Congregational Responsibilities

“Congregational Responsibilities” sounds like a very formal topic. I don’t know what else to entitle this sermon exactly, but I don’t want us to think this is boring, business-meeting type stuff.

This isn’t Robert’s Rules of Order. I have all the respect in the world for Henry Robert, a military officer from the 1800s, but his set of rules regarding parliamentary procedure kills me.

The responsibilities of a congregation aren’t dictated by any particular business model, or set of traditions, or the status quo, or any worldly expectations.

As Paul and Silas and Timothy are writing to this new church full of new Christians, they remind them they have lives to live here and a mission to pursue here.

Here they are given some practical instruction about everyday living in the body of Christ.

This isn’t a checklist. We don’t get to check-off boxes and then feel better about ourselves because we’ve done our religious duty.

This is more of a checkup on the health of the church. Is the church operating as it should?

Paul’s getting right to the heart of the church—its interpersonal relationships and its internal devotion.

This functions as a gauge of sorts. How much do we love one another? And how much do we love the Lord?

Christian congregations are responsible to their leaders, to one another, to the Lord, and to the Spirit. So writes Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, recorded for us in the God-breathed Word.

If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Thessalonians. If you are able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word:

1 Thessalonians 5:12–22 NIV

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for 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 and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil.

This is the Word of the Lord!

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In every church, the congregation has responsibilities

Toward Leaders (vv. 12-13)

God has woven into the fabric of life the need to have leaders. From marriages and sports teams, to corporations and churches, leadership is essential.

Without leadership, everything suffers. Teams lose, businesses close up shop, churches fail.

The Thessalonians needed some bold leaders. The church there was facing persecution from without, searching for answers within. This new church needed guidance.

Paul wasn’t there for long before getting run out of town by those who believed Paul and his friends were rabble-rousers and troublemakers.

Paul wasn’t able to be there in person, so he urges the Thessalonians to follow the leadership of those who work hard among [them], who care for [them] in the Lord, and who admonish [them].

The phrasing there in verse 12 strongly implies—really unmistakably implies—that pastors/elders had already been appointed there are where presently leading the Thessalonian church.

Wherever Paul traveled preaching the gospel, plating churches, one of his main tasks was appointing pastors/elders/shepherds/overseers (interchangeable terms).

In Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (Acts 14:23) “Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.”

To Titus, Paul wrote: (Titus 1:5) “The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.”

Paul is calling for proper recognition and appreciation of those who are leading the congregation in Thessalonica—their appointed elders/pastors.

Pastors/elders work hard, they labor and exert energy to the point of weariness and fatigue. They aren’t in it for paychecks (most pastors/elders don’t make a dime; 80% of our church’s elders are unpaid).

For those who are paid to pastor a church, it’s not a 9-5 job. It’s not a job at all; it’s a calling.

It’s work. And it’s leadership.

Some of our Bibles read “those…who care for you in the Lord.”

The word care means to “preside, lead, direct; someone who is over you in the Lord.”

This word is used in Paul’s instruction to Timothy concerning elders within the church.

1 Tim 3.4 “He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.”

1 Tim 3.5 “(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)”

1 Tim 5.17 “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.”

As a man cares for and leads his family, so the elders/pastors of a church are to be men who care for and lead the family of God.

It’s work and leadership. And admonition.

This word—admonish—means “to put in the mind” or “to warn.” This word shows up again in verse 14.

For the pastor/elder to admonish carries the idea of confronting sinful habits and behaviors. It’s always tied closing to the work of preaching and teaching and applying Biblical truth.

Col 1.28 “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”

Admonishing is one of the harder parts of pastoring.

Correcting inappropriate behavior and confronting sinful attitudes among the people who pay your salary can be a bit of a tightrope walk, especially there’s not shared love and respect.

The pastor/elder’s charge is to preach the word. That involves correcting and being used as the mouthpiece of God’s Word which He uses to convict and rebuke.

