There were however
a few things in which they needed help and instruction. This is true
for us too, and for this reason we cherish the Bible which makes us
competent and equipped for every good work (2 Tim.3:16) .
As Paul concludes
his letter to the Thessalonians, he reminds them
concerning their future hope,
such as the resurrection (4:13-18) and the day of the Lord (5:1-11)
and he urges them to remain fully alert and prepared for that day . I remind you that
this day comes to us in two ways : either by
the literal second coming of Christ or
by our death. The day
on which you die will be the day
in which your soul will be transported back to Him who has made you (Ecclesiastes 12:7) and so it is important to be prepared for the
day of your death. It is important to encourage one another (4:18) and to build one another up (5:11) in the light of that day.
And now in
conclusion of his letter Paul gives a good number of important
and practical instructions which
the church ought to remember as they
await the coming of the Lord .
All of these instructions relate to pleasing the Lord (4:1) in the context of a sanctified life
lived within the church (4:3). These issues mentioned here are of course selective, but we will receive these
exhortations as the Word of God for ourselves today, believing that this is what the Holy
Spirit wants us to hear and obey. In verses 12 – 15 we find three
issues addressed :
- The matter of relating to our elders (5:12-13a)
- Relating to one another (5:13b)
- Relating
to those that are struggling in various areas (5:14)
- Keeping evil
under control and promoting good
(5:15)
(next time we
will consider vv. 16 -25 under the heading : “Pleasing God through a
life of prayer , joy and thanksgiving")
1. Sanctified
behaviour through respecting our leaders
Vv.
12-13: “We ask you, brothers,
to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish
you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace
among yourselves.
Another text in
this regard is Hebrews 13:17 : “Obey
your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as
those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with
groaning , for that would be of no advantage to you .”
Let us begin by
observing that the pastoral
leadership (note the “plural” emphasis on pastoral leadership) is given to the church by God as a spiritual gift (Eph.
4:11). How will a proper relationship with such affect my spiritual development and sanctification? What is their role in my life? And why should I respect them, esteem
them very highly in love, obey them and submit to them …. ?
We are of course assuming
then that these pastoral leaders do their work
with the integrity required by God and His Word [1]
. This does not mean that members must submit to their leaders uncritically if
they discern them to be in
error. However it does mean that members must
not do so in an rebellious or
independent spirit, but in love and
being willing to work towards
biblical agreement (Phil 4:2). This
being said , here are the reasons why we should
esteem our pastoral leaders :
(i)
Because they labour (Gr. kopiaō) among you : The
word means “to work to the point
of growing weary “.
The pastoral ministry can be tiresome
work, and one of the reasons we
are to respect our leaders is because they
often labour among us to the
point of exhaustion. Going with God and going against a world that holds
the hearts and minds of so many people
captive can be exhausting. The last 50 years have seen unprecedented shifts in
religious, moral, social, ethical and
economic conditions and these have
greatly challenged the way
traditional pastoral ministry is done. Postmodernism has brought
about a dismantling of biblical and traditional values
and as a result of this
our society has experienced much
brokenness as people have been tempted
to the limit, as they have experimented
with all sorts of new freedoms. As a
result pastoral work has become labour
intensive as God’s sheep need much healing – Pastoral work is to be
done with utmost patience (2 Tim
2:24-26 ; 4:2) . A Shepherd leader
needs to be patient and not short
tempered and rude. That continual
self- restraint can be hard on the soul of the pastor. It is hard to
maintain a balance between toughness and tenderness. Furthermore,
pastors who committed to doing
ministry in a biblical way
must truly labour [2]
in preaching and teaching (1 Tim 5:17). Preparing sermons means
preparing the heart and mind, for
no preacher can truly preach until he
has first preached to himself . That is hard work – subduing one’s own heart is
hard work!
(ii)
They are over
you in the Lord : (“over”
à Gr.proistemi lit. “ to stand before” – hence to lead/rule). Paul reminds
us that our shepherd
leaders rule in the congregation by the Lord’s appointment
and therefore by His authority. On this account they
have great levels of responsibility and therefore
they shall be judged more
strictly by God if they fail in their duty. (1 Peter
5: 1-4; James 3:1)
(iii)
They are called by God
to admonish you : (Gr. “noutheteo”
– lit. “to put in mind“ - to instruct
and warn in view of the things that are wrong). Don’t resent them
for this work. They are called to do
this by God.
