1st Thessalonians 5:12-28
All right, we’re going to read some scripture this morning, and 1st Thessalonians chapter 5, we’re going to read verses 12 through 15. This is from the New Living Translation, and so you can follow along as I read these four verses from Paul to the church there in Thessalonica. Here’s what he wrote, Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work.
They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work, and live peacefully with one another. Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy, encourage those who are timid, take tender care of those who are weak.
Be patient with everyone. See that nobody pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all.
All right; well, we’re in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5. So, we’re in the last chapter, and we’re going to look at verses 12 through 15 this morning. And so just to remember some background of 1st Thessalonians, Paul’s writing to this church that he established, and he had to leave very suddenly for his own protection.
And so now he’s writing this letter back to encourage the believers. He taught about the second coming of Christ, and what had happened is that some of the people in the church, their loved ones had died, and they’re thinking, oh no, they’re going to miss the second coming. And Paul corrects that error in thinking in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. We said that the theme of 1st Thessalonians is to be ready, to be ready for the second coming of Christ.
It’s mentioned in every chapter in 2nd Thessalonians. So just as Jesus came the first time, and we celebrate that at Christmas, the Bible says over and over and over again that Jesus is coming back someday. And we’ve looked at that in the last several weeks.
We believe in a twofold return. 1st Thessalonians 4:13 through 18, Paul writes about the rapture, and we studied that a couple weeks ago. And here’s the order.
First of all, Paul talked about revelation. This isn’t Paul’s idea. He says, I got this from the Lord.
Revelation, Jesus returns, and then there’s a resurrection of the dead in Christ, and then there’s a rapture of those who are alive and remain, and there’s a reunion in the air. That’s the rapture of the church. And Paul says, I want you to encourage one another with these words.
So, if you know some believers, some family members that are in Christ and they’ve died, and you’re a believer, the encouragement is you will see them again someday, and that gives us hope. And then we looked at 1st Thessalonians 5, and we thought about this concept of the day of the Lord and the fact that there’s a judgment day coming. And so, in the order of our eschatology, we believe the rapture is the next event on Jesus’ prophetic calendar.
It could happen at any time. Then there’s seven years of tribulation. That’s Revelation chapter 6 through 19.
And then Jesus comes back to the Mount of Olives and returns. And so, we talked about this concept of the day of the Lord, and Paul wrote about it in the first 11 verses here. Now, when we come to 1st Thessalonians 5, beginning of verse 12, the little subtitle in my Bible says, Final Instructions.
And so, Paul wants to give some final instructions to these believers at Thessalonica. He wants to give them some last words. Paul doesn’t know if he will ever see them again, and so Paul wants to give them some final instructions.
And we’ve entitled this, What to Do Till Jesus Comes. So, we know that Jesus is coming again, so our question then should be, like, well, what are we supposed to do till Jesus comes? And that’s what we’re going to think about this Sunday and next Sunday. I’ll tell you what not to do.
Don’t be like the Millerites. I don’t know if you know who the Millerites are or were, but let me just give you some background on the Millerites here. The Millerites were a religious movement led by William Miller, a Baptist preacher from New York.
He began publicly sharing his belief in the imminent second coming of Christ around 1831. Now, remember the Bible says that nobody knows the time of Christ’s return. So, if somebody starts to say, hey, I know when Jesus is coming back, and they begin to set dates right off the bat, that should put up some red warning lights in our hearts and in our minds.
And so, he said that he would come back around 1831. His teaching gained traction during the second great awakening. Miller’s calculation led him to conclude the exact date, October 22, 1844.
As that date approached, his followers sold their possessions, donned white robes, gathered on hilltops in churches, believing that Jesus was coming back on that day to take them back to heaven. The fervent anticipation was fueled by a sense of urgency and hope for divine intervention in a world filled with turmoil. Well, guess what happened? October 22, 1844 came, Jesus did not return, and the event became known as the Great Disappointment.
