In the sermon 'Dealing with the Disorderly,' Jason Dohm focuses on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, where Paul instructs the church to withdraw from any brother who walks disorderly and not according to the traditions received from the apostles. The sermon breaks down the command to withdraw, explaining that it is a corporate action directed towards the church rather than an individual. Walking disorderly is defined as having a persistent pattern of life that is inconsistent with Christian teachings, such as not working and being a busybody. The command is given to maintain the purity and order of the church community, and to serve as a loving admonition to the disorderly brother, encouraging repentance and return to right living. The sermon emphasizes that this action should follow a process of patient admonition and correction, and should be carried out in love, not treating the person as an enemy but as a brother who needs to be restored. The expected outcome is that the person feels ashamed of their disorderly conduct, leading to repentance. The sermon concludes with a reminder that God's love is expressed through discipline, and fellow Christians are part of that process to help each other grow in faith and order.

Our sermon text today is 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, 6 through 15. So I'll just start in verse 6. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to walk, how you ought to follow us. For we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us.

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner not working at all but our busy bodies now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you brethren, do not grow weary in doing good, and if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person, and do not keep company with him that he may be ashamed, yet do not count him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother." Lord God we pray that you would help us as we as we now sit and listen to the sermon that Jason has prepared. I pray, Lord, that you would come and be among us, Lord, that as he speaks and divides the Word of God that he would do so with your authority and with your power. Lord God, I pray that you would help us to understand and help us to apply this to our lives.

I pray that we would be more like Christ through this sermon. In Jesus' name, Amen. That's how I love the sermon. This morning is dealing with the disorderly. And our study of 2 Thessalonians is winding down fast.

We've got two more weeks after today. We'll finish the exposition next week, and then we'll have a wrap up kind of summary sermon the week after that. And then we'll be off to somewhere else and I don't know where the somewhere else is. Verse 4 from last week's text helps us with the context for this week's text. So just turn your eyes back to verse 4, 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 4, and we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things that we command you.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy had already been among them, giving them certain commands. And then they'd written a first letter, 1 Thessalonians, and they'd given them some more commands. And they're about to command again. And they express a confidence that the spiritual children of theirs, having received the gospel through them, would be obedient to the authoritative commands based on the Word of God that they were giving them. And now, in our text, they're going to command.

So they said, we're confident that you obey our commands. Now we command you, something else. And so in verse 6, they're going to issue a command in verses 7 through 13. They're going to give the grounds or the rationale for the command. And then in verses 14 and 15, they will further explain the command and they'll clarify what they mean by giving that command.

So that's really a roadmap of where we're headed this morning. As we go to the text, I'd like to go to the text in prayer. Oh God, you know our hearts are prone to wander. I Thank you God that you don't let us just wander off, but that you do seek us out. You have many things in this life that you can use to bring back the wandering heart.

God, I've experienced this so many times in my own life. Wandering, drifting away from You, and then You bring things in life to bear. Your Spirit in my heart, or the circumstances in life, or my brothers and sisters in Christ to confront me in my drifting. This is such a kindness, Lord. I thank you how you have set such a thing before us in the text today.

I pray, God, that you would drive this home, so that this would be something so firmly established among us, that the wandering would be brought back to you. May it be so in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I'd like to begin by rereading verse 6, just verse 6, and then carefully considering it. So here we are, 2 Thessalonians 3 verse 6.

Please follow along with me as I read. But we command you, brethren, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which he received from us." Here in this verse we have the command, withdraw from those who walk disorderly. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, the blanks are command, withdraw. The command, withdraw from those who walk disorderly. So the command is given.

And then we have this phrase, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. What this means is that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are standing to speak for Jesus. That's what they mean when they say, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It means that they're not just imparting wisdom. They're certainly imparting wisdom.

They're not just imparting wisdom. They're telling these Christians what they must do. You must do this. I command you to do this. And they're doing it authoritatively standing in the place of Jesus Christ to tell them what Jesus insists that His people do.

Now just a refresher. Back to chapter 1 verse 1. Who is the command from? It is from Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, This church planning team led by the Apostle Paul. That's when they say, we command you.

