PRACTICAL RESPONSIBILITIES IN PURPOSEFUL RELATIONSHIP

Systematic Expository Study of God’s Word                                                                 21/03/2011                                                                              

Study 26:  PRACTICAL RESPONSIBILITIES IN PURPOSEFUL RELATIONSHIP

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15

These verses reveal important roles and responsibilities for ministers and members in the church. In the Scripture, the Church is referred to as the Body of Christ, the family of God, the flock of sheep under the Shepherd, the fold of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the Building whose foundation and Cornerstone is Christ. As the Body of Christ or the family of God, the Church is not an organization but an organism. The ministers and members function harmoniously like the different parts of the human body (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). The roles and responsibilities of members of the body are ordained by God. And when they serve and minister without conflict or friction, there is health, growth and purposeful existence. In every local church, the roles and responsibilities of ministers and members have been clearly defined and outlined. When ministers and members graciously follow God’s revealed will for His family, there will be the realization of God’s expectation for the Church.

Some religious people have divided the Church into two: the clergy and the laity; an active clergy and a passive laity.  If the human body left all activity to the head, man would soon be dead and forgotten. “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased Him” (1 Corinthians 12:18). No member of the body is unnecessary or redundant. And no minister or member in His Church is expected to be inactive or passive. Each one has a divinely appointed role, responsibility and function.

1.         MINISTERS’ RESPONSIBILITIES TOWARDS MEMBERS IN THE FAMILY

1 Thessalonians 5:12; 1 Corinthians 3:9-11; Acts 20:19-21,26-32; Colossians 1:25-29; 4:11-13,17; 1 Timothy 1:3; 4:6,15,16; 1 Thessalonians 2:7-10; 2 Timothy 2:1-5; Titus 2:1-8,15.

“Know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you.” The ministers referred to are those who “labour in the word and doctrine” (1 Timothy 5:17), “labouring fervently that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12). The faithful minister – leader, pastor, teacher, evangelist – works hard and labours diligently among God’s people to feed them with knowledge and understanding (Jeremiah 3:15), to feed, warn and watch over them (Acts 20:28-31), to expound and apply the truth (2 Timothy 4:2-5), to warn and admonish the children of God (Colossians 1:28), to mature the saints and lead them to maturity (Ephesians 4:11-13), “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).  Paul, the Apostle, himself has left us a great example of a hard-working, labouring, conscientious minister. As an Apostle, he “laboured more abundantly” than all the other Apostles; as a prophet, he “laboured more abundantly” than all the New Testament prophets; as an evangelist, he “laboured more abundantly” than all other evangelists; as a pastor, he “laboured more abundantly” than other pastors; as a teacher, he “laboured more abundantly” than all other teachers. A builder, a preacher, a missionary, a church planter, a writer, a trainer and mentor, a servant of Christ and of the Church, Paul “laboured more abundantly than they all” because of “the grace that was bestowed upon” him. Each minister should endeavour to seek and obtain more grace and help from God so that he would labour more for the Lord: seek more sinners and lead more converts to discipleship; teach and preach with more clarity to lead more saints to maturity; and pray to receive more of the Spirit’s anointing to minister with more vision, zeal and faithfulness.

2.         MEMBERS’ RESPONSE TO MINISTERS WHO ARE OVER THE FLOCK 

1 Thessalonians 5:13; Acts 20:26-28,31; 1 Timothy 5:17; Romans 6:17-22; 1 Corinthians 16:10,11,15,16; 2 Corinthians 8:22-24; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-8; 2:13; Philippians 2:25-29; Hebrews 13:7.

The members’ response to the message of God’s Word is clearly spelt out. Members of the church have responsibilities ordained of God, toward Him, toward their shepherds, toward fellow believers and toward their families and neighbours. If these responsibilities are neglected, their lives become unproductive and unrewardable. The verses before us (1 Thessalonians 5:12,13) call members “to know them which labour among you and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” Members’ knowing their ministers as commanded by God demands recognizing them, accepting them, being aware of their calling as ministers appointed of God to make them all they need to be in Christ. It is a call to appreciate their ministers as men ordained by God to be His ambassadors and stewards to bring the mysteries of the Kingdom to them. The appreciation of the ministers also includes adequate support so that they will not have cares and concerns that will distract them from the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:2-4).

Members of the local church are also commanded to love and honour their shepherds.  Indeed we are “to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.” We are not to dishonour them, slander them, belittle them or despise them. We are to esteem them very highly and “love them with a pure heart fervently.” It is God who has set pastors apart to fulfil unique ministries in our lives. So, He commands us to lovingly acknowledge and appreciate their ministry labours, greatly respect them, graciously overlook their non-sinful human frailties (Galatians 4:14), genuinely respect their ministries, continually pray for them, sincerely speak well of them, positively encourage them and constantly give our best service to make their ministries effective.

3.         MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP AMONG MEMBERS IN THE FELLOWSHIP

1 Thessalonians 5:14,15; Ezekiel 3:18-21; Hebrews 12:12-17; Romans 14:21; 15:1-4; James 5:7,8; 1 Peter 2:21-23; 3:9-12; Romans 12:17-21.

In a good family, all the instruction, encouragement, admonition and support are not left with the father and the mother. All the members assist and support one another as needs arise. So also it is in the Church, the family of God. All the admonition, encouragement, support, intercession and correction are not left to the ministers. Members of the church share in the responsibility. The brethren “warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak” and to “be patient toward all men” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

“Brethren, warn them that are unruly.” The unruly are those who behave in a disorderly, insubordinate manner. They are those who walk contrary to God’s prescribed way, walking in the opposite direction to a law-abiding, Spirit-guided congregation. The brethren are to warn, correct, and admonish such unsupportive, contentious members, alerting them of the danger and eternal consequences of their God-dishonouring actions. “Comfort the feeble-minded.”  The feebleminded are the fainthearted, the fearful. The brethren who are strong in the Lord, unafraid before the persecutors, bold and courageous in facing challenges should comfort, counsel and encourage the feebleminded, the fainthearted and the fearful. “Support the weak.”  Those who are weak in faith, weak in resolve and conviction, weak in understanding and susceptible to error and false doctrine, weak in conscience, having tendency to stumble over the traditions of men must be helped, supported to hold up and hold firmly to the truth. “Be patient toward all men.” As we help the unruly to come back to the path of righteousness, as we encourage and strengthen the feebleminded, as we support and hold up the weak, helping the unstable to stand in the evil day, we must not become impatient. “Giving all diligence, add to your virtue patience” (2 Peter 1:5,6).

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    Congregational Song:

BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS

1.     Blest be the tie that binds

        Our hearts in Christian love;

        The fellowship of kindred minds

        Is like to that above.

2.     Before our Father’s throne,

        We pour our ardent prayers;

        Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,

        Our comforts and our cares.

3.     We share our mutual woes,

        Our mutual burdens bear;

        And often for each other flows

        The sympathizing tear.

4.     When we asunder part,

        It gives us inward pain:

        But we shall still be joined in heart,

       And hope to meet again.