So don’t be like the Millerites, set date and quit your job and say, well, let’s just wait till Jesus comes. But the Apostle Paul gives us some instructions here in the rest of chapter 5. So, two categories. First of all, instructions regarding spiritual leaders.
i. Instructions regarding spiritual leaders
Instructions regarding spiritual leaders. Now, I have to tell you, when we begin to look at this text this morning, this is going to sound a little self-serving. And Paul’s saying, this is how I want you to treat or interact with your spiritual leaders.
And then the second category is that he talks to us about interacting with one another as the body of Christ. So, let’s look at the first one, instructions regarding spiritual leaders. Here’s the first part here, verse 12, now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge, that’s what the NIV says, the ESV says respect, some translations say recognize, some translations say honor, honor those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you.
So, Paul’s addressing the church and he says, I want you to know, respect, and honor your spiritual leaders. And he gives three reasons. Here’s reason number one.
a. know and respect your spiritual leaders
He says, I want you to know and respect and honor them, first of all, because they work hard among you. The Greek word there is kopiaó, it means to work to the point of being weary. It was used in Luke chapter 5, verse 5, remember the story, Jesus is on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, the disciples been fishing all night long, they’ve gotten skunked, they’ve not caught a thing, and Jesus says, hey, go out into the deep and cast your nets on the other side.
And the disciples respond, Master, we’ve worked hard all night, it’s the same word there. Know and respect your spiritual leaders because of their hard work. Now, I’ll say this, I’ve seen this from the inside because my dad was a pastor, I grew up in a pastor’s home and I saw firsthand what ministry was like.
And, you know, you kind of see Sunday morning as the tip of the iceberg, but ministry, if done properly, is hard work. I’ll also say that it can be an excuse for laziness. I mean, nobody’s punching a clock, but if ministry is done properly, it is hard work, hard work emotionally, hard work mentally, the spiritual care of a body of believers is hard work.
Now, true story, I’ve told this before, I’ll tell it again, when I was five years old, people asked me, what would you like to be when you grow up? And my answer was, I’d like to be a garbage man. That might sound funny to some of you, but here is my logic. I saw them come to our house once a week, and so I thought, that’s a great job, they work once a week.
And then I’d tell people I became a pastor and, you know, I opened myself up to that punchline, they’ll say, oh, you got your wish, didn’t you? Work. No, know and respect your leaders, number one, because it’s hard work. Secondly, it says, because they care for you in the Lord.
So, the word there, proistemi, it means to care for, to stand over, to be in charge of. Here’s what the author of Hebrews says, Hebrews 13 verse 17, have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be no benefit to you.
And so, ministry is hard work, and guess what? They have the responsibility of watching over their flock. And I truly believe that someday I’m going to have to stand before the Lord and give an account of how well I have shepherded the flock of God. And so, respect your leaders because it’s hard work, because they care for you.
And then thirdly, here’s the third reason, they admonish you. It means to instruct, to warn, to faithfully share God’s truth. Somebody said the job of the pastor is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable.
And so, there are times where maybe on some Sunday we should leave with a little bit of an admonishment of what we need to be doing. That is part of the pastor’s job. So, instructions regarding spiritual leaders, know and respect your leaders.
b. value them highly because of their work
And then it goes on to say, verse 13, hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. And so, he’s basically saying we need to value our spiritual leaders, value them highly because of their work.
So, when I was working on this, I got on a website that I go to frequently, and I was looking up this website called Got Questions, and I was looking at this text where Paul says you need to honor your leadership and value your spiritual leaders. And so, I printed off what the website said about how to do that. And I’ll share it with you because what I want to communicate is that you all do this very well.
And you’ll get my drift here in a little bit. Here’s what it says. Showing appreciation to your pastor is commended in Scripture.
And then the text is quoted here that we just read. The job of the pastor, literally a shepherd, is to teach the Word of God, show the love of God, and lead their flock. Therefore, pastors should be held in the highest regard.
And then it goes on to say, here are some ways to show appreciation to your pastor. I told you this would be self-serving. A simple word of encouragement, verbal or written, is always nice.
Send a card or write a note. Well, many of you do that. I’m not going to connect all these illustrations to names
And so, there’s like 50, 60 pages here of words of appreciation to me from you. And you put that together in a very nice booklet. And the title says, a wise man once said, no one has ever come to me and said, pastor, I’m feeling way too encouraged.
