1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

Fatherly Advice for the Church

Intro: How many of you are familiar with the Swiss Family Robinson or Lost In space which is a Science fiction version of the Swiss Family Robinson. Imagine you are shipwrecked with your family. You and your family are on an island that you know nothing about, you don’t even know where exactly you are, and you have to work together in order to survive.

A church is like a family. Paul was one of the fathers of the first churches. The apostles were responsible for spreading the Gospel to fulfill the Great Commission. Paul went out with his team to start churches. He is like a father. Paul does not want his children to have some pithy sayings to use in their lifetime. He wants them to continue to grow in Christ

The advice is not just to live a better life but it is to put Christ on display everyday

because he has purchased your life. The advice is to help the church survive and more importantly thrive because the world at this point wants Christianity to cease to exist or control i so it doesn’t interfere with anyone else’s life.

Read Verses:

Big Idea: Being a Church is requires different elements to ensure its survival and growth

I. Being a Church Requires Mutual Respect (12-15)

Families are made up of people. The church is a family. Paul refers to the church people as brothers and sisters. You cannot really get away from people. You have to interact with them on some kind of basis. And that can be stressful. Paul spends time explains some theological issues with the rapture and God’s day of Wrath. But as he closes out this letter, he brings the topic back to church matters. And the first thing Paul talks about is how the church people interact.

First Paul explains the church to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you.

Just like children need to follow their parents' instructions and leadership, likewise, Paul is telling the people to listen to those people who have been placed in leadership positions. Now he doesn’t say how they got there, but my guess is they were either voted or were appointed by Paul or Timothy.

Why? What gives Paul the right to tell other people to listen to the pastors? Because All of the Apostles, Paul, Peter, James and everyone else we read about in the New Testament, submitted to their leadership. The headship of Jesus Christ.

Paul explains in He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Paul sets the order and that order starts with Christ and then moves. Down through to the local church where overseers are responsible for as it is translated as admonished here, but the Greek word used nuouthete really means as the New American Standard Bible picks the word “instruct”. In English the word admonish is more of a negative word, whereas Instruct is what leaders should always attempt to do, even if it is unpleasant.

The instruction that some people might think only comes from leaders, should also come from each other. Or the laity. In verse 14 Paul encourages them to “warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

What is Paul doing here? He is looking at this as the situation of Am I my brother’s keeper? He is answering it as yes. Yes you are.

Wants the church to respect the leaders appointed over them and also the mutual respect with each other to tell people when they are being lazy, comfort the people who are down, and be patient with everyone.

All of these situations require patience, because you may be the person who is discouraged or down or being lazy and need encouragement or motivation.

Illustration: When you are shipwrecked, there is a lot of work to be done. Shelter, food, water, learning the area, defending your camp or settlement. Everyone must work together. And we all have good days and bad days so we have to help each other to keep going. Because survival is the most important thing.

The way you get through situations is through mutual respect. Someone has to be in charge and other people have to follow the instructors. Because one day you may be in charge and if you weren’t a good follower then, you will get more people who are not good followers when you are in charge.

Mutual respect is beneficial to living and working together.

During His earthly ministry, Jesus instructed and admonished. He was patient with the old lady who touched his garment in the crowd. He was patient with the lepers that came to him. He also warned those Pharisees and religious people who were trying to stop him from working on the Sabbath to heal people.

Jesus pursued what was good for all of God’s people by following His path to the cross and to the grave.

The church’s survival is paramount to spreading the Gospel because that is what is good for the same group of people so they can hear and accept God’s gift of grace.

TS: Paul Knows that if the church is helping each other, then it is easier to get everyone to focus On God

II. Being a Church Requires Focus On God (16-22)

In the Movie Castaway, Tom Hanks’ character is happy to find a bunch of the fed ex boxes wash up on his island. Some of the packages are random and unhelpful, but he finds a pair of ice skates that he uses to open coconuts and he is happy because he can know get some nutrients.

But he goes through all the boxes with a focus or a purpose. To stay alive and get home.

The church has to have the same kind of focus on God. He is the only one keeping us alive. The church should gather together to worship and focus on God. We should not just be here to visit friends The church exists for two reasons to Worship God and Spread the Gospel

We do that by learning to rejoice in the good times as well as the bad.

