Well do keep your Bibles in hand now to the New Testament scriptures and to Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. You can find it on page 988. First Thessalonians chapter 5. We’re looking at verses 12 through 22. Paul, today, turns to the theme of practical living in the local church. You will remember Paul had prayed back in chapter 3 verse 12 that the Thessalonians’ “love for one another might increase and abound.” In chapter 4:9-13, he exhorted them to continue to “grow more and more in the practice of brotherly love.” And in chapter 4:18, he called the Thessalonians to “encourage one another.” And in 5:11, again as we saw last week, he does the same thing, “Encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” And now here in chapter 5:12-22, he takes up the theme of “one anothering,” of brotherly love, one more time, only this time he works out the implications of our life together in the fellowship of the local church very concretely and very practically.
As we look at the passage, let me highlight four things for you, then we’ll pray and read the text together. First of all, verses 12 and 13, Paul addresses the subject of pastors. He’s talking about spiritual leaders, elders in the church. How ought they to conduct themselves and how ought the members of the church relate to them? So pastors first. Secondly, verses 14 and 15, he has a word of exhortation for the people as a whole before the congregation. We need to know not just how to relate to our pastors and our elders, our leaders, but how to relate to one another as the fellowship of the Lord Jesus and the local church. Pastors. People. Then thirdly, what do we do when we gather? Verses 16 through 18, he deals with the subject of praise. When we assemble as we are doing today, what should characterize our assembly? What are the priorities that ought to mark our worship? Pastors. People. Praise. Then 19 through 22, he deals with preaching. What is our duty as hearers of the Word of God? How ought we all to sit under the ministry of the Scriptures week by week? And so under these four themes, Paul outlines for the Thessalonians and for us some of the key components of practical, Christian living in the fellowship of the local church. Pastors, people, praise and preaching.
Before we look at them in turn, let’s pray together and ask for the Lord to help us. Let us all pray.
Our God and Father, we cry out to You now that You would send us once more the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit, that He might take of what is Christ’s and make it known to us, even from this portion of Your holy Word, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 at verse 12. This is the Word of God:
“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. 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. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
Amen, and we praise God for His holy, inerrant Word.
When I was a little boy, they used to show reruns of the 1967 movie, the movie adaptation of Hugh Lofting’s book, The Story of Doctor Dolittle. Do you know what I’m talking about? Dr. Dolittle? As a little boy, it really captured my imagination. Dr. Dolittle is a physician who can talk to animals and he collects all manner of strange creatures, some of them real, some of them imaginary. One of my favorites was an animal called “the push-me pull-you.” In the film, it looks like a llama, but instead of a head at one end and a tail at the other, there is a llama neck and head at both ends – push-me pull-you. And ever since, the push-me pull-you has become a metaphor for political gridlock, for individuals pulling in opposite directions, for irreconcilable differences among stakeholders that can bring whole organizations to a standstill.
Now for all the positive marks of faith and love and hope that we’ve seen again and again and again as we’ve read through 1 Thessalonians together, that Paul celebrates in the Thessalonians’ life and fellowship, the passage before us this morning suggests the possibility at least that the church in Thessalonica was nevertheless in danger of becoming something of an ecclesiastical push-me pull-you with leaders who are either overbearing or laissez faire, and members who are prone to rebel against their leaders and to usurp their authority. And so as his letter draws to a conclusion – God willing we’ll finish 1 Thessalonians next Lord’s Day – but as he draws it to a conclusion, Paul takes a beat here in order to provide us with a sort of manual for church life in miniature, outlining the responsibilities and expectations of pastors and people in a healthy congregation.
Look at what he says first about pastors, verses 12 and 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.” The focus is on how church members should relate to their spiritual leaders – their pastors and their elders. He wants us to show them “respect,” verse 12, and to “esteem them very highly in love,” verse 13. The final objective of course of the instruction is that there might be harmony in the local church – “Be at peace among yourselves.” But of course Paul is himself a skilled pastor and he knows very well how leaders can be defensive and become insecure when other people tell them how to do their jobs. And so while he is here exhorting the church membership to love and respect their leaders, he is also rather subtly and covertly reminding the leaders themselves of their fundamental job description.
