There Is Work to Do
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | November 16, 2025
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Read 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 (NIV)
Our text for the morning picks up close to where we left off last week with the sermon, “Be on Guard,” as we examined Paul’s warnings to the Thessalonian church not to be fooled by the false teachers who were claiming that the Day of the Lord had come and that Jesus was going to appear momentarily.
Some of those individuals who believed those misguided teachings had simply stopped working, figuring, “Why work, since Jesus is going to be here at any moment, what’s the point?”
Now, if we were to look at today’s New Testament lesson in the New International Version or Revised Standard Version of the Bible, we would see that it comes under the heading, “Warning Against Idleness,” while in the Message Paraphrase, it simply says, “Those Who Are Lazy.”
To be perfectly honest, as I thought about this particular text from the Lectionary, I was a little hesitant about using it... given the recent events with the government shutdown and how many people had either been furloughed or forced to work without pay... I was a little concerned that it might seem somewhat insensitive to preach on the subject, THERE IS WORK TO DO.
However, I also thought about the fact that it was not by accident or coincidence that this passage from Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica was part of the suggested texts in the Lectionary for this week...
I do believe there is a message for us in all of this because the fact of the matter is that THERE IS WORK TO DO... and it is work that is more important now than ever for those of us who identify as followers of Christ... and for those of us who understand the assignment that we have been given.
Now, as we take a closer look at the text... it is clear that Paul had little to no patience for those who chose to live a life of idleness when there was still much work to be done... still more people who needed to hear the message of God’s love, grace and mercy... still more people who needed to know the truth about Jesus...
Still more people who needed to see the message of truth lived out through acts of caring and compassion in the ways that Jesus commanded – feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, giving shelter to the homeless, taking care of the sick and visiting the imprisoned.
And it really is no different for us today. It may have been roughly 2,000 years since Jesus gave His life for us and promised to come back again... but the fact remains the same... THERE IS WORK TO DO.
And before you say it... I know most of us would be quick to proclaim that we are already busy beyond belief... but I want to tell you something that I heard a couple of weeks ago... I was listening to a preacher who said that we should stop saying that we are busy... the preacher explained that busy actually stands for Being Under Satan’s Yoke.
The preacher went on to suggest that we should consider describing ourselves as being responsibly overcommitted or something to that effect. I did kind of chuckle to myself as I thought about how often I talk about being busy... and how often other people talk about how busy I am... but I then I also thought about how often I find myself telling people that busy is not a badge of honor.
The key is making sure that whatever we are doing is meaningful and purposeful... that we are keeping our eyes and ears, and more importantly, our spirits open so that we can be aware of what God is calling us to do in any given moment.
Because make no mistake about it... THERE IS WORK TO DO... and God wants to be sure we are ready, willing, and available to do it.
But what kind of work are you talking about Pastor Heidi and how should we get prepared to do it? I am so glad you asked.
Perhaps it would be helpful for us to create a checklist to get us started...
The first thing that should be on our list is praying… and not just for the things that we want or think we need... but praying for God’s will to be done in our lives and for us to surrender ourselves to God’s will.
The night before He was crucified, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to do something that came naturally to Him... He prayed. And it was an honest and an earnest prayer... the kind that one could only imagine would come from someone who was about to make the ultimate sacrifice for all of humankind.
And in this prayer, we can see both the humanity and the divinity of Jesus as He prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39).
I will be perfectly honest, I would have probably stopped after the first line... God if there is any way possible... don’t make me do this, please take this away…
But Jesus was not like me or you. Although He was fully human, He was also fully divine... and He was ready to do whatever God’s will was for Him to do.
So, as we think about the example Jesus set for us... THERE IS WORK TO DO and it starts with praying and seeking God’s will for our lives and then doing what God calls us to do.
Now, the next thing on our checklist should be studying God’s Word so we can gain a greater understanding of what it is that God is calling us to do... and also so we can accurately share God’s message with others.
In Paul’s letter to his young protégé, Timothy, we read, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth,” or as we may have originally learned it from the KJV, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
The question for us to consider is how can we share the truth of God’s Word with anyone else if we have not taken the time to study it for ourselves?
There are many popular sayings that have been passed down over the years that some people falsely believe are from the Bible... basically because no one has ever told them any different... and because they have not taken the time to study the Word of God for themselves.
For instance, how many of you ever had a parent or grandparent or some other authority figure encourage you to do your household chores by telling you that “Cleanliness is next to godliness?” And how many of you were led to believe that was something that was actually biblical?
