The Power of Good Examples: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12

Well, the preaching this morning will come from 2 Thessalonians 3, verses 6 -12.

Just by way of introduction, what I'm going to read to you in 6 -12 actually ties back to a couple of verses before which we preached from last week.

I want you to keep in mind verse 4, a little bit prior to what we're going to read. And we have confidence in the

Lord about you, that you're doing and will do the things we command. In the very next verse, may the

Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. And there we ended last week.

When Paul says we have confidence that you will do the things that we command, here in the verses before us, and actually three times it will be repeated, are what is commanded that the apostle has such confidence they will actually do.

Here this morning is that command, and the command is essentially to set good examples for one another as we grow together in the

Lord Jesus Christ, into his image together. The responsibility we have to be for one another that example that follows the apostolic example as the apostolic example is following the example of Jesus Christ himself.

Here's that command, which hearts that love God and are steadfast to obey him, as the apostle

Paul is so confident of in the Thessalonian church, God willing in this church, here's those commands in 2

Thessalonians 3, 6 through 12. If you have your Bibles there, please stand for the reading of God's word.

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 receive from us.

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

It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

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

Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. God bless the reading of his word.

Please be seated. Well, let us pray. Heavenly Father, we ask now that you by your spirit would open our eyes and our hearts to the truth of this word that you have given us this day.

May it be proclaimed clearly, Father, and heard as well. And may all things be done decently and orderly.

And may Jesus Christ be glorified as he is proclaimed in this place. And may sinners be brought to repentance, and may believers be brought more into conformity with his image.

For we pray and ask these things in Christ's name, amen. Well, let me start out by telling you that for myself and my studies this week, this was a very difficult passage to figure out.

There's some very hard spots, some very difficult things to determine and to get around.

And one of the worst, or not worst, excuse me, one of the hardest of them is just what does the

Apostle Paul means when he says to keep away from these brothers, were they to be shunned as if they were under church discipline?

What exactly had they done wrong? Does Paul really mean that if a brother came to their door or if a brother comes to your door that in some cases your response to their hunger would be tough luck, no work, no eat,

I'm not going to disobey God, I'm not going to enable you? Should they have said that?

Is that the command that the Apostle would have us to obey, the command that he was so confident they would obey?

The Thessalonians certainly understood what Paul meant. The Thessalonians in that time 2 ,000 years ago certainly knew what was happening, what prompted the

Apostle Paul to give the command that he did. For us though,

I would plead that the lack of some of the details, the intervening 20 centuries, make for some difficulties.

But we can understand some things from this and how serious it was in Paul's view.

I think the first thing we need to see in this passage is just how grave a matter, whatever was actually going on in detail, though we have some concept about it, we will get to all that, it was very, very serious.

You notice in verse 6, to the whole church he said, 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. In verse 10, reminding them of what he had previously said and shown and demonstrated in the apostolic example, probably about a year before when he had been there with Silas and Timothy, he commanded them.

If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. And then the end of this section, verse 12, now such persons we command and encourage, and again citing the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, in the Lord Jesus Christ, to do their work quietly and to earn their living.

So we have these three commands, and the first and the last of them, in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, regarding these idle members of the church. So this matter of idleness is a very serious matter.

For Paul to twice name the Lord Jesus Christ as the ultimate authority and source of the command makes it especially urgent.

Now this is not to say that we can sort out God's commands and only when we have this emphasis do we have to obey it or take it with the utmost gravity.

That's not the case at all. But there is a special emphasis that comes upon it. When this name is cited,

Paul self -consciously knew that he was speaking for God, he understood the concept or the doctrine of inspiration, and yet these two times in this inclusio, as we call it, a beginning and ending of a section in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ and ending in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, gives it this special emphasis, this special importance, this extra gravity to what is happening there.

Or ESV says that they are idle. Command you to keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness, this passive sin of being idle.

People with too much time on their hands seeming to just get in the way of things. But worse yet, and I think this is the apostle's emphasis and the reason he takes it so gravely, it's a poor testimony of what it means to follow the

Lord Jesus Christ. Idleness is a poor testimony of what it means to be his disciple.

