Fed by Grace. Called to Labour.

“Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10)

This is not my favourite verse in the Bible. Indeed, it’s right up there with “God helps those who help themselves” and “Why don’t you get a haircut and get a real job?”, neither of which are actually in the Bible, of course, but this one is: “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.” And it makes me squirm.

Call me a leftist ratbag if you will, but I’ve never felt comfortable with this verse, and when I lost my job five years ago – unemployed, with a dependent child, and unable to access social support – I found I liked it even less.

“Aren’t I entitled to some sort of benefit?” I asked. “A retrenchment benefit? A sickness benefit? A childcare benefit? Or just a ‘thank you for forty years of hard work’ benefit?” “No!” I was told. “Those who will not work, let them not eat.”

OK, they didn’t use those exact words, but multiple leaders – political and ecclesial – have had no problem with turning this Pauline work ethic into policy. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher come to mind, preaching personal responsibility and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.

Was it Reagan or Thatcher who said, “the nine most dangerous words in the English language are “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”?”

Well … where I last read it, it was Thatcher quoting Reagan in a tribute speech.

Closer to home, we’ve had our own pious politicians – Tony Abbott and John Howard – who, in the spirit of 2 Thessalonians 3:10, insisted we “work for the dole”.

And which great Christian leader was it who encouraged us, in his 1744 sermon on “The Use of Money”, to earn all we can and to save all we can? Yes, it was Charles Wesley – a spiritual father to many of us, proudly echoing the Protestant Work Ethic (or so it would seem).

I was raised with the Protestant work ethic. I remember, as a teenager, spending an entire weekend working on a school project. My dad commended me for not wasting time playing outdoors or dancing in the sunshine. I had worked and earned my keep.

Max Weber, in his 1905 classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, argued that Calvinist theology, with its emphasis on calling, discipline, and productive labour, shaped modern capitalism. Verses like 2 Thessalonians 3:10 were theological fuel for the cultural shift:

“Waste of time is thus the first and, in principle, the deadliest of sins. The idea of duty in one’s calling prowls about in our lives like the ghost of dead religious beliefs.”

But here’s my problem with this ethic. It doesn’t fit easily with the concept of grace.

“For God so loved the world that God gave…” (John 3:16). Not to those who earned God’s favour and not to those who had worked for it. God gives because God loves – whether or not we’ve put in a hard day’s work.

The early church reflected exactly this approach:

“There was not a needy person among them… and the proceeds were distributed to each as any had need.” (Acts 4:34–35).

Not according to their work, but according to their need, and this was something they learnt directly from Jesus.

What’s the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels? The feeding miracle. Jesus feeds thousands – not because they worked or believed or proved themselves in any way, shape or form – but simply because they were hungry (Matthew 15:32). No one had to sing for their supper when Jesus was the host. It was an act of grace.

So what was Paul’s issue?

In truth, Paul’s communities were places of grace and love too. But in Thessalonica, some believers had become disengaged – convinced that Jesus had already returned or was about to. If the end was near, why bother working? Paul’s words – “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” – sound harsh, but he wasn’t punishing the poor. He was confronting theological confusion and spiritual passivity.

Paul’s vision of community, as expressed in his first letter to the church in Corinth, was of a body with many parts – hands, feet, eyes, and ears. “There are many parts,” he says, “yet one body.” (1 Corinthians 12:20), and not every member needed to have a 9-to-5 job to be a vital part of that body.

I remember starting ministry in Dulwich Hill in 1990 with only three people there under the age of seventy. Most of us were pensioners. Even so, together we built a youth ministry that touched every teenager in the region. Those wonderful elderly women didn’t have jobs, but they had purpose.

So what do we do with this verse?

We don’t throw it out. We don’t weaponise it. We wrestle with it—like Jacob at the river Jabok—until it blesses us.

Paul wasn’t condemning the poor. He was confronting disengagement. He wasn’t preaching capitalism. He was preserving community. And yes, his words have been misused—by politicians, preachers, and well-meaning parents—but we don’t have to abandon them. We can reclaim them.

Because work can be sacred—not because it earns us grace, but because it responds to grace. We don’t work to be loved. We work because we are loved. We don’t labour to earn our place at the table. We labour because we’ve already been fed.

