Are You Weary

2 Thessalonians 3:6-16

We are beginning our month long conversation about our stewardship this week. Over the next few weeks we will talk about what it means to support our church with our Prayers, Presence, Gifts and service. Your support of this church and your continued ministry here in Wortham is something to be commended and something to truly be thankful for. The support I saw at the Fire Department BBQ was impressive. The desire to bring food for the End of the School year food drive shows your presence in the community and your desire to serve and witness to Christ in this community. We are ever mindful of the Swine Flu epedimic/pandemic... We are worried about our selves and our community, those we care for and love.
And today we open our Bibles today 2nd Thessalonians 3 and find a passage that has often been used to question pastor’s salaries. It’s also a passage that has been used to argue in favor of welfare reform or even the complete abolition of the welfare system.
But, maybe there is something else in this passage. Could it be that this passage can help us understand what we are to do as we wait for the Lord’s return? Could it be that it is about how we live in community with one another? Maybe.
Today we will hear a story, a long story it may seem, then we will discuss our scripture, and in the end I hope we will be able to apply both to our lives.
Let us read our passage: 2 Thes 3:6-16.

Prayer: Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Oh Lord my Strength and my Redeemer. Amen.
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Michael wasn’t quite like the other kids at Briarcrest High School. For one thing he was big, huge even. People often called him “Big Mike” and rightly so, he was 6’5” and 350 lbs. in the 9th grade. But Mike didn’t really belong at Briarcrest, actually he had gotten in to the private school by accident. You see, Mike had been passed around from foster home to foster home, from school to school, simply living off whatever help he could get from the next generous person. They would help him for a little while then decide that he was hopeless and shuffle him on to be someone else’s problem.
When Michael was born he was the seventh of what was to be around 13 children born to Denise, or Dee-Dee as she was known on the streets. By the time Mike was about 4 they were living on the streets full time. By 6 he was in a Foster home but ran away and found his way back to Dee-Dee. By 8 his mother was addicted to Crack-Cocaine and Mike was again in foster care. By 10 he was back with her and somehow managed to stay either with her or friends in the low income housing project for the next few years.
It was during these years that he became friends with Steven, the son of “Big Tony.” And, from time to time Mike would sleep at Tony and Steven’s place. Though he wasn’t the guardian of Mike, when Tony moved his son to another school, for some reason he took Mike with him and tried to enroll him at Briarcrest Christian Academy. The problem was Mike had no real education. He should have been going into 10th grade but he couldn’t read, he could barely write, knew no math and had little to no social skills.
Once again Briarcrest, like all the others, made an attempt to help but was just another part of the process of pushing him off to be someone else’s problem. He belonged in the public schools, not private. His IQ had been measured at 80. He ranked in humanities 9th percentile in intelligence and the 6th percentile in “ability to learn”. It had been said of him, “Mike’s not retarded, he’s just stupid.”
The Principal and the President of Briarcrest both wanted to help Michael but weren’t sure how, so they sent him off to a type of home school situation to work on his reading, writing, and arithmetic. It was soon clear that Mike wasn’t able to do the remedial work that he was sent and in the end even missed the public school enrollment. Here Michael was, adrift in the masses of society. Shuffled again from one place to another. No home. No school. No one to really help him. Out of guilt they let him in the school, but he was failing miserably. He just didn’t belong. Michael had become just another story of what happens to so many of our youth today.
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So, what is community? It is definitely something that Michael didn’t have, at least not as we would recognize it. Dictionary.com defines it as: a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.
Methodist’s fit that. As United Methodists we have our own governing body, we meet in certain places, share a common culture and historical heritage. This definition can be applied to many other groups, clubs, and organizations.
If we were to read other passages in our Bible, such as Acts, Ezra and Nehemiah, we would find examples of God's people living in community with one another, helping one another, sharing food and clothing. The problem that often happens in such a Commune – or community, is that some may take advantage of other’s generosity. “I’ll let others give and keep what I have for myself” they may say. Or, “I expect to get my benefit regardless of what I do. I deserve it.” We see it in our society. We know there are some that could work but choose not to because others are generous.
Our danger as outsiders to the situation is that we will begin trying to judge one situation over another and forget that we are all called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick… Even when we see that “free loader” and want to judge them, we don’t know their situation. Maybe we could be that one to help them and give them the opportunity to find their autonomy, their pride, their strength, their courage to grow in their own development and someday be able to help someone else.
We argue between giving a “hand-up” or a “hand-out”. We argue about “personal accountability” and “reallocation”. Somewhere within both of these thoughts is an answer and we as Christian are called to seek that answer and reach out to the least, the last, and the lost.
So far this has all been about the public, about others, but when it comes to our private lives, we need to think about this too. We need to remember what Paul said here and in his previous letter in 1 Thes 4:9-12 where he tells the Thessalonians to quietly work with their hands so as to show love and depend upon one another.
