2 Thessalonians

All right. Good morning, everyone. My name is Kyle. I am the student pastor here at Grace, and this morning I am so excited to have the opportunity to preach to you guys out of the book of 2 Thessalonians. Now, I don't know who in here has recently read through 2 Thessalonians, or even if you ever have, but it's a pretty interesting book, and if I'm being completely honest, as I read through it a couple times, I read through it and kind of just shook my head. I was like, I don't really know what I'm going to preach out of this. I don't really know what of this is applicable for like a Sunday morning at Grace in 2023, but I guess here we go. No, but it's an interesting book because of the reason why it was written. To give a little background, those of you who, those of you might have been here for a couple of our other Sunday mornings where we have gone through some of Paul's writings. First and second Thessalonians are two letters that were written and attributed to Paul and Paul's ministry written to the church in Thessalonica, written to the city, these people who he had gone and spent some time with, and after spending time with them, had written them two separate letters. Now, the more interesting part is why and the occasion for why he's actually writing the second letter. He's got a great reason to write the first letter. I actually got to preach on 1 Thessalonians a few weeks ago, and it's a beautiful letter, and it just so well just describes exactly what Paul is trying to do and say, and you read it, and you're like, this is awesome. And then 2 Thessalonians is written basically for the opportunity for him to kind of address and to correct a misunderstanding that some of the people in Thessalonica had around the first letter. So basically the reason why he's writing it is to say, hey, look, you misinterpreted what I said here, and it's actively messing you guys up, and you're kind of not only believing the wrong things, but now you're doing the wrong things, so this needs to be addressed. And so, because of that, what that means is, before we're fully and adequately able to dive into 2 Thessalonians, we have to give a bit of a background, a bit of review over 1 Thessalonians. And now, look, I looking around and I see, everyone, I see on your faces, you're like, Kyle, we don't need a review of 1 Thessalonians. We have been listening nonstop to your sermon from July 4th weekend ever since you preached it. I can see it. You're all like, Kyle, we don't need a review of 1 Thessalonians. We've listened to that sermon like five times. It was just so meaningful and so beautifully written and especially spoken. No, but in case any of you might maybe aren't there, maybe you missed that Sunday, you missed that sermon, or just in case it's helpful to have a reminder and to have a bit of a review, let's jump into it. So the first part of the review I want to get to is not about necessarily 1 Thessalonians or even 2 Thessalonians, but more of a general, here's who Paul is. Paul, once he became a Christian, he devoted his entire life to ministry. Paul's goal, his ultimate point of his life was this. He wanted to share the gospel with all people, and he wanted to call them to repent and to live lives that were reflective of that gospel. For him, to live meant to teach people who Jesus was. And one of the reasons why I love 1 Thessalonians is because when he writes that, and as we previously discussed, as he writes this letter to the Thessalonians, we get a pretty distinctly clear picture at what Paul thinks is the best strategy in being able to do it. What Paul believes is the best way that us as believers are able to share Christ with the people that are around us. And so that's what he does. He writes it. He says, this is what I did. This is what I want you to do. And basically it was this. Paul believed the best way to minister and to share the gospel was through building relationships, through genuine relational love, and without any expectation of reciprocity. When he went into Thessalonica, he didn't go in and stay kind of on the outskirts of town. And then when he woke up, he would go to the center of town, find a stage, and just preach in front of these people who he didn't really know. But hey, I've got the good news of the gospel, and so you need to listen to me. He didn't do that. He went and fully immersed himself into the community, fully immersed himself into the culture, getting to know these people, spending time with these people, eating meals with these people, and building these loving and lasting relationships with these people, because in his view and in his mind, the best way to adequately and rightfully share the love of Christ and to share the gospel of Christ was through building those relationships. He even got a job while he was there. Not only was he just actively meeting people and building community, he actually literally was serving in the community. He was working amongst the people and building relationships with the people he was working with, the people that he was working for, and ultimately, one, to just have one more immersion into the culture, but two, so that it didn't feel like, so that these people didn't feel like he was using them for reciprocity, so that these people didn't feel like he had any other motive for why he was preaching. He didn't want them to be like, man, that guy comes in here, he's preaching us the good news, and that's just because he wants the good money and the good food that we'll give him for bringing up this great news. No. Paul wanted to get a job. He wanted them to know, hey, I'm earning my living. I'm earning my living amongst you and around all of you. I want you to see that because I want you to see that the only reason I'm bringing you the gospel, the only reason I want to get to know you better is so that I can share the love of Christ with you and no other reason than that. And so, unfortunately, he has to leave abruptly. His life's in danger because some people were upset about his teachings. He has to leave abruptly. And he finds out through the grapevine later on that man, his teaching, that his work in Thessalonica had not gone in vain. That the gospel had taken root and was expanding like wildfire. That all of these things that he had done for these people, all of the ways that he had taught and encouraged them on how to live, how to live a life for Christ, of how to live this kind of lifestyle evangelism where, hey, your life should be centered around the gospel so that you're bringing the gospel to anyone that you come in contact with. They were doing that. And so people are being more deeply rooted in Christ. The people in Thessalonica, they're adding to the numbers daily of the people who are giving their hearts and giving their lives over to the gospel, over to God and over to Christ. Not only that, but I found, we talked about this when I preached, I found out that one of the biggest attributions to Christianity becoming a world religion was the fact that it spread out so widely from Thessalonica. So many people in other cultures, in other cities, and even in other nations would come to Thessalonica for the sake of trade. They were there all the time. And because the gospel had such an impact and had such a deep-rooted movement going on in Thessalonica, it was encouraging and impacting all of the people who were coming in, and those people were going out into their places that they live, and they were spreading the gospel there. Incredible stuff. It was awesome. And so Paul finds out about this. And so out of the joy and excitement to hear such things, he writes his first letter, 1 Thessalonians. And in the letter, he writes about how much he misses them. Like we already established, he built and established some deep-rooted relationships and loving relationships. So, I miss you guys so much. I can't wait to see you soon. And he reminisces a bit on his time there, on his time where he spent time getting to know them and sharing the gospel with them and all of those things, and then just talks about how excited and how proud he is of them, that they have followed in his footsteps and they are now living out the gospel the way that he had called them to do. And then finally, he takes the rest of the book, mostly, to encourage them to continue to do the same. To encourage them to continue to do good, to continue to live their lives for Christ, and to continue to make Christ known in everything that they do. And it's a beautiful book. It's awesome. But there was one problem with that letter. And the problem in that letter is that there's one specific thing that Paul wrote about that he meant to use as encouragement, but ended up kind of being used as something a little bit different. In the end of chapter four, the beginning of chapter five of 1 Thessalonians, Paul takes some time to talk about the second coming, to talk about what he refers to it as the day of the Lord. When Christ comes back, when the Lord comes to bring all of the believers up into eternity with him, to spend eternity in perfection in heaven in his presence. He talks about it for a couple reasons. There were some worries and some fears amongst the people that needed to be addressed, and so Paul uses that to address that. But one of the main reasons that he does that is he wants, he's kind of like, hey, this will, it'll come like a thief in the night. We don't really know exactly when it comes, when God, when God will come back, when Christ will come back and bring all of us up. And when he does so, he kind of is saying that basically to say, hey, look, Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand that their time on this earth was short, so they needed to make every second count. Time is short. We don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming back, but it could be soon. And if it's soon, be ready, be excited, and live your life in a way that is significant. It's basically saying, hey, spend the time you have left on earth pursuing and making Christ known in your lives and worlds the ways that I've taught you. All the ways that you've been doing already. You're living out these lives that I've taught you and that I've shown you and I'm so encouraged to hear that. Continue to do that. Continue in the reminder that, hey, we don't know how much time we have left on this earth, but as long as you're here, live