“We request of
you, brethren, that you respect those who 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.” (1 Thess. 5:12 – 13).
Why does Paul
begin his concluding exhortation, with its 16 admonitions, with a focus on
respecting “those who labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord”?
I think an element
of the answer is found in the nature of what follows, for what follows portrays
a highly interactive and relational fellowship of disciples, growing in Christ
and in their relationship with one another, and growing in the gifts and graces
of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ. A dynamic environment is a challenging
environment, for as we learn and grow and try new things we make mistakes; we
make relational mistakes, we make teaching mistakes, we make mistakes in
understanding our Lord Jesus and His Word.
Living in
relationship with others is messy. Feelings get hurt, motives can be confusing,
words can be misunderstood, insecurities can rise to the top, egos get in the
way even though we try to be well-intentioned. Growing in the Word and the
Spirit can be messy, we seldom know what we think we know in the perspective we
ought to have in Christ, we often confuse seeing the part of something with
seeing the whole picture, our excitement can get the best of us at times and
not demonstrate wisdom in word and actions, as can our timidity and fear of making
mistakes.
I know of no way
of living in loving and growing relationships without living in varying degrees
of messiness, mistakes, at times grave errors – and of course, without living
in mercy and grace and forgiveness.
Godly servant
leaders model Christ for us and they also instruct us in the guardrails of
discipleship, there are times they need to say, “Please don’t do that.”
There is a
pattern, if you will, in 1 Thessalonians 5:12ff that we also see in 1
Corinthians and Ephesians. The highly interactive portrayal of the Body of
Christ in Ephesians 4:14 – 16 is preceded by:
“He gave some as
apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors
and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the
building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11 – 12).
That is, the servant
leaders of Ephesians 4:11 – 12 play an integral role in the unfolding of 4:14 –
16, even though it is clear that all the members of the Body are receiving
directly from the Head as well as from one another (see 4:15 – 16).
In 1 Corinthians
12 – 14 we have an extended treatment of the gifts of the Spirit and of the
highly interactive and participatory nature of our gatherings in Christ. Within
this passage we have, “God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second
prophets, third teachers…” (12:28). Then
we have, “Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment”
(14:29). Our gatherings are not to be “anything goes” and “you can’t judge my words
and actions,” they are to be safe places where we can grow, make mistakes, even
be foolish at times, receive forgiveness, and have guardrails for the sake of
everyone.
I will point out
that the other great passage of the functioning Body of Christ, Romans Chapter
12, begins with us offering ourselves as living sacrifices to God – if we are
first and foremost living sacrifices, then our life together is one of
sacrifice to God and for one another, the Nature of our Life Together is Christ’s
sacrificial life in us.
What did leadership
look like in Thessalonica?
From 5:12 – 13 we
see that there was labor involved, it was work. This labor is of the mind,
heart, soul, spirit, and body – it requires all a person has and all a person
is – it is an offering to Christ and His People. It entailed instruction, leaders
(by whatever name you choose to call them) must be teachers in word and deed.
Paul writes that elders must be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). Peter writes that elders are to be “examples
to the flock” (1 Peter 5:3). I think we see that in the New Testament pastoring
was a collective endeavor.
But here is the
thing that I’d really like us to ponder, and that is the question of the heart
of an elder, leader, deacon, teacher, apostle…whatever the term for “office” or
calling may be – what should the nature of “ministry” be, what should it look
like?
All we need to
do is turn to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 2 for the answer.
We’ll ponder
this passage in our next reflection, the Lord willing.
