FINAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR CHURCH LIFE

Introduction

-If you ever wanted to find instructions on how to succeed at different areas in life, you would seek out the best/the professionals in that area.

-So, for example, if you wanted instructions on home building or home remodeling, you might want to seek out Chip and Joanna Gaines from HGTV’s FIXER UPPER. Or if you wanted to cook the most elegant dinner you might seek instruction from Bobby Flay or Giada De Laurentiis from Food Network. Or if you wanted instruction on how to be a good quarterback you’d seek instruction from Aaron Rodgers (when he doesn’t have a broken collar bone).

-Well, where do we go if we wanted instruction on how to have the healthiest church life possible here at Harvest? Where do we turn to be instructed on strengthening ourselves as a Christian community? We would obviously say the Bible, but more specifically we’d look at Paul, who planted numerous churches, to find out what instructions he gave to those churches to fulfill the plans God has for them.

-As I close my study of 1 Thessalonians today, Paul gives what seems like random closing thoughts. But these instructions actually have a common theme in that he gives practical advice to the church to live as the Christian community God intended for them.

-We find that there are certain spiritual habits and attitudes that we develop as a godly assembly that contribute to a strong, healthy life for the church body.

-And my prayer is to lead us as a church family into developing those spiritual habits and attitudes so that Harvest Baptist Church will have a strong, healthy life for years to come.

1 Thessalonians 5:12–28 ESV

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. 25 Brothers, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

-Since the church is made up of individuals, it is the individuals within the body that must take on these spiritual habits and attitudes. So each of us need to ask and then answer this question personally:

What can I do to contribute to a strong, healthy life in this church?

I) Develop Healthy Church Relationships

-A church is only as healthy and strong as the relationships that are found within it. Where disunity and bitterness and anger reign, the devil has a foothold in that church. And it is up to the individual to not take on the actions and attitudes that destroy relationships, but rather to do what needs to be done to promote a loving, harmonious body.

-What does some of this entail?

A) Respect the work of leaders

-In vv. 12 & 13 Paul tells the church to respect those who labor within the church and are over the church. He is speaking of the church leadership that have the responsibility for the spiritual care of those in the flock.

-If we recognize these leaders as pastors, we know that these men are shepherds who have been given a great responsibility by the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, to tend to His flock. They lead the sheep of God as they themselves are led by Christ; they care for and give spiritual nourishment to the Lord’s little ones.

-No doubt there are some bad church leaders, and there are some good church leaders, but if they are faithful to the Word and the work of the church, their labor is to be recognized for what it is.

-For pastors, it is a labor of love because they come into this ministry knowing that they have to give an account for their church and will be more heavily scrutinized for their work—James warned people:

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. (Jas. 3:1 ESV)

-Are church leaders perfect and sinless? No. Will you always agree with what church leaders do? No. But you can respect them anyway and allow them to lead as they are led.

-As the writer of Hebrews pointedly put it:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Heb. 13:17 ESV)

B) Live in peace with others

-In v. 13 Paul tells the church to be at peace among themselves. That is, do not cause conflict with other Christians, and do whatever is in your power to maintain peace within the body.

-Why is this so important? Many reasons:

One reason is that it impacts the enjoyment of the fellowship within the church—think about the different tones within a household that is constantly filled with turmoil versus one where things are worked out peacefully. In the first home there is stress and anxiety. In the second home things are worked out and the joy of the household is maintained. Which of those would you rather the church to be like?

-Another reason is that it impacts the health and growth of the church body. Think about this: the church is likened to a body in many different places in Scripture. What would happen if the eye went to war with the hand, or the foot went to war with the ear? The body would be unhealthy, and sick bodies do not grow.

-Another reason is that it impacts the effectiveness of our ministry and testimony. If all our energy is spent taking shots at one another, we will have no energy to minister to those in need, whether they are in the church or outside the church. And any testimony we might try to give about the love of Christ will be neutralized by our hateful actions and attitudes toward one another.

-Another reason to maintain peace is because it please the Lord, and that is ultimately what we want to do.

-So, all of us need to follow Paul’s advice as he stated it in Romans:

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. (Rom. 12:18 ESV)

-You do all you can do to maintain peace in the body, and don’t worry about the other guy or gal—or as Paul also says in today’s passage: do not repay evil for evil.

