AT this close of his letter to the Thessalonians Paul addresses a problem which existed in the church in Thessalonica. It was a practical issue concerning idleness, and so not living according to Paul's teaching on the way believers should conduct themselves in their daily lives. All Paul's letters arose out of problems which had come to exist in the various churches God had brought into being through the ministry of Paul. All such problems can be traced back to the malice of Satan. All needed to be addressed lest like yeast in bread dough, the error or sin begins to permeate the whole life of the church.

The problem addressed here was one of idleness, which as Paul's teaching expresses in verses 6-15 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 is concerned with working to earn ones living and so not burdening others in the church to provide for the needs of the one being idle.

This seems to be a very small matter which we may feel hardly warrants Paul's intervention here. The trouble is we are not told all the details of this problem of idleness. We can deduce that it was the action of some who were not prepared to work for their living, but we are not told why they behaved in this way. I suppose we are not told these details because of the tendency of us fallen human beings to justify action if it did not transgress some known attitude. What Paul is emphasising here is that idleness is a sin for whatever reason it is engaged in, and must be corrected.

Some people have stopped work because they have been convinced of the imminent return of Jesus, and so felt that they should not work but spend their time in being ready for that great day. However Paul tells us clearly that the time when Christ returns is just not known by any except the Father. Other reasons for idleness may have been brought up to justify not working for ones living, but we are not told what these may have been because what Paul is stressing is that there can be no reason to abate from working to earn a living.

We may well ask whether it is right for clergy and missionaries, and others in full time work for the Lord, to be paid and not earn their own living by some other job. However there is clear teaching in the Bible, that when people are called to full time service for the Lord, it is right that they should be paid in order that they are able to give all their time to their calling. In the Old Testament the tribe of Levi, chosen by God to carry out the spiritual duties assigned to them, were not given a portion of land in Palestine to gain their living, but God appointed that all the other tribes should set aside a tenth of all they had to provide for the needs of the Levites, so that they could have time to carry out all the commands of God for the spiritual worship of the people.

When we come to the New Testament we find Jesus joining with Joseph, not only to learn the carpenters trade, but to work for his living by this means. It was only when in the last three years of his life he gave himself entirely to his spiritual ministry and work and ceased this employment. As we read of this ministry in the gospels we can see that it took all his human strength for this work, as we see him often tired out by his ministry. This ethic of work was established in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were placed in the garden, not just to enjoy it, but to care for it and look after it.

Even in this passage before us Paul makes it clear that, although he worked for his living while preaching and teaching in Thessalonica, yet he did this simply because he wanted, by example, to impress on the Thessalonians the importance and rightness of working for ones living. He indicates that to fulfil his ministry he had a right to claim support from the church, so he could give himself completely to his ministry of teaching and healing.

So what is Paul actually teaching here in these verses we are considering. As he addresses this problem in Thessalonica let us notice that Paul speaks in the name of the Lord Jesus. What does this declare to us and the church in Thessalonica. This tells us that Paul was not expressing his own thoughts and opinions, but he is speaking in the name of Jesus, as an ambassador of Christ. This means that he was not expressing his own opinion but declaring the command of the Lord. Paul was expressing the mind of Christ who is Lord of his church, who declares how he desires his people to live. Like the prophets of old, and Moses, he heard the word of God and the expression of the mind of God, and as he learned from the Lord, he taught the people of God. So by Paul saying he spoke in the name of the Lord, he was saying that it was the Lord's direction for his people and not his. For this reason Paul's commands here must be understood as the command of God.

Then let us notice he speaks of those who were idle as brothers. He speaks of every brother who is idle. In other words these people who were sinning by idleness were members of Christ and true believers. This warns us that even true believers can be led astray into wrong action and living, and this suggests also that this wrong action was probably justified by spiritual reasons. Satan is always active to cause trouble in the church of Jesus Christ, and his subtlety enables him to so twist the truth and the way of Jesus to make it seem to be the spiritual way of Christ. We need to be aware of this which is expressed in Scripture as Satan coming like an angel of light. Because of this the only way to expose and oppose such subtlety is to be taught and held by the plain meaning of the Bible. As soon as we bring our own fallen and limited wisdom to bear on Scripture we will most surely go astray. Our minds must be used only to understand the Bible, and not question God's infallible word.

Paul speaks here about what 'we command'. This indicates that what he taught not only came from the Lord, but was the tradition of all the apostles. Here Paul was not being dictatorial, but commanding the universal teaching and way of Christ in his church.

Paul instructs the Thessalonian believers to keep away from every brother who is idle. We need to think seriously as to what Paul is indicating here. What does he mean by 'keeping away'. Does he mean that the brother who is caught up in the idle way of living must be excommunicated from the fellowship. Surely this is not so because when Paul feels that excommunication is required he says so plainly. With this is mind 'keeping away' surely must be interpreted as having nothing to do with this wrong way of life, refusing to listen to appeals to join in this practice, and to have nothing to do with such people in their wrong practice. If this brother is living in the family of the church, except for this wrong living, this brother should be accepted as a brother, and given the love as a believer when this is required.

