Paul’s Practical Tips For Modern Day Wisdom | 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
This message was preached at Sherwood Community Friends Church on Sunday, August 25, 2024. You can watch the video in full by clicking below.
It is so easy to get caught up in the ethereal, in the knowledge and the idealistic ways of Christianity. We get caught up in pithy one-liners that sound really Christian, but what do they actually mean? Things like we heard in that video.
“Give it to God.”
“God isn’t leading me to _______”
“The Lord works in mysterious ways”
Or even phrases like “hedge of protection” “fellowship” “washed by the blood” or “lay hands on you”
Context
Today our passage comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28. If you’d like to turn there now, you are welcome to. But something you may notice as you find your way to this small letter in the New Testament, our passage selection for today is at the very end of the book. It seems irresponsible for me to jump right in without any context.
Let’s start with the author and the audience. Paul authored the letter, possibly co-authored with his traveling companions and co-laborers on the mission-field, Timothy and Silas. And this letter was written to the believers in Thessalonica, a city established in 315 BC and later captured by the Romans in 167 BC, so this was a captured city under Roman rule. This was an important location, along the Via Egnatia, located in modern day Albania. More importantly, this was a major east-west highway that led from Asia Minor to Rome. It also had harbors on the Aegean Sea. This was an important city with lots of trade and commerce happening.
We can read about the establishment of the Thessalonica church in Acts 17:1-4 when Paul visited and there were many converts. However, starting in verse 5, we see there were riots that broke out which threatened his safety and forced his departure.
Now, something we know about Paul is that he was very passionately connected with the churches that he planted, with strong ties relationally to the people in those churches throughout the region. And because of this, he longed desperately to return to Thessalonica several times but continuously was detained. So he sent Timothy in his sted, as noted in 1 Thess 2:17-3:5. Based on Timothy’s visit, we have this letter.
Paul addressed several matters in the whole of 1 Thessalonians.
Paul gives thanks for the Thessalonians and reminds them of their conversion from idols to the true God. For many vocations during that time, they were revolving around, idles in some capacity. If you were a doctor, you may have to use God’s related to health and wellness. If you were a carpenter or a masonry, you may have to have made statues for your living. so their conversion was not only about belief, but directly impacted even their pocketbooks. This was a costly sacrifice for them!
Paul also speaks intimately of their relationship, reminding them he never asked for money from them because of their deep relationship. there was deep familial relationship language that Paul uses in the dynamic between him and the church there.
Paul empathizes with their persecution, encouraging them in their suffering for the Gospel. One thing you may or may not know about Paul is that he himself endured much persecution, even persecution in Thessalonica as a mentioned previously.
Paul reminds them of the call for holiness and sexual purity and the commitment to love and service. He also reminds them to share with those in need.
Paul speaks to the future hope of Jesus’ return, that even death cannot separate us from God’s love, and one day Jesus will return to confront the evilness around them, including their persecutors and bring justice.
This brings us to chapter 5, verse 12. Now Paul gives his final thoughts and instructions. His tips for practical Christian living.
God’s Ministers (Part 1)
12-15 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
I think this is so interesting. The first section calls for the body, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you.
There are three categories of God’s ministers Paul points out. There are those who labor among you. They are the ones who working hard as a servant among you to ensure needs are met, just as Jesus did when he washed the feet of the disciples or healed the ill. Today, this might look like working on the property, serving up the potluck, visiting those who might be ill or in the hospital, or a variety of other tasks. Those who labor among you are passionate about bringing the word of the Lord alive through their actions. They believe by meeting the needs of those around them, they are enacting the Gospel. Likely they are driven by grace and mercy.
Then there are those who lead you in the Lord. These might be the ones who call for a prayer meeting, your presiding clerk, other clerks, and, when you have brought one in, your pastor. Those who lead you in the Lord are passionate about discipleship and bringing others into the same depths of the Spirit that they know, just as Jesus did in the Sermon on the Mount. They believe by teaching Scripture and discipling others, they are enacting the Gospel. Likely they are driven by truth and wisdom.
Then we see those who admonish you. I think of that word as a bit of a Christianese word. To put it plainly, admonish means to correct firmly. These are the ones who are not afraid to point out hypocrisy, unholy living, and apathy, just as Jesus did with the Pharisees. They believe by holding others accountable, they will be able to bring people to repentance, and therefore are enacting the Gospel. Likely they are driven by accountability and a clear standard.
Which one of these is more important?
Paul’s words are very clear: give recognition to all these people – the seen and unseen leaders of your church. The ones who aren’t afraid to labor hard, lead you deeper, and offer correction.
And Paul doesn’t just say to give recognition to them, but also to regard them very highly in love because of this very work!
“Be at peace among yourselves” tells me there may have been some quarreling going on. Looking at the full context of where this verse is, it may relate to the very question I asked…Which of these is more important? Paul’s encouragement is that they are all important and to not quarrel about this issue.
Paul wasn’t coming up with a new message here. In John 13, Jesus says
“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When there is disunity, it ruins our witness and slows our mission work God has called us into. Are you seeking peace and the way of love?
God’s Ministers (Part 2)
And then we have the second set of verses:
14-15 And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.
Warn those who are idle. Comfort the discouraged. Help the weak. Be patient with everyone. That sounds a lot like Paul is telling them that they are those from the earlier verses! And that each gift - laboring, leading, and admonishing - are necessary parts of the body.
We each hold the role of both being a minister and recognizing with high regard and love those co-laborers with us.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 that we are different parts of the body. Ephesians 4 he tells us that we are the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers that are gifted to equip the saints- that is, each other- for ministry.
