All Your Best, All for Jesus, All the Time

This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. Well, if you would open your Bible with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.

While you are finding that, you'll see on the back of your sermon note insert some details about our upcoming trip to Israel in 2026.

We're going to have an interest meeting in a couple of weeks for those who have questions about that. We already have several who have signed up and registered for that, so you can go ahead and register online as well.

But we're going to have a meeting in a couple of weeks for those that are curious or interested and want to find out more about that. You see the dates there and some of the information. We also have brochures out here at the Ministry Connection that will walk you through the itinerary, the different places we go, the things that we'll do.

And I am very much excited to go back. We've had the chance to do a few trips to Israel, and it's just life-changing. If you are interested in going with us, I encourage you to look into that March 12th through 21st, 2026.

And again, there's information at the Ministry Connection that will take you right to the website. All sign-up is done online, and you can sign up this afternoon if you want to. Others already have.

And or you can wait and come to our interest meeting in a couple of weeks and learn more about that. But just want to put that on your radar to consider.

You don't have to be a member to go. It's open to anybody. And so if you would be interested in that, follow up with some info. As we come to our study here in 2 Thessalonians, we are looking at this next section in verses 6 to 12.

And we're going to do this over a few different weeks. And it really is a very interesting thing to me how the Holy Spirit inspired this text.

Because if you've been with us the last couple of months in this letter, particularly if you're with us on sunny nights in the fall when we were going through 1 Thessalonians, one thing that you know is that these two letters, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, deal a lot with what we call eschatology, the study of the last days.

A number of times in these two letters, Paul mentions something regarding the day of the Lord, the return of the Lord, issues related to the Lord's return and the church being gathered with Him in the air.

And it's interesting because right on the heels of so much talk about the end times, at the end of this letter here in verses 6 to 12, you're going to notice what at first may seem a strange pivot.

Letters that are so doctrinal are now going to turn and deal with the most practical of all things. Your work ethic.

How hard you work. Your diligence in the work that you've been given to do. Now this makes sense and there's a connection here that you need to understand that part of the problem the church was having is that there were some that were so consumed with the end times, the return of the Lord, meeting with the Lord in the air, all these issues that he brings up.

Some were so consumed with that that they wrongly concluded that they didn't have to worry about being diligent workers here because they were just waiting for heaven.

And Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is reminding the believers in this church that while it is right to eagerly anticipate the return of Christ, it would be wrong to conclude that our days on earth do not matter.

That it would be incorrect to say that while we are waiting on the Lord's return, that we're just going to waste our time and not be found faithful.

And so Paul is going to take this highly doctrinal theme of the return of Christ and he's going to show you how that truth should inform and influence how you live every single day of your life.

And so I call this section here a theology of work. I saw this weekend, not that I claim that to be original or care too much about titles, but I saw that several other people have also titled it that and things they've done, so I have a new title for you.

All right? The new title is All Your Best, All for Jesus, All the Time. All Your Best, All for Jesus, All the Time.

Because that really is the heart of what Paul wants us to understand. That if your doctrine is right, and if your focus is on Christ, and if you are anticipating heaven, then that should influence you to do your very best all for Jesus and to do that all the time.

So when you think about your work, I don't want you to think about your employment only because not everyone in our church is employed. Some of you are, and that would apply to that.

Others of you are in the home, and others of you are students, and any number of kind of mixture in between. So whether you are retired, or whether you are beginning a career, or whether you are working a few hours a week, or many hours a week, whether you get a paycheck or not, every one of us, every day, has a life of work that we are a part of.

And that work may include going to an office, it may include going to a classroom, it may include doing laundry, it may include any number of things.

But the way that you work, the way that you live your everyday life, matters for the gospel. And I don't want you to think that the only work that matters, ultimately, is spiritual work.

Meaning that you have to be a pastor, or a missionary, or go to work in a church, or a ministry organization. Everything you do, when done for the glory of Christ, that by itself is a spiritual work.

Romans mentions our spiritual act of worship. This is anything and everything we do for the glory of Christ. So this isn't like some of us do spiritual work, and some of us do secular work.

