This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Ignite the Light Ministries radio and podcasts. It is our mission to help listeners develop a deeper relationship with Jesus by sharing what the Bible says and what it means. We aim to encourage and equip you to serve others, share the gospel, and reflect Christ in every aspect of your life. I'm Pastor White Cudd.
Thank you for tuning in.
Alright, uh this morning we're gonna be Continuing through our 1 Thessalonians sermon series that we've been doing.
So, I wanted to recap a couple things with you guys before we jump into it.
So 1 Thessalonians Paul is the author. It was written between 50-52 AD.
Now Paul had taken three missionary journeys during his career. The church was founded during his second missionary journey.
Now this church was mainly Gentiles and a large number of prestigious women. They were faithful, obedient, and they were well organized. Probably on account of the Prestigious women. But the church, they had many of the, they didn't have many of the issues that some of the other churches had that Paul talks to. Like the Corinthian church, they were really struggling with sexual immorality.
The Galatians, they had some of the same, but they were being deceived by a false gospel. And Paul has to work through these issues with them, and we can see that in the letters. But not this church. This church is faithful. They're strong.
There's a lot we can learn from this church and this letter about how to be a strong church.
However, the Thessalonians were dealing with deep persecution. Paul and Silas, when they went to share the gospel with them, establish this church, they had to flee the city because it had gotten so bad. The Jewish community there was stirring trouble for this church. And they told the Roman government, this church, they're defying Caesar. They're saying that there is another king.
So this church is under a lot of overt violent persecution. And we know, don't we, that just because you do the right thing, Doesn't mean we're going to get rewarded or treated well for it just because on this side of heaven. This letter, the First Thessalonians, or no, this letter, the Thessalonians. Um It's Paul's effort to reconnect with this church after a period of time.
So he sent Timothy back to the church, and Timothy came back to Paul with a glowing report. But the church had some questions.
Now, although this church was faithful and obedient, they had much persecution, and they're wondering. You know, Jesus is supposed to come back a second time. Here we are dying for our faith. Where is he? What will happen to our fallen brothers and sisters when he comes back?
Did they miss the boat? And Paul's telling them in this letter, Of course not. When Jesus comes back, both the living and the dead will be caught up in the air with him. It will receive a transformed body. The dead will return with Jesus, and Jesus himself is going to descend from heaven.
It's going to be sudden, it's going to be unexpected, and there will be no wickedness that escapes on the day of the Lord. This is our true authentic hope we have in Jesus. That's a little bit of a recap of 1 Thessalonians. Then chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, in light of this reality, the question is: how does the believer conduct himself?
Well, we shouldn't be surprised when Jesus comes back. We should be awake and sober-minded. fully expecting Jesus to return.
Now we talked about last week the parable of the talents. When Jesus comes back and he says, hey, What have you been doing? With all the gifts that I've been given you, What have you been doing with the life that I've given you? I ought to be able to respond. My Lord.
I have been expecting you. Here, let me show you everything that you've given me and how I have put it to work for your glory. Every single dollar, every single moment, every single blessing you've given me. Look, Lord, look at how I've put it to work for you. We should be able to say that.
This should be true for us as a church, Mount Comfort. This should be true for us as individuals. You know, if Jesus comes walking through that door, we want to be able to say, Lord, Now Comfort, we have been expecting you. Come take a look at how we've been putting your gifts to work. Jesus is coming back a second time.
That's some good news. Amen. He is coming back a second time. And when He comes back, we want to be able to see Him and be fully prepared for Him. And to be fully prepared is to be fully faithful.
with everything he's given us. faithful with our time, with our attention, with our resources. And that's the thing. This is not natural for us. What is natural is the way of the world.
Survival of the fittest. Looking out for number one. And with that, I mean, every social gathering, every community structure is just reduced to one pointless, irritating power struggle. But man, that tends to come natural to us. Jesus has to tell us to love each other.
It's a command because it doesn't come natural.
So we must be changed. We must be changed and transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Now, God gives us this authentic hope on the horizon. Jesus is coming back. And when we're really expecting our Master to return, that changes things. When we really believe Jesus is coming back a second time, that justice and judgment will come, that no wickedness will escape, that changes how we operate today, doesn't it?
