Disciplining Believers

Transcript

GR 45
8/11/1974
Disciplining Believers
2 Thessalonians 3:6-18
Gil Rugh

We’ll have our scripture reading in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 3. 2 Thessalonians and the third chapter. And I’d like to pick up with verse 6. Last time we looked at the first five verses so I'd like to begin our reading with verse 6.

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you receive from us.
For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, that you might follow our example.
For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.
And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame. And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

Let’s pray together. Lord, now we pray for wisdom and insight as we look into the word. Father, as we consider the matter of discipline among believers. Pray, again that the Spirit will instruct us. Lord, pray that we’ll be submissive to the word in this area. Father, that the body of believers might be a testimony for Jesus Christ, as it should be. For we pray in His name. Amen.

Come to the concluding section of 2 Thessalonians. And it seems to be a day of dealing with difficult matters. We talked about election this morning and this evening we talk about discipline among believers. This is probably the second most important thing Paul has to say in Thessalonians. First he wanted to discuss the matter of the return of the Lord, the tribulation, and so on. That was in chapter 2. Now the second longest section in the book is this one on disciplining believers that runs from verse 6 through verse 15.

Pick it up with verse 6. Now we command you, brethren. So this is not just a plea.
This is a command. A command given in warmth. He addresses them as brethren. But we’re talking about believers. Believers who are being commanded by Paul in his position as apostle and the command comes in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, which involves the authority of Christ for what he has to say. The command is that you keep aloof from every brother.

You note the stress here. He's addressing brethren. And the command is to keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which he received from us. To keep aloof, to remove yourself, to separate yourself, is the command here. What we have in effect is the matter of Christian discipline. We have believers being commanded to disassociate themselves from other believers. And he says; from every brother who leads an unruly life or an undisciplined life. And, the other side, is not according to the tradition which you received from us.

Now we talked about tradition previously in the book. It has to do with the revelation as given through Paul. We’re not talking about tradition as we use the word, church tradition. We’re talking about the Scripture. And, those who lead an undisciplined life, an unruly life, this word is a military expression. It means to be out of line. The idea would be of military personnel lined up and here is a person who is out of line. This is the picture here. His life is out of line. It’s not in accord with the word of God. Believers are to separate themselves from this type of believer.

Now, you ought to see this in light of verse 5. Where Paul in effect prayed for them that the Lord would direct your hearts into the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. We often think of this type of discipline as being contrary to love. But in one verse Paul can talk about God’s love and that love being produced in us and growing in us and in the very next verse, saying I want you to cut yourself off. Remove yourself from certain believers and these believers are those who are not living their life in accord with the word of God. They’re out of line.

Now it's a rather simple statement. He’ll pick it up again at the end of this section, that we’ll look at in a moment. I take it the command is pure and simple. So there is a believer who is out of line, who is living his life contrary to the word of God, and it falls upon other believers to disassociate themselves from that believer, and in reality this becomes an act of love. It is a form of discipline that goes on among the family of believers and its purpose is to bring that believer back into line.

I think often, under the guise of love, we’ve acted selfishly because the body of believers disciplining another believer is not pleasant. Discipline in your own family isn’t a pleasant thing and among believers, and to us as a church family, it is even more unpleasant. So under the guise of love, we say, well we shouldn't do that, it wouldn’t be loving. We don’t need to cut that person off; we need to love them in the Lord and the result is, that person is not driven to deal with the conduct which is unbecoming a Christian. Because he still has the fellowship of believers he’s still enjoying the benefits of being a Christian in fellowship with other Christians and yet he’s pursuing his sin and disorganized life. So it's really not an act of love to leave him go on in that way. Love is to act in accord with what is best for that person and it’s best that he be disciplined so that he corrects his conduct, and be brought into line.

