Andrew Lim

Paul writes this letter to the Thessalonians to encourage them
- he has talked to them about sexual purity
and we dwelt on that last week
- now he gives further instruction on living to please God / v 9-12

He starts where all leaders should start / He starts by encouraging them

Look at v.9 / “Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you
for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other
And in fact / you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia
Yet we urge you / brothers / to do so more and more”

We all live in a time when we’re all in need of encouragement
Its a harsh world out there
- there’s so much ill-will / cynicism / unbelief / distrust

Celeste Holmes once said: / “We live by encouragement
and we die without it slowly / sadly and angrily”

Mark Twain said: “I can live off one good compliment for a week”

One Japanese proverb says:
“One kind word can warm three winter months”

Proverbs 12:25 says: “One good word
can life a load of anxiety / from a man's heart”

So Paul here encourages the people in Thessalonica
He says at the end of v. 9, 10:
“Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you
for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other
And in fact / you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia
Yet we urge you / brothers / to do so more and more”

He’s saying “You guys are running well / there’s much love here
But don’t stop / go on loving one another more and more

But no matter how healthy a community is / there are always fresh challenges
And the same with this community

Verses 11-12 tells us that there is a fly in the ointment
There were some people in their midst
who were hindering the loving relationships in the church

It reads / “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life
to mind your own business and to work with your hands
just as we told you / so that your daily life
may win the respect of outsiders
and so that you will not be dependent on anybody”

Each of the verbs in verses 11 and 12 are in the present tense
And look at such verbs as “aspire” / “lead a quiet life” / and “work”
Paul has in mind a new regular pattern of living
consistent to being a Christian

If the way we live isn’t according to God’s Word / others will be affected
So Paul says / “Live quietly / restfully”
Not necessarily be less exuberant / but certainly be less frantic
Living a quiet life is part of a practical demonstration of love for others

There were stuff that was causing some to be restless
and meddling with the affairs of others / within the church

Now / what seems to be happening here?
Let’s get the context right / Turn with me to the next book
2 Thessalonians / there in 3:10-13 you read
“For even when we were with you / we gave you this rule:
If a man will not work / he shall not eat
We hear that some among you are idle
they are not busy / they are busybodies
Such people / we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ
to settle down and earn the bread they eat
And as for you / brothers / never tire of doing what is right

What is happening here is that / some Christians there
believed that the second coming of Christ / was taking place anytime then

And they argued that since Christ was coming soon
there was no need to carry on working / they threw in their jobs
hanged out / become idle / and hoped to leech off the church

In fact / in the 3rd C / when a certain bishop
prophesied the imminent return of Jesus
people in his flock sold their property / spent the money
became bankrupt / expected the church to foot their bills

And Paul says work was ordained by God / and until Christ comes again
we need all to be working responsibly

So he says in our text / “Work with your hands / just as we told you
so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders
and so that you will not be dependent on anybody / 1 Thess 4:11-12

Paul has even stronger words in the second letter / He says in 2 Thess 3:7-12
“For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example
We were not idle when we were with you
nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it
On the contrary / we worked night and day / laboring and toiling
so that we would not be a burden to any of you
We did this / not because we do not have the right to such help
but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow
For even when we were with you / we gave you this rule:
“If a man will not work / let him also not eat”
We hear that some among you are idle
They are not busy / they are busybodies
Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ
to settle down and earn the bread they eat”

Now if you will turn to the next letter again / to 2 Thess 3:14, 15
“If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter
take special note of him / Do not associate with him
in order that he may feel ashamed
Yet do not regard him as an enemy / but warn him as a brother”

What Paul is basically doing here is he’s giving us the biblical idea of work
What should be a Christian’s understanding to work?
How is working to be a part of Christian living?

