1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:08,119 This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark 2 00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:12,680 Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,400 of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he 4 00:00:16,400 --> 00:00:18,720 continues teaching through God's Word. 5 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,320 So Paul said when we are with you, we worked, even though we 6 00:00:41,480 --> 00:00:44,560 took time to preach the gospel to you so that you would know 7 00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:48,520 the gospel truth, we still work. And the reason why Paul did this 8 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,320 because this was a young church. This was not an established 9 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:52,760 church. These were new Christians. 10 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:55,280 He was just bringing the word of God to them. 11 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,960 Now the Bible clearly talks about the fact that as those who 12 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:04,920 are teachers, pastors, teachers, what not, that it's biblical to 13 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:07,960 receive compensation for the labor that we do. 14 00:01:08,480 --> 00:01:11,480 As Pastor Lewis continues his teaching series through the book 15 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:14,840 of Second Thessalonians, he'll be challenging you to work and 16 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:18,600 not be a lazy Christian. The most efficient and capable 17 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:20,560 worker should always be Christians. 18 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,440 The Apostle Paul himself reminded the church that he also 19 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,080 worked but didn't constantly ask for money and resources. 20 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,440 Paul simply wanted to preach the gospel and give them this 21 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,200 blessing and not want anything in return. 22 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,680 This is a great example of selflessness which the Lord 23 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,480 delights in. Now here's Pastor Lewis in the 24 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,040 Book of Second Thessalonians Chapter 3, with today's edition 25 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,240 of Living Waters of Grace. This word disorderly means that 26 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,640 he's walking in a way that's he's idle. 27 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:55,280 He's walking in a divisive way or disruptive or unruly. 28 00:01:55,840 --> 00:02:00,040 This is difficult because it's us seeing a brother who is not 29 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:04,360 walking in the things that we have received from the Lord. 30 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:10,600 And Paul says, OK, after so many warnings, you have to just 31 00:02:10,639 --> 00:02:14,400 separate yourself for a while. You got to withdraw from that 32 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:18,560 brother to let him know that what he's doing is not approved 33 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,880 of in this community. And this is not the first time 34 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,880 that he gave those kind of warnings that we go over. 35 00:02:24,920 --> 00:02:28,240 We go back, as a matter of fact, the First Thessalonians chapter 36 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:32,360 5, First Thessalonians chapter 5. 37 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,600 And look at verse 14. He says now we exhort you and 38 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,960 this is in the 1st letter. In the first letter he said we 39 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:44,760 exhort you brethren, warn those, warn those or admonish those who 40 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:49,120 are unruly, comfort the faint hearted and uphold the weak. 41 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,480 So he told them about that and he wrote about that back in the 42 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:55,880 1st letter. He knew what was going on and he 43 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:58,160 said, look, you need to go ahead and deal with those brothers 44 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:02,560 that are unruly because they will be a disruption in your 45 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:04,640 community. There'll be a disruption. 46 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:10,560 And so he says it again here in chapter 3 of the second letter. 47 00:03:11,000 --> 00:03:15,920 In verse 6, he says it again. And this time he says again, 48 00:03:15,920 --> 00:03:20,480 withdraw from those brothers. We've warned them, We've warned 49 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:21,680 them. This isn't the first time we've 50 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,000 given them a warning. We've talked to them about this 51 00:03:24,160 --> 00:03:28,160 a few times and we've warned them and we let them know what 52 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:31,440 the unruly behavior was. And they still, they refuse to 53 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:33,880 listen. They refuse to listen. 54 00:03:33,920 --> 00:03:37,800 So we have got to take action. And he says, withdraw yourself 55 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,320 from those brothers. And he says and, and, and do 56 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:43,680 that with those brothers who are disorderly, which means they're 57 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:48,520 not walking according to the tradition which he received from 58 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,280 us. And we talked about it last 59 00:03:50,280 --> 00:03:53,400 week, that that tradition is not when we talk about a cultural 60 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,040 tradition, you know what I mean? Our families have traditions, 61 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:00,000 just things that we do every Christmas or things that we do, 62 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,400 you know, every Thanksgiving or things that we do, whatever the 63 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,680 traditions may be. Everybody have different 64 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,960 traditions. He's not talking about that. 65 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,160 There's traditions that we do as African Americans. 