Every Christian’s Job

1 Thessalonians 5:14,15

We urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

tragedy occurred some years ago when a train being pulled by two locomotives through the Rocky Mountains was stopped inside a long tunnel.  Both engines continued running, and everyone on board was asphyxiated by the exhaust of the engines.  When rescue workers finally reached the stalled train they found the throttle of one engine had been set to full speed ahead, but the throttle of the other engine was set in reverse.  Rescuers concluded that the train was having trouble going upgrade so one of the engineers decided to back the train down the hill but had failed to communicate his decision to the other engineer.  While the two engines pulled against each other all those aboard died.  This is a tragic example of what can happen when those who should be working for a common cause fail to communicate and fail to co-operate.

            For any church to be successful there must be co-operation among the members.  One of the areas requiring greatest co-operation is the work of the ministry of the church.  The ministry of the church is the work of a lifetime.  It is that work assigned to the entire congregation and not to the pastor alone.  It is a frequent mistake of sincere Christians to imagine that pastors are hired to do what congregations want done so that everything will move smoothly on Sunday mornings.  Pastors, however, are to be set free to devote themselves to the work which God has assigned them, as is indicated by the directive of Acts 6:3,4.  We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.  Pastors are to be spiritual shepherds and not to adopt the model of the realm of commerce from this dying world.

Every Christian’s Job Is To Warn The Idle — [W]arn those who are idle.  You may recall that in the message last week that I pointed out that one of the responsibilities which is assigned to pastors is the work of admonishing the people of God.  I invested time in investigating that Greek word nouqetevw to demonstrate that the thrust of the word was to warn or remind.  Admonition is vocal encouragement to exercise caution, vocal warning against engaging in evil, vocal warning against falling into the trap of sin.  That is the word Paul uses here when he instructs the congregation to warn those who are idle.

            Clearly, Christians are to provide warning to someone within the congregation.  However, we ought to be careful to avoid slinging out warnings “willy-nilly.”  Therefore it is of value for us to know who it is that is spoken of here whom Paul identifies as idle.  The Greek word is ajtavktou".  The Greek word a[takto" was primarily a military term used of the soldier who was out of step or out of rank.  The word could be used of an army moving in disarray.  In time the word came to be used more generally of that which is out of order.  By the time Paul was writing the word referred to the neglect of duty.  Among the Thessalonians Paul was concerned about those individuals who had become idle, neglecting their responsibilities among the saints of God.  The a[taktoi were truant from work; they had ceased to benefit the community of faith and had become parasites.

            In our day, we witness a strange phenomenon in which the church is viewed as a convenience.  We select our church for what it can give instead of seeing it as a place where the expression of the grace of God is revealed through the community working in concert.  Many professing Christians are spiritual prostitutes, asking what they can get instead of seeking what they may give.  Consequently, we see them for a brief while as they take from the assembly, but when it is no longer convenient they will go elsewhere.

            Assuredly the work of the pastorate includes speaking to such individuals at the appropriate time, confronting them with their self-centred view of life.  They need to be aware of their frowardness.  However, according to this text the duty of confrontation and of warning is not restricted to the pastor alone; it is the work of every Christian.  Whenever you see a member of the Body beginning to grow spiritually cold, don’t attempt to slough off responsibility for that fellow saint by telling the pastor in hopes that he will “do something” about the matter.  You go to that wayward believer and you warn that contumacious individual of the consequence of moving away from the Body of Christ.  Tell that disobedient saint how much you hurt when he or she is not present and how much you love them.  I suggest that were the whole of the church to take seriously this responsibility the impact in the lives of many people would be immeasurable.

Every Christian’s Job Is To Encourage the Timid — Paul’s second command to the Body is that believers must encourage the timid.  The word commonly employed for encouragement in our Bible is the word parakalevw, but the word here is slightly different: paramuqevomai.  The thrust of this particular word differs from the more common word by focusing on the concept of comfort or consolation.  The word speaks of addressing one in a positive, benevolent manner.  It is the expression of sympathy to one who is grieving.

            Again, it appears clear that the whole of the Body of Christ … every single Christian … is to engage in a ministry of comfort or consolation, but just who is to be comforted?  I am somewhat concerned that the translation before us is not sufficiently clear.  Indeed, we are to reach out to the timid, encouraging such individuals.  The word Paul uses, however, ojligoyuvcou", occurs only here in our New Testament.  It appears in other ancient literature, however, to refer to the discouraged or to the fearful.  The discouraged and the fearful are to be consoled by the membership of the Body.

