It has become a fairly common experience of contemporary life, saturated as it is by devices that are tracking us, to say something in a conversation and within hours or days receive advertising about that very topic.
How often do you think about the fact that people are watching you? I’m not talking about government surveillance or artificial intelligence on social media. I’m talking about real flesh and blood people watching you. Your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors. As we’ll see in today’s post, the Apostle Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica, reminding them that people are watching. In particular they are watching how we work.
I teach adjunct courses for a couple local Christian colleges, and last semester the department chair observed me teach. It was nerve-wracking. Maybe you’ve had the experience.
Remember the story of how Paul started the church in Thessalonica? You can read it in Acts 17. Let me summarize it. Paul was in the city for three weeks, God was at work in amazing ways, and people were becoming followers of Jesus.
But just as things are going well, and Paul is grouping the people up into house churches, a riot breaks out against Paul, and he has to flee for his life under cover of night. The rioters, in their search for Paul, go to the house of Jason, who was one of those new followers, drag Jason out in the street, beat him, and take him to the magistrate who throws him in jail. Jason posts bond and is free.
Think about what it must have been like to be a Christian in that city. People watching their every move.
That’s why in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11, Paul writes, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business.”
Let’s pause there. Lead a quiet life. Mind your own business. Paul is talking to Christians in a town that also included people who were not in favor of Christianity.
Because of that, I get why Paul says, lead a quiet life, mind your own business. In other words, set an example of how a Jesus follower should live. Let your actions tell your story to the people watching you.
It reminds me of when my kids were in high school sports. Often at the beginning of a sports season, they would tell us, “Our team is looking really good this year. I think we’re going to be good.” Or they would say, “I am so much better than so and so on my team. The coach should play me instead of him or her.” My kids could be insistent about this. My response was, “Let the scoreboard do the talking for you. I love you. I think you’re great. But less talking, more action.”
Paul is saying something similar to Jesus followers. Focus on your own behavior. You don’t need to draw attention to yourself. Your behavior will draw attention all on its own.
The opposite of a person who lets their lives do the talking is the person who is in everyone’s business, the gossip, the talker, the know-it-all. Most people try to avoid that kind of person. Why? Because you don’t know if you can fully trust them.
Be respectful, respectable, trustworthy. Paul is saying that we should mostly let our lives do the talking. Jesus once taught us that we are not to look for the speck of dust in others’ eyes, because often we have a log in own eye (Matthew 7:1–5).
So Paul has introduced this section in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11, by emphasizing that we Christians are people who live quiet lives, minding our own business. He then continues in verses 11-12, writing that one of the primary ways we live that quiet life and mind our own business is,
“Work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”
Paul is not saying that those who work with their hands are better followers of Jesus than people whose work is mostly with their minds or on a computer. Working with your hands was basically the only kind of work there was in Paul’s day. In essence Paul is saying, “Be hard workers. Be diligent workers. Faithful workers. Make sure your integrity is high in your work.” Paul’s emphasis is not on the kind of work you do, but on the quality of your work.
Followers of Jesus are people committed to work. Paul’s point is that there is more to work than just earning a paycheck. There is that. He said that when you work hard, you are not dependent on anyone. You earn your keep. You pay your bills. You put food on the table. You should not live beyond your means. Your income from your work should be enough so that you aren’t depending on others.
This is a general principle. Of course, there are situations in which we will need to depend on others. Michelle and I have many times depended on the generosity of our parents and others who gave us loans. Right now, in fact, just like many of you, we are working and trying to live within our means, which includes paying off loans.
But there are times when the situations of life mean we need help. Faith Church has a Care & Share fund to help those in our church family who need it. Maybe it’s an unexpected repair bill, a job loss, a health concern, and you need help. That’s what the Care & Share Fund exists for.
Again, Paul’s general principle is: we work hard, and we manage our money so that we will not be dependent on others. That principle of hard work, Paul says, is for a very important reason. We’ll study that important reason in the next post.
Photo by Tasha Kostyuk on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 