As those looking in upon the church see idle people, and idle people just tend to, as we know from experience, just get in the way, it's not so much that it's inefficient or it's a bother to people who are trying to get something done, it's the testimony that that is to those outside the church.

Those looking in need to see something different amongst God's people. A different commitment, a different lifestyle, a different worldview that changes everything because as we say so often, the gospel itself changes everything.

Your whole outlook. Look at this in three parts. And the first is the command regarding the conduct, and that's verse six.

And then in verses seven through nine, the apostolic example of proper conduct. And finally in verses 10 through 12, the remedy for this improper conduct.

The command regarding the conduct. Again, now we remind you, excuse me, 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.

The tradition they received from the Apostle Paul came in two forms. It came in word and it came in deed.

In chapter one of 1 Thessalonians, you remember verse 13, which we cited very many times in preaching through this series in 1 and 2

Thessalonians. He said, you received the word that we spoke to you, not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God.

So we command you to keep away from any brother, not walking in accord with the tradition that you received.

They received it in word. Paul preached it to them. When he preached the gospel to them and they were converted, he preached doctrine to them.

And this was one of them. And in deed, he showed what this is all about.

And that's verses 10 through 12, which we'll get to. But the apostolic example, where Paul, in what he's calling the church to modify in others' behavior, he actually modeled, he was exemplary himself with Silas and Timothy, the other two missionaries who came with him.

But let's look at this verse 6 and look at the authority of the command, which I've already alluded to, and then we'll look at the content of the command.

The authority behind the command. Paul does not use the name and title of the

Lord lightly. Now, he often speaks of Christ as Christ. He names him as Jesus.

He calls him the Lord. But to put all this together in this formal sense where we have title and name, the

Lord, our Lord, Jesus Christ, is something a little special, something more grave, something more important is happening here.

This has the force of the oft -repeated, especially in the book of Leviticus, I am the

Lord, where there's a special exclamation part put after several of the commands. Now, every command of God is to be obeyed.

Every command of God is from the mouth of God. And yet, God sees the need or sees fit to emphasize in a special way with that punctuation mark,

I am the Lord. This is what Paul is doing here in verses 6 and 12 of our passage before us.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal living

God, giving this command through the apostle Paul, no less than, for example, he gave the law through Moses.

Well, that's the authority of the command. And we're done with that because I think the point is easy enough to take that in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ is adding this extra something, this extra panache, you might even say, to what follows in the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ. And then the content. And this is really one of the difficult parts.

Its content is keep away from any brother who's walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

So the first thing for us to resolve is keep away from any brother. What does he mean by keep away from any brother?

He says, now, we command you, brothers, one of his favorite terms, one of his favorite appellations for the

Thessalonian church, which he seems particularly close to. He had a very intimate and warm relationship with them.

So he calls them brothers. And these erring members of this church, he also calls brothers.

We command you, brothers, that you keep away from any brother. Now, Paul could very easily use a generic term for these ones who are in error, these ones whose behavior needed correction by saying that you keep away from any one.

But he doesn't. And this is important. And this, I'm going to plead, and I hope you grant me a little wiggle room here this morning as you understand this difficulty because he says, you brothers, keep away from any brother.

But they're still brothers. They're members of the church. They're in good standing, if you will. We'll work on this as we go through this.

But the first thing for us to understand is what does he mean by keep away from? Physical distance?

Today we'd call it social distancing, maybe. Does he mean relational distance, that we cool our friendship with them?

Does he mean excommunication? I would argue not because he calls them brothers. Well, keep away is from a

Greek word that means to stand aloof. Paul uses this word in 2

Corinthians 8, verse 20, where he says, we take this course. We don't have to go there and take that one apart in detail.

But all he means is, we take this course, by which he means we avoid the other course. We keep away from, we stand aloof from the alternative.

Pardon me. Now, this word originally, long before the

Greek of the New Testament, meant or was used for the unfurling of sails on a ship.

If a ship was in a storm and was heading towards a dangerous shoal or rocks or something like that, they would unfurl the sails.

Now, I have no nautical experience at all. Well, minor experience, but it was almost a disaster.

But to unfurl the sails means to lift them up so they no longer catch wind and the ship would stop and no longer be proceeding into danger.

