A Holy Charge (7)

 

Returning to our core passage, 1 Thessalonians 5:12ff, after having considered the nature of service in the Body of Christ; the nature of elders, deacons, pastors, teachers and the like, we have, “Live in peace with one another” (5:13b). How might we think about this?

 

Should this be a stand-alone statement? Or is it connected to what precedes it? Is it related to the relationship between “those who diligently labor among you” and the people they serve? Is Paul focused on the relationship between those who serve and the flock they serve?

 

While obviously the Thessalonians are to live in peace with one another as a people, my sense is that the context suggests that there ought to be peace between those who serve and the people they serve. There was a reason Paul wrote that the flock is to “appreciate those who diligently labor among you…esteem them very highly in love because of their work." For some reason Paul needed to write this reminder. Perhaps there was conflict, or perhaps Paul was being preemptive. We really don’t know.

 

What we do know is that conflict (or the threat of conflict) seems to be inevitable; whether between those who serve and those who are served, or among those who serve, or among those who are being served. Conflict (or its potential) with one another is an element of life, it is in the DNA of our fallen humanity; to know this is to (hopefully) guard against it. To know this is to (hopefully) see it as the poison it can be when it appears, as it surely will. While not all conflict is poison (some of it can be necessary), all conflict should be submitted to Jesus Christ. All conflict has dangerous pitfalls.

 

“Live in peace with one another,” reminds of us Jesus’s words, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50b). These words are spoken in the context of Jesus’ warning that we are not to cause others to stumble, for if we cause others to stumble then we ourselves will stumble; we will not stumble into a very good place. “If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell” (Mark 9:47).

 

Elsewhere Paul writes, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Col. 3:15). We are to be “Diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

 

To allow the peace of God to “rule” is to submit to the peace of God, to allow God’s peace to have authority over our thoughts and attitudes and actions. Peace is not only an experience, a condition, it is also an act of obedience in that it is an act of submission to God’s rule and authority.

 

If there is conflict, a conflict of wills and of desires; do I seek resolution and reconciliation and unity, or do I seek to impose my own will on others? Do I choose to allow the peace of God to rule in my heart and allow His peace to lead me in the situation, or do I resist and reject the authority of the peace of God and willfully seek my own way in the matter?

 

I still, at this late season of life, struggle with submitting to the peace of God. O for sure in a very significant sense I delight in His peace and would be lost without it. How can one live with any degree of sanity in this world and in our society without knowing the peace of God in Christ as his refuge?

 

Yet, there are still times when I react too quickly without first submitting to the peace Christ, without my response to people and events being a response under the authority of the Prince of Peace. I often ask our dear Lord Jesus, “Can I please just get it right for one day before I die?”

 

If Paul’s admonition to “live in peace with one another” is focused on the relationship between those who serve and those who are served, then there is a warning that those who are “being served” (the flock of God) ought to be deeply aware of – and that is that Satan is the father of rebellion against authority.

 

In our previous reflections we’ve seen that “those who serve” are to be as nursing mothers and straightforward fathers, that servant leadership is sacrificial leadership in Christ, that good shepherds lay down their lives for the sheep.

 

The sheep, on the other hand, are to honor their fathers and their mothers in the faith. Is not “Honor your father and your mother” a commandment with great promise?

 

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you” (Heb. 13:17).

 

This is not the place to explore the many facets of godly sacrificial leadership, what it looks like and what it doesn’t look like. Our Lord Jesus must be our center of gravity in this, and of course we see Him in His servants in the Bible. I suppose every New Testament letter displays the heart of the Good Shepherd toward His People.

 

The nature of Christlike sacrificial leadership is the love which lays down its life for others, all else flows through the deep and immeasurable love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

In response, the congregation is called to love those who serve it, to “esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:13).

 

As all of us “put on love” we experience “the perfect bond of unity” (Col. 3:14).

 

 Servant leaders find joy in the People of God, and this is a good place to close this reflection.

 

“For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess.2:20).

 

“I have no great joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (3 John 1:4).

 

To be continued…

A Holy Charge (6)

 

 

“You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory” (1 Thess. 2:10 – 12).

 

“For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19 – 20).

 

As we conclude our look at Paul’s servant leadership in Thessalonians Chapter 2, preparing to move back into the Holy Charge of Chapter 5, let’s remind ourselves that what we see modeled by Paul and his coworkers in Chapter 2 is the form of leadership Paul expected to see in the elders, deacons, and other servants of 5:12 – 13.

