A Holy Charge (11)

 

“Encourage the fainthearted” (1 Thess. 5:14).

 

Continuing our reflection on encouraging the fainthearted:

 

“At my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me; may it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the peoples might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion’s mouth” (2 Timothy 4:17).

 

To encourage others we must live lives of obedience to Jesus Christ, in word and in deed – no matter the cost.

 

I wrote the following to a friend in July of this year; it is lightly edited:

 

A year or two ago I watched a short film, The Rover of Tobruk, the story of Bob Quinn, a legendary Australian Rules football player who was awarded a medal for heroism during his service at Tobruk during WWII. Quinn’s story, as a football player, a solider, a friend, a “mate,” is remarkable. I have since read a few articles on Quinn, but none really captures the full scope of his character the way the film does – the articles have generally been worth reading, but they all tend to miss important points.

 

For many years Quinn would not talk about what really happened at Tobruk that led to his medal for heroism, and his reason was profound – a life lesson for me. His unit was under intense fire, a job needed to be done, and wounded mates needed to be rescued. His comrades were frozen with fear…they couldn’t move, they couldn’t respond to orders. Quinn acted, fulfilling their mission, bringing wounded back, doing what had to be done. Quinn would not talk about this, he would not talk about his mates’ failure of courage.

 

When he finally gave the interview that led to the film, it was with the stipulation that the interview would not be released until after his death (which was in 2008).

 

Why?

 

Because he wanted to make sure that all of his mates had lived their lives and passed away. He wanted nothing negative printed about his mates on that terrible day in Tobruk. Quinn said that, before that day, he had seen their bravery, he had seen their courage, he had seen their care for one another, but on that day they just couldn’t do it again. He did not look at them as failures, they were still his “mates” and he wouldn’t let them down, not on the awful day and not afterward.

 

And this is my life lesson from Bob Quinn, if we have courage when others don’t, let’s be thankful, if we answer Christ’s call to obedience when it eludes others, let’s be thankful. After all, don’t we want our mates to survive this hell we are in as much as we want ourselves and our families to be overcomers in Christ?

 

Novatian: Well, I can understand fear. The Emperor was a terrible tyrant. Perhaps here we can learn mercy and find ways to support the weak. Paul writes that his imprisonment has given courage to others…if that is what it takes are we willing?

 

Would we not desire to welcome weak brothers and sisters back home, where they belong?

 

When I think of dear Polycarp, I think of relationship and not creed (though I dearly love the creeds). “For eighty-six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me!”

 

Now, as the Bard wrote, “Here is the rub.”

 

Polycarp was committed to his King, he would not deny Jesus. This is different than denying or affirming a creed, a set of beliefs, a confession. Somehow we have come to think of Christianity as belief in a few cardinal statements rather than as being in an unfolding relationship with Jesus Christ. I have thought a lot about this, but I have not yet found a fruitful way to talk about it.

 

This is personal for Polycarp, and it ought to be personal for us. Can I deny Vickie is my wife? Can I deny Jesus is my Friend, my King, my Lord, my Savior?

 

But I fear that so many professing Christians are “professing” in the sense they profess belief in a confession, but do not profess and confess a relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

My own sense is that the German church during Nazism gives us the closest image to the church in the U.S. The alignment of the Lutheran and Reformed churches with National Socialism and Germany First (Make Germany Great Again) is clear to me. The very term Third Reich with its creation myth for Germans and our own 250 years of “freedom” ought to be apparent.

 

And the marginalization of those voices within the “church” in Germany who spoke for Jesus and the Gospel…just as we see today in varying degrees within the professing church in our own nation.

 

I think the German pastors and academics knew what they were doing to one degree or another…they had their justifications just as pastors in our country have theirs…they ignored reality, ignored suffering, ignored terror…just as today. Power intoxicates, alignment with earthly authority and privilege makes us drunk. We love having crowded churches. Why we even have our own Horst Wessel.

 

I suppose I sorrow most for the congregations, for the sheep. As a pastor/teacher/whatever I am frankly afraid to violate my calling, my charge, my imperative to wed people to Christ 2 Cor. 5:11; 1 Cor. 9:16. Do we not tremble at our charge? How can we not tremble?

