1Th 5:12-13 | KingComments | STEP | . In Paul made an appeal to admonish one another. Each has a responsibility toward the other. All believers have an equal task therein, which actually is being carried out differently because each believer differs from the other believer. In order to guide all these differences in the right direction, the Lord has given leaders in the church. These leaders are not leaders qualified by men. It is nowhere to be found in the Bible that a theological training is necessary for people to be able or to be allowed to be in charge. No, the leaders that are given by the Lord are educated by Himself in His school. That school is the practice of everyday. They will show in their work that they are Christians and be occupied with Bible study in their leisure time. They will lead their family well. It is asked to appreciate the leaders. That indicates that they are to be recognized. The criteria are simple. In the first place they work “among” (which is in the midst of) the believers ( ; ). They therefore do not claim a higher place than the other believers. A second characteristic is that they “labor”. Those are hardworking believers, who commit themselves to the church and thereby face a lot of suffering. Then it appears from their leadership that they do that “in the Lord”. That emphasizes that they absolutely submit themselves to the authority of the Lord. They lead in a way that each believer submits to the Lord and not to them. The final characteristic mentioned here, is that they “give instructions” to the believers. This implies that they put the mind of the believers right when that has been deviated from the Word. Therefore they will ‘train’ the believers in the Word, so that the Word will richly dwell within them ( ). In this way the believers will be able to teach and admonish one another ( ; ). Have you been trained spiritually in order to recognize, acknowledge and appreciate such leaders? If you use other criteria, like education, eloquence or the possession of a certain charisma in your judgment, you will not appreciate the leaders given by the Lord. It is not about your taste, but whether you desire in everything to do the will of the Lord. Then you will eagerly be willing to be helped by such leaders. They are familiar with God’s Word and they want to bring your thinking in accordance with it. The recognition of the authority given by the Lord is one of the means to remain on the right course. . If that’s also your desire, you will highly esteem them. You will love them because of the work they do. There is not a single word here that could possibly refer to your personal favor. That doesn’t matter either. It demands a spiritual attitude to love them, for giving instructions quickly arouses resistance. To love a person who instructs you to put something right that you do not see well or do not do well, is easier to be said than to be done. If your heart is not submitted to the Word of the Lord, you will not be able to fulfill this order. Then that will also be the end of the “peace with one another”. There will be dissension and division. The harmony will disappear. The only way to keep peace with one another ( ; ) is when you are willing to be the least and take the lowest place. Division, quarrels, putting yourselves above others, envy, the love of taking sides are excellent possibilities to make the peace with one another impossible. Love not only recognizes the work of God in the laborer, but also sees the other person in the presence of God. If you consider the other person in this way, your own will is not active and the peace with one another is maintained. It is at the same time the basis to fulfill the order in the next verse. . If there is peace with one another, then there is the right spiritual climate to take care of those who need it. The admonition or exhortation for that, is as necessary now as it was then. Due to the increasing individualism, also in the faith experience, there is hardly any attention given to this admonition, let alone any action accordingly. I hope it speaks to you. Three groups are specifically mentioned and as a fourth group there is a word with regard to everyone. It is important that each group gets the specific care that is necessary for that particular group. Therefore you are not to comfort the unruly and instruct the weak. The first ones who need attention are “the unruly”. Those are the ones who ‘are out of line’, people who deny their responsibility as Christians. They launch, with some degree of regularity, proposals which do not come forth from the Scripture, but from their own thoughts. Discussions about these proposals don’t make the believers come closer to the Lord and to one another, but on the contrary cause tension and distance. Also their attitude may be unruly, for instance by systematically not working and forsaking the meetings of believers. They respond rebelliously to justified orders. However, Christians who walk unruly are often active in other things, which may cause them to show a wrong picture of what a Christian is. They must be reprimanded or corrected for this disorderly conduct, so that they may behave themselves normally and orderly again. Then they will be able to bear a good testimony again of Christ after Whom they call themselves. Then we have “the fainthearted”. Those are Christians who in bad times quickly lose heart. They get discouraged as soon as they are being criticized, they fear persecution, are worried about the future, feel to be failing in following the Lord. You must never abandon them. That could be an extra blow for them, which may cause them to become desperate and to totally give up following the Lord. Encourage them, give them a pep-talk. Tell them that tests serve to strengthen the faith. They need compassion and understanding and good teaching. For this task you may look upon the Lord Jesus. He has perfectly dealt with the fainthearted. You find that in a striking way in Isaiah 42. You recognize the fainthearted in “the bruised reed” and “the dimly burning wick” which are mentioned there ( ). In the ‘bruised reed’ you can see the broken heart, a heart which is trampled-on by a rough treatment. The danger is that they not only in the world but also in the church are being considered to be of no use. But the Lord is able to make a pipe organ out of this bruised reed or a measuring reed for the new Jerusalem ( ). The ‘dimly burning (or: smoking) wick’ hardly emits any light and warmth and is neither able to light the other one. Sometimes love burns that weakly in the heart that He alone Who knows all things also knows that there is absolutely still a spark of love present. In that way He could change Peter’s heart in seven weeks from an almost extinguished flame into a fire that put three thousand souls on fire on the day of Pentecost. “The fainthearted” are the powerless ones. Some believers are weak because they do not know the will of God. Others do not have the courage to trust in God. Still others do not have the power to resist against certain needs of the body. There are also those who cannot break out of a certain way of thinking and therefore feel themselves weak in their testimony. The fainthearted are often weak through wrong teachings from God’s Word. They have the idea that they must fulfill certain conditions, in order to feel to be accepted by God. Show them from God’s Word that they have been made pleasing in the Beloved ( ) and make them feel it. You can make God’s love tangible for them by putting your arm around them and by supporting them in their being a Christian. You finally get the order to be “patient with everyone”. This is an appeal to maintain your patience, your self-control with each of the previous groups. That is actually important. By losing your patience, you lose your unruly brother, your fainthearted brother and your weak brother. And that should not happen. In taking care you should go for the full profit, which is that in the life of your brother, in whatever state of mind he is, the Lord Jesus regains the central place. Now read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-14 again. Reflection: In which way do you give substance to these verses?

