1 Thessalonians 5:12-28--Final Instructions and Benediction

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
English Standard Version

Final Instructions and Benediction
12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

25 Brothers, pray for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

​28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

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Paul's final instructions in this first letter have to do with how the church is to treat those who serve the Lord in ministry (likely talking about those who serve in full-time roles, though Paul doesn't say that specifically).  Paul focuses less on titles and more on roles and duties--"Those who work among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you."  That does not necessarily need to be someone called "pastor," "elder," "bishop" or even "deacon."  The qualification here is that these people are serving among that local congregation in a leadership and are providing spiritual leadership and admonishment to that congregations.  As we would say in Student Leadership at Liberty University, "It's about towels, not titles" as we studied what it meant to be a servant leader and the example that Jesus set by washing His disciples' feet at the Last Supper.

First and foremost, these people doing the work of the ministry of the church are to be esteemed in love.  The next way in which you can help such leaders is to do everything you can to be at peace with one another.  Make less conflict so they have less conflict resolution to take care of.  We can also help encourage and admonish "spiritual couch potatoes" that there are no bench warmers on the Lord's team.  Everyone has a course in the race that He has set before them, and each of us has a unique gifting to help build up the Church and to do the work of The Great Commission.  Having a team of church members that is excited to serve one another and to share the gospel in all places at all times by various means and methods that the Lord has equipped them for really warms the heart of the leadership of a church.  Too many churches try to put the task of evangelism solely on the shoulders of the pastor (and maybe the Sunday School teachers and a few select others).  We are part of an army--some are enlisted, and some are officer, some serve in logistics, others in infantry, and still others in what we might call special forces.  There is no one in the reserves though, and no one has to wait to be drafted.  There's also no one who is retired from service.  No one is too young, too old, or even too disabled.  God equips those He calls to do the work of the ministry that He has specifically prepared for them to do.  No one, not even the pastor, is equipped to do your work for you.

We must be careful to not assume that everyone that is inactive is simply lazy.  There are other reasons that people might not be actively engaged.  Paul mentions that they may be worn out or burnt out (he calls these people fainthearted).  They have been burning the candle at both ends and may need some time to take care of themselves and their families.  We should respect that, and we should take care of such people before it gets to this point.  There are those who are weak (spiritually immature or have physical limitations) that will need others to come alongside them and assist them.  We should be willing to help enable people and encourage people.  Even if we aren't called to do their work for them, we may be called to help them accomplish the work that God called them to do.  You may not even get any credit for what you do, and that's okay.  In all these things (even with the idle that I called "spiritual couch potatoes"), be patient with them.  Also, I'll mention here that while we want to do what we can in these areas to encourage and admonish each other, recognize whether you are or are not in an official leadership position at the church.  Those in leadership positions should want to allow others in the church to do these things Paul is talking about, but also those not in leadership positions should not hinder the ability of the designated leaders to lead by imagining themselves as some kind of puppet-masters--pulling the strings to control everyone while remaining invisible.  That's not a way to love your leaders or to be in submission to their authority or to the Lord who put them in authority.

Paul tells the church to do good to each other in all places, and in all cases, at all times.  Don't be like the world and take your own vengeance for perceived wrongs against you.  Leave vengeance in the hands of the Lord and be a peacemaker, especially among your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Have an attitude of thanksgiving and gratitude (rejoice in all things).  This is a choice we make--it doesn't mean we are thankful for everything we experience, but we remain a thankful and generous person no matter what circumstances we are going through.  It is part of our nature to be thankful and generous, not simply a result of temporary happiness, but of permanent joy.

We are also to be in constant communication with God about everything.  Whether we are in need and lift up a prayer of supplication that is as simple as, "Jesus, help me" or we see creation and it strikes us that we need to worship and adore the Lord like the psalmist did.  Prayer should come naturally to us.  Yes, we set aside times to pray, but it's also something that can't be scheduled.  It's just going to happen, and we need to be okay with that.  We should always remember to be thankful for what Jesus has done for us and in us and through us.  This should always help us to be thankful in all places and times, even when bad things are happening.

Paul also gives some negative commands--things to not do.  "Do not quench the Spirit."  The spirit is going to convict us of sin, but there are people that want to sear their conscience to the point where they no longer feel conviction or guilt about the sin that they willfully commit.  It is like they want to throw water of the fire to quench the flame.  We should have no desire to do this if we belong to Christ.  Next, we are told to not despise prophecies.  That's a hard one for me within the culture today because we only want to think of the word prophecy as meaning something that predicts the future, yet a prophet was one who was a spokesman for the LORD in the Old Testament (usually because His people weren't listening to Him).  Often times in the Old Testament, the people's hearts were cold, and they did not listen to the words of encouragement, exhortation, and admonishment that the prophet brought to them, and it was only after that point that the words of condemnation came--even in this though there was almost always words to say that the LORD would not completely destroy His people and that His plan for redemption and salvation for the whole world would continue to move forward.  We are to be careful and test the spirits of those who claim to have a word from the Lord because He will not give us a new and different word than is already established in the Word of God, but if a prophet among us stands up and tells a person or a church that they need to repent, and that message is consistent with the revelation of God, then we should not despise that message.  In fact, we are to be grateful for it.  Ideally, we'd want people to listen to the Holy Spirit in these issues first, but where people are not listening to the Holy Spirit, God is loving enough to send other messengers to warn people, but this needs to always be done with humility.  Next, we are not to believe everything we hear from someone that calls themselves a pastor, teacher, or prophet.  We are to be like the Bereans and test what we hear against the Scriptures to see if these things that are being said are true.  We are only to cling to that which is true, and we are to abstain from all forms of evil.

In his benediction, Paul prays for the church that the Lord would sanctify them completely (make them holy and set apart for Him and His plans and purposes in all things--not just some things).  He prays that all of them--body, soul and spirt--would be complete and blameless before the Lord (without spot or blemish, missing nothing, and perfectly mature) at the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus.  Essentially, this means that we will have nothing to be ashamed of or embarrassed about at His coming.  We'll be fully ready to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven as the Spirit will have done His work to make us look like Jesus (don't worry, God is going to make this happen because none of us will be completely ready for it).  He who has called us (that is the Father, Son, and Spirit) will surely complete that which they have started in transforming us into people who completely bear the image of God and are ready to be citizens of a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Now for Paul's final thoughts.  First, "Pray for us."  I'm sure he wanted to say that so many other times in this letter, but he felt compelled to say it before the end.  Next, "Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss."  This sounds weird to us because we don't kiss each other to greet each other in our culture, but even our greetings to each other should be holy (different than the way the world greets one another).  Let's bring this into today's culture.  When you say "Hi, how are you doing?" to a brother or sister in Christ, do you really care how they are doing, and did you plan to take the time to stop and listen to their answer, maybe even stop and pray with them about the issues they are facing?  If not, why did you ask?  Don't say it was because it was expected of you--that's worldly.  Now, on the flip side of that, be respectful of the other person's time and maybe ask, "When is a good time for us to talk about that?" if you really want to share something with them.  If we would do this one simple thing when we greet each other as Christians and the world saw it, they would say, "See how they love each other?"  I think that is the idea here.  Then Paul makes them swear with an oath that they will read this letter out loud to all the brothers.  I think that means that it was meant to be an open letter not just for their church, but for all the other Christians in all the other churches too.  It was first and foremost written to them in that place and time, but it was written to all Christians everywhere.

Paul's final words are a way in which he loved to open and sometimes close his letters, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all."  We certainly need to hear that, and may we not forget to greet each other with these words to remind each other of the grace that we have freely received and should freely give to each other.