1 Thessalonians - Practicalities and Admonitions

Don't harbor malice in your heart and don't figure out ways to pay people back, it'll make your life miserable. Rather, find out ways to do good for them and for yourself because when you do good for others, you're doing good for yourself and you're bringing glory to God. It takes effort to do this, but God can enable us to do it.

I find people who like to linger in the doctrinal sections of scripture or the prophetic sections of scripture, but when you start talking about the practical part of the word of God, they're they're not too interested in that. And yet that's the important part. The doctrine is the foundation for duty. All doctrine must give forth duty. And all duty must be based on doctrine. This is why at the end of 1 Thessalonians 5, we have Paul giving this series of exhortations.

Now in verses 12 and 13, he exhorts the leaders and the members of the church. He tells the leaders that they should labor and lead and admonish and then he tells the members that they should recognize their leaders and to value them and to love them.

Then in verses 14 and 15, we have a series of admonitions concerning some of the problem people in the church. Now we exhort you, brethren, and that means the whole church, not just the leaders, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak. Now here we have a series of admonitions that deal with problem people in the church. Wherever there are people, there are problems. Wherever there are problems, there is potential for spiritual growth. Most pastors and Sunday school teachers and church leaders do not like problems. We want things to go along smoothly, but you know, there are problems. You have a group of people here, they've all had different backgrounds, they have different genetic structure. The only thing they have in common is they belong to the family of God. They possess the same Holy Spirit, they read the same Bible, but they don't always read it the same way. And they pray to the same Father, and some are praying selfishly, and so we have problem people in the church.

Now who are they? Well, number one, there are the unruly. I suppose the word insubordinate could be used here. The disorderly. Really, it's a military term. The word unruly means a soldier who's out of rank or out of step. And this is what creates problems in the church. There's a buck private who wants to act like a general. Or the army is marching east and he decides he wants to march west. And it's an unfortunate thing when there are those in local assemblies who are unruly. They will not be ruled by the word of God. They are soldiers out of rank, they are soldiers out of step.

The local church, you see, is the part of an army. There has to be authority, there has to be organization, there has to be some kind of strategy, we're fighting a battle. And the enemy we fight is an enemy who is strong and he has wisdom and he's got a strategy going. I wonder how much strategy there is in the life of the average local church assembly.

Now in Thessalonica, some of these people were idle, they are the ones who said, well, Jesus is coming back, so why work? As a consequence, they became freeloaders, and the church had to support them. This is why Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians, one reason why he wrote it, in chapter 3, beginning at verse 7, he exhorts these lazy people to get back to work. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

So the unruly in this case were folks who would not obey the word of God and go to work and carry their share of the load. And they were depending upon the church to support them. Anyone who rejects the word of God is unruly. 1 Thessalonians 4:8. Therefore, he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us his Holy Spirit. That's an interesting connection.

People say to me, well, the Holy Spirit led me to do this. And I say, but this chapter and verse says what you did is wrong. Well, the Holy Spirit led me. 1 Thessalonians 4:8 tells me that the Spirit of God never contradicts the word of God, he follows the word that he wrote. I think sometimes people who think they are filled with the spirit are being fooled by the spirits. And as a consequence, they're getting out of the will of God. Now he says, you warn them. Put them in mind what I taught. You warn these people, let them know that they're out of rank, and to get back in step with the rest of God's people as they follow the word of God.

Now the second group are those called the fainthearted. Comfort the fainthearted. This means the discouraged. The Greek word means the small-souled. Now some people by nature, by natural temperament are are discouraged. Some people have physical problems that discourage them. Sometimes it's satanic opposition. These are the people who always want to quit. Nothing is going to go right. They are sort of the doubting Thomases of the local church assembly.

Now in every church there are those who say that it can't be done. And for some reason God ordains, I guess, that they are on every committee, people who say, oh, there isn't enough money, there isn't enough time, there aren't enough people. The apostles were sometimes like this. 5,000 people were there, they were hungry, and Philip says, well, we don't have enough money to buy food for them, and somebody else says, well, we have some loaves and fishes, what are they among so many? The fainthearted, those who are giving up.

Now he says, encourage them. That word comfort means to encourage. Put some strength into their hearts. Encourage the fainthearted. Don't argue with them. Don't drive them out of the church. Help them to grow. Give them the shelter that they need but help them to grow. You can't pamper people like this, but you do have to encourage them.

