He Who Calls You Is Faithful

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

In this first point, as well as in the second and fourth point, we're going to have a lot of commands that come to us. It is very common for Paul, when he writes his letters, to end them with a series of exhortations or brief commands, and that's what he does here in this letter. Those who are being addressed here are the brothers. We hear that in verse 12 and in verse 14 and then again repeatedly in verses 25 through 28. This is addressed to the entire church. The brothers and sisters who are gathered together to worship God in this place in Thessalonica. And he's looking at all those gathered as the local church body, not just the leaders who are present in that body. And he's going to repeatedly tell us about how we deal with life among and between the gathered believers. This is a lot. In verses 12 through 22, believers are told to do 17 things. Respect, esteem, be at peace, admonish, encourage, help, be patient, See, seek, rejoice, pray, give thanks, don't quench, don't despise, but test, hold fast, and abstain. And that's before we get to the final three in the last few verses. So there is a lot going on here. As I came to prepare this sermon, I had to make a decision about whether I was going to conclude with one sermon or conclude with ten sermons, and decided I had to go with one. Fortunately, in the summer of 2022, we did a series of five Wednesday night devotional covering verses 14 through 22, and so there are five 15-minute devotionals providing additional information on those command, and those are available on our website, and I strongly encourage you to check those out. Going back to 12 and 13, here in this first section, the Thessalonians, and by implication, us, we are asked to do three things. To respect and esteem highly a particular group within the church, and to be at peace among ourselves. These folks who we are to honor and recognize, appreciate and admire, have leadership responsibilities in the body. Paul tells us that they labor among us. This is a call back to a previous passage in 1 Thessalonians 2, where he talked about the work that he and Timothy and Silas did when they first were joining and founding the church at Thessalonica. In 1 Thessalonians 2, 9, he said,

for you remember, brothers, our labor and toil. We work day and night that we might not be a burden to any of you while we proclaim to you the gospel of God.

And these are the kind of people he's talking about here in this church at Thessalonica. They work hard. They work day and night. They work diligently. They are leaders among you, however. They're not far off and distant. They're relational. They are laboring among you. They're not laboring for other folks. They're not laboring without paying attention to you. They are laboring among you. The idea of being a part of the body you're ministering to, about having deep relationships with them and being someone who can be imitated by those in the body occur repeatedly in the works of Paul. And here they go back not only to that passage in 1 Thessalonians 2 about the work that Paul and Timothy and Silas did, but back to chapter one where the entire church is lifted up as an example to others. This kind of ministry work is hands-on. Paul talks elsewhere about crying over the bodies he's ministering to. These are people who are laboring among the brothers and sisters with all their being. But this isn't some kind of generic labor. These Leaders are over us in the Lord. They are over us. They lead us. They have charge over us. They care for us. You can even say they manage us. Literally, it means they stand before you. They're somebody who is leading and guiding and directing. And they do this in the Lord. This is a spiritual authority. This is not some sort of generic authority to tell you what kind of car to buy or who to marry, but it's a authority given to point to Christ, to be an ambassador for Christ. to proclaim the words of Christ, to proclaim the gospel of Christ, to proclaim the good news of Christ. And they are to do all that they're doing. Any authority, any charge that they have is only valid if they're doing it in the Lord. talks about them laboring among you, being over you in the Lord, and finally it talks about this group of people admonishing you. These are people who instruct and correct and warn you. We'll see that they're not the only ones who do this. Verse 14 tells us that all the brothers are called to admonish when necessary. So it's not just the leaders who do this. But it is an important part of what they do. Obviously, when we talk about leaders in our body, we look to the description of elders and deacons in 1 Timothy, where we're told that elders have the ability to teach. We're told that deacons hold the faith with a good conscience. These leaders are those who can provide counsel, people who can teach, people who can direct. We also see a little later on, though, in verses 21 through 22, that brothers are responsible for holding those who give teaching accountable. In verses 21 and 22, we're going to hear that the brothers and sisters are to test what they hear, hold firm to what's good, and set aside what is wrong. And so all believers are responsible for guarding doctrine, but these leaders are one who particularly have the task of admonishing you. The text says we are to respect and esteem very highly these leaders. Again, this is not something just done in a generic way, out of duty. This is respect and esteem in love. Paul tells us. There's this relational aspect. They're among us, and our honor for them is based not in duty or rule or requirement, but in love and affection. One commentary I looked at made a point of saying that this respect and esteem is because of their work. It's what they do. It's how they act. It's how they teach. It's a summary of their activity. It's not some sort of status. We put people into leadership positions in the church not because they've completed a degree, or because they have positions of honor or note in the community, but only after seeing them already doing the hard work of ministry, leading by example through service. So these are folks who have already proven themselves in their work in order to earn the esteem and respect that they're being given. In verse 13, Paul continues to say, and be at peace among yourselves. It can seem to be a little out of left field, but I think in context, it seems clear that Paul understands that both leading and following can be difficult. Every single one of us is sinful and fallible. Every one of us, no matter how dear to the Father, is sometimes unlovely or unloving in our interactions with one another. Paul calls us to be at peace with one another. Elsewhere, he says elders are to be gentle, not quarrelsome. Deacons are to be dignified and not double-tongued. All Christians, scripture tells us, not just leaders, are to be self-controlled in all that they do. For my application on this point, I'm gonna borrow a bit from my sermon on chapter two. It's been two years, so a refresher is probably appropriate and can't hurt. I think the important application here is to support your godly leaders. And I can think of at least five ways to do that. First, pray. As our church covenant says,

