Be Not Weary

II Thessalonians   •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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Paul knew that there were many pressures and difficulties that might discourage the believers in Thessalonica from continuing to serve the Lord and thus he wrote to them that they would not be weary in well doing.

Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Paul has just addressed the problem of the idle believers in Thessalonica and has challenged them to get back to work.
Now he turns his attention to those who have been faithfully laboring since the time that he dwelt among them.
Paul was certainly aware of the pressures, the burdens, and the difficulties that the believers in Thessalonica faced and he knew that it would be easy for them to become weary in their service to the Lord.
He writes to them to encourage them not to become weary in well doing but rather to remain faithful and steadfast in their service.
There are many reasons that a believer who is faithfully serving the Lord may grow weary and tonight we will examine some of these in order that we may not become weary in well doing.
You and I may grow weary in well doing because of:

Others Who Refuse to Work

In Thessalonica there were a number of believers in the church who had decided that they were not going to work at all and who were now expecting the church to provide for them instead of working to provide for themselves.
There will be times when you and I look around us and observe others who are partaking in the blessings of the work but who refuse to engage themselves in the work.
If we are not careful their refusal to work will bring bitterness and frustration which will result in discouragement that might tempt us to cease from the work.
We may observe those who are idle and it may cause us to question whether there is truly any benefit for our labors. We may be tempted to think that it would be better for us to become idle as they are.
In nearly every local church there is a small group of believers who bear a substantial portion of the load of the work of the ministry.
These who bear more than their portion can tend to become disillusioned and disheartened in the work but we must fight the temptation to quit and we must instead continue to work.
There will certainly be times when we grow tired and we wonder whether it is worth it to continue to work, but we must remember that each of us shall one day give an account of our lives and we should desire to work so that we may receive reward and that we should not suffer loss.
Those who will not engage themselves in the work will find themselves ashamed and disappointed when someday they stand before Christ.
We must remember I Corinthians 3:8- every many receive reward for his own labour
May we never allow those who will not work to cause us to cease from the work that God has called us to do. We shall not be held responsible for their lack of labor but we shall be held responsible for the work we have done or that we have neglected to do.
You and I may also become weary because of the:

Opposition We Face

Satan will never cease to oppose the work of God and we will never labor for the Lord unopposed.
I Thessalonians 2:14- suffered because of following Christ/ II Thessalonians 1:4- persecutions and tribulations. The believers in the church at Thessalonica certainly faced their fair share of opposition from even their own countrymen.
When you strive to do what God would have you to do, you can expect to face opposition. There will always be those who are opposed to the advancement of Christ’s kingdom, be it the world, our own flesh, or satan himself.
It has wisely been stated that “If you have never had a head on collision with the devil, its because you are headed in the same direction.”
II Timothy 3:12-14- all that live godly suffer persecution, but continue/ II Timothy 2:3- endure hardness
A life spent serving God will be filled with opposition and yet we must endure, not allowing the opposition to gain the upper hand.
We need not become discouraged when we face opposition but rather we should have the perspective of the early disciples who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41)
The disciples did not allow the opposition of the Pharisees and Sadducees to cause them to cease from the work that God had called them to do. Instead they determined that is was better to obey God than men even if they would be punished for their obedience. (Acts 5:29).
After they had been beaten and threatened, upon their released they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ! (Acts 5:42)
We must have this same resolve to continue to labor for the Lord even in the face of harsh and sometimes violent opposition.
There will also be periods that we may grow weary in well doing because of a lack of:

Observable Results

As we spend our lives in service to the Lord there may be long seasons of time when it seems that there are little to no results for our labor.
We will not always have the joy of seeing significant results for the work that we have done. At times it may seem as though all our labors have been in vain.
I Corinthians 15:58- yet we know that labour is never in vain when it is for the Lord.
Everything that you and I do for the Lord will have a reward someday. We may not be able to see the immediate results but we must continue to trust that if we are doing what we are doing in obedience to God it is not in vain.
Paul also encouraged the believers in the church at Galatia not to be weary in well doing but he also added a simple reminder in his exhortation to them. (Galatians 6:9)
One of the most difficult parts of serving the Lord is that so often the results of your service will not be clearly seen. You will often labor and travail ministering to others and to the Lord without any observable results. Nevertheless take heart that you “shall reap if you faint not”
We must not base our willingness to work on the results that we see. We must simply labor in obedience to the Lord trusting that in His time there will be fruit for our labors.
We may never see the lives that have been impacted by our service to the Lord, we may never know the souls who have been saved because we faithfully shared the gospel, we may never witness the restoration that comes as a result of our faithful witness but God knows.
Our responsibility is simply to do what God has instructed us to do, leaving the results up to Him for we can do nothing in our own strength alone.
We may often grow weary because we are trying to live and minister in our own strength rather than allowing God to work in and through us.
We must recognize that we will never see real lasting results except through God’s power working in us. If we are striving in our own strength then we will burn out and we will not be able to accomplish anything eternal value but as we yield ourselves to God and allow Him to work in and through us we can expect to make and impact.
Conclusion
Have you grown weary in well doing? Have you contemplated giving up?
May you find encouragement tonight to remain steadfast in your service to the Lord!
Our world cannot afford for believers to retreat or to refuse to work.
If we are to bring about change in our community, in our nation, and in our world we must have believers who are determined to stay in the fight, who will not compromise, who will not be complacent, and who simply will not quit!
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