C) Correct the actions of the disobedient

-In v. 14 Paul says to admonish the idle—other translations will say to admonish the unruly or disruptive. The word there is talking about someone who is out of step with everybody else.

-I have never been in the military, but we are all familiar when soldiers are walking in cadence, where the commanding officer is saying LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT RIGHT----well, imagine the commanding officer saying left, but this one guy steps forward with his right, and then the officer says right, and this one guy steps forward with his left. He is out of step and it is noticeable.

-Well, as a church teaches and preaches the Word and seeks to live in conformity to the Word, there may be some who go off to do their own thing, out of step with the church and with Scripture. This can be problematic because this person brings disrepute to the name of Christ and brings disrepute to the name of the church.

-So, the church is to lovingly go to that person and admonish them to get back in step with the Bible in their lives. They are to show them what they are doing wrong, and then disciple then about what the Bible says to do that is right.

D) Comfort the struggling with patience

-In v. 14 we are instructed to encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with them all.

-I’ve have said it over and over again that becoming a Christian doesn’t get rid of all the problems and frustrations of life. The difference, though, is that we don’t have to go through our struggles alone.

-If you read the early chapters of the book of Acts, you see a picture of the early church that when a church member is struggling the church sacrifices time and resources to help that member.

-Can helping other people be inconvenient? At times, but it is what we are called to do. I’m sure it was very inconvenient for the Lord to step out of heaven, become a lowly human, and die a horrible death—but He did so with love and patience because He knew that was the only way to help a struggling humanity. May our attitude be the same.

-So one way to contribute to a strong, healthy life in the church is to develop healthy church relationships. But, secondly, we also:

II) Develop a Vital Spiritual Walk

-We are called to walk with Christ in intimacy, and watch ourselves grow and our church grow. What does Paul say specifically?

A) Always rejoice

-That is the call of v. 16. We see it and quote it, but in the back of our minds we really think it is the most impossible thing to do.

-We won’t say this out loud, but we probably think that God is mocking us in this verse. I mean come on:

~you just find out you’re really sick and you’re supposed to go YAY, WOOHOO?

~Your car is messed up and will cost you thousands of dollars, and you’re supposed to say PRAISE THE LORD?

-But this isn’t a call to put on a fake smile, or just to grin and bear it. It is a call to worship God no matter what happens, knowing that in the end He is worthy, in control, and ultimately wins.

-This joy we are called to is supernatural, coming from God, based on His character, coming from a heart that bases its sufficiency in Christ. It is not necessarily exclusive of sorrow or grief, but is present even when those emotions exist.

B) Always pray

-We are also familiar with v. 17 telling us to pray without ceasing, also thinking that this is impossible because you gotta get things done, you can’t just talk to God all day. But that thinking is based on wrong understanding of prayer.

-First, prayer is as much about the posture of the heart as it is the action. So this is a call to cultivate a spirit of dependence and humility.

-Also, prayer is more about a persistent pattern—having constant communion with God throughout the day every day without large gaps where we drift away.

-It is also about perseverance, not easily losing focus of God, or spiritually moving away from Him.

-And it is also power, in that we realize we can do nothing of our own, so we seek Him to fulfill in us, through us, and around us what we cannot do ourselves.

C) Always appreciate

-In v. 18 Paul says that we are to give thanks in all circumstances because this is God’s will, and here again we think that Paul or God is mocking us because there are a lot of bad circumstances in life, and we are not sure how to thank God for those.

-I mean, who is going to shout to God:

MY CHILD IS DRIFTING AWAY FROM YOU AND US GOD, AND WE JUST GOTTA SAY THANK YOU.

-That is not the call here, but there is a call here for us to have a constant remembrance of all that God has done for us, and recognize that these blessings come from His hand.

-Even when we are in our darkest hour, we still have blessings in life that have come down from the Father above for which we can give Him thanks, not the least of which is His promise to never leave us nor forsake us even if we feel He has.

D) Always obey

-vv. 19-22 tell us to not quench the spirit by either not trusting His Word, or by believing false teachings, or by doing evil. Instead, we are called to hear the Word of God, place it in our hearts, and follow the commands that He gives.

-Here is a call for us to yield ourselves to the Spirit as He uses His Word to guide us and instruct us in life, even when it does not make sense.

