Good works, doing good, is not some sort of value-add bonus to the Christian life. Good works are the natural, organic outgrowth of being grafted into the Body of Christ.
I once had a friend who would invite folks over to her place for pizza night, a rather labor-intensive pizza night. She was generous in opening up her home, in heating up her kitchen with her oven and cooking and baking elements, even making lots and lots of pizza dough for our crusts. She also spread out plenty of space through her dining room for people to prepare their meals. But there was a stipulation for coming over to Marie’s place for pizza: You bring your own ingredients, you prepare your pie yourself, you clean up after yourself, and you pitch in with all the dishes. She called it 2 Thessalonians 3 pizza night.
The epistle this week lends itself to a practical working out of everything the Lord has taught about the end of time. What should we do? How should we live? The Apostle is clear: He who will not work will not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). God-given work is part of the apostolic tradition, the stuff that is handed over as the right teaching, the stuff that the Church of the end times stands solidly on (refer to 2 Thessalonians 2:15). God-given work imitates the example laid down by the Lord’s spokespeople, who labored alongside the congregation in addition to delivering them the Word of God in Christ (2 Thessalonians 3:7-9). And God gives people work to do in the various stations of life in which He places us, in the home, in our professions, in the state and society, in the Church, in order to serve the neighbor, in order to do good (2 Thessalonians 3:13: As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good).
Here is no inspiring speech to extend special charity to this or that cause. Do-gooding the 2 Thessalonians 3:13 way is not special do-gooding, making some sort of extra effort (and Paul, of all people, would know what that takes, as he did his share of special fundraising through his missionary ministry). What the Apostle is commanding is the rubber-hits-the-road work of living out callings. Our callings have not significantly changed simply because we have been assured that the end of all things is drawing near. Our callings, our vocations, what the Lord has assigned us in light of the end, these callings are as significant as they ever were because we have as many vocations as we have neighbors to serve.
What the Apostle is commanding is the rubber-hits-the-road work of living out callings.
God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. Good works, doing good, is not some sort of value-add bonus to the Christian life. Good works are the natural, organic outgrowth of being grafted into the Body of Christ. Saints of God cannot help but do good works, in fact, and they are largely unconscious of them throughout their life (refer to Matthew 25:37-40). But to act as if I can shirk my callings to neighbor is nothing more nor less than ignoring the gift of God, the work He has given me, and the neighbor who needs what my work does to contribute to our life together. Busybodies (2 Thessalonians 3:11), those busy with other people’s business instead of their own, are not sinful because they are annoying or because they are sponging off some other person. It is no sin in itself to enjoy the fruit of someone else’s labor (and, in fact, the offense that gift-givers feel when gifts are refused, by those who insist on paying their own way or turn reciprocity into competition, is indeed a justified offense). No, the sin of the busybody is their refusal to serve neighbor as if serving Christ (Colossian 3:23-24). It is a refusal to see the needs around them and all the more as they see the day approaching (Hebrews 10:25). In forsaking vocation, such people will, no doubt, miss the Christ right under their nose, the Christ who hides behind the mask of need, the mask of the little one, the mask of the hungry and poor, the imprisoned and thirsty, the sick and the sinner, the desperate and the dying. Here is a warning for all to perk up their ears to: One does not need to willfully, energetically, and/or expressly refuse Christ in order to face judgment. Blissful thoughtlessness is sufficient in most cases. It can be as easy as ignoring the need of the neighbor right next to you (refer to Matthew 25:41-45). Good works, fulfilling obligations, discharging our callings, observing our vocations, are not a matter of striving to please or appease God with our labor. God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.
Hear this then, preacher, do not think this text justifies a miserly spirit. This point is likely the most common pitfall in interpreting and preaching this text. It turns the Apostle’s instructions in church discipline into a justification for despising the unemployed. This is not a text to underscore your suspicion that God really respects your protestant work ethic or to reinforce your hearer’s unwarranted confidence that God helps those who help themselves. My friend Marie’s “2 Thessalonians 3 Pizza Night” is not a model for looking down the nose at poor people and the homeless man on my median, for prejudicial self-justification over the unemployed and underemployed, the job insecure, and the housing insecure. Much to the contrary, the Apostle’s warning is spoken to the house of faith to encourage the faithful discharge of their callings, not to teach them how to lord it over folks or let them pat themselves on the back for earning God’s favor by being so industrious. God does not reward the industry or good works of any sinner. He is the respecter of one man’s industry alone, the labor of His son, Jesus Christ.
And it is Christ’s own industry that needs to be overheard in this pericope in order to deliver Him faithfully. Where is Jesus in this pericope? Overtly in the words of Paul as he adjures the Thessalonians to encourage industry and imitation of apostolic tradition by what they approve and whom they shun “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” and “in the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 12). But what a Christ this is! He is one who is the opposite of idle, one who is the opposite of a busybody, always up in someone else’s business instead of His own. No, overhear the industry of our Lord Jesus as the example the apostles imitate, even as their congregations are encouraged likewise to imitate them. Consider John 5:17, “My Father is working until now, and I am working,” and John 9:4, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” How and when does Jesus work? This is worth your meditation this week. Consider the work of Christ as He describes it in Luke 13:32: “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish My course.” See how the work of Christ is more than simply healing and exorcism. See how the work of Christ is that and more, that it is fulfilled in His death and resurrection.
How can you best encourage your own people to love and good work? Do you have the confidence that Paul has to model faithful vocational work in church and family, in state and society, and to encourage imitation of it? Best of all, point to Christ and His work as you proclaim the Word this week. The Christ whose work is done is the object of faith for those who, in these last days, are still called to do work. He sanctifies the work and the worker. He acclaims it and praises it: “Well done good and faithful servant; when you did it to the little one, the Christ under the mask, you did it to Me.” The Lord bless you in your study, in your preparation this week, and in your work in His Kingdom.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on 2 Thessalonians 3:(1-5) 6-13.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you preaching 2 Thessalonians 3:(1-5) 6-13.
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
