I Thessalonians 5:12-28
Joke – Have you heard the story about the guy who wasn’t too bright who got a job painting the lines down the middle of the highway? His first day, he finished 5 miles. Then his output dropped way off. The next day, he only finished 2; the next day, only one. The foreman called him in to ask about it. “You started out so well. Why has your work dropped off so badly?” “Well, I keep getting farther away from the paint bucket!”
You know, I have received or witnessed a lot of people being careful to be good encouragers these past 2 months. I Thessalonians has been a good bucket to draw from, hasn’t it? But there’s a danger as we finish it up that we’ll get too far from the bucket and we’ll suffer a drop off in our encouragement output.
If I were to come up with a title for this part of I Thessalonians, it would be “Paul runs out of paper.” No kidding! Up to this point, there have been these very preachable sections of Scripture, mostly limited to a few good points that all string together. But as he gets near the end here, it seems like he’s either about to run out of writing room or he’s in a hurry to get this in the mail. So, it reads like a student who has to write a paper at least 10 pages long, he covers ¼ the subject in the first 9½ pages and then makes a sprint to the finish. One day, I’m going to ask Paul about the end of this letter.
But then, I notice that it builds on v11. And there’s that theme again that has been running all throughout: Encouragement
I can just imagine Paul is thinking about everyone’s encouragement output and how he doesn’t want that to drop off. So, he puts together these closing remarks - kind of like the last things the salesman tells you about as you take a car off the lot. All along he’s been telling you how it works, but, now that you’re leaving, he’s running over some of the maintenance things you’ll need to know.
Well, we’ve spent a lot of time on this subject of encouragement. Now there are a few maintenance items you need to keep up that ministry of encouragement.
I. Treat People According to Their Needs (vv12-14)
The wording as this section starts out gives the sense: “OK, you’re convinced to be good encouragers, so let me tell you some places where the need for that is the greatest.”
Encouragement…
A. …Is Sensitive to a Person’s Situation
If you’re going to be a good encourager, you have to pay attention to this.
Want to know who needs encouragement? Here are some:
1. Leaders
hold them in the highest regard in love…
• Why? What is it about the leaders in the Church that makes respecting and regarding them so important? Is it they way they dress? After all, don’t all of the elders wear a tie on Sunday morning? Surely that’s not why we’re to hold them in the highest regard!
• Is it because of their popularity? Well, maybe not. Can you name our 8 elders without looking at the bulletin? Did they become elders by being popular? Do you think that, since they became elders, they’ve become more popular? Most of them would tell you that’s not the case.
• Is it because of the way they wield power in the Church? You know – to hire and fire and discipline and rebuke and all that? Well, no. Really, it seems like our men aren’t spending most of their leadership energy on that sort of thing. Besides, Jesus reminded his followers that they weren’t to “lord it over” people.
• Is it because of their perfect personalities? No, probably their wives could point out a few of their foibles if you were to ask them - Just like the rest of us.
• Is it because, in the working world, they’re all in managerial positions or they all have superior education? Well, no, that’s not true of all of them either.
The reason we’re supposed to respect and hold these men in the highest regard has nothing to do with them personally at all. Look one more time in v13 and you’ll see the reason: their work. That’s what it’s all about. The work these men are involved in demands that they be well-regarded – for the sake of the Church and its work.
What they do is a self-sacrificing work. Just like any other volunteer work in the Church, they don’t receive a paycheck for what they do. The fact is, they’ve taken on a job involving meetings and pressure and stresses, but for no financial gain. What a job like that at least deserves in return is for the church to hold the position in high regard.
But an even greater reason is because their work is so important and the Church must move ahead. No congregation is doing well where the leaders of that congregation are being slandered or disregarded. Encourage those men! Tell them you appreciate them. Show them your support when they ask you to help in the church. (Scott, Tom, Ron, Duane, John, Jim, Jody, and Jeff)
It’s not important because of those men. It’s important because it’s Lord’s Church.
Here’s another bunch of people who need special attention.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.
2. (High Maintenance People)
These are what we might call high maintenance people – they’re people with problems that can be a lot of work. They may take a lot of patience. Apparently, the church in Thessalonica had all 3: The Idle, Timid, Weak
Isn’t it interesting that Paul considers these things a concern in the church? We have to be honest here and ask ourselves this morning, “What’s my usual attitude toward ‘high maintenance people’?” After all, those kinds of qualities are a challenge. How do we treat “high maintenance people”?
