Out of Step? Out of a Job? Out looking for Trouble? Don’t Be That Guy

Admonish the Idle

Photo by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash

Paul, in his two letters to the Church at Thessalonica, repeatedly warned against idleness. His admonition against idleness first occurs in a list of practical “Christian living” instructions at the close of his first letter that sounds a lot like a 1^st Century bullet list describing how to live out your eschatological convictions. Suppose Paul used bullet points, then 1 Thess. 5:14-15 it might look like this:

And we urge you, brothers [and sisters],

• admonish the idle, 
• encourage the fainthearted, 
• help the weak, 
• be patient with them all.
• See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but
• always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

What’s in the Attic?

There is so much in this short list for us to think through, pray about, and respond to. But for today, I am intrigued by the word “idle”. The Greek word used here is ataktos. Various lexicons such as Thayer’s describe the common uses of this word as falling into three general senses.

1. Disorderly, out of ranks (often so of soldiers).
2. Irregular, inordinate, immoderate pleasures.
3. Deviating from the prescribed order or rule.

Ataktos is the negative opposite of orderly and purposeful biblical words such as appointed, ordained, and devoted. One online resource, Blue Letter Bible, mentions the word ataktos was used in Greek society for “those who did not show up for work.”

This word means so much more than the inactivity suggested by the English word “idle”. It describes not merely passive indolence but those who are actively unproductive. While its meaning includes the idleness characterized by the lack of profitable or purposeful work, it extends to describing someone who is not a team player as evidenced by an unruly and undisciplined lifestyle, illogical thinking, unbridled passions, and ungovernable attitudes. Most English translations use “idle” or “unruly” to translate ataktos.

This word could be used to describe destructive direct-action groups like Antifa. The something that they do is the epitome of unruliness. Such behavior should not be found in the community of Jesus’ followers for it demonstrates that one is not his disciple.

Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

Though it is a serious issue, I find this unruly, disordered, aspect of ataktos a bit humorous since if you say this word out loud it sounds like “attic-toss” which is ironically appropriate for those disordered places where we toss the things we don’t want to deal with now but hope to handle someday… be it a literal attic, or a garage, closet, shed, trunk, etc. The people who would hang around the marketplace were those who had no positive purpose for the day. They would have the ready-made excuse of looking for work or of discussing important issues, but not much of either went on.

Cleaning the Attic

In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul spent a full seven verses discussing/describing how to avoid such unruly idleness.

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies [nice wordplay]. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thess. 3:6-12 ESV)

If I were to paraphrase the three main instructions about idleness in this passage it would be…

• Don’t hang out with the unruly, disordered, and idle who reject the gospel message and the God-given purpose and joyous responsibility it brings.
• We are not asking you to do anything we have not done as an example for you. We never expected a free meal but worked hard to pay our own way so as to burden no one.
• Some among the believers are “idle”—on one hand, living off the generosity of others and on the other, refusing to accept the responsibility that faith in Jesus Christ lays upon us all. It should stop now!

Is There More To the Story?

Have you ever wondered why Paul seemed extra concerned with confronting such unruly idleness (ataktos) in Thessalonica? It may have to do with his experience in their city on his second missionary journey. It is found in Acts 17:1-15.

Verse 5 tells of corrupt men hired by the jealous Jews to persecute the Christians.

But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble [agoraios], they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar [thorybeō], and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.

Roman Forum (Thessaloniki). (2024, September 28).
In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum_(Thessaloniki)

The phrase, “wicked men of the rabble” is all too familiar in any place and any culture. Some, out of their unruly idleness, are only too ready to “work” toward a twisted purpose if only to make the lives of others more unpleasant. The “rabble” (agoraios) refers to “the men from the marketplace” who could be either hired or incited for just such a disruptive cause as tossing a Christian’s house and repeatedly dragging church leaders out to face mob justice. A.T. Robertson wrote, “The agora or marketplace was the natural resort for those with nothing to do (Matt. 20:4) … Plato calls these agoraioi idlers or good-for-nothing fellows.”[i]

What about us? Do we follow the law of love and overflowing goodness given to us by our Lord Jesus? Are we keeping in step with the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25)? Or are we lounging around in a self-focused stupor, or running over the rights and emotions of others?

A Thessalonian Thorybeo Redux?

There are those who, when their ideas and economy are threatened, readily find the agoraioi and use them to create a riot/uproar, or as the Thessalonians called it, a thorybeō.