Now he’s going to give us the example that he has in mind. It's not some gross sin like we might think, like comes up in 1 Corinthians, chapter 5. Incidentally, this is my understanding of what is involved in 1 Corinthians 5 with the man living in sexual immorality who was turned over to Satan. The same with Hymenaeus and Alexander in the pastoral epistle, whom Paul delivered over to Satan. They are put outside the fellowship of believers. They want to live like the world, they are put out into the world, cut off from association and fellowship of believers. The purpose is that they realize the seriousness of their actions and deal with them. In other words, the fellowship of Christians is so important to them that they’re willing to forsake that conduct and activity in order that they might come back into the fellowship of other be1ievers.

The sin here is a little different, although it was dealt with in a similar way. It's a matter of failing to work. Verse 7, For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. Paul says, we were a type and you're to imitate us. We did not act in an undisciplined manner among you. We weren’t unruly, we weren’t undisciplined, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it. But with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we might not be a burden to any of you. So Paul’s practice when at Thessalonica was not to support himself by the money of the Thessalonians. Now Paul often did live off the offerings of those he was ministering to, but at Thessalonica he did not do it because he did not want to open himself up to the charge. You know why the apostle Paul is here? He's making money on you. No one could claim that at Thessalonica. It was a difficult field, you remember. Paul was ultimately run out of that city. No one could come back and say, Paul did it for money because Paul refused their money.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we preachers ought to do it for free. That would be a terrible way to break off this evening. Verse 9, Paul says it's not because we do not have the right. Paul says, it was our right. We have the authority, the word here, to be paid for our ministry, he belabored this point in other places. In 1 Corinthians he makes a point of it. But, here he didn't exercise his right or authority in this area, to be paid as he ministered the word.

But in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, that you might follow our example. Here Paul says, we presented ourselves as a model or a type in order that you might mimic us. Paul says, we're the type and you pattern yourself after us. Again, you see Paul here stepping out as he often does, and says, I am the pattern which you follow. And you say, well that's almost unspiritual, because we always tell people; don't look at us, look at Christ. Well Paul says, if you look at me, you’ll be looking at Christ, because I’m following Christ. He's living in me.
And, he wasn't afraid to say, pattern your life after me. Alright, he led a disciplined life so at Thessalonica. When Paul is preaching the word during the day, he was hammering away in the evenings and at night making money to live so that he could preach the word without any obligation to them. Now, he says follow our example. That's what we did and ah, you ought to be satisfied to follow our pattern.

Verse 10, For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither let him eat. Paul says, that's what I told you when I was there and it still hold true. If you don't want to work, you don't eat. Now evidentially, at Thessalonica, some, because of misunderstanding doctrine, misunderstanding of the word of God carried over into incorrect practice and conduct in their lives, some thought that they no longer had to work. The Lord's coming. Why should I take up my time with the mundane activities of a secular job? I'm going to get ready for the Lords' coming. Let somebody go out and do those occupations. Who cares how many tents are made, the Lord's coming. Let somebody do that stuff, I'm getting ready for the Lord. As is always the case, these people still have to eat, so they end up living off of someone else. You know it becomes easy to impose upon Christians because if I'm not working, but I'm hungry, what is your Christian duty? Your Christian duty is to fill my tummy, I'm hungry. If you love me, you'll feed me. What kind of love is it that turns me away? You note, there is an element of truth in that. We are to have compassion. We are to see that the needs of the brethren are cared for. But, where it’s abused, then that person is responsible. So those that don’t work, don’t eat. And if you’re not working, don't come to me and tell me you’re hungry. I’ll say you ought to be hungry. I hope you starve. If you get weak enough, you’ll crawl off and find a job. It will be good for you as a believer. Because if you continue to feed this person, what do you do? You encourage his laziness.

Now, note, keep this in perspective. There are times when a person is out of a job and, it’s not his desire or his doing. Then believers get together and help that person, but here we have people who don't particularly want to work. They want to get ready for the Lord. Alright, no work, then no eat. It was good at ThessaIonica, and I take it, it is good at Indian Hills. No work, then no eat.

