Jesus was always in control of His actions and His destiny and no one could change his appointment calendar. J

ii) The lesson for us about perseverance is “figure out what God called you to do and stick to it, no matter what”.

iii) If you’re not sure, do “something” for God. You’ll soon know whether or not it is the right thing to do. At the same time, we need to be flexible enough to know that if it isn’t “bearing fruit” for God, it maybe time to go elsewhere. Our service to God involves using whatever gifts God has given us and is often combined with what we enjoy. What God calls us to do may be “something we can’t stand not doing it”. That is God working in our life.

iv) This is what Paul meant by Christ’s perseverance. Remember this church was under persecution. Paul is saying, “stick to it, despite the issues. Hold tight to your faith in God despite the pain. It is worth it.”

d) Something else caught my attention about this verse: Notice the focus is upon God the Father and Jesus and not on the Antichrist.

i) If you remember from the last lesson, most of chapter 2 is about “How to recognize the tribulation.” Most of chapter two describes the Antichrist. Paul teaches in that chapter how to know when the tribulation has started.

ii) At the same time, Verse 5 of chapter 3 is saying in effect, “Keep your eye on God and not on the Antichrist. He should be our focus, and not the enemy.

iii) That ties very well to the concept of perseverance. Focus on God and not the circumstances around you and you will persevere.

9. Verse 6: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

a) Paul changes topics in Verse 6. We move from the discussion of “sticking to it” in Verse 5 to Paul commanding the church to keep away from “busybodies”.

b) The next set of verses gets into the topic of avoiding Christians who are “idle”.

i) This refers to people who are capable for working for a living, but instead “mooch” off of the church.

ii) In both 1^st Thessalonians and 2^nd Thessalonians a big issue is the Second Coming of Jesus. Maybe there were people in that church who were so convinced the rapture would happen any day, they refused to get a job. Whether or not that was true, Paul’s point is that everyone who could support himself should do so.

c) Notice how important this command is to Paul:

i) He doesn’t just say, “I command you”, but “I command you in Jesus’ name”.

d) Notice what Paul does not say in this Verse:

i) Paul does not say to take every Christian who refuses to work and shot him. J

ii) Paul does not say to put an ad in the local paper stating who is lazy. J

iii) Notice in Verse 6 that Paul says that every brother who doesn’t work should be avoided. One is not sent to hell for being a lazy Christian. One’s salvation depends upon their trust in Jesus, not their behavior in the church. Paul still calls these people “brothers” even though they are causing problems in the church.

iv) This leads to something Jesus taught Peter:

a) I (Jesus) will give you (Peter) the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19 NIV)

b) This verse in Matthew states that whatever Peter “binds on earth” will be “bound in heaven”. Does that mean that when we get to heaven people will be tied up in ropes for eternity? J I don’t think so. Therefore, Jesus is not discussing eternal salvation in Matthew 16:19.

c) Jesus is saying that the church (believers) get to decide who does and who does not get to go to church on Sundays with us. Individual churches have the right to “ex-communicate” somebody who refuses to repent of a sin.

d) This quote by Jesus in Matthew 16:19 is repeated almost verbatim in Matthew 18:18. Matthew 18:15-17 discusses how to treat a sinning Christian. In summary, one confronts him or her individually. If they don’t repent, you approach them a second time with some witnesses (so it won’t be “their word versus your word”). I they still refuse to repent, you kick them out of the church. Then Jesus gives the “bind on earth/bound in heaven” statement.