God-called men have a God-given mandate to proclaim God’s Word. This includes admonishing those under our care.

Pastors/elders labor and lead and admonish the people of God. Pastors/elders and the people have a mutual responsibility toward one another, to honor and respect each other.

F.F. Bruce writes:

“It will make for the effective life and witness of the church and for peaceful relations among its members if its leaders [pastors/elders] are recognized and honored and their directions followed. The corollary of this is that the leaders [pastors/elders] should be the kind of people who deserve to be recognized and honored by their fellow Christians.”

The instructions to the Thessalonians are to hold them [their pastors/elders, their leaders] in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Under the watchful eye of God, a pastor/elder leads, keeps watch over, and joyfully cares for his church. Likewise, out of obedience to God, the people follow, respect, and honor the leadership of their pastors/elders.

If you’ve spent any length of time in the church world, you’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly of the pastor/elder to congregate relationship.

I’m beyond thankful there’s no tension or difficulty or division among pastor and people here. It’s encouraging. It’s a joy to serve you, to labor and lead.

It’s among the top of the list of things I’m thankful for. At our Thanksgiving table this year (and each previous year), I get to share that I am thankful for my church family.

The church has responsibilities toward their leaders and congregational responsibilities

Toward One Another (vv. 14-15)

In other words, ya’ll gotta get along. But this isn’t always easy.

Individual churches consist of people from many different walks of life, backgrounds, races, ethnicities. Opinions differ (sometimes strongly). Preferences about a myriad of things aren’t shared universally. This complicates life in the church.

The most consequential issue facing the church is sin. Sin mars relationships. Sin causes hurt between brother and brother, sister and sister. Sin is present within the church, because we are, all of us, sinners.

We are going to hurt one another by virtue of being selfish, opinionated, and sinful.

Here’s the thing: we have to get along, forgive one another, love one another, serve one another, and work together to glorify God.

The church is to be counter-cultural.

What happens in the world when someone is offended or feelings get hurt? “You’re dead to me. I’m done with you. Block, cancel, delete, unfriend, avoid. I will never talk to that person again.”

That’s how the world functions. This is not how the church operates. We don’t work like that; we don’t act like the world. We are to behave as the children of God who have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus.

You, Christian, do not get to sit there in your anger feeling all self-righteous, deciding you don’t have to forgive or love.

We are counter-cultural. We have a responsibility toward one another.

Our responsibility extends to one another, to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not individuals, we are a body. We are a church.

We read here—verses 14-15—about our responsibilities toward one another. Notice the verbs in verse 14: warn, encourage, help, be patient.

Part of our responsibilities toward one another are listed here; this isn’t exhaustive, but it’s plenty.

Warn those who are idle and disruptive…

This is an exhortation; at the urging of Paul and Silas and Timothy, they are to deal swiftly with certain people in the gathering of believers there.

Dealing with problem people in the church is urgent. If left unchecked, people who are idle and disruptive, undisciplined and insubordinate, had the potential of negatively impacting the testimony of the church.

“The biggest threats to the church often come from within and not from without.”

We don’t know what the issue is, or the specifics of who’s being idle, disruptive, out of line, irresponsible. We only know that Paul simply had in mind any church member whose ungodly behavior was threatening the unity and integrity of the church.

Most of this, today, is dealt with privately. Sometimes, it has to be made public.

The idle and disruptive, the unruly person can take on many forms.

Over my years in ministry, there have been people who threaten to withhold their tithe when they don’t get their way.

There are the people who take to Facebook with every complaint about the pastor and leaders.

In every single local church, there is the busybody who criticizes every choice and decision.

20 years ago, I encountered “members” who only showed up to business meetings and never came to worship.

The church must deal with these people, and urgently. Paul says to warn them.

Encourage the disheartened…

The worried, the fainthearted, the discouraged, the fearful.