That's who the we is. Now who is the command to? Back to chapter 1 verse 1. To the church of the Thessalonians. So this is not an individual writing to an individual.

This is an apostolic church planning team writing to the church, the believers that are there in Thessalonica. So I think this is very significant. This is not a personal letter. This is a church planning team writing back to the church that was planted. That's what it means when it says, You brethren, we command you brethren, writing to the church.

So I believe the clear implication of this is that this is more than a personal action that is being called for. In other words, it's not just a Jason Dome when I see Michael Templeton being unruly, disorderly, then I act towards him in a certain way. This is to the church calling for a corporate action. There will be more on that later because there is more on that in the text later. So just a place marker there.

So the command is withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly. And I'd like to take that in bits. Let's just break it down a couple of words at a time. The first two words, withdraw from. The NASB and the ESB and the NIV, those translations render it, keep away from, withdraw from or keep away from.

Here's what the Greek lexicon says, to remove oneself, to withdraw oneself, to abstain from familiar intercourse from one. So here's the point. Here's what they're saying. Disentangle. Now think of all the wonderful tangling that God means to happen among his people.

It's wonderful tangling. God wants us to get tangled up with one another so that our our lives are always crashing into each other, our lives are always Entangled. We're woven together. And that's how God wants it to be. And that's what the New Testament puts forward our relationships as being.

And now, authoritatively, in the name of Jesus, they're saying, back that up. God wants His people, intends His people to be entangled. He wants there to be familiar intercourse with one another, our lives always woven together. But now he's saying there's a circumstance in which he causes his people to back up and to disentangle. Now this, verse 6, is married with verse 14, where they'll say, Do not keep company with him.

The Greek there means to mix up with. Do not mix up with him anymore. A set of circumstances has come to be in the life of this brother who is being described that makes you no longer mix up with him anymore. So Verse 6 says what we are to do. What are we to do?

We are to withdraw. Verse 14 comes at it from the opposite way, saying what we are not to do. What are we not to do? We are not to keep company with Him. It's the same thing from different directions.

This is the same language, the do not keep company with him. It's exactly the same language as what we see Paul use in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11. Now you know 1 Corinthians 5 starts with a very specific case of church discipline where a man has his father's wife. Paul says you've got to put him out. You have to excommunicate that man.

But then as the chapter progresses, it begins to talk in more general terms about people who claim to be a brother, but they have these other things in their life. Here's what we see in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 11. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. So we get the same language as is used in verse 14, do not keep company with, the same language is used in 1 Corinthians 5 11, not to keep company with anyone named a brother who meets this description. And then we get some additional on part of what that means at the end, not even to eat with such a person.

And this is actually confirmed or said again in a different way in Galatians chapter 2 verse 11. In Galatians chapter 2 it's where Peter has come to where Paul is. I'm almost sure it's Antioch. And Peter had been eating with all the Gentiles but then some come from James and Peter stops eating with the Gentiles then. This is Galatians chapter 2 verse 12.

Listen, for before certain men came from James, he, Peter, would eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. So in Galatians chapter 2 verse 12, What we saw in 1 Corinthians 5 happens again. Only it's bad this time, but there's a withdrawing, and it says what that means in Galatians 2 verse 12. What does it mean?

He stopped eating with them. He was eating with them, but he no longer eats with them. He disentangles from them. Here are the next two words. The first two were withdraw from.

Here are the next two words. Every brother. That's who you're withdrawing from. People who can and should be viewed as a brother or sister in Christ. And verse 15 when we get there is going to explicitly say to treat to treat them that way.

Verse 15 is going to say, don't treat them like an enemy, but admonish them as a brother. So this is repeated also. We are to withdraw from every brother. It's someone who there is an expectation that it's right to regard them as a brother or sister, and there are things that are out of line, out of order in their life, but it does not mean that you have an indication that they are really not a brother or sister in Christ. And this must be observed without partiality.

Every brother, not just some brothers, not the ones that you find their particular brand of disorderliness more annoying. I'm withdrawing from you because your brand of disorderliness I find to be particularly annoying. No, no, no. Not with partiality. Withdraw from every brother.

