TEACHING 6: DISCIPLESHIP HOUR: 1 THESSALONIANS 5:12-28
This is Teaching 6 in our discipleship hour and this finishes up 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. My first insight into these closing remarks of Pauls letter is that it reminds me of me. Whenever my oldest son Josiah has to jump in the car and drive to an event, for his safety (and cause I worry too much) I run through a list of all of the things he “needs to know.” Drive slow, watch out for crazy drivers, don’t get distracted by your phone in the car, ect. Paul is doing that just a little bit here I think. He loves this church, and he is giving them one more reminder of all the things he’s taught them.
1 Thessalonians 5:12 Now 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. 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 and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil. 23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us. 26 Greet all God’s people with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Verses 12 and 13: Paul is reffering to their leaders. He is asking them to “acknowledge and hold in the highest regard” their pastors, elders, deacons, teachers…. leaders. The word acknowledge can also be translated esteem, and in greek means to “be cooperative” with those who lead. Those who “care for them” and “admonish” them. Admonish means to warn someone or to reprimand them when they are doing wrong.
“Do not quench the Spirit:” The word “quench” literaly in greek means to blow out or to douse a flame with water. This is the only place in the New Testament that it is used as a metaphor. Mark 9:48, the fires of hell are never “quenched.” Matthew 25:8 uses the same word for quench when talking about a lamp going out. This phrase could literally be, “stop putting out the Spirits fire.”
“Do not treat prophecies with contempt:” In this church there were Christians who were idle, and maybe used their spiritual gifts as an excuse. Instead of working hard they remained idle waiting for prophecy from the Spirit. 2 Thes. 2:1-5 also might be telling us that there were those who were trying to be prophetic about the date and time when Jesus would return, something not even Jesus knows. Because of abuse of the gift of prophecy in the church, its very possible that members in the church started to distrust those who said they had a word from the Lord.
To hold a prophecy in “contempt” literally means to "treat it as nothing” or “hold it at a value of zero.” Paul tells the church that even though some have abused the gift of prophecy, that we need to be careful not to discredit this gift from the Lord, thereby QUENCHING THE SPIRIT, as shown above. Prophecy is a spiritual gift where God gives a message through the Holy Spirit to a believer. This message is usually a forthteling, not a fortelling (but sometimes there can be a future sense to it.) The message is to be used to teach, build up, correct, and encourage.
“Test them all:” Instead of “quenching the Spirit” by throwing out a prophecy, or counting it as zero… we are called to test it. This is done through prayer, measuring it against scripture, and looking for affirmation through trusted Christian leaders. A prophecy from the Lord would never add to, or contradict scripture! God doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t prophetically give a message to someone that its ok for them to sin for example. A prophecy also never holds the same weight as scripture.
If the Lord gives a message to someone, and they speak it to the church to encourage the church, if it is truly from the Lord it will line up with scripture, and other Christian leaders who also have the Holy Spirit at work in them will be able to confirm that it is “tested” and good. If it is a good prophecy we should let it build us up, challenge, and encourage us. If it does not line up with scripture, then we would reject it, and count it as being equal to zero. But, we need to be careful not to automatically count every prophecy as “zero” from the start, this would blow out the Spirits fire in the church.
“blameless:” To be blameless is to be “compelety without blame.” It literally means to have no cause to censure or disapprove of someone. We are made blameless through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, He forgives us, and our standing with God is blameless. However there is still a call, a Christian responsibility to make choices and live a life that is blameless. Out of our great love for Jesus, and his forgiveness for us, I am motivated to pursue holiness as He transforms me into His image.
INDUCTIVE STUDY PROMPTS
Read the passage. Let’s get into God’s word! (Acts 17 for extra reading)
Write down how the passage made you feel. How does it apply to your heart and life. One word, like convicted, happy, anxious, melancholy, etc. Let’s make this passage personal!
Write down a word or phrase or idea in the scripture that jumped out at you. Let’s let the Holy Spirit work through His word!
Leader asks some/all to share their feeling and their word/phrase/idea, then asks what from their life does that person associate with that feeling and word/phrase/idea. (example from studying Psalm 23) Might be remembering visiting grandpa’s sheep farm and sadness of loss of him, or pain of strained family relationships, or joy remembering grandma and grandpa’s good Christian marriage. Let’s talk about it from our life experience!
Leader asks if there is anything that he/she/group can pray for that person in relation to all that was shared. Let’s pray!
Leader takes notes and remembers to follow up with that person the following week to see how things are going. Let’s be consistent/remember/challenge each other!