“For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies“

For we hear that there are some who walk among you

Paul receives a report of three problems in the church at Thessalonica:

1) they are out of step with a biblical principle,

2) they quit their jobs and sold their businesses and

3) they are busybodies.

in a disorderly manner,

We already considered the word “disorderly” (vv. 6,7). Someone who is “disorderly” is someone out of step with the church. They do not have a sense of order. They do not accept biblical principles because they have their own set of norms for the Christian life. They feel that it is proper to live like a parasite off fellow Christians and that sponging off other Christians was a good idea. They have the idea that “the world owes me a living.” In the case of the Thessalonian church, some members felt that the other believers owed them a living.

not working at all,

Some people in Thessalonica quit their jobs, and others sold their businesses because they mistakenly thought that Christ’s imminent return meant the immediate return of Christ.

“Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need” (Ephesians 4:28).

but are busybodies

“Busybodies” carries the idea of not minding one’s own business. Literally, it means to be working around with the idea of meddling in other people’s business. There is a play on words in the Greek — they are not busy in their own business but busy in the business of others. These people bustle about, trifling needlessly in matters, not their own. They are busy all right but not busy in business! They are busy in everyone’s business but their own.

People with too much time on their hands usually gossips and intrude into the lives of others.

Principle:

Laziness always creates a vacuum, creating the opportunity for idlers to meddle in other people’s business.

Application:

Nature abhors a vacuum. When people have too much time on their hands, they stick their noses in other people’s business.

Being tough on the principle of work prevents the development of a parasite problem. By insisting that people work for their own food, we correct the problem of busybodies who meddle in other people’s affairs. These people always cause big problems in the church.

“And besides they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not” (1 Timothy 5:13).

“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters” (1 Peter 4:15).

Some people assign to themselves the prerogative of religious cops. They love to tell other people how to run their lives. They know how to run every other family better than their own. They know how to run the church better than anyone else does. This is a great problem in many churches today. We need to deal with it like the apostle Paul did.