            The world is a difficult place in which to live.  Each of us has many questions concerning the future and the fate of loved ones who have gone on before us.  At times, despite the statements of the Word of God we yet question what lies beyond this life.  Because a loved one failed to respond to our pleas, we are hurt and the burden weighs us down.  We grow discouraged and fearful for others of our loved ones.  The uncertainties leave us distracted and dispirited.  If we permit ourselves to surrender to discouragement and to fear, we will be injured severely.

            Those who doubt, those who are fearful and timorous, are to be comforted by the people of God.  Those who grow discouraged and weary in the course of life are to be encouraged by the community of Faith.  No doubt the simple act of sharing the service with others is a source of encouragement and consolation, but the verb is addressed to us as individuals.  Each of us is responsible to comfort and to console the fearful and the discouraged.  May I recommend that each of us is responsible to develop sensitivity to others, and when we see them in obvious distress and discomfort we are to love enough to ask the reason for their disquiet.  Then we can console them and quiet their fears.

            As an aside, it is not that uncommon that Christians will come to a point in their pilgrimage that they question whether they have trusted Christ.  Doubts arise and fears assail, and such doubt and fear can cripple us, leaving us bruised and bleeding along the side of the highway of life.  When such fears come, read again the book of First John in order that you may draw comfort and consolation, for in those pages are found the evidences God places in each of His children to reveal to them their divine parentage.

Every Christian’s Job Is To Help The Weak — [H]elp the weak.  Although Paul may have had in view the spiritually weak, in light of the instruction in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 the weak in this particular instance may well refer to those who find sexual self-control difficult.  The focus of Paul’s concern is those who are spiritually and morally weak.

            The Christian Church does not have a good track record of including those who enter the fellowship from backgrounds of gross immorality.  Many former homosexuals are uncomfortable revealing their past because they are fairly certain they will be ostracised by the polite society which they imagine the church to be.  Some who have lived for a period in immorality find it difficult to suddenly begin to live a celibate life.  Frequently, when they attempt to speak of their fears and frustrations they will find that they have become a pariah to those to whom they reached out for help.

            Before we grow too smug in our view of ourselves we would do well to remember Paul’s warnings in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  This is a dark list of sexual sins: sexually immoral … idolaters … adulterers  … male prostitutes  … homosexual offenders…  Other dark sins such as thieves … drunkards … swindlers are also included.  However, the list embraces some rather respectable sins as well.  The greedy … slanderers.  Even within polite church society are some who are greedy, some who are slanderous.

            I caution you against focusing so intently on the terrible sins catalogued here that you fail to see a wonderful truth.  I want you to see the composition of the Church of God at Corinth, noting that it was from just such fallen humanity and from just such wicked society that they had their roots.  And that is what some of you were.  Were the truth fully revealed we would find that among us are people drawn from just such segments of society; even if they were not actually participants in such sins, they gave silent approval at various times.  Likewise, we, whether we actually participated in such sins or not, may well have given silent approval of such evil, and according to Paul in Romans 1:32 approval is as awful and participation.  Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they … approve of those who practice them.

            I have never hidden from you the fact that God rescued me from some awful wickedness; God redeemed me from terrible sin.  Included within that awful list of sins in this letter are some which I can identify in my past.  However, just as was true for the Corinthians and just is true for you, God intervened to do a new work in my life.  Paul abruptly reminded the Corinthians, and consequently you and me.  But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.  If we were rescued by Christ, if we were washed and sanctified and justified, can we actually exult over those coming from such backgrounds?

            What shall we do with fellow Christians who threaten to slide back into the very sins from which they were rescued?  Are we to simply ignore them!  Paul says we are to help them.  Help, while accurate, is a rather anaemic translation.  John Stott, in his commentary on the Thessalonian letters, The Gospel and the End of Time, [IVP, pg. 122] writes:

The verb for help (antechomai) presents a graphic picture of the support which the weak needed.  It is as if Paul wrote to the stronger Christians: “Hold on to them,” “cling to them,” even “put your arm round them.”

We are to care enough about fellow believers to hold on to them, to cling to them, to put our arm around them.  Christians are responsible to care for one another.  The word chosen is reminiscent of Jude’s warning: snatch others from the fire and save them [Jude 23].  Few of us have qualms about rescuing the lost who are in danger of perishing, but we bear even greater responsibility to intervene in the life of a fellow believer flirting with a return to the past.  We are to care enough to soil our hands reaching out to them to rescue them from the consequences of their weakness.  Among us no one should ever be able to say:

Look to my right and see;

no one is concerned for me.

I have no refuge;

no one cares for my life.

