PAUL'S FIRST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS
DYNAMICS WITHIN THE CHURCH
1 Thess. 5:12-28
INTRODUCTION
This last section concludes not only 1 Thessalonians itself but also the practical section of the book which started with 4:1. What is interesting is that Paul closes the practical section of 1 Thess. (chapters 4-5) with the same idea he used to open the book: sanctification. Paul starts this section by claiming: "This is the will of God--your SANCTIFICATION" (4:3). Paul concludes this section with the prayer that God "SANCTIFY you entirely" (5:23). By opening and closing the section with sanctification, Paul wants us to know that everything between 4:1 and 5:22 deals with sanctification. God sanctifies us by purifying us (4:1-8), by growing us in love (4:9-12), by helping us respond positively to the death of a Christian loved on (4:13-18), by living an ethical light (5:1-11), and by implementing the various instructions at the end of the letter (5:12-22).
Why the emphasis on sanctification? Because from the moment we got saved, the whole purpose of our life is sanctification, that is, growing to be like Jesus. Yes I am to share others with Jesus; however, becoming like Jesus—-which INCLUDES sharing Him with others—-is to be the main goal of my life.
RESPONSE TO CHURCH LEADERSHIP (5:12-13)
Living in isolation is totally contrary to the Christian faith. God has called us to be committed to a loving community of other believers. Naturally whenever a group of believers comes together, it will have certain ways of operating, certain dynamics which will govern the way the church operates. Paul at the end of 1 Thessalonians wants to address some of these dynamics.
The first church dynamic Paul addresses is that of the relationship of the church to its leaders:
"But we request of you, brethren,
that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you
and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction,
and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.
Live in peace with one another."
Why does Paul address this issue first? If you think back on the founding of the church of Thessalonica, you will remember that Paul may have spent only 3 weeks (or just a little longer) in that community before the Jews had driven him out. He might be able to evangelize and save a lot of people in that short period of time; however, it was going to be difficult to establish a fully-functioning, healthy church in just 3 weeks (or even a little longer). But he did establish it in just this short amount of time. The result was that the new leaders who emerged in that church were as green as could be. They had not been given the opportunity to go through seminary or even leadership development classes in that short period of time.
Yet the church HAD to have leaders. Since Paul had just recently led them all to the Lord, ALL of them were young converts, EVEN the leaders. ALL of them were spiritually immature. In such a situation it would probably be easy for some of the other members of the congregation to dismiss lightly these new leaders: "I became a Christian a day before he did. Why did he get to become the leader and not me?" "I know the OT [the only Bible they had] more than he does." Etc. The bottom line is this: you've got to have leaders no matter whether they are thoroughly trained or not. A headless organization would be monstrous at best, pure anarchy at its worst. For this reason even if their leaders were not the best trained in the world, the Thessalonian Christians needed to respect the new leaders Paul had placed in charge of the church. Paul expects them to follow these new leaders, even though they are young converts.
Just as the church though has the responsibility to follow its leaders, the leaders have responsibilities too. Unlike the business world where many times leaders may arise to the top for a variety of reasons, qualifications and proven experience may not be two of them. For example, how many CEO's who are getting filthy rich off their companies are driving those same companies into the ground? On the other hand, in the church the leaders who emerge should have already exhibited certain character traits. What traits should they exhibit? Paul here lists 3 of them: the leaders diligently labor and have charge over others and give instruction.
REALIZE THAT DIFFERENT PEOPLE MAKE UP THE CHURCH (5:14)
Paul urges the leaders and the church to remember that different types of people make up the church and that we need to take into account those weakness:
"Encourage the fainthearted,
help the weak,
be patient with ALL men" (5:14).
There is a beautiful picture of Jesus in Isaiah 42 in which Isaiah claims that a "bruised reed [Jesus] will not break, and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish" (42:3). There are bruised reeds in the church. Not everybody is an alpha-type personality oblivious of the fact that they are crushing any and everybody in the paths. Some people get seriously wounded not only by the actions of alpha personalities but also by their words. Serious damage can be inflicted upon those who are weaker emotionally and psychologically. Do the weak need to get tougher? Yes! Do they need to get more realistic? Probably. But that is definitely not Paul's command here. He tells the strong to help the weak. Whether the weak should be weak or not, Paul's command is that the strong help the weak.
Our church has had the reputation of really helping the weak. One of the greatest compliments ever paid our church was made by a former church member whom the world would never take notice of. He would never be elected to anything. He didn't earn enough money to say boo at. However, he said this about First Baptist: " I go to First Baptist because they make me feel important there." When people like him make that kind of comment, First Baptist then is a great church.
NON-RETALIATION (5:15-18)
The issues Paul addresses in 5:12-28 are practical matters any church would face: relationship of leadership to flock, presence of different kinds of people in the church, etc. As you read this book though, the Thessalonians appear to be under more stress than what is typical of many Christians. Their grief is excessive; here they are told not to retaliate. The Thessalonians appear to be living on the edge emotionally.
Why would the Thessalonians be emotionally fried? Simply because they are a church undergoing intense emotional and economical persecution. Many of their loved ones have ostracized them. They lose customers at work. They are no longer welcome at their regular place of worship, the synagogue. They are emotionally strained, to say the least.
