2 THESSALONIANS 3
CAC It is good for us to keep in view the resources of the last two verses of the previous chapter. It is the abiding sense of divine love and grace that we need more than anything else.
Rem The resource was that God is Father and Jesus Lord.
CAC Yes. We are loved and we are under grace, and that cannot change because it is bound up with what divine Persons (our God and Father and our Lord Jesus Christ) are in Themselves. Our hearts get encouraged when we realise this, and we are “established in every good work and word” — that is, encouragement within and stability in service.
Rem How Paul valued their prayers! “Brethren, pray for us”.
Ques Is Paul anxious to give fuller utterance to what was entrusted to him (verse 1)?
CAC The apostle always had a very blessed sense of the commission that he had, and he always had a sense of [p. 305] weakness in himself. He was never self-confident; all his grace and gifts and powers never made him self-confident; he was always anxious to have the prayers of the saints. If these “bad and evil men” (verse 2) succeeded in stopping him it would hinder the word of the Lord.
Rem We are apt to have confidence in ourselves, to think more of ourselves than others think of us.
CAC Yes. How subtle the flesh is! If a man feels he is doing what the Lord would have him do, and that he is doing it in a right way, that often makes him self-confident. It was not so with Paul. There was no self-confidence in him, though he was serving the Lord and doing it as the Lord would have him do. As to the Thessalonians, he is not thinking of his work but of the faithfulness of the Lord.
Ques Is Paul referring to his own preaching or to the work of the Lord?
CAC To his own work, preaching, as he says, “Pray for us”. Does it not speak in Proverbs of a word being on wheels? (See Proverbs 25: 11 and marginal note Authorised Version) Sometimes the wheels go like Pharaoh’s chariots; they dragged! A thing on wheels moves easily, and when the Lord is with His word no effort is required, it “runs”. The devil is always seeking that the Lord’s chariot-wheels should drag, so we get the activity of these bad men, and Satan’s efforts to put the Lord’s servants out of condition, not only to oppose them.
Rem Paul presents the Lord as sufficient to keep them from evil.
CAC And it may be read, the ‘evil one’; it is very blessed that the Lord can keep His saints from the evil one; it is what He taught His disciples to pray.
Rem We are powerless in ourselves to think of the love of God — the Lord directs us (verse 5).
CAC There is a difference between what we have [p. 306] in this verse and what we find in Romans 5: 5, “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts”. It is so much before the mind of God that we should know His love that He has given His own Spirit to pour it out into our hearts, and then He has given us One who can lead our hearts into a region that is filled with it. There is a region that is full of the love of God, and the Lord can lead us that way. Romans 5 is what is put into us, and this verse is what we are put into. The proper portion of the assembly would be implied here: if we are directed into the love of God it is that love that is enjoyed by His saints, not exactly an individual thing. It goes on, “into the patience of the Christ”. If it refers to the assembly, Christ has patience and we are called into that endurance. The waiting time tests that, just as the Thessalonians had been tested. The Lord had not come as soon as they expected, and the enemy was taking advantage of this delay to discourage them, so there was a need that patience should mark them. A certain time had elapsed between these two epistles, and the saints found themselves in trouble. Then someone brought a letter, as from Paul, a dastardly thing to do, but Satan would do anything. He was trying to harass them by these troublers, brothers walking disorderly, and by this pretended letter from Paul that they were suffering under the judgment of the Lord, so that instead of having everlasting consolation and their hearts encouraged, they were getting a bit shaky. No doubt this element of some among them walking disorderly would test the patience of the saints; these people were bringing the old notions of the world into the assembly. There is no notion more deeply rooted in men than that if a man is to be holy he must do no work; you find it all over the world among idolaters, that specially holy men do no work. That kind of thing has come into the church, that men must withdraw from business and family responsibility and go into a monastery [p. 307] to lead the religious life. What God calls that is “Walking disorderly”. We have always to watch against these things; the germs of all the evil found in Christendom are in my heart.
Rem Paul might have claimed the privilege of being ministered to, but he worked night and day.
CAC If a man is serving the Lord, he is not living an idle life. J.B.S. used to say that if a man gave up his secular work to serve the Lord and did not work as hard as he had done in his secular employment, he would certainly come to grief. An old divine said, ‘An idle man is a playground for the devil’.
We get the principle of withdrawing from every brother walking disorderly in verse 6 and in verse 14, “Mark that man, and do not keep company with him”; that would be a line of conduct taken with regard to one still in fellowship. If the brethren withdraw from a brother walking disorderly, I could not still enjoy the principle of fellowship with him, but there is not to be any bitterness of feeling (verse 15). It is very important in the case of anything wrong that you do not count him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother.
Ques Suppose he will not take the admonition?
CAC Faith would say he will.
Ques Then what if he leaves the saints?
CAC I think we should not leave him if he does. Have we patience to go on? I think we too soon give our brother up; we very soon regard him as an enemy; there is the sort of feeling that we do not want to have anything more to do with him. It is a test; if he has failed are we going to fail too? If we had more love we should get the victory over a brother and win him. The Lord has great power; we need to remember that. You may say that a brother will not do this and that, but if the Lord has him in hand, you cannot tell what He will make him do, things that he naturally [p. 308] would never do. We must count on the Lord. Love is always seeking the good of the object loved: if we love one another we shall seek their good, and if a brother is on a wrong line we want to help him. But we cannot go on with him as if there were nothing wrong. J.N.D. translates the word “withdraw” as ‘shrink from him’.
Ques If you meet him in the street, what then?
CAC You have to carry yourself in such a way that he feels you are not happy about the course he is pursuing. You have to shew love and you must not treat him as an enemy, but your manner has to be such that he knows you feel his course to be wrong.
The “Lord of peace” is a striking title. The Lord is always working for peace; this title has to do with His administration among the saints. “Peace continually in every way” — this is really peace in a practical way in the assembly. We cannot help observing how diligent the enemy is to bring in elements of strife and confusion among the saints. There is a constant activity of the enemy to bring in roots of bitterness; in contrast to that the Lord is the Lord of peace, and the apostle desires that He may give peace always. The Lord can shut out every element of discord. “The Lord be with you all”. That is what we covet more and more, that the Lord may be with us. It does not matter about the support of men, but, as a little company walking here, we need the Lord with us, or the enemy will get some advantage. Only the Lord Himself can preserve us.
Ques What does working quietly mean?
CAC There were some people not minding their own business but other people’s. If a man is not minding his own business, he is sure to be meddling in others’. Quietness and contentment are a great testimony now.