‏ 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Appreciation and Care

1Thes 5:12. In 1Thes 5:11 Paul made an appeal to admonish one another. Each has a responsibility toward the other. All believers have an equal task therein, which actually is being carried out differently because each believer differs from the other believer. In order to guide all these differences in the right direction, the Lord has given leaders in the church.

These leaders are not leaders qualified by men. It is nowhere to be found in the Bible that a theological training is necessary for people to be able or to be allowed to be in charge. No, the leaders that are given by the Lord are educated by Himself in His school. That school is the practice of everyday. They will show in their work that they are Christians and be occupied with Bible study in their leisure time. They will lead their family well.

It is asked to appreciate the leaders. That indicates that they are to be recognized. The criteria are simple. In the first place they work “among” (which is in the midst of) the believers (Acts 20:28; 1Pet 5:1). They therefore do not claim a higher place than the other believers. A second characteristic is that they “labor”. Those are hardworking believers, who commit themselves to the church and thereby face a lot of suffering.

Then it appears from their leadership that they do that “in the Lord”. That emphasizes that they absolutely submit themselves to the authority of the Lord. They lead in a way that each believer submits to the Lord and not to them.

The final characteristic mentioned here, is that they “give instructions” to the believers. This implies that they put the mind of the believers right when that has been deviated from the Word. Therefore they will ‘train’ the believers in the Word, so that the Word will richly dwell within them (Col 3:16a). In this way the believers will be able to teach and admonish one another (1Thes 5:11; Col 3:16b).

Have you been trained spiritually in order to recognize, acknowledge and appreciate such leaders? If you use other criteria, like education, eloquence or the possession of a certain charisma in your judgment, you will not appreciate the leaders given by the Lord. It is not about your taste, but whether you desire in everything to do the will of the Lord. Then you will eagerly be willing to be helped by such leaders. They are familiar with God’s Word and they want to bring your thinking in accordance with it. The recognition of the authority given by the Lord is one of the means to remain on the right course.

1Thes 5:13. If that’s also your desire, you will highly esteem them. You will love them because of the work they do. There is not a single word here that could possibly refer to your personal favor. That doesn’t matter either. It demands a spiritual attitude to love them, for giving instructions quickly arouses resistance. To love a person who instructs you to put something right that you do not see well or do not do well, is easier to be said than to be done. If your heart is not submitted to the Word of the Lord, you will not be able to fulfill this order.

