Okay, good morning to everyone. Good to see you this morning. I guess winter's settled in, we're all getting used to it, and now on a calm day, zero's not so bad, hey? It was beautiful the last couple days.

We're working in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, coming to the end of this epistle. We come to a most interesting text this morning. The bulk of Paul's writings to this fellowship have been for their encouragement, as we've noted, their commendation most often. This was a thriving church, doing so many things well with a great focus on Jesus and evangelism and a patient, enduring, anticipating, looking for his coming. 

And Paul also spent much time writing concerning the things to come, as we've been studying the rapture and the day of the Lord, correcting some false teaching and misunderstanding that had them troubled, giving them truth to stand on and be encouraged by. Both of these letters have been very positive and commending to the believers there. But it appears from the closing words of the second letter, which we're studying this morning, that there was one serious matter to be straightened out by way of practice. 

And this was a very important issue to correct, a very practical matter in the Christian life and witness. That subject, the issue at hand, was work. This was a matter of great importance in the church in Thessalonica, and Paul was serious about straightening this situation out. Many had become idle. They were unwilling to work. 

Paul had taught them concerning this when he was there; he said, when he was evangelizing and establishing the church and equipping them with the truth. He taught them about this. He also had written to them concerning this in the first epistle with some strong words. At first, in 1 Thessalonians 4:10, he said, "But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing."

God's plan for believers on this earth is to be a witness of the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to be a witness in word and in deed. And that is largely manifest by our work ethic and our ability to provide for ourselves, for our families, and for those who may have need. "Lead a quiet life, mind your own business, work with your own hands, in order that you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing." These are very practical, very important words to the gospel, to the glory of God each day in our lives.

And the Bible has a lot to say about work. I started studying this and I was kind of amazed at how much the Bible has to say about work. I'm especially fond of work. I have a lot of strong feelings about the necessity, the benefit of hard work. But as I began to study the theology of work in the Bible, I was amazed at how much God's word has to say about it, and it has a pretty clear message about work and the value of it. 

There is, or at least there should be, a very clear dichotomy between the world and the church concerning work, in way of motive, in way of purpose, of the general view of work and its value in our lives and witness. The lost man of this world, by and large, does not see the value of work beyond fulfilling his hedonistic pleasures. Man works so that he might play. He works so that he can satiate his physical needs and desires. 

And so many are seeking through every angle possible to avoid work altogether. It's a dirty word in our world, this word 'work.' And men only do it out of necessity. This is why the lottery is so successful. I've always thought that the lottery was just for people who are bad at math. But for the lost man, it's the ultimate dream. Win the lottery and never have to work again. Sounds like a nightmare to me. Never have to work again? What would you do? How long do you want to sit on the couch and play video games? 

This is not a good, fulfilling, meaningful life to not work. And we have evidence all around us, especially now in our world, of what happens when man does not have to work to eat. When everything is given to man and his meaning and purpose and working with his hands is taken away, it will destroy him and lead him into idleness, which is a very dangerous situation to find yourself in in this world because Satan has many ways to fill your idle time. 

Ecclesiastes tells us over and over that work is a gift from God. It is part of our nature and God's intent for us to work, to tend, to care for the creation, to be productive with our hands, creating and producing and glorifying God as we express His creative intent in us. And work is the means by which we can provide for our own needs and for the needs of our loved ones and anyone who has a need. It’s how we care for ourselves and for others. 

And in this way, work is a manifestation of the transformation that God has performed in us by the gospel through our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus Christ. One of my favorite verses on this is in Ephesians 4 at verse 28. Let's turn to Ephesians and we'll start in verse 17. 

Ephesians 4:17, Paul writes, "This I say therefore and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus."

What's the truth? "That you have put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and you are being renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil."

Now look at verse 28, "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Ponder that statement for a moment. "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, in order that he may have something to give him who has need." This is a transformation, my friend. This is a powerful witness of the gospel and the transforming power of Christ in me. 

What does the carnal man, the lost man in Adam, do? He steals. I remember when I was young, General Motors, what we used to call Generous Motors, employed thousands of people in my hometown in 26 plants. I had lots of friends and relatives who worked there. I remember knowing several men who worked in the tool and dye department, and they made huge money back in the 70s as the union was strong. I remember at Christmas time, they got two weeks off, like the school. 

And if they worked those two weeks, they got triple time. But guys were making 60-some dollars an hour in the 70s. I knew a couple of these men who worked third shift, and they'd make us tree stands, trapping stakes, whatever we needed at work, as Generous Motors supplied our needs. And most of the time, these guys slept through a good part of their shifts. 