66 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,520 There's traditions that some people do as Europeans or as 67 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:16,880 Mexican Americans or whatever. There are traditions. 68 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:19,760 Everybody have traditions, whether it's cultural, ethnic or 69 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:22,560 whatever it is. He's not talking about that. 70 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,040 You continue in those things. He's talking about the 71 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,480 traditions that you receive from the Apostles teaching of the 72 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:34,320 truth, the apostles doctrine, the word of God that he has 73 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,240 passed down that came from Jesus Christ and passed down to the 74 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:41,120 apostles or the disciples and now given them to you. 75 00:04:42,720 --> 00:04:46,000 He said those things. That is what you have to walk in 76 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,480 accordance with. And sometimes people get 77 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:51,920 together. I mean, there's some churches 78 00:04:51,920 --> 00:04:57,040 that confuse the extra biblical traditions with those that are 79 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,640 biblical and sometimes they put more emphasis on the extra 80 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:04,120 biblical traditions than they do the things that are biblical. 81 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,800 Jesus had to correct the Pharisees about that. 82 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:10,480 So you know, you're making the word of God. 83 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:15,080 None avoid because you don't want to give your your parents 84 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:17,120 any money. You said so that thing that we 85 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:18,880 would give to our parents that's called Corbin. 86 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:20,440 That means that we separating it for God. 87 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:21,320 Bible. Don't say that. 88 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:23,000 The Bible says honor your father and your mother. 89 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,120 So Jesus said you're, you're making the word of God, you 90 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,040 know, you're making it invalid. You're taking the power from the 91 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,120 word, you're trying to take the power from the word of God. 92 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,560 That's tradition. That's extra biblical tradition, 93 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:39,880 The things that are tradition that from the apostles, those 94 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:41,960 are the things that are written in the word of God. 95 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:44,960 So if you want to get traditions for your family that you 96 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:47,240 constantly want to keep, get them out of here. 97 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:54,400 Teach your family the word of God, Have them respond to this. 98 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,000 Know what this says and how we live. 99 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:01,080 These are the traditions that you want to keep, that you want 100 00:06:01,080 --> 00:06:04,320 to keep in, in, in in front of your family. 101 00:06:05,160 --> 00:06:09,160 So what you received from us, for you know yourselves how you 102 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,720 ought to follow us, for we were not this early among you. 103 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:16,960 Verse 8 says, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, 104 00:06:17,360 --> 00:06:23,000 but we worked labor and toil night and day that we might not 105 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,640 be a burden to any of you. Verse 9 says, not that we did 106 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:32,520 not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you 107 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,520 should follow us. Paul says back. 108 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:41,640 He says, look, do or follow the example that I gave you or that 109 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:43,520 we gave you when we were with you. 110 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:45,520 What's the example that you get from them? 111 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:47,520 What's the example that you get from your leaders? 112 00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:50,240 What's the example that you get from your leaders? 113 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:54,240 That's what we should do, the example Paul said, look how I 114 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,680 walked among you, and this is how he walked among them. 115 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:02,560 Let's go back for a second to first, That's, I'm sorry, First 116 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:05,880 Thessalonians. Yeah, chapter 2, very quickly 117 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:07,520 going to 1st Thessalonians, chapter 2. 