Peace and Patience in the Church

Like every church in history and today, the church at Thessalonica was a group of believers joined together to worship God, follow Jesus, and reach their community with the gospel. Together, they faced the challenges of the Christian life and spiritual growth. They also faced the challenges of building close relationships with one another.

What makes a close and vibrant fellowship of believers possible? Grace. Our world is a tough place to live in because it is populated and governed mostly by nonbelievers who reject the grace of God. Thankfully, the church provides a refreshing, alternative community within this harsh and hateful world, a haven of fellowship for those who follow Jesus. Even so, a church is far from perfect. That’s why we need grace.

Grace makes peaceful, patient relationships possible in the church. Consider the church at Thessalonica. Paul called them an exemplary church (1 Thess 1:7). They were exemplary in at least seven ways:

• Faithful, loving ministry efforts (1 Thess 1:2)
• Patient, confident waiting for the Lord’s return (1 Thess 1:2)
• Following the Lord despite intense persecution (1 Thess 1:6)
• A joyful attitude in hard times (1 Thess 1:6)
• Far-reaching gospel outreach (1 Thess 1:8)
• Abandoning their idols and former religions to follow Christ (1 Thess 1:9)
• Receptive to biblical teaching (1 Thess 2:13)

Though this church was exemplary in all these ways, they were also lacking in other ways. They needed to give keep on growing in at least seven ways (1 Thess 3:10):

• Struggles with sexual immorality (1 Thess 4:3-8)
• Tendencies to cause unnecessary public disturbances (1 Thess 4:11)
• Tendencies to meddle in other people’s affairs (1 Thess 4:11)
• Tendencies to be lazy and not to work (1 Thess 4:11)
• Tendencies to behave inappropriately towards nonbelievers outside of the church (1 Thess 4:12)
• Doctrinal confusion about the future resurrection of believers (1 Thess 4:13-18)
• Doctrinal confusion about the return of Christ (1 Thess 5:1-11)

The church at Thessalonica was an example to other churches, but it was also experiencing a continual process of improvement and transformation. That’s what makes a church so special. It is a fellowship of grace. It is a group of people who are examples of what God’s grace has accomplished, but it is also a group of people who are in regular need of the grace of God to keep on changing even more.

Paul opened this letter with a prayer for God’s grace to flourish in this church (1 Thess 1:1), and he closed this letter with another prayer for grace to abound (1 Thess 5:28). Paul desired for this church to be a community in which the members experienced the grace of God through one another and through which the world at large would see the grace of God at work in their lives.

Satan opposes what the grace of God is accomplishing in any church. To hinder this grace, he attempts to sow the seeds of discord, impatience, and frustration in our hearts. When this happens, we lose sight of grace. This is a subtle and dangerous pitfall we must constantly guard against. At the end of Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica, he provides biblical advice that helps us avoid this pitfall and experience the grace of God with one another (1 Thess 1:5:12-28).

Six Kinds of Members

In this passage, Paul describes six kinds of church members. These members include both men and women of all ages.

Working Members (1 Thess 5:12)

“Those who labor among you” refers to members who invested rigorous labor and toil into meeting the needs of the church. These were members who worked hard in all sorts of important ministry activities, whether physical or spiritual.

Leading Members (1 Thess 5:12)

“Those who are over you in the Lord” refers to members who are both leaders and caregivers. They are members who manage, serve, and accept responsibility for the needs that we have. It is through the care that they show to others that they provide leadership. That is how Jesus led his twelve disciples, by serving them (Mark 10:44-45).

Counseling Members (1 Thess 5:12)

“Those who admonish you” refers to members who provide biblical teaching, correction, and guidance. This ministry includes offering general, biblical instruction. It also includes correcting members who tend to resist instruction, but in a way that aims to prevent frustration and bitterness.

These three kinds of members are joined together in this list by one definite article (“those who”), which means that Paul is not describing three different kinds of people or three different roles. Instead, he is describing one kind of person.

He also describes these members by using a series of three present participles, which indicates a pattern of ongoing, faithful involvement. These are responsible members (not just a pastor or deacon) who participate faithfully in the church by working, leading, and counseling other members. These are members who have embraced what it means to be “doing the work of the ministry” (Eph 4:12). Over time – by God’s grace – more and more members learn not just to attend church but to serve the church in this way.