Let me simply begin by saying / that work is God’s purpose for us
God ordained that in life we shall all have work to do

Genesis 1 is pivotal to our understanding of what it means to be human
“Then God said “Let Us make man in Our image / according to Our likeness
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky
and over the cattle and over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”

Then He said / “fill the earth / subdue it / rule over the fish of the sea
and over the birds of the sky
and over every living thing that moves on the earth”
Genesis 1:26-28, 31

This passage tells us that work is foundational to what it means
to be a human person made in God’s image

God created us for work / He wanted us to follow Him in being creative
In short / a Christian theology of work / is based on creation
We are created to work / because we have been made
in the image of a God who himself works

We are called to subdue the earth and rule over it
for Adam / it meant cultivating and keeping the garden
Adam was given the task of tilling the garden / Gen 2:15
for us / it may mean many other things

According to Genesis 1 / we are to bring order / out of chaos
and we are to be creative in doing that

All honest labor / brings glory to God when done well
Paul says / “Whatever you do / do your work heartily
as for the Lord rather than for men knowing that from the Lord
you will receive the reward of the inheritance
It is the Lord Christ whom you serve” / Colossians 3:23–24

Some people think that work is a curse of the Fall
that if Adam and Eve had not fallen / we wouldn’t have been landed
with work to be done

But no! no! no! / work in and of itself / is not a curse of the Fall
Read your Bibles carefully and you will see for yourself
that chronologically / work was given / before the fall of our first parents

Now you ask / “But why would God want to frustrate us with work to be done?”
And your question / is a good question
Isn’t it true / that work / any work / is just one huge frustration and boredom

I mean / Who likes work! / We all encounter stress / difficulties
disappointment and pressure in our work
You weed your garden / the following week / they’re back
You almost killed yourself / working hard on that sales presentation
and your boss didn’t like it one bit
So yes / work is no fun

But / let me put it as simply and as clearly as I can
The frustration of work was not there in the original blueprint
If you find work hard / and frustrating / and quite often dead boring
it is because work / has now come under a curse
When the human race fell / work became laced
with futility / toil / and frustration
And that / is a consequence of sin

Remember what God said to Adam
“Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree
about which I commanded you / ‘You must not eat of it’
Cursed is the ground because of you
Through painful toil you will eat of it / all the days of your life
It will produce thorns and thistles for you
and you will eat the plants of the field
By the sweat of your brow / you will eat your food
until you return to the ground / since from it you were taken
for dust you are and to dust you will return”

If you find work hard / blame the devil / not God

Work in and of itself / is a not a curse of the Fall
It is the toil of work / that is a curse of the Fall

Work is what we were created for
We have been given the scientific name “homo sapien”
human being / the “rational / intelligent thinker”
But / as Karl Marx rightly sees it
we should have been called “homo faber”
human being as the “fabricator” / the “maker”

God created us for work / in order that we may bring Him glory in our work

John Piper tells us that there is a difference
between the beaver at work / and we humans at work

Just as we subdue our earth and construct something beautiful
the beaver subdues his surroundings and shapes a dam
for a good purpose / a dwelling place for it

And I am sure in some way the beaver enjoys his work
And I am sure its diligence and skill reflect the glory of God's wisdom

“All things bright and beautiful / All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful / The Lord God made them all”

So what is the difference
between a human being at work and a beaver at work?

Piper says / the difference is that humans are morally self-conscious
and make choices about their work on the basis of motives
which may or may not honor God

Piper writes these beautiful words:
“But no beaver consciously relies on God
No beaver ponders the divine pattern of order and beauty
and makes a moral choice to pursue excellence because God is excellent
No beaver reflects on the purpose of his existence
and consciously chooses to glorify his Maker by relying on him

But humans have all these potentials because we are created in God's image

When God commissions us to subdue the earth / to shape it and use it
He doesn’t mean / do it like a beaver
He means /do it like a human / a morally self-conscious person
who is responsible to choose his proper destiny
When he sends us forth to work in his image / to be sure
our ditches are to be dug straight / our pipe-fittings are not to leak
our cabinet corners should be flush
our surgical incisions should be clean / our typing sharp and accurate
our meals nutritious and attractive
because God is a God of order and beauty and competence
But cats are clean / and ants are industrious
and spiders produce orderly and beautiful works
Therefore / the essence of our work as humans
must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God’s power
as a conscious quest of God’s pattern of excellence
and in deliberate pursuit of God’s glory”

Work is ordained by God to enable us to imitate Him / our Creator God
He created us in his image / and part of that image
is being in possession of the rationality and power to work
to accomplish what is good and useful