There was a great deal of persecution facing the Thessalonian church. On top of that, they’ve lost loved ones and they’re grieving. They’re struggling.

No doubt there are disheartened people there. We are responsible to comfort and console them, to encourage them.

My good friend, Chuck Swindoll, says this about the gift of encouragement:

“The gift of encouragement may be wrapped in a kind word, a gentle touch, a smile, a shoulder to lean on. It may simply be our presence. Too often we isolate ourselves; like strangers on an elevator, we feel uncomfortable even making eye contact or speaking politely to one another. In the family of God, though, these things must be different. Let’s free ourselves to touch one another, particularly the discouraged, who need to know someone cares.”

Let’s ask, “Who among us is in need of encouragement?” And then, once you identify them, reach out to them and encourage them, comfort them, console them.

Help the weak…

This could be those who lack strength, like physical weakness, but Paul probably has in mind the spiritually weak.

The spiritually strong are meant to stand alongside and help those who are spiritually weak. The church should support those who are weak and struggling spiritually, just as someone has likely done for each one of us.

Be patient with everyone…

Patience is one of those virtues we struggle to put into practice. We love when people are patient with us, but we’re quickly impatient with others.

Patience is an attribute of God and part of the Holy Spirit’s fruit.

Being part of a church family with a lot of other people, all of whom differ from us, requires patience. God-given patience.

In our responsibilities toward one another, verse 15 is directed to the entire congregation.

Our responsibility is to strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

Whether or not you think someone deserves your kindness, you treat them with kindness. We must resist the worldly and sinful attitude to repay wrong for wrong, to repay evil for evil.

You can not control how others treat you, but you can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, control how you respond to them.

Our responsibilities toward one another are intended to make us think about the way the church is meant to function.

In her book God in the Dark: Through Grief and Beyond, Luci Shaw calls to God asking “Where are you? I call to you, but you don’t answer. You have left me here, alone...”

This is her aching prayer through her grieving. And she never knowingly receives a satisfactory answer, writes Margaret D. Smith in her review of Shaw’s book.

Smith gives this thoughtful assessment:

“Through the book, friends flit in and out like fireflies, give off brief sparks in the darkness, telling Luci in a thousand thoughtful ways that they love her. But while she appreciates these friends, Luci never seems to connect the two wires: Where is God? and, Here are God’s people.”

God often makes His presence known through His people. This is what Paul says here: in nurturing those who are weak, in caring for those who are in distress, by encouraging those who are fearful, by disciplining those who require it, we can become ministers of the grace of the gospel, servants of God through whom He reaches out to those looking for him or in need of His presence.

The church has responsibilities toward their leaders, toward one another, and, most importantly

Toward the Lord (vv. 16-18)

All of the imperatives in verses 16-22 (8 of them in all), are stated in the present tense, calling for continuous actions. Present tense imperatives, or, in non-nerd speak: Continuous Commands.

These aren’t occasional habits we’re meant to take up and practice just some of the time. These are identifying characteristics that mark a Christian’s life.

We should also note that these here in verses 16-18 are not our only responsibilities toward the Lord, but corporately these are indispensable.

Rejoice always… how is this, with all of life’s hurts and pains and struggles and sorrows, possible? We rejoice and can rejoice always, at all times, in all things when we realize God is sovereign.

God is sovereign and uses absolutely everything we’re going through for His glory and our ultimate good.

Joy is the basic mark of the Christian life, evidence of God’s Spirit in you. It’s from the inside-out, an expression of our firm hope in Christ. Because of Him, we rejoice always.

This is part of our responsibility toward Him.

Pray continually… is an expression of our dependence upon Him.

To pray continually or to pray without ceasing isn’t about vain repetition of memorized prayers; the Bible condemns such a practice.

To pray continually or to pray without ceasing suggests an attitude of dependence upon Him, realizing and enjoying continual personal fellowship with God throughout each day.