Verse 11, for we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. You know, you have to do something with your time. Getting ready for the Lord is all well and good, but you do that 18
Hours a day, 7 days a week, 4 weeks a month, and so on. You know, pretty soon you get restless, and you're not working but you're working around. There’s a play on words we don’t pick up here. Doing no work at all but working around, same word for work. Doing no work. And then busybodies are the same word work, with a preposition in front of it that means around. You’re not working, but you're working around. The idea is being a busybody. They're not working constructively, but they're making their rounds. You know idleness, you've got to do something so they become busybodies, and gossips, and everything else.

So, these believers are to be busy. Doesn't matter if the Lord is coming tomorrow. You know what you need to be doing, I need to be doing. We need to be busy about what God would have us doing. And if that means be grinding it out at my secular job tomorrow at 10:00 when the Lord comes, I better be about doing what the Lord wants me to be doing at 10:00 tomorrow. It won't be any star in my crown to be sitting on a hill with a white sheet saying, I was expecting you. You say, fine then, why aren't you doing what I wanted you to be doing. You mean over there at that job. That's right. About what He would have us do.

These people not working, but working around or being busybodies. Now such persons we command. And again, the force of this, on the authority of Jesus Christ, this is your obligation. And, also there is the warmth here as Paul commands it and he exhorts, or beseechs, them in the Lord Jesus. So it's their command and it's his strong desire for them. He wants them to be the people that God wants them to be. So the command from God is to get busy. And this is Pauls' intense desire for them to be busy. To be working, so he beseechs or exhorts them to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.

Evidentially, Paul knew of specific cases there. Because, verse 11, he says, we hear that some among you, so this is not just hypothetical. There were people at Thessalonica who were doing this very thing. Paul says that your responsibility is to work in a quiet fashion and eat your own bread. In other words, eat what you’ve bought with the money you’ve earned, quit mooching off someone else. You know it’s easy to tell someone else their responsibility to love you. But we need to be more concerned about my responsibility to love that other person. Now, if you love me, you’ll feed me. Well, turn it around. If you love me, you'll work and feed yourself. Why should I have more love then you, carrying it a little bit carnal, but you get the idea.

Alright, they are to work in a quiet fashion. You know this becomes a problem, I think, among new believers. The Thessalonians were new believers, relatively, a few months old in the Lord. Paul had to deal with it in writing to the Corinthians, I take it as well. That is, you've come to know the Lord, you know something of the joy of knowing him personally. The excitement of getting into the word, of seeing the Lord use your testimony and it doesn’t take long for that job that you were involved in before you became a Christian, seems like the most mundane thing in the world. And you've just got to get rid of it. I mean, know I'm a child of God, I know the Lord. I've got the word. I just can't spend my time at that. And, it pretty well is the pattern, I think, for many new believers to fall into this. And I usually expect it when someone has come to know the Lord, especially the men since they’re the ones out working in the secular jobs. They come tripping by my office to tell me that I think the Lord probably wants me to leave my job. I don't say that in a rebuking way of them. My exhortation to them, from the word is, that that's where the Lord called you, that's where you ought to stay. If you were a machinist when He saved you, then you ought to stay there. Now that doesn't mean that the Lord's never going to lead you out of that. But it does mean that you ought to stay there until you've stabilized and grown to some maturity in your Christian life. You're a new Christian, the Lord's not ready, to launch you out full-time anyway. You need to learn the word. What's He going to do with someone who doesn't know anything? You'd be a great help. So you stay where the Lord has called you.

The Thessa1onians had the same problem. We can empathize with that to a degree, but that doesn't condone it. You become a believer, the Lord saved you in that secular job, of course that’s not that contrary to the word. You know, if you're a gambler or running bets on the side, you may want to look for a different job. But generally speaking, the pattern is you stay where the Lord has called you. You're working, and it's mundane, but that's what you were doing when the Lord saved you. Now he wants to build you up and nourish you but he still wants you to support yourself and your family. So you keep this in mind. As new Christians come to you, you know it's hard. You appreciate their zeal and enthusiasm for the things of the Lord, but they need to be encouraged to stay where they are. Why? Because if they don't work, they're not going to be bringing in the money to buy, and what happens? Well the church ought to care for them. Yeah, I'm a new believer. I love the Lord. Doesn't this church care for me? Don’t you have any responsibility to me? Well our prime responsibility is not to feed you. It’s to nourish you in spiritual things and open the word to you. And the first word that we want to open you is that the Lord says, work. Keep busy. And, you’ll find that you can spend time. Get up an extra time in the morning, spend an hour in the evening before you go to bed in the word. You say, boy I'll be busy. That'll be great. Because if you're not busy, you'll be in trouble, “busybodying” around and somebody will have to be busy to support you. So, not so different than the situation we experience. You're to stay busy and keep busy.