No one gets a pass. If they have this, what we're going to study as this patterns of disorderliness in their life, then no matter who they are, the church is to act in a certain way towards them. Now the next two words. So the first two we are to withdraw from. Then every brother.

Now who walks? Who walks? The New Testament uses the language of walking a lot and it means pattern of life. We have to understand we're not talking about just an off moment, a bad day, a disorderly week in the life of your name. We're talking about an established pattern of life that has become so ingrained that it characterizes you.

When people think about you, they think about this pattern. It's your walk of life. It's what characterizes you. It's not just a bad day. So, withdraw from every brother who walks last word disorderly.

The NASB renders it this way, leads an Unruly life. So both are really good translations. It just gives you a little more fullness of what the word is communicating. They walk disorderly or they lead an unruly life. So This is not a totally out of control life full of openly scandalous sin.

So Paul encounters that in Corinth. 1 Corinthians 5, a man has his father's wife. It's a totally out of control life with openly scandalous sin. That is not what is in view here. This is not 1 Corinthians 5 sin in that sense.

This is a brother, right? In 1 Corinthians 5 they say, put him out of the church, turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. No language even remotely like that is in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, our text today. But there is a disorderly pattern of life. There's an unruly pattern of life which is ingrained and has begun to characterize what everyone believes is a brother or sister in Christ.

They have this thing or things in their life that are out of step with his or her Christian testimony. In other words, with their mouth they are saying, I am a Christian, but with their life you say, wait a minute that's not how Christians are supposed to live. Again not a bad week but your life is characterized by things that no Christians life should be characterized with. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are going to proceed to give an example. Somebody who doesn't work, somebody who is a busybody, but they don't start with the example.

They start by saying someone who is disorderly, walks disorderly, or leads an unruly life. They start broad. And then they further develop what they mean by disorderly or unruly. Not according to the tradition which he received from us. Do you see that in the second part of verse 6?

Not according to the tradition which he received from us. Do you see that in the second part of verse 6? Not according to the tradition which he received from us. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have already talked about the traditions that they delivered to them. Look at chapter 2 verse 15.

So you probably don't even have to turn a page to get there. In chapter 2 verse 15, they wrote, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle." So they've already talked in this letter about these traditions that they're now referencing again. In chapter 2 verse 15 they say, the traditions that we gave to you by word we preach to you or by epistle. We've been writing you letters. So these are traditions taught not just observed by word and epistle.

These are not vain traditions of men, but inspired, authoritative, apostolic teaching and pattern. You got that? Sometimes tradition in the New Testament are spoken of negatively. The vain traditions of men, which never should bind the conscience of Christians, but this isn't that. These are the inspired, authoritative, apostolic teachings and patterns delivered by Paul and his fellows to the Christians in Thessalonica.

That's why in verse 14 it says, and if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with them. In other words, what we're saying in this epistle is binding, it's authoritative to the point that if you won't obey it you should be punished. That's how authoritative they intend it to be. Now let's look at verses 7 through 13. Follow along.

For you yourselves seven through thirteen seven through thirteen Follow along for you yourselves know how you ought to follow us For we were not disorderly among you Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. Not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner not working at all but are busybodies. Now those who are such, we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.

But as for you brethren, Do not grow weary in doing good here in this section we have the grounds or rationale for the command and Specific counsel to the Thessalonians, so if you're taking notes on the handout you're filling in blanks. It's grounds Council The grounds are rationale and specific counsel. Here's the thrust of the argument. Christians live in a certain way. Christians have a certain pattern of life.

Yes, the details are different from Christian to Christian to Christian to Christian. The details of my life are not the details of your life and vice versa, but they can be characterized the same way as we come to maturity. When we are characterized differently, it's usually our areas of immaturity. Christian lives begin to be characterized in the same way. They bear the same marks.

We live and God gives us progress in the faith. So Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are saying, We showed you. We lived with you. We showed you what it's supposed to look like to live a Christian life. We gave you a pattern.

This is exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1, imitate me just as I also imitate Christ. I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ says Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. I have my eyes on Jesus. I'm following Him. He's giving me progress in the faith.