Pastors and elders in particular, here is a word of exhortation, and I want to urge you, as I’ve had to do myself as I’ve labored over the text in preparation this past week, I want to urge you to scrutinize your hearts in the light of Paul’s teaching here. Notice what Paul says Christian leaders are supposed to do. Look at verse 12. First, they “labor among you.” That word “labor” means more than simply to work. It means to work hard, to break a sweat, as it were. It means to toil to the point of personal weariness. Paul imagines leaders who disadvantage themselves in order to advantage the people entrusted to their care. He uses this word elsewhere, 2 Timothy 2:6, of farm laborers. A farmer has callouses on his hands, his is heavy, demanding work, and if he hopes for a harvest he can never, never neglect the crops. Spiritual leaders labor, they toil, they work hard. There’s no place for laziness in a spiritual leader. “Respect those who labor among you.” That is to say, those who empty their tanks for your soul’s good. Love them for their work’s sake. They’re not leading for the sake of position or title. They’re not leaders because they like to be in the room and make the decisions and control the outcomes. They are leaders worthy of your respect and love because they toil, they labor like farmers tending their livestock or tending their fields and working their crops. They are totally invested in your eternal good.
I wonder, elders, pastors, deacons, spiritual leaders of First Presbyterian Church – Does that describe you? Do you toil and labor? Do you empty your tanks, disadvantaging yourself for the eternal welfare of the people of God?
Secondly, Paul says we are to respect and love our leaders who are “over you in the Lord.” You see that phrase in verse 12? The word translated “over you” is a straightforward reference to the exercise of authority. Now authority is a category that has fallen on hard times in our day, hasn’t it? When I teach new members’ classes, we talk about the least popular membership vow that we require members to take. It contains four of the least loved words in the English language today. The vow says, “Will you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the church and promise to study its purity and peace?” Did you hear the four least loved words in the English language? Submit, government, discipline and study. Take that vow though, because of a text like this one. “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and who are over you in the Lord.” You have elders and pastors to whom the Lord Jesus Himself has entrusted the government and discipline of the church and they are over you in the Lord.
But this word translated as “over you” or “having authority over you” also has another connotation, an important secondary connotation of “caring for you.” And both of those elements are very much in view here and throughout the New Testament when it speaks about the authority that spiritual leaders exercise. Church leaders are endowed with real authority, but in the New Testament it is always an authority that only ever functions in the context of care and service and sacrifice. Do you remember how Paul described his own ministry when he visited Thessalonica. He said it was like he came “like a nursing mother,” chapter 2 verse 7, or “like a faithful father,” chapter 2 verse 11. And the word translated here in verse 12 as “over you, having authority over you,” is used elsewhere in the New Testament precisely with those familial, parental connotations. So 1 Timothy 3:5, it’s used of an elder who manages or is over or who cares for and tends to his own family well. That’s how elders are to pastor and exercise authority. They are over us in the Lord, but like Paul, they are over us as nursing mothers who are, as he says, “affectionately desirous of you” and give you not only the Gospel of God but also their very selves because you have become very dear to them. They are over us, he says, as loving fathers who exhort you to “walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory,” as he puts it in chapter 2:8 and chapter 2:12.
Pastors and elders are to be respected and loved for their work’s sake, but their work in turn is always to be itself a labor of love. It is spiritual authority, but it is an authority wielded from a heart that beats with care and affection and deep, pastoral concern. There is no cover here, in other words, for spiritual abuse and pastoral tyranny. There is no room for heavy handedness or authoritarianism. Spiritual leadership is not about control, ever. It’s about service. And just to reinforce that point it’s probably worth pointing out that Paul here speaks always in plural terms when he speaks about those who are over us in the Lord. He does not imagine a one-man band, wielding power and authority all alone, autocratically and without accountability. No, he envisages a plurality of elders serving together, holding one another accountable and encouraging one another to minister to the flock in ways that he is describing. Elders are never to be lone rangers. Pastors are never to be lone rangers, mavericks, off on their own, blazing their own trail. The care of the flock is a team effort. They work hard, they’re over us in the Lord, with authority exercised in tenderness and care, together.