Photo by Koshu Kunii on Unsplash

I live in the Pacific Northwest, an area of the country where Antifa groups have been actively unruly. Their goal is to make the cities ungovernable, thereby setting up their mob views as the law of the land. Such tactics are lacking in both love and logic, but they try to make up for it with high-volume profanities, group intimidation tactics, and violent destructive acts. They are often paid agitators who attack police and lawful citizens alike. They do no real work and have nothing to share with others for the good of the community. In their unruly idleness, they are everything bad that they claim to be against.

The church should never be this kind of idle nor that kind of unruly. In Jeremiah 29 God gave his exiled people a great promise (v.11) but set it in the context of a generation of waiting and actively working for the good of the place he had put them (v.4-7). This working for the common good was not to be done primarily through power and command but through humble service and community engagement.

The church has often been harmed in times of persecution by the “unruly idle” but this is to be expected. Jesus told his followers that this would happen. However, it is often harmed more deeply by the “unruly idle” within the church. Are we patiently warning those in our midst to not be idle? Are we living as productive and godly examples for them?

I would also like to point out that while this list of Christian living action points (1 Thess. 5:14-15) begins with strong words like “urge” and “warn” or “admonish” it moves directly to the less confrontational but much-needed verbs — encourage, help, and be patient. Our marching orders are simple, clear, and intended for the good of the community. The next part of the action list (v.16-21) touches on our attitude while following Jesus.

• Rejoicing not sulking and stomping
• Praying without ceasing rather than fierce independence
• Giving thanks in everything not grumbling and complaining.
• Being open to the Spirit’s work in and through us.
• Remaining teachable to the prophetic words of God.
• Become deeply discerning thinkers but not cynics, for we hold on to what is good.

Finally, the concluding instruction to “abstain from every evil” (v.22) forms an inclusio or bookend with the first about warning the unruly idle. This understanding of ataktos sheds new light on the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” If we are to abstain from every evil then we must not be idle. Jesus Christ has called us to great purpose, by a greater love than we have ever known.

Marching Orders

There was a time when the Apostle Paul (then known as Saul of Tarsus) had been persecuting Christians and he was “admonished “ by Jesus himself (Acts 9). 

Later Paul would repeat the marching orders he received that day, “And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’” 

Author in Bethsaida, Galilee.
Photo by Joshua Mitchell (2011)

He also wrote to a young pastor in Ephesus, using a military metaphor, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2 Tim. 2:3-4). Let us not forget to ask the Lord what we should be doing today and, in the days, to come.

I think today is a great time for us to queue up for the march, right?

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[i] Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament Vol 3, p. 270.

 

Don't Be A Doeg! (Psalm 52 and A Contentious Society)

Recently I posted this reflection on Psalm 52 on my Honest2GodHonest2God blog.  However, the situation described in 1 Samuel 22 and David's reaction in Psalm 52 speaks by analogy and metaphor rather cogently to the contentiousness of our current cultural/political context. So I am reposting that article here. 

Doeg, slaying the priests at Nob
Public Domain,
https://en.wikipedia.org
/w/index.php?curid=4275500

This psalm is one of the few written in which we know the specific context that provoked its writing. This psalm is David’s poetic response, where he processed the betrayal and horrific actions of Saul’s head herdsman, Doeg the Edomite. Not only did Doeg rat out David’s location to the increasingly paranoid Saul but he murdered eighty-five innocent priests serving at the Tabernacle. The sad narrative of betrayal, misplaced retribution and a significant slaughter is found in 1 Samuel 22:6-23. It is a narrative all too common down through history. Times when those in power, fearing the loss of that power, act unjustly towards those they perceive as enemies. Some balk at carrying such orders as Saul gave that day (22:17) but there are always wicked people with no such qualms. Not only were eighty-five priests killed at Doeg’s hand but all but one in Nob, their priestly city were slain. “Both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.” (22:19).

Against this backdrop, David writes the words of this short psalm. The opening verses poetically describe Doeg the worker of destruction, particularly focusing on what he had said. The description indicates that Doeg said more than the brief report of 1 Sam. 22:9-10.

“I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

These words sound like a simple report of the facts. However, David’s description suggests that much more was involved—either in its content or its intent.

Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
    The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
Your tongue plots destruction,
    like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
You love evil more than good,
    and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
You love all words that devour,
    O deceitful tongue. (Psalm 52:1-4)

Doeg loved evil and lying more than good. Upon such a genuinely wicked man, David pronounced God’s coming judgment.

But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah (v.5)

I am impressed with the parade of parallel imprecatory verbs associated with what God would do to Doeg and those like him.

• 

  Photo by Zhang Kenny on Unsplash

  Break you down: This word communicates a repeated beat down, pulling down and breaking off as of branches from a tree, stones from a wall (2 Kings 25:10), or beams from a house. Another interesting use of this term is regarding the contamination of a house by dread disease/toxic mold (Lev. 14:45). Could we connect Doeg’s inner contagion and the rules for cleansing a house? It sounds like David might have done just that.
• Snatch you up: the picture of being seized quickly for destruction and then dropped like a fiery coal. One moment it was business as usual and the next everything changed for the worse. Judgment is often postponed, but when it comes it snatches suddenly and irrevocably.
• Tear you away: used of being plucked out of one’s house, tent, or land. While God prefers to plant and sow, he also will pluck up and tear down the wicked and treacherous (àProv. 2:22; 15:25; Deut. 28:63)
• Uproot you from: God will pull you out roots and all. No trace will be left in “the land of the living” (àIsa 40:23-24). Where else is such imagery for the traceless demise of the wicked found? Psalm 1:4 may have been in David’s mind since a couple of verses later he refers to himself as a green olive tree (v.8) which correlates with the tree metaphor used for the righteous man in Psalm 1:3.

The folly of wickedness and shortsightedness in trusting our wealth and power instead of making God our refuge becomes evident. It is a pattern from which we should learn to go the other way. Esau despised his birthright for a bowl of soup (Gen. 25). Nabal trusted his wealth and despised David’s request (1 Sam. 25). Many kings sought worldly wealth and power instead of the peace and eternal life found in the One True God. Jesus told the story about the rich fool who built bigger barns without consulting the Lord’s counsel for his selfish indulgence instead of graciously sharing his abundance with others (Luke 12:13-21). In the early church, there was the episode with Ananias and Saphira who made a show of giving but still held back wealth for themselves (Acts 5:1-10). This is only a small sample from an extensive list.

These things were written for our instruction… but will we learn the lesson? Will we be servants of Christ, who though shrewd as serpents are innocent as doves (Mt. 10:16) loving one another and working for the common good? Or will we be like Doeg, excusing our evil desires and shockingly brutal actions as faithful service to an unjust political or economic power? Saying, “I was just following orders,” is no longer an adequate defense. Perhaps it never was.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Later, David’s son Solomon understood how important it was to remove the infection of wicked men from those who govern the people and not allow evil to lobby for injustice. He included it in his collection of proverbs.

Take away the dross from the silver,
    and the smith has material for a vessel;
take away the wicked from the presence of the king,
    and his throne will be established in righteousness. (Prov. 25:4-5)

Notice that not only are there parallels between dross/the wicked, and between the smith/the king, but a righteous throne is like a silver vessel, a serving tool to share with others.

Here, in the situation addressed by Psalm 52  David saw himself like the one described in Psalm 1:1-3 who does not learn the ways of the wicked or participate with sinners and scoffers in their ways and works. Again, his son Solomon would later say something similar in Prov. 24:1-2

Be not envious of evil men,
    nor desire to be with them,
for their hearts devise violence,
    and their lips talk of trouble.

Olives in Jerusalem. Photo: Greg K. Dueker

Instead of emulating wicked men, David’s delight was in the Lord and thus could use the well-watered tree metaphor.

But I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever. (v.8) 

Remember, the psalms give us the vocabulary to express our feelings honestly to the Lord. This one is no different. Here David processes his anger, outrage, and dismay, at what Doeg had done. Yet, instead of taking vengeance into his own hands, he trusted God to handle the situation. He wrote with the confidence of one who has already seen it happen, though it had not. David’s early years are challenging to our culture of self-advancement and demanding our rights. David, though anointed to be king, never took the timing of the fulfillment of that anointing into his own hands.

I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
    in the presence of the godly. (v.9)

Filled with gratitude and goodness, not hate, let us wait for the Lord Jesus Christ along with the community of faith! And while we are waiting, maybe we should cooperate with the Holy Spirit as he cleans our hearts, our words, and our ways… today.