(1) If you read this quote by Jesus in context of Matthew 18, you understand that Jesus is giving Christians the power to decide who can and cannot join a church.

v) With all of that in mind, now you can understand how Paul is saying that if a “brother” is a “nosy busybody”, to avoid them. Paul is discussing for Christians to keep away from them, but it is not a salvation issue.

e) The last thing to discuss is the topic of “idleness” itself.

i) First of all, this does not apply to every man, woman and child who is saved.

ii) I believe it applies to the “head of every household”. If you are a single adult of either sex, you are the head of your household. If you are supporting children or parents, you are the head of the household. This applies to those who can work, but then refuse to.

iii) In the cases of people who are financially well off and don’t have to work, the point is to “serve” and at the same time, not be “nosy”. God calls us to help people who ask for help, not to fix problems where people don’t want help.

iv) In a sense, this gets back to a principal taught in the “Garden of Eden”

a) When God was cursing Adam for eating the forbidden fruit, He said: “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17 NIV)

b) Through a curse, God is commanding Adam to “go work the ground”. The fact that Adam didn’t have a day job J meant he had too much time on his hands and was willing to eat the fruit. God placed this curse on Adam (among other reasons) is God wanted Adam to work. It is a model for Adam as well as mankind. If we are idle, we get lazy.

c) Unfortunately, many men derive their sense of self-worth from their work. This is dangerous, as it becomes an idol over God. Look how many people are more interested in what you do for a living than your relationship with God!” At the same time, work gives us a “sense of purpose” in that we are to do what God calls us to do, and to support our household.

v) We’ll get into more of this over the next set of verses. Speaking of which:

10. Verse 7: For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. ⁹ We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.

a) My loose translation: “Paul put his money where his mouth was”.

b) Paul wasn’t just saying that, “You should be busy working for a living”. During the time Paul was there He worked for a living so he didn’t have to get a free meal off of anyone.

c) Paul’s point is that we shouldn’t be a burden to anyone if it can be avoided.

i) Again, this is not about helping those in need. This is about not helping those who should be working instead of “mooching” off other people.

ii) In 1^st Timothy 5:9, Paul describes which widows should be “put on the list”. What that meant was that some widows should be on the church payroll if they met a certain list of qualifications. The point is that Paul believed that people should be helped financially if they are in need.

d) Why is this issue so important?

i) When you hear somebody give you a sales pitch for anything, be it a household product, a political view or a religion, you can’t help but think, “OK, what’s the catch? What is this going to cost me? What does this person want from me?”

ii) This is why you as a Christian should never say to a stranger, “Hey, let me tell you about Jesus. When we’re done, you owe me dinner because God called me to preach to you.” J

iii) People are going to question your motives if you are doing something for the money. That is human nature. But if you, like Paul, are self-supportive financially and are telling others about Jesus or being a witness for Him without demanding anything in return, people are more likely to listen.

e) This verse is an important lesson for a missionary.

i) A missionary should find a way to be self-supportive or have his or her “home church” help pay their expenses. The missionary should never be a burden to the people they are witnessing to.

ii) To those considering being a missionary, also consider learning a trade as well as learning your bible. There is no guarantee that some church will support you full time. There may be situations where you need a spare job in order to pay the bills while working on your ministry goals. If Paul had to work, so can we! J

f) This verse is not arguing against “the professional ministry”.

i) If you are in a large enough church that can afford full time pastors, that is wonderful. This topic is about being a witness to others. There are other chapters in the bible that deal with the topic of Christians financially supporting those in the full time ministry. (Ref. See 1^st Corinthians 9, 1^st Timothy 5)

11. Verse 10: For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

a) One of the problems we have as Christians is dealing with guilt. We believe to “love one another” is to always give handouts and help without asking questions.

b) Here is what Paul is not saying, “Oh, look at “so-and-so” over there. He doesn’t have a job because he loves God so much and just wants to help us with our problems. We all need to support him, because that would be the Christian loving thing to do.”

i) Think about that in connection to “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

ii) Paul is saying, “Excuse me you lazy bum, go get a job and then come join us.” J

c) Remember the key word here is “will”. If a man will not work is the issue.

d) Does this mean we don’t give a dollar to the beggar on the street corner?

i) First of all, I am not arguing against compassion. God’s love is meant to be unconditional. We are called to help hurting people, despite their faith in God.

a) If you feel “lead” to give, give.

b) If a person is hungry, cold or not sober, we can’t be a witness to the