Alright, that's a recap of Thessalonians. Let us open the Word of God now. We're going to be in 1 Thessalonians. Chapter five. And we're going for verses 12 to 15.
In the bulletin, it says 12 to 28. When I was working on it, I'm like, man, that was a little ambitious. I gotta slow down.
So we're gonna do 12 to 15 this morning.
Now, what we have here, this is the last section. Of Thessalonians. Paul is, we have some final exhortations.
Now Paul's explaining the coming of Jesus and these exhortations. are the way we should live in light of it. They are exhortations to right behavior with other people, and then later right behavior with God. We're going to focus on that first one: right behavior with each other. Uh Alright, so let's read this.
Start here at verse 12.
Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who are working hard among you, who care for you and the Lord. and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace. with each other.
And we urge you, brothers and sisters, Mourn 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.
for everyone else. All right.
So again, Paul is speaking to the church body, the corporate entity. He's not speaking to just an individual. We see it says in verse 27: he charges the person who receives this letter to read it before the congregation. These words are meant for the body.
So let's take a look at verse 12 to 13 here. And we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord, and who admonish you.
So we're acknowledging those who work hard, those who care for you in the Lord, those who admonish you.
Now the Greek word for work hard translates very well to the word labor. In the Greek, the word work and labor have different connotations. Labor has this connotation of: I am working hard to the point of exhaustion. It's toil, it's draining, it's painful. I am working hard to exhaustion.
That's labor. But work in the Greek doesn't have this connotation. Work in and of itself is good. We see Adam and Eve were put in charge to be stewards over the garden. They were given work before the fall.
So work is good. But the thorns and thistle from the fog can make him. Labor. And it's saying Acknowledge those who labor for you, church. Those who labor.
Then it says, those who care for you, admonish those who care for you.
Now that can read in the Greek, those who are taking the lead over you in the Lord.
So it's not the same way where I would say, I care for you. This is more the way a shepherd would care for his flock.
So, Paul is talking about church leaders. Acknowledge your church leaders who care for you. Here at this church, I think we should acknowledge. Everyone who works on the committees. Everyone who works on the board Everybody who works maintenance, who keeps our church looking nice, we acknowledge you.
We're thankful for you. That you've stepped up to help. And I know during the disaffiliation, everyone who stepped up with that, I know y'all didn't get a paycheck. I know y'all did that for free. And I know you did it out of love for your church.
We acknowledge you this morning. We thank you. And if you haven't been thanked, well, we thank you right now. You are a blessing from God. We thank our church leaders.
Those who work on the choir, when we have it, we thank you. We acknowledge you, how you meet and you practice for us during events. We acknowledge our pianists, Angie and Marlene. Um we I don't see Angie this morning. We acknowledge both of you.
Tell her, I acknowledge her.
Okay. We acknowledge you, and we're so thankful how you prepare each Sunday morning to lead us in worship. Thank you for your work. Thank you for leading us in that. And I saw yesterday our men's group, and that's both Trinity and Mount Comfort.
They came together to work on the parsonage shed yesterday. They ripped down the plywood and they threw up sheet metal, and I just kind of stood there and just looked at them. And I was like, I can help. And they're like, ah, go get some water. And I did it.
I went and we got them water. Thank you. Like, they put in that work for us. They lead us in that way. We acknowledge you this morning.
Thank you. Applying this on an individual level. Guys, our parents, that's a good group I think of. Our parents labored for us. Our parents.
cared for us. If you haven't done so in a while, your mom, your dad, call them and thank them for the time and energy they have put into you. And if your mom or father has passed. And we can still thank God what a blessing they were to us. Those who labor, those who care for you, acknowledge them.
That's what Paul's saying. Appreciate them, respect them, value them. Yeah.
Alright, and then Paul says, acknowledge those who admonish you. Admonish, what does that mean? That's a big $5 word. I don't know what it means. What does that mean?