We keep praying together as a body and we should pray for each other. In the Swiss Family Robinson’s story, one of the first things the father does is to pray to God as they start their new life on the island they find themselves.

Praying, praise and God’s Word are the elements that we use to stay focused on God.

Jesus would

Six times the gospels record words that Jesus spoke in prayer:

"You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children" (, )

Before the raising of Lazarus ()

"Father, glorify your name" ()

His prayer in

Three prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane

Three prayers on the cross:

"Father forgive them; for they know not what they do" ()

"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (, )

"Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit" ()

Other references to Jesus praying Edit

Other references to Jesus praying include:

At his baptism ()

Regular time of withdrawal from the crowds ()

After healing people in the evening ()

Before walking on water (, , )

Before choosing the Twelve ()

Before Peter's confession ()

At the Transfiguration ()

Before teaching his disciples the Lord's Prayer ()

Jesus says that he has prayed for Peter's faith ()

In addition to this, Jesus said grace before the feeding miracles, at the Last Supper, and at the supper at Emmaus.

R. A. Torrey notes that Jesus prayed early in the morning as well as all night, that he prayed both before and after the great events of his life, and that he prayed "when life was unusually busy".[1]

Jesus knew God’s word and that the whole of scripture was about Him.

We can use scripture to keep us focused on God and help us avoid evil or go contrary to God’s will. The law does just that. We see what is acceptable and what is not in God’s eyes. We can use the scripture to explain Jesus to other people.

TS: We can use God’s word to explain God’s grace to other people.

III. Being a Church Requires the Grace of God (23-28)

The last section is Paul’s closing statements for his letter to the church. But they are not merely a formality to say “We love and miss you here and hope to see you again, Sincerely, Paul and the gang.”

He closes all of his letters with a reminder of who gives them peace, and is sanctifying you as you live on this world.

Paul wants the church to never forget that Jesus is the reason that they gather. He wants them to remain completely blameless as possible.

God has sanctified you and that means he has set you apart. And you are blameless in God’s eyes. That is your positional sanctification.

But we also have personal sanctification that happens everyday. This is your growth as a Christian. Sometimes the term spiritual formation is used. This is you becoming more Christ-like from when you became a Christian.

As we are shipwrecked, we learn how to survive. We get better at starting a fire to keep warm and cook food. We get better at catching animals so we can actually have something to cook. We build a shelter and improve it. We start to thrive.

It's the same thing in our Christian life.We start off only knowing a little bit, but we Grow in Christ and it becomes easier to follow God because we know we can trust the faith he has given us.

And Paul gives them the encouragement that He who calls you is faithful; He, God is what Paul is referring to, will do it. He will keep you blameless.

“but it is God’s power and effective work within that keeps and sanctifies us. So long as we look to Him in faith, then, we can express the same confidence Paul expressed. We do not live in fear that we will not experience the final salvation and final sanctification prayed for here.”

Paul asks the people greet each other with a holy kiss. One commentator translated this as a solid handshake. The kiss may be something that is odd to us, but the bottom line is that people should know that the people of the church love each other. That there is a warmth and affection in the church, between the people.

You can tell a lot about groups or gatherings on how many people stay around after the event is over. If people want to leave work like they are trying to get off the titanic, something is wrong. The same goes with church.

We went to a hockey game Friday Night. The game was almost over and so people started leaving. Everyone just pretty much left. But as we went through the crowd, I noticed some people standing and talking because they were friends and so they weren’t in a hurry to leave.they were just hanging out and moved their conversation out of the arena.

If people want to stick around and talk and catch up, then we are doing something right. As we grow, we have to make sure people feel comfortable to stay around.

Conclusion:

We are all shipwrecked on this island earth. We are away from our heavenly home and if we are not careful we can be isolated, which makes survival more difficult. The Church must have certain actions to ensure that it survives and thrives.

Mutual Respect is not just centered in this building. It has to happen in every aspect of your life with everyone you meet. In person, on social media, and everyone in between.

If you keep your focus on God, it is easier to stay respectful. You can stay in constant prayer and keep rejoicing and being thankful for the things God has given you, chief among those things, is the Grace he has shown you and offered u in the form of Jesus Christ.

The free gift that pays for your sins.

Benediction

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.