2nd Thessalonians

First Baptist Church Leominster

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The ABC’s of the Christian Life (3): Following Jesus unto Salvation (1)

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Let's turn in our Bibles, please, to the third chapter of 2 Thessalonians.

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My voice is returning to me, but it's not back fully. Somewhat strained.

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What the Apostle Paul sets out before us here in 2 Thessalonians 3, 6 -15 is that a local church should be disciplined.

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The church members should be disciplined in nature, ordering their lives according to the will of God, rightly.

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For some at Thessalonica had not been doing so. And Paul addresses that situation here in this passage.

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And so in this last section of Paul's second epistle to the Thessalonians, the Apostle addressed a problem that was in this local church at Thessalonica.

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A problem the church was having with some of its members. We don't know how many, but a few.

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Some. There were some church members who were behaving or living in a disorderly manner.

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ESV describes them as being idle. Busy bodies rather than busy working is how they're described.

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And as a result, they were bringing discredit to the Lord and discredit to their testimony. They were damaging the church's reputation within the community.

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And so these disorderly Christians were scandalizing the community. They had to be dealt with.

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And so Paul instructed the church that these men must be addressed. And so we read 2

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Thessalonians 3, 6 -15. Notice there are two paragraphs.

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Verses 6 -12. And then a short two sentence or three sentence paragraph.

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Verses 13 -15. And this is the ESV translation.

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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.

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For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it.

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But with toil and labor we worked night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.

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It was not because we do not have that right but to give you and ourselves an example to imitate.

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For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

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For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the

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Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

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If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person.

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Have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy but warn him as a brother.

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Now the church at Thessalonica was a good church, in fact one of the best. It was a stellar church in the opinion of the

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Apostle Paul. And you might recall back in 1 Thessalonians 1 how the

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Apostle described this church. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in prayers.

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And then he cited what he remembered about them. And there is a whole list of positive things about this church.

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This was a great church. In fact it was a church that Paul declared was an exemplary church.

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A church that set an example for all the churches in that region. But as good as this church was at Thessalonica, it wasn't a perfect church.

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There is no perfect church. Because churches are made up of imperfect people.

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There will never be a perfect church in this world. But the local church is not to resign to church members living in such a way as to bring reproach upon the church.

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These people have to be dealt with. These are members. These are brethren. These are professing

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Christians. And so the Lord would have his churches address these people, confronting them, correcting them, and instructing them in right living.

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And Paul does that here. I would like to consider this passage before us this morning.

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First by considering the details of what Paul set forth, the instruction that he gave.

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But then secondly, if we have the time, I would like to stand back a little bit and consider what

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Paul's instruction to this church really reveals to us about the nature of a New Testament local church.

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And I would argue, historically, what

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Baptist churches have believed and practiced, for the most part, historically. And I think that it's reinforced in this passage before us.

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And maybe as we work through this, you might be alert to some principles here, if you can recognize them. I cite four or five, maybe even six, toward the end of our notes.

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But let's first consider the apostolic instruction to the church at Thessalonica.

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As we look over this passage, we can discern two divisions, really. There's a subtle division, and it's set forth again in these two paragraphs.

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The first paragraph, verses 6 through 12, gives instruction to the church on how to address disorderly members.

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But then with verses 13 through 15, Paul gives further instruction to the church on how to address these disorderly

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Christians if they don't respond to their instruction. If they don't respond to the correction.

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They move from being disorderly now to being hourly disobedient. And so Paul addresses them if they don't respond to the instruction in verses 13 through 15.

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And so let's take the first section, where Paul addresses a disorderly Christian, verses 6 through 12.

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Notice Paul first instructed the church in verse 6 to keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition you receive from us.

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Here's the full verse, verse 6. Now we command you brothers, that's

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Paul the Apostle commanding, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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In other words, it wasn't just Paul commanding, it was the Lord Jesus Christ commanding through Paul. His coming with apostolic authority.

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That you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you receive from us.

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Very clear, straightforward command. Now, in our notes we've tended to use the word disorderly rather than the word idleness to describe these

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Christians. For the word disorderly is the word that is in the

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King James and the New King James Version. And when I think of this passage, read this passage,

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I hit the word idleness and it just disorderly comes out. That's just the way

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I tend to think of things. I think really the disorderly word maybe is a better word than just idle.

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Here is the New King James translation of this paragraph. And I want you to notice the word disorderly in English is used three times in this paragraph.

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But we command you brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly.

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It's an adverb describing the manner in which they walk. Not according to the tradition which you receive from us.

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For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us. For we were not, here it is the second occasion, disorderly among you.

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Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.

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Not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

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For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.

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For we hear that there are some who walk among you in disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busy bodies.