And yes, there are seasons when we can’t work—when grief, illness or injustice knock us flat, and in those moments, the church, if it’s truly the body of Christ, will feed us—not because we are productive, but because we’re loved.

But when we can work – when we can build, serve, teach, heal, or simply show up – we must do that, not out of fear and not out of guilt but out of gratitude and love.

Yes, Charles Wesley: we gain all we can and save all we can, and (to complete his threefold teaching) we give all we can, because when we are fed by grace, our labour becomes a labour of love.

Our Sunday Eucharist

We shared another wonderful Sunday Eucharist last weekend. I had Rob Gilland and Andrew Logan with me on the panel, and Joy alongside me at Binacrombi . We were having so much fun that I completely forgot to invite AI Saint Paul into the conversation. I’ll try to remember him next Sunday. I trust he wasn’t too offended.

As usual, you have the two most popular shorts from last week posted below. and our full discussion of the Gospel reading is at the bottom of the page. See all the shorts on our Sunday Eucharist Instagram page or watch all our broadcasts in their entirety on YouTube.

This coming Sunday I’m looking forward to having Jakob Pyeatt and Craig Sutton back on the panel with me. Craig (and his faithful hound, Tiny) will be out at Binacrombi, but we trust the transmission will be good. Jakob is on the other side of the world, but we never seem to have any technical issues reaching him.

Invite your friends by referring them to the Facebook Event Page or the Streamyard page and join us at midday on Sunday via Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia, Streamyard or TheSundayEucharist.com

Let me work your corner

If you’d like to see my work continue, please click here to make a one-off donation. If you can afford a monthly contribution, sign up at Patreon.com and choose either:

Middleweight—$10/month (community mentoring)

Enrol in the Fighting Fit training program
Access member-only training videos
Engage in the members-only forum

Super-Middleweight – $50/month (remote mentoring)

All of the above +
One-on-one mentoring via email, phone, or Skype

Heavyweight – $100/month (in-person mentoring)

All of the above +
Training with Father Dave’s Old School Boxing Academy

Superheavyweight – $200/month (intensive in-person mentoring)

All of the above +
One weekend per month at Binacrombi Bush Camp.

Every dollar helps keep the wheels turning—the websites, the newsletters, the broadcasts, the boxing club, and the bush camp. Sign up at Patreon.com.

What’s On?

Sunday, November 16 – Our Eucharist from noon @thesundayeucharist.com, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Faithia or Streamyard
Tuesday, November 18 – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Thursday, November 20 – Online Bible study group meeting from noon @ www.thesundayeucharist.com/bible
Thursday, November 20 – Boxing at the Mundine Gym in Redfern from 7 pm
Saturday, November 22 – Boxing at Legend’s Gym in Kensington from 3 pm

It’s been a big week for me with my beloved daughter, Imogen, coming up from Melbourne and spending the week with us. We were even able to do a few rounds in the ring together which was very special, though I appreciate that’s not everybody’s idea of father/daughter bonding. ❤️🥊

I’m in serious training now for my title defence on December 13th and I’m following my own 30-day challenge protocol to help me make weight and increase my energy levels. I’m praying and hoping that this will be a breakthrough opportunity – to raise my profile and extend the reach of the Fighting Fathers. I’d appreciate your prayers – not that I win but that we make the most of this opportunity for the greater cause.

I continue to pray each day for the health and safety of my friend, Dr Hassoun – the former Grand Mufti of Syria. i believe he is still alive in prison. I suspect he is still being tortured. For me, his situation reflects perfectly the dystopian state of our world – that a great man of peace like Dr Hassoun can be imprisoned as a terrorist while we welcome a known Al Qaeda leader as President of the country!

Pray with me for Dr Hassoun. Pray for Syria. Pray for Palestine, as the US pushes to implement Mr Trump’s peace plan, which still involves turning Gaza into the Riviera of the Middle East (with no Palestinians allowed). I have to believe that God will see justice done – in Palestine, in Syria, in my own country and around the world, but … “how long, O Lord?”

Your brother in the Good Fight,