So my life is conformed more and more and more over time to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now follow me. The patterns of my life need to become the patterns of your life. The things that categorize my life, characterize my life, need to characterize your life. So the details are different, but the characteristics are the same as we grow and become mature.

And there is a specific direction. Disorder towards order. That's one way you can think about the maturing process. A direction of disorder in all manner of things in your life towards order. Not towards disorder.

So there are Christians who are growing, Christians who are following the Lord and being conformed more and more and more to the image of Jesus Christ, have a certain trajectory. Disorder towards order. So a persistently disorderly life is unacceptable for a Christian. I'm trying to choose my words carefully here. A persistently disorderly life is unacceptable for the Christian.

In other words, if I won't work, I just want to mooch off of you, I just want you to provide for me, but I won't lift a finger to provide for myself, and I'm meddling, I'm in everybody's business, and I have plenty of time to do it, because I'm not working to provide for myself, then the Christians around me should say, your persistently disorderly life is unacceptable, because it's inconsistent with the testimony of your mouth, which is, I'm a Christian. But wait, Christian's lives don't look like that, or it shouldn't. Your life should be moving from disorder to order, and it's not. So it's persistently disorderly life that is in view here. This is not just failing to trim the bushes.

I say that because I have some bushes that need trimming right now. I don't want you withdrawing from me when you ride by my house. I'll get to it. This is not how Paul and Silvanus and Timothy lived before them. They lived in order to make their lives an example of the things that should characterize the life of a Christian.

They weren't modeling super Christianity, they were modeling Christianity. Now we find out from other places that they actually went above and beyond. But here they say we worked and toiled night and day to provide for ourselves and that's what's in view and that's not super Christianity that's simply Christianity. Christians who are following Jesus labor if it takes night and day, then they labor night and day to provide for themselves so they can eat their own bread and not mooch the bread of someone else who is laboring night and day. They say, this is how we lived among you, this is how you must live.

We lived this way, so you must live this way because Christians are to live this way. That's the whole flow of the argument here. We were there. You watched us. We labored night and day.

So you labored night and day because Christians are to labor night and day if that's what it takes to provide for you and yours. Now again, I believe this is giving an example, but of course That is not an exhaustive list of a disorderly life. Remember, they started broad. We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the traditions we gave you." Now they spoke to them about many other things besides just working to earn your own bread. So they give an example that they started broad with an unruly life, a disorderly life, and there are many other things that can be out of order in your life.

Like what? Well, the Bible says that our yes should be yes, and our no should be no. So if I'm always missing my commitments, okay, if the missing of my commitments is the rule and not the exception, I think all of us, even the most mature person in the room, whoever it is, I think we would say from time to time they miss a commitment. And what does that mean? That's the exception.

They're not known for that. They're not characterized by that. It probably grieves them, since they're the most mature person in the room, whoever it is, it grieves them that they missed their commitment, but they do. But the exceptions prove the rule. They don't invalidate the rule.

We're talking about a person who that's flipped. It's the rule. If they make you a commitment and they keep it, you have lucked out. Because normally they don't. If there is a professing Christian in the room that that's true of, that missing the commitment is the rule, Their life is out of order.

Christians are not to live that way. That is a disorderly life. Or what about this? A husband who nurtures hobbies to the neglect of his family. He's got lots of time for golf.

He's got lots of time for reading. He's got lots of time for softball leagues. He's a workaholic. His family is neglected. Brother, your life is out of order.

That is a disorderly life. Christians around you need to change their disposition towards you and change how they relate towards you because Christian men are not to live that way. Or what about a wife or mother who was all day on the Internet but there's hardly any school getting done. We're talking about a homeschooling mom. She's got time for lots of other things, but school sort of ends up on the back burner.

Now, again, this is not, I'm not talking about a bad week here. I'm not talking about a bad week here. I'm not talking about a bad week. I'm talking about what characterizes you. I'm talking about the pattern of your life.

But if that's you, sister, your life is out of order. Christian women are not to live that way. It's inconsistent with your profession that you follow Christ, and your life is being conformed to Christ. The trajectory of your life from disorder to order, It's not happening. Or what about a person living in squalor?