Lazy Members (1 Thess 5:14)

“Unruly” members are those who are lazy, irresponsible, or disorderly. These are members who refuse to work and who refuse to take responsibility in life and church. These are members who refuse to do anything.

Hesitant Members (1 Thess 5:14)

“Fainthearted” members are those who are discouraged, timid, hesitant, reluctant, shy, or insecure about stepping forward as a Christian in any meaningful or public way. These are members who want to do something but are hesitant to get started. (Only God knows the difference between refusing and hesitating.)

Weak Members (1 Thess 5:14)

“Weak” members are those who are physically ill, struggling psychologically, or spiritually immature. This is a general description that includes many forms of weakness, not all of which are sinful. These are members who want to do something but can’t due to various limitations.

Two Categories of Members

When you examine these six kinds of members, you should ask the question, “How do these people relate to one another?” Clearly, they are all members of the same church. But there is a significant difference between the first three kinds of members and the second three. This difference presents us with two categories of church members.

Responding to the Givers (1 Thess 5:12-13)

The first category is those who are giving ministry and the second category as those who receiving ministry. You could also describe the first as those who are investing in the church and the second as those who are being invested in within the church.

How should people in a church respond to these different kinds of members? The way you answer this question makes all the difference between whether you will help your church become healthy and vibrant or whether you contribute to division and frustration instead.

First, we should appreciate the ones who are taking responsibility to meet the needs of the church. Paul “urges” us to “recognize” such members (1 Thess 5:12). To be sure, such members do not want to be recognized. Yet Paul urges us to do so, nonetheless. In fact, he uses strong, emphatic language to make this instruction clear. He says that we should “esteem them very highly” and we should do this “in love,” not because they are special people, but because of the hard work they are doing (1 Thess 5:13).

Do you respect the hard-working members of your church who labor tirelessly and faithfully both in the spotlight and behind the scenes to make the ministries of your church possible? Or do you take them for granted and find ways to complain instead? Hard-working members do not want to be thanked, yet you should thank them anyway. You should respect them, appreciate them, and express your love to them however you can.

“Very highly” is a word that means “the greatest possible degree” or “beyond measure.” Furthermore, “in love” encourages us not to appreciate such members out of tradition, formality, or general gratitude, but to appreciate them deeply in our hearts, responding to them with the same devoted love through which they are loving us.

Responding to the Receivers (1 Thess 5:14)

How should people in a church respond to the second category of members? We need to counsel those who are lazy. When a member is disorderly, lazy, or irresponsible – whether in daily life or in church involvement – we need to teach them what the Bible says about being responsible; if they resist instruction, then we need to correct them in a loving way.

We need to comfort those who are hesitant to take the next steps in their Christian life. Maybe they’re hesitant to be baptized, to attend Sunday afternoon Bible study, to accept a ministry role in the church, to attend Wednesday night Bible study, to support the church financially, to tell nonbelievers about Christ, or to make some other difficult or risk-taking decision. Such members need to hear words of comfort, encouraging them that if they take the next step, everything will be okay. They also need to be encouraged to know that the church will support them in their steps of faith and will “have their back.”

We need to help those who are weak. This means we need to be devoted to meeting their needs. This help does not refer to a one-time act of assistance. It refers to an ongoing commitment to providing the help that these kinds of members may need over time.

In all three instances, Paul describes in the present tense the kind of response we need to have towards lazy, hesitant, and weak members. This means we should be prepared to respond to them properly on an ongoing basis – over, and over, and over again.

Two Important Instructions

Having examined these different kinds of believers in the church and how we should respond to each one, we need to consider two very important instructions (or principles) Paul gives us which should govern our relationships in the church.

We should never be frustrated or agitated by one another.

Nestled between Paul’s description of the members who invest heavily in the church and those who require significant investment is a simple command for us all: “be at peace among yourselves” (1 Thess 5:13). In fact, the way that Paul wrote this instruction shows that this brief command is the glue the binds us together as a church. Being placed in the middle, it joins both categories of believers together, both grammatically and in real life.

This is a timely command because those who invest heavily in the ministry of a church may eventually grow frustrated with other members for a lack of perceived or desired change. Ongoing manifestations of laziness, hesitation, and weakness may provoke feelings of agitation, unrest, and irritation over time in the hearts of those who have invested sacrificially in a church. But feelings like this are not Christlike. Those who work hard, who serve faithfully, and who counsel others need to learn how to do what they do while always remaining at peace when persistent needs continue to arise.

