Sunday, November 16, 2025
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost (28C)
Text: 2 Thessalonians 3:1-13
Sermon Audio
As we gather… Working can be hard, but it is always to the benefit of others. Marriage isn’t always easy work, but God can work many blessings through it. Parenting can be tough, but our kids rely on us for their necessities, even if they don’t always appreciate it. Our day jobs can be draining and grueling, but those vocations provide much needed goods and services to others. Even as we approach the end of the world, the Bible values labor. Paul encourages work, even telling those who won’t work won’t eat. Even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, so too, we are called here on this earth to follow our Lord’s example and serve others in whatever station the Lord has placed us.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Last week in our reading from 2 Thessalonians and in Pastor’s sermon, we saw that apostasy, people turning away from the faith, would be rampant in the end times. Apostasy and the works of the lawless one are all according to the work of Satan. This lawlessness had already begun to attack the church at Thessalonica. People were trying to pass off their words as the trustworthy words of Paul and true apostles of Christ, especially concerning the second coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Truly they were in the end times.
In our day, people around us claim to be Christian yet refuse to call the Triune God by the very name that He gave to Himself, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because it is too masculine and offensive. Churches bow to the gods of sexual immorality in all forms and present the Bible as archaic, that it would be written better if people then were as enlightened as people now. They deny that God is eternal and unchanging and manifests His love through the person Jesus Christ, in whom all owe their fidelity. Christians busy themselves with bickering over politics, Hollywood, or whatever else catches their fancy instead of quietly doing the work that God has placed before them so that His love might be shown in their words and works. Truly we are in the end times.
Yet, we have been in the end times since the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD as foretold in our Gospel reading today. All things have been completed for Christ to return since the generation of the apostles. There is nothing new under the sun and Christ’s faithful remnant have been waiting for nearly 2000 years. O LORD how long?! The devil, with the many antichrists, wicked and evil men, and those who have apostasized from the true faith surround Christ’s church. What is His faithful remnant to do in the face of such evil and unfaithfulness as we wait for the return of our eternal bridegroom?
Remember what St Paul writes, “the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command.” First and foremost, trust that the LORD is faithful and He will sustain and protect you. He has claimed you as His child in your baptism. He will strengthen you in your faith that was given to you there. He strengthens you by continuing to come to you with His words and in His body and blood. The coming together around Christ happens in this world right here, where His faithful people gather to grow in faith through God’s preached Word and the Lord’s Supper. Here Jesus feeds you all that you need to sustain your faith until He comes again. God uses His church to establish and guard his beloved children so that they will know that their salvation rests on the crucified and living Christ, whose life, death and resurrection won the victory over the evil hordes that now surround His church. He leads His children to trust Him and to desire to do His will because of the love that He has poured upon them. You are counted as His who will be established in Christ into eternity.
Just as Paul had confidence in the Lord about the Thessalonians, so I have confidence in you that you will do the things as commanded in Scripture. “May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” This confidence comes from the fact that the Holy Spirit, given to you in your baptism, will direct your hearts. He will keep you steadfast in Christ. Once more, this happens by means. He gives us Christians who cling to Him in these gray and latter days, instructions on how to stand guard in faith as we wait. We are instructed to keep away from brothers who walk in idleness and that we work without growing weary of doing good.
“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.” Why should we keep away from our brethren who walk in idleness? A brother walking in idleness is a fellow Christian who has let the doctrine of the evil one infiltrate his faith. God wants us to keep away from this person in order to protect His whole truth amongst us. This brother has strayed, and God wants His faithful people not to have any false doctrine amongst them. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. This word for idleness even has a deeper meaning as being disorderly or irresponsible; to be disorderly walking against the traditions that we receive from the apostles. Idleness is clearly a direct application here in Thessalonica in the coming verses as they were being tempted to laziness in their work, but this can go beyond that.
In 1 Thessalonians, Paul also instructed them to walk in a God pleasing way. He expressly told them to abstain from sexual immorality, passion of lust, not to defraud their brother, and to live a quiet life working with their own hands. God did not call us to uncleanness but holiness. To walk disorderly from the apostolic tradition goes far beyond idle hands, it is to walk in any uncleanness. We must guard ourselves against such brothers who have been deceived by the lawlessness and wickedness of this world and embraced it; all the while acknowledging our own sinful flesh is just as susceptible to the idleness and sin of the world. We stand fast in Christ and on His strong Word and witness to our wayward brother in our words and deeds when we observe God’s command to keep away from him. We keep away so that our brother may be returned to full communion of pure doctrine. Christ’s church should be united, but around the truth of God’s unwavering Word. The verses right after our Epistle reading ends with Paul instructing us to not grow weary of doing good show this clearly, “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
It is easy to grow weary of doing the right thing all the time, especially when it comes to our Christian friends who belong to a denomination that has strayed from apostolic doctrine. We want them to like us and rebuking our friends in love is hard. As much as we hate that Christ’s church has been split to the point that we can barely number all of the different church bodies, we must stand on the truth and seek unity in Christ, not unity for the sake of unity. We continue to regard our friend as a brother in Christ, but remain true to the whole counsel of God. That means that we continue to teach and rebuke our brothers when they embrace false doctrine. It may not seem like a big deal to baptize in the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, but we then lose our identity into the name of the one true Triune God and it becomes easier to discard other core doctrine. Churches that do this are not in fellowship with us or with the whole teachings of Scripture. We don’t commune with them and have nothing to do with them in church because we love them and want them to see their error, repent, and obey all of God’s Word. We continue to meet with them, go bowling with them, live with them as brothers, but brothers who have strayed. We want our words and works to be an example to them. Never weary of doing good, because you doing good serves your friend and brother and shows them why pure doctrine is so important.
Paul shows by example how a Christian should live. He not only warns and calls the wayward brother to repentance by writing, he does so in how he conducts himself. Rather than being a busybody and a freeloader he quietly earns a wage. Paul practices what he preaches. He not only rightly teaches God’s word, he shows himself as an example. This is the life of the person united in Christ. It’s not easy, and thank the LORD that He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love through our Savior, Jesus Chrst. He will strengthen you so you will not tire of doing the right thing. When you stumble, He will forgive you and continue to establish you in His Spirit. Doing the right thing is our task as we are surrounded by apostasy and wicked men. You, who are united in Christ, are a beacon in these end times to those who are searching for light in this darkened world. This is often as simple as quietly doing your work wherever God has placed you in this life. Living your life, basking in the joy and hope of Christ’s resurrection as you walk through this world is different, and recognizably so. A coworker may just stop and ask you, “why are you so cheerful with everything going on in this world?” In that moment, you have an opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ that has comforted your heart. “As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.”
Our Father in heaven has promised to sustain you through His Son and sent you His Holy Spirit. Together they will continue to sanctify you in the whole truth of God. You are assured of your salvation that is won for you in the cross of Christ and you patiently wait for our Lord to come again in the hope of His resurrection. Do not let anyone lead you away from this truth. The rampant apostasy and lawlessness in this world will certainly try. Cling to Christ and His tradition that He has sustained for us. Continue to be in His Word. Read your Bible, come receive the Lord’s body and blood in the Divine Service. Here He will sustain you in these end times. Here you are joined with Christ’s church as we wait for Him to make all things new as He promised. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” The evil hordes that surround you in this world will pass away and be cast out into the fiery pit of hell. You, who believe and are baptized, will remain forever with Christ in the new heaven and earth. Until that day, we pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to work to bring unity and faith around Christ’s word. His word shall endure to the end. Our LORD will keep you steadfast in His word until He returns and eternally unites His church in Christ. Thanks be to God!
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.