we will pray for our leaders and submit to them as they lead us to Christ through scripture, teaching and correcting with gentleness.

Please pray for your elders and deacons and Sunday school teachers and everybody who has a role here in the body. As we see in verse 25, Paul himself calls for the Thessalonians to pray for him. Paul needed this. Paul needed the prayer support of those he ministered among in order to continue his ministry, and so do the leaders here at Jefferson Park. Secondly, encourage your leaders. Write them a note. thank them, say something caring or helpful. One sentence of encouragement from even one person at a dark time can be a balm to the soul. And such words can still be remembered years later. I know I have many such memories of those kind words, encouraging words that meant so much, and have heard other elders say the same thing. Third, don't question their motives. They, we, can absolutely be wrong. We are totally fallible. But I would ask you to give your leaders the benefit of the doubt, unless you have very strong evidence to do otherwise. On the other hand, the fourth thing that you can do is hold your leaders to high standards of doctrine and character. while giving gracious slack in other areas. This can be difficult to do at all, to put yourself in a position to judge those who have been placed above you, and it is very hard to do wisely, but it is your responsibility. Fifth, be generous in your financial support for those who dedicate their lives in labor and toil for you. sharing with you not only the gospel of God, but also their own selves. We do this every year when we look at our budget, and when you donate to the church, we pay those who work here full-time among us, and some who work part-time among us, so that they can devote themselves to the calling of God, and to serve you, and care for you, and guide you. And that support is critical for those folks to do their job. Four of these five things are things you should be doing for all members. Pray for them, encourage in them, don't question their motives, hold them to high standards, but even more so for those who have an additional role and authority in the body. As Jack already prayed, I am so thankful for the elders, deacons, coordinators, teachers, and all the others that God has placed in service here in this body that we can serve with. Second point this morning is we are called to watch over each other, verses 14 through 22. The call in verse 13 to be at peace with one another, in addition to its benefit with the discussion about leadership, is also a nice bridge to the second section, which essentially calls believers to be good church members. Beginning in verse 14 it says,

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.