it out for Christ. Well, it's not exactly how they read it. There was a group and a portion of the Thessalonians that when they read that, they didn't recognize that, hey, the point of what he's doing and that the point of what he's saying is that you should pursue Christ and know Christ and make Christ known even more because we don't know what's going to happen next. They actually kind of mistook it as the opposite. And their misunderstanding was such that they thought he was being literal with, hey, the Lord could come at any point. The Lord could come at any time to saying, hey, the Lord's getting ready to come. So get ready. And upon hearing that, some people decided, okay, well, I don't really, that my life on earth is really that worth it now because we're just going to wait for God to come. And so what happened was instead of these people being encouraged to continue to live out their lives for Christ, they kind of were discouraged to live out their lives. Basically, the Thessalonians' misunderstanding of Paul's words, well, yeah, go ahead and throw it up there. The Thessalonians' misunderstanding of Paul's words caused a group of them to quit their jobs and deem their earthly lives as seemingly unimportant. It's kind of like, it's kind of like the kid who wakes up and knows that they've got friends coming in from out of town who are driving in, don't know when they're going to get here, don't really have any conceptual concept of time, so it doesn't even matter if their mom tells them when they're going to get here. They just know they're coming. At some point, they're going to drive into that driveway, and I've got to be ready. And so to prepare for them to get there, the mom is like, hey, buddy, you got some chores. We have things that need to be done. You've got work that needs to be done before these people get here to prepare for them to be here. But the kid is just so excited. He's just so excited that these people are coming, that he is completely uninterested in doing the work that his mom's asked him to do. Chores, schmores in his eyes, you know what I'm saying? And instead, he just is like, you know what, I've got to stay right here because the window's right here. If I don't have, like, if I don't check every 30 seconds to, like, to see if they're here yet, then they might just not appear, you know? And so they spend the whole day, instead of working and doing what their mom asked them to do, they spend the whole day, instead of just kind of wasting away, not doing any of the things they've been asked to do because they're just way too excited about these people coming. Y'all probably know a little, I'm sure some of us have kind of been there before. A lot of you are parents. I'm sure your kids have done that before, but that's kind of how they behave. That's kind of how they reacted. Hey, if Jesus is coming back, if he's coming back at any point, then what's the point in me living my life now? Sure, I've got this earthly life, but I'm about to have an eternal life any hour at this point because Paul just told me so. So what's the point in going back to work? Why do I have to do all these responsibilities? I've already done my part. I've checked off my boxes. I've already given my heart to Christ. So what's the point of me having to do any of this now? They just were like, hey, I'll just sit back and I'll wait to go to heaven because it's going to happen at any point in any moment. And as you can imagine, in the same way that the mom was probably pretty unhappy with her son, who didn't do anything she'd asked him to do, Paul, when he finds out that this had been the reaction of some of the Thessalonians, was not super excited about it. So he writes 2 Thessalonians. He writes 2 Thessalonians, and predominantly, to be able to correct not only this incorrect view and this incorrect theological belief, but this incorrect behavior that he was not super thrilled about. And so he takes time to kind of outline, hey, there's a couple things that need to happen before the second coming of Christ. It is not immediately imminent to the point that like, hey, you could wake up that like at some point you might just not wake up tonight because Christ has come and brought you back home. There's things that have to happen. I'm not going to get into those. You can read some of those. It's great. It's helpful. It's useful to know and understand. But all that to say, Paul writes about those because he wants them to kind of like chill out, like, hey, whoa, buddy, Jesus is not coming back in one hour, so let's chill out there, and let's not teach other people that that's what's happening. But then he takes time to address what he calls people who were kind of falling into idleness, leaving their jobs, leaving their secular human lives, and just sitting back and waiting for Jesus to come. And he does so in 2 Thessalonians 3. But the first people he addressed are actually not the people who had fallen into becoming idle. The first people he actually addresses are the people who had not fallen for that. The people who had read his message and whether or not they understood it, they were like, hey, Paul had given us a mission. Paul says we need to be at work. We need to be working. We need to be living our lives. We need to be getting to know people and living amongst people. We need to be doing what God has called us to do. And so Paul addresses them first and is a little bit harsh. Basically, ultimately saying, hey, look, here's the deal. I know some of you are probably kind of helping and aiding some of these people who have left their jobs and don't have money to buy food and all that stuff. They're not your problem. You don't really need to be helping them out. They're people who have decided, hey, I know I can work, but I'm just not interested. They're going to help me out. He even says in verse 10, he's very specific when he says, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Then he takes a little bit of time to allow them to recall his time there. One thing that Paul does in his writings, he wants to make sure that it doesn't come off that he's holding people to a different standard than the standard that he is holding himself. And so he recalls his time there. Hey, don't you guys remember that when I was there, that my whole mission and my whole goal and all of my ministry was set and based around the job that I was doing and the life that I was living? Did you see me just like wasting away over to the side because like, hey, God's got me, so whatever. No, I was there. I worked a job. I brought money in because I didn't want people to feel like I was using them for their money. I wanted them to know that I just wanted them to know and love Christ. And then, finally, he addresses the people who had fallen into their idleness. And he does so in 2 Thessalonians 3.12, which is not on the screen, so I'm just going to read it. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Hey, this isn't encouragement, but it's also a commandment. If you left your job, and if you are shirking your life's responsibilities, if you've decided that your human life is just kind of done at this point because you're waiting for Jesus to come back, it's time to stop. I'm not just encouraging it, I'm commanding it. It's time to stop, go back to work, do your work. And so, and, so I read that, and we talk about that, and I think everyone in the room is like, yeah, cool, man. That makes sense. You shouldn't do that. But like I kind of opened with, I really struggled as I read that to go, okay, so what's the value for the people at Grace? I mean, I guess I could stand up and just say, hey, look, Grace, here's the deal. If any of you guys have been doing some extra research on the second coming recently, and if in your research you've decided that Jesus could come back at any moment or any day, and so you've decided that because of that, you're going to leave, you're going to just leave your human responsibilities behind, you're going to leave your job and not worry about providing for yourself or anybody you need to provide. If you're doing that, I would encourage you and command you that instead you should not do that. Go back to work. Go back to your responsibilities. Go back to your family. They miss you. No. It's not a super effective tool to communicate to all of you guys. But after reading it a few times, I realized that this section where he addresses the idleness, he doesn't stop at just addressing the people who had fallen into their idleness separately from the people who had not fallen into idleness. He goes one verse more. He goes one verse longer, and I think that what this next verse does is to help us understand why maybe the sin that they had fallen into and fallen under is maybe a little bit similar to something that we fall under and fall into sometimes. So the next verse actually is on the screen, and this is to address all of the believers in Thessalonica. The ones who had fallen into idleness and the ones who are still doing exactly what Paul had called them to do and what the Lord calls them to do. And this verse says, and it's verse 13, as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good. After the command, hey, don't help out people who don't need your help and are just trying to get it. After the command to, hey, go back to work and start doing your job and get back to your lives that you were already living. He says, and all of you, every one of you, do not grow weary in doing good. And what this verse did, finally, after reading it countless times, what it finally did is it reminded me of 1 Thessalonians. And it reminded me of why Paul wrote about the second coming in the first place. It reminded me of why, of why it's important that Paul finds everyday life and work so important in the first place. Because that, our lives, the lives that they lived and the lives that we live, because that is where the Lord has placed them and that is where the Lord has called them to live for him. Paul's point in talking about idleness, Paul's point in telling people to go back to work isn't just for the simplicity of, hey, go back to work, you goofballs. His point is don't neglect the human secular life that God has uniquely given you and called you to. Instead, use that life to do good, serve and love the people you're around, and continue to build relationships that share Christ's love and