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The Greek word which is translated as idleness in the ESV, but translated as disorderly in the

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New King James, is ataktos. And again, it's an adverb.

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In fact, the only place that this Greek word is used is here in 2

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Thessalonians 3. And it's used on these several occasions in this paragraph. This word as an adverb is found nowhere else in all of the

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New Testament, the Greek New Testament. There is an adjective form of the word, rather than adverb, and that's found back in 1

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Thessalonians 5 .4. Which reads, Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly. See, unruly there is an adjective, not an adverb.

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It's a predicate word. Those who are unruly. It describes them. It describes them.

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Here in 2 Thessalonians 3, it's describing their behavior. Comfort the faint -hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

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And the Greek word is translated as unruly in other translations.

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In other words, it describes one who is not ordering his life according to the rules. Disorderly, not according to order.

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And so it's not just idle, it's not just passive, not being active, but there's actually a dysfunction.

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There's a disorder on the part of these people. There's a failure to do what they should have been doing.

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Paul is suggesting that these people knew better, but had chosen to live in a manner contrary to what they had been taught.

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And their primary failure was that they were not working. But there may be more to their disorderly lives than just simply not working.

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William Hendrickson, a sound reformed commentator, suggests these disorderly persons included those who were loafing.

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They were do -nothingers, as Hendrickson said. Second, they were spreading all manner of gossip about Christ's imminent return.

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We saw that back in chapter 2. Paul said, don't be deceived in thinking that the

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Lord's return is imminent. It's not, he says. And even though some might tell you, teach you, some might write a letter as though it were from me.

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Don't believe them. And Hendrickson is suggesting these disorderly people had this wrong view of the imminent return of Christ.

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That's why they were idle and not working. They thought they were Jesus who was coming back. What's the point of working? And thirdly, they were asking to be supported by the church.

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They weren't supporting themselves, so they were freeloading. And fourth, they were meddling in the affairs of others, particularly with the business of the church elders.

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And so Paul identified these disorderly Christians as not walking according to the tradition received from us.

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And we pointed out tradition here should not be confused with what Roman Catholicism teaches about church tradition.

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When Paul is talking about tradition, he's talking about the things that he had previously taught them. Things he taught them in 1

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Thessalonians when he wrote that letter to them. Things, no doubt, that Timothy taught them when Paul sent Timothy to visit them.

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Things that he had demonstrated by example when he lived among them. This is what he meant by tradition.

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He was referring to his previous instruction to them. That's what he's referring to when he uses the word tradition.

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And so these disorderly Christians had failed, perhaps even refused, to order their lives according to this tradition,

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Paul's instruction and Paul's example. And so Paul instructed the members of this church that they withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly.

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And the ESV translates the command that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness.

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Now it's very important to understand Paul is not telling them to remove these people from the church.

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He's not advocating that they be excommunicated from the church. But rather he's advocating that these people should be ostracized within the church.

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So that they'd be led to be ashamed. And so this is a measured but limited action taken by church members upon those who are not living in proper or appropriate

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Christian ways. And I would venture to say that there are probably not many local churches that practice this.

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This is not the same action that our Lord prescribes, say in Matthew 18. Where he was advocating that after you get done dealing with this man and he has failed to hear the church.

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As these people have failed the church. That you exclude him and thereafter treat him as an unbeliever.

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As a heathen and a tax collector. Paul doesn't say that here of these. He says you treat him like a brother.

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And so it's a different treatment. You're dealing with these people within the church fellowship.

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But there is a breaking off. There is a distancing of oneself. You don't fellowship with that person.

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And you can imagine how this may play out within a local church. But this is exactly what

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Paul is advocating. This action the apostle prescribes is not to be regarded as an act of excommunication.

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Say that he directed the church of Corinth to take. Toward that man who is committing sexual immorality.

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There Paul wrote to the church of Corinth. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ when you're gathered together. Along with my spirit with the power of our

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Lord Jesus Christ. Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the

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Lord. That man was excommunicated. He was to be put out of the church. These people were not to be put out of the church.

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But they were to be ostracized within the church. And so Paul was not instructing the church at Thessalonica.

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That these disorderly persons would be put out of the church. Nor were any of them to be treated like a heathen or a tax collector.

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They were to be regarded as brethren and treated as brothers. Even upon this action that they were to be taken.

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The members of the church were to distance themselves from these disorderly ones. So as to lead these ones to be ashamed and perhaps repent of their sin.

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Apparently these disorderly church members had been believing badly. Behaving badly in this way in this manner for quite some time.

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Again Hendrickson wrote rightly I think. The fact that a rather lengthy paragraph verses 3 through 15 is devoted to this sin.

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Would seem to indicate that the evil here signalized had grown worse since the first epistle had been written.

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So we're talking about a period of months. Maybe three months between 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. It wasn't a sudden action.