Paul makes plain that what he commands believers to do is to follow the teaching they had received from the apostle, and firmly refuse living in the way of idleness or any other digression from the pure teaching of the apostle. When any way of life or action of a believer wanders away from the inspired truth that the apostles wrote by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, then that is to be avoided, and the person teaching the error should be made to understand that the faithful must not and cannot have anything to do with such living and teaching.

Believers need to understand the danger of living close to error whether in living or believing. Once error has been exposed then the only way to go on is to avoid such teaching, and be clear that such error can not be tolerated in the church. This way forward may be found to be hard and may cause offence, but it is what Paul is indicating here in these verses we are studying. It is so very easy to be contaminated when we get too close to error and wrong.

Paul was always a gracious pastor, and we see this illustrated here in the rest of the verses before us, that is to verse 10. Although he had a right to the supply of his needs and the needs of his fellow workers, so that they could give all their time to the ministry of the Gospel (verse 9), he did not claim that right, but because he was anxious to give an example to the believers in Thessalonica as to how God required his people to live he worked to supply his needs and of those with him. Because of this, over and above all his efforts to preach and teach the Gospel, he worked night and day, labouring and toiling so that he and those with him would not be a burden to anyone in the church.

Paul sought never to put an obstacle in the way of those who were believers through his ministry. It was because of this that he gave this example of working to satisfy his temporal and bodily needs. Paul never sought to exalt himself over the rest of the believers who made up the church, but simply sought by example to adorn the doctrine of Christ he was commissioned by our Lord to proclaim.

Paul had no illusions of grandeur which made him feel above the ones he taught. Paul had one motive and desire alone, and that was for the safety and spiritual health of those he ministered to. As we meditate on the teaching of the apostle here, and observe his example, and how he adorned the doctrine of Christ our Saviour, there are further things that these verse bring to our notice.

In the first place, Satan is always diligently seeking to sow weeds of error in belief and practice within the fellowship of Christ's church. That Satan is very successful in this evil work can be seen in the way Paul had so many issues to deal with in the churches he founded, and we can see also how successful Satan is in infiltrating the church today and all down the ages with his harmful suggestions. From this we need to learn that there are many issues in the church, like the evil of idleness in Thessalonica, that Satan uses to corrupt the belief and life of the family of God. From this we see how important it is for all faithful believers to be on their guard against such infiltration into the life of the church. Satan is exceedingly clever in his promotion of error. He does not tempt us with obvious deviations from the truth and from holiness of life, but rather comes with plausible ideas where it is hard to see the deviation from the gospel and the Spirit. Having gain entrance into the life of the church, he works hard to gain adherents to his cause, and like yeast in bread dough soon infects the whole of the fellowship of believers. If this work of Satan is not observed, and action taken, then the error takes firm hold, and to eradicate it is so much more difficult. We have only to look at the history of the church to see how successful Satan has been.

The example of Paul in these verses is something we need to imitate. He saw the error and immediately sought to reveal it, and instruct the faithful how to deal and react to it. Paul never allowed fear of men, or the difficulty of the task, to hinder him. Even though it brought him much pain he still was faithful. His courageous action encourages us to be as faithful, not counting the cost. Error in faith and practice will always overcome the life of the church unless it is quickly seen and opposes. Without becoming paranoid we need to be always seeking to discern evil in the church, and whatever the cost to be faithful, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to oppose and correct the deviation from the truth.

In the second place, the example of Paul in this sin beginning to harm the church in Thessalonica is one of great importance. Paul had every right to claim support for his ministry so that he could give himself completely to his work of preaching the gospel, and training believers in the truth, but he gave up what was his right to claim in order to give an example to the church. He sacrificed his own rights in order to be an example to the believers in Thessalonica, and in order not to give any advantage to Satan to hurt the faith and life of those he ministered to. It is not always right to stand up for our rights. We need to so love and care for others that we do not put any stumbling block in the way of their faithful following of Jesus. Paul indicated this when he dealt with the matter of eating meat offered to idles in Corinth.

How we live and express our faith is so important. So much harm to others can be done when we are not careful to care and watch that we show absolute Christ-likeness in our living and speaking. We are responsible to others, specially to other believers. Our actions speak so much louder than our words. We may speak with truth and light, but if people see that our living contradicts what we say, they will revolt away from our words and witness. We must adorn the doctrine of Christ our Saviour. We must so love our neighbour that at all times we seek our neighbours good and eternal welfare.

Paul's action of working for his living in Thessalonica was costly. He had all the burden of his work as an apostle, teacher and leader. He needed all his strength for this work, but for the sake of the ones he preached to he took on the burden of working to live, and willingly took on this additional demand on his resources both spiritually and temporally.