Intro: since we have been preaching community for weeks, I had this thought during the city fireworks for the fourth of July celebration, this took a community effort for this night to happen. From the Mayor to councilmen, to chamber of commerce, to the law enforcement, to the community clubs, social services, etc. It takes everyone functioning for our community to work. The same is true of the Community of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, we must all function properly for the community to be a blessing. You find a church that isn’t functioning well, it goes from being a blessing to a curse, or a no factor in reaching the lost. For a few weeks, we will minister on the theme: Functioning in the Community of Faith
I Thessalonians 5:11-28 will be our verses for our messages.
Background: Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica two times to help them with their mis-understanding of the rapture of the church. Evidently many thought they didn’t have to do anything but stare up in the sky and wait for the rapture to take place, or many thought it had already happened and didn’t know what to do next. Paul corrects these misunderstandings. To finish things off, he concludes with a list of encouragements on functioning properly in the body of Christ. Let’s examine these encouragements one by one.
v.11a- encourage one another–the church is always short in the area of encouragers. There are plenty of critics, there are always some complainers, but never an over abundance of encouragers. Paul gives this admonition, encourage each other. I read a sermon by Elmer Towns that states to bless someone is to place value on them. When you encourage someone, you value them, you bless their life, and in the process you bless your own.
v.11b- build each other up–as opposed to tearing each other up. It is amazing that what takes months or even years to build can be destroyed in seconds. When the twin towers went down it proved that it takes less ability to tear things down then to build things up. I don’t believe it is God’s will for people in the body of Christ to tear one another up. A spirit of building up must be in place over a spirit of tearing down. God placed in the Word that if people have an offense with someone else in the Body of Christ, they should make an effort to resolve it. I am so glad Bethel is functioning in unity, because very few things can be built up in a time of war.
v.12-13a–respect them who are working over you in the Lord. Honor them because they pour the Word of God into your lives to build you up in your faith. The other day I was at a Wendy’s and the rating was 96 and my food was hot and my tea was ice cold, and everything tasted great. I asked to speak to the manager, and I told him thank you for such great food and service. He was moved by the act of appreciation.
V.13b- live in peace with each other–if someone asked me what can I do to make this church a great church, my first response would be, get along with other people, live at peace in the family of God. It is not God’s will for you to cause discord. God calls the one who sows discord among the brethren and abomination in His sight. There is no spirituality in tearing someone else down.
V.14-warn those who are idle–another key to functioning in the church is personal involvement in the work. As your Pastor, I encourage you, get involved, be an active part, it will keep you spiritually in tune to be physically involved. Support the work, make the effort of building the community of faith.
V.14b- encourage the timid– or encourage the discouraged. One great ministry in the church is to find people who are discouraged, going through bad times, and be an encourager to them.
V.14c–help the weak–may a special effort to nurture the baby Christian. Everyone knows the growing process takes time in all of our lives. Paul gives this instruction that the Spiritual are to lift those who are struggling. Years ago this is one area I believe the church didn’t function well. If someone struggled in their spiritual walk they normally met a storm of judgment and criticism for their failure, instead of love, acceptance and forgiveness.
V.14d-be patient with everyone–in any church, there will be times that things don’t go as planned, just like in every area of our lives. So being patient with the leaders, having compassion in times when things don’t work out. Since we are human, some of our best attempts will still fall short. Always remember, it is easy to sit back and criticize someone else’s efforts, but they don’t make statues for critics but for those who do something
V.15-make sure nobody pays back wrong with wrong–Paul says, two wrongs don’t make a right. Church discipline is a sensitive subject for some. It is like the church shouldn’t be a place with rules. But like it or lump it, rules apply everywhere, especially in the Body of Christ. If you can’t get along with others, if you are constantly offended, if you are easily upset with people, it isn’t their problem, it is yours. We all have people that are exact opposite, we generally get married to them. In the church your opposite may rub you raw, but instead of turning your difference into a war, you should see their difference as contributing to the body of Christ in a different way then you do.
