Problem With The Two-week Notice

“But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.” (2Th 3:13 AV)

 The Thessalonian church was facing false teaching that the LORD’s return was most certainly imminent.  Paul gives the church several things to look for before the rapture of the church occurs.  Two of them in particular are a great falling away of the church and the revelation of the Antichrist.  They were being taught the return of Christ could happen at any moment and in response, they were busybodies not providing for their own and stirring up trouble in the church.  They had become poor testimonies to other believers and to the world because they were responding incorrectly to the promise of Christ’s return.  To not be weary in well doing here means to do as we are called to do patiently and with the hope of Christ’s return, not in anticipation of it as a release from all duty.

Waiting for liberty can be tiring.  When the LORD finally opened the opportunity to go into ministry full time, the weeks leading up to that event were the longest weeks of my life.  One must understand, it took 18 years for the LORD to open the door of full-time ministry.  God called me to preach in 1982.  I enrolled in Bible college the following spring.  Thirteen years, a wife, and three children later, I finally graduated.  It would be another five years after my graduation before the LORD called me into a full-time situation.  During all that time, the fire never went out.  It was always there.  The LORD moved me from several churches into other churches that, to my chagrin, were going through severe trouble of which I was not aware.  I yearned for my own ministry.  When the call finally came, I was working at a factory.  We manufactured plastic food packaging and plates.  When the call came, I had finished an assignment in a new plant startup.  It was going to get boring all over again.  But the call came and plans were laid for my move to a new city and church to be a full-time assistant pastor.  I gave my two-week notice and settled in to wait out those two weeks.  It was the longest two weeks of my life.  The responsibilities that I had done for several years all of a sudden became tedious.  What I thought was boring and easy work now became difficult.  What was not a big deal to do, now became annoying.  The promise of liberty made present duties hard to bear.

It is very evident the coming of Christ is just around the corner.  If it were not tonight, I might be surprised.  The great falling away has happened.  What the church was fifty years ago has greatly changed.  The church has changed with the culture. It became post-modern.  It is now woke.  Separation is non-existent.  Doctrine is no longer tolerated.  Feel-good sermons with vague principles sprinkled with enough anecdotes are the norm.  We have fallen away.  The only remaining event to look for, according to our passage, is perhaps the Man of Sin is revealed.  Perhaps the church we see who that Antichrist is and then the trumpet will blow.  We have that assurance of deliverance.  This is wonderful.  But it is also challenging.  There are still souls who have not heard the good news of the gospel.  There is still a great commission to fulfill.  There are still things we can do for the glory of God.  These things have not changed.  We have the promise of the rapture.  We will be caught away.  These things will happen but let us not allow this hope to make our present responsibilities any more tiring than they actually are.