“Never Tire of Doing What Is Right”Eternal Encouragement - 1&2 ThessaloniansLanse Evangelical Free ChurchOctober 5, 2025 :: 2 Thessalonians 3:6-18  
Do you ever feel like giving up? Do you ever feel discouraged and ready to throw in the towel? Do you ever feel the question, “Why even bother?”
I think that most of us can feel that way at least some of the time, and some of us can feel that way most of the time.
“What good does it do, anyway?”“Why keep trying so hard with so few results?”“Why do I keep punishing myself? Why do I keep beating my head against this wall?”“Why do I keep trying to do what is right?”
In verse 13 of chapter 3, the Apostle Paul tells the Christians in this beloved baby church to not give up. He says, “And as for you, brothers [and sisters], never tire of doing what is right.”
The updated NIV has, “...never tire of doing what is good.” The ESV and CSB both have, “...do not grow weary in doing good.”
In other words, don’t give up, and don’t give in, and keep on doing the right thing. Keep putting one good foot in front of another. Do the right thing. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose your enthusiasm for well-doing. Stay diligent. Stay steadfast. Don’t grow weary. Do the good thing.
“[N]ever tire of doing what is right.”
That’s maybe easier said than done, but it was the Lord’s word for the Thessalonians back in the day, and it’s His word for you and me today. “[N]ever tire of doing what is right.”
Our series on the letters to the church of the Thessalonians has been called “Eternal Encouragement,” and we have noted that encouragement comes in two basic flavors: consolation and exhortation. Comfort and command.
A great majority of the encouragement in these two letters has been the first kind–comfort and consolation. It has been so encouraging to hear how much Paul loved this church, and even more how much Jesus loved this church. And what good hope He’s given them! It’s been so encouraging to hear what the Lord has in store for this church–protection from their enemies, strengthening them for every good word and deed, perfect justice, eternal life with the eternal Lord. Return, resurrection, rapture, reunion! Eternal encouragement!
But in this last section, it’s mostly the second kind of encouragement. The kick in the pants. The encouragement to get off our seats and into the game. And to stay in the game even when it feels like it’s a losing game. “Never tire of doing what is right.”
Last week (in verses 3 through 5), the Apostle Paul assured the Thessalonians that the Lord is faithful and would both strengthen them  and protect them from the evil one and empower them to do what He has commanded.
He said, (v.4) “We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.” Paul expected them to obey because the Lord was at work in them, and the Lord’s work will work. God’s love and Christ’s perseverance would see to that (see v.5)!
And now in verse 6, Paul tells them what the specific commands he expects them to obey actually are. Starting with: staying away from disorderly Christians. Look at verse 6.
“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers [and sisters], to keep away from every brother [and sister] who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.”
I have three points of application to summarize this passage, and here’s the first one:
#1. AVOID CHRISTIANS WHO HAVE TIRED OF DOING WHAT IS RIGHT.
I was surprised this week at how strong Paul was here. He gives a command “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” And we know that the Lord Jesus Christ has all of the authority in heaven and on earth.
And so it’s nothing small when Paul invokes that name and says, “Here’s the apostolic command in Jesus’ name: KEEP AWAY from every brother who is idle and does not live according the teaching you received from us.” 
Wow. That’s strong language. We need to take it to heart. This is serious stuff.
So, who is that we are supposed to avoid?
The old NIV says someone who is “idle.” That’s someone who isn’t doing the work they are supposed to be doing. They are idle. 
The updated NIV has, “idle and disruptive.” There’s clearly more to what’s wrong with this kind of people than just basic idleness. 
The Greek word is “ataktows,” and it’s a little hard to capture in English.
We saw Paul used it before in chapter 5 of his first letter to the Thessalonians when he said, “Warn those who are [ataktows] idle and disruptive...” 
The King James has “walks disorderly.” The CSB has “walks irresponsibly.” The NASB has “leads an unruly life.” 