point people toward Christ. What the Thessalonians who fell into idleness had done is they had forgotten that until Christ had actually come down to get them, that the Lord was not done with them yet. Hey, if you're still on earth, even if it's for one more day or one more hour, if you're still on earth, that means Christ still has you on earth on purpose. Their lives on earth had been created for them by God to do exactly the work in him that only they could do. They'd forgotten that Paul's teaching that all of life is meant to be lived out for Christ and that there should be no distinction between different parts of life. Sunday morning is not more spiritual or more holy than Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday night small group does not become more spiritual or more holy than being in the office on Friday morning. There should be no distinction. Doesn't that remind us of what Paul already taught us of how to spread the gospel? He didn't say, hey, everyone leave your jobs so you can become preachers. He said, hey, guess what, everyone? The Lord puts you in your jobs for a reason. He's trying to use you in those jobs. And ultimately, I think the big tragedy that Paul is trying to address is this, that their misunderstanding had removed them from their quote-unquote secular lives, and Lord had given them lives where daily they interact with people who need the love of Christ. And because they had decided they were done with all those earthly responsibilities, they had effectively walked away from all of the people who needed Christ's love the most. And Paul couldn't stand it. And so Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians. And doesn't that sound more like something that we maybe need to hear and be reminded of? Isn't that a truth that maybe makes a little bit more sense on our end? Don't we sometimes, even though maybe we're not leaving our jobs, maybe we leave God at the footsteps of our jobs, forgetting or not being willing to acknowledge the fact that the Lord maybe has us there for a reason that's his and not just for the sake of you doing a job to get money. I think what the connection of 1 and 2 Thessalonians does such a beautiful job is to remind us that our time on this earth is short. And so we should live it meaningfully, reflecting the Father who not only created us, and not only saved us through the death and resurrection of Christ, but the Father who is with us every second of every day. Father who's guiding our steps and working to use us for his glory and his plan. The Father who decides to allow, to allow us in our short and ordinary lives to make an eternal and an extraordinary impact on the people that are around us. So then I turn it around and I ask a couple questions. How often, Grace, do we miss or how often do we overlook the Lord's presence and the Lord's guidance in our day-to-day lives? How often do we miss that the Lord is trying to work inside of our lives every single day? Or, how often do we find ourselves so caught up in our day-to-day lives that we are unaware or unwilling to see why the Lord might have us in those places and why the Lord might have us around those people in the first place? I think what Paul wants us to realize is this, that as a Christian, every moment is holy because we carry the presence of God into every single moment that we walk into. And maybe more directly, every time we separate our secular lives from our spiritual lives, we are missing the opportunity to expand God's kingdom and extend the heart of Christ. God is with us every moment of every single day. He's with us so we get to experience a relationship and a knowledge of him. But he's with us because he is trying to guide us into every moment of our day so that we can turn that and extend the heart of Christ to the people that are around us. And so I want to close with a quote. It's a quote that has been meaningful to me in years past as I ponder, hey, what does it look like to make my everyday life more centered around God, more centered around Christ? What does that look like? What does that mean? It's a quote from John Ortberg. And I'm going to read it. And it's a little different than some of our other blanks. And I'll tell you why. So, and it's actually, you can read it up here or it's on your sheets. If I really believe that I may meet with God, I do not just show up. My mind is awake. I am hoping and looking for something beyond myself. If I come to scripture or blank with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. I'm going to read that one more time. This time I'm going to read it as a blank. If I really believe that I may meet with God, I do not just show up. My mind is awake. I am hoping and looking for something beyond myself. If I come to blank with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. So the quote, that blank is meant to be scripture, but I removed it because I want us to be thoughtful about what else could maybe go in that blank. Certainly one of the best ways to be able to experience and to know God better and to know what God's plan for us is on a day-to-day basis, one of the best ways to do it is through scripture. And when we meet with God and we dive into scripture, we don't just do so willy-nilly. We do so knowing, hey, we're about to meet with God. And so we come in with an attitude of expectancy. But what if we changed it up? What if we said, if I come to work with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. If I come home from work with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. When I hit the golf course on a Saturday morning with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. Fill in the blank. If I enter into blank, whatever that blank is, at each part of the day, with expectancy. Expecting the Lord to move. Expecting the Lord to already be there. Expecting the Lord to guide my path as I take each and every step. How would our lives look different? How would each phase of our lives look different? Not just when we walk into church and we get to celebrate the Lord, but when we walk out of church into lunch. Grace, I believe that if we walked each step of our lives with the attitude of expectancy that God is going to move, then that could really change things. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that we never grow tired and we never grow weary of doing good. Lord, as you have called us in everything that we do to do good for you, to live out a life that is reflective of you in the gospel and to make most of you in every step that we take. Through relationships, through building relationships, through sharing your gospel through whatever it looks like. God, I just pray that we stay and remain mindful that you're always with us, not just in small groups, not just on Sunday mornings, but every step of the day. And Lord, may we not ever try to separate our life from your life because you never do that. Lord, we love you so much. Amen.

All right. Good morning, everyone. My name is Kyle. I am the student pastor here at Grace, and this morning I am so excited to have the opportunity to preach to you guys out of the book of 2 Thessalonians. Now, I don't know who in here has recently read through 2 Thessalonians, or even if you ever have, but it's a pretty interesting book, and if I'm being completely honest, as I read through it a couple times, I read through it and kind of just shook my head. I was like, I don't really know what I'm going to preach out of this. I don't really know what of this is applicable for like a Sunday morning at Grace in 2023, but I guess here we go. No, but it's an interesting book because of the reason why it was written. To give a little background, those of you who, those of you might have been here for a couple of our other Sunday mornings where we have gone through some of Paul's writings. First and second Thessalonians are two letters that were written and attributed to Paul and Paul's ministry written to the church in Thessalonica, written to the city, these people who he had gone and spent some time with, and after spending time with them, had written them two separate letters. Now, the more interesting part is why and the occasion for why he's actually writing the second letter. He's got a great reason to write the first letter. I actually got to preach on 1 Thessalonians a few weeks ago, and it's a beautiful letter, and it just so well just describes exactly what Paul is trying to do and say, and you read it, and you're like, this is awesome. And then 2 Thessalonians is written basically for the opportunity for him to kind of address and to correct a misunderstanding that some of the people in Thessalonica had around the first letter. So basically the reason why he's writing it is to say, hey, look, you misinterpreted what I said here, and it's actively messing you guys up, and you're kind of not only believing the wrong things, but now you're doing the wrong things, so this needs to be addressed. And so, because of that, what that means is, before we're fully and adequately able to dive into 2 Thessalonians, we have to give a bit of a background, a bit of review over 1 Thessalonians. And now, look, I looking around and I see, everyone, I see on your faces, you're like, Kyle, we don't need a review of 1 Thessalonians. We have been listening nonstop to your sermon from July 4th weekend ever since you preached it. I can see it. You're all like, Kyle, we don't need a review of 1 Thessalonians. We've listened to that sermon like five times. It was just so meaningful and so beautifully written and especially spoken. No, but in case any of you might maybe aren't there, maybe you missed that Sunday, you missed that sermon, or just in case it's helpful to have a reminder and to have a bit of a review, let's jump into it. So the first part of the review I want to get to is not about necessarily 1 Thessalonians or even 2 Thessalonians, but more of a general, here's who Paul is. Paul, once he became a Christian, he devoted his entire life to ministry. Paul's goal, his ultimate point of his life was this. He wanted to share the gospel with all people, and he wanted to call them to repent and to live lives that were reflective of that gospel. For him, to live meant to teach people who Jesus was. And one of the reasons why I love 1 Thessalonians is because when he writes that, and as we previously discussed, as he writes this letter