118 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,000 And here in chapter 2, we're going to start right here in 119 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:12,480 verse 5 that says for neither at any time do we use flattery 120 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,120 words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness. 121 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,920 God is witness. Nor did we seek glory for men 122 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,720 either from you or from others, when we might have made demands 123 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:25,880 as apostles of Christ. OK, and then it goes on to verse 124 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:27,960 7. It says, But we were gentle 125 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,280 among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own 126 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:33,680 children, so affectionately longing for you. 127 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:37,840 We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of 128 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:42,280 God, but also our own lives, because you have become dear to 129 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,160 us for you. Remember brother, in our labor 130 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:50,200 and toil for laboring night and day that we might not be a 131 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:55,200 burden to any of you. We preach the gospel of God. 132 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,600 So Paul says when we are with you, we worked even though we 133 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:02,760 took time to preach the gospel to you so that you would know 134 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,640 the gospel truth, we still work. And the reason why Paul did this 135 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:09,360 because this was a young church. This was not an established 136 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:10,840 church. These were new Christians. 137 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,280 He was just bringing the word of God to them. 138 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:17,720 Now, the Bible clearly talks about the fact that as those who 139 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:22,520 are teachers, pastors, teachers, what not that it's biblical to 140 00:08:22,520 --> 00:08:25,520 receive compensation for the labor that we do. 141 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:28,680 The Bible teaches that, He teaches that. 142 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,360 But Paul is saying that this was a young church not established 143 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:34,880 yet. We're just bringing the gospel. 144 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,280 We don't want it to look like that. 145 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,720 We're using the gospel as a way to make money off of you. 146 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:47,240 So by example, we want to be those who are giving you the 147 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:49,920 gospel and not asking you to do anything. 148 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,960 It's the churches that are established that Paul was 149 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,880 receiving support from. But when he first goes into a 150 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,120 community, he's not asking them for anything. 151 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:01,720 He's not asking people for anything. 152 00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,760 He doesn't pass the plate when he, you know, evangelize 153 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:06,400 somebody and they become a new Christian. 154 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:07,840 He's sharing the gospel for the first time. 155 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:09,640 He's not passing the plate in front of them. 156 00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,640 Paul said that's for people who are established church members. 157 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:15,680 He said, so we didn't even ask that of you. 158 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,040 We had the authority, yes, to be supported, but we didn't even 159 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:22,280 use that because we wanted to be an example for you. 160 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,160 And and and 1st Corinthians Chapter 11, verse one, Paul 161 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:30,880 said, follow me or imitate me as I imitate Christ. 162 00:09:32,680 --> 00:09:36,240 So he said, be that imitation, you know, imitate me because I'm 163 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:40,240 imitating Christ. And then here in verse 10, he 164 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:43,840 says, for even when we were with you, we commanded you this. 165 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:48,000 Here's another command. If you will not work, neither 166 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,720 shall you eat. Hear what he said there. 167 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,280 He didn't say if you don't work. He didn't say if you can't work. 168 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:02,040 He said if you will not work, neither shall you eat, will not 169 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:04,240 work. You have the opportunity to work 170 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,080 and you don't work. You know, even if you're on 171 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:11,720 unemployment, one of the questions they asked you is did 172 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:13,560 you not work when work was available? 173 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,680 They asked you that question literally like we're not giving 174 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:20,240 you money for you to just sit around and collect. 175 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,840 If money, if a job is available, you need to get up and go to 176 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:26,800 work. We ain't doing this thing where 177 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:29,560 you just collect for 16 weeks because you think you can. 178 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,760 No, if a job is available, get up and go to work. 179 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:41,200 And Paul says here, he says if anyone will not work, neither 180 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,520 should they eat. Because see, there's some people 181 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,880 who can't work. Maybe there's a physical 182 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,640 problem, they can't work. Maybe no work is available. 183 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:53,520 Look, I'm getting up every day and I'm going to fill out, you 184 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,800 know, job applications and I'm just not getting anything. 185 00:10:57,560 --> 00:11:01,920 There's nothing out there right now available, but they want to 186 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:04,120 work. They will work, but there's 187 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,320 nothing available. He's not talking about them. 188 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:11,560 He's not even talking about those who are underemployed. 