Now the third group, uphold the weak. Now who are the weak? I don't think he's talking about the morally weak or the physically weak. He's talking about those who have weak consciences. Romans 14:15. That we are to receive those who are weak in the faith. Who are those who are weak in the faith? Those who must live by a rigid set of rules and regulations, don't do this, don't do that. They haven't got the courage to step out by faith and live by God's grace. They are the immature people who will not live by faith and grow. Now they're weak. Romans 14:15 tells us we should welcome these people, receive them, we should encourage them, and we should help them to grow. There's a tendency in some churches to pamper this crowd, and they always stay babies. Paul doesn't tell us that. He says, you uphold them.

Now why do you uphold a weak person? To give him the strength to learn how to walk. Somebody's in surgery and they come out and, oh, they're so weak and they get home, so what do you do? You walk with them. When I have visited in hospitals, I have seen the nurses and the aids walking down the hall with the patients. Why? To teach them how to get their strength back. Now, he doesn't say pamper these people, they'll stay weak all their lives. They'll always be legalistic, judging others, condemning others. Rather he says, these who are weak, you love them and you uphold them.

Now that word uphold has the idea of to get firmly next to them and cleave to them. You let your body be a means of support for them, but don't be a crutch for the rest of their lives. It's time that some of these people got strong enough to walk on their own two feet by faith. So here we have three admonitions to the unruly, warn them, get back in step. To the fainthearted, encourage them, God's gonna see you through. To the weak, he tells us we should uphold them, why? So they can grow.

Now he adds some admonitions regarding all people, be patient with all. I don't know about you, but it's easy to get impatient with the unruly. It's easy to get impatient with the fainthearted who just say nothing can be done. It's awfully difficult sometimes to keep with the weak and uphold them, it's so easy to get impatient with people who won't grow. Who haven't got the courage and the faith to trust the grace of God and just step out and live under the smile of their Father's love. They're always walking under a dark cloud of guilt. Well, he says, you be patient with all. I need that. See to it that you're patient. Love is patient and kind. And the fruit of the Spirit is patience.

Then he says, see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone. Be forgiving, no retaliation. Now he's simply repeating here what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Uh, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say unto you, love your enemies. That's easy to do. Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. My, those are some of the hardest verses in the Bible to accept and obey. But they are there, and they are just as much a part of the word of God as John 3:16.

So be patient, be forgiving, that's the negative part of it, then he says, pursue that which is good. Both for yourselves and for all. That's the positive part of it. Be patient with everybody, be forgiving. Don't harbor malice in your heart and don't figure out ways to pay people back, it'll make your life miserable. Rather, find out ways to do good for them and for yourself because when you do good for others, you're doing good for yourself and you're bringing glory to God. It takes effort to do this, but God can enable us to do it.

Paul is giving a series of exhortations here, a series of triplets really. And he has been exhorting the leaders and the members of the church, there's an exhortation concerning the problem people in the church in verse 14, and concerning all people in verse 15. Now in 16 through 21, he's talking about our relationship to God. Up till now he's been talking about our relationship to other people in the church, but our relationship to other people in the church depends upon our relationship with God.

Well, let's begin with 1 Thessalonians 5:16, rejoice always. My relationship to the Lord should be one of joy. I should be joyful. Do you enjoy God? Oh, you say you can't do that because God is far away. God is nearer to us. He's as near as our own hearts. He's as near as an open Bible. He never leaves us, he never forsakes us. Do you enjoy God? You know, there are many people who evade their responsibilities. They look for every excuse they have not to go to church, not to read the Bible, not to pray, not to worship. And then there are those who just endure the things of the Lord. Well, they'll go but they won't enjoy it. Paul is saying to us, I want you to enjoy God.

That's the Christian life. To rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Paul wrote that to the Philippians. To rejoice in the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. You see now why Paul has arranged these exhortations. In the first section, verses 12 through 15, he talks about love. If you love people, you follow your leaders. If you love people, you esteem them highly. If you love people, you promote peace in the church. If you love people, you'll warn the unruly, you'll comfort the fainthearted, you'll uphold the weak. If you love people, you won't retaliate.

Now, the next thing is joy. Oh, you want joy, but you don't want love. Did you ever stop to think that the very people in your life who create problems can also create joy? It all depends on our relationship to the Lord. We should rejoice, be joyful. Paul says, do it always. I have to be careful of the word always when in my writing and in my preaching, I've got to be very careful when I say always. Husbands and wives have to be careful of that word always. Oh, you always say that. Well, no, I don't. Oh, you always do it that way. Well, no, I don't. But God can use the word always. In fact, Paul likes the word always. 1 Thessalonians 1:2. We give thanks to God always for you. 1 Thessalonians 3:6. He brought us good news of your faith in love, and that you always have good remembrance of us. 1 Thessalonians 4:17. We shall always be with the Lord. Here in 1 Thessalonians 5:15, he says, now, you always pursue what is good. Paul likes the word always.

