You can list to the full message here:-
http://nec.org.au/strong-and-ready/
Message
2 Thessalonians 3:1-18
Don't Be An Active, But Idle, Busy Body
Through this sermon series on 1 & 2 Thessalonians we have seen that the church in Thessalonica is a faithful model of discipleship that is an incredible example to, and spoken of highly by, other churches in Macedonia and Asia.
Yet, within the church, there is a sin taking place that is causing ongoing disruption and concern.
We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
2 Thessalonians 3:11
This is the first and only time that Paul specifically calls out a known sin in Thessalonica.
Yes … being a busy body is a sin.
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15
If being a busybody wasn’t a sin, this sort of response to such a person wouldn’t be necessary. Indeed, for the church in Thessalonica we can be sure that this is a sin that has been occurring for some time.
Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
When would it have been that Paul “told” them? It would have been when he first brought the Gospel, some 3-6 months before hand.
Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-14
As he closes the first letter Paul gives some parting advise. He wants to be clear on where some attention needs to be given to certain behaviour – and encourages the church to be aware of the potential problems – so that they may be rectified.
But it doesn’t seem they this particular sin is rectified. So more words are needed.
Let’s read now 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18; pay particular attention to verses 6-15
Paul doesn’t mess around does he … he tells it how it is.
Which is really good for the church of the Thessalonians in the first century, because they know exactly who Paul is talking about. But we don’t know who Paul is talking about. So, for us to apply this Scripture, we need to ask some questions.
Who are the “idle and disruptive”?
That is how the NIV describes them.
The ESV calls them those who are “walking in idleness”.
In the NKJV they are “disorderly” and the NASB defines them as “unruly”.
The Greek word appears 4 times, all in Thessalonian letters, and looks like this:-
?ta?t?? – verb (2 Thess 3:7)
?ta?t?? – noun (1 Thess 5:14)
?t??t?? – adverb (2 Thess 3:6, 11)
I’ll use the word atakteoo when I am talking about the Greek word family.
atakteoo
The NIV and ESV call them “idle”. When we think about being idle we might think that we are talking about someone who is lazy and inactive. But this is not what atakteoo menas. Those who are of such a character are very active, but their activity is being used for wrong, or useless, or disruptive purposes.
Playing … constantly playing … video games.
It requires a lot of activity. Quick finger pressing. Concentration. Yelling at the screen because the computer isn’t being fair.
Lots of activity. But in some cases it possibly is an example of atakteoo.
atakteoo
We might associate the NKJV definition of disorderly with someone who is unable to keep their house clean. But that is not the meaning here. Rather atakteoo is the decision to actively act in a manner that causes disruption because a person doesn’t want to fulfil a responsibility.
You have a 2000 word assignment due on Tuesday midnight. Today is Sunday so you will spend time with family. On Monday you clean the house, then bake a cake, then do the groceries, and cook dinner. You know the assignment is due, but you deliberately don’t make a start.
Some would call this procrati-baking.
It is very orderly and methodical. But then at lunch time on Tuesday it hits you – my assignment needs to be handed in at midnight!
Your whole life goes on hold and franticness is in place.
That is possibly another type of example of atakteoo.
atakteoo
The NASB uses the translation of “unruly” – here we might think of people who are bullies and live in an unruly way. But that is not the meaning of atakteoo. It is more an unruliness that comes because they lack discipline.
The person who has an obsession with say, model railways. They are disciplined in the sense that they find bargains, and good deals, and they spend in a manner which is good value for money. Except they spend everything they have:-
• and can’t pay regular bills.
• and need help with groceries.
• and their car never has petrol.
That is possibly another type of example of atakteoo.
Let me be very specific.
If you do play video games, or procrastinate, or over spend – that doesn’t necessarily make you atakteoo.
If you haven’t got work, or you are struggling financially, or you need some help with food and groceries and the basics of life – that doesn’t necessarily make you atakteoo.
If you have made some poor decisions in life, or there has been an outcome that is of your doing, and you are in a real difficult situation where you need help – that doesn’t necessarily make you atakteoo.
What we are trying to do is understand what this life-style … the habit … this sin … looks like.