189 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:16,920 There's some people who have a job, but things happen. 190 00:11:17,640 --> 00:11:19,240 Things happen. You get income. 191 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:20,840 Maybe they're not making a whole lot of money. 192 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,840 They have an income coming in and they have their budget down. 193 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:27,680 Then all of a sudden, bam, the car goes out, boom, the 194 00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:31,000 refrigerator dies, boom, the stove dies. 195 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:36,000 And all of a sudden you got to put a, you got to come up with a 196 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,960 decent sum of money at one time to be able to take care of those 197 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:42,320 things. Those things happen. 198 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,120 Those things happen and the church is there to help. 199 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:50,120 The church is there to help. We want to help people who are 200 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,080 working, or maybe they're underemployed and things just 201 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:56,160 come up. Maybe a health issue comes up 202 00:11:56,320 --> 00:11:59,080 and a lot of your money is now going to paying medical bills. 203 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:03,120 Those things happen. Those things happen, but the 204 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:09,360 person who will not work, that's the person that Paul says should 205 00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:12,440 not eat. They're capable of working 206 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:14,440 physically. They can work. 207 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:18,320 Work is available. They just want to stay on the 208 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,320 couch and play video games, Paul said. 209 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,480 We ain't having that. Then you shouldn't eat. 210 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:28,720 Apparently, if you're not hungry enough to work, then you ain't 211 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:30,920 hungry enough to want something to eat now. 212 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:35,000 Now, you know, I remember back when I was growing up that there 213 00:12:35,000 --> 00:12:38,520 were some people that would come to your house right around 214 00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:43,640 dinnertime. Right around dinnertime. 215 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,040 Misses Harold. Misses Harold. 216 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:51,520 Well, I mean, where were you all day or where were you yesterday 217 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:53,240 or the debut Right around dinnertime. 218 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,560 Time to come in. My mother is never going to eat 219 00:12:57,560 --> 00:12:59,200 in front of somebody and not offer. 220 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,600 And they know that. They know that people do that 221 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:07,160 sometimes, but you have to want to work. 222 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:11,360 Paul is saying, and then he goes to verse 11 and he says, for we 223 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:15,040 hear that there are some of you who walk among you in a 224 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:19,080 disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busy bodies. 225 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:24,960 And I just want to share, you know, I just want to share that 226 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:31,520 even back in the Old Testament, in biblical history, God always 227 00:13:31,520 --> 00:13:34,680 put emphasis on work. Always. 228 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:39,280 Every man that he used in the Old Testament and the new 229 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:43,640 actually were men or women who worked, They worked. 230 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,600 Moses, he was a shepherd keeping Jethro's sheep, Joshua. 231 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,280 He was the man. He he was the the the commander 232 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:56,040 of Moses's army and then eventually succeeded Moses. 233 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:00,320 Gideon. He was threshing wheat when the 234 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:02,000 Angel came to him and called him. 235 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,520 There were 4 fishermen who were tending Nets. 236 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:14,640 Peter, James, John, Andrew, they were tender Nets. 237 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,240 Jesus called them and said I'm going to make you fishers of 238 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:20,800 men. They worked, they were working. 239 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:25,680 Jesus himself was a Carpenter for his ministry got started. 240 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,480 He worked as a Carpenter. He worked, He had a trade. 241 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:34,240 And if you go back to Genesis chapter 2, you'll see that God 242 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,400 worked six days creating the world, and then it was on the 243 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:41,640 7th day that he rested. On the 7th day he rested, but 244 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,120 he'd already completed the world. 