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This is after a patient dealing with these people. And there was an unresponsiveness. Then this action was to be taken.

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So this is not the kind of action that should just be taken immediately. Because you see somebody that you think is walking disorderly.

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This is a measured action on the part of the church family. Ostracizing someone because he's not living rightly as a

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Christian. Hendrickson went on to write.

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Such conduct was certainly far removed from the tradition which the Thessalonians had received from the missionaries. In other words

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Paul, Timothy and Silas. This tradition was the teaching which Paul, Silas and Timothy on the basis of authority vested in them had passed along to the congregation.

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It included such instruction as this one. If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat. Verse 10.

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The Thessalonians had received it from the missionaries during their first visit. And also subsequently by letter.

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No doubt Timothy on his visit has stressed the same thing. And so this was a chronic problem of these people that needed to be addressed.

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And so some serious action had to be taken. So Hendrickson wrote.

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In the case of some individuals all this instruction had been in vain. Somewhat stronger methods must now be used.

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When admonition does not succeed, segregation must be resorted to. At least to a limited extent.

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And again I would ask yourself this question. How many times have you seen this played out in church life in your

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Christian experience? Perhaps our churches were weaker because of it. Well after Paul had referred to his previous instruction in verse 6 we next read in verses 7 and 8 that Paul had demonstrated a personal example when he was among them.

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He wasn't idle when he was among them. He wasn't a busybody. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us because we were not idle when we were with you nor do we eat anyone's bread without paying for it but with toil and labor we work night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you.

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And so when Paul had initially served them in the gospel he had a right to be financially supported by them.

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He gave this instruction in other places in his epistles that ministers should be financially supported.

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He wrote to Timothy. Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor.

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And actually he's talking about double pay there. That's what he's saying. Especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.

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For the scripture says you shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain and the laborer is worthy of his wages.

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Paul was worthy of his wages when he was serving among them. And then we won't read the passage but in 1

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Corinthians 9 he wrote to the church of Corinth that he had a right to be supported by them.

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And he reasoned, hey doesn't a soldier deserve to be paid for his warfare?

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Shouldn't an ox be fed when he's laboring on your behalf?

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And so a minister should also be supported. And yet if you drop down to verse 12, that last paragraph of that section nevertheless we've not made use of this right.

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And so Paul set forth it was a right of his. It was a right for ministers to be supported. But he says

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I never made use of those. I never claimed those. I never demanded those. But I was among you working with my own hands in a secular job supporting myself because I did not want to be a burden to you in any way whatsoever.

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He had the right but he refused to use it. And so verse 14 of that passage,

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In the same way the Lord commanded those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. But Paul never did.

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And so though Paul had a right to be financially supported by the churches and the churches had a responsibility to support him he never demanded his rights.

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He never received money from them to compensate for his ministry among them. And so Paul could say to the church at Corinth, I've made no use of any of these rights nor am

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I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.

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For if I preach the gospel that gives me no ground for boasting for necessities laid upon me. He says

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I'm going to preach it whether I'm paid or not. He says I don't have a choice in the matter. He says woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.

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He's basically declaring there I'm going to be damned if I don't preach the gospel. This is what I'm called to do.

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Woe to me. That's an indication of God's curse. And so he desired to preach the gospel free of charge.

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I wish I was independently wealthy so you didn't have to pay me. That would be such a privilege. But this is how

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Paul served and God blessed him of course for it. And Paul served in the church at Thessalonica just as he did at the church of Corinth.

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And he declared, he wrote, It was not because we do not have that right but to give you and ourselves an example to imitate.

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And Paul was an example to the flock as all elders, pastors should be to their flock.

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Paul instructed the members of the church not to be idle, not to depend on others for support. And he himself had illustrated this through his own example in the way he lived.

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He worked long and hard so that he could be free to serve others without being a financial burden to them.

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And so we read of Paul's previous instruction to them. And then we just read about his personal example, verses 7 through 9.

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And next we read of his apostolic command. Now he's getting assertive here in verse 10.

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For even when we were with you, we would give you this command. If anyone's not willing to work, let him not eat.

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He's being assertive here. He's commanding them. Paul, of course, was an apostle of Jesus Christ.

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And an apostle is one who was sent on behalf of another. That's what the Greek word apostolos means, one who is sent.

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He represents the one who sent him. And he represented Jesus Christ. And so the apostles bore the authority of Jesus.

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When they spoke, it was Jesus speaking through them. They had the authority of Jesus Christ as his representatives.

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And so when the apostle gave a command, it was as though the Lord Jesus himself issued the command. For the apostle represented him.

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And so here he's issuing a command. This is from the Lord, is what he's basically saying. The fact is, it's the

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Lord's will. It always has been since the fall of Adam and Eve for men to support themselves and their families by labor.

