Yesterday, Pastor Byron spoke from 1 Thess. 5. You can hear the message here. Today, I’d like to reflect on Paul’s exhortation for the Thessalonian Christians to hold the line of holy righteousness.
What is the Line of Holy Righteousness? It is giving enough energy to a situation to determine the root causes. From there, it is acting in a wise and appropriate manner according to Scripture. If someone is disrupting the service, holding the line would be addressing it with them. If someone has experienced a devastating betrayal in a close relationship, holding the line is helping them process through their pain and find Jesus through it. And this is what we see Paul encouraging the Thessalonian church to do.
“We urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” (1 Thess. 5:14-15). These are powerful instructions that often go against our fleshly tendencies, because it disallows an unhealthy focus on ourselves. Being aware of the needs of others is the only way to foster healthy relationships. Part of that awareness includes knowing the best way to approach each person and each situation. So our list today comes from what Paul mentioned in verses 14-15.
Warn the Idle and Disruptive
There is an old saying “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” When we are idle (especially when we are younger), we are much more likely to give into temptations and act out ungodly characteristics. Even as Christians, aimlessness is a fast track to hurting ourselves and those around us.
Disney is in the process of remaking many of their animated movies as live-action. The most recent to hit theaters is The Lion King. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember Timon and Pumba, the prairie dog? and boar. For our purposes today, these two represent idle attitudes. When Simba is taken in by them, he joins them on their aimless quest for avoiding purpose, destiny, and responsibility. While on the quest, everything Simba knew and loved was being destroyed by his uncle Scar and his allied hyenas. Why would Simba avoid this? Because that is the immediate reaction when the harshness of life hits. We are tempted to run away and hide instead of fight through it and make sense of it on our terms.
Paul warns the Thessalonian Christians of the same danger we see played out with Simba. When our world comes crashing down, many times we want nothing more than to escape it and find comfort in avoidance. But all the while, those we love and who love us suffer to watch us waste our lives. They suffer to see the void left in our wake. The love that we can offer, the gifts and calling God has planted in us are there more for those around us than for ourselves, so our avoidance of walking in them does cause those around us to suffer.
Paul is instructing the Thessalonians that such an idleness is not becoming of Christians, because eternity is at stake, and idleness has no place in the kingdom. So his instructions to them are just as pertinent to us: Warn those who are idle because the dangers are real and the suffering is real. The church needs everyone who is called by God. It suffers setbacks when a follower of Christ disengages with that. So idle Christians may need a verbal kick in the pants and a realization of just how much their absence hurts those around them.
Encourage the Disheartened
On the surface level, the actions of an idle person can look very similar to someone who is disheartened. Both pull away from community. Both tend toward isolation. Both want to escape because the pain is too much. The root of the idle person is addressed by showing them how others suffer in their absence. The root of the disheartened is addressed by showing them care. Whatever the reason they are downtrodden, they need support. They need to be able to process their pain. The church is there to work as a support net for those who fall. Disheartened people are the ones who fell due to circumstances beyond their control and are stuck with the hard work of rebuilding.
When we encourage the disheartened, it’s so they can gather the strength and courage to get back up and help move the kingdom forward. They want their gifts and abilities to be firing on all cylinders, but they’ve been severely hindered. Encouraging them is a way to remove the hindrance so they can get back up and storm the gates of hell with boldness. So idleness requires warnings, the disheartened require encouragement, but what does the third category (the wek) need?
Help the Weak
The weak need assistance. When I think of the Apostle Paul’s letters, I read “weak” to mean “vulnerable.” I particularly see him referring to vulnerable peoples that have been taken advantage of. Vulnerability in itself is not a weakness in terms of character development. For more on that, I recommend Brenee Brown’s book “Daring Greatly.” Paul is talking about those around us whose lives have taken a downturn. Whether through economic recession, illness, or spiritual deformation (yes that’s a thing), Christians are to help them. The aim with any help in the body is not to enable a continued destructive habit or lifestyle. The aim with help in the body is to help people become what God has called them to be. If they are being taken advantage of financially, help may come by helping them eliminate the relationships that take advantage of them. If someone is continually making poor choices, help may be in the form of helping them see how to make other choices. Maybe a very strong member of the community has had a difficult emotional setback. Then help may come in the form of letting them process it in whichever way they identify with.
I know the examples above may seem vague. That is case is very unique. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to the complexities of life. That is why Christians need to know their Scripture, know the character of their God, and be brave enough to engage with those who are vulnerable. At the end of the day, the charge is for us to learn a brother’s or sister’s vulnerabilities and help in a way that is honoring to the Lord and to helps them grow into a greater saint in Christ.
How? Be Patient With Everyone
Paul’s fourth part of the list of exhortations here is for us to “Be patient with everyone.” It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of church attendance. Getting there on time to get a good seat, getting there early enough to socialize before the service, getting out in time to catch lunch with a few friends, etc. Many times in church, we are focused on our wants and needs and are content to let the pastors and leaders learn the vulnerabilities/weaknesses of church members. But pastors and leaders can’t do it all. They are also shuffling the order of the service, creating a mindset of prayerful communication with the Holy Spirit about His agenda for the day, helping solve last minute disruptions to programs. Helping the weak/vulnerable is a community wide endeavor, not just the pastoral and leadership teams. That requires us to be more attentive to people’s signs of vulnerability or that they’re not doing well. We have to be patient with them.
This reminds me of exchanges with patrons at my local library. Often times people will come in needing to fill out a document online or to print a document from their email. The problem is they are computer illiterate. Sometimes they have the email on their phone. They don’t have a clue how to print off their document. It is a prime situation where remaining calm and being patient with them yields the best possible result. If I shut them down and leave them on their own, it’ll cause more problems because they print the document wrong and end up wasting money then demanding a refund. Or they leave the library very frustrated. In the end, no one wins. They lose because they still can’t get their documents printed. The library loses because they exist to bring value to the community and that member of the community has just been de-valued. And I lose because in that exchange Jesus wasn’t glorified. If you acted that way to someone, how eager would you be to share Jesus with them?
Helping the weak/vulnerable is the best way to build rapport with them and begin building bridges for the Gospel. Refusing to help them is the best way to begin building a wall for the Gospel.
So following Paul’s exhortations in these verses gets at the very root of our fleshly tendencies. Warning the disruptive and idle, encouraging the disheartened, and helping the weak/vulnerable are powerful tools in building our faith communities to be solid reflections of Jesus’ love, grace, and righteousness. What are some ways we can follow these exhortation in the coming weeks?
Thanks for reading this week’s pastor blog. I hope it helped you better experience our Lord’s
Presence. Love. Power.