Well congregation then this morning, let's open our Bible to first Thessalonians Chapter 5 First Thessalonians chapter 5 Our reading begins at verse 12, we'll go through verse 24. Our text most explicitly will be verses 14 through 18. Once we've read, do keep your Bible open, I'll mention a few other passages that will take us cross-references. You'll see that quite clearly and easily, I'm sure. But when we consider what we just sang as Also a preparation for the thoughts from the word this morning. We asked the question, what is congregational or congregation-wide care? What does that look like? And so we want to consider that this morning from 1 Thessalonians 5. So we begin at verse 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. Hold them in the highest regard and love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone, make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always, pray continually, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit's fire. Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. 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. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Thus far, dearly beloved, God's perfect and glorious word. Let's come and ask the help that he has promised to give us by the spirit this morning as we continue, shall we? Let's pray. Now, Father in heaven, how thankful we are for your word, which is a light to our feet, to guide our path through a dark world, And yet, Lord, it shines brightly in the hearts of the believer, and by your spirit, you do that work of illumination so that we may see with the eyes of faith and believing, thus live. Help us in all of that, we pray this morning in Jesus' name, amen. Well, the congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the New Testament makes clear that understanding, processing, and accepting hard providences is not, is not an individualistic activity. It is not that we are called to be lone wolves trudging through the frozen tundra of unexplainable events, digging and clawing for bread and for rays of light. If I might say this, not just to we ourselves as congregation, but to the church in America today, it is high time for us, we need to get away from all forms of me and Jesus. We need to grow away from a parachurch idea that overwhelms the truth of the communion of the saints. We need to get away from an anti-congregational, I'll go it alone, my Bible and me, Christianity. All of that is detrimental to each of our processing difficult things. No Christian man or Christian woman should be a loner, especially not when trying to understand providences that defy explanation. I hope I'm not bringing to you news you've never heard before, but let me just say it bluntly. Christian, there will be times in your life when you will not understand what God is doing. But, at such times, other Christians can be of great help to you. Other Christians can be of great help to you. Scripture reveals that each of us is able to help those of us wrestling with hard providences. There's that L we missed, Janice. Scripture reveals that each of us is able to help those of us wrestling with hard providences. She tried to tell me I missed an L somewhere. We couldn't find it. Well, there it is. So of course, as always, she's the excellent bulletin secretary. But what does it mean to wrestle? with hard providences. And I would say to us from the scripture that we don't do that alone. So first of all, a biblical view of congregational care comes first. I want you to know this verse 14 because there's something very rich the Apostle Paul is saying here. And we urge you brothers Now verse 14 is built on verse 12. Look at verse 12. Now we ask you, brothers, and we're gonna go back further because verse 12 is built on verse four, but you, brothers, and one more step because verse four is built on chapter five, verse one. Now, brothers, again and again and again, the apostle is speaking through the Spirit in the letter to the whole church. Now that's gonna become extremely significant, and we're gonna land on that point in a moment, but I want us to go back even further. Look at chapter four, verse 13. Brothers. Look at chapter four, verse one. Finally, brothers. Notice what he's doing in chapter two, verse one. You know, brothers. And go back to chapter one and verse four. For we know brothers loved by God. We have to understand, dear congregation, that what the apostle is doing here is speaking to the whole church. If we were south of the Mason-Dixon line, I could say, y'all, and you would all know what I mean. Well, that's what the apostle is saying here. But now we smile and we understand it and we agree with it, but then go back to verse 14 and realize what that means, and we urge you, brothers, and then everything that flows from it, which we're gonna take up in a moment. Now, this, the biblical principle of congregational care, it has leadership. And so verse 12, now we ask you, y'all, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in highest regard and love because of their work. So a basic biblical principle about congregational care is that it has leadership. The leadership of the church, we understand that to be elders and deacons by the direction of the elders, should direct every member in caring for all the others. 