Anyone who does anything for the glory of Christ, that is your spiritual act of worship. Whatever your job may be, whatever your duties may be, when it's done for the glory of Christ, that is spiritual work of worship.

And so in this passage, he wants us to understand, as God's children, the connection between what we believe, and how it would influence our daily life.

that when we are trustworthy workers, when we are diligent workers, it honors the Lord. It shows that we care about what He's given to us.

It helps us provide for our families. It enables us to be able to be generous and to help others. Now, one of the mistakes I think that so many people make is they'll say to themselves, well, the job I have today is just a part-time job.

It doesn't really matter anyway. Or the job I have is just an entry-level job. This isn't what I want my career to be, so it's not that important.

Or I don't make that much money, and so it's not that big of a deal. But I do want you to understand that the work you're doing today in the home, at school, in an office, whatever, wherever it may be, the work you're doing today is the only day you've been promised.

You've not been promised five years from now. 15 years from now or 30 years from now. I was sharing with our new members class last Wednesday, because this is very real to me, and this is gonna sound really strange and probably a bit silly to some of you, but I'm just being transparent with you.

One of the things that has been a struggle for me for a long time is I love the fall and the winter. I love it so much.

I love everything about it. I love church being full and ministry starting back. I love the crazy, chaotic schedule. I love that from about middle of August to middle of December, I feel like I'm just barely surviving with my schedule.

I like that. I like college football starting up. I like cold weather. I love the holidays. I love the music.

I love the decorations. I love everything about the fall and winter especially. So much so that for years, the summer frustrated me.

While many of you love the summer and live for the summer, I just wanted it to go away. I wanted it to go from the third week of May to the third week of August overnight, because in the summer, things slow down.

In the summer, there's vacations. And I'm all for a vacation. I'm not against that by any means. But just the pace is slow.

And in the summer, you're a long way away from Christmas and all these kinds of things. And I just found myself kind of wishing the summer away. I wanted life to get busier.

I wanted life to get more hectic. I wanted schedules to be more full. I wanted to get closer to the winter and the holidays. And a couple of years ago, I became very convicted about that.

Because I really came to realize that it was presumptuous of me on any given year to assume that the Lord owed me to live to the end of the year.

He doesn't. And the older I get, the less I really feel inclined to wish time away. When you're 20 or 30 or 40, it feels like you've got endless amounts of years.

And when you get over 50, you start to think, I think the sand is kind of reversed in the hourglass. And I'm not sure I ought to be wishing many days away. And I became convicted of that. And as silly as that may sound, I've shared with my wife, I've tried to really embrace the season I'm in today.

And to enjoy and to maximize the moment today. And not just always looking forward to three, four, six months from now. And part of that was born out of a conviction that whatever we're doing has its value and its meaning because this day is the only day that God has promised to us.

You're not promised to wake up in the morning. This day He has given us. And because of that, the way that we work and the way that we serve and the things that we do on this day show our reverence to Him, our gratitude to Him, and our understanding of wanting to work for His glory on this day as the only day that we have been promised.

And so when you take the high theology of eschatology in these two letters, and now you pair it with the deeply practical part of actually even working for the glory of Christ, it shows us how what we learn should influence everything about us.

The Bible says a lot about how we work. And not about heroic kind of work. Just regular work.

Normal routine work. I've been a busboy. I've been a waiter. I've been a telemarketer in my past lives.

And I learned things from those jobs. And I hope that things I learned from those jobs are helping me to be a faithful worker today.

But if you're 15 or 16 or 17 and you think your job today doesn't matter, I just want to share with you from conviction I shared a moment ago that if you're saying this job doesn't matter, I'm just 16, I'll get serious about my job when I'm in my 30s, can I just remind you God doesn't owe you to live till your 30s.

And if you're at an entry-level job in your mid-20s and you say, well, I don't have to be a diligent worker, I'll wait till I get promoted, God doesn't owe it to you to get promoted. We want to be faithful this day, this moment, in this season of life because this is all the Lord has promised us.

