II Thessalonians 3:10-13

There were people who quit working! They were just going to wait it out. What kind of a category would you put them in?

Do you see how strange and twisted the people's judgment was becoming? They were being neglectful of their relationship with Christ. Because the relationship was being neglected, they were losing contact with Christ. The Spirit of God was diminishing in them and the influence of the Spirit of God was just vaporizing away.

That was the problem in the first century church.

Impacting on that—the foundation of it—was the people's perception that the return of Jesus Christ was being delayed. They were weary with suffering, persecution and other hardships associated with being a Christian. And those hardships were social, because their friends, relatives and others who were not Christians ostracized them. Their persecution was economic in that it was difficult for them to get a job, just as it is today because of Sabbath responsibilities and Holy Day responsibilities. And so, the combination of these things got to them to the place where they were weary with doing well.