 

The goal of Biblical servanthood is that others “would talk in a manner worthy of God.” That others would live in intimacy with the Trinity. That others would serve others. In Paul and his coworkers, we see the tenderness and gentleness of a nursing mother (2:7) and the straightforward exhortation of a loving father (2:11).

 

The Thessalonian Christians were Paul’s “hope, joy, and crown.” Twice in verses 19 and 20 he speaks of them as his joy. Three times if we include the word “exultation.”

 

Paul terms the Thessalonians his “glory” in verse 20, “You are our glory and joy.”

 

Can we see our dear Lord Jesus in Paul?

 

“Who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2b).

 

We are the joy set before Jesus, the Thessalonians were the joy set before Paul, Silas, and Timothy. The flock of God in Thessalonica was to be the joy set before the elders, deacons, and other ministry servants in the church in that city.

 

Servants of the Gospel are not called to glory and rejoice over buildings and money and numbers of people and their standing in the world and the greater church, in their music ministry or preaching ministry. Servants of Christ are to glory and rejoice in Jesus Christ (“He that glories, let him glory in the Lord” 1 Cor. 1:30 – 21) and in His People.

 

Servants of the Gospel, charged with the care of Christ’s People, are not to live for themselves but for the Flock of Jesus Christ. I believe this is actually true for all legitimate leadership in all contexts, which is one of many reasons I am puzzled by the behavior and so-called values of the professing church in our nation.

 

Do Sunday school teachers and small group facilitators glory and joy in their people, that they are living in a manner worthy of God? What about pastors and elders and deacons? Are we giving our lives for others? Are others our glory and joy?

 

Are we demonstrating the tenderness of a mother, as well as the straightforwardness of a father? Are we seeking “not to be a burden to others” (2:9)?

 

When we stand in the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, will others be with us as our “crown of rejoicing”? Will we rejoice in others on that Day? Will others rejoice in us? Will we rejoice in one another?

 

Are we “imparting our own lives” (2:8) for others?

 

This, my friends, is what Gospel ministry is to look like, it is to look like Jesus Christ, the grain of wheat which fell into the ground and died, so that it would bear much fruit (John 12:24).

 

Ministry may not be successful in the eyes of the world, or of the professing church. There may not be great numbers of people, there may not be money in the bank, there may not be exciting music, there may not even be a building to call home; but if it displays the heart and soul of the Good Shepard of Psalm 23, of the Sacrificial Shephard of John 10, and of the Holy Lamb of Revelation, if it lives and glories and rejoices in the people it serves…then those men and women will one Day hear the blessed words of their Master, “Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

 

I have an idea that there will be a multitude of nondescript pastors, teachers, nursery care givers, and grandmothers, who will have many people around them on that Day, saying to them, “Thank you for making us your glory and joy in Jesus.”

 

There may also be others who have had hundreds and thousands in their buildings and listening and watching them via media, who will look around on that Day and see no one beside them, for they have given their lives for no one, their hearts to no one, their souls to no one…except themselves.

 

Is our delight in others and in our Lord Jesus Christ?

 

“This is My commandment; that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12  13).

 

Is this our way of ministry?

 

Is this our Way of Life?

A Holy Charge (5)

 

A Holy Charge (5)

 

“But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children. Having so fond an affection for you, we were well – pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become very dear to us. For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:7 – 9).

 

There are many passages where Paul writes of the nature and character of his service in Christ; they speak of the content of his Message, of his joys and sorrows, his motivations, his hopes and disappointments, and of his heart. Since these are letters he is writing, isn’t this what we would expect? Paul is giving his life for the people he writes to, he is giving them his heart. These letters are Valintine’s cards with deep love and affection, and deep content.

 

Is there a more tender picture to be found than of a “nursing mother tenderly caring for her own children”? (In verse 11 we see that he also pictures himself as a father.) Paul and his friends were not simply imparting the Gospel of God to the Thessalonians, “but also our own lives.”

 

Is this our picture of Gospel ministry today? Is this the image that servants of the Gospel seek to portray, and is it the image that congregations seek? Is it the image that elders and deacons exhibit? Sunday school teachers? Small group leaders? Is it the nature of our service to Christ and to His People, to one another?

 

Since this is the way Paul was toward the Thessalonians, it was, I think, the way he expected the servant leaders in the Thessalonian church to be toward their brothers and sisters (1 Thess. 5:12 – 13). They were to labor among the flock, and have charge over the flock, as a nursing mother with her own children, as well as “exhorting and encouraging and imploring…as a father would his own children” (2:11), giving the church not only the Gospel, but “also their own lives” (2:8).