And finally, look back again at verse 12. Paul says they are also to “admonish you.” The word means more than simply to teach or instruct. It means to exhort with a view to the reformation of your life. Sometimes at the door after church some of you will say to me, typically with rueful smile as you leave on a Sunday morning, “Pastor, you left off preaching today and went straight to meddling!” Or you’ll joke about needing to wear work boots next week because I’ve stomped on your toes too hard this week. And you mean it actually as a lighthearted encouragement. You’re saying, “The preaching hit home. It sunk in this week. I felt convicted. God dealt with me this week.” And I’m always very encouraged when you say things like that to me. I’m grateful. But you do understand, I hope, that pulpit meddling is right here in the pastor’s job description. Stomping on toes with the Word of God is actually an elder’s job. “Respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord who admonish you.”
Pastors and elders are called to open their Bibles and press the truth home on our consciences and our hearts, and even where necessary to offer loving correction. We are not called to tickle your ears or to stroke your ego or to soothe your conscience. We’re not called to give theological TED talks or perform standup routines or lead a pep rally with a bit of Jesus tacked on. We have not yet done our jobs even if all we’ve done is tell you truths that will fill your brain with correct information. No, our calling is to admonish you, to lead you toward greater conformity to the character of Jesus Christ. And so there’s a word here, isn’t there, for pastors, a challenging word for pastors.
But then notice Paul moves from focusing on pastors to deal with the people. He’s stomped on my toes, now he’s going to stomp on yours. Look at verses 14 and 15. “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.” Notice carefully that Paul is addressing “the brothers,” that is to say the congregation, the men and women in the church as a whole. He is dealing with the word of the entire fellowship now, not just the work of the pastors. And isn’t it striking that the first thing he tells us we ought all to be doing is the last thing he said pastors are supposed to be doing. Do you see that? Those who are over you in the Lord, what do they do? Your elders, your pastors, they “admonish you,” verse 12. And now he says, “And the rest of you, the congregation, you should admonish the idle and encourage the fainthearted.”
Admonish and encourage – those are Word ministry categories. They are Word ministry terms. The ministry of the Word of God by those who are called to ordained office in the church does not exhaust the ministry of the Word in the local church. Paul has no time at all for any sort of clericalism that leaves all the ministry to the professionals, nor does he have any room for the kind of church member who sees himself or herself only as a spectator on Sundays, a mere consumer of religious goods and services. No, he wants the Thessalonian Christians to learn to open their Bibles for themselves with each other. He wants us to see it’s actually part of the job description now not just of an elder but of every single church member to speak the truth of God to one another, whether that is a word of exhortation and admonition or a word of encouragement and counsel and comfort, whatever the situation requires. That doesn’t mean of course that we all have to become preachers or even that we all should be able to lead a small group Bible study or teach a Sunday school class, but it does mean that we all ought to work at handling the Bible well for ourselves and to begin to pray for opportunities to share with others what the Lord is teaching us from holy Scripture so that we can be a help to the growth and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in the church.
And then notice this, in addition to the Word ministry to which we all are called, Paul also says we are called to mercy ministry. Look again at verses 14 and 15. “Help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays evil for evil but always seeks to do good to one another and to everyone.” You may have come across a strand of teaching, especially online right now, that is targeted mainly toward young men and it has a sort of tone and stance that looks down on weakness in the name of promoting masculinity. And it rejects patience in the name of what it considers “courageous cultural engagement.” But that hardly reflects the temperament of a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, the temperament to which Paul calls us right here. Does it? The idle and the fainthearted and the weak, so much the object of scorn in our culture and society right now, they are all to be shown patience and we are to serve them all and the evil of others is never to be repaid in kind with vitriol and venom, however despicable their wickedness might be. We are not to repay evil with evil but rather good. Paul is clear. This all starts, of course, in the fellowship of the local church. This is how we are to be with one another, but it is supposed to spill out from the local church into the community. “Always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.”
So Paul addresses the pastors. Then he addresses the people. And now, look at verses 15 and 16 and what he has to say about what happens when pastors and people assemble together, especially on the Lord’s Day as we are doing now. Here’s what he has to say about praise. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Now at first glance, it might be tempting to think these verses have little to do with public worship, but here again remember all the verbs are plural. These are things Paul expects us to do when we are together. And there are four of them. We’ll deal with the first three here and come back to the fourth in just a moment.