Verse 13. But as for you brethren, do not grow weary of doing good, so the other side. The bulk of the people here, the bulk of the believers were not to grow weary. So it wasn't that everyone at Thessalonica was having this problem, but there were some at Thessalonica that were. And you know, this thing can spread. Ah, so and so here becomes a believer and ends up quitting his job and living off the congregation. Now wait a minute. Why should I go work all day, support him? I'm going to quit too. My job is just as mundane as his job. More mundane, and I make less for being mundane. This type of thing can spread so, Paul encourages them, don't grow weary of doing good.

It's easy to grow weary in doing good. It's interesting that it's connected here with working. That is the good thing because it's what God wants us to do. And if God wants me to work in a factory from 8 to 5, five days a week, or 6 days a week, then that's the right thing for me, being about what he wants me to do. I take it if that’s what he wants me to do, there is ample time in the day for my bible study, or the activities He wants to use me in. And if I’m not open to Him in that situation, I won’t be any more usable by Him if I have ten hours a day, because I pretty well have my life lined up according to myself.

Alright, verse 14. In case you missed it in verse 6. And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man. Take special note of that man, means to mark him. Put a tag on him and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame. So if someone doesn’t want to follow through with what Paul has said in this letter. I take it the immediate context is what he had just said about working, but of course, it is expanded to everything that has been included in the letter, the truth of the word. If anyone doesn’t want to line up, you put a tag on that man. You mark him off, identify him, label him, and then don’t associate with him. Now that’s hard.
And it seems unkind, but it's loving, because you’ll note the purpose. So that he may be put to shame. This word comes to mean to put to shame. It means to turn in on yourself. That he might be caused to turn in on himself, that's put to shame. He begins to look at himself. That's what that action is. As long as we tolerate it as a body of believers, we’re in effect encouraging him to continue in this conduct. But when he is cut off, then he has to look at himself and see his conduct is not acceptable to believers. And as long as I pursue this conduct, I will not have the fellowship of believers, and thus he’s caused to change his conduct.

In verse 15, an important word. Do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. So it’s not, now he has become our enemy. He has become our brother who is being disciplined and no more. When you have to discipline your children, have they now become your enemy? They haven’t, you still love them. But you discipline them for their benefiting good. Well among the body of believer, those who are disciplined are not our enemy. They’re our brother, but they are brothers under discipline. We need to keep in mind, love is acting in accord to what is best for that person. And what is best is that person’s conduct be brought into conformity of the word. That happens as they are separated from the fellowship of believers. Now, Paul makes clear in writing to the Corinthians that these type of instructions are regarding believers.
He wrote and told them not to associate with any immoral and so on and so on, people. But he says, I didn’t mean, people of the world, or else you’d have to leave the world, but anyone who is called a brother. I can't disassociate myself with every lazy person or every immoral person. But a person who is called a brother and I take it here we’re going on the basis of their testimony. They profess to be a believer in Jesus Christ then it’s on that basis I deal with them. If they’re a professing believer living contrary to the word, then they’re disciplined as a believer. If it turns out they're a non-believer, then perhaps the Lord will draw them to Himself, but I have to go on the basis of their testimony, and their confession. I take it the pattern would be then if inconsistent conduct manifest itself among the body at Indian Hills, it would follow through as we are set up, that the elders would approach that person. And if the conduct continues, then we as a body would be made aware of it. That would be unpleasant, but I take it, it follows through with the action of verse 14 where you mark that man. You put a tag on him. You label him and that means he is cut off from the fellowship of believers.
It doesn’t mean that he can’t come to Indian Hills. That would be included. Now we probably won’t put a policeman at the door to keep him out. But it would mean the fellowship that he would have is over. And I take it that would include outside of Indian Hills as well. That doesn't mean you have him over for dinner every night, pat him on the back, let him know that you’re not really part of this movement that's ostracizing him. The purpose is that he is cut off firmly and completely from Christian fellowship.

