I THESSALONIANS 512-28
Paul’s favourite way of describing the Christian church is that of a family. Just as in physical life you are born into a family so in the family of God you are born, born again, into this family. In his final exhortations to the believers at Thessalonica Paul speaks to them about family life, that is church life. He speaks about three things in particular:
FAMILY LEADERSHIP – VERSES 12-13.
FAMILY PARTNERSHIP – VERSES 14-16.
FAMILY WORSHIP – VERSES 17-28.
FAMILY LEADERSHIP – VERSES 12-13.
Without leadership a family falls apart and without leadership a church falls apart. God in his wisdom has ordained a creative order to this world – we read it in Genesis. Note will you that when Adam and Eve sin God calls Adam to account – because God in the created order placed Adam as the head of the family. Yes there is mutuality and equality but God has ordained that responsibility for leadership in the family is with the male. Sorry if that offends you but I am here to teach scripture and not the way of the world. So Paul speaks to the believers at Thessalonica about leadership within the family of God, within the family of the Church. Now look at what he says here. He outlines the leaders responsibility and the responsibility of those being led.
The leaders responsibility is to do the following:
To work hard amongst the brethren – verse 9 of chapter 2 Paul outlines how they had been faithful in doing this amongst the Thessalonians.
To stand over the sheep. They are given the responsibility of being an under-shepherd – ultimately answerable to the Good Shepherd for how they have cared for and led the sheep of Christ’s flock. Anarchy is sinful in the Christian church. God has called and appointed leaders in his church. God is a God of order and not of chaos – if a church is in chaos it is not of God. To stand over has in mind to protect, to guard, to keep, to care for, to lead and guide – the image is full over meaning here.
To admonish them. Paul says that part of the responsibility of leadership in the family of God is to correct in word and deed the people placed under your care. This naturally would arouse resentment but discipline is a necessary and vital part of the church and the leadership role.
So Paul moves on to outline the responsibility of those being led towards the leaders of the church. Note will Paul does not speak of a leader but leaders – the NT pattern is for many leaders within a fellowship – just as we have many leaders within this fellowship. Now listen to what Paul says our attitude should be towards those over us in Christ Jesus.
Respect and Esteem. That is we are to recognise their responsibility and there accountability as coming from and before God. We are to honour them in the Lord, it is not personal honour but honour in the Lord. We honour them because of the work which they do amongst us in the name and for the sake of Christ Jesus. It is their position in the Lord and their labour for the Lord that demands our respect for and our esteem of them. To do this we are called to accept them as a gift from God to the church. They have spiritual authority from the Lord and therefore we should accept that and respect it. As they follow the Lord we are called to follow them.
Appreciate them – there is nothing wrong with honouring faithful ministers/leaders in our church – so long as God gets the glory. It is a grave responsibility to be called into leadership in the fellowship of God’s church (and I do not just mean ordained ministry here). It brings a burden and battles and sometimes the encouragements are few – we should learn to encourage and appreciate our spiritual leaders in this church.
Love them Paul calls the Thessalonians to love their leaders. Now that is a difficult task. It is difficult to be ‘among’ and ‘over’ people at the same time and sometimes the balance is not right – but Paul says love them.
Obey them – Hebrews 1317 READ. When God’s Servant, led by God’s Spirit calls us to obey God’s Word then we are to obey. It does not mean that everything a leader says is correct and without error – that is why Paul later tells the Thessalonians to test everything. But despite these limitations spiritual leaders are to be respected and obeyed in the fellowship. The result of following Paul’s admonition here is that there will be peace and harmony within the family of God.
You see there are two temptations with leadership in the church. We can elevate the person above their status and when they fall they fall from a great height. We can equally shoot leaders down below their position. I read this week in an article from an American pastor who said that the favourite Sunday meal in his congregation was ‘roast preacher.’ He made a very valid point out of this – he said his people wondered why so many of their kids did not follow the Christian faith. He said it was easy to answer – the parents roasted the preacher every Sunday lunch – so why would the kids listen to the preacher preaching God’s word when all they heard from their parents was criticism and cynicism about him every Sunday.
