2 Thessalonians 3:6-14
A lot of what I deal with as a counseling pastor is helping people whose lives have been so negatively impacted by the sins of a loved one that they’re at their wit’s end. They’re fed up. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than to hear someone say, “I love this person with all my heart and always have. But I can’t have them in my life anymore. Not like this.”
And what then makes that heartbreak exasperating is this. The person who’s causing all this pain couldn’t care less. They drink. They drug. They cheat. And very often, along with all that aberrant behavior, they claim to be saved. They claim to know Jesus and they cover themselves with a disturbing misperception that Jesus is okay with their behavior because their life is hard…unfair…overflowing with challenges that other people don’t understand.
The big mistake there is that Jesus doesn’t understand, tolerate, ignore, or give free passes to us when it comes to sin. Now, He does empathize with the fact that we will face persistent temptations all day, every day but…that’s why He hung on a cross, absorbing all the sins of all of mankind. Because of that amazing moment of sacrifice, we all now have a place – His throne of grace – where we can confess those sins and be set free from the condemnation that we would otherwise be subject to.
This is from 2 Thessalonians 3:6…
“And now, dear brothers and sisters, we give you this command in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Stay away from all believers who live idle lives and don’t follow the tradition they received from us.”
Thessalonica was a Greek city where the Apostle Paul started a church. It was a church that began on fire for Jesus, full of faith. However, over time false teachers moved in and took to persecuting Jesus’ followers. Paul writes this letter to encourage the Thessalonians to remain steadfast in their faith and not be discouraged or afraid of those seeking to divide them.
There are a couple of things about this verse that are important. The first is that Paul is passing along a command, not a request but a command from Jesus Christ. That gives the message a little more weight than Paul simply expressing a thought. Second, the command is followed by a straightforward directive. We are to keep away from people who, on the one hand, proclaim to know Jesus but who are idle – lazy – in their pursuit of that relationship and in fact intentionally ignore the things of Jesus that should be guiding their lives.
When you have a sinner in your life causing you to sacrifice your emotional well-being to maintain a relationship with them, the world would call you an enabler. Maybe a codependent. Jesus would see you as someone suffering because of disobedience.
At no time in His ministry did Jesus’ Gospel call for anyone to sacrifice themselves on the altar of someone else’s sin. If your life is tied inexorably to someone committed to ongoing sin, Jesus expects you to forgive that person for the pain that they’re subjecting you to. He then expects you to protect yourself from further harm.
It’s a given that we would want to steer clear of non-believers who hurt us through deviant behavior but it’s equally important to put space between yourself and the idle believer. An ongoing commitment to that kind of relationship can only lead to you becoming so discouraged that your own faith will begin to waver.
And understand that Jesus isn’t calling on you to have a hard heart toward the person with whom you are fed up. A little further on in this letter Paul writes, “Don’t think of them as enemies, but warn them as you would a brother or sister.”
Show them Jesus and do it by offering them grace and forgiveness but underscore that with this non-negotiable point. That a relationship that doesn’t have Jesus at its center isn’t a relationship you want to be in. Paul writes this in his letter to the Galatians…
“Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person onto the right path.”
He then very wisely adds this. “And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself.”
We are called to share the warning with both idle believers and non-believers that Jesus is the only way to eternal life. But with that, we need to also be smart enough and trust in Him enough to get out of Jesus’ way and let Him do the saving!