As soon as you cross their property line, like there's stuff everywhere, they're good at making messes that they never clean up, and it's in the yard, It follows them into the house. Everything is out of order all the time. The Templetons just move. They get a pass. They just move.

You just move, you get a pass. You have at least 60 days. But we're coming to inspect on Wednesday night, by the way. Or the things that we saw further into the chapter of 1 Corinthians 5. There's a pattern of covetousness.

There's a pattern of reviling. There's a pattern of drunkenness. Your life's out of order. That's not what a Christian life is supposed to look like. You're out of order.

The other Christians, when These are the patterns of our lives. If we have faithful Christians around us, they prove their faithfulness, they prove their love for us by coming and saying, You're out of order! So you could multiply that list, times a thousand. There are many ways in which our lives can be disorderly. But the point is that it's inconsistent with the pattern of life for a Christian.

So what did Paul, and Sylvainus, and Timothy tell them? Don't coddle the disorder. Confront the disorder. So here's what we learn. The Lord's people aren't supposed to coddle disorder in each other's lives.

They're supposed to come nose to nose with it and to confront it. If a person won't work, you let that person go hungry. You don't step in and rescue them if they won't work. And the fruit of that not working means an empty table. You let them enjoy their empty table.

Rather than coddling their laziness and enabling them to just continue down that track. You command them to live like a Christian. You say you say you're a Christian, but you won't even work to provide for yourself. That's not Christian. Now, we have a specific example and we have a specific example of how Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have related to the Thessalonians on this very topic.

Now look at verse 10. Look at verse 10. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. Remember when we were face to face? Remember when we lived there?

We commanded you if someone won't work he shouldn't eat. They just started out with instruction. So the starting point isn't you see someone, he hasn't been eating, or excuse me, he hasn't been working, and so you just withdraw from him. This is not step one. No, no, no.

They give you step one here. When we were there, we were face to face, we instructed you, we commanded you, if somebody won't work, they shouldn't eat either. Now turn back to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Just flip back a couple of pages to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I'm going to start in the second half of verse 10.

So right in the middle of verse 10 and I'll read through 11. But we urge you brethren that you increase more and more, that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Now look over to chapter 5 verse 14. Now we exhort you brethren, warn those who are unruly. Ok, so Just put all that together.

What is that? We were there in person. We instructed you. You don't work. You don't eat.

Christians work to provide for themselves. If at all possible, they'll toil night and day to provide for themselves. So again, is there a place for helping someone who doesn't have food? Of course there is. That's not what we're talking about.

We're talking about a pattern of life that says, I don't really like to work, can I have your stuff? That's what we're talking about. They were there in person and they said, that doesn't work for Christians. Then they wrote back to them, first Thessalonians, And they said, aspire to lead a quiet life, mind your own business, in other words, don't be a busybody, to relate it to today's text, and work with your own hands as we commanded you. So they've already reminded you, remember we commanded you to work with your own hands.

So they told them, then they told them that they had told them and reminded them. And then they told the church, warn the unruly. And now they're writing again because none of that's worked. The face-to-face instruction hasn't worked. The reminder of the command hasn't worked.

The instruction to the church to warn the unruly hasn't worked. And now they say there are people who haven't heeded any of this. Withdraw. Disentangle. So this is not a nuclear strike at the first sign of trouble.

This is not counsel to kill the gnat with a sledgehammer. This starts with Galatians 6 verses 1 and 2. Just listen to Galatians 6 verses 1 and 2. Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, You who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." So here's the question.

Between the writing of Galatians and the writing of 2 Thessalonians, has Paul abandoned that? He said, oh that gentle stuff, it just doesn't work. No! He's further down the same track. So we can come to Galatians and see that if anyone is caught in a sin, a faithful brother or sister in Christ will come to them in gentleness to restore them.

The question is what if that didn't work? And 2 Thessalonians chapter 3 is the answer to that question, along with those other things. Then you would remind them again in gentleness. And then you would warn the unruly. And then when none of that has had any effect on this brother whose life, pattern of life, contradicts their testimony, you withdraw.

