A Christian’s Responsibility Toward Others (part 2)
1 Thessalonians • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Please join me in the reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
Last week, we began the process of breaking down 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15, to see A Christian’s Responsibility Toward Others.
Keeping in mind that Christ’s church is an hospital of sick, wounded, and afflicted people (Bunyan), we understand that things can be messy from time to time.
This is why God has given gifts to the church, so that the members can serve one another.
speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
As a physical body grows with the proper nutrition, so does a spiritual body of believers.
The spiritual nutrition comes wholly from the Word of God being ministered to the people of God.
And that can only happen when the people of God take seriously the time to gather together.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
A church grows in relation to how well it deals with the sin that is present within it.
And as we saw last week, there are 5 imperatives…
NOTE: this is a correction from the 6 stated before due to the function of the second imperative in verse 15
Thus, there are 5 for us in 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15, 3 of which were explored last week:
Admonish The Idle
When a brother or sister drifts out of step — becoming idle, divisive, or self-exalting — love requires that we clearly and faithfully warn them.
To ignore disorder is not kindness; it is negligence.
Admonishment is an act of love meant to restore, not to crush.
Encourage The Fainthearted
The fainthearted need someone to come alongside them, to remind them of Christ’s promises, to model bold obedience, and to patiently disciple them toward greater faith.
A church rich in encouragement will produce steadfast saints who endure suffering with joy.
Help The Weak
Both the physically vulnerable and spiritually immature require time, investment, teaching, prayer, practical care
Our strength in Christ is not given so we may stand alone, but so we may steady others.
Continuing on in the text, we come to the next imperative pertaining to A Christian’s Responsibility Toward Others…
Be Patient With Them All
Be Patient With Them All
patient - to demonstrate patience despite difficulties
When you consider the work with the idle (undisciplined), fainthearted, and weak, it can bring about a considerable weariness.
One’s patience can certainly be tested over the long haul
And since church membership is meant to be long-term, it is not uncommon to have these feelings every so often.
Nonetheless, we have been given direct instructions from the Lord:
Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
As we bear with one another, and seek to do good to each other, we can from time-to-time hurt one another
Sinners helping sinners can be messy
We disappoint one another with our failings, lack of commitment to the maturing process, or even sinning against one another
Even still, we are called to forgive and be patient with one another.
Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”
Christ taught that there should be no arbitrary limit on the amount of times one forgives another.
Believers ought to extend patience and forgiveness unendingly to their brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is a blight to a local church when believers quarrel and separate, rather than forgive and reconcile to the glory of God.
Our patience and forgiveness must go above and beyond our human capabilities
They must be informed, not by our natural limitations, but by God’s eternal example:
in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
And on top of all this, how great is God’s patience toward you and me!
Each day that we sin against Him, despite having knowledge of the truth
Each day that we choose our ways over His own
The Divine forbearance serves as an example of what we ought to be exemplifying in our own lives because of the work the Holy Spirit is doing in us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
It is no coincidence that the fruit of the Spirit parallels the fruit of love in…
Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up; it does not act unbecomingly, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered; it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
It is only through the Spirit’s enabling that we can show genuine love and patience toward one another.
Keep One Another Accountable
Keep One Another Accountable
see that no one repays anyone evil for evil
This is a terribly difficult command for us to observe due to our natural disposition to revenge.
When we have been wronged, the only proper consequence in our natural mind is to make things even
We believe in living by the “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” mantra.
This is a legal standard for proportional justice in Exodus and Leviticus
It is not a proper response for a believer towards another brother in any lesser context
In fact, the emphasis throughout Scripture prioritizes reconciliation and peacemaking at a personal level.
Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul condemns believers who bring disputes before secular courts rather than settling them within the church community.
for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of that light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even expose them.
but always seek to do good to one another
This is the second imperative in this verse, which functions as the directive of action for the Church.
It should never be our knee-jerk reaction to “respond in kind” when treated wrongly, especially by other believers.
Rather, love must prevail!
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
The past two weeks, we have seen in these verses A Christian’s Responsibility Toward Others.
In the church, we are mutually responsible for each other’s spiritual growth.
Outside the church, we are responsible for maintaining a testimony that glorifies God…and we are to keep each other accountable in that area, too.
As we gather and engage with one another on a regular basis, life-on-life discipleship must be happening.
A healthy flock is characterized by growth in faith, love, purity, and progress toward the likeness of Christ.
But spiritually needy and problem sheep within the flock can, and do, impede its growth.
That means the healthy sheep must lovingly, patiently, and truthfully deal with the difficult sheep to remove sinful impediments and ensure real growth.
The key is not finding some clever strategy to bypass the troubles, but addressing the issues directly, as shepherds and sheep alike admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with one another, and keep each other accountable.
