Do not be weary in doing what is right

2nd Thessalonians 3: 6-13, NT page 207 Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sister, do not be weary in doing what is right. Sermon Idleness is clearly bad according to the author of 2nd Thessalonians. Idleness, in a religious or spiritual sense as well as idleness in a practical or work ethic sense, does not imitate the tradition that the Christians in Thessalonica have inherited and brings no honor to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. But there are still idle people out there, believe it or not. I’m telling you it is true – I have seen them. The clocks in their cars and in their houses read 12 o’clock right now, because they are so lazy that they’d rather wait for the time to change again than turn their clocks back an hour. And they aren’t really very interested in working hard – as a matter of fact – the only thing that they work hard at is avoiding work. The year between my college graduation and my first year in seminary I worked as a lawn maintenance man, and because of my driver’s license I was promoted up to truck driver in a matter of months. My first partner was a man named Mike Callahan. He walked slowly, he talked slowly, and certainly, when and if he worked, he worked very slowly. I would run around trying to make up for his slow pace, I’d soak my shirt through with sweat, I’d work so hard that I would go through bottles and bottles of Gatorade. Mike, on the other hand, didn’t drink Gatorade. He drank gin. I put up with him. However, thankfully, eventually I ended up with someone else to work with, a man named Jorge. Jorge was a very hard worker, and he was also a faithful man – every dollar he made after he paid his share of living expenses he sent back to his wife and children in Mexico. He would talk about them often, and I knew that he missed them terribly, but his father-in law who worked for this same company, his name was Juan. Juan wanted Jorge to be the kind of man who was able support his wife, Juan’s daughter financially, and so Juan insisted that Jorge not go back home, but stay and work cutting grass in Atlanta. But Jorge couldn’t take it, and he asked me to drive him to the bus station so that he could make the long trip back to Mexico. And that was an interesting moment – I couldn’t clearly tell what I was supposed to do. If I told him yes I would be hurting myself because I’d be losing a good worker. I’d also be complacent in a scheme that ran contrary to his father-in-laws wishes, and what if his father-in-law found out – would Juan be mad at me and did I want Juan to be mad at me? Basically, as much as I enjoyed imagining myself as Harriet Tubman, whisking Jorge out of minimum wage lawn maintenance and towards love on the underground bus line to be reunited with his wife and family, this request of his was putting me in a compromising situation. I could have said no. That would have been easy, but would it have been right? I am confident that the forces of evil aren’t simply causing our worst selves to be attracted to choices that are wrong – more often evil is lulling us towards what in the moment is the most easy. Many things are easy that are not quite wrong, but aren’t quite right either. Television is one – is it wrong to let your children watch TV? Probably not. Is it wrong to let your 2 year old walk around with a pacifier? Probably not. Is it wrong to eat fast-food? Probably not – and it’s not wrong to eat dinner in the car either, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is right. I was enjoying a grilled pimento cheese sandwich with a strong member of our church last week, and in thinking about the world today she told me that what the world needs now are more dining room tables. That’s an interesting thought, and I’m not sure how many people would agree – surely there are more who are convinced that the problems in our world would more likely be solved with more food, more money, more guns, more leaders, but not more dining room tables. I asked her what she meant and she explained that the dining room table is where you find out how your children are really doing. It’s where you teach them how to eat with a knife and fork, and how to talk about their problems so that their problems aren’t all bundled up inside. The dining room table is the place where stories are told, advice is given, and prayers are made. What happens in the drive through line at McDonalds – that’s just where food is consumed, and that’s not wrong, certainly sometimes it is even absolutely necessary, but is it right? Our scripture lesson, boldly proclaiming that the Christian life be not characterized by the easy path or idol hands, ends with the phrase: “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right,” and this phrase makes sense to me, because when I am weary, while I still know to stay away from doing what is wrong, I am so often tempted to do what is in the moment easy instead of doing what is right. To avoid a fight I’ll keep my mouth shut. Even though the truth is prying my lips apart to get out, I hold it in telling myself that I’ll be honest another time, and oddly enough that another time never comes. To avoid confrontation I’ll do almost anything. I’ll look at my shoes, I’ll pretend that everything is fine, and you can’t really say that doing so is wrong but I am convinced that it isn’t right. What happens is I grow too weary to do what is right, and as maybe you know, sometimes people get lulled to sleep by habit, becoming so weary that the best option seems to be keeping things the same rather than addressing what is wrong. How many mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives put up with an addict, enabling him to continue harming himself and others, because standing up and speaking out is so hard and risks so much. We put up with too much. And we put up with it, not because we are happy, but because we are weary – weary and too tired to stand up when there is already too much to do. You have a job, you have bills to pay and phone calls to make – the world has already made you weary – but in your weariness – do you honor the Lord? St. Isaac the Syrian, a 7th Century figure in Christianity who was known for his scholarship and strict monastic lifestyle, living in the desert on three loaves of bread a week along with some raw vegetables, is known for saying, “Knowledge of God does not abide in a body that loves comforts.” I am convinced that St. Isaac the Syrian preaches a challenging word to his homeland – how many Syrians are ready for a simpler path, an easier day, how many are weary and tiered of being persecuted for being a Christian? It must be hard just to walk out the door, and yet some still do – convinced that there is work to be done. Do not grow weary in doing what is right. Do not grow weary, though the world likes you weary – you’re easier to control if you’re so beaten down that you never challenge anyone or do anything. It’s an easy thing to handle, a ward full of Senior Citizens huddled in front of day time TV – not that there’s anything wrong with day time TV, but there isn’t much right about it now is there? And it’s an easy thing to handle, a wife who never complains, a husband who works all the time – you can get along that way for a good long while, but is that all you want? Just to get along? Society is happy for you to settle. Don’t complain – don’t dream – and don’t ask for anything more. “Be weary” the world may as well be saying – but here the Gospel is calling you to something higher, something better, something life giving. Do not grow weary in doing what is right – because even though doing what is right is hard, doing what is right is what will make you happy and will cause you to live out the Gospel that you have been called to follow. I remember well enough picking up Jorge and driving him to the bus station. His English was bad and my Spanish was worse, but I knew that he appreciated me helping him. I am still unclear – did I do what was right? Did I do what was wrong? For all I know he may have not been a lawn maintenance man at all but a cocaine smuggler who I aided and abetted. Regardless, this event for me was good practice – for it was true then, just as it is true now – when the choice is unclear it is most often best to choose the option that pushes you the hardest. The Hebrew people did not rush to freedom, so much in the end as they were forced into it – and if Pharaoh’s chariots had not been on their heels they may well have turned back to what was known rather than what God had in store for them. Had the disciples not been the kind of men who were capable of bold choices their names would not be known to us now – they would have lived their lives catching fish and collecting taxes, wondering whatever became of that bearded preacher people called Jesus of Nazareth. And now, do not be lulled to sleep – do not grow weary in doing what is right – for just as your forefathers and foremothers in the faith worked for the good of the Kingdom, you are called today to not grow idol nor to fall into the habits of busybodies for the radical work of the Gospel calls you now. Do not be weary in doing what is right. Though the world around you is perfectly happy for you to leave your questions at home, do not grow weary in doing what is right. Though the world will put up walls to stifle your drive and your passion, do not grow weary in doing what is right. And though the easy path is calling you away from conflict, trial, and hardship, this path does not lead to everlasting life but to a slow and easy death. Live for him then. Live as Christ lived, and do not grow weary in doing what is right. Amen.