1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
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1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Good morning church. Open your Bibles with me this morning to 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 12. Now let me explain my controversial title to this morning’s message. Commands for Christians. Now some of you might look at that title and think how is that controversial, and then there are others, that as soon as you read it, I lost you. Commands! Commands!?! You’re not the boss of me! You’re not going to tell me what to do.
Now I hope no one in here was really thinking that, but there was a point in my life, that that was really where my heart was. So that is not what was intended. But I wanted us to take note that there is a grammatical change at the end of our chapter here. As you read through it, it sort of reads like Paul is throwing out some last minute thoughts as he is closing his letter, but that is not the case.
What he does at the closing of the letter here grammatically, is lay down a bunch active imperative verbs, also known by non teacher types as “bossy verbs.” It really just means commands. In this last section there are actually 16 or 17 of these commands from Paul as inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Now it is my hope ,and prayer, that after a week of prayer and fasting as a church, that we collectively are in a good position to receive these commands, with a heart of like this…we have intentionally sought you Lord. Desired to hear your voice, to receive correction, to receive direction, and to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit, and these Words, at this time, are part of that Answer from the Lord. This is what He would say, and these are the things that He would have us do.
I want to thank all of you for your prayers that participated in this week. Thank you for those that showed up to any of our prayer meetings held throughout the week, if you weren’t able to, you missed out. That’s not a rebuke, you just missed out. So lets pray together now and dig into what remains of this little letter.
12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
One of the reasons we want you to become students of the Bible, to bring your Bibles, and why we put the words on the screens and include them in our live stream, is so you can see, and know it is the Word of God, otherwise if I were to stand up here and say something like this, it could be pretty self serving, because I am one that labors among you.
for their work’s sake The end of this verse, Be at peace among yourselves, this is actually the first of our commands.
David Guzik
If a Christian can’t esteem and love their pastor, they should either get on their knees, asking the Holy Spirit to change their heart, or go somewhere else and put themselves under a pastor they do esteem and love.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
There is much to see in this verse...
Unruly - self willed
Fainthearted
Literally, little spirited, it can mean despondency, a wounded spirit, a loss of resilience, having a diminished or depleted motivation to actively engage.
Difficult as fainthearted can look like unruly
In the book of Hebrews we have some further instruction on our treatment of the fainthearted.
12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
If we warn the faint hearted we can destroy them, we don’t want to warn the fainthearted, we want to comfort them. In the same respect, we want to make sure that we don’t comfort the unruly. If we comfort the unruly we enable and empower him to abuse and wound people in the church. Warn Him!
Weak - Uphold the weak! Carry, commit, lift them up and remove the obstacles in their path. Jesus described the failure of the Pharisees (the religious leaders in their day) to do this in the Gospel of Matthew
4 For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
Paul commands us not to do that, we are to uphold the weak, and then the final command in the verse…1 Thes 5:14
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.
Be patient with all. This is a command for the church, it applies to our marriages and directly with our relationships with one another.
15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
Not to seek revenge, if someone does evil toward us, we aren’t to try to get back at them. For the most part if someone is getting under your skin or pushing your button, we should disconnect that button and get rid of it. Our lives are no longer our own. If they are a Christian Matthew 18 gives us a course of action to deal with the sin against us.
The second command in this verse is for us to pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Jesus put it a different way...
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Notice that is a command as well!
16 Rejoice always,
17 pray without ceasing,
18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We should be a joyful people, by command of the Word of God, in everything give thanks, how? The key to both is right in the middle…pray without ceasing.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not despise prophecies.
21 Test all things; hold fast what is good.
Paul gives us a ton more instruction on prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12 through 14 but two important things that he reveals to us there is...
3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.
And in the section when he talks about order in the church he says…1 Cor 14:29
29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
22 Abstain from every form of evil.
So literally, outward appearance, or that which is seen. So Paul says Christian you are to abstain from every form of evil and the appearance of evil., In fact that is exactly how the King James Version interprets it. So not only does this mean as Christians we can’t engage in evil neither can we have the attitude of who cares what people think?
Say I like going to the bar every night because I like to play pool, or I like sitting at the bar drinking apple juice in a rocks glass watching the Bruins game. Paul is telling us that still creates the form, or image, that which is seen... looks like sin to the world, and that is not just something to be considered we are to abstain from those things.
If your not married, you shouldn’t play house and act like your married. If your dating, you shouldn’t be spending the night. If you’re traveling together you should have separate hotel rooms. I know that all sounds prudish. And you can take it as presumptive and judgmental, but it’s really not. Even if you are the 1 in 7.888 billion that can maintain purity under those circumstances, it is not only unwise, it is unbiblical, because it has the form, the appearance of evil.
This should affect every area of my life and your life. I can tell you whether you like it or not, it will affect both your witness and your ministry. Meaning the Lord is not going to allow you opportunities to serve, and the church is a body that needs all of its parts fully engaged, so without you something is missing. Now I’m not longer talking about any particular sin or the appearance of sin, but church there is no sin that any of us can commit, there is no sin that I can commit that only affect me, that doesn’t affect our church body.
Verse 23
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember there is a difference between justification and sanctification. Justification means I have been saved by Christ. Sanctification is the process of Him making me clean. If that verse sounds beyond your ability as a Christian, it should, but not to worry verse 24 says...
24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
The command is Greet.
27 I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Grace and Peace