Rather than all the Thessalonians working with their hands, some had decided that they would do nothing and wait for the Lord to return. They, as many today, believed that Christ was coming back in their lifetime. If Christ was coming back right away, then why worry about the fields? Why worry about the cattle? Why make tents and clothes and all the other things that were needed in the community? Just wait on the Lord. In their idleness, it also seemed that they got into the habit of gossiping a bit too. Think about it. If a large number of us decided that we weren’t going to work anymore and just sat around the church all day, everyday, with nothing to do, what would happen? We’d start gossiping. “Did you see Billy? Can you believe he’s still plowing that field when Jesus is coming tomorrow?” “Oh, but didn’t you hear, while he’s out working in the field, his wife is out working with Anna’s husband.”
Paul was warning the Thessalonians, just as he is warning us today, we need to be careful that we don’t become idle. That we don’t grow weary in doing the good that we are called to do. For Pastors, it is working for the spiritual growth and needs of the congregation. For teachers, it is the growth of those in their class that they may learn, be it Sunday School, public school, or private school. For factory workers, it is the use of the hands to make the items that are used by others every day. For the retailers, it is making the products we need available. We are all called to do various tasks, but in each of these tasks we are to do good.
Or as John Wesley put it:
Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.
With Spring & Summer upon us and all the hustle and bustle, it is sometimes easy to grow weary of doing good.
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I could understand Leigh Anne growing weary.
Leigh Anne’s children also attended Briarcrest, but if ever there was a family that belonged at this private school it was Leigh Anne’s. Her husband, Sean, owned numerous Restaurants around Tennessee. They had more than enough money, nice cars, preppy clothes, and college degrees – All the right credentials to have their children in this school.
One night Leigh Anne saw Michael walking along the road. It was freezing out yet Michael was walking along in a t-shirt and cut-offs, the same thing he wore every day. Sean pointed him out to Leigh Anne as “Big Mike”, the guy he had run into at the school gym one day and anonymously arranged to take care of his meal ticket at the cafeteria. Out of compassion, Leigh Anne stopped to check on Michael. It was the last day of Thanksgiving break and Michael had no place to go. He was hoping to get in the gym, “because they got heat in there” he said. As Sean and Leigh Anne drove away Leigh Anne was in tears. The next day she picked Michael up from school and took him shopping, at his stores, across Memphis, in the other neighborhood. Michael seemed to be worried about her as they went farther and farther away from Briarcrest and deeper and deeper into gang territory. Yet, Leigh Anne told him she wasn’t scared, as long as he was with her to look out for her.
Not long after this shopping trip Michael began to live with Sean, Leigh Anne, their teen age daughter, and young son. Michael became such a part of the family that he was adopted and truly became their son.
Along the way he was tutored in his school work. Leigh Anne would spend hours teaching him social skills and Sean would work with him in sports. By now the football coach had noticed him and realized his potential. It’s not often that you find someone this big and fast. Michael was a natural athlete. He had only briefly played football once before but that would all change his Junior year. By the end of his senior year he was picked to play in the All-American bowl, was offered one scholarship after another, had brought his GPA from a 0.9 up to a 2.65 and his IQ had gone from an 80 to 110, something that is not supposed to be possible.
Michael Oher is now a graduate from Ole Miss and was selected to play Left Tackle by the Baltimore Ravens in the 1st Round of the NFL Draft. He went from having nowhere to live as a Sophomore in High School to a university graduate and the recipient of a multi-million dollar contract in just 7 years. Had society had it’s way, he would still be lost, on the streets, bouncing from place to place looking for the next generous person to care for him. But because one Christian lady cared enough to do more, to do all the good she could , and not allow herself to grow weary, Michael’s life was changed forever. When Leigh Anne found Michael he didn’t have a community. But Leigh Anne welcomed him into her community and in that community Michael has been loved.
This is what our Christian community is about. Not sitting back waiting on Jesus to come again, but actively working to reach out to those in need until Jesus comes back. We work diligently, we don’t grow weary. We work in connection with those around us to reach out to the least, the last, and the lost.
We as Christian’s are called to be a community that is open and welcoming of others. We are present in worship, we are present in the life of the community, we are present in the lives of those in need.
We as Christian’s are called to be a community and pray with and for others. We are called to pray for our church, for our friends, for our enemies, for our leaders.
We as Christian’s are called to be a community that gives. We are called to give of our time and talents. We are called to give our ideas and our resources. And yes we are called to give our money.
We are Christian's are called to serve. We are called to serve in leadership in our church and community. We are called to serve others with love and compassion. We are called to reach our to the least, the last, and the lost.
We as Christian's are called to witness to our faith. We are called to tell others the story of the faith. We are called to live our Christianity our in the community and the world around us.

That is what Leigh Anne Tuhey did and Michael Oher will never be the same. Now to you, the challenge is this... Go and do likewise.