But it means to stand aloof, to stop something, to keep away from something. The other word that's used here is walking.

Those who do not walk in the tradition that you received us, from us, this is talking about a continuous way of life.

It's talking about your trajectory, the tone and tenor of your conduct. And the tradition you received,

Paul's used this several times in this letter, tradition just meaning the teaching, his,

Timothy's, Silas's, from about a year before. Passed along by word in these two letters and by their example in verses 7 through 9.

Idle. We command you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness.

Now, it sounds like the erring brothers, these ones who need correction, were just sort of sitting around like bumps on a log, we might say today.

Maybe they're sitting around like the workers in Jesus' parable. Remember the workers hired at different times? And the master would come and say, why are you standing here?

Come on, do this work for me. Work in my vineyard and I'll pay you what is right. Remember that? And he picks up the workers at different times.

Well, they're sitting around. He says, why are you sitting around? Now, when you think of the word idle, these idle brothers, you think of a car idling at an intersection, just wasting fuel, really.

Not going anywhere, just using up resources. Well, the original word behind that is autaktos.

Autaktos. You don't have to remember that. And that word doesn't actually mean idle.

And so I sort of resent our ESV for translating it that way. And they do that because of the idea of them not working, which comes later in the verses.

But the word itself doesn't mean idle. It means unruly. It means disorderly.

And that's the way the New King James has it. That's the way the NET Bible has it, where they speak, the

NET says leading an undisciplined life. The New King James speaks of disorderly or an unruly life.

So it's unruly. It's really disorderly is what's being written about here.

This is what Paul is trying to correct. And what do you think of when you think in context of church, of someone who is disorderly?

What do we think of, let's say, one of the more enthusiastic kind of services, like a Pentecostal services where they're shouting out, amen, brother, preach it, pastor.

Things just being called out. Do you think of things just out of order?

Like when we have our business meetings, we have Robert's Rule of Order, and you can only proceed in a certain way.

You have to follow the procedures. But if you're out of order, we can call you on it. What do you think of when you hear the word unruly or disorderly?

Because that's really what Paul is speaking of. Unruly brothers, disorderly, undisciplined lives.

These brothers were unruly, as we learn later in the passage, because they weren't earning their way, as they were apparently capable of doing.

They were undisciplined because they weren't following the apostolic example, which Paul says and makes very clear, we earned our own bread.

We didn't take anything without paying for it, but with toil and labor, we earned our way while we were with you.

No, they're undisciplined. They're unruly, simply because they were not following the apostolic example.

By any brother, we can assume it's a minority in the church. The church on the whole was in good shape.

It was a healthy church. Not like the Corinthians, for example, where the church at large needed correction, not just a visible few.

In the Thessalonians church, by any brother, he means just the few that need to be corrected by the majority.

And Paul says to keep away from this sort of brother. He says to keep away from them.

He emphasizes this by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, they're not under formal discipline, but the matter is so serious that Paul reminds them that he speaks for the

Lord himself. Now, I say they're not under formal discipline. What I mean by that, and we're going to talk about discipline a little bit in this message, is the final end of Matthew 18, 15 to 22, where you tell it to the church, and if you still won't hear the church, you put them out, what we call excommunication.

They're not in that process, even, in that sense. He calls them brother.

They're still members of the church. So the question is, and this is where I need that wiggle room, because I really wrestled with this, what does he mean by keep away from them?

If they're still brothers, if they're in the church, they're part of the fellowship, they're taking the

Lord's table, as we will in a little while, what does he mean by keep away from them?

Now, the simplest answer is keep away from the person. Don't have fellowship with them. If you have a fellowship meal after services, as we do, don't sit at the same table with them.

Don't go to their house for a meal. Is that what he means? Keep away from them physically. In several places, he expresses his confidence in this church, this church at large, to follow his instructions.

So when he tells them to keep away from these brothers, he knows they're going to do it. And I just want to remind you, in 1

Thessalonians alone, three times, he tells them to keep doing as you're doing, in very important areas. Living lives pleasing to God, just as you are doing.

Showing brotherly love, just as you are doing. Encouraging one another, just as you are doing.

He says, keep doing these things. The church at large, the church as a whole, is very healthy. Excuse me.