Speaking of high maintenance people, Jesus hung around with some of the most despised people of His society. He hung around with the ones who really needed some adjusting. And then he chose 12 high-maintenance guys to be His closest followers. And there were plenty of occasions where Jesus must have rolled His eyes at the way His work was cut out for Him. But a good encourager is sensitive to where people are at. He loved His disciples, and he chose them out of everyone else. He knew that Peter would need to be talked to rather frankly. He knew that James and John were going to need some lessons in humility. He knew that Thomas would need to see some visible proofs that Jesus was alive. They needed help to become better men.
Idleness, timidity, weakness – Those are problems, so if that’s where someone in the church is in their life, our job as the church is to help them out of it – to get them from there to something better - so that the church will be a thriving, encouraging kind of place! If someone is just here warming a pew, they need to be warned about how wrong that is. If someone is timid, they need to be encouraged to be bold for the Lord. If someone is weak, they need someone behind them to help them be strong.
We need to be sensitive to where people are at in their lives – whether they’re leaders or they’re people with flaws that are tough to be around sometimes. Good encouragers give attention to where people are at in their lives and treat them according to their needs.
Encouragement
B. …Is Selfless
1 Thessalonians 5:15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Too bad, isn’t it, that Paul has to include instruction that sounds like a quote from your 1st grade teacher? But in the big picture of encouragement, this is an essential. It has to have this selfless kind of approach to others.
Have you ever noticed that the people who are the most encouraging to you are also the ones who are the most selfless? That’s because encouragement, by its very nature, is unselfish.
Encouragement
C. …Has Broad Borders
Just how far outside our comfort zones, our usual circles, are we willing to reach? When a church congregation determines that it’s going to treat people according to their needs, it will broaden its boarders to do that.
If we’re interested in the interests of God, we’ll be doing that.
Vv14,15 “…be patient with everyone…and to everyone else.”
1 Timothy 2:4 [God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 4:10 [God] is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.
Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people,
John 1:7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
Luke 14:23 Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.
John 12:32 But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.
I’m convinced that the church that’s interested in following the Lord’s example won’t have qualms about expanding its borders to meet people where they’re at.
1 Corinthians 9:22 - To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
At some point, my tastes, my comfort, the things I’m used to, all have to give way to something much more important than me. That means I get to be around places where I don’t feel like I fit in. I get to do things that I don’t really feel comfortable doing. I get to use all possible means so that I might save some. Will I do that? I will if I want to be an encourager.
Another necessary for maintaining your encouragement output is to…
II. Practice Being a Blessing
You can’t do vv12-15 very well without personally working at vv16-18
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
We all know what it means to be blessed; to receive a blessing. I want to suggest to you this morning that these verses are all about being a blessing.
A. Be joyful always (v16)
This is the shortest NT verse in the GK NT, but “always” sure covers a lot of time doesn’t it!
It’s hard to distance ourselves from this stuff about being a blessing to others when it says “always.” There are still some people probably thinking, “Joyful always, my foot! It’s my face, and I’ll frown if I want to!”
Ill- OK, let’s say you have a breath problem, and your bad breath doesn’t bother you either. You’re perfectly content with it. Shouldn’t you still brush your teeth at least once in a while for the sake of the people around you?
Maybe you don’t care to smile. Maybe you don’t have a burning inner need to express your joy. The reason you ought to show the outer signs of joy is for the sake of the people who have to look at you! Some folks need to work on this! Go home, look in the mirror, and ask yourself, “Did anyone who saw that today receive encouragement?” If not, take a few more minutes in front of the mirror and practice being a blessing. If nothing else, you can at least have a good laugh trying.
B. Pray Continually (v17)
Sorry, there’s no way to go back into the original language and try to explain away this verse. It means just what it says in English: pray continually.
Prayer is not our typical first response to problem solving. It’s usually not the thing that will draw a crowd together…imagine it: “We’re going to get together to prayer for an hour or two.” How many would show up for that?
Why pray?
One reason is because it encourages. Prayer changes me inside. When I pray for 1 person who needs Jesus everyday I get closer to that person. I start thinking about that person’s needs and how I’m going to invite him to come and see Jesus. I’m not doing that for me. I’m doing it to be blessing to others.
C. Give thanks in all circumstances (18)
It can be done. Even in the very worst of situations, we can give thanks.