In the words of our Lord Jesus
“He who has been stealing / must steal no longer
but must work / doing something useful with his own hands
that he may have something to share with those in need” Eph 4:28

In Christian understanding / unemployment is not first an economic problem
It is first a theological problem / before it becomes an economic problem

We have been created in the image of God
and endowed with rational and physical capacities
to fit us / for creative / useful / enjoyable work

Some people have thought / that if God can provide for us
like He does to the birds of the air / why does He need for us to work

The point Yes / God provides / but we are to play our part

When Jesus is about to work the miracle
of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes / he says to his disciples:
“You / you give them something to eat”

The same with healing / God can heal without our involvement
but he has chosen to involve scientists / doctors and nurses

In some mysterious way God has made us his collaborators
Ambroise Paré / the famous French surgeon / who died in 1590
said these famous words / “I bandage / God heals”

There are miracles God can do / without ever involving us lifting a finger
But that is not how He has chosen to touch people’s lives

He has chosen to touch people’s lives through our work

The French theologian Jacques Ellul / warns us
against praying / what he calls “irresponsible prayers”
- there is a kind of prayer which consists of words / but no action
- if I can go to a sick person’s bedside and pray for him
and then leave him alone with his sickness
without seeing how I can help
then it may be a cheap way / of having a good conscience

Ellul calls it “disincarnate prayer” / it never involves the flesh in action
If I as a father pray for daily bread for my family
I shall myself give this bread to my children who wait upon me.

So the same with keeping ourselves alive
The Lord want us to play our part / in going to work and earning our living

He will not perform a miracle of provision
when we has given us health and strength to provide for ourselves

- when the Israelites needed the waters parted
to preserve their lives and from the destructive pharaoh
he split the Red Sea in half
- when his people in the wilderness needed food or water
he dropped manna from heaven and water from the rock

- But once his people entered the promised land
one that was flowing with milk and honey
the heavens shut / and the provision of manna ceased
and His people then / had to work for their daily bread

There is no question / that if the Lord so wished
He could use miraculous means to feed us / even today

But as someone has said / if He did that
if no one worked / to make himself rich / everyone would be beggars
Nothing good would ever then be accomplished
Charity would be impossible / for all would be poverty stricken
Chaos and anarchy would reign / for no one could pay taxes
to keep the government that preserves law and order in business
No one would be working as legislators / judges / and policemen
for all would be idle and lazy
Homes would never be built / all would be out on the streets
The sick would never be attended to / all would be ill and disease ridden
Churches would never function / there’ll be no preachers
there’ll be no one would support them
No one will hear the gospel / all would be damned
And only the devil / who loves sloth / misery / and chaos
and the damnation of souls / would rejoice in such a world
where no one worked but waited to be served

But the fact is that the Word of God encourages to work hard
Prov 14:23 / “All hard work brings a profit
but mere talk leads only to poverty”
Prov 10:4 / “Lazy hands make a man poor
but diligent hands bring wealth”
Paul puts it bluntly in the next letter / He says “If a man will not work
he shall not eat / 2 Thessalonians 3:10
The Jewish Talmud says / “Whoever does not teach his son
a trade or profession / teaches him to be a thief”

Proverbs 6:6-11 / “Go to the ant / you sluggard
Consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander / no overseer or ruler
yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest
How long will you lie there / you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?
A little sleep / a little slumber / a little folding of the hands to rest
and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man”

God in His wisdom / records for us His plans for our welfare
We are advised to follow the way of the humble ant
- working hard / and storing aside provision for the rainy day
- working / and saving are God’s plan for us

But we don’t do that in a stressful way / We save / yes / but we trust the Lord too

Valentine Blacker / has a poem / called Oliver’s Advice
He was inspired by Oliver Cromwell / English general / leading Puritan
Cromwell’s strength was his remarkable ability to motivate his men to fight
during the invasion of Ireland
And Blacker / inspired by Cromwell / imagined Cromwell
before the decisive Battle of Naseby / June / 1645
saying these famous words: “Put your trust in God / my boys
and keep your powder dry!”