The idea is someone who is “out of line” and not doing what they are supposed to be doing. (Like working for example.) This is someone who claims to be a Christian (notice that Paul calls them a “brother” or a “sister”) but who “does not live according to the [authoritative] teaching” that Paul and his team had given to the church.
In other words, they had tired of doing what is right. They had gotten lazy and undisciplined and unruly and disordered. And given up. They were out of line. And Paul tells the Thessalonians to keep away from brothers and sisters who are doing that.
Now, down in verses 14 and 15, Paul is going say more about what that “keeping away from” means and doesn’t mean. It’s clearly not a complete avoidance. Because he says they should not “regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” (That’s verse 15.) So there is some level of relating that is still supposed to happen. But Paul also says that they should “take special note of” someone like this and, “Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.” (That’s verse 14.) The idea is that the brother or sister in Christ will be embarrassed to be left out of the fellowship and be motivated to repent and change.
One commentator I read this week said that we should remain “aloof” from folks that are like this. Make sure they know we love them and that we are not mad at them. That’s not why we are keeping our distance. But because we want them to know that what they are doing is serious, and we must take it seriously so that they might change. Not ostracism, but also no close fellowship until there is repentance. Avoid Christians who have tired of doing what is right. Including stopping their rightful work to freeload on others.
Paul says that he and his ministry team showed them how they were supposed to live. Look at verse 7.
“For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle [and disruptive, ataktows] when we were with you, 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” (vv.7-8).
Paul, Silas, and Timothy had worked and worked and worked when they were in Thessalonica. Paul was a tentmaker by trade. So he spend a good deal of his day making and mending tents and selling them in the marketplace and then also sharing the gospel and building up the church. He did both night and day!
And he didn’t take support from the church that he was planting. Now, we can see in other letters, that he sometimes received missionary support from churches after he had planted them–like from the Philippians. But when he was planting, he didn’t want to come across as a grifter or be a burden on the fledgling little church that was struggling so much to survive in the first place. So he took he didn’t take support from them.
I think that’s what he means by “did not eat anyone’s food without paying for it.” I don’t think that means that if they had him over for supper one night that he insisted on paying for their hospitality. That would be rude. It means that he didn’t expect them to do that night after night after night. (And he would probably have them over for supper from time to time on his dime.) The same thing was true of housing and clothes and other basic necessities. He worked for them all.
We talked about this back when we studied 1 Thessalonians chapter 2 (see v.9). Could Paul have asked them to support him? Yes, he could! A gospel worker is worthy of his wages. (See 1 Corinthians 9:3-15, 2 Corinthians 11:7-9, Matthew 10:10.) It’s not wrong for you to support me as your pastor, and how well you do it! Thank you for sending us next weekend to the district retreat for pastors and wives (see also 1 Timothy 5:17-18)!
But Paul intentionally did not do that here. Look at verse 9.
“We did this [eschewing your support], not because we do not have the right to such help [we do!], but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.  For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat.’” (vv.9-10).
Paul was showing them how important it is for Christians to be faithful to work and to be self-sufficient to the degree that we can. So much so that he gave them this rule of thumb:
“If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
If you follow that rule, that will be really motivating! I don’t know about you, but I like to eat!
Now, the most important word there is “will.” And it really means “will” as what they are willing to do. Where is their heart in this?
It’s not talking about someone who is disabled and can’t work, or sick and can’t work, or too young to work, or too old and infirm to work, or has tried to find work and can’t get work. Or if it’s illegal for them to work.
Paul is talking about Christians who are capable of work who refuse to work. They rebel against work. They are not willing to work. The “rule” is “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”
And if he will not work, then we should keep from away from him, as well. Not only should we not keep feeding him, we shouldn’t keep fellowshipping with him either.
I’ll be honest. I don’t know that I’ve ever done this quite like this. I’ve definitely chosen not to feed someone who I was pretty sure was just gaming the system. Our Ministerium has a fund of Neighbors Helping Neighbors that we are collecting for at Blessed to Be a Blessing this afternoon, and we have turned people down that have requested help when it was clear that they were just trying to freeload.