What does he mean, though, by keep away from them? If they're still in the church, if they're still members.

Now, I'm going to deny the idea that you're to not have fellowship with them. We're not at that point where they're being put out, where they've been confronted and they refuse to repent.

Where I think Paul is here is speaking of the example that they're setting. In verses 10 -12, he speaks of his example.

We'll come to those in a little bit. But basically, he says, you saw our example. You saw how we're supposed to live, so you know how you need to correct them to bring them into line with what most of the church is already doing.

And Paul's confident in this. Where we're at here is what we might call informal discipline.

Informal discipline. Paul goes to church to correct the matter by shunning not the persons, not yet the persons, but the example.

Like I said, in verses 10 -12, the example is so important. Follow this example we showed you in the way we lived.

An example of how you are to live and how these others, these idle brothers, these undisciplined, unruly brothers, should be living.

It's the example, I think, that Paul has in mind here. It's informal discipline at this point.

It's like what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 -33, bad company ruins good morals. And Moses wrote much the same thing in Exodus 23 -2, you shall not fall in with many to do evil.

So what do you shun? What do you stay aloof from? How do you stay aloof from a person who is a member?

You keep away from the example. You keep away from their pattern. Negatively, don't do as they do.

Stay aloof from the lifestyle that opposes the apostolic traditions. Positively, show them what they should do by your example.

I mentioned discipline a few minutes ago. And I've become convinced over the years, the last several, and especially since Pastor Owens has been co -pastor here, and he's made the point, and I hate to put you on the spot here like this, that discipline doesn't always mean that I have to confront you and it's going to take it all the way to the church.

Discipline can be just these correctives that we need along the way. Hey, brother.

Hey, sister. I need to show you a better way. You're erring. Oh, so you're saying

I'm getting thrown out of the church. No, no, no, no. There's an informal discipline that's just as much in keeping with Matthew 18, 15 to 22 as there is formal discipline.

In this context, when we say formal discipline, we can even take that to the point where you have to get witnesses because the person won't hear and matter is of such a nature that it could lead to that.

But in the general life of the church, our edifying one another, our encouraging one another, our building one another up into the image of Christ, that's discipline.

And we don't have to think of discipline as something we're accused of. It could just be a better way.

I think this is what Paul has in mind here. The church on the whole is healthy. The church on the whole is obedient.

He's confident they will do the things that he commands. It's a good church. It's a church that we can model ourselves after.

And he also seems confident that as he says, keep away from these brothers, that they're going to understand these brothers are part of the church.

They're taking communion with the church. They're in fellowship with the church. But the example of the majority would be in that sense a convicting ministry that would show them the better way to behave and act and to get away from this unruly, undisciplined, idle, if you will, behavior.

It seems that Paul's completely satisfied that the majority example will eventually have its way with the minority.

I'm satisfied with you brothers that you'll do the things we command. That's verse 4. That's all of them, including those who are in error.

At this point, he's sure they'll be brought along in that way. Have you ever considered that your example, that your lifestyle, your participation in the church, your whole demeanor, if you will, is a part of the discipline of this church?

Have you ever thought of it that way? And again, I need to take away from you the idea that discipline is

I'm charging you with a sin. This is, you know, we're going to get you for this thing. Boy, you've got to repent in sackcloth and ashes.

That may indeed be the case. But discipline also has this continuous, regular, informal aspect to it.

It's just part of us building one another up. And some of you seeing a better example and saying, you know,

I need to go that direction more than my own direction. Doesn't mean we have to fall down prostrate before the

Lord and repent and, you know, thank God that we didn't get smited with a thunderbolt for this horrible, horrible, horrible sin.

No, it's more informal. It's more incremental than that. And remember that the

Apostle Paul, even in this correction, which two times in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command this with that gravity, is confident of the compliance.

And you may be that one who is going to show in a disciplined kind of way the better example.

And you might not even know the person who's following along behind you. You might not even be aware that you're speaking to an idle brother or an unruly sister or anything like that.

But they may see your better example, your example of following the apostolic ways as they follow

Jesus' way. And you might even unknowingly bring somebody along in the same way that I believe

Paul, in this context, would have them brought along and brought into a better way.

