Respecting Spiritual Leaders
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13a
Introduction - Final Instructions in the book of 1 Thessalonians.
Paul has just been giving some great teaching on the subject of the coming
There’s some really challenging directions that are contained in this closing section of the book, and as you read it you can stop after every few words and feel convicted about how you are putting or not putting these things into practice in your life.
Let’s read it through together..
1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
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.
19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid 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, pray for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Why do you give someone an instruction?
Let me give you an example of what I mean. If you are teaching a group of students, why would you need to instruct them to be quiet?
1) Because they are being noisy
2) Because they are at risk of being noisy
If you have a well trained group of students, you don’t need to tell them to be quiet while you are teaching them, they have learned to do that and are in the habit of doing it.
There are always some kids who feel like the teacher is always picking on them. They are always being instructed or reproved. Why is that? Because they need it! If they were doing the right thing, they would not need to be told to do the right thing.
As Christians, we need to recognise that as long as we are part of a world which is corrupted by sin, we are always either falling short in a particular area or at risk of doing so. We need to be constantly challenged about our attitudes and behaviours. I don’t care if you can recite the Bible in 3 different languages, you still need to hear it again and be refined by it again.
In giving his closing instructions, Paul deals first with the community life of the church – the relationship of Christians to one another. He then goes on to address people’s individual lifestyles.
The first thing about Christian community that Paul addresses is the issue of how people feel and act toward those in leadership.
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.
Why wouldn’t we respect our spiritual leaders? Why do we need to be reminded to do so? I must confess that especially up until my mid-twenties, I found it very easy to have a disrespectful and critical attitude toward leaders and toward others in general. I would hear someone complaining about decisions made or things being done in various places and I would feel quite free in being critical about those things. I would sound very wise in my own ears and in the ears of like-minded people as I talked about principles and passages that seemed to back up my own opinions on the matter.
Then God disciplined me for my arrogance by putting me in leadership. Actually, I’d been involved in leadership from the age of 17 in one form or another. I taught Sunday School and led youth groups from the time that I left high school. But leading a fairly narrow group of people is one thing, trying to lead a diverse group of people is quite another. Things that seem so simple suddenly get very complicated. I now know what it is like to be criticised and complained about. I know how hard it is to be a leader. If you have not experienced it is impossible to describe. But as a leader myself I now regret things that I did in the past that helped others to maintain disrespectful attitudes towards their leaders.
The other thing that God did to correct my pride was to give me opportunities to get to know some of the people who I had previously criticised, or people from groups that I had criticised. As I experienced the bond of the Holy Spirit and our partnership in the Gospel it embarrassed me to remember my attitudes and comments in the past. I recognised that my arrogance masked an ignorance. I spoke of things that I did not really understand, even though it seemed so clear to me at the time.
Just before challenging people about their attitudes to leadership, Paul wrote the following:
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
It is a lot easier to tear down than it is to build up. It is easier to criticise someone than to work alongside them. It is easier to complain about someone than to work through your issues with them. It is easier to rebel against authority than to submit to one another.
I want to stress that Christians are never told to blindly follow their leaders. They don’t need to agree with every decision that leaders make. Hebrews 13:17 does remind us to obey our leaders and submit to their authority, but that does not mean that there is not room for discussion and debate where necessary. It doesn’t mean that grievances with leaders should not be dealt with. It certainly is not saying that leaders do not make mistakes.
It is saying that whatever the circumstances, leaders should be held in the highest regard in love because of their work. Leaders should be loved and respected. Is this any different to the way that we should be treating everyone else? No, of course not, but sometimes it is a particular challenge for us to do this with our leaders. Also, the way we demonstrate our love and respect for leaders is different to how we demonstrate it to those who are not in leadership.
I was part of a church once where the leadership as a whole had set a direction and implemented some changes that I didn’t agree with. There were others in the church who were struggling with these changes also, and because they trusted me as a teacher and leader they would often come and share their concerns with me.
It would have been very easy for me to join with them in criticising the decisions and actions being undertaken. It would have made me more popular among certain sections of the group, and we may even have been successful in getting some stuff changed.
What should I do in that situation?
The first thing I needed to do was to care for those people who were sharing with me by listening and showing that I understood their concerns. However to agree with them and criticise the other leaders would neither love them nor the leaders, it would not show respect for the authority of the leaders, and it would also not be fair.