And we don't want to waste a single day, we want to live it for His glory. Let me just give you some things the Bible says about work. Ecclesiastes 9.10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.

Colossians 3.17, whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus. Colossians 3.23, whatever you do, work heartily.

Ask for the Lord, not for men. 1 Corinthians 10.31, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Whatever you're going to do. If you're cleaning the house, if you're paying bills, if you're mowing the yard, if you're starting a company, if you're in high school, if you're going to college in a couple of months, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.

Whatever you do, do heartily as to the Lord, not to men. And just as the Bible gives these encouragements to work, it also gives us warnings against laziness.

Proverbs 10.4 and 5, a slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.

Proverbs 14.23, in all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty. The Bible encourages us to be diligent workers and warns us against the danger of laziness.

Our work is to be not only diligent, but done for the glory of God. Whatever you do, do as unto the Lord, not just merely unto men.

whatever you do. If you're a student, be a student with all of your heart and do so as an act of worship unto the Lord.

If you are in the home, whether you are raising children, whether you are retired, if you're in the home, work hard, work diligently in the home as an act of worship, as unto the Lord.

If you have a vocation, serve in that vocation, whatever it may be, to the glory of Christ. Not just for yourself, not just passing the time, not just because you're chasing a buck, but as unto the Lord.

So one of the problems the church in Thessalonica had is they were so concerned about their eschatology that they failed to connect the dot and to say, if Christ is worthy of our eternity, then he's absolutely worthy of this moment.

And they missed that. And so Paul has to correct them a bit and help them to understand that the God who is worthy of your eternity is worthy of your every moment's devotion.

Verse 6. It says, Now we command you, brothers, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you receive 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 for any of you.

It was not because we don't 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 busy bodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

This is really remarkable because the things he has been talking about in this letter, back to chapter 1, verse 5, talks about judgment and the return of Christ and chapter 2 about the Antichrist and all of these highly theological aspects and now he sums the letter up by saying, don't be lazy, work hard.

Which is really a beautiful thing to understand. that the more you know of God should impact every aspect of your life.

I remember when I was very, very young hearing this story. my dad shared it at a concert.

I never heard it before, haven't heard it since. I only heard it one time. I've since gone back to look into the story. It's a story about former President Jimmy Carter.

Before Jimmy Carter served as President of the United States, he was a 28-year-old officer who was applying to be in the nuclear submarine program.

He had an interview with a man named Admiral Rickover who was the head of the United States Nuclear Navy. His conversation for this promotion was two hours long.

They talked about naval strategies. They talked about current events. They talked about Mr. Carter's rank in his naval class. And as the story goes, eventually, Admiral Rickover asked one final question in the interview to Jimmy Carter.

The question, did you always do your best? Jimmy Carter, recounting that, said that he began to answer in the affirmative.

After all, he had tried hard. He had given a lot. He had pursued excellence. But before he answered, he reconsidered.

And he thought, did I always do my best? Did I always strive for excellence? And so he timidly, eventually, offered up the answer, no sir, I cannot say that I always did my best.

Jimmy Carter would then later recount Admiral Rickover's response to him. He writes of that event and he says, he looked at me for a long time and then he turned his chair around in the interview.

He asked one final question which I have never been able to forget or to answer. He said, why not? And with that, the interview was over.

Jimmy Carter would later say that that conversation changed his life. He tells of it in his best-selling book entitled, Why Not the Best?

Now, I realize a Christian and an unbeliever could both take that story and seek to apply it, but let's not forget, we're not simply talking about hard work by itself, we're talking about work for the glory of God.

We're talking about living all of life, all for Jesus, all the time. We're not talking about simply doing things that get you noticed or get you promoted or make you wealthy.

we're talking about living life in such a way with a certain work ethic that shows the greatness of Christ.

Living for His glory and for His renown. But a part of that is striving to always do your best.

I was a young child at my dad's choir concert when he told that very brief story. He may or may not even remember telling it. I don't know. We've not discussed it.

