Key Text: I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).
When “the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” Gen. 2:15, man would serve and take charge of it. The garden was an activity that was rewarded by productivity and enjoyment. As God’s original pattern shows, it is best not to work without an interval of rest: “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work” Ex. 20:9. In “the same day was the sabbath” John 5:9, obedience brought complete and instantaneous healing. This became a controversial issue that upset the Jews who sought to slay Jesus and they asked “who told you to do this on the Sabbath v 14. Jesus answered by establishing the authority to work on the Sabbath and as coequal with God and the Father v 17. When Christ was confronted with a man who was blind from birth, the disciples raise a theological question: Was the blindness a result of the man’s sin or his parents’ sin? In a test of the man’s faith and obedience, Christ sent him to Siloam and told him to wash. The blind man responded immediately and was healed on the Sabbath. (In apostolic times, the Christian Sabbath, was set apart for religious exercises, such as preaching of God’s holy Word and celebrating the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.)
The neighbors took him to the Pharisees since it was illegal to make clay on the Sabbath. The blindness gave opportunity for God’s power to be manifested, “I must work the works” John 9:4.
Luke’s “Acts of the Apostles” includes Paul’s preview of the future and how the disciples of Christ would be able to discover the grievous wolves and the perverters who had nothing but their own interest in view. Genuine disciples neither coveted nor had worldly possessions Acts 20:33. Even when the circumstances of the church were such that it could not support the apostles, still many eminent ministers of God were obliged to support themselves and their families while testifying the gospel of the grace of God. The sentiment, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” is worthy of Christ. That is, the giver is more “happy” than the receiver.
Paul had to leave Thessalonica (the Bosom of the Roman Empire) so quickly that there were many unfinished teachings that he had not been able to develop. He wanted the Thessalonians to stand for the Lord in the midst of afflictions and tribulations, which he was actually appointed to suffer (John 16.33). His eschatological epistle to the Thessalonians is an example of fulfilled prophecy which promotes sanctification in the life of the believer.
Paul received Timothy’s report that the Thessalonians were surviving the temptations of Satan and that his work in Thessalonica had not been in vain. Timothy “brought good tidings” and the fact that they had wanted to see him just as much as he had wanted to see them 2 Thessalonians 3:6. The faith of these converts gave Paul the encouragement and courage he needed to “stand fast” and go on. “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul commands the Thessalonians “that ye withdraw yourselves” from those who will not submit to proper discipline: those who do not keep their place, those who are out of their rank, and those who act according to their own will and caprices. Paul desired the church exclude such from their communion, those who kept their place but discharged all its duties. He also stated that while the apostles were in Thessalonica, they supported themselves, working hard day and night so that their demands upon the community would be too great. Even though the apostles had the authority to have both their wages and expenses paid by the community, they purposely avoided using this privilege for the benefit of the Thessalonians v 9.
Many of the Thessalonicans got so excited about the second coming of Christ, they decided to quit work and just wait, against Paul’s former injunctions. Universal nature inculcates that “If any would not work, neither should he eat” v 10, founded by the words of God: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” According to verse 11, this sort of super-spirituality is really pride and a refusal to submit to the authority of God’s Word, which is disorder. The opposite of that sort of conduct is to eat one’s own bread, which he earns by means of working at an occupation while he quietly serves the Lord. AMEN!
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