Again, this is addressed to the same brothers who are told to respect leaders. The members of the congregation are to be active in each other's lives, including admonishment, just like the leaders are. In fact, that is the first command that Paul gives them. Admonish the idle, or the unruly, or the undisciplined. This is a call back to chapter four where we heard Paul's call to aspire to live quietly and mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as Paul had instructed them. We don't want those who are idle and not carrying their weight to feel like they can just coast on the work of others. We want those who are not disciplined and not under self-control to have someone who can call them out to what God has called them to be as faithful believers. These members of the church are called to encourage the faint-hearted, those who are discouraged. We know that Paul himself in chapter two, verse 12, excuse me, chapter two, verse 11, talked about how he was like a father with his children when he was among them, encouraging them to walk in a manner worthy of God. And this same calling is given to the members of the church who are to identify those who are struggling. Those who are discouraged, those who are in a dry season, those who don't feel the love of God, don't feel the love of the brothers and sisters, and need that encouraging word to be lifted up, to be pointed to Christ, to be cared for. And then Paul tells them to help the weak. We've already been told before in 1 Thessalonians that we are likely to face affliction and temptation and struggles during our time on this earth before Christ's second coming. And we all need help to get through those struggles. When we are weak, a brother can come alongside and be strong and give us godly guidance, godly counsel. or we can be weak because we've been suffering from temptation, and a godly sister can come alongside and point us to Scripture and to offer to help out with some of the practical needs that we have. One thing to notice here is that there is not one solution to all problems. There are different approaches to different problems. Paul doesn't say encourage the idle and admonish the fainthearted, right? Those who are doing wrong need to be corrected and moved in another direction. Those who are struggling need help to get to where they're going, and we come to those folks with a different attitude. But Paul is clear that whether we're dealing with the idle, the fainthearted, or the weak, that we are to be patient with them all. We are to be patient with them all. We have been blessed over the last couple of months to hear a series on patience during our Wednesday night devotion. And we've been reminded over and over again, because we needed to hear it over and over again, that God has shown to us, without merit or justification in ourselves, the ultimate patience. and that we should show it to others even when they don't deserve it. In all situations when we're trying to interact with the members of the body, whether it be rebuking or encouraging, loving, challenging, we should be patient with all whom we are dealing with. One way that works itself out is not to repay evil for anyone, for any evil, but always to seek to do good. Christ, in the Sermon on the Mount, calls us not to repay evil with evil, but to pray for our enemies. Paul, in Romans 12, says that we shouldn't seek vengeance because vengeance belongs to the Lord. And we should be looking for opportunities over and over again when we have been sinned against, not to sin in return, but to forgive. To show that forgiveness that God has shown us in Christ when we offended him heinously, blasphemously, that he still forgives us. That we can also, when faced with that evil against ourselves, we can respond with good. Always seek to do good. This is a very strong word in terms of seeking. It doesn't just mean happen upon it, it means actively pursuing it. That same word is used elsewhere in a negative sense for persecution. That when somebody's seeking after you, they're doing it to persecute you. And it's that same kind of intensity, that same kind of single-mindedness that we should use for the good when we are seeking what it is that we can do for one another. And it does say, for one another, to the brothers and sisters, our fellow Christians, and it also says, and to everyone. So first and foremost, to those who are God's people, that should be the primary focus, that we look for opportunities to do good, but we should also look to do it for everyone when we have that opportunity. Show God's grace and love and forgiveness to everyone. And that is what we've seen over and over again in 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 4.18 and 1 Thessalonians 5.11, which ended the last two sermons, said, therefore, encourage one another. That's what we want to do. We want to encourage one another. We want to fulfill God's commands by watching over one another, not as busybodies, but as those who are in deep relationships built on Christ with timely words in the appropriate season. The next group of commands in verses 16 through 18 move away from being focused on others to being focused on God. We are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for everything. These are in significant contrast to lacking peace, being impatient, and repaying evil. God wants us to be holy, but it doesn't mean a dreary life, missing out on all the sin that the world calls fun. This is God's will for us. Just as in chapter four, his will for us was that we be sanctified, here his will for us is that we rejoice and pray and give thanks to him for what he has done. And notice the comprehensiveness of what is being demanded of us. We are to rejoice always, without ceasing, in everything, in all circumstances. Elsewhere in this passage, we're supposed to be patient with all of them. No one is supposed to repay evil with evil. We are to abstain from every form of evil. We are to test everything. These are comprehensive commands that cover almost everything. But we are to do this with joy, thanksgiving, and communion with God. We're to do it with worshipfulness. This is what we get and give to God. This is the spirit and attitude and heart with which we fulfill all the other commands. That law that Jack was reading about earlier from Jeremiah, this law that's written on our hearts is what is going on here. Our inward nature has been changed so that we can do all of these things, however difficult they are, with great joy and thankfulness to God. If God is our God, and if we are his people, how else should, how else could we respond to him except with rejoicing and prayer and thanksgiving? Paul goes on to give another series of commands.

Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast to what is good.

As the Spirit works through leaders and fellow believers in your life, be open to their works and their words, even when the call to faithfulness is difficult, even when it means you need to change. Prophecies here seem to refer to a form of teaching that they were receiving in their church in Thessalonica. Artie mentioned that they are holding the leaders and others accountable for good doctrine and godly advice. This tells us that we should not dismiss teaching and guidance out of hand, nor should we accept anything blindly. Like the people of Berea that Luke praises in Acts 17, we should receive the word with all eagerness, examining the scriptures daily to see if these things are so. We should test everything against scripture, holding on tight to all that is good. Paul concludes this section by saying, abstain from every form of evil. As if this long list of commands wasn't challenging enough, we are now given a broad and deep comprehensive command that whether related to poor teaching or ungodly behavior, we should abstain from anything and everything that is evil. This all seems so hard. It's work we always fail at. Even today, I've not lived out all these things. As we'll see in just a moment, there's a solution to that problem. Before we get there, though, let's look at a couple of applications from this text. First is, watch over one another. I think our church covenant does a great job talking about how we can watch over one another and take care of one another in alignment with what Paul has told us here in 1 Thessalonians. The covenant says,

we will watch over each other in brotherly love. We will pray for each other. We will participate in each other's joys and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens and sorrows. We will humbly warn a brother who is in danger of falling into disobedience or error. We will speak the truth in love. We will be slow to take offense and be eager to seek swift and lasting reconciliation.

That's a dense piece of text pulled from multiple sources in scripture, but it points to that kind of effort that we've been talking about, where we need to be in a position where we can admonish those who are not doing what they should, that we can be there to encourage and to help those who are weak and who are fainthearted, and that we do it all out of love and bear one another's burdens and sorrows. Secondly, we can live as those called to work toward holiness in joy. Live as those called to work toward holiness in joy. I would encourage you to pray for sanctification, that empowered by the Spirit you would put off the old self and put on the new self and grow consistently in Christlikeness. I also encourage you to pray that any newfound obedience and faithfulness would come from the law of Christ written on your heart and not come from self-righteousness or legalism. And I would encourage you to pray that joy and thanksgivings would be markers of your life, pointing to Christ as your true and only hope. Point three, he who calls us sanctifies completely. Verses 23 to 24.

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. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it.

How can we handle all these commands that we have been given? As in all things, the answer is to look to God and what he does for us. God is a God of peace. He brings the peace that we are called to have among ourselves. Just as we had comprehensiveness in what we are called to do with all those always's and all's and everyone's, God brings completeness and wholeness to his work in us. We see that he is going to sanctify us completely. The word there is talking about the whole thing from beginning to end is gonna be done. It's gonna be complete and finished to the very purpose that God has intended to be. And he's going to keep our whole spirit, soul, and body blameless until the end. The idea here is of a whole lot or a whole portion. It's used of unhewn stones in an unblemished body. It's the perfect, unadulterated way that it's supposed to be. We see this used in James 1, 4, where he writes,

and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

And we see this completeness again in the way that Paul describes us as spirit, and soul, and body, in the same way that Mark quotes Jesus as saying,

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength.

These are not really different things, these are just different ways to say the entirety of you. The entirety of you is what God is going to keep blameless to the end. And he's keeping it for Christ's coming. As we have already heard in 1 Thessalonians, Jesus is coming, but he is coming to deliver us from the wrath that is coming. And we are not subject to that wrath because God has sanctified us completely. He has made our whole being complete and perfect in the way that he would have us so that we can be presented to him pure and unblemished and holy. That's what this sanctification that's being talked about here. Sanctification is being set apart, being holy, becoming holy. And there are three kinds of sanctification. There's positional sanctification. That's when God takes that new believer, somebody who was not in Christ, and makes them in Christ. They've now been set apart as Christ's holy, precious possession. Secondly, there's progressive sanctification. That's the ongoing process throughout a believer's life of becoming more holy, more mature, more Christ-like. That was what we saw in chapter 4 when he was telling us to be sanctified and to abstain from sexual immorality. It's how we become more and more holy in this life as a faint foretaste of the glorious and eternal sinlessness that is the believer's promised hope. But here in this passage, what we see is ultimate sanctification. after death when God glorifies believers, setting them utterly and eternally apart from sin. We know that this ultimate sanctification is in view because we have been completely sanctified. We have been made completely unblemished so that we can be presented to God, and we know this is happening at the coming of Jesus, and so it is at the end of time that we are being presented in this way. This whole story is told, in other words, in Titus chapter 2. Later on in Paul's ministry, he wrote to Titus and said,