We even had one situation where two guys each got employed at two different plants. They would take turns clocking each other in every other day at each plant, and the men drew two paychecks simultaneously for over a year before they got caught. One of my first jobs was in county government. It might as well have been Hazard County. I worked for local government, state government, and the federal government over the course of my career. One thing men do is steal. They steal supplies. They steal on their expense accounts. They steal time all the time, not giving an honest hour of work for their hour of pay. 

Paul says, concerning work, that we should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, but that we as new creations who have put off the old man, who have put on the new man, and who are being renewed in our minds by the power of the Spirit should no longer steal, but should work with our hands what is good, earning our living, providing for our needs so that we might have something to give him who has a need. My brother and my sister, I would say that this is transformation, from stealing, thieving in order to fulfill our own selfish desires, to working in order to give, to minister to anyone who has a need. 

This is a difference of work for the man in Adam versus the man in Christ. We now do all things for the glory of God, and work is one of the most important. It gives us purpose, it gives us meaning, and a means to produce and provide as God created us to do in His image. There is tremendous value in work, and we as believers in Jesus Christ must view it in this way. 

Let's consider our text this morning, 2 Thessalonians 3 at verse 6. "But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you." 

Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 

For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person, and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. 

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is assigned in every epistle, so I write, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen."

Well, I've given you four points on your outline this morning. First, the greatest worker. Second, the command of work. Third, the example of work. Fourth, the value of work. And we're only going to get to the first two points this morning; we'll explore our text more deeply next time in the last two points in the next study we have after Communion next week. 

When we study the Scriptures concerning work, the greatest example of work that I see is in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God is a worker. And Jesus manifests this in so many ways. In John 5:17, Jesus said, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." God has been and continues to work in so many ways. I thought of at least seven ways to describe the work of God and of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures in our lives and for eternity. 

First, we see the work of God, of Jesus, in creation. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John 1 tells us that Jesus was with God and was God, and that He created all things. 

Listen to the words of Colossians 1 at verse 15. It says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." 

Jesus created all things. In Him all things consist, and we begin to see His salvation work here as well, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself by the blood of His cross. Jesus is the Creator. And what a work He did when He made the heavens and the earth, when He spoke the word and it all came into existence, and Jesus created. 

And Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took on flesh. He became a man for the express purpose of accomplishing the work of our redemption, and of our salvation. Listen to Jesus' prayer to the Father in John 17, right before the cross. He says, "I have glorified You on the earth, I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was." 

Hebrews 9:11 states, "But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." We could cite endless verses about Christ's salvation work. He's the propitiation for our sins, and not for our sins only, but the sins of the whole world. He's the full satisfactory payment by His death on the cross in our place for our sins, fully accomplishing the work of salvation for all who will believe. 

Turn over to Hebrews 1 with me, please. Hebrews 1:1, "God who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." 

It says He by Himself purged our sins. This is so important. Jesus performed the work of salvation by His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection from the dead. And did you notice His work continues? He's still working, upholding all things by the word of His power. He holds all things together by His word, and when He says the word, this whole creation will blow apart at the elemental level and melt with a fervent heat. And then Jesus will create a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. God is busy working. Jesus continues to work. 

He's the Creator, He's the Savior, He's the Sustainer. He also continually works making intercession for us. He is our advocate. In Hebrews 7:23, it says there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them. John says in 1 John 2:1, "My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 

He ever lives to make intercession for us. He is our advocate. Jesus is working, my friends. And God is also working in a sovereign way in His providence. He's in control of all the details. He's arranging all the circumstances to work out His will in and through us on this earth and in the entire universe. 

Romans 8:28 says we know that all things work together for good. God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are the called according to His purpose. Ephesians 2:10 says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." 

We also see Jesus healing work in His ministry on this earth. He speaks so often about His works and His teaching when He was here, and how the Father is working through Him and how the works that He did manifest who He is. And we also see Jesus judging work. We see it now in passages like Romans 1 where the wrath of God is displayed against all unrighteousness of men. We see that God has given us over in judgment in our nation, in our world. 

The ultimate worker is God, is Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 5 again, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." This work of God in creation, in salvation, in sustaining, in sovereign rule, in intercession, in healing, in judging, continues now and through eternity. God is the greatest worker, and He created us in His image. 

We see this in creation and in the command of work. Turn to Genesis 1 with me. Let's look at that passage. Genesis 1 at verse 26, speaking of the creation of man, He said, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them."

But what does it mean that God created us in His image? Many things, I think. This has been a debate among theologians, but the fascinating thing is that I see only one thing mentioned here in the text, in the context. "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them. 

What is it that's sandwiched in the middle here? "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Dominion, the word generally speaks of a rank or order, administration, such as in Ephesians or Colossians or Jude, where it speaks of angels. 