We are all to bring our unique gifts, talents, abilities, experiences, and we bring them to the body for the purpose of leading and laboring among our church body. We work hard. We comfort the discouraged. We help the weak. When we see someone doing something differently than we would, we are patient with everyone. And we hold up everyone in high regard with love.
So, you are tracking with me here…this all sounds warm and fuzzy and beautiful…and then there’s this one…
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.
Yeah… no one ELSE, right? I’m not included in that, am I? What about when that one person betrays you, or many betray you? Ah… am I hitting a nerve? But that person God? They hurt me so badly I don’t think I’ll ever recover? How do I release my Judas?
Yet Paul reminds us “See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.”
So HOW do we put our betrayers into the hands of God? Paul is clear:
Do not repay their evil with evil yourself
Pursue what is good for …who?....one another (speaking of the body) and for all (includes our betrayers)
So what happens when we don’t release our Judas’s?
Dare I say, it takes root in us. It distracts us from our very ministries Paul as just reminded us of!
Warning those who are idle.
Comforting the discouraged.
Helping the weak.
Being patient with everyone.
Laboring
Leading
Admonishing
And removes us from being able to live in peace with everyone.
God’s Will
After Paul as just built us up as ministers and encouraged us to encourage our ministers, and called us into peace with each other, we then see 5:16-18:
16-18 Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
God’s will. That’s a question we often ponder. What job should I take God? How should I react to this bad news? Where should I go to school? Should I move to be closer to my family? Who should I marry? Should I go talk with my neighbors who look really different from me?
When I look at the whole of the Bible, I don’t believe that God has an individual plan for our lives. If he did, then one wrong move, and you’ve messed it all up!
What if I DID marry the wrong person? What if I DID take the wrong job? How would God correct my course and would I even pay attention?
What if God’s will isn’t about choosing the right open door to walk through, but rather about no matter what door you walk through (willingly or not), you enact 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. What if God is more interested in a relationship with you than when you retire or what doctor you go to or if you move or not?
Rejoice always. In the face of a cancer diagnosis. When you lose a loved one. While standing in the unemployment line.
Pray constantly. When you are talking with that neighbor. While mowing the lawn. When you are seething with anger because things haven’t turned out the way you think they should.
Give thanks always. Always? Yes, always. This one is hard for me! But it’s a recurring theme of Paul’s
Philippians 4:6-7
'Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.'
So give thanks instead of worrying about the outcome of your decision. Give thanks when a medical diagnosis gives you a room full of people to pray for and with. Give thanks that God has given you another day to live and explore Him. Give thanks when the job you are working in leaves you miserable or worn down because it provides an income. Give thanks when your furnace breaks because it gives you an opportunity to see how God will provide and you still have a rough over your head.
Romans 12:2 tells us that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind so we may know the will of God.
2 Corinthians 10:5 reminds us to take every thought captive and bring it to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 37:4 tell us that if we delight in the Lord - if we focus on him and find the life he offers as life-giving - then he will give us the desires of our heart.
God’s will for our lives is not unattainable. In fact, it’s pretty clear.
Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything
The Spirit
19-22 Don’t stifle the Spirit. Don’t despise prophecies, but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.
Paul’s communication here points out that they were already quenching the Spirit. The verb Paul uses here is in the present imperative. But there is speculation as to what the term “prophecies” was referring to.
Were these mystical “words from God”? Were they presented as directives from God? Were they people speaking to the color of the carpet or the curriculum for the kids ministry? We don’t know.
But Paul’s advisement wasn’t to disregard prophecies, in fact to not despise them! But instead to test them. What does that mean? When I do search on this word, it could also be interpreted as
To verify
To examine prior to approval
To evaluate
To authenticate
To prove acceptable
It’s easy to want to hold onto the way God worked in the past. But the Bible speaks to that, specifically I think of Moses.
In Exodus 17:5-7, it says
The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. 6I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Then in Numbers 20 it says this:
Numbers 20:7-12 - The Lord spoke to Moses, 8“Take the staff and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.”
9So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence just as he had commanded him. 10Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” 11Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that abundant water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to demonstrate my holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”
When we default on our past to inform or approve or test a “prophecy” we might be missing something major.
The question we must ask ourselves is: What new work is the Spirit doing?
There’s no one way or rhyme or reason to what God might do next. What he’s done before in the past may not ever happen again in history!
Do you hold your idea of the Spirit of God loosely in your hands? Or do you grip tight to the past and when you “saw him work” before?
Paul finishes this section with this verse
Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.
No doubt this is a call to holiness. But what if Paul is pointing out that apathy, fear of decision-making, refusal to consider something new, and rejecting prophecies are also kinds of evil for us to avoid?
What if, to do good, it means to truly put our trust, our pocketbooks, our ideas, our security into his leading, even when it makes no sense to us?
Benediction
If you’ve been following along on your text, you’ll see we are nearing the end of Paul’s words. Hopefully you have gleaned specific and practical insights into how we go out from here to live out a faithful, holy life. There’s all kind of study and research and knowledge we can gain. But the Christian life is simple.
Labor, lead, admonish. Lift up each other. Live in peace with each other. Pray continuously, rejoice always, give thanks in all circumstances. Be open to the new things the Spirit is doing. And hold tightly to what is good and avoid anything the opposite of that.
As we close, I will pray these over you as a blessing as we head into open worship. As I read this benediction, notice a few things.
Notice the correlation to God’s peace and our sanctification. Notice the call to be holy, blameless, and faithful.
Notice the communal greeting of Paul and his encouragement to be in communial exchange with their church family, reiterating his points earlier.
And finally, we can receive the grace upon grace, that is the release of our failings and frailty, that Jesus Christ gives us so freely simply so we can be with Him in communion.
Hold out your hands. Close your eyes.
23-28 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
