Sermon - 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 Living in Idleness

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Pitts Creek and Beaver Dam Churches

Sermon - 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 Living in Idleness

November 17, 2013

This is Stewardship Commitment Sunday, the Sunday each year when we remind ourselves that the entire world was created by God and is still owned by him. We have been given the right by God to have dominion over creation, but we also have the responsibility to care for it. This care is called stewardship. As good stewards we take care of what God has given us. Today we will take a look at a part of God's creation over which we have specific responsibility to care. This part of creation is called the church. And God's wants us to take care of it. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

“Grant unto us, O Lord, to be occupied in the mysteries of thy heavenly wisdom, with true progress in piety, to thy glory and our own edification. Amen.” (John Calvin)

2 Thessalonians 3.6-15 6Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, 8and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. 9This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. 14Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. 15Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.

As we heard last week the church at Thessalonica was under the mistaken idea that Christ was just about to return. And as a result they were not doing the things they needed to do. Paul accused them of idleness. They know what work they should be doing, but they are avoiding it, going around it, and so the work of the church is being disrupted. They are not inviting their friends to church. They are not proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are not coming around the communion table or passing through the waters of baptism. They are not greeting visitors with hospitality. They are not gathering for fellowship activities, Bible studies and prayer. They are not caring for their buildings and grounds. They are not paying their bills. And they are not tithing to support the work of the church. They are not doing anything the church needs to continue operating because they think Jesus will soon return, and make all things new. So why bother?

Paul wants none of this. He has told them that we just don't know when Christ will return so they must keep doing what he taught them to do. They are to do the work of evangelizing, and preaching, and teaching, and administering sacraments, and having coffee hours and Sunday school classes for all ages. They are to maintain their buildings, balance their books, and practice music for Sunday. And they are to tithe so that the church has the resources it needs to do what God wants.

Paul also talks, briefly, about compensation for pastors. Paul's practice was whenever he was starting a church he would not accept any pay. Instead he would find a job. In Corinth he worked with leather. But once the church was established it was required to pay someone who because of his education in the faith, under Paul, was qualified to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and properly administer the sacraments. And so the church at Thessalonica, which had the benefit of having Paul himself start it, must now support their pastor.

As we have already seen, the problem in Thessalonica, was that people thought that because Jesus was to return soon and there was no need to support the ministry of the church and its pastor. Today churches also have difficulty doing these things. But I think the reason for our problems today is not that we think Christ's coming in immanent. No. The reason we have trouble supporting the church today is idolatry. Let me explain.

Whenever the nominating committee is at work recruiting people for boards, whenever we are looking for Sunday school teachers for kids, the response we hear over and over again is, “I'm too busy.” I'm too busy to lead the youth group. I'm too busy to clean up Sunday school rooms. I'm too busy to come to church every Sunday. I'm too busy to pray every day. I'm too busy to attend Bible studies. I'm too busy doing other things. And that's the problem. We value other things more than we value the God's church. And whenever we value something more than we value God that thing becomes our idol. So let's ask ourselves, “What keeps us from actively supporting the church”? What makes us so busy that we don't have time for church any more. Whatever it is, that is your idol. That is what you worship.

Let's take a closed look at (Pitts Creek) (Beaver Dam) church to see how well we are caring for God's church right here. According to public information on the PCUSA.ORG web site as submitted by the clerk of session for last year we have (51) (46) members. The average Presbyterian church has 180 members. So we are well below average. Part of this is due to the fact that we are in a small town with not much population. But other churches in this town are much bigger than us. And we were much bigger at one time. So this must indicate that we are not doing a good enough job telling our friends about all the blessings we have received from God. We have not done a good enough job inviting people to join us in worship. We have not done a good enough job welcoming visitors to the church with hospitality. We have not done a good enough job making this an attractive place for families to come for worship. And so we are far below average in the denomination and in this town in membership and attendance. We must be doing something else with our time rather than using it to build up the church.

Let's turn to how we use our money. We are to give to the church sufficient resources to allow it to accomplish what God is calling it to do. At minimum we have to pay the bills and maintain the building. The pastor also needs to be paid. According to PCUSA.ORG (Pitts Creek) (Beaver Dam) church gave a total of ($73,439) ($63,085) in gifts, tithes and offerings in 2012. The average church in the denomination gives $246,031. We are significantly below average in giving. Part of this is due to our low membership. So lets look at the giving per member and see how we compare. The average member at (Pitts Creek) (Beaver Dam) gives to the church ($1,440) ($1,370) last year. The average member of a Presbyterian church gave $1,366 last year. So we are about average in giving.

So we are below average in membership and about average in giving. As a result we struggle to maintain our building and pay a pastor for ½ of his time. Our problem, I think is we suffer from a lack of spiritual growth. We are just not praying every day. We are not studying scripture. We are not in worship every Sunday. And because we are not doing these things we have a very hard time talking about Jesus with our neighbors and inviting them to church. We also have a hard time committing our money for the work of God in our community through the church. We can clearly see the lack of spiritual growth in the congregation from attendance in Christian Education. In the average Presbyterian church 103 people attend Bible studies. 57% of the average congregation is in regular Bible study. But at (Pitts Creek) (Beaver Dam) we have only (19) (23) people attending Bible studies. We only have (37%) (50%) of our members in Christian Education. This too is below average.

So we are below average in evangelism and Christian education, and about average when it comes to giving. As a result of this we struggle to do what God is calling us to do in the community. We need to develop our gifts of evangelism and tithing. We do this by engaging in a program of spiritual development. This means we must pray and meditate on scripture every day. We must study the Bible in groups on a regular basis. And we must be in worship every Sunday praying for the gift of evangelism and responding to God's blessings with our own gifts, tithes and offerings. Let's pray.

Farther in heaven we are sorry that we do not tell others about the good news of Jesus Christ. We do not invite people to church. And so our church is too small to do all the things you want us to do. We are sorry that we do not attend Bible studies and daily prayers. As a result we have not grown very much. We are sorry for being only average in our sharing of all the resources you have given us. So we ask for forgiveness and promise to do better. This we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.