Look at verses 15 and 16 again. The first thing we are to do when we are together is to rejoice. And not just when the mood takes us. We are to rejoice always. Don’t miss, this is a command not a feeling. Paul isn’t saying to the Thessalonians, “You know, you guys really ought to cheer up.” This is not an exhortation to “turn that frown upside down,” for which I am very grateful. Paul is saying to them rather, “Whether you feel like it or not, you always have a reason, at all times, to rejoice.” Rejoicing is a spiritual discipline that we are to practice in good times and bad times. We have been chosen and called and justified and adopted and sanctified and preserved and we are being guided and kept. We are filled with the Spirit, comforted by the Word, disciplined by the hand of God, matured, sanctified, instructed, empowered. We are sent, rewarded and blessed beyond measure in union with Jesus Christ. So rejoice always. First Peter 1:6 even says you can learn to rejoice like this at the same time your heart breaks with grief. “In this you rejoice, though now” – so “In this,” present tense, “you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials.” So they are grieving now and rejoicing now at the same time, through their tears, in the midst of their sorrow, while their hearts break they are able to say, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Rejoice always, not just when the mood takes you, not just when things go well, not just when you feel like it. Lift up your head and remember what has been done for you. Look again at the cross and the empty tomb. Remember how you have been loved with an everlasting love, despite all the unloveliness of your sin. John 13:1, “Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end.” He loved you and gave Himself for you, so bless and praise the great name of your triune God. Rejoice always.
And then Paul adds to this, “pray without ceasing.” Pray without ceasing. He doesn’t mean quit your job, move to a monastery and pray around the clock. He means let prayer be the pattern and habit of your life. He means pray on all occasions and don’t stop. He means be consistent and faithful to your devotion to the ministry of prayer. And the plurals here, remember, mean that we are to do this in particular together. We are to do it together. This is what should mark your corporate life as a fellowship and a church, Thessalonians. You are to pray constantly, without ceasing, together. By the way, I think this is one of the most neglected areas of our own corporate life as a local church and we do need to give renewed and focused attention. How will we be a praying church, marked, characterized by the ministry of corporate, congregational prayer? Where, right now, do we pray together as a congregation in our church life? Would others say of First Presbyterian Church, “These are people characterized by ceaseless prayer together”? Whatever else we do, and we do so much very well, by the blessing of God, this is an area in which we need to grow. Ceaseless prayer is what Paul says should be a defining mark of the Thessalonian church. Is it a mark of our church? Does it mark your Christian life, for that matter, or is prayer an afterthought? Is it a cursory, perfunctory, filled in in the available gaps around the things that really matter to you exercise? Or are you praying without ceasing?
And then thirdly, Paul calls the Thessalonians to “give thanks in all circumstances.” In the teeth of your pain, when your body hurts, give thanks. In the grim face of death, lift up your head and give thanks and say through sorrow, “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” When the providence of God strips you of material comfort and you are cast desperately upon the provision of His grace alone, give thanks. In all circumstances give thanks. And here again, remember, Paul is not calling us to thankfulness. He is calling us to give thanks. Thanksgiving is to thankfulness what rejoicing is to joy. Thanksgiving and rejoicing are activities. Thankfulness and joy are affections of the heart. And Paul’s point here is that we are to give thanks and we are to rejoice whether our hearts are beating with thankfulness in that moment or our minds are flooded with joy in that moment or not.
Having said that, let me ask you this, especially those of you who are mature Christians and have walked with the Lord for years and years – Haven’t you found that actually, when you have begun to give thanks, to exercise the discipline of giving thanks even through pain, and you’ve begun to rejoice even when your burdens, haven’t you found that actually, very often thankfulness and deep joy in the goodness and love of God begins to follow, begins to bubble up despite your circumstances as you say the words and praise the name of your God and remind yourself of all the reasons and grounds you have for gratitude and thanksgiving? Joy comes, thankfulness comes. It may seem counterintuitive to say it, but could it be one reason your Christian life is so joyless is that you have forgotten to practice the discipline of rejoicing? Could one reason that your heart still battles so much bitterness or ingratitude be because you have been neglecting the practical habit of giving thanks? This is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus, Paul says. This is what He wants in your life – “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.”