245 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:47,200 Everything God worked. And what did he do with Adam 246 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:50,920 right after he created Adam out of the dust of the ground and 247 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:54,560 blew the breath of air, the breath of, of, of, of air into 248 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,160 his nostrils. What did he do with him? 249 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,440 The first thing he did was put him in the Garden of Eden and 250 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:02,920 tell him to work it till it tend to it. 251 00:15:03,880 --> 00:15:05,880 He had a job before he had a wife and kids. 252 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:11,560 He had a job before he had a wife and kids. 253 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,280 That's what God, that's the priority that God has placed on 254 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:20,360 working. In John 9, Jesus says I must 255 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,120 work the works that that that he who sent me has given to me 256 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,120 because there is going to be a time when, you know, I must work 257 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:29,840 wise day because night is coming when no man can work. 258 00:15:30,400 --> 00:15:33,040 And this is something that we use for our kids in training to 259 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:36,880 motivate them to work. In Proverbs 1423 it says in all 260 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:44,520 labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads to poverty. 261 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,560 Idle chatter leads to poverty. We understand that Jesus, that 262 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:55,480 the Jews regarded work as an evidence of good character and 263 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:57,840 they passed that down, they passed down trades to him. 264 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,200 But we know that the Greeks and the Romans, they despise hard 265 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:03,360 labor. They despised it. 266 00:16:03,960 --> 00:16:05,920 They would get slaves to do that for them. 267 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,000 So some of these people here were expecting others to just 268 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,200 provide meals for them. So they stopped working 269 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,680 partially because of the bad teaching that they had received 270 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,920 from some of these false teachers that had come in and 271 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:22,360 was telling them that the day of the Lord has already come and 272 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:24,400 he's going to be coming back for you at any minute now. 273 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:26,160 So they decided we ain't no sense working. 274 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:28,800 We'll just wait on the Lord and we'll have other people feed us 275 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,960 while we're waiting. But Jesus told the apostles, he 276 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:39,520 said, look until I come occupy till I come occupy you work, you 277 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:45,080 serve until I come back. Verse 9, he goes on and he, I'm 278 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:51,880 sorry, verse 12, he goes on and he says that now these those who 279 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,760 are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ 280 00:16:55,920 --> 00:17:00,240 that they work in quietness, eat their own bread, work in 281 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:02,600 quietness and eat their own bread. 282 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,200 So he says at the end of verse 11, he says they're not working 283 00:17:06,200 --> 00:17:07,640 at all. These people who are disorderly, 284 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,200 they're not working at all. And they are busy bodies. 285 00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:13,400 Now the busy bodies are just gossiping people who meddled in 286 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:18,119 the business of everybody else. That's what the busy bodies are 287 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:21,520 meddling people who get in the business of everybody else. 288 00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,240 And, and, and basically what this is saying is that because 289 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,720 you are idle and you're not working and you're spending your 290 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,880 time doing anything productive, you have time to go get in 291 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:35,440 everybody else's business and cause dissension and cause 292 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:39,040 division and disruption. Paul said. 293 00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:42,200 No, we can't have that. We can't have that. 294 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,000 Busy bodies. The Bible talks a lot about not 295 00:17:45,000 --> 00:17:50,480 being a busy body. In fact, in fact, over in First 296 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:57,400 Peter chapter 4, he actually puts busy bodies as a prohibited 297 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:03,360 sin along with murder and theft in the same category as murder 298 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,160 and theft. First Peter chapter 4, you don't 299 00:18:07,160 --> 00:18:09,560 have to go out. I'll read it for you myself, 300 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:12,920 4/15, he says. But let none of you suffer as a 301 00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:18,120 murderer, a thief or evildoer, or as a busy body and other 302 00:18:18,120 --> 00:18:21,760 people's matters. He put busy bodies in the same 303 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:26,000 category, in the same line with murderers and thieves. 304 00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:31,600 That's how much he does not like the idea of idleness. 305 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,640 See the world does that. The world does that. 306 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:37,440 They sow those seeds, they gossip, sow seeds of discord. 307 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:38,680 They met on other people's affairs. 308 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,480 The church should not do that because it doesn't glorify God. 309 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,360 And then it goes on in verse 13, it says, As for you brethren, do 310 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:50,040 not grow weary in well doing. Don't grow weary. 