There’s never a moment we don’t need Him. There’s nothing we can do apart from Him. To pray continually is about orienting our lives toward Him and expressing our utter neediness for Him in every area and every moment of our lives.

Give thanks in all circumstances… “Okay, Paul, give it up, man. Give thanks in all circumstances? No, no, no way.”

We would certainly acknowledge the need to give thanks for some things, but not all things. And maybe just at Thanksgiving.

But the verse tells us to give thanks in all circumstances.

We can do this because God takes the thousands of details of a person’s life (some good and some bad) and weaves them into the beautiful tapestry of His perfect plan.

“God…turns to our advantage and welfare everything that befalls us.” - John Calvin

God is using everything—every single thing—for our ultimate good and His everlasting glory.

To give thanks in all circumstances is part of believing that God is overseeing every detail of our lives.

And it’s not just, “Boy, I’m sure thankful.” It’s “I’m thankful to God.” This is our individual and corporate responsibility to Him.

If/when we believe have nothing to be thankful for, we need to remind ourselves of the gospel. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves, until we’re properly thankful. Jesus died to give us life, died to save us from ourselves and our sin. Jesus took our place; if that doesn’t prompt your thanksgiving…

These three—our rejoicing and praying and giving thanks—are God’s will for [us] in Christ Jesus.

Our responsibility to Him is in line with His will for us.

The church has responsibilities toward their leaders, toward one another, and, most importantly toward the Lord and

Toward the Spirit (vv. 19-22)

Do not quench the Spirit. Don’t extinguish the Spirit’s fire. Do not stifle the Spirit. If you want the King’s English: Quench not the Spirit.

Paul uses language for putting out a fire. His point? He wants the church to avoid any activity that will thwart the Spirit’s work among them, namely in the area of prophecy. That’s what he goes on to write after his “Quench not the Spirit.”

1 Thess 5.20-22 “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.”

Paul admonishes the Thessalonians not to despise legitimate prophecy, which at the time Paul wrote this remained an ongoing gift of the Spirit.

All claims to divine prophecy were to be tested and not accepted uncritically.

Examine each one, test it.

Hold fast to what is good, hold onto what is good, continue to follow what is good.

Reject what is harmful. Be a long way off from what is harmful.

The early church didn’t have a completed Bible as we do. The Holy Spirit gave the gift of prophecy to certain members of the church and would speak the message through them.

Today, when we preach, we preach the truth immediately by means of the Bible.

Apart from the Bible—God’s Word—we have no revelation from the Lord. The Lord will not speak to you apart from His Word.

“If you want to hear the Lord speak, read the Bible. If you want to hear Him speak audibly, read your Bible out loud.” -Justin Peters

The Thessalonians had to test what they heard against what they knew to be from the Lord. Hold onto the good, get rid of the bad.

Be like the Bereans who received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

We today have to test everything we hear, all preaching and teaching against God’s Word. If something is out of line with what the Bible teaches, we reject it outright.

But we must not quench the Spirit. It’s important we let the Spirit do His work in us, teaching us the Word of God as we gather for worship.

We follow the Word of God, inspired by the Spirit of God, to grow the people of God.

>If you’ve ever wondered what responsibility you have in the church, well, here it is.

It’s a lot. You have a great deal of responsibility. We together have plenty of responsibilities as a congregation.

It’s not just come and sit in a room for an hour or so a week or two or four a month.

We have responsibilities toward our leaders, and as leaders to the people under our care.

We are responsible to one another. We’re urged to warn and encourage and help and be patient.

We are responsible to worship the Lord—to rejoice and pray and give thanks.

And we are responsible to the Spirit, to let Him do His work in us and among us.

You’ve got a lot to do. We have a lot to do. We need you. Brothers and sisters, you need the gathering of believers.

This is what God intends for His people, for the church.

Let us love one another genuinely and love God with deep devotion and fulfill our congregational responsibilities.