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After Adam had fallen into sin, God told him, In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. Till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken.

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For thus you are, and to thus you shall return. God has ordained that men support themselves and their families through labor.

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You're hearing these stories about some nations and proposals that everybody in the world be given a minimum income.

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Irrespective of work. That's a prescription for disaster, in my opinion. But this is being proposed now, every place.

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God would have all able -bodied men thereafter to support themselves and their families through labor.

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And so when the Lord commanded to Paul, If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

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Paul did not say, if anyone is unable to work. That's not the issue. If anyone is unwilling to work, then you let him reap the consequences of his action.

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Don't let him eat. And so here is a divine principle that if ignored or set aside by a nation, a church, or a family, there will be sore consequences.

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Again, Hendrickson's words of application I think are fitting. It concerns the pious sluggard who does not want to work and who proceeds from the idea that church owes me a living.

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Substitute world or government for church and the passage would fit many people living today, both inside and outside the church.

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And that's certainly the case. And somehow, you know, I'm owed support.

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Just for being here without any accompanying labor. Well, Paul then identifies these disorderly persons directly in verses 11 and 12, giving instruction regarding them.

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For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the

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Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. They are to work quietly, supporting themselves, living in a manner so that they are not a burden to other people.

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And until these people order their lives in this manner, the other brethren in the church were to distance themselves from these professing

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Christians. Paul commanded that they were to keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you receive from us.

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And so that's how you deal with these people. But what if these disorderly

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Christians don't respond to Paul's instruction? They don't respond to the dealings of the church toward them.

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They're no longer disorderly, but now they're just out and out disobedient to Paul's command. Well, that's what we have now in verses 13 through 15.

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It's a further action that's taken. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.

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If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person. Have nothing to do with him that he may be ashamed.

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Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. Now, once again, we see this comes short of excommunication.

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You excommunicate somebody from the church, you're basically declaring you can't be a Christian and believe what you believe and live the way you live.

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But that's not how these people are to be dealt with. If these disorderly

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Christians continue in their disruption and disobedience, the faithful members of the church had a responsibility to these disobedient

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Christians. Those who had received Paul's instruction, observed Paul's example, heard

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Paul's command, but persisted in their ways were to be ostracized by the church community.

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The one who was disobedient should be publicly identified and the church body instructed not to have fellowship with him, not to have anything to do with him.

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This, I think, is a little bit stronger than what we had earlier. But again, in spite of the offender's culpability, this disorderly

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Christian was not to be declared to be a non -Christian. He was a brother and should be regarded as such.

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You know, true Christians can really get themselves in a lot of messy situations.

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And don't be so quick to declare somebody's not a Christian. They can be pretty disorderly and pretty disobedient, and still a brother, still a sister in the

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Lord. And again, recognize that this action the church was to take was not a sudden, knee -jerk reaction when they saw something defective or deficient on the part of these

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Christians. This was after persistent refusal and failure to heed direct instruction, example, direct apostolic command.

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Then they were to be dealt with after a period of time. This is not the kind of action that should just be commonly dealt with, dealt in this manner in a church family.

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You're just going to tear up a church if you follow that tact.

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Well, in concluding this section, let's recognize that there are at least three levels of disciplinary action that a church is to take toward its members who insist and persist in walking contrary to the

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Christian faith. And we have two of them here. We've already referred to the third. First, there's ostracizing the disorderly

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Christian. That's what we have in verse 6. Now, we command you, brothers, in the name of our

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Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness, not in accord with the tradition that you receive from us.

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Secondly, disfellowshipping the disorderly Christian. If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person.

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Have nothing to do with them that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother. But the third action, which is the most severe, of course, is excommunication.

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You excommunicate, you remove the professing believer from the church, and afterward you retreat him, declare him to be as an unbeliever.

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And that's what Jesus teaches us, the Lord Jesus teaches us in Matthew 18. If he refuses to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

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You don't regard him as a brother. He's an unbeliever. And so there are levels of action that's to be taken, and it takes grace and wisdom to know when and what and how to apply these matters within church life.

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Now, in the minutes we have remaining, I'd like us to stand back a little bit and consider a perspective of this passage and what it tells us or reveals to us about the nature of a

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New Testament local church. And again, I would argue that what we have here in this passage supports the historic understanding and practice of Baptist churches.

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And I want to explain why that is and how that is. That we have certain distinctives historically.

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Not all Baptist churches adhere to them and practice them. I'm not saying that. But historically, Baptist churches have had a certain understanding of the local church and its membership and its relationship to the clergy.

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And I think it's reflected here in this passage. And I would argue that what is in this passage is not conducive to churches, some churches that are maybe very reformed and solid in many respects.