 

When I was a teenager I wrote Richard Baxter’s oft quoted statement in my Bible, “I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.” I have not always exemplified this, but I have never forgotten it. Does anyone even know of Baxter today?

 

The same is true of C.T. Studd’s line, “Tis only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” He gave up a career in cricket – he was what we would call a superstar – for the mission field. Just as Eric Liddell gave up his sporting opportunities for the mission field, dying in a Japanese internment camp.

 

Who do I want to be associated with on that Day? I think, by God’s grace in Christ, I’ll stand with Polycarp, Studd, Liddel, and Paul – it is absurd to me to think I even have a choice – Ha! Where else can I go but Jesus?

 

As Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

 

Amen.

 

The best way to encourage others is to demonstrate courage in Jesus Christ in our own lives, courage in word and deed, the courage of devotion to Jesus Christ. Let us carry others when needed, and teach them, in turn, to encourage others and carry them.

 

We ought not to shoot our wounded…in Jesus Christ is healing and courage.

 

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).

A Holy Charge (10)

 

“Encourage the fainthearted” (1 Thess. 5:14).

 

One of the great joys in life is encouraging others, in giving others hope, in helping them see Jesus, the One who loves them so very much, in affirming them in Christ, and affirming Christ in them – He is our hope of glory and our source of encouragement.

 

The Thessalonians “received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit,” and in doing so they “became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” They were following the way of Jesus and the way of the apostles by obedience in the midst of suffering (1 Thess. 1:6 – 7). Whoever the fainthearted were, there was something within them that caused them not to run from Jesus in persecution, but rather to come to Him and follow Him.

 

The writer of Hebrews encourages the recipients of his letter by focusing on Jesus, their Great High Priest, from beginning to end Hebrews is about “looking unto Jesus.” Hebrews has a point-counterpoint of warning and encouragement, encouragement and warning; the next time you read Hebrews you might look for this pattern and perhaps make notes of it.

 

“For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:1 – 3).  Aren’t we always to be considering Jesus?

 

There is suffering and persecution and pressure in following Jesus, as Paul wrote, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Persecution and pressure can take many forms, some overt, others covert, obedience to Jesus comes with a price; in Jesus we can learn to pay the price for Him joyfully, just as He paid the price for us joyfully (Heb. 12:2).

 

The writer of Hebrews encourages his readers/listeners by bringing them into the fellowship of the courageous and suffering saints (Chapter 11) and then into the courageous and suffering Jesus (12:1-3), which is a circling back over all which preceded Chapter 11 – the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. (Chapters 1 – 10 portray Jesus, Chapter 11 the saints following Jesus, Chapter 12 brings us back to Jesus.)

 

The recipients of the letter we call “Hebrews” received the Gospel as did the Thessalonians, amid persecution:

 

“Remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one” (Hebrews 10:32 – 34).

 

Considering our worship of “property,” how likely is it that we would (and do) emulate the Hebrews? Do we really believe that we have “a better possession and a lasting one”?

 

How can we encourage others?

 

While we are to speak words of encouragement, do our words matter if our lives are not faithful to Christ? That is, do our words matter if our actions do not reflect them, giving credibility to them? Furthermore, are we willing to be used by God in our own sufferings to encourage others? Are we living sacrificial lives unto Jesus Christ on behalf of others? (This goes back to the servant-leadership we previously considered.)

 

Consider Paul’s perspective on imprisonment:

 

“Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear” (Phil. 1:12 – 14).

 

Consider Paul’s perspective on suffering:

 

“The God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God…but if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation…” (2 Cor. 1:3 – 11).

 

It is important that we are obedient to Jesus so that others may be encouraged. Our obedience is never just about ourselves, it is that Jesus might be glorified and that others may be encouraged in Him. Obedience is vertical and horizontal, it is towards God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; it is also on behalf of others and is to be a testimony of Jesus Christ to others. What people see from us should be what they hear from us, our words and our deeds are to be grounded in Christ – He is the Vine and we are the branches. The Incarnation continues in us, both as individuals and as His People.

