"If You Don't Work You Don't Eat!" - The Apostle Paul

Reflection:  Sometimes we confusing being “loving” with a concept in the bible calls “speaking the truth in love”, which is also sometimes called “tough love”.  This is not always telling people what they want to hear, but what they need to hear.  I have always appreciated the people in my life who were able to speak the truth in love to me.  Most of the growth in my spiritual life has come when people I have trusted have taken a risk and challenged me to deeper walk with Christ, and/or something in my life that was out of alignment for a Christ follower. 

Today, we have two of God’s messengers speaking the truth in love.  First, we have Jeremiah, who has a “tough love” message for the people of Israel.  At first, Jeremiah laments because it appears as if God is being harder on His own people than the nations who scoff at His name. But God quickly answers Jeremiah by letting him know it is not a comparison game.  God lets Jeremiah know that judgment begins at the house of the Lord, with His people who have rejected him and been unfaithful.  God will judge the nations in time, but at the moment that is really none of Jeremiah’s business.  In essence Jeremiah was playing the “blame game”.  He was saying, “What about them, why are they getting easy treatment?”  At the moment though God was judging Judah for what she should have known as the covenant people of God.  In time, God would restore the people of God, but for now He needed to speak the truth in love.    

Jeremiah himself is saddened over this occasion as he says,

 ¹⁷ If you do not listen,
    I will weep in secret
    because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
    overflowing with tears,
    because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

Then, as we move to the New Testament, Paul has some admonition for the church at Thessalonica.  Although there are many good things about this young church, which Paul uplifts in 1 Thessalonians, one of the problems was “idleness”.  And we see that Paul explains this as, “those who were not willing to work, but sat around all day talking!”  He calls them “busybodies”.  Sounds like an oxymoron, because their bodies were not really busy at all, just their lips! 

Paul summarizes this with a saying we might hear today, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat!”  Wow!  Pretty tough love huh!  Well it gets better.  He says, ^“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. ¹⁵ Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.”

Do you think Paul thinks this might be a serious issue that the Church needs to address head on?  I think so!  Do you think these words might have application for us today? I think so. 

I know as pastors one of things we fight is the “trying to keep everybody happy syndrome!”  Yet sometimes as leaders and pastors we need to speak the truth in love, and let the chips fall where they may.  This may even mean a person is not part of the fellowship for a time.  And, of course, Paul’s hope is for this fellow believer to come back into fellowship with a change of heart and willingness to serve.  But in the meantime he sees it as a huge distraction for the people of God on their mission in the world. 

May Jeremiah and Paul’s words strengthen us today to be a people who live a life worthy of our calling in Christ.  And when necessary give us the courage to speak the truth in love and at times to receive the truth in love for the sake of the kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen. 

Psalm 98

¹ Sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
    have worked salvation for him.
² The Lord has made his salvation known
    and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
³ He has remembered his love
    and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.

⁴ Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
    burst into jubilant song with music;
⁵ make music to the Lord with the harp,
    with the harp and the sound of singing,
⁶ with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
    shout for joy before the Lord, the King.

⁷ Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands,
    let the mountains sing together for joy;
⁹ let them sing before the Lord,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples with equity.

Jeremiah 12:1-13:19

Jeremiah’s Complaint

12 You are always righteous, Lord,
    when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
² You have planted them, and they have taken root;
    they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
    but far from their hearts.
³ Yet you know me, Lord;
    you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
    Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
⁴ How long will the land lie parched
    and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
    the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
    “He will not see what happens to us.”

God’s Answer

⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot
    and they have worn you out,
    how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
    how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
⁶ Your relatives, members of your own family—
    even they have betrayed you;
    they have raised a loud cry against you.
Do not trust them,
    though they speak well of you.

⁷ “I will forsake my house,
    abandon my inheritance;
I will give the one I love
    into the hands of her enemies.
⁸ My inheritance has become to me
    like a lion in the forest.
She roars at me;
    therefore I hate her.
⁹ Has not my inheritance become to me
    like a speckled bird of prey
    that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts;
    bring them to devour.
¹⁰ Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard
    and trample down my field;
they will turn my pleasant field
    into a desolate wasteland.
¹¹ It will be made a wasteland,
    parched and desolate before me;
the whole land will be laid waste
    because there is no one who cares.
¹² Over all the barren heights in the desert
    destroyers will swarm,
for the sword of the Lord will devour
    from one end of the land to the other;
    no one will be safe.
¹³ They will sow wheat but reap thorns;
    they will wear themselves out but gain nothing.
They will bear the shame of their harvest
    because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”

¹⁴ This is what the Lord says: “As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the people of Judah from among them. ¹⁵ But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to their own inheritance and their own country. ¹⁶ And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives’—even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among my people. ¹⁷ But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

A Linen Belt

13 This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.” ² So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist.

³ Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time: ⁴ “Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perath and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks.” ⁵ So I went and hid it at Perath, as the Lord told me.

⁶ Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go now to Perath and get the belt I told you to hide there.” ⁷ So I went to Perath and dug up the belt and took it from the place where I had hidden it, but now it was ruined and completely useless.

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ “This is what the Lord says: ‘In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless! ¹¹ For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they have not listened.’

Wineskins

¹² “Say to them: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every wineskin should be filled with wine.’ And if they say to you, ‘Don’t we know that every wineskin should be filled with wine?’ ¹³ then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to fill with drunkenness all who live in this land, including the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets and all those living in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ I will smash them one against the other, parents and children alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no pity or mercy or compassion to keep me from destroying them.’”

Threat of Captivity

¹⁵ Hear and pay attention,
    do not be arrogant,
    for the Lord has spoken.
¹⁶ Give glory to the Lord your God
    before he brings the darkness,
before your feet stumble
    on the darkening hills.
You hope for light,
    but he will turn it to utter darkness
    and change it to deep gloom.
¹⁷ If you do not listen,
    I will weep in secret
    because of your pride;
my eyes will weep bitterly,
    overflowing with tears,
    because the Lord’s flock will be taken captive.

¹⁸ Say to the king and to the queen mother,
    “Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns
    will fall from your heads.”
¹⁹ The cities in the Negev will be shut up,
    and there will be no one to open them.
All Judah will be carried into exile,
    carried completely away.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-18

Warning Against Idleness

⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. ⁹ We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate. ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

¹¹ We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. ¹² Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat. ¹³ And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good. ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer.

Final Greetings

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. ¹⁷ I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. ¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me. Malachi 3:1

John the baptizer said, "One who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals." Luke 3:16

God of goodness and grace, let us be your messengers of peace. Send us forth into the world in your name knowing that your presence is with us. Guide us as we prepare the way of the Lord. Amen.