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And I've got a lot of friends, pastor friends, my closest friends, are in some of these denominations like Presbyterianism and Reformed Congregationalism.

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And I would argue that this passage is not conducive to their understanding of church government.

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But it is conducive to our understanding historically as a Baptist church.

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And so I'd like to work through this and show you why and how that is. Now, in order to address this matter,

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I need to provide a little bit of background, historical background. You know, there are some that claim that Baptists have been around since the days of John the

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Baptist. But that's just not the case. Obviously, through the Dark Ages, Roman Catholicism, and the way they dealt with, you know, dissenters, everything but Rome was only temporary and then extinguished.

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But modern Baptists really emerged from the Puritan -Separatist movement in England in the 17th century.

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And so modern Baptist churches may trace their origin to the English Puritan -Separatist movement of that century, the 17th century, the 1600s.

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Obviously, Protestantism, I hope we all know this, a little bit about church history, arose in the previous century, in the 16th century, the 1500s, under leading

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Protestant reformers. Great men, Martin Luther in Germany, John Calvin in Geneva, Zwingli in Zurich, Martin Busser in Strasbourg, which was

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Germany then, but it's in France now, in Alsace, in the region of Alsace. John Knox in Scotland.

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These were men who brought their countries, their city -states, back under the authority of the

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Word of God. England, however, became Protestant in the 1540s, but in an entirely different way than the continental nations, as well as Scotland.

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Where these other nations rejected Roman Catholicism and became Protestant largely through influential men recovering and proclaiming the authority of the

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Holy Scriptures. To determine all matters of faith and practice, the Reformation began in England through an entirely different means.

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In 1534, King Henry VIII of England desired the Pope, the

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Roman Catholic Pope, to give him an annulment of his marriage from Catherine of Aragon, so that he could remarry and therefore bear a male child, to assume the kingship of England after King Henry's passing.

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Well, the Pope refused to do so, refused to grant the King an annulment, and so in 1534,

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King Henry basically rejected Rome, broke with Rome, and declared that he is

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King of England, and that continues to today, by the way, King or Queen of England is going to have supreme authority, final authority, over the

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Church of England. And so the Church of England separated from Rome. In many ways it was a lot like Roman Catholicism.

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And by the way, the Church of England did not go through Vatican II back in 1963.

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In many ways, the High Church, Church of England, is more Roman Catholic than Roman Catholicism today.

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They still have Latin masses and priests and whatnot, whereas Roman Catholicism has moderated and changed and adapted somewhat in the last generation.

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But for the next century, after King Henry, England kind of vacillated back and forth between Church of England, Roman Catholicism, and then

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Protestantism too. Eventually, the Presbyterians came to be in charge of Parliament, and they enacted their views of the

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Westminster Confession and Catechism, their views upon English society.

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And so during these early days of English Protestantism, the biblically centered Puritans had sought to influence the

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Church of England toward biblical Christianity. That's why they were called Puritans. They sought to purify the Church of England.

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In time, however, many of the Puritans became convinced that reforming the Church of England was not possible.

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And so many of these Puritans became separatists, separated from the Church of England, forming churches independent of the

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Church of England. And among these separatist churches arose Reformed Presbyterian churches, again, who eventually assumed control of Parliament.

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And then there were Reformed Congregational churches, sometimes referred to as Independent churches.

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D. Martin Lloyd -Jones pastored one of these great pastored men. And then, of course, there were

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Baptists that emerged from the separatist movement. And so they both emerged and developed their ecclesiology, their understanding of the

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Church, and Church governance, and how the clergy was to operate. And this all formed throughout the 17th century.

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Now, I might just describe each of these in a little general way, just to show their distinctions.

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And by the way, you know, I'm the chairman of the New England Reformed Fellowship. And we have about 120 churches and pastors.

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And they're all either Reformed Baptists, or Reformed Congregational, or Reformed Presbyterian, or Independents.

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We're all friends. We're all brothers. We all agree on the Gospel. But we have different understandings about the nature of the

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Church and the clergy. And we're talking about the distinctions now. And so,

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Presbyterianism. Presbyterians believe that councils of elders should govern local churches. Elders that are not members of the

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Churches, but outside of the Church, but they are the elders within the Church and control the Church. But they're not members of the

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Church. Teaching and ruling elders are ordained and convened in the lowest council known as the

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Session. And the Session governs the local church.

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These elders have authority in the local church over all matters of discipline and nurture church members.

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And they are responsible to formulate and govern the mission of the local church. The elders control the church, the local church.

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And again, these elders are not members of the local church. They're part of the Session. And then these different Sessions of these different Presbyterian churches are part of a

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Presbytery. Here in New England, for example, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church nomination, its

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Presbytery, I think, takes in all of New England and part of New York as well. And all the different Sessions or groups of elders from all the different churches are part of this

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Presbytery. Individual congregations call pastors, but when a

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Presbyterian church calls a pastor, that pastor has to be approved by the Presbytery in order to serve within that Presbyterian church.