311 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:55,480 Look, you have seen other people do some bad things and, and, and 312 00:18:55,480 --> 00:18:59,720 sometimes this can wear you out. You're working, you see that 313 00:18:59,720 --> 00:19:01,560 they're not working. They're being busy bodies in 314 00:19:01,560 --> 00:19:04,560 everybody's business and you're still trying to be nice. 315 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:06,800 You're, you're, you're, you're, you're giving to them as they 316 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,000 need, you know, and they're giving you evil for your good. 317 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:13,560 And all those things, those things can make us weary. 318 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:18,400 They can make us weary, cause us to question why am I doing this? 319 00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:21,280 But Jesus said the reason why we're doing it, we're not doing 320 00:19:21,280 --> 00:19:23,120 it for the people. We're not doing it for the 321 00:19:23,120 --> 00:19:25,880 people. We got to keep our eyes on him, 322 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:31,120 not the people, because He says that He is the one who gives us 323 00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:33,680 our reward. The people don't give us our 324 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:36,520 reward. So we, we, we have to make sure 325 00:19:36,520 --> 00:19:41,120 that we don't lose heart in this battle because of the opposers 326 00:19:41,360 --> 00:19:46,000 and because of those who are busy bodies and other people's 327 00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:48,120 matters. We got to make sure that we 328 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:51,680 don't lose heart and turn around ourselves first. 329 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:55,840 First Corinthians 15 and 58 says that you know that your labor in 330 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,440 the Lord is not in vain, so you got to be steadfast and 331 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,560 unmovable. Don't let nothing move you away 332 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,480 from what you need to do. And then of course, it's 333 00:20:05,080 --> 00:20:08,400 Galatians 69 that says don't become weary and well doing for 334 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:11,640 in due season. That means in God's time, in 335 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:15,520 God's only appointed time that He has for you, you're going to 336 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:21,000 reap if you do not lose heart. Don't let what others do or not 337 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:24,400 don't affect your ministry. Or the way that you serve the 338 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:29,240 Lord, keep your eyes on him. And then in verse 14, he goes on 339 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:32,600 and said, if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, 340 00:20:32,840 --> 00:20:35,600 note that person and do not keep company with them. 341 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,080 Now this is getting into church. This is church discipline here. 342 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,000 This is church discipline. OK, and church discipline. 343 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,480 There's a there's a definition for the definition is denying 344 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:49,600 the fellowship of a believer in Christ who is involved in open 345 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:54,840 sin, slothfulness and and and and busy bodiness and people not 346 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,960 working. That is need for church 347 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,280 discipline. The occasion for or people who 348 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,560 are involved in usually people involved in sexual sins or 349 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,600 creating division within the body of Christ or those who are 350 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,760 just in defiance of leadership. Those are the occasions that 351 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,800 which church discipline needs to be invoked. 352 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,360 And the reason why we do church membership and this is important 353 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,760 is so that the church can remain pure. 354 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,080 The church should be a house, a place of God that's pure. 355 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,960 The body of of of, of, of the church. 356 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,760 That's us. You know, we want to be pure 357 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:34,480 before God as much as we can. We want to be pure. 358 00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:39,000 And then the goal of it is to win back the brother or sister 359 00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:41,400 who was caught in the sin to win that. 360 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:43,720 That's the goal. It's never it's never just to 361 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,840 put them out, never to get rid of them all together. 362 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:49,000 But the goal is for them to think about what they're doing, 363 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:53,280 repent and to come back and be restored. 364 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:56,360 OK. And then in verse 15, it says, 365 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,400 now if you don't count them as an enemy but admonish them, 366 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:01,440 they're not our enemies. They're the family. 367 00:22:01,440 --> 00:22:05,040 They're our family, Brothers of God, sisters of the Lord, 368 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:08,600 sisters of us in the Lord, brothers of us in the Lord. 369 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:13,120 They're not enemies, OK? We have to walk with them until 370 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:18,000 they are able to or pray for them until they're able to get 371 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,040 victory over this thing. And sometimes the way to get 372 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,120 their attention about it is to admonish them, which means that 373 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:26,280 you warn them and express disapproval. 