Then that will also be the end of the “peace with one another”. There will be dissension and division. The harmony will disappear. The only way to keep peace with one another (Mk 9:50; 2Cor 13:11) is when you are willing to be the least and take the lowest place. Division, quarrels, putting yourselves above others, envy, the love of taking sides are excellent possibilities to make the peace with one another impossible. Love not only recognizes the work of God in the laborer, but also sees the other person in the presence of God. If you consider the other person in this way, your own will is not active and the peace with one another is maintained. It is at the same time the basis to fulfill the order in the next verse.

1Thes 5:14. If there is peace with one another, then there is the right spiritual climate to take care of those who need it. The admonition or exhortation for that, is as necessary now as it was then. Due to the increasing individualism, also in the faith experience, there is hardly any attention given to this admonition, let alone any action accordingly. I hope it speaks to you.

Three groups are specifically mentioned and as a fourth group there is a word with regard to everyone. It is important that each group gets the specific care that is necessary for that particular group. Therefore you are not to comfort the unruly and instruct the weak.

The first ones who need attention are “the unruly”. Those are the ones who ‘are out of line’, people who deny their responsibility as Christians. They launch, with some degree of regularity, proposals which do not come forth from the Scripture, but from their own thoughts. Discussions about these proposals don’t make the believers come closer to the Lord and to one another, but on the contrary cause tension and distance. Also their attitude may be unruly, for instance by systematically not working and forsaking the meetings of believers. They respond rebelliously to justified orders.

However, Christians who walk unruly are often active in other things, which may cause them to show a wrong picture of what a Christian is. They must be reprimanded or corrected for this disorderly conduct, so that they may behave themselves normally and orderly again. Then they will be able to bear a good testimony again of Christ after Whom they call themselves.

Then we have “the fainthearted”. Those are Christians who in bad times quickly lose heart. They get discouraged as soon as they are being criticized, they fear persecution, are worried about the future, feel to be failing in following the Lord. You must never abandon them. That could be an extra blow for them, which may cause them to become desperate and to totally give up following the Lord. Encourage them, give them a pep-talk. Tell them that tests serve to strengthen the faith. They need compassion and understanding and good teaching.

For this task you may look upon the Lord Jesus. He has perfectly dealt with the fainthearted. You find that in a striking way in Isaiah 42. You recognize the fainthearted in “the bruised reed” and “the dimly burning wick” which are mentioned there (Isa 42:3).

In the ‘bruised reed’ you can see the broken heart, a heart which is trampled-on by a rough treatment. The danger is that they not only in the world but also in the church are being considered to be of no use. But the Lord is able to make a pipe organ out of this bruised reed or a measuring reed for the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:15).

The ‘dimly burning (or: smoking) wick’ hardly emits any light and warmth and is neither able to light the other one. Sometimes love burns that weakly in the heart that He alone Who knows all things also knows that there is absolutely still a spark of love present. In that way He could change Peter’s heart in seven weeks from an almost extinguished flame into a fire that put three thousand souls on fire on the day of Pentecost.

“The fainthearted” are the powerless ones. Some believers are weak because they do not know the will of God. Others do not have the courage to trust in God. Still others do not have the power to resist against certain needs of the body. There are also those who cannot break out of a certain way of thinking and therefore feel themselves weak in their testimony.

The fainthearted are often weak through wrong teachings from God’s Word. They have the idea that they must fulfill certain conditions, in order to feel to be accepted by God. Show them from God’s Word that they have been made pleasing in the Beloved (Eph 1:6) and make them feel it. You can make God’s love tangible for them by putting your arm around them and by supporting them in their being a Christian.

You finally get the order to be “patient with everyone”. This is an appeal to maintain your patience, your self-control with each of the previous groups. That is actually important. By losing your patience, you lose your unruly brother, your fainthearted brother and your weak brother. And that should not happen. In taking care you should go for the full profit, which is that in the life of your brother, in whatever state of mind he is, the Lord Jesus regains the central place.

Now read 1 Thessalonians 5:12-14 again.

Reflection: In which way do you give substance to these verses?