Economy of words - Wealth of wisdom
Late in the letter to the Thessalonians, Paul presents a brief series of exhortations with 'uzzi like' rapid fire yet with more strength than solid granite. It occurs in 1Th.5:13b-22. I quote this brilliant piece of scripture noting each single exhortation with a parenthesis recognizing that never was SO MUCH SAID in SO FEW WORDS! "(Live in peace with one another). And we urge you, brethren, (admonish the unruly), (encourage the fainthearted), (help the weak), (be patient with all men). (See that no one repays another with evil for evil), (but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men). (Rejoice always). (Pray without ceasing). (In everything give thanks), (for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus). (Do not quench the Spirit). (Do not despise prophetic utterances). (But examine everything carefully); (and hold fast to that which is good). (Abstain from every form of evil).
Amazing! What a torrent of wisdom! What a wealth of guidance! What safety, what love, what a perfect pathway! I want to look at each of these briefly. I begin by saying that Paul expected the believers at Thessalonica to actually follow this pattern of life. Paul thought that Jesus would help them live like this and that the results of this life would be the complete sanctification of those Christians. Think of it. A church filled with people who lived and acted just like the Lord! Here we go.
"Live in peace with one another." This leads us toward 2 undeniable behaviors. First, our intention should be to live together (interact with each other) under the bonds of His peace. You know, the stuff that Jesus had with His Father - the same peace. Remember, Jesus said, "My peace I give to you." Every relationship should have as its primary goal to enjoy the peace of Jesus together. I know that is not only possible but it should be our GOAL! Second, if we are not at peace with someone, then our prayers and efforts should be that we gain that place with them. The lack of peace in this world is a 'crying shame'. But the lack of peace between brothers & sisters is down right evil. Jesus prayed, lived, died, and rose so that we could live together in harmony. To be in strife & in turmoil with each other is the ultimate disgrace and the New Testament is full of that sentiment for those who will not do all they can for the unity that Jesus commands. Whatever it takes, including the loss of our rights, our position, our possessions, etc., all of this (other than practicing sin) is worth doing in order to maintain the unity & peace that Jesus bought & promised us.
"Admonish the unruly". We must define 2 terms in order to grasp Paul's meaning. Unruly = out of control particularly as it pertains to the plain commands of Christ. Unruly therefore, is a life-style that is sinful, worldly, carnal, & a disgrace for a Christian. The Word commands that believers walk worthy of their high calling. The 'unruly' walk in an fashion opposite to worthy; doing those things that are markedly UNWORTHY of the calling of Christian. Admonish = to strongly correct and warn. Remember, correction that is given must be done so with the highest motive - that being the restoration & help given to the one being corrected. But in our day, we have become so super sensitive that if one dares to even SUGGEST that another has failed (much less confront), we are horrified, we scream for justice, we despise them for it, we call our lawyers, leave the church, threaten to get revenge (calling it justice), etc. Nonetheless, this exhortation stands - admonish the unruly!
"Encourage the fainthearted." This is something that is so critical it is hard to overrate. Encourage = strengthen the courage of another. This can be done by words of kindness or deeds of love & service. It can be done by serving God with another and nudging them along in a pathway of obedience as you walk with them. In other words, pray together, witness together, visit the sick together, do acts of kindness for another together, worship & praise together, go to church together, recreate together, etc. Encourage = strengthen another's courage so that they too serve the Lord & follow His lead. Fainthearted = means those who are in danger of falling away or giving up or going down in despair. Look for them! They are all around us! You may find that you will be one of those fainthearted one day if you haven't already. What goes around comes around. What we plant, we also reap. "Do unto others as we would have them do to us." Rescuing people is as Christ-like as it gets. We should be a part of His rescue - for we may need the same attention before too long!
"Help the weak." This is similar to the last statement but more general. It simply means that helping those who are not as strong as we is deeply implanted in the will of God. But there is a humbling thought here. One may be weaker in many areas than another but suddenly stronger in that moment or that particular situation. So new Christians can help veterans as well. I have been strengthened by children and by those who might be considered 'much less developed than the pastor'. The un-named slave girl in the Old Testament story of the Namaan, the Syrian general, was neither the strongest or the most important. But she became both by an act of simple kindness & through her testimony, Namaan was miraculously healed of leprosy. No doubt about it, she helped the weak & we don't even know her name - but God does!
