“Giving What Is
Needed, Getting What Is Due”
1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
Message #12 in 1 Thess.
Series
McEwen Bible Fellowship
16 October 2022
INTRODUCTION:
In our text for today the apostle Paul discusses the inner workings of a healthy, loving local church. I believe that is what all of us are looking for. We all want to be part of a wonderful church family where we feel loved, understood, accepted, and needed. We all want and need to feel safe with people who know us and yet accept us unconditionally.
The problem is that most of are hoping to find this wonderful perfect church without having to contribute to make it perfect. We want it bespoke for us, readymade, ready to welcome us with open arms. But the truth is no church is perfect and all have blemishes. But to the degree that we apply the teachings of this letter we will discover that any church can transition to become a wonderful church family—not perfect, but tremendous.
Our text for today is 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15. Listen as I read or follow along with me.
TRANSITION:
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
MAIN BODY:
Verse 12: Now we ask you, brothers, to respect [to
know] those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord
and who admonish you.
·
“…we ask you” — Paul is making a request, not throwing
his weight around.
·
“…brothers” — He is dealing with believers, not unbelievers,
and he makes his appeal to these folks as brothers and sisters in Christ.
·
“…to respect” — This word is an
unfortunate and inaccurate translation. The Greek word that Paul uses here literally
means “to know,” meaning to know
the value of, thus, to appreciate. It is the same word that describes the
“knowing” that a husband and wife share, knowing the good, the bad, the
beautiful, and the ugly about each other yet still loving, appreciating, and
supporting one another. Respect is not quite the same thing.
·
“…those who work hard among you” – I.e., those church
leaders who labour, toil, and strive. To help a struggling church has never
proved easy. It is difficult to do. Contrary to what many believe, the work of
a pastor is not an easy job.
·
“…who are over you in the Lord” – I.e., Presiding,
meaning in a shepherding sense. That is sometimes hard for us when we do not
agree with the decisions made or like the leader’s personality. However, in the
early church this sometimes made for even more interesting situations. Approximately
40% of the people in the Roman Empire were slaves, and that same ratio carried
over in the churches. Take Onesimus, for example, described in the book of
Philemon. He was a Christian slave owned by a Christian master. The church in
their city met in his master’s house. Theoretically Onesimus could have found
himself in the awkward position of becoming his master’s pastor. Try that on
for size.
· “…who admonish you”— [lit. “put you in mind of”]. Most of us do not like to be corrected or called on the carpet for anything. We get very defensive about people pointing out our failures or our mistakes, even if they do it in a loving, gentle way. This Greek word is variously translated “admonish, rebuke, or instruct.” But we do not like any of the three and tend to resent any pastor who dares to do it.
Verse 13: Hold them in the highest regard in love because of
their work. Live in peace with each other.
·
“…esteem them highly in love” = Who does the word “them”
refer to? Obviously to the leaders, the pastors and elders mentioned in verse
12. The word Paul chooses here means “to hold in a lofty position in our
minds.” It means to think the best of them, to appreciate them, and to
give them the benefit of the doubt concerning their motives.
·
“…because of their work” = Knowing that pastors
and elders have been called by God to serve the body and to care for the sheep.
The writer of Hebrews puts it this way in 13:17, “Obey
your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those
who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for
this would be unprofitable for you.” So, note the warning.
· “Live in peace with each other” = This applies to everyone in the church, but in the context, Paul is especially referring to the need for cordial cooperation between followers and leaders, shepherds and sheep. Moreover, to “live in peace with each another” implies much more than a mere tolerance of one another.
Verse 14: And we urge
you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage
the timid, help the weak, be patient
with everyone.
·
“And we urge you, brothers” – Here Paul switches
gears and focuses his instruction on those folks on the other side of the
fence, the pastors/elders in leadership positions and responsible for the
well-being of the Thessalonian church. He lays out four scenarios that
illustrate the work of a pastor/elder.
ü “Warn
those who are idle” [NASV “admonish the unruly” lit. out
of rank, out of order] = Remember back a few weeks ago when I explained the
historical perspective of this letter and the problem of those who had quit
working in the hope that Jesus would return any minute. In the meantime, they
were mooching off other people and generally causing trouble and hard feelings.
It is this bunch that Paul is referring to. They were completely out of order.
There are times when a sheep just needs a swift kick in the fleece to get him
straightened out and moving in the right direction. A good shepherd knows when
to be firm with the sheep and when to be gentle. It is much like parenting.
ü “Encourage,
the timid” Literally, “encourage the fainthearted.” A
timid or fainthearted person is a different story than a lazy, unruly person.
Faintheartedness is a condition after great stress, trauma, or overwork. People
sometimes lose the strength and will to go on. They conclude that the battle is
not worth the effort or that the cause is already lost.
ü Examples come to mind
where a great military leader has been able to get his weary, hungry, wounded
troops to make one more run at the enemy, resulting in a great victory.
The story of Col. Joshua Chamberlain and the men of the 20th Maine at the
Battle of Gettysburg comes to my mind. Given the job of holding the Federal
flank at Little Round Top the 20th Maine found themselves outnumbered by the
47th and 15th Alabama Infantry. They fought off wave after wave of determined
Confederate troops who knew that this was the decisive battle of the war.