Jesus is outside the tomb of His friend Lazarus, and He begins by saying to the Father, “I thank you that you heard me.”
A few years ago, I visited with a couple in my office. They’d recently been through the most difficult challenge of their lives to date, but they were still able to see reasons to thank the Lord, and they are. That encourages me.
Rejoicing, praying, giving thanks – they all start inside of me and work their way out so that I’ll be a blessing to someone else.
But I notice this too – these things are for the sake of blessing others, but when I make them a part of who I am, they end up being a blessing to me! Have you ever found a discouraged person who said, “I’m feeling so discouraged – I just rejoice too much, and I pray too much, and lately I’ve been thanking God too much in public. It’s really got me down!”
If you want to maintain your encouragement output, practice being a blessing to others.
III. Carefully Give God’s Word Its Rightful Place
Understand, in the first years of the Church, there was no NT. Until the NT was written, the Lord was giving His word though the Apostles and through others in the church. There were prophets who would actually give a prophetic utterance – a direct word of instruction from God. It may be that the Thessalonians were resisting these because Paul writes:
1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.
In fact, it could properly be translated, “Stop putting out the Spirit’s fire; stop treating prophecies with contempt.” Somewhere in there they were either just on the edge of or going ahead and resisting what God was saying to them.
Either way, they needed to carefully give God’s word its right place. That took 2 steps, and they’re steps we need to take as well:
A. Distinguish between what’s legitimate and what’s not (Test everything)
The Thes. had to listen and use discernment about prophecies. If someone claimed to have a word from God but it just wasn’t consistent with the rest of what God had said, they had to weed it out. That’s a problem with instruction that’s just spoken and not written. Praise God, we have a written revelation today that doesn’t change!
But, in the today’s church, do we still need to exercise discernment about a word from God? If you ever go into a Bible bookstore to buy a book, you’d better use discernment. If you go to buy Christian music, or a devotional book, even a study Bible with lots of notes, you’d better use discernment. If you’re going to turn on the radio to listen to KLUV. Ask yourself “Is it Scripture or true to Scripture?” If it is, good! But make sure you distinguish. A word from God deserves to be placed above everything else.
When Paul and Silas traveled from Thessalonica to Berea, it says that the people of Berea were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, because they received the word with great eagerness and because they searched the Scriptures daily to see if the things they were hearing were true.
I’ll say it more than just today: one of the greatest compliments you can pay this preacher is to say on the way out, “I’m going to go home and dig into my Bible to see if the things you preached today are true.”
B. Hold to the Good / Reject the Evil
So, v21, after testing everything, hold onto the good. Reject the evil.
If something claims to be from God, but it isn’t, expose it.
Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
There are writers and musicians and preachers out there who are claiming to be giving words from God but they’re not. If what they’re saying or doing isn’t consistent with what God has clearly stated in the Scriptures, don’t buy into it. But then,
Hold to the good. It’s not enough to just be people who reject what’s evil. We also need to fill our lives with what’s good. We need to give God’s word its right place in our lives.
Monologue – Oh, yeah, the church encouraged me to read the Bible through in 2010. I didn’t feel like it. I figure I read it once, at least most of it. Isn’t that enough?
Someone tried to get me into a SS class. School? I figure I’ve already been to school. Why bother with SS?
Then someone tried to get us to join a Community Group – you know, one of them Bible study groups that meets in peoples’ homes on Sunday nights. I like my home just fine on Sunday nights. Besides, I’m just not the group type.
How much are you giving God’s word its right place in your life? How much are you clinging to the good?
Ill – Have you ever tried to take a bottle from a baby? It only takes a little tug on that thing, and the average kid will tighten down his grip till his knuckles are white. It’s life or death in his mind!
The Bible says that man does not live by bread alone, but he lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Just how tightly are you clinging to the good? How prominent is the place you’ve given God’s word in your life? Would someone have a hard time trying to pry it out of your thinking? Would your grip tighten if someone tried to intrude on your time in the Word?
Conclusion:
When Paul concludes this letter, he writes of his hope for the people who are listening. I would wish this same thing for everyone here today, but especially if you’re outside Christ. Haven’t you tried to live without Jesus long enough?
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
God keeps His promises. He won’t let you down. He calls you and promises to make you brand new in Jesus. He promises to save you for heaven on the last day – and He will do it.