"Be patient with all men." Patience is critical to our maturity. The trouble is that I want all the patience I need - RIGHT NOW! One preacher said that patience is the yardstick of faith. This is certainly true. Our faith, its depth & quality is measured by the patience we exhibit. And we are going to need it because unless we are patient people, we can never be like Jesus. Even after His disciples had fought for the 'umpteenth' time over who was the greatest, Jesus was still patiently correcting them & showing them the truth about being a servant. After washing their feet at the Last Supper, Jesus said that if HE, their Lord & Master, washed their feet, shouldn't they also do the same for each other. No disrespect intended to many preachers, but I do not believe Jesus was interested in developing a religious rite (foot washing) to be performed in a 'churchy' manner. Christ was far more interested in them learning the value of serving each other. And I want you to notice that one CANNOT SERVE if one cannot be PATIENT! Men & women will try our tiny patience, for sure. Weakness fills their every thought, and selfishness, and foolishness, and stupidity, and short sightedness. The only trouble is that we too possess all of that & look how patient God is with us. The person who does not recognize this as true has a nearly hopeless case of arrogance. And we are to be patient with ALL MEN! Every kind of man, woman, and child. There are no people that we should practice some kind of patience toward. Jesus help us - Amen?
"See that no one repays another with evil for evil." My mother always told me, "Two wrongs do not make a right." A magnificent modern day proverb that has its backing in scripture. Evil is never the answer to evil. Evil must always be overcome with good. When confronted with evil, the Christian has but ONE righteous choice. Do what Jesus would have us do about said evil. That is our pathway. In whatever difficult circumstance we find ourselves, what would please Jesus, this is our privilege & duty.
"Always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men." This is the counter exhortation to the last. Instead of evil for evil, we do good to answer evil. We do it for our Christian brothers & sisters. In fact, we do this for all men. God has an answer. He keeps the books. He meets out justice and vengeance belongs to Him. HE alone is the judge of the earth. I know that there are times when HE has placed us in temporary authority (such as parents, bosses, supervisors, church leadership, police, etc.) and the discipline of someone falls under our responsibility. That is very different. But God forbids us to take personal action against His will to answer evil that is done to us or another we notice. I wonder what kind of world we would live in if this exhortation were obeyed.
"Rejoice always." Be glad every hour of every day! How can anyone do that? There are 2 secrets here. First, if we make Jesus our life, HE will be such a source of joy that it will be unquenchable in our hearts. And this joy will spill out everywhere for rejoice doesn't mean joy but the act of celebrating our joy! However, if we are in love with this world, then disappointments await. In fact, they will abound! Real fulfillment is not possible in this life without being completely immersed in Christ. Knowing Him is the one fulfilling thing available to us in this life. All we have, all we want to do, all we need, all that could ever make us happy is found only in Christ! Second, because we are not perfect, we have to learn this truth gradually. It takes time to come to this fully. That means that there will be times we will give a sacrifice of joy. That is we will rejoice though our emotions fight against it! That's ok. It is not sin or hypocrisy as some have thought or even proclaimed. We commit to rejoicing and before long - we are actually rejoicing again. It really works! So we must repent from loving this world and trying to gain satisfaction in other things rather than Jesus. We must work at our rejoicing just as we have to work at loving everyone or being patient with them. There are 2 kinds of Christians, those that want to be & those who feel that they have to be. The 2nd kind is a 'real drag' to be around. The 1st kind is the kind that will convince another of the living Christ. Nothing truer - so put a smile on your face and be glad Billy boy - Jesus lives & HE is for us!
"Pray without ceasing." How do we do that? That is harder than rejoicing always! This does not mean retiring to an inner room on your knees 24-7. In fact, if we did that, we would not be able to perform the other crucial exhortations uttered here. Yet, this statement does reveal the immense importance of praying. To pray without ceasing is to include Jesus in all you do and think. It is to practice His Presence everywhere. HE is always with us! This is His greatest promise. We are NEVER ALONE! Take Him with you! Pray that HE helps you become aware of His constant love & Presence! Trust Him that HE is leading you, strengthening you, guiding you, protecting you, saving you, encouraging you, teaching you, empowering you, sending you, equipping you, filling you. This is how the Spirit filled life is to be lived. We are poor at it but it is His highest aim & His highest goal to NEVER abandon us to our own way. HE came because we too easily are distracted. His power had to be inside us if we were ever to obey Him even once, or be aware of Him at all! Get that praying mechanism working. Pray for prayer!!!