Pastors. People. Praise. Finally, notice what he says about preaching. Verses 19 through 22, “Do not quench the Spirit.Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” Now prophecy in the New Testament was the Holy Spirit inspired communication of the inerrant Word of God to the church through the foundational ministries of the apostles and prophets. Since the completion of the canon of the New Testament, that aspect of the gift and work of prophecy, the gift of new revelation from God, has become superfluous and has now ceased. The Bible alone is sufficient for our spiritual direction and we need nothing more and we ought not to look for anything more. But, the risen and reigning Christ is still Prophet, Priest and King. And the fact that we now have a complete canon of Holy Scripture does not mean that Christ’s prophetic ministry has departed from the church, nor does it mean that there is no longer any prophetic dimension, especially in the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Word of God. It is part of the prophetic ministry of the risen and exalted Christ, continuing in His Church, when His Spirit takes the message of the Scriptures and illuminates our understanding and through the preaching of the text of Scripture brings the Word of God to bear, sometimes in dramatic and unexpected ways upon our hearts and consciences.
It deals with us with relevance and directness that we were entirely unprepared for when we came in and sat down that morning. Sometimes we leave the church quite shaken. Maybe you wonder, “Has the preacher been gathering intelligence about our problems, trolling through our social media, and talking to our friends and family? Who blabbed to him” we want to know, “about all the things that I’m dealing with?” That’s not what’s happening. What’s happening is simply the prophetic ministry of the risen Christ through the preaching of the Word, the Holy Spirit working, bringing the Scriptures to bear upon our hearts, laying the secrets of our hearts bare.
And Paul is cautioning us here not to become such rationalists in our understanding of the holy Scriptures that we have no longer any room for this mighty ministry of the Holy Spirit. “Do not quench the Spirit.” Do not douse the flames of His powerful work, especially in the ministry of the Word. Instead, notice what Paul says we should do. What should you do as you listen to the Word of God, the prophetic ministry of the risen Christ in the church from the pulpit week by week as the Scriptures are expounded? What should you do? “Test everything, hold fast to what is good and abstain from every form of evil.” Take the meat; leave the bones. Search the Scriptures for yourself as the preacher opens the text. Be like the Bereans. Do you remember the people of Berea as Paul preached to them in the book of Acts? “They searched the Scriptures,” Luke says, “to see if things were so.” Check what the preacher is saying against what God says in His holy Word. That is what Paul tells us our responsibility as hearers of the Word really is. Do not be a passive receiver, just letting it wash over you. Be an active listener. Don’t simply assume everything you hear is the truth of God sent by the Spirit of Christ. Search the Scriptures. Test the message, not to sit in judgment over the style and format or the oratory, especially not the length! But search the Scriptures, evaluate what you hear to be sure you don’t miss anything that Jesus has for you. That nothing is left on the plate that might nourish your soul.
So here is practical church life. Do you see it? It’s actually beautiful and immensely straightforward. Love your pastors, your elders, as they lead you, serve you and teach you. Learn to handle the Bible well for yourself and use it for mutual encouragement and admonition. Don’t leave the word “ministry” to the professionals. “Admonish the idle, help the weak, encourage the fainthearted.” Do mercy ministry; repay evil with good. Whether you feel like it or not, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances.” And as you hear God’s Word, pray for the prophetic ministry of the Holy Spirit to search your hearts and renovate your life. Be sure to test everything by the Scriptures so that you can hold fast to what is good and abstain from every form of evil. And these simple instructions, if we follow them, will make church life beautiful. And by them, we will adorn the doctrine of the Gospel. So, may the Lord help us to obey them from the heart for His honor and glory. Let’s pray.
Our Father, we thank You that there are times in Scripture where it’s not difficult to see what You would have us to do. The hard part is doing it. It’s not that we’re struggling to comprehend the message; we’re struggling to submit to the truth, to surrender our pet idols, to bow our necks under the yoke of Christ’s discipleship. We’ve forgotten that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. We complain about the call of God as though it were some drudgery and not a fountain of joy. Teach us, as we begin again now in our repentance, teach us to obey and in obedience to discover the joy of fellowship with Chist and service among His people, for the glory of Jesus’ name. Amen.