But I don’t know if I have ever told another Christian that I can’t hang around them unless they work harder at getting a job. Most of the Christians I know follow Paul’s example of working hard for their upkeep. But there are folks out there who have tired of doing what is right. And there were, apparently, some among the Thessalonians. Look at v.11.
“We hear that some among you are idle [and disruptive]. They are not busy; they are busybodies.”
Yikes! Imagine being that guy or that gal when the church read Paul’s letter for the first time. “I heard about that guy [and everybody turns to look at him] among you who is out of line. They are freeloading on your church family.”
Now, it doesn’t say why. Perhaps they were just lazy. Some people have the exact opposite problem. The work too much. We call that “crazy busy,” right? Or workaholics. 
There are people who make work an idol. They worship their work instead of worshiping the Lord. But Paul is talking about the other kind of idle here. The opposite problem. Refusing to work. 
Not crazy busy, but “crazy lazy.” (I got that phrase from Alistair Begg.) What the Proverbs call “The Sluggard” or we often call “The Slacker.”
Some of these folks might have gotten the wrong idea about how to wait for the return of Christ. Paul has been teaching them all about the return of Christ and how they should be ready for it, right? These two letters are full of the return of Christ. He’s referred to it at least once a chapter up to this one. And some of these folks might have thought, “Well, if Jesus is going to come back soon, then why bother working? Let’s all quit our jobs and just sit around and talk.”
I wonder if anybody quit their job last week when that guy on TikTok said that Jesus was coming back on September 23rd?
But what did we just say before we sang, “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks I Stand?” “The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission” (EFCA SOF #9). We’re supposed to be motivated to work by the return of Christ, not the other way around.
Notice what happens when we let ourselves become idle. We don’t just stop working, we start sinning.
Paul says (in v.11), “The are not busy; they are busybodies.”
That’s trying to capture the word play in the Greek. It’s kind of like when we say, “Are you working hard or hardly working?” But it’s stronger than that. When we stop doing the business that we’re supposed to do, we often start getting ourselves into other people’s business.” And become meddlers and gossips and busybodies. 
I read a book about gossip once. It’s apparently a bad thing. Should be resisted!
These folks aren’t working for their upkeep or for their families or for their Lord. They are working for their disordered interests. And we should not support them. And we should avoid them. And we shouldn’t be like them. See what Paul says to do instead. Verse 12.
“Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.” 
Literally, “to work quietly and eat their own bread.” And then verse 13. “And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.”
#2. NEVER TIRE OF DOING WHAT IS RIGHT.
Don’t be like those guys who have given up on working for the Lord and refusing to work for themselves. Get busy and stay busy, quietly working away until the Lord returns.
Paul had similar instruction for the Thessalonians in his first letter, chapter 4, he said, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody” (1 Thess. 4:11-12). That’s how a Christian is supposed to live!
Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever I read this chapter, I can be tempted to be proud. Proud of my work ethic. I love to work! I like working more than resting. I’m not good at resting. I’m good at working. And that’s a problem I have because the Lord calls me to rest every night and every week, not just to work. But I don’t tend to have a problem with idleness, and I can be tempted to  look down my nose at those who do. I’m tempted to say, “Yeah, Paul stick it to those slackers! You tell them.”
And if you are a slacker, this passage is speaking to you. It’s encouragement to get off of your seat and into the game. Paul commands YOU and urges YOU in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread you eat! But this passage is not just for the idle. It’s for all of us. It’s also for those of us who are considering throwing in the towel. Who are discouraged by the state of the world and tempted to give up and give in. We all need to hear verse 13!
“[A]s for you, brothers [and sisters], never tire of doing what is right.” Never tire of doing what is good.
This week, I had my prayer retreat, and I tried to pray for every family in the church directory. I didn’t get through all the names. I’m still working at it. I prayed for all of you together and many of the names, and all of the little prayer cards you gave me. But I haven’t made it through the whole directory yet. And I was tempted to give up. Those prayer cards sure are heavy. You folks are battling difficult stuff. You have a lot of cares and concerns. Valid ones for your health, your families, your workplaces, your country, your world. And it felt heavy.
