1-2 Thessalonians (Sections 231-232)

Section 231

"For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received
the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.

"For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in
Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen,
even as they have of the Jews."—1 Thess. 2:13, 14 Paul unbosoms his heart to the loving church at thessalonica.

He knew what it was to be worried by the Corinthians and the Galatians, but he found rest when thinking of the Thessalonians. The most tried ministers have some bright spots. In setting forth his joyful memories of Thessalonica, Paul gives us a sight of three things.

I. Ministers giving thanks.

"We also thank God."

Ministers are not always groaning and weeping, though they often do so. They have their time of thanksgiving, as in Paul's case.

1. This followed upon sore travail. See verse 9. Only as we sow in tears do we reap in joy.

2. This was backed by holy living. Dwell upon each point in verses 10 and 11. Unholy ministers will have scant cause for joy.

3. It prevented all self-laudation. They thanked God, and this is the opposite of glorifying self.

4. It was of a social character. "We thank God"; Paul, and Silas, and Timothy. We hold a fraternal meeting of joy when God blesses us among our beloved people.

5. It was of an abiding character,—"without ceasing." We can never cease praising the Lord for his goodness in saving souls.

6. It cheered them for further service. They wished, according to verse 17, to visit the friends again, and further benefit them.

What a mercy for us all when God's servants are glad about us! Their joy is in our salvation.

II. Hearers receiving the Word.

"Ye received the word of God." Not all received it. How badly do some treat the gospel! Not all receive it as did the Thessalonians, for—

1. They received the Word of God: they heard it calmly, attended to it candidly, considered it carefully.

2. They received the Word of God with a hearty welcome. They accepted it by faith, with personal confidence and joy.

3. They did not receive the word of man. It is well to keep the doors locked in that direction. We cannot receive everything; let us reject merely human teaching, and leave the more room in our minds for the Lord's Word.

4. They did not receive the gospel as the word of men. Their faith was not based on the clever, eloquent, logical, dogmatical, or affectionate way in which it was preached.

5. They received it as God's revealed Word, and therefore received it— With reverence of its divine character. With assurance of its infallibility. With obedience to its authority. With experience of its sacred power.

6. They received it so that it effectually worked in them. It was practical, efficient, and manifestly operative upon their lives and characters.

III. Converts exhibiting the family likeness.

1. They were like Judean Christians, the best of them, In faith; in experience; in afflictions.

2. Yet many of them as heathen began at a great disadvantage.

3. They had never seen the church of God in Judea, and were no copyists, yet they came to be facsimiles of them.

4. This is a singular confirmation of the divine character of the work. The same Lord works in all believers, and in the main the same experience occurs in all the saints, even though they may never have seen each other. This similarity of all regenerated men furnishes a valuable set of experimental evidences of the divine origin of conversion.

Let us not be daunted by opposition, for at Thessalonica Paul was persecuted and yet triumphant.

Let us rejoice in the effects of the Word everywhere.

Memoranda

There was a minister of the gospel once, a true preacher, a faithful, loving man, whose ministry was supposed to be exceedingly unsuccessful. After twenty years' labor, he was known to have brought only one soul to Christ. So said his congregation. Poor worker in the trench! his toil was not seen by men, but the eye of God rested upon it. To him, one day, came a deputation from his people, representing to him, respectfully enough, that, inasmuch as God had not seen fit to bless his labors among them, it were better for him to remove to another sphere. They said that he had only been instrumental in the conversion of one sinner. He might do more elsewhere. "What do you say?" said he. "Have I really brought one sinner to Christ?" "Yes," was the reply; "one, but only one." "Thank God," cried he, "for that! Thank God! I have brought one soul to Christ! Now for twenty years' more labor among you! God sparing me, perhaps I may be the honored instrument of bringing two."—Calthrop.

"Whoever made this book," said a Chinese convert, "made me; it tells me the thoughts of my heart."

A celebrated Frenchman said, "I know the Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, because it has pierced me through."

Loskiel's "Account of the Moravian Missions among the North American Indians," has taught me two things. I have found in it a striking illustration of the uniformity with which the grace of God operates on men. Crantz, in his "Account of the Missions in Greenland," has shown the grace of God working on a man-fish—on a stupid, sottish, senseless creature, scarcely a remove from the fish on which he lived. Loskiel shows the same grace working on a man-devil—a fierce, bloody, revengeful warrior, dancing his infernal war-dance with the mind of a fury. Divine grace brings these men to the same point: it quickens, stimulates, and elevates the Greenlander— it raises him to a sort of new life—it seems almost to bestow on him new senses—it opens his eye, and bends his ear, and rouses his heart; and what it adds, it sanctifies. The same grace tames the high spirit of the Indian—it reduces him to the meekness, and the docility, and simplicity of a child. The evidence arising to Christianity from these facts is perhaps seldom sufficient, by itself, to convince the gainsayer; but, to a man who already believes, it greatly strengthens the reason of his belief. I have seen, also, in these books, that the fishboat, and the oil, and the tomahawk, and the cap of feathers excepted, a Christian minister has to deal with just the same sort of creatures as the Greenlander and the Indian among civilized nations.—Richard Cecil.

The Edition of those living Epistles is the same the world over; the binding only may differ.