 

It takes courage to live in Jesus, to follow Him, to share Him with others, and to live in community with one another. Living in the Light and the Truth takes courage, obedience in a world of rebellion takes courage, fidelity to Jesus in a promiscuous “Christian” religious world takes courage. It requires courage to live differently and speak differently than the world around us, than much of the professing church around us. The Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ is an offense, an offense that brings us to the end our ourselves if we will follow Him.

 

Can we hear the words of the LORD to Joshua?

 

“Be strong and courageous…be strong and very courageous” (Johsua 1:6 – 7)?

 

To encourage the fainthearted means that we must be courageous ourselves – are we? Are we living lives of courage?

 

Do our children and grandchildren see courage in us?

 

Our spouses?

 

Our friends?

 

Our brothers and sisters in Christ?

 

Is the courage of Jesus Christ living in us and through us?

 

The Lord willing, we’ll return to this in the next reflection in this series.

A Holy Charge (9)

 

 

“We urge you brethren, admonish the undisciplined, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone” (1 Thess. 5:14).

 

What does it mean to be “undisciplined”? In his second letter to the Thessalonians Paul writes:

 

“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an undisciplined life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.

 

“For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.

 

“For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat either. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies” (2 Thess. 3:6 – 11; see also 1 Thess. 1:3 – 12).

 

It seems, in the context of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians, that being undisciplined has to do with not working and not contributing to the faith community. In Ephesians 4:28 Paul also writes, “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with the one who has need.”

 

Yet, there is more I think, for if we look at the example that Paul and his friends provided the Thessalonians, we see that it is more than about simply working, as important as that is; it is primarily about giving themselves for others, about laying their lives down for others, about not only not being a burden, but also about being a blessing.

 

As Paul frames it with the Ephesians, those who once took from others, are now to work so that they can give to others. It is more than about supporting oneself, it is about giving to others. We are to work so that we can give. The grace of Christ transforms us from takers to givers.

 

This can be a hard message in our narcissistic culture, so permeated is the professing church with the world system. Do we wake up wondering, “How can I be a blessing today?” Do we wake up praying, “Lord Jesus, help me to be a blessing to others please. Help me to share you. Help me to touch others with your Presence. Help me to give to others”?

 

When we gather as God’s People, do we seek to bless those around us? Do we even care how our brothers and sisters are doing in this world of challenges, sorrows, anxieties, and needs? When we ask our brothers and sisters how they are, do we really and truly want an answer?

 

The love and grace of Jesus, and obedience to His Word, form us into His image, and that image manifests itself in a certain discipline of life, it is a laying down our lives for one another, a submitting of ourselves to one another since we are members of one another in Christ (John 15:12 – 13; Eph. 5:21; Rom. 12:5).

 

How critical is this? It is critical enough that Paul writes that the Thessalonians are to “keep away from every brother who leads an undisciplined life” (2 Thess. 3:6; see also 3:14 - 15).

 

What might this look like in our own lives, in our own churches and gatherings? I’m not really sure.

 

I have seen authoritarianism and I know that isn’t the answer, as much as it appeals to some people. I have seen legalism, and I know that isn’t the answer. I have seen churches without any accountability, and I know that isn’t the answer.

 

It seems to me that when we have deep-rooted relationships in Christ that Biblical accountability is embedded in those relationships. To be sure, relationships can break down; to be sure accountability can break down; lack of accountability can shatter relationships, and broken relationships can destroy accountability.

 

In our society if we don’t like one local church, we can simply start attending another church; or we can foster a church split.

 

If we aren’t members of something bigger than ourselves, in this case the Body of Christ, then our selfishness will always be the center of gravity. Selfishness always leads to an undisciplined life in one way or another.

 

Without “life together,” to use a term Bonhoeffer appreciated, it is hard to see how we can live life in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, and in the Word of God with our Father’s blessing. Without life together it is hard to see how we can live disciplined lives, since disciplined lives are focused on others and not on ourselves. If there are no “others” then we are members of nothing, attached to nothing.