14 through 18 in our text flow from that biblical principle of congregational care needing biblical leadership. But notice what we're talking about. We're talking about a congregation. We're talking about a body. We, again, most certainly are not saying that each individual is supposed to do this on his or her own self, by his or her own work, in his or her own universe. I could say it rather flippantly. There's no letter I in the word church, and you'd smile about that. But I think we have to understand what that means. It's the body. It's us. So that when led by that leadership, then, by the direction of the consistory and the council under the direction of the consistory, that leadership comes, it empowers each of the members of the congregation to take up verse 14 through 18. Now that amps it up, that raises the significance of what it is the Apostle is saying here. We urge each of you, y'all brothers, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle. What? Is a Christian supposed to go to another Christian in the congregation and say a word of warning to them when they see them erring and fleeing and wavering and straying? Yes, absolutely. Encourage those who are timid. We're going to come back to that one in a moment. All of you help the weak. Each one of us be patient with everyone. Now he goes on and we're going to take up verses 15 through 18 in a moment, but beloved, we need first to see this as the example of what it is the family of God is called to act like. Now if I might again put a personal twist to it, our family has received such kindness and love and encouragement the last couple of weeks. It's an excellent example of the beginnings of the application of a passage like this one. That's the heartbeat of congregational care. To run to those who are hurting and press upon their wounds a bandage of scripture a binding of prayer, a balm of friendship, so that the wounds that come in this fallen world are appropriately tended to by Christ, yes, through us. By Christ, through us. You see, what we are doing now is we are considering what it is to be a part of a family of God, a part of a biblical congregation, because out there, I'm pointing beyond the walls of our congregational thinking and existing, out there it's a cold, hard world. Do you know that? You must know that. You've experienced that. I've seen it so many times above the door of an exit doorway of a church building, a sign that says something like, you are now entering onto the mission field. That's exactly right, but there should also be, I think, a sign on the other side when you're entering inside a church building that says, you are now entering into the family of God. That is the place where we exist on this earth together. Now, of course, we're all around and we're everywhere in our homes and all the rest, but you understand what I mean. There must be something of the warmth of our loving friendship that is triage and wound tending. Now this is not all that our congregational gathering will be. It's not all that our congregational existence will be. But because of the ravages of sin, it must never be less than this. And so the apostle says, we urge you, we implore you. The language here is strong. We give you the strongest directive. Care for each other. We're able to. We're able to. And so we must. Because secondly, there will be times when we each face hard providences. We, of course, realize that. And I don't need to go into too much more to say not only our family, but as a congregation, we realize that. And it's not just because our family has been through a hard circumstance that this is the right text to preach today. But surely that's not lost on us either, is it? We find that at times we face issues of providence that are, to our perspective, nothing but confusion. And we're perplexed. And we're left asking. What is God doing? Do you realize that we will not always get an answer to that question, this side of glory? God doesn't owe us that answer. It's nice when it comes and we can understand principles. We see the basic issues that are told to us in the scripture that define things, but sometimes it's a pressing and a particular question and I want from God a certain answer. Lord, what is this? And he doesn't owe that to us. Job's friends got themselves and him into trouble when they thought God was required to give some sort of specific answer. But that lack of clarity can often lead to a lack of confidence. That lack of understanding can sometimes lead to a sort of a letting of the air out of the balloon of our Christian buoyancy, and we begin to fall. Then what? Brothers, brothers, brothers, brothers, brothers, brothers, y'all, y'all, y'all. He says it again and again and again. Look around you, dear congregation. Look around you. Now, I suspect we would understand that in terms of the eldership, in terms of the leadership of this spiritual congregational care, we would expect the elders to take the lead in admonishment. It's what the apostle says here. Those over you in the Lord who admonish you, we would expect that. We want that. It's biblical. We're to hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. We would realize that and it would be an acceptable way of us thinking. But then we get to verse 14, and we find it a little bit more challenging. You see, the text addresses exhortations to one another. It's one of those places of the one-anothering of the Apostle Paul, just in a little bit different language than we're normally used to. We would say, again, and expecting that the pastor would come alongside and comfort those who are in difficulties and who are down and discouraged and weak and wondering, and yes, of course, the pastor's called to do that, but again, I say to us that the apostle is writing here to the congregation writ large. Congregational care is not a profession, you see. That is, it's not that we are professionals, and therefore we do it. And if we're not called to this office, then we don't do it. That's the mistake that the Roman Catholic Church has made over the centuries. We each do. We're each called to warn some. Dare I put it personally enough to ask you to consider in your own heart right now this question, when was the last time you warned another believer about their behavior? When, last, did you in love and out of concern for them go up to them and say, now wait a minute, what you're doing is going to lead to destruction. Stop. When last did we walk up and encourage? There's an interesting word the apostle uses here. Our NIV translates it in the second one, encourage the timid. The original word is fainthearted or maybe translated something like little-souled, S-O-U-L-E-D. Somebody who is little-souled. There's been a great contraction of heart with them because of the difficulties of this life. And because of that great contraction of their