On the flip side, those who receive help (who are invested in) should not grow frustrated or agitated by those who minister to them. Indeed, those who invest heavily into a church through various means are themselves imperfect followers of Christ who continue to be changed by the grace of God themselves. So rather than grumble, gripe, and complain about the people who are serving you, you need to do whatever you can to foster a peaceful relationship with them.

Do you see the beauty of God’s grace in this process? God uses the tensions and challenges of serving and being served, investing and being invested in, giving and receiving, leading and growing to point us all to the endless supply of God’s redeeming, enabling grace. Sometimes it is the grace of patience and tolerance with one another that is more valuable than whatever other needs or problems we hope to solve.

We should always be patient with one another.

Following Paul’s description of members with needs in the church, he tells us to “be patient will all” (1 Thess 5:14). This means that we should practice internal and external restraint throughout the ongoing difficulties of our close relationships with one another.

No matter what kind of person you are in your church, you need to be patient with all the other members of your church. (Did I say all?) The close relationships that we share with one another as a church will eventually present certain relationship challenges. When such challenges arise, you need to learn how to remain calm and move forward while saying ‘no’ to the frustration, bitterness, and impatience that you’re tempted to feel.

We want change, but God wants patience, and patience lasts a very long time. Are you prepared to be patient with one another, just as God is being patient with you? Or are you looking for an opportunity to bail out? Just as you should not abandon your children or divorce your spouse over their failure to change in this way or that, you should not abandon or withdraw from your church family.

In the end, it is the patience that we demonstrate with one another that brings out in us the Christ-likeness that God desires, and this kind of change is far more valuable than whatever other changes we are pushing for right now.

One Very Important Truth

How can you be peaceful and patient with the other members of your church? How can you say ‘no’ to frustration, bitterness, and impatience? The answer is by resting in and drawing from the inexhaustible, never-ending grace of God.

Paul reminds us that God is the source of our peace, and he shares this peace with us when we rely on him throughout this process which he has shared with us at the end of this letter (1 Thess 5:23). After all, how is it that God remains at peace with us despite our many sins? Because Jesus Christ suffered the penalty for our sins in our place and has provided us with a close relationship to God. This is none other than the “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 5:28).

We find peace not by focusing on one another (that will take away our peace and make us frustrated for sure). When we see how patient God is with us, how patient Jesus was with his disciples, and how Christ suffered and died for us all, we know that we can have both peace with God and the peace of God with one another.

We need to let go of the mistaken and unrealistic idea that we need to be a perfect church and if we could just fix this thing or that behavior, then we’ll finally be in good shape. If we all start arriving at church on time, then we’ll need to work on something else. If we all start having amazing, close relationships with one another, then we’ll need to work on something else. The process will never end in this life, so let’s be at peace among ourselves and let’s be continually patient with everyone in our church.

Here’s the one very important truth we need to accept. We’ll only be perfect when Jesus comes back to get us (1 Thess 5:23). Therefore, in the meantime, we need to patiently invest in one another and peacefully accept others’ investment in our lives. We need to appreciate one another, be at peace with one another, and be patient with one another.

As we work hard at investing in the ministry of Faith Baptist Church and as we benefit from the investment of others in our lives, we are experiencing the grace of God in marvelous ways. Let’s not lose sight of this fact. Through this amazing process and through the amazing relationships we get to share as a church, something is happening for which no member can take the credit.

When someone tells me, “Pastor, we need to change in such-and-such way as a church,” I want to say, “Yes, that may be true, but have you noticed how God is changing us in such-and-such ways?” When I say this, I am not ignoring the ways we need to change, but I am reminding that person of the marvelous, persistent grace of God that is clearly at work in our church today. I am also offering a reminder that though I know we need to change, we need to grow in our patience with one another as well. And this, I think, is a change worth seeking.

God if faithfully doing what he said he would do (1 Thess 5:24). He called you to be his child and he will change you completely and perfectly in the end, when Jesus returns to take you to his eternal kingdom. Mark it down. This will happen, guaranteed by the overflowing grace of God that we share as a church today. May we learn to pursue peace and patience with one another now and to expect perfection only when Jesus comes again.