-This is especially true in our relational interactions as a church, where the Spirit calls us to a constant stance of humility and service, placing others before ourselves. Sometimes, this even means that we allow ourselves to be wronged without seeking vengeance or leveling repercussions, for the Lord Himself is our model in this, who, when He was mocked and spit upon and jeered, did nothing in return.

-Sometimes it is a call to sacrifice when we don’t want to sacrifice. Like obeying God’s Word to tithe when we don’t think we can afford it, yet He calls us to do it anyway so that He can show Himself mighty and generous in your life.

-But if we fail to obey, we don’t see Him show Himself powerful and majestic because we quenched His work in our lives.

-These are all parts of having a vital spiritual walk with the Lord. But being a part of creating a strong, healthy life in the church thirdly means:

III) Develop an Awareness of God’s Interests

-That is, allowing your heart to beat right along with God’s. Whatever is important to God is important to you as well. This is found in several areas:

A) Cooperation toward sanctification

-In v. 23 Paul gives a little prayer that God would fulfill in the members of the church sanctification and being kept blameless. This does not mean that there is an expectation of perfection, but it is speaking of holiness==being consecrated toward God and separate from sin and the world.

-Paul had stated earlier in the book:

For this is the will of God, your sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3 ESV)

-God wants a people whose hearts belong solely to Him, not having a split allegiance between self-interest and worldly desires. He wants a people who are not conformed to the ways of the world system, but instead are transformed by the renewing of their minds.

-Paul is calling the church to those same desires. Instead of trying to get as close to the world as you possibly can, we are called out of the world just as God called Israel out of Egypt, not only physically, but spiritually==not letting their pagan ways influence the way they live life.

-To get the world out of us and us out of the world is a process, it takes time, and we are called to cooperate with God in this process.

B) Intercession for missions

-God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance all around the world. But not all church members are called to go out to other lands to do so. Yet that does not mean we have no part in the work of missions.

-In v. 25 Paul asks the church to pray for him and his mission team. Paul and Timothy and Luke and Silas and others were going from region to region, sharing the gospel, and planting churches that would hopefully then multiply.

-The church could have a part in that important work by supporting those who have been sent out by God to fulfill this mission, both through prayer support as well as financial support. Maintaining a healthy church means that we do our part to support missions as they are fulfilled in our own Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, as well as to the ends of the earth.

C) Maintain close fellowship

-Paul says in v. 26 to greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. In some cultures, the kiss on the cheek was a normal greeting indicating love and affection for the other person.

-For the church, it indicates an exchange of brotherly love among members of one spiritual family. And you notice that for Paul there was no discrimination or favoritism. He says to greet all the brothers. Paul didn’t recognize any cliques or any form of elitism within the church. All brothers and sisters in Christ are due our love and affection.

-But if you are to love someone and maintain close fellowship you need to get to know someone. That is why it is so important to get to know the members of your church family. Seek ways outside of these walls to build relationship with one another so that no works of the enemy can cause a division.

D) Communicate the truth

-Paul says in v. 27 that they were to read this letter to all the members of the church. Back in those days there was no Bible like we have it today. Paul’s instructions were the truth and were inspired by God. Therefore, if people are going to know who God is, what He has done, and what He expects, His Word has to be communicated.

-The truths of God’s Word are for all church members of all ages for their growth and discipleship, as well as their protection from error. For a church to be healthy, God’s truth has to be front and center in all that it does.

Conclusion

-The church was very important to Paul. He knew that if the message of Jesus Christ was going to spread across the world, it would take strong, healthy churches to do so. That is why in this epistle, as well as others, he painstakingly gives specific instructions for the churches in ways they can develop this for themselves.

-Now, more than ever, this world needs churches that are alive and vibrant and shining Jesus Christ wherever they go. Unfortunately, this world is filled with spiritually sick, divided groups of people who try to maintain a façade of Christian fellowship, but filled with people whose hearts just don’t care about anything but themselves.

-Let’s not let that be Harvest. Come and pray at the altar today that we as a church develop in these areas.

-Maybe you are looking for a church home that is growing in the Lord, and I pray you would consider joining Harvest today.

-But maybe you have no spiritual life to begin with, because that only comes by turning from the sinful path of your life and turning toward Jesus Christ, trusting that He died for you and can give you life. Come forward today and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.