Not a nuclear strike at the first sign of trouble. Not killing a gnat with a sledgehammer. The disorderly are given an opportunity to right the ship before the church withdraws. It should be preceded, withdrawing should be preceded by a patient process, but not too patient. I think Most of our natural wiring would have us never get there.

It would just be so patient. And I think what we find is that we harm the disorderly by being more patient than the Apostle Paul would have us be. Now let's consider the last verse of this section, verse 13. I just want to read it again, verse 13. But as for you brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.

How does this relate? I believe there are two things in view. First, when you have mooching busy bodies in your midst, who don't want to work, they would rather have your stuff, and they're meddling. It can seem like living like a Christian is a major disadvantage and that can be discouraging. In other words, I'm trying to follow Paul as he follows Christ.

What does that mean? I'm toiling night and day to provide for myself and he won't lift his pinky And he has all that he needs. Instead of spending his time working, he's spending his time maybe meddling in my business. And it seems like there's no disadvantage to that. That can be very discouraging.

Okay, so Paul and Silvanus and Timothy come to us and say, don't grow weary of doing good. I think the second thing in view here is that dealing with the disorderly is hard. Anybody like conflict? Any conflict lovers here? I don't think so.

It's hard. It seems easier to just put up with it. Or to go to the other extreme, just have nothing to do with them whatsoever. Like forget this love thing, where I don't treat them as an enemy, and admonish them as a brother, I just say, you're a mess. I can have nothing to do with you, you're a mess.

Can that be the disposition of a Christian? On one end you have, we'll just put up with it. It beats the heartache of dealing with it. So we'll just let hope be our strategy and we'll just put up with it. That's wrong.

But the other opposite, which just says, I am going to treat them as an enemy. I'm ticked off that they put me in this position. And I don't love them enough to come alongside them and admonish them as a brother, change my relationship with them in this fundamental way but maintain a posture of a brotherhood with them that's just too hard like they're a mess they're gonna have to sort that out themselves I'm done with you no don't do don't grow weary Don't grow weary of doing good. The last two verses. Verses 14 and 15.

Follow along. And If anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person, and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." Here in these two verses, the command is repeated and clarified in some important ways. So if you're taking notes on your handout and you're filling in blanks, it is repeated, clarified. The Command is repeated and clarified in some important ways.

Now, this is what we saw up in verse 6. The command to withdraw from disorderly brothers, and disorder was defined as not living according to the apostolic tradition. Now here in verse 14, we have someone who doesn't obey the Apostles word, that's just the same as what we saw in verse 6, and that we're not to keep company with that person. That's just the same as what we saw in verse 6. So verse 14 is a repetition of verse 6, but there are a few nuances that are very helpful, and they clear up some important matters.

What are they? First, this edition, note that person. Note that person. The Greek lexicon says to mark, to note, to distinguish by marking. Okay, so this is not just a personal observation, note to self.

Jason Dome won't work. Don't have dinner. This is not just my mental note of what I observe about you. It's not personal observation. It is corporate denotation.

This is corporate denotation. To the Church of the Thessalonians, Church, brethren, note this person. Mark them and distinguish them. This is a unified position of the church for the glory of God and the good of the person. That is what is meant here.

Second, we're given the expected result that he may be ashamed. This addresses a natural response. You are shaming them. They are going to feel terrible. To which Paul and Silvanus and Timothy say, exactly.

Yes, sin is shameful. Dominant persistent patterns of sin in the life of professing Christians is shameful. And it's wrong when you have that and you don't feel it. It's merciful, not merciless, to deal with it disorderly this way. Do you understand that?

I mean This is so contrary to our natural wiring that it just needs to be said repeatedly and explicitly. It is merciful to withdraw from someone who fits the bill. It is not merciless. It is a kindness. It is not a lack of kindness.

Even though it will make them feel ashamed, it is God's love towards them. Not God's disdain for them. It is a firm declaration of a local church, Christians live this way, and you live that way, and we are fundamentally changing our relationship with you until you live like you're a profession. So it's the make up your mind moment for the disorderly. Like make up your mind!