" In everything give thanks." Be thankful all the time. That does not mean we are to thank God for bad things that happen. It does mean we are to remain thankful for all the good HE has done, all the good HE will yet do for us, and all the good God will extract out of the trouble we face. God never wastes a trial. He works all things together for good. HE is God Almighty - the Master. Nothing escapes Him & HE rights every wrong sooner or later. So we can be thankful at all times - the good and the bad. The mature person understands that. One only gains that maturity by practice. So be thankful! A thankful person is a joyous person. When we become unthankful - we get sour - even mean! By the way, rejoicing, praying, and being thankful are like triplets - they have the same parents - they go together so very well!
"For this is the will of God for you." This statement has often been misunderstood. It does not apply only to being thankful but the whole list of exhortations we have been studying. These kinds of attitudes and behaviors best reflect the Jesus who lives within. When we practice life this way, we act just like our Lord.
"Do not quench the Spirit." Quench = refuse or resist the Spirit's leading. That means that we must give ourselves to learning the Spirit filled life and what it entails. We must grow in Christ! We must pursue knowing Him and what pleases the Lord. We must learn His voice, His promptings, His nudges, His ways! Our goal should be obedience rather than just getting by. Not resisting Him means obeying Him. Lord, help us to be faithful children who want what you want & do what you do!
"Do not despise prophetic utterances." We must be careful of thinking of prophesy in 21st century, American cultural terms. Prophesy simply means inspired speech. That can happen in a formal meeting or an informal time between the giver & receiver of the prophetic word. The point is that we are not to despise these messages from God through whatever human vessel or whatever circumstance from which they come. Despise means to devalue or think little of. Rather, we should expect that the unseen God, the Holy Spirit, is a communicating God that wishes to speak to His children. Therefore, we should be listening. Have faith in God. He is close. He is ready to guide. "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God!" Expect the Lord's involvement in your life. HE will make Himself known, one way or another. But it is easier to hear from Him & recognize His voice when we actually believe that He can & wants to speak to us! And it is God's plans to use humans often. HE will speak many times to us via another individual. Get ready, here comes God's message to you.
"Examine everything carefully." This is a companion exhortation to the previous one. We are not to be despising but neither are we to be gullible. Examine means to test or to search the validity of something. We should not ignore or immediately doubt a prophetic word but neither should we be naive & automatically accept a message as from God. We must examine or test a word. This is done by comparing it with the Word of God, the Bible. The Holy Spirit would NEVER speak anything in opposition to His written Word. We test the authenticity of a message by examining its fruit. We shall know the validity of the servant of the Lord by the fruit of their life or what they PRODUCE! The same is true for the message they bring. If it is from God, that message will bear godly fruit. That message will produce faith, righteousness, obedience, love, basically all the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians. That message will help others draw nearer to Christ, lead them further from sin, closer to the will & call of God, etc. We test a message by allowing mature Christians (mature leadership) examine the message. Their experience & knowledge of the truth helps to clear away any confusion as to the validity of a true word from God. God still speaks today, but we are still responsible to seek Him and make sure that it is HE that is speaking. We are to examine CAREFULLY! We can take time to do this. We do not want to be slothful with God's messages but neither are we to be in a hurry. God knows we are frail and HE appreciates a person seeking to find the truth. HE knows that messages often come through imperfect human vessels. HE will guide and sift out the truth from the false IF - IF - IF we will seek and test or prove all things (examine them carefully, prayerfully).
"Hold fast to that which is good." Once we discover what is from God, we are to hold it fast. This means to embrace & practice the truth we have heard from God with great tenacity! We do this so often in our lives naturally. We search out good products over bad ones, good investments over bad ones, good friends over bad ones, good jobs over bad ones, etc. When we find a truth in God, David called these principles so valuable that they were worth more than fine gold = gold in the purest form. Keeping God's truth as if it were worth more than anything else on earth is not only our duty, it is our blessing. What would happen to a person who valued what God said, what HE thought, what HE knew to be right, what was truly important? They would walk in great power in the earth. They would actually be the salt of the earth & the light of the world! Isn't that exactly what Jesus desires?
"Abstain from every form of evil." This is the last in this most impressive list of exhortations. Abstain = avoid, reject, reverse, stand against, flee from, etc. The people of God are to be a holy people. "Be holy as I am holy." What a command! It can only be done if Jesus helps us & we actually agree with HIM! So come on saints, let's pray & agree with our Lord! O Jesus, make us holy as you are holy. Let love & holiness & compassion for others & a Gospel burden be our reasons for living! Jesus, put this fabulous list of exhortations deep within! Make us just like you! Cause the truth to sanctify us that we may glorify you in our life time - which is our calling - to glorify God & enjoy Him forever! Be of good cheer my friends, HE intends to save us and will prove these exhortations deep within our character. The Lord keep you strong in these days.