 

Is this the way that we view leadership? This is the Way of Jesus.

 

“You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:24 – 28).

 

All moral and ethical and righteous leadership is sacrificial – whether explicitly in the Kingdom of God or in the world; Satanic so-called leadership is narcissistic, self-seeking, and self-serving – wherever it may be found.

 

Yet we have Christian organizations teaching worldly models of “leadership.” Yet we have Christians and their leaders bowing down to so-called leaders of this world and nation, aligning themselves with people and movements who exalt and glorify themselves. Are we not like ancient Israel who want a king, like the idolatrous nations, to rule over us? Are we not similar to the civic and religious leaders who shouted to Pilate, “Crucify Jesus! We have no king but Caesar!”?

 

Do our training institutions, Bible colleges and seminaries, focus on “content” to the exclusion of teaching and modeling the character and nature of Gospel ministry? What good is content without heart? Where is sustainability in the soul without love? Paul’s ministry, whether in person or through letters, is a marriage of love and content, of a nursing mother and an imploring father.

 

Pastors were once charged with the care of souls. Today they are paid to be CEOs, to produce numbers and entertainment and churn out self-help messages, to hold Sunday morning group therapy sessions, or Sunday cultural and political and nationalistic rallies. The avatars of Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon, and Doc Severson appear on church platforms across our nation Sunday mornings…and we call it “worship,” we call it preaching, we call it being relevant. (Sorry…not really…for the Johnny Carson reference, I am out of the loop on current entertainment figures.)

 

Is Jesus no longer enough?

 

What Paul writes to the Thessalonians about Gospel ministry and servant leadership was counter cultural 2,000 years ago, and it is counter cultural today. It was counter cultural within Judaism then; it is counter cultural within Christianity today.

 

Yet, this is the Way of Jesus.

 

“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14).

 

What is your view of leadership?

 

Is it Biblical? Does it align with Paul?

 

With Jesus?

 

A Holy Charge (4)

 

 

“For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed – God is witness – nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority” (1 Thess. 2:3 – 6).

 

As we read the first lines above, we may recall Paul’s words to Timothy, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Also, “Pay close attention to yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1 Timothy 4:16).

 

Doctrine and dogma matter, navigation matters; this is not primarily an intellectual endeavor, it is a spiritual necessity, for our thinking molds our minds, our hearts, our souls. Error corrupts our souls, desecrating the image of God within us; rightly understanding God’s Word, the Word of Truth, draws us to Jesus and transforms us into His image.

 

A “way of deceit” can take many forms. It can take the form of overt false teaching, such as trying to convince others that the Bible is unreliable and that there is a higher way, a better way, than Jesus as our Way. It can take the form of repudiating the image of God in mankind – this occurs in myriad ways. It can take the form of religious pragmatism, in which money, wealth, numbers, popularity become our religious goals. It can take the form of legalism and seeking to bring us back under the Law, whether the Law of Moses or the law of other religious traditions.

 

It can also take the form of making us think that if we are having a good time in our gatherings, getting pumped up, feeling better about ourselves, and having perpetual group hugs that that is all we need. There are more forms of deceit than we can possibly number, playing whack-a-mole is never helpful; what is helpful, what is necessary, is having our focus on Jesus Christ and only on Jesus; this is the only way we can ensure that we are not leading others astray and that we are not being led astray.

 

Not all error, I think, is intentionally deceitful, much of it is simply that we don’t know; we don’t intend to teach or model error, but we do. This is one reason why we desperately need the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and one another. It is one reason why we need to constantly be asking God to search us and try us, it is why we need to collectively examine ourselves, our practices, our teachings. Diligence is a lifelong way of life, for our own sake and most importantly for the sake of others.

 

Paul writes that they “did not come with flattering speech.” This may remind us of what he wrote to the Corinthians, “When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:1 – 5).

 

I confess that I wonder how many times I have been more focused on the method of my preaching rather than the content of my preaching. Paul was vulnerable with the people he served, being with them in weakness, fear, and much trembling; do I know what it is to be like this? Do you? We must not attempt to be something we are not, we must remember that the word “hypocrite” carries with it the meaning of “to wear a mask.” Would we have welcomed Paul with his “weakness, fear, and much trembling”? Would we have invited others to come and hear this man? Keep in mind that rhetoric and oratory were highly valued in Paul’s time, people were trained in it, it was not only a form of learning, it was a form of entertainment. If we take Paul’s words at face value, he would not have compared well with professional orators.

