6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you,” (2 Thessalonians 3:6-7 (ESV)
My father was blue collar worker throughout his life. He labored in factories and was a truck driver. He worked a physically demanding job and rarely missed a day of work.
When he was home, he tirelessly toiled around the house making sure the grass was cut, the shrubs were trimmed, the flowers were neatly arranged and the vegetable garden was weeded. I assumed the task of weeding the garden along with mowing and trimming the lawn, and as I got older. He also periodically painted, inside and outside, the house he and my mom purchased when I was a newborn. His car, either a Ford or Mercury, was always washed and clean. In other words, my dad was not a lazy man.
Unconsciously, I embraced these values. When I began working at a restaurant at the age of sixteen, I worked the way my dad worked; hard. I didn’t know any other way. When my co-workers commented about why I worked like I did, I told them its how my dad taught me how to work. It became the ethic I valued throughout my career and pastoral ministry. It was what I shared about my dad when I delivered the eulogy at his funeral.
Puritan Richard Baxter once said, “as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.” Living daily in light of eternity gave the Puritans a deep appreciation for living every moment on earth to the fullest for God. “Promise not long life to yourselves,” Baxter advised, “but live as those that are always uncertain of another day.”
For the Puritans, to “redeem the time” (as Baxter put it) meant to order one’s daily life in accordance with godly principles and for maximum effectiveness. One of the Puritans’ favorite epithets was well-ordered,” explains one church historian.
“Their opponents nicknamed them the disciplinarians. The Puritans aspired to be worldly saints—Christians with earth as their sphere of activity and with heaven as their ultimate hope. Baxter exhorted his readers, “Write upon the doors of thy shop and chamber, … This is the time on which my endless life dependeth.” This approach to life resulted in three vintage Puritan traits: the ideal of the God—centered life, the doctrine of calling or vocation, and the conviction that all of life is God’s.”
The Apostle Paul commanded the Thessalonian believers to stay away from an idle brother. “Paul said, “that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness.”
Idleness (ἀτάκτως; ataktos) means to be disorderly, irresponsible and lazy. It refers to anyone, especially a so-called believer in Christ, who refuses to work. It becomes a present, active lifestyle. There are times when an individual cannot work, or does not have the opportunity to work. However, the Christian is never to refuse to work when they can work.
Paul used himself, Silas and Timothy as examples of being hard workers. He encouraged the church to imitate their labor.
“The command which follows is given “in the name of”—that is, on the basis of the authority of and in accordance with the teaching (revelation) of—the Lord Jesus Christ (see on 1 Thess. 1:1). He alone is the Anointed Lord and Savior of the Church, and in that capacity has the right to issue commands,” explains Dr. William Hendriksen.
“The command has to do with individual cases of “disorderly conduct.” The expression “every brother” would seem to indicate that the instances were rather isolated: here one and there one. The congregation as a whole was sound in faith and practice. The “disorderly conduct” probably consisted of such things as:
a. loafing, in view of the conviction that Christ would return any day now;
b. spreading all manner of exciting gossip about Christ’s imminent return (cf. 2:2);
c. asking to be supported by the church (see verse 12: “they eat their own bread,” which implies that this was what they did not want to do); and
d. meddlesomeness, perhaps interfering with the business that properly belonged to the officers (see verse 11: “busybodies”).[1]
“Much of Paul’s instruction regarding idleness in 2 Thessalonians overlaps with 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12 and 5:14, but some new points are made. Paul exhorts us to “keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness” (2 Thess. 3:6). Obviously, the Apostle does not mean that we cease fellowship with a professing Christian the first time he evidences laziness; rather, the church must discipline the able-bodied who persistently refuse to work even when they can find employment. Paul also points to his own work as a tentmaker as he did in 1 Thessalonians 2:9 (see Acts 18:1–3), but he adds that his labor is an example that must be imitated (2 Thess. 3:9). If Christ’s Apostles worked diligently in lawful employment, surely we must do the same if we are able”, states Dr. R. C. Sproul.
There are many legitimate reasons why people cannot work. It may be because of illness, disability, or other circumstances beyond their control. Perhaps it is because they cannot find employment even though they are trying. However, for the able-bodied who refuse to support themselves even when they can find work, these are they who are not living according to Christ’s command. Let us resolve to not a part of this people group. See Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Proverbs 18:9; 19:15; 26:13-16; 3 John 1:3-5.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
[1] William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, Exposition of I-II Thessalonians, vol. 3, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953–2001), 199.
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