Which tells the truth about you? This profession that I follow Christ, Christ is Lord, or a life that's characterized by these things that no Christian should have in their life, which isn't. John Calvin says this, shame like sorrow is a useful preparation for hatred of sin. I'll read that again. Shame, that they may be ashamed.

Shame Like sorrow is a useful preparation for hatred of sin. Meaning you are dealing with someone who has gotten very comfortable with a persistent pattern of sin. Shame will help teach them to hate it if they really have a new heart. If they are really born again, the shame will bring a hatred of that sin that they have lacked and that they have been harmed by. They have been harmed by a lack of hatred for that sin.

And so it's just grown, it's just continued on, unabated, unaddressed, unconfrtened, and here comes the confrontation and they feel ashamed and it helps them to hate what they should have been hating in their life. It plays a similar function as what we see in 1 Timothy 5 verse 20. In 1 Timothy 5 it's about sin in an elder's life. Listen to 1 Timothy 5 verse 20. Those who are sinning, rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear." That's another consequence, good consequence for a local church when someone is rightfully made to feel ashamed of these patterns of sin in their life.

Now there are wrongful ways to make people feel ashamed. I think that's obvious. We're not talking about that. We all sit up a little straighter. When someone is distinguished by marking for being disorderly and unruly, and having patterns in their life that no Christian should have in their life, I sit up straighter, and so do you.

Thirdly, verse 15 says, yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. So again, This is totally different from that sin that we see in 1 Corinthians 5, a man who has his father's wife. Paul there says, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. No, no, that's not what we have here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. You're not treating him as an enemy.

You're admonishing him as a brother. And this actually gives us liberty to relate in very different ways with this person than you could relate with an excommunicated person. There are some things that are the same, but there are some things that are very differently. You're maintaining your posture of brotherhood with that person. And you're totally free to admonish them as a brother.

Now I want to give you five thoughts and observations about this text. Five thoughts and observations. Number one, what it means and doesn't mean to withdraw or to not keep company with. It does mean no chumming around. Remember, disentangle.

Think of all the wonderful ways in which the Lord wants His people to entangle themselves. We're backing off of that. No chumming around. So we can have time with them. We're not treating them as an enemy.

We're admonishing that person as a brother so we can have time with them, but it must be intentional and focused time. By taking this language from our text and looking at 1 Corinthians 5, looking at Galatians 2, I believe it also means no eating together. I believe the withdrawing and the not keeping company with includes, we're not having meals. This is a fundamental change of the relationship until the person brings that area of their life into order. And I believe that that means no Lord's Supper.

I believe you're marking that person in a way. That is not explicit in the text, so If you disagree with me on that, I don't have any heartburn. I have to get there by connecting dots. I freely concede that point. I think it's easy to establish the dots, the connections between the dots.

I'm satisfied you might not be satisfied. I would just ask you to go study it, go think about it. I believe that not keeping company with, hey, our most intimate communion is communion. It's our together observance of the Lord's Supper. 1 Corinthians 10 says it is a symbol of one loaf.

So I'm satisfied that it means don't eat together, mark that person and withhold them from the Lord's table. You might not be satisfied with that. I can understand that. So it does mean those things. It does not mean Amish shunning.

This is not a prescription for Amish shunning. We can make eye contact. We should make eye contact. We must make eye contact. We can have a cheerful disposition when speaking with this brother or sister.

We should have a cheerful disposition. We must have a cheerful disposition when we're speaking with his brother or sister. We are not posturally punitive. Meaning, you don't have to furrow your brow and glower. This is not what is being called for in this text at all.

You're not treating this person like an enemy. You're admonishing him or her like a brother or like a sister. You can engage in discipleship. You should admonish this person as a brother. Shooting the breeze has gone by the wayside.

Discipleship opportunities, you would want to engage that way. I believe that's what it means and doesn't mean to withdraw or to not keep company with. Number two, what it means and doesn't mean to walk disorderly. It does mean having a deeply entrenched pattern of life that is disorderly in a way that is blatantly unchristian. I'll say that again.