I think the best way to understand the word and God's intent in it is in Genesis and in Hebrews 2, a passage that we spend a good deal of time studying in relation to God's creative intent. You know, many people, even pagan people, relate work to the curse. I've had many people talk about work being a curse or associated with the curse that came as a result of Adam's sin. But work existed as part of God's plan and creative intent for man. 

Man was to have dominion over all the creation, to be a steward, to be a tender and caregiver in order to foster abundance and fruit for the creation, including for man. God created with the intent of profound abundance and provision and sustenance and for our enjoyment. 

Of all the trees of the garden you may eat, there were many trees, many fruits to choose from, more than man could ever need, as well as all of the creation. In Genesis 1:29, God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food." And so it was. 

Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. We see this biblical dominion idea in Genesis 2 as well. Before any plant of the field was in the earth, before any herb of the field had grown, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground. But a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. God says there was no man to till the ground. Adam was to be a cultivator, a tenderer of this great garden, this amazing provision that God gave as a gift to man and beast before the fall. 

And man will have work to do in the inhabited earth yet to come as well. We see that in Hebrews 2. You know that passage. He's not put the oikumene, the world to come in subjection to angels. He is intended from creation to have man rule over, have dominion over the earth. We don't yet see things all put under him. The world to come is literally the inhabited earth to come, and man will exercise dominion at that time in the theocracy of Christ and will rule and reign with Him. We will have jobs, administrations, tending, caring work to do. 

Work is not a result of the fall, but an integral part of God's original creative intent, and the curse resulted only in turning things upside down. He said the ground will be cursed for your sake. Not work, but the ground, so that our toil is against the creation rather than a caring, tending, stewarding kind of way where there is fruit and abundance without the stain of sin. 

All things are not put under man's feet now. Sin and the curse has marred everything in creation. But this does not negate the value of work, nor the value of working in a way that brings glory to God according to His patterns for us in creation. Dominion does not mean rape and pillage and produce everything bigger, faster, fatter, cheaper to fulfill the hedonistic desires of carnal man. We've seen this kind of abuse around the world. 

But the point here is that we as believers, no matter what our work is, we are to work according to God's instruction. We see this in Colossians, Ephesians, all over the Bible. We are to work in a way that brings glory to God, no matter what we're doing. God so often uses the farming illustration, the tending of the soil, and this is of course near and dear to my heart as well, but I want you to think about just by way of illustration what man has done to the soil in America, often in the name of dominion. 

The earth does not like to be naked. It's healthy when there is lush coverage of grasses and legumes, bushes and trees in the plains where you can read about grasses that could be tied above the horse's saddle in the 1800s, amazing lush grasses, seas of grass that build all that amazing topsoil. It takes about a hundred years to build an inch of topsoil. But due to modern farming practices where there's constant monocropping, no diversity in a naked earth most of the year, the soil is eroding ten times faster than it can be built in the Midwest. 

And of course, it's not being built. Constant injection of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, even the corn and soy themselves, which have been genetically modified, produce a dead soil which can't grow anything. And we're starting to see the cost of this type of mentality in our world. The dirt that is out there cannot grow anything without a major application of chemical fertilizers. And just this year we've seen these fertilizers triple or more in price, and some are becoming altogether unavailable. This is not dominion and stewardship, principle of working the land that God intended in Genesis. 

We live in a cursed world with thorns and thistles, but if we follow God's patterns found in His Word and His creation, we see the abundance that He intended, the health, the growth, the fruit of our sustenance and enjoyment, even if we only see this through a glass, dimly. Just for illustration, I've seen this. You know, I drank the Kool-Aid a few years ago, but I didn't really believe it until a couple years ago when I saw it on our farm. We build soil, that's our goal. We do this with animals. You know, in two handfuls of soil, there are ten times as many living organisms as there are people on the planet. We build soil. 

The herbivores cut the grasses back, cultivate the soil with their hooves, fertilize as they go. The birds come along and scratch out the manure. We use chickens to sanitize the pasture, eat the parasites. And then there's the rest, such an important truth in God's Word. Think about the book of Jeremiah as we learn that God's punishment of the captivity in Babylon was due to Israel's violation of the rest periods prescribed by God in His Word for the land. 

In Leviticus 25, God commanded Sabbath rest for the land. And in chapter 26, verses 34-39, He foretells of the Babylonian captivity when there would be 70 years of captivity for the violation of the Sabbath rest that Israel had committed since Saul. Turn over to 2 Chronicles 36 with me. 

2 Chronicles 36:17, "Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and He had no compassion on young man or virgin, or the aged or the weak; He gave them all into His hand. And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these He took to Babylon." 

Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its places with fire and destroyed all its precious possessions. And those who escaped from the sword He carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to Him and His sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia. Look at verse 21, "to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths; as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill seventy years." 