heart, they feel weak. They feel discouraged. They feel powerless, spiritually speaking. They're withdrawing. Can you see them doing that? And when we see them doing that, what are we to do? We're to go up to them and encourage the little-souled people. They're living inwardly because they don't get it. I say again, there will be times in your life when you will not be able to understand what God is doing. And this will not be the time for you to walk out in the woods and hum in the trees expecting that you're going to get some answer on your own. Lean on one another. When we can't grasp what's going on, maybe God will help us by the way of somebody else. Who will say, well, you know, I studied a while ago this particular text of scripture. Maybe this will be of help to you. And by the way, I've been praying for you. And you'll say, oh, you're praying for me? The stability that we sometimes need comes from the strength God gave to somebody else at some time in the past, which then they're able to help us with in the present. To walk through the deep sand and the muddy path and the jungle of confusion that is often the Christian life. Dearly beloved, look around you this morning and realize that some of your brothers and sisters here this morning have been through the same things that you have been through and they are ready and able to help you. And that this is Christ through them helping you. And if I might say to our young people who are full of life and vibrant and sometimes, I don't think our young people think this way, but sometimes young people think nothing's ever going to go wrong in their lives. When that time comes, when you feel small-souled, little-souled, when you're timid and weak and discouraged, remember these things. Turn to another Christian through whom the Lord will help you. Thirdly, we are able to comfort and uphold one another Let's go back and take another careful look at the words of verse 14, because each word here is important and valuable. By the way, do you notice that Paul uses a couple of plural pronouns here? It's from the original language. He says, we, that's plural, urge you. We've dealt long now with the you, you get it. But the we is also a plural. Paul is thinking about himself, he's thinking about Silas, he is applying the work of Timothy. We all, we want to help you all. Beloved, I find this rich and encouraging, that there is this unity, that there is this plurality, there is this communion of the saints that is rich and so important and so valuable. From a plurality of leadership, there is here given a plurality of ability within the congregation. The perspective here is of body life. Body life. Now all that having been said, and we've dealt with this now a little while, I must also say to you that this is in the form of a command. Lest we think these are just good divine suggestions that may, therefore, if we put them into practice, help a congregation. It's more than that. These are Christian commands. Now what does that tell us? It tells us the same thing that we always know about biblical commands, and it is this. That God first gives us the grace to carry them out. before he then tells us he wants us to do these things, by which we draw the biblical inference that we are able to do what he commands us to do by grace. Christ is at work in his congregation in these very things. Now I could stand up here and I could begin to preach rather sternly and maybe in a bit of a commanding voice and I could say to you, and I wouldn't be necessarily wrong in saying to you, now congregation, you are commanded to do, and I'll give you the list. And maybe some people respond to that. And I could say it, you're commanded to warn and to encourage and to help and to be patient. You're commanded, verse 16, to be joyful But I want us to also understand that the command comes because of the grace given. So that we rather will see that we are able. So that we go to somebody and say, well, I've been commanded to go to this person. But rather we say, no, I am able to go to this person. I am able to help somebody. I am able to encourage another. I am able to make sure that this person doesn't do evil, verse 15, because that other person did evil to them. I get in the middle of them and I say, no, no, wait a minute. Don't respond in kind, pray for them. If they continue to do it and harm you, go to the elders. Always try to be kind, verse 15, to each other and to everyone else. Do we understand, beloved, particularly when we face providences that are, to our estimation and understanding, dark, when we can't see through That we should want one of the other of us coming up to us and saying, I love you. I've been praying for you. And I might try to give a little gospel light to you by this verse or that passage or something I've learned from the Lord over the years. I want to take you by the arm. And I want to walk you down this path. Well, now there's something I haven't said yet. I kind of assumed it didn't really need to be said, but maybe it's good just to say it anyway, that there's, the word Van Til used, a presupposition behind this. And the presupposition goes like this. You want to help him or her or them. That's the presupposition. That's the unspoken realization. You want those other people to be spiritually helped. You want the faint-hearted to find comfort. Now maybe, up till now, that's what you've been thinking. I want to, but I don't know how. Maybe even you think, well, if I go to them, I might just make matters worse for them. And so I'm not going to. Let me give you just a couple of tools in your hands that might help. The first tool, the first way to begin is quite simple. You need to be friends. But pastor, we love each other. We're Christian brothers and sisters. Yes, of course. But are we friends to one another? And I'm not trying to posit anything negative. I'm not trying to say that we're not friends with each other. But I'll ask the question again. Are we friends with one another? What does a friend do? Well, a friend, when a friend sees a friend in trouble, the friend