Suggestions for leading a study:
Working Together
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.
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray
continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for
you in Christ Jesus.
Discussion Questions
-Read verses 12 and
13. Who do you think this verse is referring to?
-How can we have the kind of
attitude described here?
-The command to live at peace with
each other in verse 13 probably refers to the relationship between the leaders
and the congregation. Does that mean
they aren’t allowed to disagree?
-The leaders here
are presumed to be working hard. Verse
14 describes three other types from the “rank and file.”
-For the idle, we are told to give a
warning. Why would they need that?
-For the timid, we are told to
encourage them. How can we do that for
the people in church who aren’t unwilling to work, but perhaps a little
fearful?
-We should also help the weak. If people lack the ability to help with the
work of the church, what can we do for them?
-What does verse 14
say should be our attitude during this process? Is that difficult to achieve
sometimes?
-Re-read verse
15. If we see people who aren’t helping
out in the church, how might we be tempted to retaliate? What is the antidote
given here?
-How can the
exhortations in verses 16-18 help us maintain our composure during this
process?
Leaders' Guide
Working
Together
1 Thessalonians 5:12-22
This lesson looks at the relationship between the leaders of
the church and the congregation, specifically with an eye toward how we can
help people step up and do their part to accomplish the work of the ministry.
-Read verses 12 and 13. Who do you think this
verse is referring to?
Obviously, these are leaders in the
church who are doing hard work and also have a position of some authority. This is probably the earliest epistle in the
New Testament, and the church was very young at this time, so we don’t actually
know precisely how it was organized. No
doubt the first assumption here would be that this is referring to vocational
pastors which, in our modern context, is
probably reasonable outside of pure “elder-run” churches without paid staff. Don’t deny the validity of lay leadership
which is also characterized by these things, however, as many churches have
volunteer staff who also do a lot of work and have important positions of leadership.
-How
can we have the kind of attitude described here?
Respect and high regard are fairly subjective
things, of course, and just how that is displayed is a matter for
discussion. Some commentators see in
these verses a reference to financial support, but that isn’t certain by any
means (although Scripture affirms this clearly in other passages). However it happens, we at least should not be
in an adversarial relationship with church leadership, as the next question
makes clear.
-The
command to live at peace with each other in verse 13 probably refers to the relationship
between the leaders and the congregation.
Does that mean they aren’t allowed to disagree?
One thing to affirm is that leaders in the
church are not infallible. Those doing
instruction, in particular (such as the pastor-teachers referred to in Eph. 4)
are presumed to be working hard at getting it right. But there is certainly still room for people
to work through things that they see differently without violating the command
to be at peace with each other. Here is
an opportunity, if you think your group could use it, to discuss whether we
tend to put pastors too high up on pedestals sometimes.
-The leaders here are presumed to be working
hard. Verse 14 describes three other
types from the “rank and file.”
-For
the idle, we are told to give a warning.
Why would they need that?
This lesson assumes that the context
is with the work people are doing to help with the ministry of the church. In actuality, this may or may not be the
case. At Thessalonica, in particular,
they had a problem with people who thought Jesus was coming back so soon that
they could quit their jobs. That isn’t typically
the case in our culture, however, so we’ll leave the attitude toward everyday
work for another lesson and focus on the “80-20” problem (20% of the people in
the church doing 80% of the work).
I use the term “rank and file”
because these verses use military imagery, another reason to assume that this
is about how we are all helping with the work of the church to win the
spiritual battle in this world. The term
“Idle” refers to those who are out of ranks, or not with their unit. It was used in Greek culture for those who just
didn’t show up for work. Since we’re not
talking about paid staff here, a warning can’t refer to their job status or
paycheck. However, we need to be willing
to tell people like it is and warn them that God created them to be
useful. They are at risk of their lives
not counting for what they could in this world, as well as not receiving the
rewards God has for them in eternity. In
the context of the issue of Christ’s second coming in 1 Thessalonians, we could
remind them that when Christ returns he expect to find everyone at work, using their
talents for kingdom purposes. (See
Matthew 25:14-30, the parable of the talents which underscores God’s negative
attitude toward those who have their talents “buried in the ground” upon his
return.)
-For
the timid, we are told to encourage them.
How can we do that for the people in church who aren’t unwilling to
work, but perhaps a little fearful?
There are those in church who clearly aren’t
the lazy type, but just aren’t very sure of themselves in regards to stepping
in and helping out. We need to be
cheer-leaders for people such as this. One
of the key ingredients to encouraging the timid is giving them “permission to
fail.” We need to remind people that
work in the church is about faithfulness.
Often-times people are afraid to help with ministry because they don’t
know how people will respond. We need to
remind them that ministry is about being faithful with what God has given us to
work with. We can’t control people’s
responses, and in any event the results are up to God.
-We
should also help the weak. If people
lack the ability to help with the work of the church, what can we do for them?
The obvious answer to this is training and
equipping. No military commander sends
soldiers into the field without the training and strength to accomplish the
task. This is about people who are
willing to help out, but just don’t have the resources. The church needs to be very diligent with
this. It is, in fact, the primary job of
church leadership to “prepare God’s people for works of service” (Eph.
4:12). Lead your group in a discussion
as to how the church is doing with this and ways we can improve. For people in ministry already, let them know
that the best way to accomplish this task is to get an apprentice to work
along-side them in their ministry.
-What does verse 14 say should be our
attitude during this process? Is that difficult to achieve sometimes?
For those who are working hard and trying to
get all of the work done, it can be very trying to be patient with watching all
those in the church who aren’t doing their part. But Paul encourages us to understand that
people are in different places on their spiritual journeys and we need to have
patience as we bring them along the process of becoming fully mature ministers
in the church.
-Re-read verse 15. If we see people who aren’t helping out in
the church, how might we be tempted to retaliate? What is the antidote given
here?
This might be by making snide comments,
laying guilt trips on them, or simply in our own thoughts and hearts. Kindness is a much better motivator than
guilt and anger in helping people see the importance of doing their part.
-How can the exhortations in verses 16-18
help us maintain our composure during this process?
These may be separate issues in Paul’s
closing comments, but I think they can also be very helpful in regards to how
we approach helping people get in the ministry game in the church. We can rejoice always, because this is God’s
work and our status in his eyes is not dependent on other people’s
performance. Praying for people always
helps to fix a wrong attitude toward them.
An attitude of thanksgiving comes from our perspective: we can be
thankful that God has given us work to do in the kingdom to accomplish our own
significance. And thanking him in
advance for how he will help bring others along to the point of maturity and
ministry gives the power of faith room to work in our hearts.