These brothers, we'll get to the specifics of what they were doing or not doing in a moment. They were in sin.

We need to call sin, sin, such sin that the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is named.

But the final and what we call formal, if you will, discipline is not invoked here.

And remember, Paul has no qualms about doing that. 1 Corinthians 5, he says, you put this erring brother out.

He cannot be there. His concern there in 1 Corinthians 5, where the man had his father's wife, is the same as it is here in the

Thessalonians. It's those outside looking in, the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we live it out.

But in the one case, there's no doubt that man could not be in the church. He could not stay in the church and claim Christ with that sin.

This is a little different than this. We can notch it down a little bit in intensity because Paul would have the example of the majority be the corrective here.

Well, here's what I think is happening.

Like I said, Paul is confident that a church that is on the whole healthy like this one was, will have a positive and corrective effect on its erring members.

Corinthians, Galatians. Paul has no problem putting his finger on it and saying the church on the whole needs to change.

Your example can be an awfully powerful corrective. We think in terms of peer pressure,

I think in the 21st and 20th century, this is what we speak of, peer pressure. Peer pressure is why

Paul says that bad morals ruin good. Somebody say it for me.

Bad company, yeah. Bad company, thank you. Bad company ruins good morals. Well, that's so disloyal we shout out.

I called it. Thank you. And the same thing that Moses says. Don't follow the crowd in doing evil.

That's peer pressure. Peer pressure can really suck us along into wrong places. But peer pressure can also have that positive aspect which is why

I think the Apostle Paul is counting on here. I was told there was a member at this church many years ago who was so excited to hear

God's word that he would sit right up in front, probably in one of these pews right here because he wanted to be as close to the preaching as he could.

And he's just really excited about it. He'd sit forward, he'd take notes, and he'd try to apply it. And then after a time without anybody telling him, he noticed that the other fathers in the church were back with their families, helping wives with toddlers, being back so if a child or a baby had to be brought out, it was less disruptive.

And he slowly saw that that was a better example. It was less disruptive to the service.

That he should be back like the other men were and helping their wives with these growing families.

It was a very powerful thing. And that's one way that your example can really just bring people along.

You may not even know it. You know, for myself, you wouldn't know this now,

I have nice pink fingernails here with nice white and pretty good calcium on them.

They're pretty tight and stiff like that. You know, I used to chew them to the quick. I used to chew them and pull them until they'd actually bleed.

In my first white -collar job, which I had in the early 80s, I saw a colleague sitting in her office as I was heading out to lunch, and I just saw her doing what

I was doing. Fingers in her mouth and just pulling on them. I haven't done it since.

I saw that example, and I have not chewed and ripped at my nails since. I use clippers henceforth.

That wonderful little invention. But the point is, you never know how your example is going to bring somebody else along.

Now, she didn't stop and tell, hey, thank you because you got me to stop that lousy habit, and now my fingers don't bleed anymore because I saw how bad it looks in you.

I didn't say anything like that, obviously. But the idea here is, I see the heads nodding, yeah, we can bring each other along.

We can set that right example. And it is part of the discipline of the church.

Discipline doesn't always mean that we confront somebody intensely over something. It can be much more implicit.

This is what I think Paul would have here. Example is a powerful, even if it's a passive sometimes, teacher.

It demands more patience in the instructor, but the slower infusion of the lessons often drives it deeper.

As I said, I stopped biting my nails back in the early 1980s. The beneficiary of your tutelage might never remember or even know that it was you who taught them.

You might never get a thank you, not because gratitude isn't lacking in the makeup, but because the example you set was followed by choice, even if that choice was slowly and maybe even unwittingly followed.

Maybe it was even involuntarily taken up. They didn't even say, I want to be like Joe over there. It just sort of happened because it became implicit in them that that's a better way.

Well, that's my solution to that first problem that I saw here is how do you keep away from a brother?

You brothers keep away from the brothers. I couldn't reconcile that if they're still in the church, and that's how

I do it. Now, you may take issue with me. We could talk about that at lunch. I'll give you a moment or two, but I think it's the example that you're to stay aloof from, and in staying aloof from that example, show the better way.

Sometimes you'll have to say, hey, brother, hey, sister. Here's a little course correction.