I've heard it one time. I've never forgotten it. Why wouldn't you always do your best? Now, this is not self-help talk.

This isn't learning to get ahead talk. This is in the context of 2 Thessalonians 3 which is all about knowing God, trusting God, glorifying God.

Chapter 3, verse 1, praying for us. There's a certain way that we are to pray, a certain way we are to think, but there's also a certain way we are to work. And all of it is about worshiping the Lord.

So with that as an extended introduction, I want us to look today and for the next couple of Sundays at what the Bible says here in context about our work.

Number 1, avoid the one who is lazy. Come straight from verse 6. 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.

We keep away from the lazy one. Turn back just a page or two to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. I want to show you how both of these letters often intertwine deep, rich doctrine with highly and deeply practical expressions of living.

1 Thessalonians 4 verse 11, aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

In his first letter, he tells the church, be hard workers. Don't be lazy. Take care of your own business.

If you're a student, don't blame your teacher. If you're a worker, don't blame your boss. If you're an athlete, don't blame the ref.

Work hard. do your best. In whatever sphere of life you're in, if your hand finds to do it, do it with all of your might as unto the glory of God.

If you have this idea that the only work that matters is going to a church to work, then there's just a few of us that have to worry about this and 95% of us have no issue to worry about.

That would be utter foolishness. This isn't talking about people who just happen to be employed by a church. This is talking about people who wear the name of Christ.

But this is so beautiful because this gives meaning and this gives value to everything you do. When I worked at Brahms, I had the opportunity to work for Christ.

When I was busting tables, I had the opportunity to bust tables for Christ. Christ, it's not about where your paycheck comes from. It's about your heart's motivation in giving honor to the Lord in everything you do.

Whatever your job is today, whatever your work is today, whether you're employed or not, raising children or not, in your dream job or not, whatever you're doing today, work as unto the Lord and give Him glory in all that you do.

Now, the first thing he tells us here is this warning to avoid the one who is lazy. The Bible takes seriously the warning against laziness.

This happened again in the first letter, chapter 5, verse 14, we urge you brothers, admonish the idle, the lazy.

Warn them. Listen to me biblically. If you're a lazy person, the church should warn you about the dangers of laziness.

This is not a small thing. This is worthy in Scripture of you being warned. warned. Now, you say, well, I'm in college. I'm just taking general ed class.

I'm not even taking classes in my major. Who cares if I work hard or not? I'll tell you who cares. The Lord Jesus cares. I'm just in my entry-level job.

I'm making minimum wage. I don't even want to work here a year from now. Who cares how hard I work? I'll tell you who cares. The Lord Jesus cares. I'm a keeper of the home and I do laundry and dishes and I pay bills and I take care of our kids.

Nobody sees and it's my house anyway and I can do what I want. It doesn't matter if I'm lazy. It doesn't matter if I'm diligent. Who cares about that? Who even sees what I do inside my house?

I'll tell you who sees. The Lord Jesus. Everything you do is an opportunity to honor Christ.

Your life's not validated by a paycheck or a title. Your life has meaning and worth today because you were made in the image of God as a response of worship and gratitude.

Live all of your life, all for Jesus, doing your best in all things. If you're a Sunday school teacher, be a hard-working Sunday school teacher.

If you're a greeter, be here early, not late. If you're a singer, be more prepared than you have to be.

Don't just wing it. Whatever your task is, whatever your ministry is, however you work, however you serve, whatever your gifts are, use all of your gifts, all of the time, always for Jesus.

So much so that scripture says, keep away from the one who is idle. It describes in verse 6, look at the specific language here, keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness.

idleness. It's a word that means disorderly behavior. It means to be out of rank. It means to not show up where you're supposed to be.

Idleness is not equivalent here to rest. It's okay to rest. It's okay to take a day off. It's okay to take a vacation.

It's okay to relax. This is not a warning against rest. This is a warning against laziness. There's a difference.

If you just finished college, a semester, some of the sweetest sleep of your life is the week after finals. You've been tired, you've been sleep deprived, you've been exhausted.

