Bible Text: 2 Thessalonians 3 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Lou Saldiveri | Series: Sunday Morning Worship

How should we deal with a church member who is not walking with the Lord?

— Pastor Lou’s Notes —-
Intro:

One of the things I have appreciated about NCIS is the interaction between Gibbs and DiNozzo. Every once in awhile, DiNozzo gets out of line at work or doesn’t listen to Gibbs. Gibbs gets his attention with a slap to the back of DiNozzo’s head. This actually started when Michael Weatherly who plays DiNozzo went off script during a taping of an episode. The now famous head slap wasn’t in the script. Every once in awhile, when we get unruly and out of line with God, we need a spiritual head slap.

There a a small number of believers in the Thessalonian church who did not head the warnings of Paul from his first letter about not working because of false teacher’s bad theology. They had been warned several times and still were out of line. Paul commands the church to deal with these unruly people and he tells them how to handle the discipline.

The Command to Discipline v. 6Notice this command is issued to the congregation of the churchIt is not issued to the pastor and/or deacons or eldersThe Reason to Discipline v. 6-7The small minority of people in the church have not obeyed previous warnings about not workingSome of them have become busybodies and are being disruptiveIf this is not confronted biblically and lovingly, it could start to influence others in the congregationThe Word of God and the example of the Apostles provide guidelines and a model of how to honor Christ v. 7-10The Method of Discipline v. 6; 14-15There must be a strong warning for the Word of God v. 11Paul and his team commands and urges the disobedient believers to settle down and earn the food they eat. Do not have intimate fellowship with those who refuse to repentThis is so that they may feel ashamed of their disobedience.There are consequences for our actions.Don’t become enablers of bad behaviorDon’t let the lazy people freeload off of youThey must learn to take responsibility for their own livesThe offenders are not the enemy. They are brothers and sisters in Christ v. 15The purpose of biblical disciple in always to restore a fellow believerWe need to first examine our own hearts before God before we approach a fellow believerWe need to know that we are capable of the same sin or other sin. Therefore, we should approach the person with humility, love, and compassionThe rest of the congregation needs to be encouraged to not grow tired of doing what is right according to the Word of God v. 13This could happen very easily if we are not walking with the Lord in loving obedienceIf we are discouraged about living in loving obedience with God, we can easily stumble

Closing:

Our Challenge: There are times when you and I need to hear these warning and admonitions from the Word of God. Just as there are times when you and I may need to sit down with a fellow believer who is on a bad path. This is part of the body life of a church.