374 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,200 And if they don't listen to that, then you have to execute 375 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:32,160 church discipline, which means that you have to withdraw 376 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,000 yourself from them until that time that they do come to the 377 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:37,840 acknowledgement of their sin and repent. 378 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,960 Verse 16 says, Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace 379 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:44,520 always. It's peace. 380 00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:47,560 Whenever the church is obeying what the Lord says to do, the 381 00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:50,720 church has peace. Chaos comes when there's 382 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:53,840 disobedience. That always brings chaos. 383 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:58,680 But when people are in or walking in obedience together 384 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,960 and encouraging each other to walk in obedience, there's 385 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,520 peace, there's peace. So Paul said may you have peace. 386 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:08,720 May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every 387 00:23:08,720 --> 00:23:11,600 way that the that the Lord the Lord be with you. 388 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:13,920 Amen. Verse 17 said that the 389 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:18,720 salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every 390 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,160 epistle. So I write. 391 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,200 Remember, there were others who were writing letters and was 392 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:25,400 trying to say that these letters were coming from Paul. 393 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,400 And it had a lot of misinformation in those letters 394 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:32,240 and it was leading them astray. It was leading them to go down 395 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:33,880 the wrong path. That's why some of these people 396 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:35,480 quit working. OK. 397 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,320 And Paul is saying, you'll know that this letter came from me 398 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:42,160 because at some point at the end of this letter, I will take the 399 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,160 pen from the person who's writing it, and I'll write a 400 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,360 line or two and put my name. And that's how you know this 401 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:51,320 letter came from me. So Paul said out of doing every 402 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:56,400 letter, I am going to write it in my own hand, which is a sign 403 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:58,960 to you that it actually came from me. 404 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:01,640 And then in verse 18 says the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 405 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:09,040 being with you all. Amen. 1st Thessalonians 416 406 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,480 through 18 says, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven 407 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,680 with a shout, with the voice of an Archangel, and with the 408 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:19,960 trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, and then 409 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:23,080 we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with 410 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:26,600 them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we 411 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:30,840 shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another 412 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:34,120 with these words. If you've ever found yourself 413 00:24:34,120 --> 00:24:36,960 wondering if it's all going to be worth it in the end, the 414 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:40,960 answer seems clear. You are living here now for 415 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:45,040 Jesus so you can live in the clouds then with Jesus. 416 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,640 You've been listening to Living Waters of Grace. 417 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:52,080 The teachings in this series are given by Pastor Lewis Harrell, 418 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,360 an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland. 419 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:58,800 You'll be hearing periodically from Pastor Lewis as he serves 420 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,000 alongside Pastor Clark. Pastor Clark has been the 421 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,880 familiar voice of Grace FM, Living Waters of Grace. 422 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,480 As we continue through the books of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, 423 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,640 you're going to see over and over again the encouragement 424 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:16,560 given by Paul as a response to the people's continued faith, 425 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:18,880 even in the midst of false teachers. 426 00:25:19,360 --> 00:25:22,600 As you read, receive this recognition as your own for a 427 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:26,560 life lived in Christ. Living Waters of Grace is a 428 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:31,120 ministry out of Calvary Chapel, Westmoreland in Greensburg, PA. 429 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,240 Are you in the area? We'd love to see you there this 430 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,440 Sunday at 10:30 AM. For more information, head over 431 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,000 to our website, calvarychapelonline.com. 432 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,160 Once again, that website is Calvary Chapel online.com. 433 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:47,960 Thanks so much for listening to today's edition. 434 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,800 We look forward to the next one right here on Living Waters of 435 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:52,360 Grace.