Finally, the 20th Maine was spent. They were completely out of ammo, and with
many of their soldiers dead or dying it looked like a sure defeat. But Col. Chamberlain
was not ready to quit! He ordered his men to fix bayonets. There was not
a handful of cartridges between them, but he told them to spread out down the
hill and on his command, to attack the enemy with bayonets. With blood-curdling
shouts the men of the 20th Maine started down the hill, running full speed
toward the enemy. It so frightened and unnerved the Rebel soldiers that they
turned and ran for their lives, not realizing they were being chased by men
with empty rifles. Their courage broke the back of the Confederate advance and
turned the war in a new direction. Col. Chamberlain knew how to “encourage the fainthearted” so that they went on
to gain a great victory. That is the role of leadership.
ü “Help [lit.
cling to] the weak”—This is a different kind of problem. Sometimes
soldiers get wounded. They need a medic who will risk his life to get to them
with first aid. And then they will need a couple of strong men to carry him off
the battlefield to a place where he can heal up. And face it; we are all “weak”
at one time or another. We all have times when we are spiritually frail and
fragile. We all need people around us that we can lean on in the hard times.
God never intended us to live in isolation from other people, thinking that we do
not need anyone to help us. That is the high-water mark of pride and
stupidity. As Christians we are to be inter-dependent
with one another. We are commanded to “bear one
another’s burdens.” We can only do that as we allow people to know
us and to know our struggles. There are people in our congregation that need us
right now because they are wounded and hurting. Others needs us to love them
and encourage them and remind them that God is still in control. Pastors and elders
are not the only ones who are to encourage the fainthearted and help the weak,
but it is certainly part of their job description.
ü “Be patient
[lit. long-tempered] with everyone”—This word is the opposite
of “short-tempered.” It means long-suffering. Patience is not easy. In fact, it
is not even natural. It is supernatural, a fruit of the Spirit of God. By nature,
most of us are impatient with people. I certainly am, especially on the highway
or when I watch the news. It is something I must continually work on because it
does not come natural to me. But God has gentle ways of reminding me that I
screw up as much as the next guy. It is not by accident that God chose in His
Word to repeatedly liken us to sheep. Sheep are silly, stinky, stubborn
creatures who without a shepherd would not last a week. We are like that too. That
is why Christ put shepherds over His sheep.
·
For
50 years I have served as an under-shepherd of the Good Shepherd, a pastor of a
flock, but I must keep reminding myself that I too am a sheep and am as big a
mess as the next ram or ewe. I need to be patient with the people under my care
in the same way that God is patient with me. I have no right to get uppity and
proud and too big for my fleece.
·
The
Bible is full of references about how God shepherds His people, and the most
common metaphor for people is that we are sheep. Thus, it should
come as no surprise that those whom God has called to help care for His sheep
are called “shepherds/pastors” because that is exactly what the word means,
“one who cares for sheep.” But what are some of the specific things that
pastors are required to do for the sheep? What does their job description look
like? Because of Pastor Dan’s resignation you folks are going to be looking for
a new shepherd. Here is a list of eleven (11) things that a shepherd needs to
be prepared to do for his flock. You might want to keep these in mind as you
look for a new man to fill this role here at McEwen.
·
Eleven (11) things that a shepherd does for his sheep:
1. He learns to know
the sheep by name, and they learn to trust his voice
2. He loves the sheep
and deals with them in loving ways
3. He feeds the sheep
what is good for them, albeit not necessarily what they crave
4. He leads the sheep
to still waters where they can drink deeply without fear
5. He guides the sheep
by example, going before them rather than driving them
6. He herds the sheep,
keeps the flock together and stops them from scattering
7. He protects the
sheep from wolves or anything else that might harm them
8. He comforts the
sheep when they are injured or fearful
9. He assists the
sheep in lambing, caring for the babies they reproduce
10. He doctors the
sheep, binding their wounds and anointing them with oil
11. He sacrifices himself for the sheep if necessary, putting their welfare over his own
Verse 15: Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but
always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
·
“…so that nobody pays back wrong for wrong” = That is our natural
tendency, is it not? “You hit me, so I am going to hit you back” “An
eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Paul is not saying that we should
ignore the concept of social justice or that we must give up our right to
defend ourselves. However, he is pointing out that as Christians we should seek
to live by a higher standard than the one the world uses. Vindictiveness and
retaliation should find no lodging within the household of faith.
·
“…try to be kind to each other” = In the body of Christ
we should be willing to forgive wrongs done to us and seek to live in peace
with our brothers and sisters. The church is a family. Family members
often wound one another by words or actions. However, in a healthy loving
family the well-being of the family unit trumps the desire for revenge.
· “…and to everyone else” = Clearly here Paul is talking about unbelievers. We must show the same kind of kindness toward those outside the faith as we do for those who are already part of the family of God.
CONCLUSION:
We Christians have two paths: (1) We can search high and low looking for the illusive perfect church that will meet all our perceived “needs;” or (2) We can decide to be part of the solution and get busy shaping our less-than-perfect church to become the wonderful church we have been dreaming of. So, which will it be with you?
McEwen Bible Fellowship is in a time of flux, of change, beginning the process of transition to make way for a new pastor. Soon this congregation will be sifting through a list of pastoral candidates to find the perfect fit to be your next shepherd. I urge you to get involved. Ask hard questions. Look around and see the things that need to be changed, jettisoned, improved, or added. Commit yourself to become an active member of this church and of the Gospel ministry in this community. You are not here by accident, but rather by divine appointment. God has a part for you to play here. Are you willing to accept His challenge?
FEEDBACK:
Let’s talk about this church and what we can do to move toward the picture that Paul paints here. Where are we strong? Where are we still weak and in need of improvement? What can you do personally to move us in the right direction of becoming the kind of church to which we all dream of belonging?
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