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And so above the Sessions, there are Presbyteries. And then they're over geographical regions.

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And then these Presbyteries send representatives to the largest body, which is the

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National Assembly, commonly called the General Assembly. And that's viewed as the ultimate authority in the

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Presbyterian denomination. And Presbyterianism has always advocated a national church, like Scotland.

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And they advocated in England, too, while the Presbyterians were in control, a national church.

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And so everybody who was a citizen within the nation was to be in the Presbyterian church. And so they really saw through the elders of the church an effort to Christianize the society through the imposition of church discipline upon everybody within the nation.

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And that just doesn't work. It's, of course, been modified here in America because we have, you know, freedom of religion.

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And so people attend churches out of a voluntary basis. So oftentimes you'll have a local Presbyterian church that's much like a

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Reformed Baptist church because they don't have the national state church government in place, as they do in other places of the world, like Scotland and elsewhere.

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But what about Congregationalism? Well, Congregationalism were a group of pastors, wonderful men,

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John Owen, Thomas Goodwin, and whatnot, who rejected the Presbyterian view of church government.

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And they believed that the authority should be vested within the local congregation.

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And every local congregation had authority. Now Congregationalists baptized infants by sprinkling, and so they did not believe as Baptists that only born -again

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Christians should be admitted to church membership, but rather Christians and their children growing up within the

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Congregational church. But it advocates the responsibility of every local congregation to be self -governing.

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That's like Baptists much. And they reject all claims of authority outside the local congregation.

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And so Congregational Reformed pastors reject this Presbyterian idea that there is authority outside the local church that can impose its will upon you, and the local church has to comply.

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But Baptists take it a little further. Baptist churches believe that the only authority over and outside the local church is the

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Lord Jesus Christ, not men. He is our King, and He governs our church according to His will that He has revealed in His Holy Word.

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And so historically only Baptists have held that members of their churches should be ones who have given evidence of personal faith in the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and have resolved to live their lives as Christians in obedience to the Lord Jesus while they are in fellowship with the brethren in the local church.

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That is a Baptistic principle. And there are a lot of churches that are Baptistic that may not have Baptist in their name in today's world.

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Bible churches and whatnot. Baptists reject government and ecclesiastical control outside the local churches.

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We have no authority outside this local church. We may cooperate with other churches, but no other church or body or association has the authority to dictate to us what we believe and how we practice.

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We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is over this church, and we are responsible directly to Him and to His Word.

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Now I want to consider this passage and show why what we have here in 2 Thessalonians 3 supports

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Baptist polity, in other words, Baptist church government and practice, rather than these others that we spoke about.

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And I want to list several reasons. First of all, we have set forth by the Apostle in 2

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Thessalonians 3 the rule of Jesus Christ over His church. Paul asserts that.

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He didn't call upon a presbytery or a session to intervene and deal with these disorderly people.

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He wrote to the church. And when Paul did so, he said in 2 places,

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I'm doing so in the name of the Lord Jesus. Clearly the Lord Jesus Christ was directing the church, the local church at Thessalonica.

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And so when the Apostle gave a command, it was as though the Lord Jesus Himself gave command. And He spoke of that.

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Notice again verse 6, Now we command you brothers, not just we command you brothers, but we command you in the name of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. It was the Lord Jesus Christ directing this church to take the action.

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And He was doing so through His Apostle. And then in verses 11 and 12, you have the same thing. We hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy work, but busy bodies.

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Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus was in authority over that local church.

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And so the Apostle Paul asserted his authority. He was speaking in the authority and on behalf of the

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Lord. And we as Baptists believe this as a core understanding of church government.

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And our confession states it as such. The Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church, in whom by the appointment of the

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Father, all power for the calling, institution, order, or government of the church is invested in a supreme and sovereign manner.

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I'm reading a book. I'm a supervisor for Ross this summer as supervised ministry with seminary.

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And so we're reading a book together, and I'm really enjoying it. And it's entitled To Follow the

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Lamb Wheresoever He Leads. And it's about the development of Reformed Baptist polity in 17th century

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England. And it emphasized that the Baptists understood King Jesus to be ruling their local churches.

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And so this sets forth all aspects of local church ministry through this understanding.

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And here we have it set forth. Now, here's a quote from that book. Among particular

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Baptists, and in particular Baptists were Calvinistic Baptists. They were Reformed Baptists.

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Particular meant they believed in particular atonement. That when Christ died, he died on the cross to pay for the sins of his people.

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Over against general Baptists who believed in a general atonement, Christ died for everybody, trying to save everybody.