Admonish. Uh it means to give instruction. to advise or urge someone earnestly. But admonish can also mean to warn someone of something to be avoided or to firmly reprimand somebody. That's admonish.
Those who lead, those who teach, those who love us well enough to say, hey, You gotta get your mess together.
Somebody who loves us enough to tell us that, push us in that way, we got to acknowledge them and thank them because those people are few and far in between.
Somebody who cares enough to confront us. Proverbs 27, 6, it says, the wounds from a friend can be trusted. But an enemy multiplies kisses. That person who will tell us how it really is. Value that person.
'Cause they're few and far in between.
So Leaders, and I'm talking about those who lead and take up responsibility in this church. And then, also, leaders, if you find yourself in a place of business, wherever you find God has given you leadership. Let me just say We can't make everyone happy. But we can love everyone. I want to say that again.
We can't make everyone happy. But we can love everyone. We can love everyone by speaking the truth. as clearly as we see it.
Now, of course, we speak with gentleness and love. We speak truth with a gentle spirit, but we do not hide or mask it. An uncomfortable, honest truth spoken with a gentle spirit can sometimes be the greatest act of love. You can't make everyone happy. but you can love everyone.
by speaking the truth.
So we acknowledge those who admonish, those who work hard, and those who care for us like a shepherd. Then it says verse 13, Hold them in the highest regard, in love because of their work. Again, we hold these people in high regard in our lives because there ain't many of them. There are even fewer that God has put directly in our lives. They are a gift.
And then verse 13 continues, Live in peace. with each other. So in context, Paul is talking about believers, the church body, and then church leaders. That those who are leading and those who are in the body be at peace with each other. Believers aren't to criticize, grumble, or gossip about their leaders.
Uh it looks like to me to say You know, God has put this person in this position. They've been given the weight of this responsibility. I respect that even if I don't always agree. And likewise for the leaders, be at peace with each other, with the congregation. A leader is not to act like a lord or a ruler over God's people.
Nor is this even about the leadership position. Church leadership, first and foremost, is a weight. It is a responsibility to God's people. That's why it says in James 3, 1. Not many should become teachers.
Because those who teach will have greater judgment. The judgment is greater because the responsibility is greater. There's a lot more that can go wrong and a lot more people that can get hurt.
So God holds that person at a higher standard of accountability. All right.
Let's take a commercial break. You guys need a commercial break? I need a commercial break. Let's take a commercial break. All right, let me tell you guys about the worst leader I have ever seen in my life.
You guys ready? The worst leader I've ever seen. I was in high school. I took this job at a pizza restaurant and I was a busboy. The owner, bless his heart, was a little bit nuts.
It was not a fun place to work. As the bus boy, you're supposed to get 10% of what the waiters and waitresses make. But this owner, he didn't regulate any of that.
So I was just kind of at the mercy of people's honesty and generosity. Let me just tell you, waiters and waitresses. They they were not. At least the ones I worked with.
So I found myself getting coerced into making people salads for them, into making people's drinks and taking it out to them. The bus boy, the bus boy was there making your salad. The one who's cleaning off the dirty tables, doing the dishes. God, it was an OSHA violation just waiting to happen. It was not a good place to work.
And this owner. He had put people in charge to manage the money who didn't speak English.
So you get a check and it's wrong or too much is taken out in taxes, there ain't nothing you can do. They don't know what you're saying. They could not understand me. And he didn't make time to correct any of this. He just kind of had to suck it up.
Um So he would have a staff meeting. He would call the staff to have a staff meeting. It'd be word of mouth. And you know, we're all sitting around this table, and this Goober man was wearing a wife beer, smoking a cigarette, sitting on top of the table, like in the middle of the restaurant. He didn't wait for the customers to leave.
It was awful. He gave this vibe of like, this is my business. This is my restaurant. I'm in charge, and everyone's gonna know it. Yeah, there was a person that didn't hear about the meeting.
He was like, fire them.
Somebody came in, ladies, like, they're fired. No questions asked. He just fired them. Keep in mind, this is my first job. I have my, like, I'm like, is this normal?
