Involved

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE THESSALONIANS

INVOLVED

1 Thess 5:12-15

12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

NIV

Having considered the respect due to those who work hard among us and holding them in the highest regard in love, as well as living in peace with each other, we now should look at what we are urged to do. We are supposed to warn those who are idle. First, we wonder as to what consists of being idle. It is strange why this translation uses the word idle when the Greek word here carries the meaning of unruly, or disorderly. That is certainly different than just being idle, as in not doing anything for the kingdom or in the body of Christ, such as those who just sit and soak in the pews. But here it is more than sitting and soaking, it is actually causing disorder. These would be those who either gossip or speak against how something is being done, or how someone is doing something the wrong way. These are somewhat either the silent or vocal protesters of the traditional way a particular church is functioning, always wanting change, and maybe change that is not an improvement, but that they want it their way. So we are to warn that type of believer, warn them they are causing or stirring up trouble in the church. We are to take action, rather than allow them to continue. We are also to take action when it comes to the timid. Again, the Greek word here can be translated as feeble-minded, but it carries more of the meaning as to faint-hearted. That is their faith is not strong, they are struggling with issues about believing for either healing or a miracle or just putting their faith in Jesus or the Spirit to guide them in life. Here our action is one of two ways. The Greek word translated as encourage does carry that meaning, to speak to one, by way of admonishment and incentive or to calm and console. Either way we are not to ignore these brothers and sisters in the Lord, and just allow them to have a faint heart, to struggle with their faith. It may be difficult to identify these members of the body unless we are actively engaged in life with them. Just seeing them on Sunday morning and waving, or just saying, good morning, is not enough to know about them, their struggles, concerns, or issues with their faith. But how can we be actively involved and everyone’s lives, it would consume all of our time, as it would be a full-time ministry with no time for anything else. So we simply have to rely on the Spirit to reveal one timid person we do have time to encourage, then maybe another, and another, depending on how many there are if any at all. Nevertheless, what it looks like here is that we are to be people of action, a people of engaging with others, we cannot be an island onto ourselves. God is urging us to be involved with his people. But, do they want us to be involved with them? Should we wait until they ask for help? Should we just go forward, but only as the Spirit leads us? It still requires us to be involved.