V.15b–be kind to one another and everyone else–Paul says to function in the community you must have a good spirit. He goes on to say, not only within the church, but outside of the body we must operate in a kind and gentle spirit. The quality that made Jesus different from the religious leaders was that he was kind and gentle in dealing with people. If you don’t have a testimony outside the church you don’t have a testimony inside either.
v.16–be joyful–bring a spirit of joy to the church. Now there are times when we carry heavy burdens, and there are times when we may go through grief over loss in our lives. But Paul is speaking in general terms, that a proper way to function within the community is to bring a joyful attitude with you. Be cheerful in your giving, be thankful for your community, be a blessing to others.
V.17 pray continually–come with a spirit of prayer. This community is a spiritual community, and prayer is the power behind it. If this area lacks, all other areas will fail. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it. Pray for your leaders, pray for souls, pray for those in need of healing, pray every service will be a blessing. If you come with a spirit of prayer, you will leave with a spirit of joy.
V.18–give thanks, for this is God’s will in Christ Jesus concerning you. When someone comes into the community, if they are met with a negative spirit, like one of my friends said, it is like spraying them in the face with bug spray, they will not come back to a church where the spirit of thanksgiving isn’t part of the worship.
Paul says, this is God’s will for our life.
V.19- don’t put out the Spirit’s fire–another way not to function in the community is to have the ministry of a wet blanket. When someone is encouraged in their lives, when someone is touched by the Spirit of God, it isn’t your ministry to bring them down. Years ago a counselor at a youth camp told our young ladies who had a wonderful encounter at the altars, you can’t always live in the clouds, your feet will hit the ground soon. Even though that was a true statement, that we must live by faith, it was not good ministry, because no one should feel called to put out other people’s flames.
V.20–do not treat prophecies with contempt–being a Pentecostal preacher, I could stay here a long time, but I will just make a few simple points and move on. When someone feels they have a good Word from the Lord, it should not be met with Spiritual pride. We should be open to the Spirit of God speaking into our lives. The next verse, 21 gives us the right attitude in a Word spoken to us, try it in your Spirit, take the good and reject anything you don’t feel is a true Word from God into your life. Eat the watermelon and spit out the seeds.
V.22-avoid every kind of evil–the King James says, avoid even the appearance of evil. Many times Christians don’t realize that people in the world are watching them to see if their lives are for real. It is very important to avoid any situation that could have even an appearance of evil. Christians must be careful about what they say, where they go, and to weigh every action by the Word of God. If the Word says not to do it, it doesn’t matter who says it is alright, it is still wrong.
v 23-28–here is Paul’s conclusion on the subject of functioning in the community. We will not go verse by verse, but I would like to give an overview of these final instructions. Paul breaks the conclusion into four points:
a. God’s keeping power–God will sustain you through the trials of life. If you do your part, God is surely going to do His part. If you draw near to God, God will draw near to you.
b. Paul’s request for prayer–Paul values the prayers of the church, so he closes with a request for them to pray for his spiritual team that God would bless the work.
c. we are family–we are not just any community, we are God’s family. We should never turn His church into just another organization, but operate in the love of God with one another.
d. give these instructions to everyone–no one is excluded from how to function in the community. These rules apply to everyone, no one is above them. If you ever get people who feel they are above the rules, that no one can tell them anything, you will have a problem with them. I told someone recently that the hardest thing about ministry is that if you ever correct anyone for anything, that is generally their ticket to move on. But even if the Truth hurts, it is still the Truth. A wise man loves instruction, but a fools despises anyone telling him anything.
Close: in the All State drama presentation of “the last one home” one of the powerful scenes was that one young Christian man signed up for the war, because his friend who was lost had signed up. All through the drama, this young man had as his single purpose, to keep the light of Christ before his unsaved friend. One of the highlights of the drama was when this unsaved man gave his life to Christ. When you join the community of faith, you basically have as your mission, to make your life count for Christ, by making it count for others. The main function of the church is souls, everything we do should revolve around the cross, around the saving grace of God, around people being born again. This is our main function.