to the Thessalonians, we get a pretty distinctly clear picture at what Paul thinks is the best strategy in being able to do it. What Paul believes is the best way that us as believers are able to share Christ with the people that are around us. And so that's what he does. He writes it. He says, this is what I did. This is what I want you to do. And basically it was this. Paul believed the best way to minister and to share the gospel was through building relationships, through genuine relational love, and without any expectation of reciprocity. When he went into Thessalonica, he didn't go in and stay kind of on the outskirts of town. And then when he woke up, he would go to the center of town, find a stage, and just preach in front of these people who he didn't really know. But hey, I've got the good news of the gospel, and so you need to listen to me. He didn't do that. He went and fully immersed himself into the community, fully immersed himself into the culture, getting to know these people, spending time with these people, eating meals with these people, and building these loving and lasting relationships with these people, because in his view and in his mind, the best way to adequately and rightfully share the love of Christ and to share the gospel of Christ was through building those relationships. He even got a job while he was there. Not only was he just actively meeting people and building community, he actually literally was serving in the community. He was working amongst the people and building relationships with the people he was working with, the people that he was working for, and ultimately, one, to just have one more immersion into the culture, but two, so that it didn't feel like, so that these people didn't feel like he was using them for reciprocity, so that these people didn't feel like he had any other motive for why he was preaching. He didn't want them to be like, man, that guy comes in here, he's preaching us the good news, and that's just because he wants the good money and the good food that we'll give him for bringing up this great news. No. Paul wanted to get a job. He wanted them to know, hey, I'm earning my living. I'm earning my living amongst you and around all of you. I want you to see that because I want you to see that the only reason I'm bringing you the gospel, the only reason I want to get to know you better is so that I can share the love of Christ with you and no other reason than that. And so, unfortunately, he has to leave abruptly. His life's in danger because some people were upset about his teachings. He has to leave abruptly. And he finds out through the grapevine later on that man, his teaching, that his work in Thessalonica had not gone in vain. That the gospel had taken root and was expanding like wildfire. That all of these things that he had done for these people, all of the ways that he had taught and encouraged them on how to live, how to live a life for Christ, of how to live this kind of lifestyle evangelism where, hey, your life should be centered around the gospel so that you're bringing the gospel to anyone that you come in contact with. They were doing that. And so people are being more deeply rooted in Christ. The people in Thessalonica, they're adding to the numbers daily of the people who are giving their hearts and giving their lives over to the gospel, over to God and over to Christ. Not only that, but I found, we talked about this when I preached, I found out that one of the biggest attributions to Christianity becoming a world religion was the fact that it spread out so widely from Thessalonica. So many people in other cultures, in other cities, and even in other nations would come to Thessalonica for the sake of trade. They were there all the time. And because the gospel had such an impact and had such a deep-rooted movement going on in Thessalonica, it was encouraging and impacting all of the people who were coming in, and those people were going out into their places that they live, and they were spreading the gospel there. Incredible stuff. It was awesome. And so Paul finds out about this. And so out of the joy and excitement to hear such things, he writes his first letter, 1 Thessalonians. And in the letter, he writes about how much he misses them. Like we already established, he built and established some deep-rooted relationships and loving relationships. So, I miss you guys so much. I can't wait to see you soon. And he reminisces a bit on his time there, on his time where he spent time getting to know them and sharing the gospel with them and all of those things, and then just talks about how excited and how proud he is of them, that they have followed in his footsteps and they are now living out the gospel the way that he had called them to do. And then finally, he takes the rest of the book, mostly, to encourage them to continue to do the same. To encourage them to continue to do good, to continue to live their lives for Christ, and to continue to make Christ known in everything that they do. And it's a beautiful book. It's awesome. But there was one problem with that letter. And the problem in that letter is that there's one specific thing that Paul wrote about that he meant to use as encouragement, but ended up kind of being used as something a little bit different. In the end of chapter four, the beginning of chapter five of 1 Thessalonians, Paul takes some time to talk about the second coming, to talk about what he refers to it as the day of the Lord. When Christ comes back, when the Lord comes to bring all of the believers up into eternity with him, to spend eternity in perfection in heaven in his presence. He talks about it for a couple reasons. There were some worries and some fears amongst the people that needed to be addressed, and so Paul uses that to address that. But one of the main reasons that he does that is he wants, he's kind of like, hey, this will, it'll come like a thief in the night. We don't really know exactly when it comes, when God, when God will come back, when Christ will come back and bring all of us up. And when he does so, he kind of is saying that basically to say, hey, look, Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand that their time on this earth was short, so they needed to make every second count. Time is short. We don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming back, but it could be soon. And if it's soon, be ready, be excited, and live your life in a way that is significant. It's basically saying, hey, spend the time you have left on earth pursuing and making Christ known in your lives and worlds the ways that I've taught you. All the ways that you've been doing already. You're living out these lives that I've taught you and that I've shown you and I'm so encouraged to hear that. Continue to do that. Continue in the reminder that, hey, we don't know how much time we have left on this earth, but as long as you're here, live it out for Christ. Well, it's not exactly how they read it. There was a group and a portion of the Thessalonians that when they read that, they didn't recognize that, hey, the point of what he's doing and that the point of what he's saying is that you should pursue Christ and know Christ and make Christ known even more because we don't know what's going to happen next. They actually kind of mistook it as the opposite. And their misunderstanding was such that they thought he was being literal with, hey, the Lord could come at any point. The Lord could come at any time to saying, hey, the Lord's getting ready to come. So get ready. And upon hearing that, some people decided, okay, well, I don't really, that my life on earth is really that worth it now because we're just going to wait for God to come. And so what happened was instead of these people being encouraged to continue to live out their lives for Christ, they kind of were discouraged to live out their lives. Basically, the Thessalonians' misunderstanding of Paul's words, well, yeah, go ahead and throw it up there. The Thessalonians' misunderstanding of Paul's words caused a group of them to quit their jobs and deem their earthly lives as seemingly unimportant. It's kind of like, it's kind of like the kid who wakes up and knows that they've got friends coming in from out of town who are driving in, don't know when they're going to get here, don't really have any conceptual concept of time, so it doesn't even matter if their mom tells them when they're going to get here. They just know they're coming. At some point, they're going to drive into that driveway, and I've got to be ready. And so to prepare for them to get there, the mom is like, hey, buddy, you got some chores. We have things that need to be done. You've got work that needs to be done before these people get here to prepare for them to be here. But the kid is just so excited. He's just so excited that these people are coming, that he is completely uninterested in doing the work that his mom's asked him to do. Chores, schmores in his eyes, you know what I'm saying? And instead, he just is like, you know what, I've got to stay right here because the window's right here. If I don't have, like, if I don't check every 30 seconds to, like, to see if they're here yet, then they might just not appear, you know? And so they spend the whole day, instead of working and doing what their mom asked them to do, they spend the whole day, instead of just kind of wasting away, not doing any of the things they've been asked to do because they're just way too excited about these people coming. Y'all probably know a little, I'm sure some of us have kind of been there before. A lot of you are parents. I'm sure your kids have done that before, but that's kind of how they behave. That's kind of how they reacted. Hey, if Jesus is coming back, if he's coming back at any point, then what's the point in me living my life now? Sure, I've got this earthly life, but I'm about to have an eternal life any hour at this point because Paul just told me so. So what's the point in going back to work? Why do I have to do all these responsibilities? I've already done my part. I've checked off my boxes. I've already given my heart to Christ. So what's the point of me having to do any of this now? They just were like, hey, I'll just sit back and I'll wait to go to heaven because it's going to happen at any point in any moment. And as you can imagine, in the same