 

When Paul writes of “not pleasing men,” I think of his statement in Galatians, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). We cannot be people pleasers and serve Jesus Christ; we cannot be people pleasers and teach the Gospel. We must not be people pleasers if we are to serve the flock of God.

 

Yet, do not our congregations expect their pastors, elders, and deacons to please them? Do we not have such turnover in pastors because the pastors do not please their congregations?

 

A person called to Gospel ministry must be a bondservant of Jesus Christ. He or she must be Christ’s servant, owned by Christ, belonging to Jesus Christ; the servant of Christ no longer has a life of his or her own, he belongs to Jesus and only to Jesus.

 

When Paul speaks of God who examines the hearts, I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:9, “We also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or evil.”

 

What other dimensions of Gospel ministry do you see in 1 Thessalonians 2:3 – 6?

A Toy

 

A Toy

R. L. Withers

 

A toy – portal into imagination.

A toy not played with – sorrow.

Children who cannot play nor eat.

The belly of gluttony here; the belly of starvation there.

Do we care?

 

Building blocks never to be played with to build

Castles, homes, and skyscrapers.

Toy cars never to be driven on a floor.

Stuffed bears and dolls never to be hugged – is that a tear?

Do bears cry?

 

A toy box once full of hope, its contents now strewn about,

Each toy going its own way. - collateral damage they say. 

Little fingers will not grasp them, nor will little hands hold them,

Nor innocent arms embrace them.

Will little voices squeal with delight?

 

Will little eyes sparkle bright?

Little faces smile?

Little hearts beat with joy?

Or will the little ones not meet their toys,

Until they are both in the landfill of life?

 

A Holy Charge (3)

 

What kind of leadership example did Paul, Silas, and Timothy give to the Christians in Thessalonica? Whatever that example was, it is reasonable to think that it was Paul’s expectation that the leaders of the church in Thessalonica would emulate it.

 

What do you see about Paul, Silas, and Timothy in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 2? What did their service in the Gospel look like? What was the nature of their ministry, its character? How would you describe it?

 

The first thing to note in this chapter is that Paul and his friends were under intense pressure when they arrived in Thessalonica. “After we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the Gospel of God amid much opposition” (1 Thess. 2:2; see Acts 16:1 – 17:9).

 

I point this out because what follows is, in my thinking, a remarkable description of sacrificial leadership, and I want us to note that it was exhibited under the pressure of persecution, that Paul and his coworkers were hardly in an ivory tower, they were not in a quiet church setting, they were rather experiencing pain and uncertainty and fierce opposition – they were paying a price to share Jesus Christ with others.

 

We see the true character of others, and we see it in ourselves, in suffering, persecution, and opposition. In such times we can go either “inward” or “outward,” that is, we can either focus solely on ourselves or we can serve others. Paul and his friends chose to serve Christ and the Thessalonians (for another striking example of this see 2 Corinthians 1:3 – 11; 4:12).

 

What is our response when we are under pressure? When we suffer for our obedience to Jesus Christ? Do we go into a defensive posture, or do we seek to be a blessing to others? Do we withdraw from others, or do we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to Christ on behalf of others? Do we allow our hearts to be hardened, or do we ask the Holy Spirit to make us compassionate and tender toward others as we live in Christ and as Christ lives in us?

 

After being beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, would anyone have blamed Paul and Silas if they had returned to their home church in Antioch seeking safety and rest? Would it have been understandable for them to seek confirmation of the “Macedonian Vision” of Acts 16:9? Surely God would not lead them into a furnace of trial and persecution?

 

Do we question God’s Word when we face opposition? When the Holy Spirit challenges our actions and attitudes? When life is hard, which it often can be, do we continue on our pilgrimage of obedience to Jesus Christ, taking up our cross daily to follow Him?

 

When the going gets tough, we can be tempted to think that the church or the world owes us something. If Paul had thought this way he may not have gone to Thessalonica sharing the Gospel. If Paul thought the world or the church owed him something, he and his friends would not have worked “night and day so as not to be a burden” to the Thessalonians (2:9).

 

Paul did not think that the church or the world owed him anything – quite the opposite, Paul saw himself as being in debt to the world. “I am a debtor to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish” (Romans 1:14).

 

How do we view our relationship with the world? Do we think the world owes us something? Or do we see that, in Christ, we are debtors to all mankind to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them?

 

If we are indeed debtors to the people of the world, are we paying our debt to them by sharing Jesus Christ?