Sermon Tone Analysis

Brotherly Love

Living together/doing anything as a group requires leadership.

And it requires contributions from all memebers of the team.

Back in that horrible year 2016 when Sydney lost the AFL grandfinal to the Western Bulldogs something beautiful happened.

The Bulldogs have basically been broke and hopeless for years.

Massive underdogs.

And during that time their captain, Bob Murphy had been dedicated to the club.

Sadly for him he was injured in the 2016 season and couldn’t play in the grand final.

So the coach.

The one in charge of putting the team together and leading them to win stood on the podium at the end of the grand final and did this amazing gesture.

See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W0P-OeGNQg

Here was a leader, who saw a man who had missed out on the very thing he had dedicated his life too due to a cruel blow and so sacrificed what was his for the good of those whom he led.

And Beveridge did it because he was part of the Western Bulldogs family as well as being their leader.

Their coach.

This kind of sacrifical brotherly love is what Paul is calling the church to in our reading today as they seek to live together as a community shaped by the gospel.

Recap and Intro:

Paul is for the most part thankful for the Thessalonians and their faith.

They are living out their faith and are spreading the good news in word and deed, even in the midst of persecution.

We have seen Paul’s deep love for the church which he has ministered to.

Paul has encouraged the church to keep on living out their faith day by day whilst also eagerly awaiting his return.

Now Paul concludes with a whole lot of little encouragements.

They are an encouragement to the family of God.

Note Paul uses brother’s and sisters (vv.

12, 14,25, 26 (God’s people), 27).

These final words to the church are instructions for living as a community shaped by the gospel.

Leadership (1 Thes 5:12-13)

Work hard

Great job you only work on Sundays.

The word Paul has used usually refers to manual occupations.

The leader must work hard for the church.

Paul talks about the locus of this hard work for leaders in 1 Tim 5:17

1 Tim 5:17

Preaching and teaching so that we might grow as disciples of Jesus.

This is job number one.

But also all the other work of administration, pastoral care, vision and planning, managing resources, etc.

Care for you

The job of the leader is to care for the church as a father cares for his family.

Often when we think of care we think of a nice person who visits us when we’re sick.

But actually it’s about caring for us as we grow as Christians.

Now that might involve an encouraging word by your bedside in sickness.

But it involves a lot more.

And in fact the word Paul uses there that we have before as “care for you in the Lord’ would more naturally be translated, “who are over you in the Lord”.

But because we forget that leadership in the Christian church is about servanthood, just like Jesus showed and taught, the translators here in the NIV have opted for care for you.

Which is ok.

But that’s not without its own problems.

Fatherly care and all that involves I think is the best picture.

Both tender and firm.

Admonish you

This is about warning you about bad behaviour nad its consequences.

This is about bringing discipline.

Leon Morris says: “while its tone is brotherly, it is big-brotherly”.

So if I call you out on something, or tell you it might be worth changing your behaviour.

This is me being a loving, caring shepherd.

Not a nasty guy.

Your attitude to leaders?

And your job if your not a leader, is to not despise them, but to respect them, ‘hold them in hisest regard”

Respect them.

To love them “in love”

Why?

Because oftheir work.

That is to help you!

Hard working, caring admonishing leaders.

This is vital for the church to be a community shaped by the gospel.

Otherwise lots goes undone, and peopel aren’t challenged to grow in their discipleship.

And respectful love of our leaders (not elvating them too highly nor denegrating them too lowly) enables them to do their job well and for all of us to live in peace (v13).

John Stott:

happy is the church family in which pastors and people recognize that God calls different believers to different ministries, exercise their own ministries with diligence and humility, and give to others the respect and love which their God-appointed labour demands!

They will live in peace with each other.

Church Community (1 Thes 5:14-15)

Lest we think having leaders lets us off the hook, Paul now turns from tell us how we should respond to our leaders, to our own responsibilites as members of a christian community.

We’re called not just repect for leaders, Paul calls the church to a radical gospel shaped life.

It’s not just the leaders who are meant to go about the business of helping others grow as disciples.

Warn some

1 Thes 5:14

It is highly likely that you are going to know more about idle and disruptive behaviour in the church than I am.

People tend to be less open and honest with leaders like me because they know part of our job is to admonish them.

Likewise if people have an issue with me they may not speak to me about it.

And I can’t read minds.

They may however talk to you about it.

Your job, as a Christian is to help them.

And to warn them.

Imagine someone comes up to you and says, I’m not going to help out anymore because I don’t really like the direction our church is going in and in fact I’m going to stop really engaging in the mission of the church and instead I’m just going to have lunch with others and we’re going to reminise about old times and figure out new things that we can get grumpy about to try and disrupte the mission of making disciples at the church.

Your job isn’t to come to me and dob when you find yourself in that conversation.

It’s to warn that person yourself.

This is idle and disruptive beahviour.

Stop!

Encourage and help some

Likewise you can encourage others with the good news about Jesus.

For the Thessalonians this might have been those who have become disheartened because their loved ones had died before Jesus returned, Paul says encourage them with the gospel.

Likewise whatever might be cause people to feel disheartned encourage them with the good news about Jesus.

Likewise help the weak.

Not like the people who can only bench press 5kgs instead of 50.

But I think this refers to those who are struggling with their faith.

Possibly living out the kind of sexual ethics Paul talked about.

back in chapter 4. But any one who is weak in faith can be helped by others stronger in faith.

Whatever the issue.

And as we warn, and encourage and help we do this in the power of the Spirit who gives to each of us the fruit of paitence.

Every church has its difficult people.

It’s odd balls.

The ones who need warning, encouragement and help.