Don't Grow Weary of Doing Good Every Day

Sermon from September 21, 2025 · Zion Church of Numazu (with the Yokohama congregation). Text: 2 Thessalonians 3.

Introduction: The Christian, That Paradox Who Prays and Who Works

"Brothers, do not grow weary in doing good." These are the words Paul addresses to the Thessalonians right at the end of his second letter. The week before, in Yokohama, Brother Komura had already opened chapter 2 on the return of Christ and the misunderstandings surrounding it. Today, we turn the page. We arrive at the final chapter, the one that comes back down to earth: how do you live it out concretely, day after day, while you wait for that return?

Let's be honest: being a Christian means being a bundle of contradictions. You believe in a God you cannot see. You claim that a man, two thousand years ago, died and rose again. You are waiting for his visible return. And at the same time, you have to get up in the morning, go to work, do the laundry, handle tension at the office, at home, at school. How do you hold these two worlds together?

There is a story circulating about the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Someone who visited their headquarters in the United States reports a motto posted on the walls: "Trust God as if all our efforts were completely useless, and work as if God did not exist." A contradiction? Yes. And yet that is exactly what Paul describes in Romans 12:11: "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord." Pray with the fervor of someone who depends entirely on God. Work with the seriousness of someone who must give their very best.

2 Thessalonians 3 asks the question: what can you lean your day on so that these two worlds hold together? Paul gives three points of support. Pray. Imitate healthy examples and follow sound teaching. Let yourself be led by the Holy Spirit.

Sermon Outline

1. Prayer: The Breath of the Soul

The first point is prayer. And to really understand it, we have to go back to Genesis. "God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). "The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Genesis 2:7). You carry that breath within you. It is what sets you apart from the animals, even the most intelligent dolphin or the ape that resembles you the most. You have a unique creative capacity, because God breathed his life into you.

But since Genesis 3, that same capacity can tip over into destruction. The most striking example is nuclear energy. We call it "energy" when it powers a plant. We call it a "bomb" when it flattens Hiroshima. Yet it is the same force. The problem is not humanity's creative power. It is the heart that directs it. Since the fall, that heart pulls toward destruction, to the point of threatening nature, the universe, this earth that God had declared good.

So how do you find the right direction again? Through communion with the One who breathed that life into you. That is what prayer is. "From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:16-17). Grace is the gift received from God, freely given. Truth is walking sincerely before him. The two go together. You are saved by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8), that is the starting point. But then, just as a newborn baby needs milk and an environment in order to grow, your life of faith needs to be nourished so that it does not go out.

And this new heaven and new earth that Revelation 21-22 speaks of is not some foreign planet. It is the garden of Eden restored. The same river, the same trees, the tree of life found again. "Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life" (Revelation 22:14). In Genesis 3:23, man was driven far from that tree so that he would not live forever in his sin. Revelation closes the loop: through Christ, access is reopened.

Prayer, then, is not first and foremost a list of requests, even though your requests and your intercessions have their place. It is standing before God, in communion, to receive his breath again. When your heart is battered, discouraged, twisted out of shape by the day, prayer sets you back in the fresh breeze of his presence. It is the spiritual breathing that keeps you alive.

2. Imitate Healthy Examples and Follow Sound Teaching

Paul develops the second point in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-9. It is not enough to pray alone in your room. When you pray alone, you are exposed to your emotions, your physical fatigue, your fixed ideas. "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," as Jesus himself acknowledges. Your prayer life can quickly drift off course. To correct that, and to enrich your personal life with God, you need community.

This is why Paul insists on examples. Look at those who walk well with the Lord. Listen to sound teaching, not rumors. Join the congregation on Sunday, in Numazu, in Yokohama, or online when your situation does not allow you to be there in person. Even a simple hello exchanged with a brother or sister can give you renewed strength.

Ten years ago, a member of the Numazu church came to see me after the service. He told me, almost embarrassed, "Pastor, I'm sorry, I fall asleep during every one of your sermons." I did not know what to say. He explained: his job was exhausting, physically and mentally. He lived under constant strain. At home, he could no longer manage to sleep. But when he came to church, recited the Lord's Prayer three times, sang with everyone else, opened his Bible and sat down to listen, that is when he would fall peacefully asleep. I told him, "Then come, sleep on the pews of the church. If your soul finds peace there, that is already enormous."