You say rejoice always? Sometimes I'm in circumstances that are not very joyful. That's when you need to rejoice. I'm preaching to myself. In spite of the trials, in spite of the difficulties, we should rejoice always. Our relationship with God must be one of joy. Joyful always in spite of trials. Now these people were going through difficulty. 1 Thessalonians 1:6. Having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 2:14. For you brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus, for you also suffered. Here were people going through suffering. 1 Thessalonians 3:3, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions.

When you go through 1 Thessalonians, you find out these people were not sitting in a summer Bible conference someplace, looking at a beautiful blue lake and watching the clouds go by while somebody preached, they were in the midst of affliction. And yet he says rejoice. Why? That's what takes the poison out of problems. If we don't rejoice, we end up getting poisoned. God says, you rejoice. God is not going to be satisfied until we are happy in his will. He'll do everything he has to do to get us to the place where we are happy in his will.

Secondly, our relationship to God should be not only joyful, but it should be trustful, prayerful. Submitted to God. Pray without ceasing. That does not mean you go around muttering prayers. It doesn't mean you have to always be on your knees. Our inmost desires are expressions of prayer. Turn in your Bible to Psalm 10. Psalm 10:17. The Psalmist speaks and he says this, Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear. Now God hears the desire long before he hears the prayer. You see, when you and I have desires in our hearts for our own lives, for the church, for our loved ones, those desires become prayers and God hears them.

Look at Psalm 21:2. You have given him his heart's desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. You see, the request on my lips comes from my heart, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. And therefore we are always praying because we are always desiring. Psalm 37:4. Delight yourself also in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Now, if your delight is in the Lord, your desires will be in his will. When you delight in someone, you want only to do that which is right. So pray without ceasing, simply means let the desires of your heart moment by moment be directed into the things of God. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. Luke 18:1. Let's be careful that the desires of our heart are all that God wants them to be.

Now he goes on to say, not only should we be joyful and prayerful, we should be thankful, those two go together, don't they? Paul gives us a good example right in this letter. Over and over again, you find him giving thanks. 1 Thessalonians 1:2. We give thanks to God. 1 Thessalonians 2:13. For this reason, we also thank God. 1 Thessalonians 3:9. For what thanks can we render to God? And it goes on in 2 Thessalonians 1:3 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Paul was in prison and yet he'd give thanks. Read Philippians. Paul was separated from his friends in Thessalonica and yet he's giving thanks. Read 1 Thessalonians. As you read Paul's letters, you find this thankful spirit. Paul was a great appreciator.

By the way, if you want to take the poison out of life, if you want to sand down some of the rough corners of life, just learn to be thankful. Oh, it's a hard lesson to learn, but we need to learn how to give thanks. In everything give thanks. When we give thanks, it shows that our great desire is to please God. He commanded me to give thanks. That's his will, therefore I should do it. When we give thanks, we're pleasing God, when we give thanks, we're trusting God. We're saying, I don't understand this, I would rather not be in this hospital or this cemetery, at this funeral service or whatever we may be going through. But Father, I'm going to give thanks, even though I don't understand because I believe you love me and I believe you're going to care for me. And I believe this is your will.

When you give thanks for everything, you're practicing Romans 8:28. And you know what frees you from pride? When you learn to be thankful to the Lord, it lifts your heart to him. And you get your hands off of the things that he ought to be directing. It takes care of pride, it takes care of greed. Oh, how greedy we get, how covetous we are. And we learn to give thanks and that takes the the greed out of our hearts. Thank you, Father, for what you've done. Thank you for what you've given. Instead of complaining about what we don't have, let's learn to give thanks for what we do have. This is an atmosphere of growth. And God alone can make it possible. Rejoice always, be joyful. Pray without ceasing, be prayerful. In everything give thanks, be thankful. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Whatever God commands, he enables. God's commandments are God's enablements. Therefore, he can help us do this. Look at verse 24, he who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. Now let's trust him to do it. Let's start asking God, oh Lord, make me joyful, help me to be prayerful, help me to be thankful. Because this is your will and I want to please your heart.