2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 — For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
Work has always been important to Christians. For many years it was believed that good works demonstrated a living faith — faith without works being dead (James 2), a professed Christian without works could not really be saved. Martin Luther was the catalyst for a shift to a view that (salvation being by grace alone) work was a consequence of being predestined to be saved — a fruitful life being not a requirement for salvation, but it’s evidence. From this idea sprung what German sociologist called “the Protestant work ethic”.
But we can look back past the salvation implications of work to a more practical view — one that we can find here in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, and also in Dietrich Boenhoffer’s “Life Together”.
Paul points out that there are practical consequences to idleness. “Those who don’t work”, he says, “cause trouble”. Indeed. After all, we can see that, as far back as Genesis, work was part of God’s plan for us.
Pastor Boenhoffer’s took the same idea and expanded on it:

In a Christian community everything depends upon whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain. Only when even the smallest link is securely interlocked is the chain unbreakable. A community which allows unemployed members to exist within it will perish because of them. It will be well, therefore, if every member received a definite task to perform for the community, that he may know in hours of doubt that he, too, is not useless and unusable.

It might seem that this idea breaks down in a society like ours where employment often ends, and retirement kicks in as we reach 65 years of age. That perception is wrong. There is no Biblical presumption of a time at which we stop working! When paid employment ceases, the opportunity arises for a new kind of work. We get the chance to turn to ministry — which may take many forms. There are those whose focus is increasingly on the care of a beloved spouse. Others can minister to their neighbors, both in small acts of service and in witness. Yet others can give more time to the church. All of these options are good. The only bad option is to do nothing, and to become one of Paul’s disorderly busybodies!
I’m not sure why this was given as my theme today — except, perhaps, that this was the day that I returned to work after my vacation. Sometimes, perhaps, I don’t value my work as much as I should. Reading the passage from “Life Together” last night reminded me that it is essential to me, and those among whom I live!