We want to understand what it looks like because when atakteoo takes hold of your life you become a specific type of person.
We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.
2 Thessalonians 3:11
It is the only time in scripture that the word busy-body is used. To help us understand the meaning I going to read from another document that was also written in the first century.
(The busy body) does not wait to be sent for, but comes unsummoned to investigate others' infirmities. They search out matters, not to bring a cure, but merely to expose them.
The busybody, shunning the country as something stale and uninteresting and undramatic, pushes into the bazaar and the market-place and the harbours: "Is there any news?" "Weren't you at market early this morning?
If someone really does have something of that nature to tell him, he dismounts from his horse, grasps his informant's hand, kisses him, and stands there listening.
Just as cooks pray for a good crop of young animals and fishermen for a good haul of fish, in the same way busybodies pray for a good crop of calamities, a good haul of difficulties, for novelties, and changes, that they, like cooks and fishermen, may always have something to fish out or butcher.
(Plutarch “One Being a Busy Body” 518, 519)
Everything changes, and everything stays the same.
When we bring this all together we are able to build a pretty succinct idea of the impact of atakteoo.
atakteoo
Is a habitual, I-don’t-want-to-change, deliberate decision where you continue to make life choices which eventually cause you to become a busybody who is an ongoing unnecessary financial or spiritual burden within the church community.
Our natural response is to say – we are not like that.
But isn’t that what the Thessalonians would have thought as well?
And it isn’t just what Paul thinks – Paul writes to them in the name of the Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 3:6).
We follow the Lord who calls us to a life of obedience. To recognise Scripture has been written by the authority of the Lord.
The Lord who is able to call out sin, because he is the righteous judge.
The Lord who is able to identify failing, weaknesses, guilt, lack of faith, doubt, ungodliness, lack of faithfulness, hypocrisy and the times when we have completely lost our way.
We follow Jesus who has given his life to save us from sin. To give us hope, forgiveness, peace and eternal security when we come to him in repentance for our failings, weaknesses, guilt, lack of faith, doubt, ungodliness, lack of faithfulness, hypocrisy and the times when we have completely lost our way.
Lordship and Salvation … living for the Lord Jesus.
That his calling in our lives, and the way we follow as disciples, is a calling to ongoing transformation and renewal in a world where we continue to battle against principalities, powers and the forces of this dark world – in a place where sin still has power.
Paul loved the Thessalonians and constantly prayed for them, and praised them, and held them up as an example of faithful discipleship. Paul rejoiced over the godly and kingdom reputation they had.
But Paul was also aware – there were some in the congregation who had a blindspot.
Their blindspot was atakteoo.
In the name of the Lord Jesus this blind spot is called out and identified.
So that is going to be our application this morning.
In the name of the Lord Jesus … we are all going to ask the questions of ourselves that need to be asked.
These are the two questions I want you to take home with you today.
Question 1
Am I Fully Aware Of The Temptation of Atakteoo In My Life?
I’m going to suggest that a significant source of the temptation to atakteoo is in your pocket, or your purse.
It is called a smart-phone.
The Temptation to Active Idleness
Show how the phone does this by constantly taking our attention.
(expand)
The Outcome of Being Busybodies
Show how the phone does that as we judge others.
(expand)
Question 2
What Is My Blindspot?
It is that thing in your life that you don’t allow yourself to see, or you justify it, or you deliberately just keep doing it because you don’t want to change.
(share a blind spot from your own life)
(make the connection that if you continued this way ultimately the church would be better off without you).
That is a sobering thought isn’t it.
But that is the outcome Paul puts onto the table.
There can be a point where our lack of obedience to the Lord Jesus means that the kingdom and the church is actually better off without me.
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15
1 & 2 Thessalonians is written so that we may be strong and ready.
As we continue our journey from here, coming to the end of the book, let’s keep asking the Lord in prayer to keep revealing the blind spots, short-comings, failure and sin, so that we never have to face the shame of realising that the kingdom of God would actually be better off without us.
Prayer
The Temptation to Active Idleness
Show how the phone does this by constantly taking our attention.
(expand - to a specific example from your own life.)
