Lesson: God’s Own Faithfulness
Purpose: To learn how God’s faithfulness to us requires that we live faithfully.
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 3
Let’s each share the name of someone who has been one example of genuine Christian living for you?
Who have been the persons in your life who have been there when you needed them?
How do you feel when you know someone is praying for you?
Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you, and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
(2Th 3:1-5 NRSV)
What did Paul request in verse 1?
Prayer
For what, specifically, did Paul ask them to pray?
He asked “that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere” and “that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people”.
For not all have faith, but the Lord is faithful. In contrast to the faithlessness of those who were opposing Paul was the great faithfulness of God.
What type of opposition does the ministries and missions of the church face today?
Have you ever been prayed for in regard to a specific mission or undertaking?
Have you ever prayed for someone else involved in mission or ministry?
For most of it’s history the Church has been in a process of slow, steady growth. Most of our ministries and outreach seem geared toward a goal of slow, steady growth. Did Paul long for slow, steady growth?
Is the church in
After decades of net decline, more
Is the church world-wide growing?
Worldwide the statistics are much more positive than in the
There are now about 600 million Christians in
Astounding church growth has occurred in
The
What would it take to see a rapid expansion of the gospel in the
How could prayer help spread the message of the Lord?
How does prayer change people or circumstances?
The root word of faithfulness is faith. In current popular usage, the word faith has come to mean in most folks minds an intellectual acknowledgement to a certain set of beliefs. In other words faith has come to be synonymous with belief.
In what ways are faith and belief synonymous?
In what ways are they different?
Faith is much more than belief. Faith is trust, loyalty. Faith is dynamic. Any believer in Jesus can veg out and become essentially a Christian “couch potato”. But faith doesn’t leave room for vegging. Faith demands action.
We are not just hearers of the Word, but also doers.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?....... faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder.
(Jas 2:14-19 NRSV)
If we accept that faith is trust, what allows trust to develop?
Trust forms only in relationship. Good relationships are built upon a foundation of trust, and nothing will undermine a relationship like a betrayal of trust.
Why is prayer important?
Prayer is the language of our relationship with God.
How does prayer protect us?
How does our belief about God affect the way we pray?
One of the ways that we live faithfully is to pray for others. When Paul asked the Thessalonians to pray, he was really asking them to be faithful in their relationship with God. Prayer is a way of connecting with God.
How does praying for someone connect you to her or him?
When we pray for someone, the person comes to the forefront of our thoughts. We focus on her or his needs and concerns and forget our own. Praying for one another connects us with what is happening in her or his life. Our prayers can lead to action on her or his behalf.
Verse 4. When he speaks of “doing the things that we command. . .” are we to do the things our pastors command, or is this commanding only a privilege of Paul and friends?
How much authority should a pastor have, biblically?
Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.
(2Th 3:6-13 NRSV)
There’s another command from Paul.
In this long section Paul pointed to another aspect of living faithfully. What is that?
Paul discusses idleness and work. According to Paul responsible work is another aspect of the faithful life. Why did Paul spend such effort discussing idleness?
After all, whom does idleness really harm?
Is idleness simply doing nothing, the same as laziness?
Not really. In this context, idleness involves more than doing nothing. It also involves doing the wrong things. It is subtle disobedience that is not in keeping with God’s will and purposes for us. There is a difference between doing good things and doing the things God wants us to do.
Not all good ideas are God’s ideas.
At a church administrative council meeting someone observed, “The trouble with the church is that there aren’t enough committed people.” Someone else said, “The trouble with the church is that people are over-committed to the wrong things.” Idleness can refer to being preoccupied with a thousand-and-one good things that allow us to avoid the things God really wants us to do. We may be busy, but we may be busy doing things other than the things God wants us to do.
Those in the Thessalonian church who Paul called out for their idleness were not just passively sitting around and not bothering anyone else; they were meddling in the affairs of others. What did Paul refer to them as?
“Mere busybodies.”
How could these idlers justify their unwillingness to work and earn a living?
At the root of their idleness was their belief that the day of the Lord was so close at hand that it rendered working meaningless. They apparently reasoned, “Since Christ is returning any day, why worry about living?” These idlers tried to convince their fellow church members of their belief. They were disrupting community life with their irresponsible behavior. Those who were not working were relying on the hard work of others for food and shelter, no doubt causing resentment within the church.
What are some modern parallels of this group waiting for the return of the Lord?
We actually have a term for these types of groups today. They are called “doomsday cults” and can refer to both groups that prophesy catastrophe and destruction, and those that attempt to bring it about.
We have many modern examples: the
For Paul, living faithfully meant working. He knew the value of hard work and commended it to the Thessalonians not only by word but also by example. Paul reminded them that he and his companions were self-supporting during their visit there and did not ask the community to support them.
For those living faithfully, voluntary idleness is not an option. Theodore Roosevelt said, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
What counts as “work worth doing”?
There is value in every kind of work, but doing the kinds of work that make positive differences in peoples lives is a great gift.
What price do the idle pay for their idleness?
Prov 13:4 The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.
Prov 15:19 19 The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
Prov 19:24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!
Prov 20:4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
What are the benefits of hard work?
Prov 12:14 From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.
Prov 14:23 All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
Prov 22:29 Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.
If you could, do you think you would be happier in a world where you didn’t have to work?
Studies show that workers are happier than those who don’t.
If you could engage in any kind of work, what would you do?
What percentage of your average day do you spend doing those things you really like to do?
You should ask yourself that often. If the answer is often negative, you may want to explore some options.
How does a person learn good work habits?
When have you been frustrated with a lazy person?
What kind of help do you think should be given to people who do not work?
Do you think God normally calls us into work we love?
Have you ever heard someone say: “I'm afraid to surrender my life totally to the Lord because He might send me to
What do those statements say about God?
Such statements indicate a lack of trust and understanding of God's love, for He would not call you to be a missionary in
One missionary couple came back to their home in the
How literally do you take verse 10?
According to verse 10, if a man won't work don't let him eat. If he comes to us saying, "I am hungry," should we tell him, "Starve."?
A common argument about our contemporary welfare system is that it is an incentive not to work. That is not the whole story. Even before the 1996 Welfare reforms limited lifetime benefits to five total years (two consecutive years) House Committee on Ways and Means analyses indicated that 56 percent of AFDC support ended within 12 months, 70 percent within 24 months, and almost 85 percent within 4 years. These exit rates clearly contradict the widespread myth that AFDC recipients wanted to remain on public assistance or that welfare dependency was permanent.
It is a very, very, very small percentage of Americans who don’t want to work.
Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.
(2Th 3:14-15 NRSV)
In these verses Paul introduced another aspect of living faithfully: how we treat those who are disruptive or difficult.
What did Paul advise the Thessalonians to do? Why?
Is what Paul suggesting a sort of “time-out” for unruly church members?
What second piece of advice did Paul offer in verse 15?
The disruptive idlers were not to be treated as enemies but as siblings. Even though they were disobedient, these persons were still part of the church.
Paul offered a first century version of tough love. He did not want the Thessalonians to tolerate irresponsible behavior, and he wanted them to do what they could to correct it. He asked them to treat the difficult members with love.
Is Paul’s advice still valid in the twenty-first century?
Do you believe that the strategies for dealing with disruptive members would work? Why or why not?
Have any of you had to confront irresponsible behavior within the church community?
What happened?
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