(upbeat music) - Here's a great question from a podcast listener named Nolan. Pastor John, my name is Nolan from West Palm Beach, Florida. In First Thessalonians 411, Paul writes this. "Make it your goal to live a quiet life, "minding your own business and working with your hands "just as we instructed you before.

"Now, instantly I thought of faithful Christians "who led revolutions, Martin Luther, "Martin Luther King Jr., et cetera. "And noted that they did not live quiet lives "minding their own business." So my question is, does this passage prevent us from leading social movements, many of which are bold and upfront, like the civil rights movement?

What would you say, Pastor John? - Well, and of course, you don't have to jump over 2000 years of church history to find examples of people who stirred up trouble almost everywhere he went. - Right, exactly. - Like in the New Testament, the first thing we think of is Paul, who wrote these words.

And the other person we think of is Jesus, who never did anything wrong, and both were accused of turning the world upside down. When they opened their mouths, quietness did not follow. Like division followed, riots followed, murder followed. So I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

So, good question. Just, you don't need Martin Luther or MLK to ask it, although they're relevant, and I'll come back to that, Lord willing. We have Paul against Paul here, and we have Jesus, who drove the money changers out of the temple, over against Jesus, who said, "Turn the other cheek." Of course, that's not the right way to put it.

Excuse me, Paul, sorry. No, it is not Paul against Paul, and Jesus is not against Jesus. The solution lies in finding how the pieces fit together in the Bible, not walking away from the table where the jigsaw puzzle is, lying there on the table, complaining, "Nothing fits, nothing fits." A lot of people leave God and the Bible that way.

They just see this, you know, 125 pieces spread out, or maybe 1,000 people spread out on the table, and they can't find the one that fits next to make the picture beautiful, and they dump the table over because they're so angry, and that's not good for them. So let's read the text that Nolan is referring to, very important, and I'm gonna put one other with it, which I think sheds a lot of light on it.

So 1 Thessalonians 4, 9. Concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia, but we urge you to do it, brothers, more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, now notice, quietly, and to mind your own affairs, 2 Thessalonians is gonna spell that out as meddling other people's business, and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders, and not be dependent on anyone.

So what's the situation here? Some in the church seem to be idlers, lazy, not working for a living, mooching off of others, and bringing the church and the name of Jesus into disrepute among outsiders, and the quietness that Paul has in mind seems to be the opposite of bothersome talk when you hang around others who are trying to do their work, and you aren't doing any work.

All you are is talk, so be quiet and get to work. Pull your own economic weight, and stop making Christianity look like the birthplace of laziness. That's my paraphrase. See if that's confirmed in 2 Thessalonians 3.10. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command.

If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you are walking in idleness, not busy at any work, but busy bodies, meddling in others' affairs. Now, such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus to do their work quietly, and to earn their own living.

So, the situation is exactly the same, I think. I mean, same church, and these letters are not separated by very long. There are lazy idlers in the church in Thessalonia, and maybe they're people who think the Lord is coming back so soon that they quit their jobs just to look up into the sky, and they're making an absolute nuisance of themselves as they idle around while other people are trying to do their work, and their mouths are filled with chatter and talk about what other people are doing rather than doing their own work.

And he connects explicitly the quietness and the work. Says, "We encourage in the Lord to do their work quietly." So, the quietness in mind is the opposite of, or it flows from focused, diligent, gainful employment. If you're laying brick all day, or digging a ditch, or winnowing grain, you're not a nuisance, gadding about and gossiping about other people while they're trying to work.

So, big question then, is it a contradiction when Paul walks into town, preaches the gospel, and a riot breaks out? He said, "Ooh, I shouldn't have done that. "My goal is quietness." He clearly touched other people's affairs when he did that. Like the silversmiths in Ephesus in Acts 19.

They were about to be put out of business by Paul's denouncing idolatry because these idols were made out of silver. And so, if people renounce idolatry, the silversmiths are going out of business, and Paul is preaching the gospel anyway. Is that a contradiction to 1 Thessalonians? And my answer is no, it's not a contradiction because Paul wasn't talking about that at all in 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

The overarching concern of Paul in Thessalonica was that the saints walk in love and that they exalt Christ truly in the community so that the outsiders see what he's really like. And that's exactly what Paul was doing everywhere he went and what those who led great Christian movements were doing.

They were loving people and exalting Christ. So, for us, let's do the same. If it causes a public uproar, let's make sure it's for love and for Christ. Amen, thank you, Pastor John, for that balance. It's all about Christ. In fact, everything that does not make Christ look more glorious is a waste of our life, as Pastor John will explain tomorrow.

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. I'll see you tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)