[Psalm 142:4]

Every Christian’s Job Is To Exercise Patience — The world presents a caricature of the Christian as the universal wimp.  The Christian appears as someone who wears a sign saying, “take advantage of me.”  One reason this view prevails is that the mature Christian is not easily angered when considering the source of such distortion.  I do not want you to be wimps, but I do want you to be patient with everyone.  I suspect that Paul is saying at this point that we are to be patient with them all—the idle, the timid and the weak.  Paul is saying that we are to be patient with the problem children of the church.

            That verb which is translated be patient with, makroqumiva, is often translated in older translations of the Bible by the term long-suffering.  You may recall that makroqumiva, patience, is an attribute of God [2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 1:16; Romans 2:4].  You may also recall that patience is identified as one of the fruits of the Spirit to which we are to aspire as growing Christians [Galatians 5:22] and that when Paul pens his hymn of love, the first characteristic of love is patience [1 Corinthians 13:4].  We could draw the inference that mature saints are a patient people, and especially when it comes to dealing with the problem children of the Family of God.  However, Paul here is urging each member of the Body … and not the mature alone … to be patient with problem children.  He is instructing us to avoid giving way to a short temper when some among us fail.

            There is no warrant to be found in these verses for putting up with abuse from outsiders; neither is there a failure to set limits for those within the Body.  A dear friend of mine used to say that the sheep may fall into a mud puddle, but that besmirched sheep will not wallow in the mud.  My friend was right.  We may be assured that the true saint of God will, with admonition, quickly return to the path of life.  If they choose to ignore our love inspired outreach we are not responsible to berate ourselves.

John, speaking of just such people deaf to the pleas and entreaties of the saints as they left the fold, stated: They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us.  For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us [1 John 2:19].

Every Christian’s Job Is To Avoid Repaying Wrong in Kind — Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong.  The construction of this sentence is sufficiently unusual to draw special attention to itself.  Both second and third person is employed in the same sentence to make the point.  The phrase make sure is a translation of a second person plural imperative verb, oJra'te, while the verb translated by the phrase nobody pays back, ajpodw', is third person singular aorist.  This unusual construction seems to convey the idea that the whole assembly bears responsibility for the conduct of each individual.  Not only is the church to abstain from retaliation, but the congregation is to see that none of their number retaliates when attacked.  Underscore this vital truth in your mind.  The entire congregation is responsible to keep those under attack from retaliating.

You have heard me speak of our corporate nature as the Body of Christ.  This command is one more instance of practical application of that truth.  I cannot stress strongly enough the corporate responsibility we bear for one another in the world.  Practically speaking, each of us is responsible for all the remainder of the Body.  Each member of the Body of Christ is to assume responsibility for every other member.

            The command is practically word for word identical to the command found in Romans 12:17: Do not repay anyone evil for evil.  This basic Christian teaching hearkens back to the words of Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount.  I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…  I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect [Matthew 5:39,44-48].  The Apostle Peter, writing a generation after Jesus’ passion, points to the manner in which the Lord had received the injustice of the cross to remind us of the manner in which we are to respond to injustice: how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it?  But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God [1 Peter 2:20].

            In the process of attempting to intervene in the lives of the problem children of the church we will on occasion encounter hostility and anger as these individuals lash out in their pain and fury.  Our love will have opened us to such angry attacks.  These angry individuals may even seek to injure us in their blind rage at the exposure of their sin.  The child of God must resist the thought of retaliation.  At such times it is incumbent upon the entire congregation to restrain the one attacked from striking back.  Remind one another that we bear the imprint of heaven upon our brows and remind one another that we are children of our Father in heaven, and that we must not therefore surrender to the temptation to injure the one attacking us when their attack is the response to our effort to turn them from harming themselves.  Exercise discernment to keep from striking out at a fellow believer who is enraged and intent on hurting us.  The whole congregation must labour to insure that none of us fall prey to the desire to retaliate.

Every Christian’s Job Is To Always Endeavour To Seek Good — [A]lways try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.  Paul’s language here is vibrant and alive.  A more literal translation would read: Always hunt the good to each other and to all.  I am somewhat concerned that the way in which our translators have phrased the command, try to be kind.  It leaves the impression that Paul was making a concession to fallen natures.  Try to be kind, but if not, don’t worry too much about your failure.  That is not at all what the Apostle is saying.  He is imposing the command to make “the good” a matter of constant pursuit.  He is instructing us that we are to endeavour to seek what is beneficial first for the Family of God and then for all mankind.  In light of the verses preceding, I suggest that our responsibility to one another is of first priority in this instance.

