TITLE: Work: How God Cares for His Own TEXT: II Thessalonians 3:6-12, I Tim.5:8, Eph. 4:28 THEME: Work is God’s means to care for you and others.

For Johnson, poverty existed because the State did not provide "opportunity" to those who could not fully participate in society. It taught people to look to the state as the opportunity for betterment.

Cost from 1963 to 199 $16 trillion

Cost from 1963 to 199 $16 trillion And what is the result?

Murray Rothburg "The plight of the inner cities is clearly worse than ever: more welfare, more crime, more dysfunction, more fatherless families, fewer kids being 'educated' in any sense, more despair and degradation....

Murray Rothburg It should be clear, in the starkest terms, that simply throwing taxpayer money and privileges at the inner cities is starkly counterproductive…The War on Poverty has clearly not been to able "solve" the problems it was intended to address.”

"Why did it fail?”

"Somehow, the fact that more poor people are on welfare, receiving more generous payments, does not seem to have made this country a nice place to live—not even for the poor on welfare, whose condition seems not noticeably better than when they were poor and off welfare. Something appears to have gone wrong; a liberal and compassionate social policy has bred all sorts of unanticipated and perverse consequences."

Matthew 26:11 "For the poor you have with you always..."

Why should the believer be willing to work?

I. To obey God’s Command (6-8)

II Thess. 3:6 6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

I. To obey God’s Command (6) A. Idle believers are to be avoided.

I. To obey God’s Command (6) A. Idle believers are to be avoided. B. To live according to Paul’s teaching.

Why should the believer be willing to work?

II.To imitate the example of Paul and others. (7-9)

I Thess. 3:7-9 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.

II.To imitate the example of Paul and others. (7-9) A. Paul did not accept food or money.

II.To imitate the example of Paul and others. (7-9) A. Paul did not accept food or money. B. Paul worked hard.

II.To imitate the example of Paul and others. (7-9) A. Paul did not accept food or money. B. Paul worked hard. C. He did it to give us a model.

II.To imitate the example of Paul and others. (7-9) A. Paul did not accept food or money. B. Paul worked hard. C. He did it to give us a model. D. Hard work is to be honored. (Cf. I Thess. 5:12-14)

I Thess 5: Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.

I Thess 5: And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

Why should the believer be willing to work?

III.To eat and earn your keep. (10-12)

I Thess. 3: For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” 11 We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the food they eat.

III.To eat and earn your keep. (10-12) A. Rule: No eating without being willing to work.

III.To eat and earn your keep. (10-12) A. Rule: No eating without being willing to work. B. Idle and Disruptive people do not accomplish good.

Proverbs 6:6-11 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

Proverbs 6: How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 11 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.

Why should the believer be willing to work?

IV.To help those truly in need (13)

I Thess. 3:13 And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.

IV.To help those truly in need (13) A. Helping those who are true widows (I Tim. 5:8)

I Tim 5:8 Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

IV.To help those truly in need (13) A. Helping those who are true widows (I Tim. 5:8) B. Instead of taking we should be helping (Eph. 4:28)

Eph. 4:28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

APPLICATION 1. Man was created for work but is also commanded to work. It is commanded for his benefit. Work is not the curse- only frustration that comes with it. If we love God we will keep his commandment and work hard for His glory.

APPLICATION 2. Let us honor those who work hard. If they profit well because of it let us not be jealous of them but learn from them. If they work hard and barely make ends meet let us honor and encourage them. Hard word, whether we profit well or not has dignity and that needs to be acknowledged.

APPLICATION 3. If people are unwilling to work we should not enable them by removing the consequences of laziness. Better to encourage someone who works for minimum wage than reward someone because they refuse to work for the minimum wage.

APPLICATION 4. If we work hard and honor those who work hard then we are in a position to help those who are truly in need. This is our responsibility. If you are blessed by God financially you are called by God to help the truly needy. Scripture has much to say about our responsibilities as believers to care for the poor and truly needy.

APPLICATION 5. Biblically a government should push as much of the welfare system as they can to the private sector (which would include churches and faith based organizations), promote a good business climate for job creation, have policies that support traditional Christian values (stable marriages, honesty, integrity), and reform welfare programs to make them work based.

There are 50,000 children in 600 orphanages in Belarus. Most of the children are social orphans, in that they have parents, but they have been abandoned; some because of the parents alcoholism and some because the parents just don't have the means to take care of them.

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.