How You Can Please God in: Sex, Work, Death (3)
We are to make it our goal, as Christians, to live a life that pleases God.
Writing to the new Christians in the fledgling church he had left behind in Thessalonica, Paul “asked and urged” them “as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more.” (1 These 4:1)
He then goes on to elaborate how they can please God in the areas of sex, work and death.
Sex and Work
God established both sex and work as honourable from the beginning in the perfect world He created. (Genesis ch 2)
But following the Fall, sex and work became corrupted by human society.
The corruption of one is bound up with the corruption of the other.
In the Parable of the Lost Sons (Luke 15:11-32) the younger son gets an inheritance from his parent. Then, when he should have been “working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need” (Eph 4:28), he abandoned his family and squandered his inheritance on himself and on prostitutes.
When the Lost Son was not employed in honest work, he more readily sought out opportunities to indulge in sexual immorality. His lived a life literally in the pigsty.
The devil makes work for idle hands.
But when, by the grace of God, “he came to himself” he determined to return to his family, confess his sin and seek their forgiveness.
Practically, this meant he was also willing to seek gainful employment, though it be the humblest job on offer in his father’s house.
God and Work
God works: “Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” (Gen 2:1-2)
God’s work is good: “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Gen 1:31)
And His work is honourable: “His work is honourable and glorious, and His righteousness endures forever.” (Psa 111:3)
Then God put Man in the Garden. And He put Man to work:
“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it… And He brought every beast of the field and every bird of the air to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.” (Gen 2:15,19)
The work God gave Man to do was good and honourable.
Love and Work
In 1 Thes ch 4 Paul moves from how to please God when it comes to sex (vv 3-8) to how we are to please God when it comes to work (vv 9-12)
He introduces what he wants to say with these words: “Concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so… But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more.” (1 Thes 4:9-10)
Here, once again (cf v 1), he wants the Christians in the church to “increase more and more”; and, as in ch 3, v 12, to “increase and abound in love to one another and to all.”
How will they show that they “increase more and more” in their “love for one another”?
Here it is as they “aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind [their] own business, and to work with [their] own hands.”
Work is love!
Why do you work?
For some, it is all about “self-fulfilment.” And there is nothing wrong with wanting a job that is “fulfilling”.
Certainly, in the beginning, Adam would’ve found both his creative work in the garden, as well as his scientific work in naming the animals, hugely fulfilling.
But not all jobs are equally fulfilling; some are drudgery. And unfortunately, some just constantly flit from one job to another if they don’t “feel fulfilled”.
But first and foremost, work is about providing for yourself and for those you love.
The reason you are “to work with your own hands” is “that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.” (1 Thes 4:11-12)
If you have a job that provides for yourself, and for those you love, that in itself is fulfilling.
Work is an act of love.
I myself can testify to this when I returned from the mission field 34 years ago.
There was no paid position in the church I returned to; and for a time the chuch kindly helped support me and my family.
But, as soon as I could, I took a job that became available as a cleaner/ builder’s labourer. Though the work was boring, I was happy in the job because I was supporting myself and my family with my own hands: that in itself is hugely rewarding.
Psalm 128:2-4 puts it this way:
- When you eat the labour of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the very heart of your house,
Your children like olive plants all around your table.
Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
And, not only when it comes to providing for one’s family:
“Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Eph 4:28)
Work is an act of love.
It is love that makes whatever job you have, fulfilling.
Warnings about Work
In Thessalonica some had downed tools, and were living off the kindness of others.
But as Phil Arthur puts it: “Love does not sponge on others!”
Paul tentatively broaches the subject in his 1st Epistle.
We’re not sure why some had given up their day job. But probably they thought, “If Jesus is coming again soon, why keep on working?”.
A bit like Nevil Shute’s “On the Beach”, a novel about when the end of the world was imminent – so no one bothered to go to work, and everyone helped themselves to whatever luxury goods were left in the stores.
By the time Paul wrote his 2nd Epistle (not long after the 1st, we think) he was blunter.
He begins by telling them that the end is not quite yet: “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless…” (2 Thes 2:1-4)
Then he rebukes those who have laid down tools: “We hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies.” (2 Thes 3:11)
The devil makes work for idle hands! “Because they were ‘not busy’ with their own business, they had become ‘busybodies’, meddling in other people’s matters.” (John Stott)
And he reminds them that “even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” (2 Thes 3:10) “Don’t support such; you aren’t helping them,” he says. “It only encourages them in being irresponsible.”