Or has anybody ever heard the saying, “To thine own self be true?” While it sounds like something that could have come from the Bible, it was actually William Shakespeare who gets all the credit for that line.
But the only way we can ever know for certain what is and what is not truly the word of God is to study it for ourselves. THERE IS WORK TO DO... so, on that note, I look forward to seeing all of you in Sunday School.
But not only should we be praying and studying God’s Word to know it for ourselves, the next thing on our checklist is to be sure we are living out God’s Word in our daily lives.
Now, just to be clear, this does not mean we get to walk around acting all “holier than thou,” looking down our noses at other people. What it does mean is that we are to be living examples of what it means to live a Christlike life.
Perhaps you may have heard me say in the past that “Our lives may be the only Bible some people will ever read.” Or that “Out of 100 people, one will read the Bible, 99 will read the Christian.”
In other words, people are watching us even when we don’t realize it. Sometimes that can be a really good thing, but other times, let’s just say… not so much.
You may have heard me tell the story about a man who was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy street when suddenly, the light turned yellow. The man did the right thing by stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by hitting the accelerator and sailing through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was beyond furious, and she honked her horn, screaming in frustration because she had missed her chance to get through the intersection, causing her to drop her cell phone and makeup.
And while she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to get out of the car with her hands up. He proceeded to take her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.
After a few hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing up a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday-School’ license plate holder, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, so I assumed you had stolen the car.”
Although humorous, there is more than a grain of truth in that little illustration.
In fact, I can never forget the time when I ran into a young woman while I was shopping at BJs. She was the niece of an old friend, although I had not seen her or the friend for many years.
However, that day, as we were talking in BJs, this young woman reminded me of an incident that had occurred probably 25 years earlier when I had suffered a bout of road rage in the parking lot at Randall Park Mall. She laughingly recounted how upset I was and how colorful my language had been when another driver stole my parking space. It was clearly not one of my finer moments... and sadly, it was a memory that this young woman still remembered pretty vividly a quarter century later.
So, the moral of those stories? THERE IS WORK TO DO and that includes living lives that reflect the love of God and the goodness we find in God’s Word.
Now the next thing on checklist is to beware of negative influences. In our text for the morning we read, “We hear that some among you are idle and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies.”
This is similar to what Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Timothy 5:13):
How many of you have heard the saying, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop” or “the devil’s playground?” The saying is based on Proverbs 16:27, which in the Living Bible Translation reads, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece.” In the NIV, that verse reads, “A scoundrel plots evil, and on their lips it is like a scorching fire.”Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also busybodies who talk nonsense, saying things they ought not to.
When people are not willing to do the work that God has called them to do but instead prefer to sit around doing nothing... it can become all too easy for them to say and do things to disrupt the lives and activities of the people around them who really are doing the Lord’s work.
But as our text suggests... we must not let busybodies distract us from the mission at hand which is to do as Jesus commanded... to “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything [He has] commanded us” (Matthew 28:19-20a).
Now, as we think about what it means for people to be idle... there is a point of clarification I feel compelled to make... which is that there is a difference between leisure and laziness.
We all need to allow time for rest and relaxation so we can recharge our batteries so we will be fully prepared to do the work ahead.
Remember what the Psalmist David wrote in Psalm 23, “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul” (Psalm 23:2-3a).
And we must not lose sight of the fact that even Jesus took time away to rest.
But THERE IS WORK TO DO... so we need to make sure that we are prepared to answer the call and that we are fully committed to doing the work that Jesus has commanded us to do... because the last verse of our text reads, “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”
Words that are very reminiscent of what Paul wrote to the Galatian church:
Make no mistake... THERE IS WORK TO DO... even as we are waiting for the Lord to return... we must not become weary, and we must resist the temptation to just sit idly by... because as Jesus told the disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” (Matthew 9:37 – 38).Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers (Galatians 6:9-10).
At the risk of being totally redundant... let me say it again... THERE IS WORK TO DO... we need to go out and tell a dying world about our Living Savior who is Christ the Lord... so that we can help bring a harvest of souls into the kingdom.
Looking back at our checklist in order to be prepared to do the work that God has called and commissioned us to do...
We need to take time to pray and to study God’s Word... we need make it a point to live out God’s Word in our daily lives... and we need to beware of the negative influences that threaten to get us off track.
And when we are committed to doing that... we will be in a better position for God to use us for His glory... secure in the knowledge that THERE IS WORK TO DO...
And if you are ready, willing, and able to do the work that God is calling us to do, then I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship: I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me #614.
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