Really, how did you do that? Let me show you. It takes time.

It takes patience. It may not even be that explicit, but it is an important part of our church life together that we do this constant disciplining and helping and bringing one another up even by following the apostolic example.

The apostolic example of proper conduct was given to them. We have it as much as the

Thessalonians do because we have it in the living word of God. They have it in the living word of God that was written to them 2 ,000 years ago, but then a year before that, they actually saw it, which we won't be able to, and yet we have it accurately before us in verses 7 through 9.

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

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

So here we find the most detail on what the unruly, what the idle were doing.

They were not doing this. You recall from 1 Thessalonians that there was a certain eschatological excitement in the

Thessalonian church. There were some who so misunderstood Jesus' coming. They were afraid they'd missed it.

They were worried about their loved ones who were already dead, who were asleep, as we call that, and there was also an excitement about Jesus coming so soon that they seemed to have quit their jobs.

Maybe they're standing on the hillsides, just staring up at the clouds, waiting to be the first ones to see Jesus come back.

The unruly were doing the opposite of what the apostles were doing, which was working and toiling and proclaiming the gospel.

Now they said, well, we have the gospel, Jesus is coming back, let's step out of the world. They didn't understand what it meant to await

Jesus in this world. Why did

Paul work so hard? He worked, even as he says right here, so he could give out the gospel free of charge.

You can read a book called The Dorian Principle and you can see that Paul's support came from his sending church and churches that had been converted by his missionary efforts, but not the churches, not the fellowships, not the people to whom he was first proclaiming the gospel, not the virgin ground where the gospel was being sown.

There's just three things I want us to see in these verses of the apostolic example. First, that Paul's example had a purpose.

He wanted to demonstrate the need to make your own way, as well as be sure that the gospel went forth without hindrance.

The second, and we've alluded to this before, he knew the power of example. He knew that if he said,

I need you to work hard for your own bread, and yet if he was taking handouts and living off the people that he was ministering to or preaching the gospel to, he'd lose all credibility.

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 23, 2 and 3, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do, for they preach but do not practice.

When they say what Moses said, do it, is what Jesus is saying. When they tell you what

Moses said or wrote, do it. But when they don't do as Moses do, don't do as they do.

You follow in so far as the truth is being proclaimed to you. So Paul gave his example with a purpose.

He knew the power of example. And third, the power of example is pretty amazing.

Now some examples, of course, are impossible to follow. I could practice all my life, but I'd never be able to follow the example of the three tenors, at least not in the quality of my singing.

But if I followed their example of discipline and practice, if I gave the full devotion that men of that caliber in that field do,

I'd certainly improve even at my age. But along with that, negative examples also have their effect, which is why the verses

I cited from Exodus and 1 Corinthians are there. Peer pressure is a powerful force in people.

Use it for the betterment of your brothers and sisters. Use it to bring them along.

Be that example that lifts up rather than drags down. And without taking apart those three verses that are the apostolic example, understand that it was a positive example that was set forth.

Paul's saying, here's how you live as you're awaiting Christ. Are you excited about Jesus' return?

Most of us would be very excited for it. We know that He could return any moment. We don't know the sign or the exact timing of it.

We know it could be the next breath, might not even be able to be exhaled in the next second or two.

Are you excited for that, to see Jesus return? What do you do about that?

While we're awaiting Christ, you're in this world. In His sovereignty, He has you here. And while you're here, you're productive members of society and church.

You're working for your own bread. You're doing what you're supposed to be doing to take care of yourself, your family, your church.

Waiting for Christ is not checking out of the world. Harold Camping, several years ago, did great damage to the church.

We've referred to him a few times for obvious reasons in the preaching through these Thessalonian letters.

He said in May of 2003, I think it was, May 11th, 2003, the

Lord's going to return and people believed him and people followed his teaching and they checked out of the world.

They sold their homes. They sold their properties. They quit their jobs and lo and behold, they're still here.

What do we do while awaiting Christ? Follow the apostolic example. Work for a living.

Be productive. And here's the remedy for the conduct.

That's in verses 10 through 12. The apostolic example is there to be imitated.

You see, verses 10 through 12, as I read them, they're not just scripture and it's scripture, the inspired word of God, they're more than that.