Now keep this in mind because it's hard. First reaction is, boy, that’s when they really need the fellowship of believers, when they're having these difficulties. Well, I take it that God knows what He is doing in handling His children and He says this is the way we do it. First, they're approached in love, of course, and encouraged to change their conduct. But if they don't, then they're cut off. You want to live like the world, then you can be part of the world, but you cannot be part of the fellowship of believers in this place and live like the world. Now, we roll that around and keep that portion in mind. We're not going to want to witch hunt. I take it, when discipline is necessary it becomes obvious. We don’t want to go prying into your private life and I don't want you prying into mine. We're talking about conduct here that is public to a degree because that's what mares the testimony. Not that private sin is better than public sin, but public sin mares the testimony of the body in this place. If we tolerate it, we're condoning it. And so, for our testimony and for the good of that erroring believer, he is cut off from the fellowship of believers at this point.

A rather negative note to end the epistle on and Paul closes there with his greeting. Now may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace in every circumstance. Paul's not trying to start battles. He wants peace. He wants love. The Lord be with you all. I Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. I take it, it was Paul’s practice from what he says here, to close off every letter in his own handwriting. It wasn't his practice to write every letter himself. He used a secretary or an amanuensis, but it was his practice to sign his letter with a closing greeting. By looking at the handwriting, you could recognize this was genuine from Paul.

He mentioned earlier in the letter, some abused this and claimed to have a letter from him. Here's the way you can tell it's genuine. Every letter that I write, I close off in this way, in my own hand. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. A problem he had to deal with, he had mentioned it in 1 Thessalonians. The first epistle, chapter 4 and again in chapter 5 briefly that hadn’t corrected the problem. So he goes into detail here.

I trust you and I, our desire as a congregation will be to be a congregation that is honoring to Jesus Christ. That necessitates holiness and purity of life among believers. That we live our lives in accord with the word of God. Not that we take, pleasure in disciplining, but we need to do what is best for believers.

That doesn’t mean that we’ve got 35 people in mind and we're going to launch out to get this week. One of these things, we establish the principle of the word on which we are going to operate. And you know what that is and it's easier to do it before individual cases come to the body to be dealt with. It doesn't matter who you are. If you're the pastor, if you're an elder, you're a deacon, you're a Sunday school teacher, or you're a regular member. The pattern of being dealt with is established in the word.
Except that those who are more prominent, are dealt with more severely, but the pattern is there. And each of us need to be concerned that our lives, our activity, day by day, are as such, and consistent and in conformity of the word and thus honoring to Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together.
Father, again we thank you for the word. Lord, for the fact that it is practical. Lord, that the truth of the word has an impact upon our lives as we live them daily. Even as we considered the matter of faithfulness in our daily tasks. Lord, help us to realize that as believers, our responsibilities in providing for families. Our responsibilities to you, Lord, that we might do all that we do as unto You, and not unto men. Lord, thus at our jobs, mundane as they might seem. Lord, we can do them with enthusiasm because we are aware that we are doing them for you and not for men. Lord, pray that our lives in this area might be consistent. That we might be diligent, that we might be characterized by a labor and a toll. Lord, that our testimonies here might be clear, in order that in spiritual matters, our testimonies might bear weight. Father, pray that you might give us the boldness as a congregation of believers to be self-disciplining. Lord, first that individually, we might discipline ourselves. Then Lord, as occasions may arise, pray Lord, that we'll have the boldness to act upon the basis of the word. That we'll not hold back on the basis of human reasoning or human logic. That the word might be our authority and on the basis of the word, we might have the confidence and boldness to act for the good of every believer. Thank you for the time we've had together this evening. We pray that you'll bless us now as we go to our homes.
We pray in Jesus name, Amen.