God took the sabbath rest for the land quite seriously because it meant health of the land, of the soil. The ecosystem under the soil is the most important part of abundance in God's creation. And there's the symbiosis of the animals. I'll share a quick story with you about this. 

Last summer we had a horrible drought. And in the springtime it was dry and then in June it didn't rain at all. And all these hay fields that we bale hay on that haven't had animals on them or been worked at all for many years, the grass bolted like your broccoli will in the garden if it's too hot, and then it just died off and there was no hay. But in the fields at our farm where we've been working the land and not using chemical fertilizer and using the animals as a pattern after God's creation as we see the bisons in the plains with the birds behind them building that wonderful soil all those years, we grazed our pastures on June 1st. It virtually did not rain the month of June, but after 30 days of rest, the grass was about 27 inches high. 

And that's because there's organic material that holds moisture, there's grass shading, and there's all those nutrients and life in the soil. This is just an example of God's abundance in His creation. But it's an illustration He uses consistently all the way through. We get pretty excited about grass. But the point here is that stewarding, mimicking God's pattern in creation and the instruction in His Word from farming to all occupation, patience, any kind of production that you're doing brings abundance that glorifies God. 

If you build things the right way so that they stand up, I was just down in Florida a couple weeks ago, and my friend down there was telling me that the houses had to withstand 240 mile an hour winds. They build them a little different down there, I think, than they do here. But if you build something right so that it withstands and it has longevity and provides, that's glorifying to God. 

How we work, whatever work it is, matters to God. There's much instruction on this in God's Word. So we see God's creative intent for man, made in His image, is partially work. We are to work. And we should also note that in the Scriptures we see a clear command to work. We saw this in Genesis 1:26; we also see it in Exodus 20. 

This is the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. He says, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days you shall labor and do all your work." We often talk about the Sabbath and the seventh day, the rest, but what's it say in verse 9? "Six days you shall labor and do all your work." 

The Sabbath command is not carried over into the New Covenant, but the principle of rest is still important, and so is the command of work, "six days you shall labor and do all your work." Turn over to Colossians 3 with me. Let's look at a New Testament passage, a letter to the Colossians. 

Chapter 3, verse 22, "Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ." 

When you work, you serve the Lord Christ. We see this command in Ephesians, and we looked at it in 1 Thessalonians, mind your own business, work with your hands, lead a quiet and peaceable life in all submission. There's great value in work for fulfillment of our created purpose, for meaning in life, for a good night's rest. 

I remember when Sam first moved in next door to us and he came over and he said, "Well, I just don't sleep at night and I'm kind of depressed, you know, and things aren't going so good." And I said, "Well, when did you go to bed last night?" "About three o'clock, I was up playing video games every night." I said, "Man, you need some work. That's what you need." So we farmed him out to Doug Foley and Ray Brown, he worked with me and I remember one day he came to me a few months later, "Man, work is good," he said. "I sleep at night now, not a problem."

Right? We need to work. It's healthy to work. It's God's intent for us, and we need to work in sincerity unto the Lord, not as men-pleasers, not giving eye service, not just picking it up when the boss comes around, right? But in sincerity because we know that ultimately our work is unto the Lord, serving Him, being a witness for Him and glorifying Him in all that we do. 

Now this theology of work is so wonderful that I couldn't fit it all into one message. Next time we're going to see the example of work and we're going to see the value of work and we'll dig into the commands and instructions, the warnings even, that Paul gives for those who will not work. 

If we could just take this one verse and apply it to our culture today, "If a man does not work, he will not eat." How would that change our world? And let me tell you something, he would work today because he would want to eat by tonight. If he does not work, he should not eat, Paul said. 

I don't think there's much hope for getting that done, but we're believers, we're not of this world, we're in this world, we don't work like this world, and we follow the Lord, we work as unto Him. We have a lot of people eating who are not working, who are what Paul calls lazy, opportunistic, who are avoiding work as one of the great virtues, and that was going on in Thessalonica as well as today. 

But work is one of the most central areas where we have a witness, where we shine as lights, where we can work unto the Lord and also that we can use those things that we gain to help others, like we saw in Ephesians 4. It's a tremendous and wonderful thing to work and to produce and to lay your head down at night and have a good rest. 

We'll study part two of the value of work in 2 Thessalonians 3 in two weeks after our communion service. Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you for your words, your truth, that you tell us the truth about everything, that we can trust you and believe you, help us to obey you, help us to have this attitude towards our work, that we're working as unto the Lord. Ultimately, we serve the Lord Jesus Christ in every aspect of our lives, whether we eat or drink, everything we do, we do unto the glory of God. Thank you, Lord, for your provision, for your grace, your mercy, your faithfulness to us, in Jesus' name. Amen.