It is a sweet week of rest. It should not be a sweet month of rest. You don't need to sleep till noon for a month to make up for finals week.

And you say, well, who cares how long I sleep in the summer? I think the Lord does. Because that day He gave you life was a day to live for His glory.

You say, well, I'm going to be serious about working hard nine months out of the year, but for three months, I'm home from school. For three months, I'm on summer vacation. Who cares what I do for those three months?

I think the Lord does. And I don't think the Lord owes you to live till August. I think it's presumptuous to say, I will waste the next three months of my life.

Now, this isn't just me talking. This is the very theology of 2 Thessalonians. And if you've not studied this, it may be a bit shocking to see how much the Bible really cares about the work ethic of its people and the warnings against those who are lazy.

True godliness is not just about knowledge, it's about obedience. Even obedience to work in a way that shows the glory of Christ.

raised your hand if you have a part-time job. How many of you have part-time jobs? Okay, put your hands down.

My guess is, and this won't be true for every one of you, there may be an exception, but my guess is for most of you that raised your hand with part-time jobs, for most of you, it's not your dream job.

For some it may be. Your part-time job is what you've always wanted to do, you wish you had more time to do it, or your part-time job is you're in retirement and you're doing what you've always wanted to do because you don't have to do it anymore, I get that.

But for most that have a part-time job, it's not their dream job. And if you waste those days, there's a whole lot of hands that just went up that would be wasting the opportunity to work as unto the Lord.

Don't waste your life by wishing time away. Don't waste your life by thinking God cares about what I do on Sunday but not on Monday.

Or that God cares about things that can be seen but not about things that are unseen. So much so that in verse 6 he says, if there's a brother who's walking in idleness, walking in laziness, not showing up where he's supposed to be, he says, keep away from them.

That's pretty strong. That's a clear warning about how contagious laziness can be.

if you have a job, whatever it may be, and even if you serve, some of you work in place you don't get paid, you're volunteering your time, God bless you for doing that.

If you say, I'm not even getting paid to be here, I don't have to work hard here, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might. as unto the Lord, not as unto man.

Whatever you're going to do this day, do it with all of your might. Now, in the language here, the one who is idle is the one who's not showing up where he's supposed to be.

Not everything you do has to have a monetary value. There are some things you do and you show up there.

So, if you're a mom or a dad, if you happen to be home from work tomorrow and you get the day off, nothing wrong with that. That's beautiful, that's great, enjoy it. Be fully present with your children.

Show up as a mom or dad. I got to do a lot of different things this week. Some of them were a lot of fun, some of them were pretty routine. But one thing I got to do was I got to babysit my granddaughter, just me and Rosie May, just two of us.

And together we survived. We had so much fun. We just laughed for two and a half hours. It was amazing. I looked forward to it all week.

I could not wait for that day to arrive. And I didn't do anything in that two and a half hours that earned me any money. I wasn't sermon prepping.

I wasn't reading. I wasn't writing some article. I wasn't doing anything that the world would look at and say that's worth money. But I was supposed to show up and do that.

And I wanted to do that with all my heart. And I was all the way in. You don't have to do something the world looks at and says is valuable, or important.

Just show up where you're supposed to be. Be faithful where you're supposed to be. Be hard working at whatever you're doing.

If you think to yourself, well, I teach preschool, Sunday school. I'm not teaching doctrine like our adult classes are. I don't have to work hard.

I don't have to be prepared. That's a terrible waste of an opportunity. Wherever you're supposed to be, show up and show up with all of your heart and serve the Lord, not just men.

And sometimes you do things that feel really important and sometimes you do things that feel really mundane. All of it, all of your work is to be done with your very best, all for Jesus, all of the time.

All of the time. It should not be said of God's people that we are lazy. We should be diligent. We should be trustworthy.

Laziness is so contagious. You've seen it in your jobs. You've seen it in your homes. children, when you're given chores to do and you look at your brother or sister and they're not working hard and you say, well, if they're not working hard, why am I?

