1 Thessalonians 5 – Part 2 (Jeff and Joel)
Teaching 5.3.11
- 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15
- “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.”
- This is for all of us
- Admonish the unruly
- Encourage the fainthearted
- Help the weak
- Be patient with everyone
- No repaying evil for evil
- This is for all of us
- We should be involved in everyone’s lives
- We are all united with God and His truth
- Mystical union
- We have something we can all relate on
- We have this huge potential to be close to each other
- We have to be diligent to build into each other
- We are all united with God and His truth
- Admonish the unruly
- Unruly: military term, people who break formation
- Someone who is lazy
- The Body of Christ has this mission to accomplish
- Proverbs 13:4
- “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.”
- If you are sitting around doing nothing, you are not doing anything
- God designed us to be productive
- “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the soul of the diligent is made fat.”
- A lazy person’s misery is contagious
- Proverbs 21:25-26
- “The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work; all day long he is craving, while the righteous gives and does not hold back.”
- It is so easy to be lazy
- Lazy people bring others down and mooch off of others
- “The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work; all day long he is craving, while the righteous gives and does not hold back.”
- We are meant to speak truth into other people’s lives
- Acts 20:31
- “Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.”
- 1 Corinthians 4:14
- “I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.”
- Paul gives so much to these people
- Romans 15:14
- “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”
- You do not have to be a huge leader to admonish
- “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”
- How do you be effective at admonishing?
- You have to speak the truth in a loving context
- Back up what you are saying with Scripture
- Including ideas on how to help them change
- Encourage those who are timid
- This is not hard to do
- A lot of people are like this because they focus on the negative
- With God we have a support
- 1 Thessalonians 9
- We turned away from idols
- Help the weak
- 1 Corinthians 12:22-23
- “On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,”
- There are parts of the groups that are not pretty or perfect
- In the Body of Christ we include EVERYONE
- You cannot use your weakness as an excuse
- Be patient with everyone
- We have here to stick it in with people
- LOVE others
- Feelings are going to get hurt
- People will have conflicts
- But at the end of the day, we still love each other
- We are still going to be here for each other
- Avoid the extremes of being brutal and weak
- Patience is encouraging and warning people
- It gives you a freeing sensation
- You should feel safer
- No repaying evil for evil
- Practicing grace
- Grace literally means ‘a gift’
- 2 Corinthians 5:19
- “Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
- Everything that we have done wrong God should hold against us
- But God gave his only Son in order to have a relationship with us
- This free gift of grace is AMAZING!
- “Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
- We are people who forgive ALWAYS
- We are not supposed to take in the accounts of the wrongdoings
- Practicing grace
- “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download