Friends it is easy to denigrate the spiritual leadership of a church. As Christians we are called to respect and esteem them as labour in the kingdom of God amongst us. The result of this true perspective will be peace and not tension in the church. More pastoral work will get done because we obey this admonition.
FAMILY PARTNERSHIP – VERSES 14-15.
Whereas in verses 12 and 13 Paul made a request to the Thessalonians he here uses a stronger term – ‘we urge you.’ Paul here calls the entire family of God to be in partnership with one another, to do pastoral work together and not to leave it to the leaders alone. Listen to what he exhorts them to do within the family of the church:
Warn the idle – idleness comes because there is a lack of discipline in the life of the believer. Paul is not just talking about laziness here – he is talking about an attitude that leads to idleness about the things of God. Friends can I say a more timely word could not be found today for this church. Many people, claiming to be Christians, are idle about the things of God. There is a distinct lack of discipline in this fellowship – let me share with you the areas where it is very apparent. Lack of discipline of being here each Sunday to worship together. A small number at the Bible study. A serious lack of support for any event that happens – be it BB, GB, Youth club. Friends I could go on and mention the personal lack of disciplines – but you get the message – Paul calls the Thessalonian believers to admonish, to warn each other in this area of living and we are called to do the same.
Encourage the timid– different need here. These people do not need warning but encouraging and comforting. These people do not need correction they need to be built up – and that is what Paul has been doing in this letter. Paul literally says we are ‘speak alongside them.’ What he is saying that we are to be their means of support – not that they become dependent on us – but it is the accountable friend. The person who walks beside you in life and encourages you when the going gets tough or when you feel afraid.
Help the weak – Paul says don’t let them fall, hold them up. You know friends in the church we are very good at shooting our wounded. When someone is weak in an area of their life we are often quick to shoot them down, to denigrate their claim to faith. I honestly believe that God is more loving than we will ever know and I believe he is far more compassionate than we are with people. Often I hear harsh words about people and their weaknesses and I wonder – how would Jesus react in this situation. The lady caught in adultery he was compassionate, he was gentle, he lifted her up out of the mire of sin. The prodigal son is another case in point. We are to help the weak not shoot them brethren.
Be patient – now is that not what all of this comes down to. Being patient with each other is very difficult. I am one of the worst for being impatient with people. This command sums up the other three that Paul has laid upon them. I read a wonderful story this past week where a Pastor had shared with a friend how in his long ministry he had noticed that the biggest rascals in his bible classes always turned out to be the missionaries and the pastors later. only this week Drew and I were talking about the remarkable change in the lives of some of the young men in the BB who have become Christians over the past months. We were saying if ever there was an encouragement for patient work and not giving up. So be patient Paul says.
Verse 15 – well obviously Timothy ahs said to Paul that some of the believers are still on the ‘an eye for an eye’ teaching agenda. The natural inclination is to retaliate but it is the sinful reaction. Remember the Lord Jesus – Father strike them dead now! No, Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Turn the other cheek, forgive seventy times seven, if he takes your cloak give him your shirt as well, pray for those who persecute and hate you. Not easy but that is what we are called to do in the fellowship of the church. Remember Paul is talking about life within the church here not the outside world at this point. There is no sense living as a Christian out there if in here, in the family you are vengeful, spiteful, bitter and twisted. If you cannot live in here as a Christian then all you do out there is deny the efficacy of the gospel and add to the list of hypocrites. Non retaliation for personal wrong is a sign of Christian maturity. We need to learn that in this fellowship. The personal resentments, the little petty feuds, the sarcastic remarks, the undermining of people – it goes on and it is just down right sinful. Paul called the Thessalonians to live differently and so are we.
PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY – VERSES 16-18.
To follow verses 12-15 is impossible if we are not in fellowship with Christ Jesus. Therefore before moving on Paul speaks about the inner life of the believer. He mentions three things – Joy, Prayer and Thanks. These are three aspects of being in fellowship with Christ Jesus.
Joy – whatever circumstances we find ourselves in we have joy because we know that Christ is in control. From a human perspective this is impossible for the Thessalonians – they had plenty to be sad about – loved ones who had died, persecution and trials – yet in Christ they are to be more and more joyful.
Prayer – well your joy in all circumstances in life depends on prayer. Prayer keeps the temporal and the spiritual in balance in your life. Constant recurring prayer leads to a dependence on God. It is about lifting up your heart before God and not the amount of words used. Remember the Pharisee and the sinner praying and the difference which Jesus made between them.
Thanks – Romans 828 – in knowing that God is in control and that all things work for good – well then we know that even those things which we consider bad are working ultimately for our spiritual well-being and growth.
Paul finishes this section by pointing out that the reason he exhorts them to do these three things is because it is God’s will for their lives. That is the sole justification and there needs to be no other for them to obey it.
FAMILY WORSHIP – VERSES 19-28.
Worship is the most important part of family life here at Holy Trinity. Everything else that happens in this building is secondary to what happens here on a Sunday morning. Sunday morning should be in our hearts and in our diaries before anything else in the week. Paul at the very end of this letter to this young church writes about their communal life together. Why? Because he knows that if they do not meet regularly and faithfully for public worship then they will die as a fellowship. If they neglect public worship they soon will fall away from the faith and the fellowship will be weakened and die.
The Word of God – verses 19-22
Remember that the early church did not have a complete Bible as we do – that is important when we come to interpret and understand these three verses and what Paul says in them. The main principle in these verses is actually found in verse 21 ‘test everything’. But you must have something to test it against – for us that is the Bible – it is God’s revelation to us and it is his truth – there is nothing above it in the life of the church. Paul warns them not to stifle the Spirit – that is they are not to prevent people from exercising God given gifts in ministry within the fellowship but he balances this with the warning that they are not to be gullible. You see there can a lot of emotion and commotion in the church but no spiritual truth and lasting fruit. Paul does not want the froth, he does not want them to be deceived – hence he tells them to avoid evil – in the context of this part of the letter he is speaking about satan imitating the spiritual gifts of God so that the people would be led astray. Hence he tells them test it – test it according to the truth, according to the faithfulness of God, according to the gospel and according to the lasting fruit in the life of the individual and the fellowship. Accept the truth but reject the false. You see the Thessalonian church was the very opposite of the Corinthian church. Corinth accepted everything but the Thessalonians were in danger of accepting nothing. So Paul encourages them not to quench the Spirit but to test the things of the Spirit. They were to have a right balance between swallowing everything and accepting everything – the answer is to test everything.
Conclusion – verses 23-28.
Paul says I have told you what to do but it is God who will enable you to do it. Paul says that every part, every area of their lives will be sanctified, that is progressively made holy by God because he is faithful. He prays that on that last day they will be blameless before the Lord Jesus. That has been the whole purpose of his letter to them – that when Christ comes again they might be a bride fit for the heavenly marriage feast. You see the purpose of all of Paul’s teaching was not to increase intellectual knowledge in the Thessalonian church but to increase godly living amongst the believers. Scripture is there to bring us to salvation and to lead us to live godly and blameless lives in this world to the honour and glory of Christ.
Paul then asks them to pray for him , for Timothy and for Silas. They are then to remember that they are to be in intimate fellowship with one another – signified by the kiss – an intimate personal contact between two people. He tells them to read the letter publicly so that the whole congregation may be taught and learn from what he has written.
Verse 28 he finishes his letter to them as he began by mentioning the grace of Christ. Because for Paul it is all about grace. The primacy of grace can never be overlooked.