That man still encourages me today. Every brother and every sister who comes to the service, in person or online, despite their exhaustion, despite their circumstances, encourages someone else without even knowing it. Your presence is not neutral. It is a sign.

And sound teaching protects you. Without a solid biblical framework, your personal faith drifts. With the Word taught faithfully, you grow. Just as a baby left to itself, without milk or warmth, would not survive, a Christian cut off from the Word and from the church grows weak without even realizing it.

3. Let Yourself Be Led by the Holy Spirit

The third point is about action. Paul writes, "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ" (2 Thessalonians 3:5). The "Lord" here, distinct from the Father and Christ mentioned in the same verse, is the Holy Spirit. It is he who orients your heart, and therefore, ultimately, your actions and your words.

You know the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control" (Galatians 5:22-23). Someone might object, "But I know people who are not Christians and who show all these fruits. They are more loving, more patient, gentler than many believers." That is true. And it is precisely a sign that the Holy Spirit also works outside the walls of the church. "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:3), but the Spirit works in every heart to draw people to Jesus. God causes his sun to rise on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

The difference, for you who have received Christ, is that you can willingly submit to the Spirit and let his fruit ripen without being choked out by anger, resentment, envy. And Paul ends with a magnificent promise: "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

Every day has its own good works. God has already placed them along your path. They are waiting for you. The smallest thing the Holy Spirit lays on your heart (a word, an act of service, a visit, an act of forgiveness) can bear fruit thirty, sixty, a hundred times greater than you imagine. Do not be shy. Do not hold back. Do not say, "What I can do is too small." Nothing God entrusts to you is too small for his glory.

Key Takeaways

• Being a Christian means embracing a paradox: believing in the invisible with the fervor of faith, and working concretely with the seriousness of daily life.
• Prayer is not first a shopping list. It is the spiritual breathing that puts you back in the breath of God.
• You were not made to walk alone. The congregation, sound teaching, and faithful examples are guardrails for your faith.
• The Holy Spirit works in you and through you: your heart first, then your actions and your words.
• No good work is too small. God has prepared them beforehand for you.

Personal Application

• How do you concretely live out this paradox between "praying as if everything depended on God" and "working as if he did not exist"? Is one of these two dimensions fading out in your own life?
• When you pray alone, is it a real moment of communion, or has it become a quick list of requests? What can you change this week?
• Are you part of a local congregation? In person or online, is there someone you could encourage simply through your presence next Sunday?
• Is there a mature Christian around you whom you could take as a concrete example, someone to ask your questions, to pray with, to be accountable to?
• What "small thing" is the Holy Spirit placing on your heart right now, that you keep putting off because it seems insignificant? Do it this week.

Verses Cited

• 2 Thessalonians 3:5
• 2 Thessalonians 3:6-9
• 2 Thessalonians 3:13
• Romans 12:11
• John 1:16-17
• Genesis 1:27
• Genesis 2:7
• Genesis 3:22-23
• Ephesians 2:8-10
• Revelation 22:14
• 1 Corinthians 12:3
• Galatians 5:22-23

FAQ

The sermon says "work as if God did not exist." Isn't that contradictory to faith?

No, it is a figure of speech. It means you should not use faith as an excuse to avoid effort, responsibility, or diligence. God expects you to give your best, with the seriousness of a worker who knows no one else will do the job for him. But you do it while praying, aware that without him, your effort bears no eternal fruit. The quote attributed to Billy Graham is meant to shake up the false spirituality that "waits on God" while doing nothing.

I'm exhausted and I fall asleep during the service, like the brother in the story. Is that a problem?

No. The pastor tells this story precisely to free you from guilt. What matters is that you are there, in the presence of your brothers and sisters, under the Word. If your body needs rest, sleep on the pew, your soul will be fed in other ways. What would be a shame is staying home out of embarrassment. Come even when you are tired. Your simple presence encourages others.

I can't go to church in person. Does watching the service online really "count"?

Yes. The sermon insists on this: "online" is not a lesser option. It is genuine participation when your heart is engaged in it. Sing along with the congregation, pray out loud, take notes, write to a brother or sister after the service. And if one day you are able to come back in person, do so without feeling guilty for having been "only" online during the time it was necessary.