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Particular Baptists were Reformed Baptists. Among particular Baptists, the conviction that Christ is both

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Lord and King of the churches was developed as part of their critique of the power and authority civil magistrates claimed to possess in establishing church government.

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In response to the question of his invisible interlocutor, what power the civil magistrate has in establishing church government?

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Thomas Collier, who was a Baptist, bold answer was they, the magistrates, have none at all because Christ is the

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King of Saints, of Zion, that is the church. Collier regarded human power and spiritual matters as an usurpation of the prerogative of King Jesus.

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Any attempt by the state either to establish or compel citizens to conform to true religion was a violation of the rule of Christ, whom self -compelled no one.

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That was a rejection of Presbyterianism, the whole state church idea up in Scotland, and what

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Presbyterians were trying to do through Parliament in England, impose the state to be the enforcer of church doctrine and church practice on the citizenry.

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And so I would argue that this passage underscores our understanding of Baptist polity.

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Secondly, that the Apostle Paul addressed the local church at Thessalonica, it shows that the

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Lord's churches should be identified principally as local congregations, not a collection of local churches or that of a national church.

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Paul addressed the local church at Thessalonica. Baptists have always emphasized the independence and the importance of the local church, while denying the term church should be applied to a national church, like Presbyterianism, or a collection of local churches, as Congregationalism does.

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Reform Congregationalists have a strange view of the church. They actually argue for a universal, visible church.

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Now, many of us would say there is a universal invisible church, comprised of all the redeemed all over the world, but they claim that there is a visible universal church on earth.

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In other words, all the Christians within all the Congregational churches. And we reject that idea.

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And then here again is a quote, According to the First London Confession, this was an early Reformed Baptist Confession in the 1640s,

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Calvinistic Baptist ecclesiology, that is their understanding of the church, focused on the church as it is visible to us.

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Not invisible. You can talk and infuse characteristics all day long into an invisible church.

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But with regard to a visible church, it is a company of visible saints to the visible profession of the faith.

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A significant point about this emphasis on the visible church was its distinctiveness in relation to the majority of other

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Reformed theologies of the 1640s. In contrast to mainstream Congregationalism, which admitted to a visible

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Catholic, Catholic there means universal, church, comprehensive of all throughout the world outwardly on the gospel,

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Baptists in the 1640s focused narrowly on the local Congregational manifestation of the visible church.

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In contrast to Presbyterianism, they entirely ignored the notion of an invisible church.

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Now later Baptists modified, and even in the 1689 Baptist Confession, there is an acknowledgement of a universal invisible church.

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But early on, apparently the Baptists even rejected this idea. But again, that Paul addressed directly a local church to deal with this matter, he didn't address a national church, or a worldwide church, but local churches, supports

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Baptist politic. Thirdly, the Lord's instruction through Paul to the church at Thessalonica was directed to all the church members, not just a few leaders.

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This is extremely important. Paul addressed all the members of the church at Thessalonica, pressing upon all of them the responsibility to minister to others in the church body.

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Paul didn't write to the pastor of the church at Thessalonica, or the elders of the church at Thessalonica, he wrote to all the members of the church at Thessalonica.

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That's critically important. This underscores the

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Baptist conviction that a church should admit only converted persons to membership, and this is a distinction that Paedo -Baptists, that is infant baptizers, like Presbyterians and Congregationalists, do not practice.

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Their membership does not consist only of those who give evidence of conversion. That's a Baptistic principle.

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Their ecclesiology promotes a national church, Presbyterianism, in which all the citizens within a nation are part of the church, and Congregationalists admit members on the virtue that their parents were believers.

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Children of believing parents are admitted as members too, as they go through a process of education and confirmation.

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Similar to this, fourthly, we would argue, the responsibility of ministry being placed upon the membership of the church suggests the

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Baptist view of church government, that being Congregationalism. Again, Paul wrote to the entire church body, this is how you treat this man, this is how you deal with this man.

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In Baptist churches, there is not a primary distinction between clergy and laity. All members alike are subject to the rule of Christ in the local church.

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I'm a member of this church just like you are, and I am subject to the authority of the church just like you are.

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I have certain responsibilities and gifts, obviously, and you recognize that and declared that, but we're all members, and we're all under the authority of Jesus Christ and His Word.

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And I'm not exempt. Yet sometimes you'll have pastors, I've heard it said, of some of my friends, when they started getting confronted about what they were doing or not doing as pastors, they made declaration, well you're getting into the realm of elders, and you don't have the authority or right to challenge me about that.

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In other words, they claim immunity because they were pastors. That is not Baptist, that's not biblical.