It does mean having a deeply entrenched pattern of life that is disorderly in a way that is blatantly un-Christian. In other words, you see that pattern of life, you say, how can a Christian do that? What it doesn't mean, Occasional instances of disorder or even slow sanctification in a category. I think this text takes you to a very dangerous place if you say, You're pretty slow in your sanctification in that category, so I'm withdrawing from you. I think we would probably all be withdrawing from each other.

I don't think it means that. But I do think we have a right to expect and even demand that as we observe each other's lives that we observe a pattern, a direction from disorder to towards order. Even though it will be slow sometimes. Okay, number three. There is a gradation in the New Testament teaching.

I'm going to explain that. There is a gradation in the New Testament teaching. That means Church discipline isn't all or nothing. We don't excommunicate or do nothing. I want door number three, four, and five.

I do believe, this is beyond the scope of today, but I think the New Testament gives us doors 3, 4, 5, and maybe 6 and 7. It gives us a gradation of how we deal with sin among ourselves. So our two options aren't, I ignore it and pretend like it doesn't exist or you now have to be excommunicated. There's a lot between those things. Hopefully this measure prescribed in 2 Thessalonians 3 keeps you from getting further down that track where you would end up in excommunication.

But I'll tell you, if you mark a person, if you corporately together mark a person for God's glory and their good and you say we're all withdrawing from you we're not keeping company with you you're going to have a moment of truth you either got a true brother or sister whose heart is towards the Lord and who at least in time will come around or they'll kick against those goats and they'll show themselves to be something else and there will be an escalation not a softening and You may end up at excommunication. There will be things that will be revealed by changing the fundamental nature of the relationship with this disorderly person. Number four, here's the big picture. God's saying, give me my blessings back. Give me my blessings back.

You straddler. You want to straddle. You call yourself a Christian. You enjoy all the privileges of a Christian. You enjoy all the entanglements with my people and yet you allow for this persistent disorderliness in your life that shouldn't be the mark of any Christian.

So you give me these blessings back. They belong to my people who are following me and right now they don't belong to you and we'll see if you miss them. The Christian will miss them. The Christian is not going to be able to put up with that fundamental change in the relationship and the unentangling. The regenerate heart is not going to be able to live under those circumstances.

It's going to bring repentance and change in a life. So when God says, give me my blessings back, He's actually blessing them. It is an act of His kindness and His mercy. Number five. We struggle to think this way, but fundamentally this is about God's love for his people.

This isn't explicit in the text. Oh, but it's right there below the surface. You don't have to go very deep beneath this text to see the love of God for His people. What does Hebrews say? Hebrews says, God disciplines His sons and daughters, the real ones.

If you don't get disciplined by God, you're illegitimate. If you're allowing persistent patterns of disorderliness, unruliness in your life, God is going to love you by disciplining you. If you're a son, or if you're a daughter and it's a mark of love Now how does he do that lightning bolts right is that your experience? You have persistent disorderliness unruliness in your life, and you walk outside and boom That probably has happened in history, But it's not the normal way that it happens. You know that.

Some exotic sickness falls upon you to make it so clear that God is disciplining you in a very unusual way for this pattern of sin in your life. It's usually not that. Now God can do any of that or all of that. I'm just saying it's not the normal pattern. He'll use circumstances in your life, financial troubles or relationship troubles or other things.

But often he uses you in my life to address those things, or me in your life to address those things. He uses his people to come alongside his people to help us to grow. And it's His love. We are God's gift to each other in that way. God gave you to me to help me with the disorderly patterns in my life.

He gave me to you to help you with the disorderly patterns in your life. Praise the Lord. He loves us. He doesn't just leave us to be exposed and exploited by our flesh. He doesn't leave us that way.

He's given us resources, and often we're the resources for one another. God, I thank you for your Word. These things are beautiful. Even the hard things in the church are beautiful. The design of them is so much wiser than we would have designed, than we have designed on many occasions.

Thank you God for your kindness to your people, your faithfulness to your people, your eternal love for your people that's expressed in all these practical ways. God, I pray that you would help us to be faithful to you, that we would love you with our whole hearts, and that this would result in us being faithful to one another as brothers and sisters. Pray in Jesus' name, amen.