Section 232 "But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing."—2 Thessalonians 3:13

Read the two previous verses, and mark the apostle's censure of those who are busy-bodies, "working not at all." A church should be like a hive of working bees.

There should be order, and there will be order where all are at work. The apostle condemns disorder in verse 11.

There should be quietness; and work promotes it: verse 12.

There should be honesty; and work fosters it. The danger is, lest we first tire of work, and then fancy that we have done enough, or are discharged from service by our superior importance, or by our subscribing to pay a substitute. While any strength remains we may not cease from personal work for Jesus.

Moreover, some will come in who are not busy-bees, but busy-bodies; they do not work for their own bread, but are surprisingly eager to eat that of others; these soon cause disturbance and desolation, but they know nothing of "welldoing." The apostle endeavors to cure this disease, and therefore gives—

I. A summary of christian life.

He calls it "well-doing."

1. Religious work is well-doing. Preaching, teaching, writing books and letters, temperance meetings, Bible-classes, tract-distributing, personal conversation, private prayer, praise, etc.

2. Charitable work is "well-doing." The poor, the widow and the fatherless, the ignorant, the sick, the fallen, and the desponding, are to be looked after with tender care.

3. Common labor is "well-doing." This will be seen to be the point in the text, if we read the previous verses. Well-doing takes many forms; among the rest—

Support of family by the husband.

Management of house by the wife.

Assistance in house-work by the daughters.

Diligence in his trade by the young man.

Study of his books by the child at school.

Faithful service by domestics in the home.

Honest toil by the day-laborer.

4. Certain labor is "well-doing" in all these senses, since it is common labor used for charitable and religious ends.

Support of aged persons by those who work for them.

Watching over infirm or sick relatives.

Bringing up children in the fear of the Lord.

Work done in connection with the church of God, to enable others to preach the gospel in comfort.

Everything is "well-doing" which is done from a sense of duty, with dependence upon God, and faith in his Word; out of love to Christ, in good-will to other workers, with prayer for direction, acceptance, and blessing.

Common actions become holy, and drudgery grows divine when the motive is pure and high.

We now think it will be wise to gather from the epistle—

II. A warning as to causes of weariness in well-doing.

1. Unworthy receivers of charity weary generous workers: verse 10.

2. Idle examples tempt the industrious to idleness: verse 11.

3. Busy-bodies, and disorderly persons in the church, hinder many from their diligent service: verses 11, 12.

4. Troublers, such as "unreasonable and wicked men," dispirit those who would serve the Lord: verse 2.

5. Our own flesh is apt to crave ease, and shun difficulties.

We can make too much of works, and it is equally easy to have too few of them.

Let us watch against weariness. Let us now conclude with—

III. An argument against weariness in well-doing.

"But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing."

1. Lose not what you have already wrought.

2. Consider what self-denials other practice for inferior things: soldiers, wrestlers, rowers in boat-race, etc.

3. Remember that the eye of God is upon you, his hand with you, his smile on you, his command over you.

4. Reflect upon the grandeur of the service in itself as done unto the Lord, and to his glorious cause.

5. Think upon the sublime lives of those who have preceded you in this heavenly service.

6. Fix your eye on Jesus, and what he endured.

7. Behold the recompense of reward: the crown, the palm.

If others tire and faint, be not ye weary.

If others meanly loaf upon their fellows, be it yours rather to give than to receive.

If others break the peace of the church, be it yours to maintain it by diligent service, and so to enjoy the blessing of verse 16.

Whetstones A true Christian must be a worker. Industry, or diligence in business is a prime element in piety; and the industry God demands is the activity of our whole complex nature. Without this a man may be a dreamer, but not a "doer"; and just so far as any faculty of our nature is left unemployed, do we come short of a complete Christian character. I must be doing, I—I, my entire self, my hand, my foot, my eye, my tongue, my understanding, my affections—must be all, not only resolving, purposing, feeling, willing, but actively doing. "Let us be doing."

But more than this. I must be "well-doing." The Greek word expresses beauty, and this enters into the apostolic thought. True piety is lovely. Just so far as it comes short in the beautiful, it becomes monstrous. But, as used by Paul, it goes far beyond this, and signifies all moral excellence. Activity is not enough; for activity the intensest may be evil. Lucifer is as active, as constant, and earnest as Gabriel. But the one is a fiend, and the other a seraph. Any activity that is not good is a curse always and only. Better be dead, inert matter—a stone, a clod—than a stinging reptile, or a destroying demon; and herein lies the great practical change in regeneration. It transforms the mere doer into a well-doer. It is not so much a change in the energy as in the direction.—Charles Wadsworth, D.D.

The Hebrews have a saying, that God is more delighted in adverbs than in nouns: 'tis not so much the matter that's done, but the matter how 'tis done, that God minds. Not how much, but how well! 'Tis the well-doing that meets with a well-done. Let us therefore serve God, not nominally or verbially, but adverbially.—Ralph Venning.

Think nothing done while aught remains to do.

—Samuel Rogers

D'Israeli tells the following story of two members of the Port Royal Society. Arnauld wished Nicolle to assist him in a new work, when the latter replied, "We are now old; is it not time to rest?" "Rest!" returned Arnauld, "have we not all eternity to rest in?" So Gerald Massey sings- Let me work now, for all eternity, With its immortal leisure, waiteth me.