“We urge you
brethren, admonish the undisciplined, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak,
be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14).
This is a
charge, once again, to the entire fellowship of believers in Thessalonica, just
as we see in 5:12.
“But we request
of you, brethren…” (5:12).
“We urge you, brethren…”
(5:14).
For sure, I
think, this is also a particular calling of those who serve the People of God,
as we see in 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of
season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”
Note that both
passages speak of patience. 1 Thessalonians says that we are to be “patient with
everyone,” and Paul tells Timothy that he is to exercise “great patience.” Earlier
in 2 Timothy Paul writes, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but
be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting
those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading
to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:24 – 25).
I have not
always been an example of patience, and I sorrow greatly over this. Perhaps one
day I’ll get it right before I die, I’d like for that to happen (of course by
God’s grace), but at this stage of life I’m a bit unsure about the possibility.
I aspire to be like Fenelon, but I seem to be more like Jerome.
How might we
think about “admonish the undisciplined [disorderly]”? What might this look
like?
As with our entire
passage (1 Thess. 5:12 – 28), so much of our answer has to do with the nature
of the Church, and as such we’ll explore this throughout the passage. This
includes the question, “What is the nature of our relationship with one
another?” When I use the word “nature” I refer to the essence of who we are in
Christ and who Christ is within us – within us as individuals and within us as
a People. This is not something we often consider, whether as pastors and
teachers or as congregations – our focus in typically on other things.
We tend to see
our congregations as organizations, as religious franchises, as corporations.
We tend to focus on sustaining ourselves, our membership numbers, our finances;
rather than consider our Gospel mission and our Divine Nature in Christ and our
call to be His Presence to one another and to the people of the world who do
not know Him yet. We can even be so focused on doctrine in terms of checking the
“right” boxes, that we miss the Nature of Christ in us, without which doctrine is
dead letter.
“It is the
Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken
to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63).
This is a wide
and deep ocean, that which we can ponder regarding our Nature. Can we ever
fully plumb it deepest depths? Can we ever see its farthest shores? Is not all
hidden in Christ? No matter how much we see and experience of Him, is there not
forever more and more and more? Must we not trust Christ, as His People, to
lead us, to help us navigate, to bring us onward and upward, to teach us, to be
patient with us?
As I look back
over my own life, I remember those who cared enough to speak to me when I
needed someone to say, “Have you thought about what you are doing?” “What you
are doing is wrong.” “Have you examined yourself on this matter?”
I also look back
and wonder why people who, I think, should have spoken a word of admonishment
to me did not do so. There were times when my life (and the lives of others) would
have been better had someone cared enough to have a conversation with me about
my attitude, behavior, thinking, and yes, even insecurities.
To be sure, I
have not always appreciated or accepted words of challenge and correction at
the time they were spoken, but it is amazing how often the seed planted has
grown within me and I have come to “see” the truth about myself.
What about you?
I recall a
conversation I had with a parishioner a few months after arriving at a parish. This
person was going in a direction that was harmful to her husband and children,
as well as herself. She was digging a deeper and deeper hole and it was getting
darker and darker in that hole. I decided that, as her pastor, I needed to speak
with her.
At one point
during our conversation she said, “I didn’t think pastors were supposed to have
talks with people like this.”
Since I consider
the care of souls central to my calling in Christ, and since I consider this
care to be the essence of pastoral ministry, her comment was interesting to me.
Do we really want pastors who love us and care for us, who actually get to know
us? Do we seek relationships with one another in Christ, relationships that
include “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15)?
Knowing when to
speak and when not to speak is a challenge, at least for me. Sometimes I’ve
gotten it right, sometimes I’ve gotten it wrong. Sometimes I’ve spoken when I
should have but have not done it in a helpful way – O how it hurts and shames
me to recall those times.
What about you?
Have there been times when someone cared about you enough to speak to you? Have
you loved others enough to speak to them?
Do you have
relationships in which such speaking is natural and rooted in love?