way that the mom was probably pretty unhappy with her son, who didn't do anything she'd asked him to do, Paul, when he finds out that this had been the reaction of some of the Thessalonians, was not super excited about it. So he writes 2 Thessalonians. He writes 2 Thessalonians, and predominantly, to be able to correct not only this incorrect view and this incorrect theological belief, but this incorrect behavior that he was not super thrilled about. And so he takes time to kind of outline, hey, there's a couple things that need to happen before the second coming of Christ. It is not immediately imminent to the point that like, hey, you could wake up that like at some point you might just not wake up tonight because Christ has come and brought you back home. There's things that have to happen. I'm not going to get into those. You can read some of those. It's great. It's helpful. It's useful to know and understand. But all that to say, Paul writes about those because he wants them to kind of like chill out, like, hey, whoa, buddy, Jesus is not coming back in one hour, so let's chill out there, and let's not teach other people that that's what's happening. But then he takes time to address what he calls people who were kind of falling into idleness, leaving their jobs, leaving their secular human lives, and just sitting back and waiting for Jesus to come. And he does so in 2 Thessalonians 3. But the first people he addressed are actually not the people who had fallen into becoming idle. The first people he actually addresses are the people who had not fallen for that. The people who had read his message and whether or not they understood it, they were like, hey, Paul had given us a mission. Paul says we need to be at work. We need to be working. We need to be living our lives. We need to be getting to know people and living amongst people. We need to be doing what God has called us to do. And so Paul addresses them first and is a little bit harsh. Basically, ultimately saying, hey, look, here's the deal. I know some of you are probably kind of helping and aiding some of these people who have left their jobs and don't have money to buy food and all that stuff. They're not your problem. You don't really need to be helping them out. They're people who have decided, hey, I know I can work, but I'm just not interested. They're going to help me out. He even says in verse 10, he's very specific when he says, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Then he takes a little bit of time to allow them to recall his time there. One thing that Paul does in his writings, he wants to make sure that it doesn't come off that he's holding people to a different standard than the standard that he is holding himself. And so he recalls his time there. Hey, don't you guys remember that when I was there, that my whole mission and my whole goal and all of my ministry was set and based around the job that I was doing and the life that I was living? Did you see me just like wasting away over to the side because like, hey, God's got me, so whatever. No, I was there. I worked a job. I brought money in because I didn't want people to feel like I was using them for their money. I wanted them to know that I just wanted them to know and love Christ. And then, finally, he addresses the people who had fallen into their idleness. And he does so in 2 Thessalonians 3.12, which is not on the screen, so I'm just going to read it. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Hey, this isn't encouragement, but it's also a commandment. If you left your job, and if you are shirking your life's responsibilities, if you've decided that your human life is just kind of done at this point because you're waiting for Jesus to come back, it's time to stop. I'm not just encouraging it, I'm commanding it. It's time to stop, go back to work, do your work. And so, and, so I read that, and we talk about that, and I think everyone in the room is like, yeah, cool, man. That makes sense. You shouldn't do that. But like I kind of opened with, I really struggled as I read that to go, okay, so what's the value for the people at Grace? I mean, I guess I could stand up and just say, hey, look, Grace, here's the deal. If any of you guys have been doing some extra research on the second coming recently, and if in your research you've decided that Jesus could come back at any moment or any day, and so you've decided that because of that, you're going to leave, you're going to just leave your human responsibilities behind, you're going to leave your job and not worry about providing for yourself or anybody you need to provide. If you're doing that, I would encourage you and command you that instead you should not do that. Go back to work. Go back to your responsibilities. Go back to your family. They miss you. No. It's not a super effective tool to communicate to all of you guys. But after reading it a few times, I realized that this section where he addresses the idleness, he doesn't stop at just addressing the people who had fallen into their idleness separately from the people who had not fallen into idleness. He goes one verse more. He goes one verse longer, and I think that what this next verse does is to help us understand why maybe the sin that they had fallen into and fallen under is maybe a little bit similar to something that we fall under and fall into sometimes. So the next verse actually is on the screen, and this is to address all of the believers in Thessalonica. The ones who had fallen into idleness and the ones who are still doing exactly what Paul had called them to do and what the Lord calls them to do. And this verse says, and it's verse 13, as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good. After the command, hey, don't help out people who don't need your help and are just trying to get it. After the command to, hey, go back to work and start doing your job and get back to your lives that you were already living. He says, and all of you, every one of you, do not grow weary in doing good. And what this verse did, finally, after reading it countless times, what it finally did is it reminded me of 1 Thessalonians. And it reminded me of why Paul wrote about the second coming in the first place. It reminded me of why, of why it's important that Paul finds everyday life and work so important in the first place. Because that, our lives, the lives that they lived and the lives that we live, because that is where the Lord has placed them and that is where the Lord has called them to live for him. Paul's point in talking about idleness, Paul's point in telling people to go back to work isn't just for the simplicity of, hey, go back to work, you goofballs. His point is don't neglect the human secular life that God has uniquely given you and called you to. Instead, use that life to do good, serve and love the people you're around, and continue to build relationships that share Christ's love and point people toward Christ. What the Thessalonians who fell into idleness had done is they had forgotten that until Christ had actually come down to get them, that the Lord was not done with them yet. Hey, if you're still on earth, even if it's for one more day or one more hour, if you're still on earth, that means Christ still has you on earth on purpose. Their lives on earth had been created for them by God to do exactly the work in him that only they could do. They'd forgotten that Paul's teaching that all of life is meant to be lived out for Christ and that there should be no distinction between different parts of life. Sunday morning is not more spiritual or more holy than Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday night small group does not become more spiritual or more holy than being in the office on Friday morning. There should be no distinction. Doesn't that remind us of what Paul already taught us of how to spread the gospel? He didn't say, hey, everyone leave your jobs so you can become preachers. He said, hey, guess what, everyone? The Lord puts you in your jobs for a reason. He's trying to use you in those jobs. And ultimately, I think the big tragedy that Paul is trying to address is this, that their misunderstanding had removed them from their quote-unquote secular lives, and Lord had given them lives where daily they interact with people who need the love of Christ. And because they had decided they were done with all those earthly responsibilities, they had effectively walked away from all of the people who needed Christ's love the most. And Paul couldn't stand it. And so Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians. And doesn't that sound more like something that we maybe need to hear and be reminded of? Isn't that a truth that maybe makes a little bit more sense on our end? Don't we sometimes, even though maybe we're not leaving our jobs, maybe we leave God at the footsteps of our jobs, forgetting or not being willing to acknowledge the fact that the Lord maybe has us there for a reason that's his and not just for the sake of you doing a job to get money. I think what the connection of 1 and 2 Thessalonians does such a beautiful job is to remind us that our time on this earth is short. And so we should live it meaningfully, reflecting the Father who not only created us, and not only saved us through the death and resurrection of Christ, but the Father who is with us every second of every day. Father who's guiding our steps and working to use us for his glory and his plan. The Father who decides to allow, to allow us in our short and ordinary lives to make an eternal and an extraordinary impact on the people that are around us. So then I turn it around and I ask a couple questions. How often, Grace, do we miss or how often do we overlook the Lord's presence and the Lord's guidance in our day-to-day lives? How often do we miss that the Lord is trying to work inside of our lives every single day? Or, how often do we find ourselves so caught up in our day-to-day lives that we are unaware or unwilling to see why the Lord might have us in those places and why the Lord might have us around those people in the first place? I think what Paul wants us to realize is this, that as a Christian, every moment is holy because we carry the presence of God into every single moment that we walk into. And maybe more directly, every time we separate our secular lives from our spiritual lives, we are missing the