Is this how things work? Like, my, how I understood a healthy work environment completely ruined. The next job I showed up to, you know, they had like an employee pizza party every month, and I'm like teary-eyed. Like, my boss cares. They don't think I'm dirt.
You know, like, this guy ruined my perception of work. Um He was the owner, he was in charge, and nobody was going to cross this guy. He still owes me 50 bucks, I think. Yeah.
And you see, that's the thing. A good leader, he was not a good leader. But a good leader They don't lord it over others. A good leader isn't in the business. of making power plays.
A good leader has the heart of a servant. That's what Jesus taught his disciples. A good leader doesn't look for that place of recognition. He's wondering, how can I wash my disciples' feet? How can I serve my team?
And then, God, that makes it so much easier for the team to acknowledge them because that's the kind of leader you want. You want the kind of leader that cares and loves about, loves you. Moral of the story. If I ever come here Sunday night, or Sunday morning, wearing a wife beater, smoking a cigarette behind the pulpit, let's just say prayer for me, y'all.
Something's gone wrong.
So.
Alright, commercial breakover. Moving on to verse 14 here. It says, and we urge you, brothers and sisters. Mourn those who are idle and disruptive. Encourage the disheartened, the weak, and be patient with everyone.
All right, the idle, the disruptive, we warn them. That is, those who have gone wayward. Perhaps someone who's not where they belong, maybe they say one thing in church and go and live totally differently. And we just saw we acknowledge those who admonish. Admonishing is good.
That kind of person, they could use. little healthy dose of truth. Again, we can't make everyone happy. We can love everyone. Speaking truth.
With a gentle spirit, sometimes the most loving thing we can do. Then it says, encourage the disheartened. That is those who are timid. Reserved. Maybe they're doubting.
Maybe they're struggling with the courage to really share the gospel boldly. Encourage that person. What do we encourage them with? With the reality of the cross. Our sins are paid.
And the coming hope of Jesus, our Master, is returning. And it says, hell with the weak.
Now frequently We think Alright, somebody who is strong, they have a moral obligation to help those who are weak. To defend somebody who can't defend themselves. That is like the code of every superhero I've ever seen. And it's good, it's right, it's a good one. But we don't always do the same thing when it comes to spiritual strength.
to spiritual weakness. You got a brother in Christ? who is spiritually weak. Maybe they're struggling with doubt. You got a brother in Christ who's struggling with pornography?
You got a brother in Christ who is struggling with substance, struggling with anything. You could have a brother or sister in Christ struggling with same-sex attraction. We can have that. And they know, they know what's right, but maybe they're wavering, falling to the flesh. The flesh is tempting.
And in turn, they're suffering. For it.
Sometimes we look at somebody like that with judgment. But no, Paul is saying you support the spiritually weak, those who are stumbling, those who are losing the battle with temptation. We have to support them. Church, we gotta hold on to our brother. When he's losing faith.
We have to hold on to our brother when he's under attack from the enemy.
Sometimes we got to be strong for those For a week. It's not just for superheroes.
Now, this isn't always taking the Bible and clubbing somebody over the head with it. You just need the cold, hard truth. You know, it's not always that because.
Sometimes people know what is right. But they still battle with the flesh. And for that person You just gotta be a friend to them. walk with them, be able to point them in the right direction.
Now, if they think their sin is justified, they're comfortable with it, yeah, give them the truth. But if they know it's wrong and they're fighting it and sometimes they're falling, just be their friend and walk with them. The Holy Spirit is going to do the rest upon us.
So then Paul says, be patient with everyone. We got to be patient.
Alright, there's patience. What's the opposite of patience?
Okay. It's having a fuse is like Just small. You know, anything happens and I'm just losing my mind. That's the opposite of patience. And Paul says we have got to be patient.
with everyone. Hey there, I hope this sermon has enriched your day. If you like this message, I want to personally invite you to join us for Sunday worship. We have two locations in Virginia, Trinity Methodist Church in Concord and Mount Comfort Methodist Church in Appomattox. Come join us Sunday morning at 9.45 and we will help you get connected.
As always, I'm Pastor White Hudd. Thank you for tuning in.