says, what can I do to help you, friend? Now that's only amplified in a Christian congregation. So go to your friend and maybe start with a 30-second conversation. Ask them the first time, how are they doing? What can I do to pray for you? Very simple. Takes 30 seconds. How are you doing? How can I pray for you? Maybe then, if they're willing to talk, extend that conversation out to two minutes and say, well, you know, I memorized this Bible verse a few years ago. Maybe it will help you. And you share that with them. Don't talk their ear off. Don't give them all kinds of biblical potions. Potions. Like, aren't you glad it isn't worse for you, like for people in Africa or wherever? Don't do that. I might say another. I'm not trying to step on toes, but I need to say this. When people are first and initially dealing with a dark providence, please don't go up to them and say, well, what has God taught you by this? There might be time for that three months later or six months later. Not at first. But the one basic thing that we do is tell them that we love them. Tell them that we're praying for them. Now, if you've done that, we could go beyond that with some rather specific things. And I would put all of the other specific things in the categories of tell them that you're going to do this for them. For example, I'm going to bring a meal for you and we have known that and we've received that. Don't say could I bring or I'm going to come over and help you clean your house or watch your kids or whatever it might be. I'm going shopping, what can I get for you? Now all of these are rather generic perhaps and you might have better ones but you see the point? We're inserting ourselves into the lives of those who are hurting. Say something to a discouraged person to bring them comfort. Now, all of this, beloved, fourthly, fourthly, we take up the rest of the text now, because the goal is a congregational profession of God's goodness. Long ago, I typed up a letterhead that I used. My wife might still remember this. that if I was gonna write somebody a letter, remember when we used to do that? Pen or pencil and actually write a letter? I had a pre-printed letterhead that I would write my letter on and the top of my letterhead, I probably still have a copy of it somewhere, had verses 16 through 18. I now wish I had included all the way back to verse 14. Because you see, verses 16, 17, and 18 can sometimes, I wasn't intending to do this, and I don't think anybody else would necessarily be intending to do this, but 16 through 18 can almost be used as a club to beat some Christian about the head and shoulders like, come on, be joyful, get over it, just pray more. Don't you know, verse 18, that you're supposed to give thanks no matter what happens? For this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That smacks of legalism. Now, I'm not saying the text is legalistic. We know better. But if we take it out of context, it can become that. Be joyful to and around and with, and I might say based on the context, be joyful for one another always. Pray with and around and for each other continually. Now that becomes all the more clear, especially in verse 18. I don't mean to make too much of this, But I think all of us are mature enough to know that there are times, maybe for a moment, an hour, a day, maybe a couple days, when because of what happens in our lives, we find it almost impossible ourselves to give thanks. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying that's reality. What then? She does it for you. He does it for you. They do it for you. They do it with you. They uphold you. We walk alongside one another. We hold up each other. When somebody is fainthearted, you don't run up to them and say, come on, get over it, God is giving you all that you need, just move on. That's not how we answer, that's not how we respond. Why not? Because of what the text says. Yes, of course, we are individually supposed to be joyful and pray and give thanks, but what happens when we can't? That's why the context of this, beloved, is the body, life of the church. The model here is congregational. I'm not talking about church government, ecclesiology. I'm talking about the communion of the saints. We weep with those who weep. We mourn with those who mourn. We rejoice with those who rejoice. Even when that means one member rejoices for another member who at that moment can't do it for him or herself. because there is a corporate congregational profession of faith when one himself or herself cannot do it themselves. Others do it for you. Now, I need to add one other thing. And we'll dip our toes for the briefest moment into theology proper that is the nature of God. And what I mean is behind all of this is the unchangeable, undying, immovable reality that everything God does is always good and excellent and praiseworthy. But there's sometimes you can't reach out and grab that. It seems sometimes just to be incomprehensible. But sometimes the sweetness returns. That sweetness returns by the love of another, by the kindness of a simple act, by the promise of prayer, by coming up and saying, I'm going to give thanks for you. I'm going to hold you up. I'm going to burden long for you. It's OK to say, I don't understand what God is doing and ask other Christians to love you anyway. Amen. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the wonder of your word, the help that you provide to us from the scriptures and that Lord, you are patient with us and that you would grant to us all things that we stand in need of. And sometimes Lord, that granting of all things comes from others by their works and love and words. And so keep us near to you. that together, Lord, we might indeed be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances by the help we receive from you by the means of another. We praise you for giving to us that joyous communion of the saints, and we thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Let's sing something of that this morning congregation at 447. It's a tie that binds, and so we'll stand to sing 447.