When we are under great stress, it is easy to turn on those closest to us, those we feel like we have no boundaries with. Turn on the church leadership who has led us into this persecution, on other church members who may not be suffering persecution as intensively as we are. Paul here is trying to throw some oil upon the troubled waters. One of the ways he can bring peace to this church is by reminding them of Jesus' instruction on retaliation.
With the exception of Jesus telling us to love our enemies, probably few other teachings of Jesus made such an impact upon the early Christians as did His teaching on non-retaliation.
"You have heard it said:
'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
But I say to you, 'Do not resist an evil person,
But whoever slaps you on the right cheek
Turn to other to him also'" (Matt. 5:38-39).
One author in particular, the great Chinese preacher Watchman Nee, has brought this teaching back to the forefront. Christians unfortunately today are as concerned about their rights as the non-Christian world. Well, rights are not a new phenomenon. Jesus knew about rights as well as any man, and yet this did not prevent Him from instructing us NOT to defend our rights.
A really good friend of min, a great advocate of Watchman Nee, has really impressed upon me the need NOT to defend myself when attacked unjustly. I have discovered this to be one of the most liberating pieces of advice I've ever received. I don't have to try to line up documentation when people assail me. I don't have to worry if I am doing a good enough job explaining my actions. If God wants me defended at the time I am attacked, then He will defend me. If not, then He will defend me at the appropriate time. It might be on the day of judgment, but it will happen and it will happen on His timetable, the perfect timetable.
Paul, like Jesus, doesn't just tell us NOT to defend ourselves. Rather they both instruct us to rejoice, and pray for and do good to the persons who mistreat us.
"Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing,
in everything give thanks,
for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (5:16-18).
Rejoice always! The Christian never has reason to sink into incurable despair. Yes, it can get very sad for Christians when they lose a loved one or are attacked unjustly; however, our sadness can be tempered by the fact that all sadness Christians experience is temporary. Christ will return and give us a future that is so glorious we can't even begin to describe it in the here and now. Moreover, we can rejoice because our sufferings show us that we are linked to the One who did suffer terribly, Jesus. Our sufferings show us that we belong to Him. That should give us great cause for joy!
Paul also encourages us to pray without ceasing. We can't spend our whole life on our knees; however, we can live in an atmosphere of prayer, talking to our Father throughout the day.
In the present context though, it appears that Paul is urging us to pray whenever people mistreat us. In fact Jesus commands us to pray for those who do misuse us. Not pray bad things for them, but good things. The wild thing is that as I pray good things for those who might mistreat me, I find that I grow to love them more and more. I see them in a new light. I come to appreciate Jesus' teachings that I don't want Him to punish others when they wrong me because I don't want Him to punish me whenever I mess up. I want grace for those who sin against me so that Jesus might grace me whenever I unintentionally sin against others.
PROPHETIC UTTERANCES (5:19-22)
In a young church where the leaders were brand spanking new, it would be easy to take what they said lightly (for the same reasons listed above). Yet when it is all said and done, the main responsibility of the "preacher" or main leader of the church was NOT to be mature in wisdom, imparting gems of wisdom throughout his sermon. He was not to be a Solomon, wise beyond his years. Rather he was to be a mouthpiece for the Spirit of God. Sometimes even the most UNlearned Christian can speak for God better than the most learned Christian. Balaam's donkey spoke for God better than Balaam, the old wise prophet "of God." The question was not how long the preacher had been a Christian or how mature he was. The question was whether or not God was speaking through him. If God was, then the people were to listen to him and follow His leadership. If God was NOT speaking through him, then the people were NOT to listen to him and were NOT to follow him.
I've seen this gift used correctly and also misused. I love it when I sense God speaking through a preacher or teacher. There is just such a sensation of God's presence and favor. At other times God make bring tears to my eyes because I know He is speaking to me through that person. At other times when I hear the prophet speaking, I may feel guilty for having done something I should not have done.
Unfortunately, men and women who claim to be "prophets" can misuse that gift. I've seen "godly" people get up and claim that God told them to tell the church that the church was dead. That person made that claim basically because the church was not in line with what THEY thought the church should be. Not only was that word NOT from God, that word did a lot of damage.
We ARE though to respect the gift of prophecy, hearing people speak for God. However, we are not to be gullible and just accept whatever is said in a SS class or from any minister, including Min. of Education. Rather we are to "examine everything carefully." Luke claimed that the people at Berea were noble-minded because whereas they did receive the message from the apostles with great joy, they also checked their message against what the Bible said. To their surprise and joy they discovered that Paul's teaching agreed with what the Bible taught. That is the proper attitude towards hearing preachers/teachers, etc.
What should we do whenever we hear somebody claim that they have a message from the Lord but actually don't! "Abstain from every form of evil." The OT actually commanded people to stone a false prophet. In the same way if somebody erroneously claims to be speaking for God but is not, we should flee from such a person, no matter how great a reputation that person has. On the other hand, if that person is truly speaking for God, we are to hold fast "to the good" word. Whomever God uses to speak to me I need to take what they say very seriously.
CONCLUSION
Paul now concludes with the prayer that God completely sanctify every part of the Thessalonian Christian. I like what C. S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity. Christ is committed to making us like Himself. That actually is the whole goal of your and my salvation, being made completely like Christ. Lewis goes on to say that Jesus is so committed to making us like Himself that He will do it no matter what it costs Him--and no matter what it costs us. It would be to OUR benefit to make it as easy for Christ as possible.