That’s something I’ve said often. And so, yeah, from kids, from young to old, there’s some wonderful things in here. Again, I won’t tag names here.
These are from young kids. I love it when he tells us stuff about Jesus and God. I like when he sings.
I like it when he high fives the kids at church and we ask, how was your day? And so, this is filled with encouraging words that you wrote to me. And I’ll tell you, someday if the Lord tarries and I’m sitting on my front porch in a rocking chair, it’s like, I’ll tell Daniel, go get that book. I’m going to read that book again.
ii. instructions regarding fellow believers
So, all that to say, thank you for loving us well. So, that’s the self-serving part, but let’s go on instructions then regarding the body of Christ, regarding one another. And here’s what he has to say, last part of verse 13, hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work.
a. Live in peace with each other
Live in peace with each other. Live in peace with each other. Psalm 133, verse 1, how blessed it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been part of a church family where there’s some disagreements going on. I mean, church families, we have that in our own extended families, don’t we? Times of disagreement and the church is just one big family. But what the Bible calls us to is unity.
Jesus’ prayer in John chapter 17, this is what Jesus prayed when he was giving His upper room discourse, John chapter 17. Here’s part of Jesus’ prayer. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.
So, that’s all future believers. Here’s what Jesus is praying, that all of them may be one, that there be unity, that all of them may be one Father, just as you are in me and I in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
So, one of the reasons, the important reasons for a church, a body of Christ to be unified and to be united is that, number one, that’s what Jesus prayed, but also, it’s a testimony to the world. Who wants to invite someone to a church where there’s disagreements and fighting going on, but when there’s harmony and oneness and unity. And so, Paul says, live in peace with each other.
Three kinds of peace in the Bible. First of all, the most important is peace with God. Romans 5:1, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And that’s making our peace treaty with God through what Jesus did on the cross. And before we come to Jesus as our Savior, we’re called enemies of God. But once we realize that Jesus paid the sacrifice for our sins on His cross and we repent and turn from our sin and put our faith and trust in Jesus, then we’ve made that peace treaty with God and we become a child of God.
And then there’s the peace of God. That’s Philippians 4:6, and 7. Be anxious for nothing, stop worrying, but what are we to do? In everything with prayer and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then the peace of God will fill your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
So, basically paraphrase, don’t worry about anything, pray about everything. And I’ll tell you to be honest, I need that verse every day, because we all have stuff. And once we start to worry about stuff, and then we can begin to downward spiral and say, well, if this happens, then this could happen.
And if this happens, that can happen. And the enemy likes to keep us anxious and worried. And Paul says, don’t live like that.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts and life. And then the last part is, and this is where Paul’s talking, live in peace with each other, is a peace with others. Romans chapter 12, verse 18, if it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
So, notice that Paul says, this isn’t always possible because it takes two people to reconcile. But as much as you can control, as far as your part, live at peace. And so, here’s the first instruction then to what we’re to do until Jesus comes.
b. warn those who are unruly
He says, live at peace with each other. Well, he goes on to give several other instructions, at least three or four other ones. Here’s the second one, verse 14, and we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are unruly or disorderly.
The NIV translates this, idle and disruptive. The Greek word ataktos is found only here in the New Testament. It means not to keep rank, to be insubordinate.
And so, I also want you to notice that this admonition isn’t just given to the church leadership. This is the responsibility of all of us to warn those who are unruly. When Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, Philippians chapter 4 verse 2, and these were letters that were read publicly in the church, he calls out two ladies who weren’t getting along, who were causing disruption within the family of God.
And he says, I plead with Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. He’s saying, hey, get along. Warn those who are unruly.
Galatians chapter 6 verse 1 lays this responsibility of those who are spiritual. Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. And so, we’re called, what, to encourage one another, to walk with God and not be unruly or out of rank.
c. encourage the disheartened
But warn those who are disruptive or unruly. Well, there’s more advice here for all of us to do until Jesus comes. He goes on to say, encourage the disheartened.
Encourage the disheartened. It literally means the despondent, the discouraged. The word there means to come alongside and help and encourage somebody up close and personal.
