GraceTrax

IN THE DAY and age we live in, two questions have become blurred: If a man doesn’t work, ____? If a man can’t work, _____? Our society has treated both questions with the same answer: unfettered support. 

Now, before you stereotype and label me heartless, understand this: I fully believe we should help a man who is unable to work. However, if an able-bodied man refuses to work, then no financial assistance should be given. To help such a defiant individual would support his laziness and unwillingness to assume his God-given responsibility.

While there are huge political reasons for this blurred difference, I’m not going to go down that road. I want to stick with Scripture. What does the Bible say about a man who won’t work?

The apostle Paul had much to say about that subject in his letter to the Thessalonian church:

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12).

We notice a few things in that passage. In verse 6 if that passage, Paul commands believers to stay away from those who claim to be believers and yet walk in idleness—to refrain from helping those who refuse to work and seek to live off the labor of others. 

In verses 7-9, Paul reminds them of his testimony. While serving among the Thessalonians, he worked with his own hands and never ate a meal that he did not pay for with his own money. Next, Paul explains his motive and encourages every believer to imitate his lifestyle and resist the temptation to become an unnecessary burden to others. 

According to that passage, you might say that loving your neighbor is doing everything in your power to avoid being a burden. That was Paul’s philosophy. Even though he had the right to eat free as a minister of the gospel, he chose to forfeit that right, so he could be an example to the church.

Paul makes a striking point in verse 10 that even the church has forgotten: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” Even though Paul addressed that command to the church, even lost people can understand his principle. Paul said in 1 Timothy 5:8, “But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 

Paul is saying that if a believer, whom the Spirit of God indwells; who has been renewed in his mind; who has been given an inclination toward holiness; who does not provide for his family, he’s worse than an unbeliever. Why would Paul say such a thing? Because God has instilled in lost men enough natural affection to give them a sense of responsibility—even without being regenerated—to provide for their family. And, of course, that provision comes through work.

Therefore, when a believer refuses to provide for his family, he not only insults the Spirit of God Who regenerated him, but he also denies the natural affection that God has given to all mankind. It’s impossible for a true believer to abide in so deep a perversion for a prolonged season of his life. 

Paul finishes by saying every man should earn his own living. So, while laziness and the accompanying denial of God-given responsibility is epidemic in our day, just remember that it was also a problem in the days of the Apostle Paul. There’s no new evil under the sun.

The problem hasn’t changed, and neither has the remedy—the Word of God. Obey it, Christian, because if a man doesn’t work, he doesn’t eat!

THERE IS A NOTION in this day and age—and I guess in every day and age—that God the Father is mean and vindictive. There tends to be this dividing line of God the Father between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

In the Old Testament God the Father is unapproachable. He is filled with uncontrollable anger and unleashes unnecessary wrath upon His creation. Yet, in the New Testament the Father is tamed by His Son and is, in a way, leashed.

Of course, it may not be stated this way, but these are the implications of such a view regarding the God of the Old and New testaments. Is this view correct? Absolutely not! 

God the Father is the same in both testaments. He is the same God yesterday, today and forevermore. Somehow those who hold this naive and unscriptural view of God disassociate God the Father from the passages that speak of the immutability of God. They forget that God the Holy Father, God the Holy Son and God the Holy Spirit do not change. Therefore you sons of Jacob you are not consumed (Malachi 3:6).

Somehow, they forget that the covenant of redemption is a plan and promise of the triune God from before the foundations of the world (Titus 1:2). Yes, that means before the New Testament, before the Old Testament, before the creation—all the way in eternity past.

They forget that it is God the Father who was pleased to bruise His Son for, well, for at least one reason, the sake of His elect (Isaiah 53:10). It was God the Father who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in His Son will have everlasting life (John 3:16).

In the Godhead, God the Holy Father is no more wrathful than God the Holy Son or God the Holy Spirit. The Son is no more compassionate or loving than the Father or the Spirit. The Father is no less forgiving than the Spirit or the Son.

All three Persons of the Godhead are equal in every attribute of the triune God. The Son will come at the consummation of the ages and pour out His wrath on those who neglected so great a salvation. But in this wrath all three—the Father, the Son and the Spirit—will be in full agreement.

God the Father is full of love, as is the Son and Spirit. No one hurts more than parents when their children are hurt. Yet, it was the Father who loved His church so much that He was willing to pour out His wrath for all the sins of His elect upon His Son who knew no Sin. This is a loving God with a loving plan that was put forth before the ages.