Or it's your part-time job, someone's being lazy and you're working hard and you think to yourself, we're both making minimum wage, why am I knocking myself out to work hard? They're getting paid the same thing I am and they're not doing anything.

But even in those moments, ask yourself, who am I working for? You're not working for Brahms, you're working for Jesus.

You're not working for professor so-and-so in this history class, you're studying for the glory of Jesus. You're working in your home for the glory of Jesus.

Now you say, we're not getting very far, well it's on purpose because what we're talking about today is something that's so rarely discussed inside churches. And I want to deliberately take my time here for a couple of weeks because this is as practical and as daily as anything we could study and I don't want a single one of us to miss the beauty and the joy of working all of our life for the glory of Jesus.

Because if you do waste that time, you never get it back. You never get it back. I want you to be aware of areas of complacency.

lazy. I want you to think this week with me as I do in my own heart. Where have I tolerated laziness? Now I know the temptation.

Temptation is to blow it off, it's no big deal. Temptation is to say, this is my house, this is my job, this is my hobby, this is my thing I do.

It's nobody's business how hard I work. Well, the Holy Spirit cared enough about it to inspire Paul to say, keep away from anyone who is walking in laziness.

It's too contagious. It's too dangerous. How could laziness be dangerous? Because I may not make as much money? No, that's not the biggest problem.

Because I may get fired? True, not the biggest problem. I may flunk this college course? True, not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is what is your greatest opportunity.

And your greatest opportunity is to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ every day that you live. And to fail to do that is to miss the greatest joy a believer can know.

Now, it may be the best thing for you today to go home after lunch and take a nap.

I don't want to ruin anybody's nap. Have at it. No problem. If for you tomorrow is a day off of a holiday and you want to sleep in, have at it.

No problem with rest. No problem with taking an inside day. No problem with spending time with your family. No problem with doing things that help you to recharge and help you to enjoy your life.

That's great. This isn't an argument that you can't rest. This is a reminder that you can't separate any part of your life from the glory of Christ.

Please understand that difference. And one of the ways we can see that we've become spiritually lazy is to assume God owes us more time in the future.

He does not. So live this day, all of it, giving your best, all for Jesus, all the time.

And the most needful thing in your life today may be to take a nap, may be to take a day with the family tomorrow. If that's what you're doing, do it for the glory of Christ with a grateful heart.

But if you think that you can take a season of your life and unplug it from what matters, you're wasting that time.

We're going to look for the next few weeks at five or six encouragements that this text gives us. And the first one was to avoid the one who was lazy.

Rather than have to avoid someone or someone have to avoid you, let's just walk in wisdom with this. And let's confess any part of our life where we've been apathetic or given less than our best because Christ truly is worthy of our best every day, all the time, no exceptions.

This isn't primarily about grades or raises. It truly is about worship. Using your life, your time, your hands, your feet as a spiritual act of worship as unto the Lord saying you've given me this day and with gratitude I will give my best this day for the sake of the name of Jesus.

Jesus. I know this is a bit of an unusual theme, but it's part of why there's a beauty in studying the Bible verse by verse.

Because if you've never read this letter and he just talked about eschatology and he just talked about prayer and he just talked about the steadfastness of Christ, none of us would have thought what's coming next is don't be lazy.

But there's a beauty there. The more you see of Christ, the less time you're willing to waste.

And that's a beautiful thing when the body of Christ gets that. Lord, we thank you for your word today and pray that your Holy Spirit would use it to give us encouragement and conviction and to help us to live in a way that would be honoring to your name.

We pray for the sake and the glory of your son. Amen. Love you, church. God bless you. You're dismissed. Thank you so much for joining us via live stream this morning.

If you have any questions whatsoever about our church or the ministries that our church provides, please visit us at fbcmustang.org. We would love to follow up with you and get to know you better.

As always, we try to emphasize if at all possible, if you could be here physically present with us, we would love that and that'd be a joy to serve you in that way.

But thank you again for joining us via live stream today. Have a great day. Yes, he's sitting in the video.

It was so sweet. Were you guys there? Thank you.