Don’t lose heart. The disciples lost heart in the upper room in John 14. Jesus is giving them His last words.
He’s going to go to the cross very shortly and he says, I’m leaving, you can’t come with me. And by the way, one of you, one of you 12 is going to basically betray me. And that was Judas Iscariot.
And one of you is going to deny that you even know me three times. And the disciples are like, oh man. They’re like taking three gut punches.
And what’s Jesus saying? He’s encouraging them. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me.
Begins to talk to him about heaven. And he talks about a person, a place, a promise, I’m coming back, and a pathway to get to God. John 14:6.
I’m the way, the truth, and the life. And he encourages them. Paul does this to the Corinthian church in 2nd Corinthians chapter four, verses 16 through 18.
He says, therefore, don’t lose heart. And I realize that anytime a church body gets together, there are some people that are in a good spot in life and praising the Lord, but there’s also some people that are going through tough stuff. Maybe you walked through the doors here this morning discouraged and downhearted.
And so, the apostle says, Paul says, though outwardly we’re wasting away, our bodies are decaying, yet inwardly we’re being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, here’s what we’re to do.
Fix our eyes not on what is seen. Don’t focus on your problems. Don’t focus on the fact your body’s breaking down.
Don’t fix your eyes on what is seen, but what is unseen, or what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal. So, he’s saying, have an eternal mindset and realize that ultimately the wonderful promise is the promise of heaven and a new glorified body and a place where there’s no more sorrow, no more sin, no more sadness, no more suffering. Encourage the disheartened.
And so, we need to be doing that constantly within the body of Christ, don’t we? But this is where we’re called to what? Encourage one another. And so, Paul says, encourage the disheartened.
d. help the weak
And then he goes on to say, help the weak. Literally, those without strength. Physically, yes, but probably more so spiritually and emotionally.
So those that are weak, those that are struggling, we’re called to what? We’re called to come alongside and to help them. I love the picture in the Old Testament. Maybe you’re familiar with this story in Exodus chapter 17.
So, the Israelites are fighting their first battle, their very first battle. And Moses is up on the mountain and the Israelites are fighting the Amalekites down in the valley. And here’s Exodus chapter 17, beginning in verse 13.
Here’s what happened. So, Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up on the top of the hill.
Maybe they’re up there because they want to get a good view of the battle. So, the leaders, Moses, and Aaron, and Hur are on the top of the hill. Here’s what it says.
As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. And what happened? And this often happens in our lives.
For all of us, sometimes in church leadership as well, Moses is getting tired holding his hands up. And so, what do Aaron and Hur do? Well, look at the text. It says, when Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and they put it under him and he sat on it.
And Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on one side, one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So, Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with a sword. He won the battle, why? Because Moses had a couple helpers that came alongside him.
And when he was getting tired, they said, hey, can we help? Can we assist? And the battle was won. And that’s a great picture of what we need to do with other people when they’re struggling, when they’re weak, to give a listening ear, to give a helping hand, to give maybe some financial encouragement if they’re struggling with their finances, to give them words of encouragement. Well, a couple more quickly here, encourage the disheartened, help the weak.
e. be patient with everyone
And then it says, be patient with everyone, be patient with everyone. So, there’s these three categories of people, those that are disruptive, those that are disheartened, those that are weak and struggling. And the Apostle Paul says, we need to be patient with everybody.
The word there is makrothumós, makros meaning long, thumos is the word for anger, have a long fuse. We need to be patient with people. Why? Because people don’t change as fast as we’d like them to.
Our kids don’t grow spiritually as fast as we would like them to. We need to be patient, we need to be patient with everyone, with the disorderly, the disruptive, the disheartened and with the weak.
This is actually a fruit of the Spirit. Nine characteristics of the Holy Spirit’s producing character in our lives. And one of them is that we are to be long-suffering, we’re to be patient with people.