            We know and are convinced that we are to do good to those outside the Body of Christ.  Jesus taught us: do good to those who hate you [Luke 6:27].  Yet it is with this final command in our text Paul that reminds us that just as we are to seek the good for our enemies so we are to seek the good for our fellow believers.  Christians are to be a people who seek the good, the highest and the noblest for all mankind.  That search for the good begins first among the people of God.  Be seekers of the good, fulfilling God’s command: whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice [Philippians 4:8,9].

            Bear in mind that Paul is not addressing the elders of the church in these verses, although they have a vital role in pastoral oversight.  Instead, the Apostle is laying on the whole congregation responsibility to care for each other as sisters and brothers, to give appropriate support, encouragement or admonition to the church’s problem children, and to ensure that all its members follow the teaching of Jesus, cultivating patience, renouncing retaliation and pursuing kindness.  It is a beautiful vision of the local church as a community not only of mutual comfort and encouragement, but of mutual forbearance and service as well which Paul presents.  If we seize this vision it will transform what we do as a community of Faith and it will transform us individually.

            Let’s become practical for a moment.  Consider how the message may find lodging in your heart.  Every Christian’s job is to warn the idle.  What does that mean for you?  You see as clearly as does this pastor when members of this Body begin to fall out of rank, when they begin to seek easier or less demanding places to serve and worship.  Warn them!  Admonish them!  Remind them that their action hurts the assembly.  Love that wavering one enough to intervene with a verbal plea that he or she consider the consequence of his or her action.  Whether they begin to drift morally or whether it is as seemingly innocuous as beginning to look for another congregation, remind them that whatever the problem here they will meet that same problem where they are headed.

            Every Christian’s job is to encourage the timid.  Each of us at one time or another will require the consolation and comfort given by others.  Seek the opportunity to be that instrument of God to comfort the discouraged and to console the fearful.  Determine that you will be one who serves to encourage others; determine that you will be a builder who forthrightly meets the questions and doubts expressed by fearful, intimidated saints.  Remind the doubting saint that God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline [2 Timothy 1:7].  You will know more often the fears of another than will the Pastor.  Assuredly I am here to help, but it is you, the people of God who are on the front lines and to whom is given the ministry of encouragement.

            Every Christian’s job is to help the weak.  Among us will be a growing number of hurting men and women coming from a variety of walks of life … if we fulfil the ministry given us.  Coming as they do from the same fallen race in which we had our origins they need our help to firmly turn away from the past.  Hold on to such hurting, pain-racked individuals.  Put your arm around them.  Lift them up and lend them your strength until they are sufficiently strong to stand on their own.  Be the source of strength which they lack until they are strong enough to stand alone, until they are strong enough to resist the temptations to wickedness.  You see the injured among us, those who are weak and unable to resist the steady draw of the past, many times before even the Pastor sees them.  Help them!  Be a strength to them and the strong rock to which they can flee.

            Among us will be found some who will stumble on occasion, some who will err.  We have no warrant to turn against such wounded saints; we are not commanded to shoot our wounded.  Rather we are to seek to restore such saints, or if possible to love them enough to intervene before they are injured, ministering to them with great patience, refusing to repay wrong for wrong, always seeking their good and God’s glory. 

            You see, the ministry is too great to entrust to a select group of individuals.  The ministry is too vital to give over to one small segment of the community of Faith.  The ministry, the open expression of Christ among His people, is conferred on the whole of the Body of Christ.  The ministry is the work of the Church.  It is your work … it is our work together.  I do not say that we will keep everyone among us from falling away from open, ardent service to Christ, but I do say that together we can reclaim many and keep many from injury if we see the great work which is ours as a community.

            I suppose that I am at heart a warrior.  When I was a young man, nothing would do but that I should join the United States Marine Corps.  I chose that branch of the service because I knew the heritage of the Marines.  They are warriors; every Marine is a rifleman.  Furthermore the Corps is tight-knit, caring for its own.  When in combat each Marine knows that he will never be deserted to the enemy but that the man on his left and on his right will stand firm in the face of fire.

            I do not advocate violence, but I do see within these standards adopted by that branch of the military something of the spirit and heart of the Christian Faith.  We are engaged in warfare, not with the weapons of this world but with spiritual weapons as we stand against wickedness and seek to present Christ to a hostile world.  There will be casualties among us from time to time as people are spiritually and emotionally injured by the pressures of this engagement.  We must never surrender to the temptation to desert our injured colleagues; we must ever resolve that we will, together with the whole of the Body of Christ, build one another and keep one another from harm.  We must resolve that we will each be ministers of Christ, servants to one another.  We do this by resolving to fulfil the job assigned, every Christian’s job, of ministering to one another.