They're portraying the apostolic example of conduct and that conduct was, in the same sense, inspired.

In other words, verses 10 through 12 come from the spirit of God through Paul's pen to us.

It's scripture. I would argue that as Paul lived it out, he was living it out as the inspired living word of God in that way.

I think verses 10 through 12, he says, for even when we're with you, we would give you this command, if anyone's not willing to work, let him not eat.

If verse 6 is written to the church at large, verse 10, I think, is written to those people who need their correction.

We gave you this command, this command that you're not following, you're not willing to work, let him not eat.

Most like their misunderstanding of what it meant to live for Christ as they awaited his return left them to abandon all worldly vocation.

Well, Paul's not saying, at least not yet, that the church members should decline food to a fellow member who is hungry.

This is telling those who weren't working two things. He says, of course, you don't have enough to take care of your needs, you're not working.

Do you want a fuller table? Get to work. Do you want to be able to fill up your car with gas, even at today's prices?

Get to work. Want more wood to warm your houses? Same answer.

Get to work. He's saying, in sort of a proverbial way, of the wisdom proverb, like Solomon did, that you don't have these things because you're not earning these things.

He's saying something else here. Do you want to be found honoring Jesus when he comes? Get about his business.

Not standing in the hills waiting for his return and seeing if you'll be the first to see that cloud that he comes down on.

Productive, hardworking members of church and society. For here there's some walk among you in idleness, not busy at work, but busy bodies.

The wordplay is amazing. You're not busy, you're a busy body. You're just getting in the way.

You're going to people's homes and saying, I don't have enough to eat. And I'm saying, I don't think we're really being told to deny them a loaf of bread.

The old saying is true, that the idle hands are the devil's workshop. So here's the sequence.

Jesus is coming soon, maybe tomorrow, no later than May 23, 2011, as Camping said.

Therefore, further earthly pursuits are meaningless. Whoops, he didn't come, I'm still on earth,

Jesus is still there in heaven, and I have no means of providing for myself. It's the opposite of the fool who built the bigger barns because he had no concern for the

Lord's return and he had so much stuff. These people had barns, but they left them because they were too concerned with something that is

God's business and his alone. So he says they're not busy, but busy bodies,

I would argue, that they're not only butting into other people's business and affairs, they're sort of butting into God's.

Now such persons, we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and earn their own living.

By this word encourage, we're reminded again they're still in the church. They've not been kicked out.

They're being encouraged, they're being cajoled, they're being just almost asked to come along and come into line with this.

But understand that just because the church has not brought formal disciplinary proceedings against someone does not mean that they're free from the duty to repent and to behave better.

Just because the church has not brought formal disciplinary proceedings against you does not mean that you are free from the duty to repent and do better.

And just because someone's error doesn't offend you or compel you to show him his fault in a formal sense as we call it, doesn't mean that you're free from the duty to show him his fault and by exhortation, by warm, friendly, convincing persuasion show him the better way.

Such persons is meant to be heard by them explicitly.

Now the commands in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ come full circle. It's first six commands the church to set a good example by not following the bad example.

Verses seven through nine sets forth the apostolic example, the inspired example that is the paradigm.

And then verse 12 commands the unruly to mend their ways and get back to work. Know the importance of your example.

To lift the rest of us up by your good example of following the apostolic example as they followed

Jesus' example of productive, meaningful lives. Of being contributing members of society and church.

Teaches others better ways in a stronger way than just telling when you set the example, when you show that you live it out the way

Paul did. For we showed you is what he says in those verses in the middle of this. What does it take to follow the good example set?

Well, it takes wisdom to see it's being set before you. It takes humility to admit that that might be a better way for me.

It takes biblical knowledge so you can look and see that you are indeed being shown a better way to follow Christ. Discipline is the working roof, the very fabric of church life.

Then let it be shown all among us by good examples as we edify and lift all of us up to the better way.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for the living word that you've given us and for the apostolic example we have before us.

I pray, Father, that we would all be those who, by example, by exhortation, would lift all of us up to be closer and closer to the

Lord Jesus Christ, more and more in his image. And we're pleasing to you, Father, for we ask it in Jesus' name.