opportunity to expand God's kingdom and extend the heart of Christ. God is with us every moment of every single day. He's with us so we get to experience a relationship and a knowledge of him. But he's with us because he is trying to guide us into every moment of our day so that we can turn that and extend the heart of Christ to the people that are around us. And so I want to close with a quote. It's a quote that has been meaningful to me in years past as I ponder, hey, what does it look like to make my everyday life more centered around God, more centered around Christ? What does that look like? What does that mean? It's a quote from John Ortberg. And I'm going to read it. And it's a little different than some of our other blanks. And I'll tell you why. So, and it's actually, you can read it up here or it's on your sheets. If I really believe that I may meet with God, I do not just show up. My mind is awake. I am hoping and looking for something beyond myself. If I come to scripture or blank with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. I'm going to read that one more time. This time I'm going to read it as a blank. If I really believe that I may meet with God, I do not just show up. My mind is awake. I am hoping and looking for something beyond myself. If I come to blank with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. So the quote, that blank is meant to be scripture, but I removed it because I want us to be thoughtful about what else could maybe go in that blank. Certainly one of the best ways to be able to experience and to know God better and to know what God's plan for us is on a day-to-day basis, one of the best ways to do it is through scripture. And when we meet with God and we dive into scripture, we don't just do so willy-nilly. We do so knowing, hey, we're about to meet with God. And so we come in with an attitude of expectancy. But what if we changed it up? What if we said, if I come to work with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. If I come home from work with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. When I hit the golf course on a Saturday morning with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. Fill in the blank. If I enter into blank, whatever that blank is, at each part of the day, with expectancy. Expecting the Lord to move. Expecting the Lord to already be there. Expecting the Lord to guide my path as I take each and every step. How would our lives look different? How would each phase of our lives look different? Not just when we walk into church and we get to celebrate the Lord, but when we walk out of church into lunch. Grace, I believe that if we walked each step of our lives with the attitude of expectancy that God is going to move, then that could really change things. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that we never grow tired and we never grow weary of doing good. Lord, as you have called us in everything that we do to do good for you, to live out a life that is reflective of you in the gospel and to make most of you in every step that we take. Through relationships, through building relationships, through sharing your gospel through whatever it looks like. God, I just pray that we stay and remain mindful that you're always with us, not just in small groups, not just on Sunday mornings, but every step of the day. And Lord, may we not ever try to separate our life from your life because you never do that. Lord, we love you so much. Amen.

All right. Good morning, everyone. My name is Kyle. I am the student pastor here at Grace, and this morning I am so excited to have the opportunity to preach to you guys out of the book of 2 Thessalonians. Now, I don't know who in here has recently read through 2 Thessalonians, or even if you ever have, but it's a pretty interesting book, and if I'm being completely honest, as I read through it a couple times, I read through it and kind of just shook my head. I was like, I don't really know what I'm going to preach out of this. I don't really know what of this is applicable for like a Sunday morning at Grace in 2023, but I guess here we go. No, but it's an interesting book because of the reason why it was written. To give a little background, those of you who, those of you might have been here for a couple of our other Sunday mornings where we have gone through some of Paul's writings. First and second Thessalonians are two letters that were written and attributed to Paul and Paul's ministry written to the church in Thessalonica, written to the city, these people who he had gone and spent some time with, and after spending time with them, had written them two separate letters. Now, the more interesting part is why and the occasion for why he's actually writing the second letter. He's got a great reason to write the first letter. I actually got to preach on 1 Thessalonians a few weeks ago, and it's a beautiful letter, and it just so well just describes exactly what Paul is trying to do and say, and you read it, and you're like, this is awesome. And then 2 Thessalonians is written basically for the opportunity for him to kind of address and to correct a misunderstanding that some of the people in Thessalonica had around the first letter. So basically the reason why he's writing it is to say, hey, look, you misinterpreted what I said here, and it's actively messing you guys up, and you're kind of not only believing the wrong things, but now you're doing the wrong things, so this needs to be addressed. And so, because of that, what that means is, before we're fully and adequately able to dive into 2 Thessalonians, we have to give a bit of a background, a bit of review over 1 Thessalonians. And now, look, I looking around and I see, everyone, I see on your faces, you're like, Kyle, we don't need a review of 1 Thessalonians. We have been listening nonstop to your sermon from July 4th weekend ever since you preached it. I can see it. You're all like, Kyle, we don't need a review of 1 Thessalonians. We've listened to that sermon like five times. It was just so meaningful and so beautifully written and especially spoken. No, but in case any of you might maybe aren't there, maybe you missed that Sunday, you missed that sermon, or just in case it's helpful to have a reminder and to have a bit of a review, let's jump into it. So the first part of the review I want to get to is not about necessarily 1 Thessalonians or even 2 Thessalonians, but more of a general, here's who Paul is. Paul, once he became a Christian, he devoted his entire life to ministry. Paul's goal, his ultimate point of his life was this. He wanted to share the gospel with all people, and he wanted to call them to repent and to live lives that were reflective of that gospel. For him, to live meant to teach people who Jesus was. And one of the reasons why I love 1 Thessalonians is because when he writes that, and as we previously discussed, as he writes this letter to the Thessalonians, we get a pretty distinctly clear picture at what Paul thinks is the best strategy in being able to do it. What Paul believes is the best way that us as believers are able to share Christ with the people that are around us. And so that's what he does. He writes it. He says, this is what I did. This is what I want you to do. And basically it was this. Paul believed the best way to minister and to share the gospel was through building relationships, through genuine relational love, and without any expectation of reciprocity. When he went into Thessalonica, he didn't go in and stay kind of on the outskirts of town. And then when he woke up, he would go to the center of town, find a stage, and just preach in front of these people who he didn't really know. But hey, I've got the good news of the gospel, and so you need to listen to me. He didn't do that. He went and fully immersed himself into the community, fully immersed himself into the culture, getting to know these people, spending time with these people, eating meals with these people, and building these loving and lasting relationships with these people, because in his view and in his mind, the best way to adequately and rightfully share the love of Christ and to share the gospel of Christ was through building those relationships. He even got a job while he was there. Not only was he just actively meeting people and building community, he actually literally was serving in the community. He was working amongst the people and building relationships with the people he was working with, the people that he was working for, and ultimately, one, to just have one more immersion into the culture, but two, so that it didn't feel like, so that these people didn't feel like he was using them for reciprocity, so that these people didn't feel like he had any other motive for why he was preaching. He didn't want them to be like, man, that guy comes in here, he's preaching us the good news, and that's just because he wants the good money and the good food that we'll give him for bringing up this great news. No. Paul wanted to get a job. He wanted them to know, hey, I'm earning my living. I'm earning my living amongst you and around all of you. I want you to see that because I want you to see that the only reason I'm bringing you the gospel, the only reason I want to get to know you better is so that I can share the love of Christ with you and no other reason than that. And so, unfortunately, he has to leave abruptly. His life's in danger because some people were upset about his teachings. He has to leave abruptly. And he finds out through the grapevine later on that man, his teaching, that his work in Thessalonica had not gone in vain. That the gospel had taken root and was expanding like wildfire. That all of these things that he had done for these people, all of the ways that he had taught and encouraged them on how to live, how to live a life for Christ, of how to live this kind of lifestyle evangelism where, hey, your life should be centered around the gospel so that you're bringing the gospel to anyone that you come in contact with. They were doing that. And so people are being more deeply rooted in Christ. The people in Thessalonica, they're adding to the numbers daily of the people who are giving their hearts and giving their lives over to the gospel, over to God and over to Christ. Not only that, but I found, we talked about this when I preached, I found out that one of the