This is a character trait of God. And in fact, I think it’s in 2nd Peter 3:9, why hasn’t Jesus come back yet? Well, 2nd Peter 3:9, the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient, long-suffering with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet? He wants everyone to come to salvation, waiting for people to bow the knee and to receive the gift of salvation rather than facing God’s wrath and God’s condemnation. Be patient with everyone. Two more, we’ll just run through these quickly.
f. Don’t retaliate
Verse 15, make sure that nobody pays back wrong or wrong. Make sure nobody pays back wrong for wrong. So, the Apostle Paul basically says, don’t seek revenge.
Don’t get in a habit of trying to retaliate and make people pay and take things into your own hands. Don Smith, who wrote a booklet in context for, he put this in the context of marriage, but here’s what he had to say about not getting involved in revenge. When we get hurt by someone in our lives, we usually want them to pay for the wrong they have caused us.
This happens a lot in marriage, I must admit, with a silent treatment. Ever use that one? Man, I have a lot over the years. You just go radio silence because, you know.
Don’t retaliate, we usually want to make them pay back for the wrong they’ve caused us. We want them to feel the same pain that we’ve experienced. We try to take matters into our own hands to make things right, but here’s what scripture says, Romans 12:17, do not repay anyone evil for evil.
Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. As far, it depends on you, we read this verse earlier, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge.
Don’t waste your time, resources, and energy in retaliating and splatting revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath. Word is written, His mind’s revenge, I will repay, says the Lord. But what’s he say to do? Turn that person over to God, because God is much better at taking care of matters than when we try to take things into our own hands.
This is what Paul means when he wrote in 2nd Timothy chapter four, verses four through 16, about a person by the name of Alexander. He was a metal worker, and Paul’s last letter, 2nd Timothy four, Alexander, the metal worker, did me a great deal of harm. Paul doesn’t discount that, hey, this guy doesn’t say what he did, but this guy didn’t treat me right.
What’s he say? Man, I’m going to get revenge against him, look out. No, he says, the Lord will repay him for what he’s done for me. You too should be on your guard against him, because he strongly opposed our message.
So, he doesn’t plot revenge, he turns him over to the Lord, says God will take care of him. By the way, watch out for this guy. He’s opposing the gospel message.
g. always strive to do what is good
So, he says, don’t retaliate, but how does the section close? Final instructions, always strive to do what is good. Make sure that nobody pays back, wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. And so, the Bible says, pursue goodness.
Matthew 5, let your light so shine before men that men will see what your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Now we’re not saved by good works, that’s Ephesians 2:8 and 9. We’re saved simply through putting our faith in what Jesus did and paid our sin debt on the cross. But Ephesians 2:10 says we are saved to do good works.
That’s one of the reasons that we’re to come together as the body of Christ. Hebrews says, don’t forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but provoke one another, what? To love and good deeds. Put together a birthday package for somebody you don’t know.
Do good things for other people. And so, Paul says, strive to do good to each other, body of Christ, and to everyone. And so, what are we to do until Jesus comes? Well, encourage your spiritual leadership because they work hard.
Thank you for doing that. But he also says, hey, we need to live at peace with each other. And that’s hard to do.
Bible says, make every effort to live in peace. And Jesus is our peace. So maybe there’s somebody in your life this morning that you’re at odds with and you need to initiate a peacemaking.
There’s a process in the Bible to do that, but the first one is to go directly to that person, try to resolve it on your own. Another thing we can do is, and I was going to go through these peacemaking principles, but the Bible says, you know what? We can overlook offenses. Proverbs talks about that, you know? Maybe somebody’s having a bad day.
Don’t take everything personal. And we can simply overlook that, but if we can’t overlook it and it hinders our relationship, then the Bible calls us to go to that person and work it out just between the two of you. If you can’t work it out, then you bring another person along.
And so, there’s this process of how to do that, live at peace, warn those who are out of step, encourage the disheartened. I’m sure there’s several people here that are a little discouraged. That’s why it’s good to hang around after the service and find that out.
Great question is, hey, how are you doing? How was your week? How can I pray for you? Help the week, be patient with everyone. Don’t seek revenge, turn them over to God and seek to do what is good. Well, the rest of the passage gives us like eight more instructions of what to do until Jesus comes and we’ll look at those next week.
But I thought eight or nine for one Sunday is enough to lay at our feet and put into practice. So, trust that you’ll be encouraged by that.