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Here's a quote, The priority of the local gathered congregation in Baptist ecclesiology is evident when

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Collier, again a 17th century Baptist, discusses the form of government and discipline in a true church which was in his view not an

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Episcopal government by Lord Bishops, that would have been the Church of England, not a

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Presbyterian government of many to rule over one, many elders or sessions,

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Presbytery ruling over local church, but every assembly of saints thus gathered are to elect and ordain officers and to them

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Christ had given full power to perform every duty of a church, that is to watch over one the other, to admonish one the other, to censure such as are disorderly, clear direct allusion to 2

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Thessalonians 3, in a word to receive such as they conceive the Lord hath added, to cast forth such as walk disorderly.

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In contrast to the hierarchical structure of Presbyterianism and the Presbyterial oversight of independency, that would have been

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Congregationalism, Baptist ecclesiology asserted the authority of each gathered congregation of believers under the kingship of Jesus to appoint its own officers and expel disorderly members.

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Presbyterianism asserted that only ordained clergy had the ability and responsibility to exercise ministry in the churches, a

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Presbyterian church if it's functioning as most Presbyterian churches do, all of the authority rests in the elders, they have the authority and responsibility to confront members, to discipline members, to admit members to the church or cast them out, the authority rests within the elders.

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Baptists however have understood the scriptures to entrust this responsibility to the church body as a whole, and that's clearly set forth here in 2

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Thessalonians 3, the church, the local gathered church at Thessalonica was given this responsibility and authority to deal with these erring members.

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One of the reasons this different view of spiritual authority within the church was due to the understanding or misunderstanding of the keys of the kingdom that Jesus promised to Peter.

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After Peter confessed Christ, you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God, blessed are you Simon Bar -Jonah, flesh and blood is not revealed to you, but my

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Father was in Heaven, and then said, Hereafter I give you the keys, I'll quote it directly, it's in your notes,

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I say to you that you are Peter, on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, and here it is,

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I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in Heaven.

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Well, the keys of the kingdom of Heaven was the authority to minister in the church. Included in this authority was the power to admit or cast out people from the membership of the churches.

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Now, of course, Roman Catholicism claimed that the keys of the kingdom were given to Peter, and then to all the popes who succeeded

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Peter. Protestants of the 16th and 17th centuries rejected this teaching, but they differed in their understanding of who was given the keys,

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Peter, as he was given the keys. Presbyterianism was somewhat similar to the teaching of Roman Catholicism.

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They claimed Christ gave the keys to Peter as an apostle, and therefore the keys now belong to the elders of the churches.

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Baptists, however, objected to this, and rejected this. They claimed the

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Lord gave the keys to Peter not as an apostle, but as a confessor of Christ, and therefore the keys of the kingdom are given to the congregation as believers, not to Peter as an apostle.

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And so, in this way, the authority by Baptists was understood to be invested within the gathered church itself.

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It has the authority to admit and to dismiss members, not the elders, not the pastor, but the church itself.

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And then lastly, the fifth point we'll make, and then we'll close, and I beg your indulgence for this.

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It follows, therefore, since the Lord entrusted the ministry to these disorderly brethren, to all the members of the church, it reveals the

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Baptist conviction of sole competency, and that every member is a minister. One of the great accusations against Baptist churches in the 17th century is that the pastors of the

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Baptist churches were ignorant, unlearned, and uncertified, qualified men. And the

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Baptists argued, no, these are gifted men, and the local church has identified them and recognized the

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Lord has appointed them. Whereas Presbyterians and Congregationalists and some good

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Reformed men argued, no, no, they have to be properly certified and recognized by due authority.

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And Baptists said, no, that the authority Christ has given to the church to identify the leaders within its church, that will govern them and direct them in the way of Christ.

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And so I would argue that on these five points, and there may be more, that what the

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Apostle Paul set forth here in 2 Thessalonians 3 is consistent with our historic understanding of Baptist polity.

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Sole competency. Every member of the church is a responsible minister to one another.

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Is that not right? God has given you a spiritual gift, and you are to employ it in the ministry, in your ministry to one another within this church congregation.

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And yes, the scriptures set forth pastors and deacons as church officers in the church, but they're servants to guide and direct and lead us in the way that King Jesus would direct us according to his word.

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And I believe that it's this kind of church that is potentially one that can be blessed of our

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Lord in conducting his work in the world, because this is what we see set forth in the

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New Testament. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word, and we thank you,

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Lord, for the heritage that we enjoy, and we thank you, our God, for your kindness and mercy that you show to us as a local church.

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And our God, we do acknowledge that Jesus Christ is our King, and we desire to follow him wheresoever he leadeth us.

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And so help us, our God, to be faithful to our Savior, to our Lord.

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May he direct us and guide us into a place of blessedness and fruitfulness.

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May the kingdom of Jesus Christ be advanced through the ministry of this church. We pray in Jesus' name.