As someone who was a part of the leadership team, I knew very well how hard they worked in their ministry. I knew the prayer and discussion and study that was being invested. I knew their hearts and the desire they had to glorify God and see people reached with the gospel. Those people who shared concerns with me didn’t need my help to feel critical, they needed my help to feel reassured about the integrity of their leaders. They needed my help to understand some of the reasons behind certain changes. They needed my help to know that even if they disagreed, they had a responsibility to continue to love and respect their leaders by what they did and did not do.
What do I mean by that?
Respect and love for leaders means not criticising and undermining their authority, but it also means supporting them in their ministry. That involves praying for them. That involves working together with them in the ministry that God has called you to. You continue to play your part and let them play their part. That can be difficult to do sometimes.
Notice in verse 12 how leaders are described. The first phrase is functional – what they do. They work hard among you. Other passages in the Bible talk about the different aspects of that work, things like teaching, prayer, pastoral oversight and so on. The second phrase is positional – it talks about the position leaders hold in the Church, which is one of authority. Leaders have responsibility and authority – they go hand in hand. You don’t have one without the other. Sometimes churches want to delegate all the responsibility to leaders but not give them the authority that goes with it. Sometimes leaders want authority but don’t want the responsibility of serving others in love. Both are necessary.
I find it interesting though that one particular part of that responsibility and authority package is then highlighted. Leaders admonish. They need to speak sternly to people sometimes! They need to warn people of the consequences of their actions and urge them to heed God’s instruction.
Who here likes being told off? Who likes being told that they have done something wrong? Who likes being told even that they have made a mistake? We all know that we make mistakes, but for some reason we hate it when someone points it out to us. We are competitive – we don’t want anyone to feel superior to us.
How interesting that Paul highlights this part of a leader’s role when exhorting people to love and respect their leaders. He chooses the thing most likely to put people offside and cause them to rebel against leaders, and says “hold the people who have the responsibility and the authority to do this in the highest regard in love because of their work”.
Whenever somebody criticizes, corrects or disagrees with us, our mind automatically shifts into defensive mode. We start thinking of reasons why we should not listen to what they are saying. We look for people who will reassure us that we are right and they are wrong. That’s human nature. That’s why before he started to give correction and rebuke in his letter, James wrote with the wisdom God gave him “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:19-20)
Now, you should know that a leader cops more admonishment than any other member of a church. There is an accountability system within the leadership team whereby leaders are constantly being challenged about decisions, attitudes and behaviours. There are always people with disagreements and disgruntlements that leaders need to listen to and evaluate carefully. Because a leader cannot show favouritism to any particular group, it sometimes seems that he or she cops flak from all directions!
We all need to learn to carefully listen to admonishment, to consider it prayerfully and allow God to refine us. Not everything people say will be accurate. Sometimes leaders misjudge people’s actions and heart motives too. But loving communication, humility of spirit and openness to God should enable us to work these things through.
I don’t have too much of a problem respecting and loving those who I agree with. I don’t mind respecting those who stand against the things I don’t like and stand for the things I do like. But to love and respect someone who even goes as far as correcting me and pointing out errors in my life? That is a bit hard to swallow! But that’s the sort of community that God wants us to be.
A failure among Christians to love and respect their leaders is perhaps the biggest single reason for the emotional burnout of pastors and lay leaders. Certainly among the Pastors I have contact with it is the single most difficult aspect of their ministry.
I want to give you a couple of practical suggestions that I hope will help you as you seek to obey this command of Scripture.
· Work on your love life
You don’t tear down people you care about, so you need to do all you can to develop a real care for your leaders. The Bible says that love covers over a multitude of sins. Have you ever noticed that the sporting team that you care about commits less genuine fouls and plays a lot fairer than the opposition team? Have you ever noticed how you will justify behaviour of someone close to you more than someone you disapprove of? None of us are purely objective – our perception is affected by how we feel about people and our loyalty to them. If we work on our love by getting to know our leaders and praying with them and for them, we will find it much easier to respect them and submit to their authority.
· Grow in knowledge
The word translated “respect” in verse 12 actually means “to know”. In other words, we should understand and appreciate the work that leaders do for our sakes. It is easy to make judgements in ignorance, and we cannot all be involved to the same degree in the work of leadership. But by talking with leaders and taking the time to notice what they do, you gain an appreciation for them and the ministry God has called them to. Where there are disagreements or concerns, share them openly and be prepared to listen with an open heart and mind to the response. Often, when you have taken the effort to get to know leaders well and develop a real care for them, you are content to disagree with certain things because you trust the integrity and the calling of the ones God has given that responsibility to.
Don’t be someone that tears down the church or its leaders. Be someone who builds up.
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