biggest attributions to Christianity becoming a world religion was the fact that it spread out so widely from Thessalonica. So many people in other cultures, in other cities, and even in other nations would come to Thessalonica for the sake of trade. They were there all the time. And because the gospel had such an impact and had such a deep-rooted movement going on in Thessalonica, it was encouraging and impacting all of the people who were coming in, and those people were going out into their places that they live, and they were spreading the gospel there. Incredible stuff. It was awesome. And so Paul finds out about this. And so out of the joy and excitement to hear such things, he writes his first letter, 1 Thessalonians. And in the letter, he writes about how much he misses them. Like we already established, he built and established some deep-rooted relationships and loving relationships. So, I miss you guys so much. I can't wait to see you soon. And he reminisces a bit on his time there, on his time where he spent time getting to know them and sharing the gospel with them and all of those things, and then just talks about how excited and how proud he is of them, that they have followed in his footsteps and they are now living out the gospel the way that he had called them to do. And then finally, he takes the rest of the book, mostly, to encourage them to continue to do the same. To encourage them to continue to do good, to continue to live their lives for Christ, and to continue to make Christ known in everything that they do. And it's a beautiful book. It's awesome. But there was one problem with that letter. And the problem in that letter is that there's one specific thing that Paul wrote about that he meant to use as encouragement, but ended up kind of being used as something a little bit different. In the end of chapter four, the beginning of chapter five of 1 Thessalonians, Paul takes some time to talk about the second coming, to talk about what he refers to it as the day of the Lord. When Christ comes back, when the Lord comes to bring all of the believers up into eternity with him, to spend eternity in perfection in heaven in his presence. He talks about it for a couple reasons. There were some worries and some fears amongst the people that needed to be addressed, and so Paul uses that to address that. But one of the main reasons that he does that is he wants, he's kind of like, hey, this will, it'll come like a thief in the night. We don't really know exactly when it comes, when God, when God will come back, when Christ will come back and bring all of us up. And when he does so, he kind of is saying that basically to say, hey, look, Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand that their time on this earth was short, so they needed to make every second count. Time is short. We don't know the day or the hour when Jesus is coming back, but it could be soon. And if it's soon, be ready, be excited, and live your life in a way that is significant. It's basically saying, hey, spend the time you have left on earth pursuing and making Christ known in your lives and worlds the ways that I've taught you. All the ways that you've been doing already. You're living out these lives that I've taught you and that I've shown you and I'm so encouraged to hear that. Continue to do that. Continue in the reminder that, hey, we don't know how much time we have left on this earth, but as long as you're here, live it out for Christ. Well, it's not exactly how they read it. There was a group and a portion of the Thessalonians that when they read that, they didn't recognize that, hey, the point of what he's doing and that the point of what he's saying is that you should pursue Christ and know Christ and make Christ known even more because we don't know what's going to happen next. They actually kind of mistook it as the opposite. And their misunderstanding was such that they thought he was being literal with, hey, the Lord could come at any point. The Lord could come at any time to saying, hey, the Lord's getting ready to come. So get ready. And upon hearing that, some people decided, okay, well, I don't really, that my life on earth is really that worth it now because we're just going to wait for God to come. And so what happened was instead of these people being encouraged to continue to live out their lives for Christ, they kind of were discouraged to live out their lives. Basically, the Thessalonians' misunderstanding of Paul's words, well, yeah, go ahead and throw it up there. The Thessalonians' misunderstanding of Paul's words caused a group of them to quit their jobs and deem their earthly lives as seemingly unimportant. It's kind of like, it's kind of like the kid who wakes up and knows that they've got friends coming in from out of town who are driving in, don't know when they're going to get here, don't really have any conceptual concept of time, so it doesn't even matter if their mom tells them when they're going to get here. They just know they're coming. At some point, they're going to drive into that driveway, and I've got to be ready. And so to prepare for them to get there, the mom is like, hey, buddy, you got some chores. We have things that need to be done. You've got work that needs to be done before these people get here to prepare for them to be here. But the kid is just so excited. He's just so excited that these people are coming, that he is completely uninterested in doing the work that his mom's asked him to do. Chores, schmores in his eyes, you know what I'm saying? And instead, he just is like, you know what, I've got to stay right here because the window's right here. If I don't have, like, if I don't check every 30 seconds to, like, to see if they're here yet, then they might just not appear, you know? And so they spend the whole day, instead of working and doing what their mom asked them to do, they spend the whole day, instead of just kind of wasting away, not doing any of the things they've been asked to do because they're just way too excited about these people coming. Y'all probably know a little, I'm sure some of us have kind of been there before. A lot of you are parents. I'm sure your kids have done that before, but that's kind of how they behave. That's kind of how they reacted. Hey, if Jesus is coming back, if he's coming back at any point, then what's the point in me living my life now? Sure, I've got this earthly life, but I'm about to have an eternal life any hour at this point because Paul just told me so. So what's the point in going back to work? Why do I have to do all these responsibilities? I've already done my part. I've checked off my boxes. I've already given my heart to Christ. So what's the point of me having to do any of this now? They just were like, hey, I'll just sit back and I'll wait to go to heaven because it's going to happen at any point in any moment. And as you can imagine, in the same way that the mom was probably pretty unhappy with her son, who didn't do anything she'd asked him to do, Paul, when he finds out that this had been the reaction of some of the Thessalonians, was not super excited about it. So he writes 2 Thessalonians. He writes 2 Thessalonians, and predominantly, to be able to correct not only this incorrect view and this incorrect theological belief, but this incorrect behavior that he was not super thrilled about. And so he takes time to kind of outline, hey, there's a couple things that need to happen before the second coming of Christ. It is not immediately imminent to the point that like, hey, you could wake up that like at some point you might just not wake up tonight because Christ has come and brought you back home. There's things that have to happen. I'm not going to get into those. You can read some of those. It's great. It's helpful. It's useful to know and understand. But all that to say, Paul writes about those because he wants them to kind of like chill out, like, hey, whoa, buddy, Jesus is not coming back in one hour, so let's chill out there, and let's not teach other people that that's what's happening. But then he takes time to address what he calls people who were kind of falling into idleness, leaving their jobs, leaving their secular human lives, and just sitting back and waiting for Jesus to come. And he does so in 2 Thessalonians 3. But the first people he addressed are actually not the people who had fallen into becoming idle. The first people he actually addresses are the people who had not fallen for that. The people who had read his message and whether or not they understood it, they were like, hey, Paul had given us a mission. Paul says we need to be at work. We need to be working. We need to be living our lives. We need to be getting to know people and living amongst people. We need to be doing what God has called us to do. And so Paul addresses them first and is a little bit harsh. Basically, ultimately saying, hey, look, here's the deal. I know some of you are probably kind of helping and aiding some of these people who have left their jobs and don't have money to buy food and all that stuff. They're not your problem. You don't really need to be helping them out. They're people who have decided, hey, I know I can work, but I'm just not interested. They're going to help me out. He even says in verse 10, he's very specific when he says, if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Then he takes a little bit of time to allow them to recall his time there. One thing that Paul does in his writings, he wants to make sure that it doesn't come off that he's holding people to a different standard than the standard that he is holding himself. And so he recalls his time there. Hey, don't you guys remember that when I was there, that my whole mission and my whole goal and all of my ministry was set and based around the job that I was doing and the life that I was living? Did you see me just like wasting away over to the side because like, hey, God's got me, so whatever. No, I was there. I worked a job. I brought money in because I didn't want people to feel like I was using them for their money. I wanted them to know that I just wanted them to know and love Christ. And then, finally, he addresses the people who had fallen into their idleness. And he does so in 2 Thessalonians 3.12, which is not on the screen, so I'm just going to read it. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Hey, this isn't encouragement, but it's also a commandment. If you left your job, and if you are shirking your life's responsibilities, if you've decided that your human life is just kind of done at this point because you're waiting for Jesus to come back, it's time to stop. I'm not just encouraging it, I'm commanding it. It's time to stop, go back to work, do your work. And so, and, so I read that, and we talk about that, and I think everyone in the room is like, yeah, cool, man. That makes sense. You shouldn't do that. But like I kind of opened with, I really struggled as I read that to go, okay, so what's the value for the people at Grace? I mean, I guess I could stand up and just say, hey, look, Grace, here's the deal. If any of you guys have been doing some extra research on the second coming recently, and if in your research you've decided that Jesus could come back at any moment or any day, and so you've decided that because of that, you're going to leave, you're going to just leave your human responsibilities behind, you're going to leave your job and not worry about providing for yourself or anybody you need to provide. If you're doing that, I would encourage you and command you that instead you should not do that. Go back to work. Go back to your responsibilities. Go back to your family. They miss you. No. It's not a super effective tool to communicate to all of you guys. But after reading it a few times, I realized that this section where he addresses the idleness, he doesn't stop at just addressing the people who had fallen into their idleness separately from the people who had not fallen into idleness. He goes one verse more. He goes one verse longer, and I think that what this next verse does is to help us understand why maybe the sin that they had fallen into and fallen under is maybe a little bit similar to something that we fall under and fall into sometimes. So the next verse actually is on the screen, and this is to address all of the believers in Thessalonica. The ones who had fallen into idleness and the ones who are still doing exactly what Paul had called them to do and what the Lord calls them to do. And this verse says, and it's verse 13, as for you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good. After the command, hey, don't help out people who don't need your help and are just trying to get it. After the command to, hey, go back to work and start doing your job and get back to your lives that you were already living. He says, and all of you, every one of you, do not grow weary in doing good. And what this verse did, finally, after reading it countless times, what it finally did is it reminded me of 1 Thessalonians. And it reminded me of why Paul wrote about the second coming in the first place. It reminded me of why, of why it's important that Paul finds everyday life and work so important in the first place. Because that, our lives, the lives that they lived and the lives that we live, because that is where the Lord has placed them and that is where the Lord has called them to live for him. Paul's point in talking about idleness, Paul's point in telling people to go back to work isn't just for the simplicity of, hey, go back to work, you goofballs. His point is don't neglect the human secular life that God has uniquely given you and called you to. Instead, use that life to do good, serve and love the people you're around, and continue to build relationships that share Christ's love and point people toward Christ. What the Thessalonians who fell into idleness had done is they had forgotten that until Christ had actually come down to get them, that the Lord was not done with them yet. Hey, if you're still on earth, even if it's for one more day or one more hour, if you're still on earth, that means Christ still has you on earth on purpose. Their lives on earth had been created for them by God to do exactly the work in him that only they could do. They'd forgotten that Paul's teaching that all of life is meant to be lived out for Christ and that there should be no distinction between different parts of life. Sunday morning is not more spiritual or more holy than Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday night small group does not become more spiritual or more holy than being in the office on Friday morning. There should be no distinction. Doesn't that remind us of what Paul already taught us of how to spread the gospel? He didn't say, hey, everyone leave your jobs so you can become preachers. He said, hey, guess what, everyone? The Lord puts you in your jobs for a reason. He's trying to use you in those jobs. And ultimately, I think the big tragedy that Paul is trying to address is this, that their misunderstanding had removed them from their quote-unquote secular lives, and Lord had given them lives where daily they interact with people who need the love of Christ. And because they had decided they were done with all those earthly responsibilities, they had effectively walked away from all of the people who needed Christ's love the most. And Paul couldn't stand it. And so Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians. And doesn't that sound more like something that we maybe need to hear and be reminded of? Isn't that a truth that maybe makes a little bit more sense on our end? Don't we sometimes, even though maybe we're not leaving our jobs, maybe we leave God at the footsteps of our jobs, forgetting or not being willing to acknowledge the fact that the Lord maybe has us there for a reason that's his and not just for the sake of you doing a job to get money. I think what the connection of 1 and 2 Thessalonians does such a beautiful job is to remind us that our time on this earth is short. And so we should live it meaningfully, reflecting the Father who not only created us, and not only saved us through the death and resurrection of Christ, but the Father who is with us every second of every day. Father who's guiding our steps and working to use us for his glory and his plan. The Father who decides to allow, to allow us in our short and ordinary lives to make an eternal and an extraordinary impact on the people that are around us. So then I turn it around and I ask a couple questions. How often, Grace, do we miss or how often do we overlook the Lord's presence and the Lord's guidance in our day-to-day lives? How often do we miss that the Lord is trying to work inside of our lives every single day? Or, how often do we find ourselves so caught up in our day-to-day lives that we are unaware or unwilling to see why the Lord might have us in those places and why the Lord might have us around those people in the first place? I think what Paul wants us to realize is this, that as a Christian, every moment is holy because we carry the presence of God into every single moment that we walk into. And maybe more directly, every time we separate our secular lives from our spiritual lives, we are missing the opportunity to expand God's kingdom and extend the heart of Christ. God is with us every moment of every single day. He's with us so we get to experience a relationship and a knowledge of him. But he's with us because he is trying to guide us into every moment of our day so that we can turn that and extend the heart of Christ to the people that are around us. And so I want to close with a quote. It's a quote that has been meaningful to me in years past as I ponder, hey, what does it look like to make my everyday life more centered around God, more centered around Christ? What does that look like? What does that mean? It's a quote from John Ortberg. And I'm going to read it. And it's a little different than some of our other blanks. And I'll tell you why. So, and it's actually, you can read it up here or it's on your sheets. If I really believe that I may meet with God, I do not just show up. My mind is awake. I am hoping and looking for something beyond myself. If I come to scripture or blank with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. I'm going to read that one more time. This time I'm going to read it as a blank. If I really believe that I may meet with God, I do not just show up. My mind is awake. I am hoping and looking for something beyond myself. If I come to blank with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. So the quote, that blank is meant to be scripture, but I removed it because I want us to be thoughtful about what else could maybe go in that blank. Certainly one of the best ways to be able to experience and to know God better and to know what God's plan for us is on a day-to-day basis, one of the best ways to do it is through scripture. And when we meet with God and we dive into scripture, we don't just do so willy-nilly. We do so knowing, hey, we're about to meet with God. And so we come in with an attitude of expectancy. But what if we changed it up? What if we said, if I come to work with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. If I come home from work with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. When I hit the golf course on a Saturday morning with an attitude of expectancy, that changes things. Fill in the blank. If I enter into blank, whatever that blank is, at each part of the day, with expectancy. Expecting the Lord to move. Expecting the Lord to already be there. Expecting the Lord to guide my path as I take each and every step. How would our lives look different? How would each phase of our lives look different? Not just when we walk into church and we get to celebrate the Lord, but when we walk out of church into lunch. Grace, I believe that if we walked each step of our lives with the attitude of expectancy that God is going to move, then that could really change things. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that we never grow tired and we never grow weary of doing good. Lord, as you have called us in everything that we do to do good for you, to live out a life that is reflective of you in the gospel and to make most of you in every step that we take. Through relationships, through building relationships, through sharing your gospel through whatever it looks like. God, I just pray that we stay and remain mindful that you're always with us, not just in small groups, not just on Sunday mornings, but every step of the day. And Lord, may we not ever try to separate our life from your life because you never do that. Lord, we love you so much. Amen.