But I was reminded of what we had read in verse 3 and what we had sung last Sunday. “The Lord is faithful.” And kept praying. And I will continue to pray. And by God’s grace, I will obey verse 13 and never tire of doing what is right.
Sadly, some of these brothers did not. So the church needed to take note and avoid and warn them. Verse 14.
“If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
And keep doing it as the Lord leads. Never tire of doing what is right. Never tire of doing what is good. I like the update of the NIV translation here because it’s not just what is morally right but what is morally good and beautiful. [The Greek word is “kalopoiountes” (used only here in our Bibles) which has the “kalo” pre-fix which makes it mean something like “doing beautiful goodness.”]
Think about it.  When we who are capable of working do our work, we not only can provide for ourselves and for our families but what else? For other people. For the genuinely needy!
The Lord doesn’t just want us to not be freeloaders. And He doesn’t just want us to be self-sufficient. He wants us to be generous (see Ephesians 4:28 and Acts 20:35)!
He wants us to fill the fridge for our needy neighbors.He has blessed us to be a blessing for our needy neighbors.He has given some of us strong bodies that can not only do our work but can help others who can’t do their work.
And we’re gonna. And we’re not going stop. We’re going never tire of doing what is good. And we’re not going to look down our noses at those who wear out, but we are going to encourage them to get back in the game.
“[A]s for you, brothers [and sisters], never tire of doing what is right.”
How’re we going to do that?
How’re we going to do that when everything is stacked against us? Think about this little baby church in Thessalonica that had so much against them. They were new and small. They were being attacked. They were being persecuted by the Jews and the Romans. They were being hounded and pounded by their neighbors. They were getting confused by unsettling teachings about the end times and even maybe fake letters from somebody pretending to be Paul. How were they going to keep going?
God’s peace and God’s grace.
#3. EXPECT THE PEACE AND GRACE TO KEEP DOING WHAT IS RIGHT.
In verse 16, Paul prays once again. Just like he has over and over again through these two letters, Paul pops out with a burst of prayer. Verse 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. I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
“This is no fake letter. No forgery. You can tell this is from me by the handwriting. And I’m praying for you.”
I’m praying for peace. Notice that He uses the Lord’s name here. Just like verse 6 and verse 12 and verse 18. He prays for the Lord of peace Himself to give them peace. Just like our memory verse. Not just the Lord’s messenger or agent. But the Lord Himself. The Lord of peace Himself. I’m praying that Jesus would give you His peace. And at ALL TIMES and in EVERY WAY. That’s peace, peace, peace, peace, peace! 
We can have that!
Even when persecuted.Even when attacked.Even when the world wears us down.
We can have peace all the time and in every way. Why?
“The Lord be with all of you.”
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.”
That’s how. That’s what we need! Peace and grace from the Lord Himself.
How encouraging that must have been for Paul to leave that little church with that last word! A last word not of a kick in the pants, but a shot in the arm, a long cool drink of water for a thirsty soul, a belly full of nourishing food, a tank of gas. Expect it! Whatever it takes to keep on going. All of the peace and all of the grace to never tire of doing what is right.
And it’s found in our Lord Jesus Christ alone.

***
Messages in this Series:

1 Thessalonians

01. "To the Church of the Thessalonians" - 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
02. "We Loved You So Much" - 1 Thessalonians 2:1-16
03. "You Are Our Glory and Joy" - 1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13
04. "Do This More and More" - 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
05. "Encourage Each Other With These Words" - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
06. “We Belong to the Day” - 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
07. "To Each Other and To Everyone Else" - 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
08. "This Is God's Will For You" - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-28

2 Thessalonians

09. "In Every Good Deed and Word" - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
[Bonus Historical Message: "Forever: Hell" - 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12, October 30, 2005]
10. "God's Judgment Is Right" - 2 Thessalonians 1:1-10
11. "We Constantly Pray for You" - 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
12. "Stand Firm" - 2 Thessalonians 2:1-1513. "The Lord Is Faithful" - 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5