How should we
respond to our pastoral leaders or elders ?
Paul says that they should be esteemed highly in love because of their work . So, we should make
a good start by not making the job of the pastoral leadership any more difficult than it already is.
Unfortunately it seems that faithful leaders
are often badmouthed , maligned
and ridiculed[3] .
We should really thank God when we do have faithful leaders, and value them
as such. So , make it your duty
to encourage them in their work. Listen to what they are saying.
Follow their leadership as far as they are following Christ.
2. Sanctified
behaviour by living at peace with one another ( 5:13b)
We don’t know whether this is still part of the previous
discussion about pastoral leaders or whether it is a new thought. If it
is still part of the discussion on respecting spiritual leaders, it might
indicate that there was a power struggle going on in the church. In this case,
Paul was pleading for the people to stop being contrary
and to be co-operative and submissive to their appointed leadership.
If this is a new
section, Paul is giving us a familiar principle: we should be peacemakers
rather than troublemakers!
3. Sanctified
Behaviour by helping those that are struggling in various areas :
And
we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the
weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but
always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. “ (1 Thessalonians
5:12-15 ESV)
a. Admonish (warn) the idle :
“idle” is probably better
translated as “unruly/ disorderly /undisciplined ”[4]. When we see someone going astray in this way ,
we have a responsibility to warn that person that they are in danger. (see James
5:19-20). When we see people who are drifting from the
faith, we need to know that those people
are actually drifting into the path of the wrath and judgment of
God. We have the responsibility to warn such people!
By all means choose your words
carefully and let them be said in love,
but be bold and honest! Don’t be
indifferent . Care enough to keep each
other from danger.
b. Encourage the
fainthearted. The word translated “faintheated” literally means “ small souled” [5]. The idea seems to be that we are to encourage
those who want to give up. Most of us
know such periods in life when we want to quit. We become timid ;
tired of living faithfully; worn
down by those who resist the truth of the gospel. At times we feel like we aren’t accomplishing
anything. At these times we
need someone to come along to encourage
us .
c. Help the weak.[6] Lit. those
“without strength”. A weak person needs
support. The Christian church is not a
place where we reject or belittle the
weak. The Christian church is a place where
we develop support systems (not
dependency systems , mind you) but
helping people to be self-sustaining/ self -supporting after they
have experienced setbacks e.g.
divorce ; illness; being advanced in
years; bereaved – times
when people cannot help themselves and
don’t know how they will cope.
etc . These are times when people need someone to help them.
d. Be patient[7]
(lit.
long suffering) with
them all: In some respects this may
be the most difficult of them all. We tend to
be so impatient with people . You
see it all the time with people who are grieving. They don’t need
answers; they need someone to understand that they are hurting. They have
lost someone and no amount of comforting
words can replace them . They need
time to heal. We all need people in our lives
who will be patient with us and who will
pray for us and with us even when we don’t seem to be making progress;
who will endure our “bad days” rather than getting offended and walking
away.Patience is the key that unlocks the door to the deepest
relationships. You can’t have any significant relationship unless you are
willing to be patient.
e. See to it that nobody repays another evil for evil. This was not the
way of Jesus. He taught us to love our enemies (Matt 5:38-48) . Paul
instructs us to “not avenge ourselves,
but to leave it to the wrath of God.” (Rom
12:19).
Conclusion
Don’t you want to
be a part of a church where people value their leaders and care about each
other? Don’t you long for people who will care enough about you- to turn your from wrong and to encourage you
when you are burnt out or stand with you when life knocks the legs out from
under you?
Let’s take this text
personally and pray that the
sanctifying grace of God will empower us in each of these areas :
- Give thanks to God for your leaders.
Encourage them.
- Be a peacemaker
and not a disturber of the peace.
- Bring
someone back who is heading in the wrong way.
- Encourage a fainthearted person this week.
- Help a
struggling Christian this
week.
- Determine not to be impatient.
Resist the hostility and aggression
of the world and practice
the patience, the love and the kindness of Jesus.
- Take the wind out of your enemy’s sails by
saying something good to them .
May the Lord be with us as we
believe the sanctifying power of our
crucified Lord to be at work within us , and as we do these things by
faith alone for the glory of God alone. And may we be
enabled to give testimonies in time as
to how the Lord has helped us as we have chosen to obey Him . Amen.
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