Repeatedly he describes such as “disorderly” (2 Thes 3:6,7,11).
This is the same word in 1 Thes 5:14: “Warn those who are unruly.” These (the commentators suggest) are those Paul, earlier in his epistle (4:9-12), has been encouraging to get off their backsides.
This word: “disorderly” (or “unruly”) was originally a military term meaning “to be out of rank, out of one’s place, undisciplined.”
Here they are those who shirk doing an honest day’s work, or who flit from job to job.
Either way, they were not providing for their families. “If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim 5:8)
Such are to be warned.
Now look at who is to do the warning: “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly.” (1 Thes 5:14).
Immediately before this it is the leaders of the church who are to “admonish” (the same word as “warn”). But when it comes to those who are lazy, and not supporting themselves or their families, it is the “brethren” – the church members themselves – who are to care enough to warn their brother in Christ.
“Who should shoulder the burden of warning the unruly, comforting the faint-hearted and upholding the weak? Ask this question of many a church member and the answer would be: the pastor, or perhaps the elders. As far as Paul was concerned, these vital pastoral tasks were not the sole province of the top tier of church leadership. One certain way of ensuring that the job is done badly is to leave it to the oversight. There is simply too much to be done! That is why Paul emphasized that these tasks were the responsibility of the membership at large.” (Phil Arthur)
Each of us in the church is to care enough to warn a brother in Christ.
And yes, he is still a brother in Christ. In 2 Thes ch 3 Paul does indeed “command” the “brethren” “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” that they limit their fellowship with such: “Withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly… Note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed.” (vv 6,14)
But he quickly adds: “Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” (v 15)
(This is obviously a different response from the situation Paul addressed in 1 Cor ch 5.)
The Unemployed and Work
However, this is not talking about those who are unemployed but can’t find work.
That is a tragic circumstance at the best of times. But the fallout from the current pandemic – with its consequent lockdowns, ill health and unemployment – has shifted things to a whole new level.
The Bible’s warning is for those who refuse to work when work is available.
It is not a condemnation of those who want to work but can’t find it, and whose families suffer financial hardship as a result. Nor does it stigmatise such who then have to draw upon unemployment benefits (where they are available).
On the contrary, it encourages Christians to contribute to such “unemployment benefits” for those in need, as they are able. (Eph 4:28, cf Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-37, 11:29)
Retirement and Work
There comes a time in most people’s lives when it is unrealistic to keep up the pace of their current job.
In another age it may have been you could simply ease back; and that is still possible in some vocations. But mostly it is not possible: you are either doing the job you were in, or not at all.
As we are able, we are to make provision for such a day – as even the ants bear witness (Prov 6:6-11). We are to do what we can to support ourselves as we grow older.
And where those who are older can no longer support themselves, we are to embrace the opportunity to “do good” (Gal 6:2,9-10) and support them. (1 Tim 5:3-15, cf Acts (above) and Acts 6:1, 9:36,39, Gal 2:10 etc.)
But work – whether paid or not – is still honourable in the elderly. We were made to work and it is important that those who are “retired” continue to be gainfully employed according to their ability. There is so much we can be doing.
With more time on our hands (?) we have more opportunity to help out those in need – whether visiting the sick, relieving an overstretched mother, filling in for someone else where we have the expertise, supporting those struggling or depressed, or just being a listening ear.
And, sharing the gospel with those who are perishing!
The Bible also would have those who are older (and, hopefully wiser) to take time to impart what they have learned to those coming after them. Eg. Psa 78:1-8, 1 Tim 3:4-5, Titus 2:3-4.
See also so many places in the Bible (eg. in Deuteronomy, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes etc) where we told to take time to teach our children, as well as our grandchildren (Deut 4:9).
Retirement can still be fulfilling when it comes to work. The real tragedy is when retirees aspire to nothing more than collecting “seashells”. John Piper addressed this in his now famous message at the turn of the millennium:
- I tell you what a tragedy is: “Bob and Penny took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their thirty foot trawler, playing softball and collecting shells.”
That’s a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Don’t buy it. With all my heart I plead with you: don’t buy that dream. The American Dream: a nice house, a nice car, a nice job, a nice family, a nice retirement, collecting shells as the last chapter before you stand before the Creator of the universe to give an account of what you did: “Here it is Lord – my shell collection! And I’ve got a nice swing, and look at my boat!”
Don’t waste your life; don’t waste it.
“Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us.” (Psa 90:17)
“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labours, and their works follow them.’” (Rev 14:13)
“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (1 Cor 15:58)