for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope. the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from a lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Both of these passages make it clear that we have been made pure, made and kept blameless, And of course, the obvious question then becomes, by whom? Because it is not something that we can do for ourselves. And verse 24 tells us, he who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. This is the main point of the passage and the main point of the book, and if you're gonna memorize one verse from the book, this is it. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. We were called to be sanctified. We are called to be holy, both in refraining from sin and in actively engaging with one another in love, with patience and grace. But we can't do it in ourselves. We need an all-powerful, promise-keeping God who can do it for us. As Paul wrote to the Philippians,

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

And that's the simple application of this point, and that's the gospel message. It says here, he who calls you is faithful. that present tense, and that's what he's doing today. He's calling to those who are believers to rest in him, to continue that struggle in progressive sanctification, to grow in Christlikeness. And to those who don't know him, he calls. He calls you, calls you to know Jesus, calls you to know that God is perfect and holy, that he is our creator who made us, but in sin we rebelled against him, and through repentance and faith, we can be restored to him. If we have faith in Jesus Christ and know that he, as the God-man who lived a perfect life that we could not live, satisfied the law, yet took on the penalty of sin that was due all of us, so that we might be reconciled to God, so that just as he was raised from the dead, we too can be raised from the dead at his second coming. If you're here today and you're wondering about this, you're feeling called, like you need to know more, please don't hesitate to ask me or anyone else around you before you leave today. If you hear God calling, respond to that call. Lift up your heart and accept the good news of the gospel. And finally, point four, Paul again has given us this point that God is going to do everything, but there's still other things that Paul wants to remind us that we need to do. And that is, we are called to pray and gather under the word and the Lord, verses 25 through 28.

Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Sometimes it's easy to skip over these last few short sentences before the letter ends, but it's not just filler. There is excellent application here. And I'm just gonna go straight to the application. Paul began this book by declaring he was constantly mentioning the Thessalonians in his prayers. Now he closes the book with a request that they pray for him. We've already talked about this before, this need to pray for your leaders, to pray for those who are ministering among you. He again calls us to this relationship between the brothers and sisters. He tells us to greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. There is this sense of familiarity and fellowship, yet of holiness, where we're working together, where we have those bonds, where we can walk into the room and see people and know them and be known by them and be able to give them a hug, to be able to want to be in their lives, to want to be able to worship with them, to gather, to fellowship, to be close, to be in each other's lives, yet do all this with holiness in mind so that we would build one another up and sharpen one another. And then the importance of reading the Word. It's a very strong statement here about having this letter read. Doesn't say it's a good idea, doesn't even say just do it. He says, I put you under oath, I adjure you before the Lord to have this letter read. He's basically saying it's on your head before God if you don't do this. And this is the critical importance of God's word for us, that it has been given to us and we are to read it. We are to be under the word. We are to study the word. And the start of a new year is a great time to begin a plan to read through the entire Bible, whether it takes you a year or three years or five years, start. The goal is to expose yourself to the whole counsel of God in your hearing on a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night in your reading, in your studying, and have that whole counsel of God as the foundation that teaches you the good news of Jesus Christ. And finally, he sends us off. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, which of course is only everything. It's only everything. Everything else we've talked about has no foundation if not for the grace of Christ, if not the work that he has done in us. So, who can sanctify you completely and keep your whole spirit and soul and body blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? God himself. God himself. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful that you are a all-powerful, all-sovereign God who called a people for himself. Father, we pray now that you would bring even more to know you, that the complete number of saints, the whole number of saints would be obtained and Jesus would return. We pray today,

come, Lord, no longer tarry. Bring thy promises to pass, for we know thy power will keep us till we're home with thee at last.

Amen.