 

The “communion of saints” is more precious to me all the time. I could not have lived this long in Christ, and I would certainly not be writing these words, were it not for my koinonia with brothers and sisters. I value those times when others have loved me enough to speak a word of correction and challenge; and I regret those times when I dearly needed such a word but no one apparently cared enough about me to talk to me. Believe me, I know I can be difficult to approach, I know I can be strong-willed…but all the more reason that I need others to tell me the truth, or at least the truth as they see it in a given moment. We can trust our dear Lord Jesus to sort things out…if we will only love one another, truly love one another.

 

Paul’s charge to “admonish the undisciplined” (1 Thess. 5:14) is addressed to the entire fellowship, to all of the people as well as the servant-leaders. A healthy fellowship is a self-correcting fellowship, or at least has the potential to be. For certain, as we see from the New Testament letters, including Revelation, there are many times special admonition and correction must be given, there are times when there is willful violation of the grace and love of Christ and His Word, there are times when false teaching and practices are propagated in the church and must be publicly dealt with in the Name of Jesus Christ.

 

Can we do this today? It’s a challenge for sure, for a great many reasons. I don’t know that it is fruitful to explore the reasons…so I won’t at this time. I imagine that each context has its own challenges.

 

However, I will say this; we all need relationships in Christ that mean so much to us, that we value so highly, that we will fight for them, that we will endure for them, that we will persevere in them – through conflict, through speaking the truth in love, and in which we make tough Biblical decisions with redemption as the goal. Are my relationships with my brothers and sisters more important to me than getting my own way? Than my own willfulness? Than my personal sense of being right? Are my relationships with others more important to me than me being the center of gravity and attention?

 

Do I love others enough to speak to them when I sense they need it, and to listen to them when they sense I need it?

 

Such relationships can be elusive, and we need not look for quantity, but we sure need quality. When we find them, we need to treasure them, guard them, and treat them as holy ground, as sacred trusts.

 

I need not love everything my friends say to me, but I sure do need to love my friends.

A Holy Charge (8)

 

“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 is 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?

 

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 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?

A Holy Charge (2)

 

“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.

Faith, Love, Hope in Thessalonica

 

 

“We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father” (1 Thess. 1:2 – 3).

 

“Since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8).

 

I’ve been pondering the cluster of faith, hope, and love at the beginning and toward the conclusion of Paul’s first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica. The believers in this city were known for their faith, love and hope. Their way of life not only manifested hope, love, and faith, but faith, love, and hope was also their armor as “sons of light and sons of day” (5:5).

 

When we encounter faith, hope, and love in the Bible we see the core of our calling in Jesus Christ, the core of our life together, the core of our witness of Him to the world. Note that both 1:2 – 3 and 5:8 are closely related to the Father choosing us in Christ:

 

“Knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you” (1:4).

 

“God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:9).

 

It is good to remind ourselves that we are not accidents looking for a place to happen – we can only be in a relationship with Jesus because God our Father has called us into that relationship.

 

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:37).

 

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44).

 

We can have great assurance that Jesus is our Author and Perfector (Hebrews 12:2), that the One who began a good work within us will bring it to completion (Phil. 1:6). I may not fully understand these words of Jesus in John Chapter 6, in fact I can understand very little of them, but I am most certainly called to believe what Jesus says about the Father and me and Him. Believing what Jesus says allows me to live securely in Him, allowing faith, hope, and love to grow in me and flow through me – back unto Jesus and into the lives of others.

 

Consider what Paul writes to the Colossians:

 

“We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; because of the hope laid up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:3 – 4).

 

The Christians in Colossae also have a testimony of faith, hope, and love.

 

Is this my testimony? When others look at me do they see faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ?

 

Is this the testimony of our congregations?

 

Is this your testimony?

 

Perhaps, as we live today, we can watch for Jesus coming to us, teaching us to live in and to share the faith, hope, and love that He is giving to us as His brothers and sisters. Perhaps we can ask Jesus to teach us today how to share faith, hope, and love with others.

 

Let’s remember that love, hope, and faith are not only to be our Way of Life in Christ, but they are also our armor, protecting our hearts and minds (which are continually assaulted by the things of this world!).