Yes there is a place to trust God to provide
But there is a place to be prepared for all eventuality

So yes / we work / we save / we plan for the future
but we will also take refuge in God

The psalmist says “Taste and see that the LORD is good
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him / Fear the LORD
you his saints / for those who fear him lack nothing
The lions may grow weak and hungry
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing” / Ps 34:8-10

And our Lord Himself / encourages us to take refuge in God
saying we don’t have to worry / but learn from the birds
that if He provided for them / how much more will He not provide for us
- we are more valuable to him than the birds

To put it simply / we need to strike the perfect balance
between toiling and trusting

When God originally ordained work / He endowed it with nobility and dignity

And because work is ordained by God / it will not end
But instead / work will follow us to all eternity

Did you not know / there will be more work waiting for us / in heaven

Many Christians do not look forward to heaven
because somehow they have this false impression
that the only activity I heaven
is sitting on a cloud / and strumming on a harp

We don’t even want to take up the harp / on this earth
So why on earth / no pun intended / but why on earth
will we want to be playing it / in the new earth

So no no no / We shall not be playing harps in the new earth

Read Revelations 22:1-5
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life / as clear as crystal
flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
down the middle of the great street of the city
On each side of the river stood the tree of life / bearing twelve crops of fruit
yielding its fruit every month
And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations
No longer will there be any curse
The throne of God and of the Lamb / will be in the city
and his servants will serve him
They will see his face / and his name will be on their foreheads
There will be no more night
They will not need the light of a lamp / or the light of the sun
for the Lord God will give them light
And they will reign for ever and ever”

Revelation 22:3 / says “there will no longer be any curse”
Read it carefully / it is not work that will be done away with
It is the curse of work that will be done away with

Its not work that will be done away with
Work will become how God intended for it precisely to be
in his original creation mandate

v. 5 is most revealing / “we will reign”
- this is God’s original blueprint for us all / in creation
- we will subdue and rule / over matter / space

Work / as God intended it / should turn us into successful creators
using any material we might choose
to turn them into something beautiful and pleasurable
God has endowed us with God-like powers
to subdue the world / to shape it for good purposes

Let me put it this way
Work / as God originally intended for us / was something
that would fill us with joy and desire

Here are a few words / that describe what He wants us for us to be:
He wants us to be the creator / the artist / the maker / the artisan / builder
craftsman / designer / discoverer / fabricator / founder / grower/ inventor
master craftsman / performer / producer

Is it any wonder why whenever we come across a person
whose work is also his joy and passion
like an artist / a potter / a weaver / we say “How lucky you are!”

These people have found their work their passion
though it does not mean they are spared from all frustration
- they are not spared / even though it’s a little easier for them
But they find their work a real pleasure

But / that day will come for each one of us
when our work will be our passion and pleasure

Remember / not too long ago / I spoke of an old gardener
from Christchurch / who was interview on NZ TV
He has a huge 5-acre garden
planted with nothing / but those wonderful old world roses
And he is getting to the point where he has to give it all up
Age is fast / catching up on him
and he is looking for someone who would lovingly take it over

But you could see in his eyes / that if he only had the strength and health
the passion is there / the drive is there to go on for another 50 lifetimes

And I remember saying hw you could almost touch / the longing in his voice
as he quoted a beautiful line from Shakespeare
which said / something lovely about tears

And I thought to myself / this man should go on living forever

And God says to us His children / that will come for all of us

But until then / yes work will be more a bane than a blessing

But even that / it can be redeemed

We can use our work and our work-place to be a platform for our witness
People can / and people have come to Christ
as a result of someone’s work ethics
Your truthfulness / your diligence / your integrity / your honesty
in your work-place / will often speak louder than your preaching

People are watching you / to see if you’ve caught the real disease
And if you do they will know it

Remember as someone once said
“Who you are speaks so loud / I can’t hear what you say”

Who are we in our place of work?

Do we cut corners? / Do we put in an honest day’s work?
Do we merely collect our pay / or do we earn it?
Do we show truthfulness / diligence / integrity / and honesty?

I close with 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12
“Aspire to live quietly / to mind your own affairs
and to work with your own hands as we charged you
so that you may command the respect of outsiders
and be dependent on nobody”