2 Thessalonians 3:11–12: “For we hear that some among you are living an undisciplined life, not doing their own work, but meddling in the work of others. Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and to provide their own food to eat.”

I want to talk about the dignity of labor—what the gospel has to say about the dignity of labor. When you see creation, God gave man a work to do: a full‑time job of taking care of the garden (Genesis 2:15). God was the One who planted the garden. He is the One who gives you the energy to be able to work, but you still need to work. He is the One who provided the opportunity, made it possible that you have the education that you have, but you still need to work.

Paul is saying some people are, for whatever reason, deviating from that, and he is calling it “living an undisciplined life.” “Not doing their own work.” What are they doing? “Meddling in the work of others.”

We don’t have the full picture of what Paul is saying here, but we know there seems to be a devaluation of your own work and a focusing on the work of others. There is their own work which they can focus on, and when they focus on it, they will provide for their own food. But he is saying that work requires a disciplined life.

Somebody may think to themselves, “Look at that person. He doesn’t even have to work. His investment is just working for him. Let me also try to be like that person too. He’s not really working in that sense of labor work.” But here you have Scripture encouraging labor work.

Paul said to some people that he worked with his own hands, providing for his own needs and for those who were with him (Acts 20:34). He said he did that to lay an example for others in how they should prioritize helping the weak (Acts 20:35).

So we see Scripture not denigrating physical labor. Jesus Christ was a carpenter (Mark 6:3). Nobody is going to argue with that. Peter was a fisherman. Being a fisherman was not a disqualification from being a follower of Christ, not a disqualification from being a foremost apostle (Luke 5:1–11).

Paul, as I said, worked with his own hands and provided for his own needs. But what happened to these people here? They were living an undisciplined life. That means it requires a measure of discipline. That means they were distracted. They were distracted. Maybe, “I want to do something like that person, I want to be like the other person,” because Paul says they were “meddling in the work of others.”

In another place, Paul said that the one who steals should steal no more, “but rather he should labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with those in need” (Ephesians 4:28).

I am saying all these things to send a message that the gospel prioritizes the work of your hands—even if that involves physical labor in one form or another, deployment of your physical ability in one form or another. And we see the examples all over Scripture of this happening.

We should aspire, the Bible says, “to live a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands” (1 Thessalonians 4:11), doing our own work.

God bless you. See you later.