Rx For A Thriving Congregation

Your Bibles this morning. Let's turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 will be reading verses 12 through 15, although there's no guarantee we'll get through all of those verses. 1 Thessalonians 5 beginning in verse 12, we read God's word. we ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work be at peace among yourselves and we urge you brothers admonish the idle encourage the faint-hearted help the weak be patient with them all.

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. As I've meditated and thought about this passage and the sermon that would come from it, one phrase keeps popping into my mind, and that's conflict of interest. That's because I'm in a situation that has the potential to undermine my impartiality impartiality because there might be a clash between my self-interest and your interests.

You see, in this sermon, I'm supposed to tell you how you're supposed to treat me and how God wants you to treat those who shepherd you. Of course, I'm also supposed to tell you how to treat the other shepherds, Dan and Greg as well, but I'm the one up here speaking. So let's pray that God's spirit will direct this conversation so that I will be able to tell you what the Spirit intends you to hear and not what I want to say.

Okay? So let's pray. Father, as we come to you now, we realize that we're opening before us the very Word of God, your Word to us, intended to teach us and to change us and to move us into line with what Jesus wants from us as his disciples to conform us to his commands. So I pray that today you would do that. If I say things, Lord, that are unwarranted, I would pray that you would strike them from the memory of these folks.

But Lord we pray that we would preach the purpose of this passage which you would want us to hear Help us now we pray Help me I pray in Jesus name Amen Well, I think for the third time, let's recap where we've been. all right in this epistle you recall you find paul cheering on a champion congregation to the finish we know that this is a healthy congregation because the apostle paul as he says to them certain things often then follows that with and do this more and more as if they're doing it but just do it more and more you're doing well keep keep going and he cheers them on in this course until jesus returns you recall that the book is divided into two sections the first part is reflection, chapters 1 through 3, and then chapters 4 and 5, direction. In the first part, he aims to encourage you. In the second part, he aims to command you.

In the first part, he reflects on what you should see in a healthy congregation. We saw in verse chapter 1, you should see the transforming work of the gospel. We saw in chapter 2, 1 through 13, you should see a proper ministry of the gospel. 1 through 16. And then in chapter 2, 17 through chapter 3, verse 13, you should see a powerful affection from the gospel.

And then in the second part, beginning in chapter 4, he commands you to obey the call of the gospel. That is to say, the gospel calls you to sexual purity. The gospel calls you to love one another. The gospel calls you to live quiet lives of quiet labor. It calls you in the midst of trials and persecutions to encourage one another in Jesus' resurrection and in his return.

And then the last thing that we looked at in chapter 5, verses 1 through 11, that includes encouraging one another as the day of the Lord approaches, is encouraging one another to live lives of gospel obedience, to prepare for the day of the Lord by living a particular way. Now we come to our text. And again, it's another component of living a life of obedience to Jesus in the midst of a congregation of God people Again follow as I read verses 12 through 15 We ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Be at peace among yourselves and we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Here you find the prescription for a thriving congregation, another element in what it takes to be a championship, a champion congregation, a thriving congregation, a congregation that's pleasing to God.

And notice, I want you to see this. This is addressed to the congregations. This isn't just addressed to every one of you individually, which of course it is, but this is about how we are to have that kind of a congregation that is thriving. And he tells us two things here in these verses. If you want a congregation that thrives, then fulfill your duty to your shepherds.

So the first thing he attacks in verses 12 and 13 is fulfill your duty to your shepherds. and then he goes on to say that if you want a thriving congregation verses 14 and 15 fulfill your duties to one another so as we look at this what's the prescription for thriving congregation verses 12 and 13 fulfill your duties to your shepherds verses 14 and 15 fulfill your duties to one another now let's understand something at the outset God did not give us this text so that we would have some biblical principles so that we would have a thriving wonderful congregation that can compete with the best of them i know what you're thinking already you're thinking what you're going to talk to us about competing with other congregations what are you kidding what are you to say well okay just back off a little bit all right what he's what he's saying here is essentially this jesus is crucified for his people he's risen from the dead. He reigns from heaven and he does so for the purpose. All that has been accomplished for the purpose of producing a people that live distinctive lives.

We've been talking about that since the beginning of chapter four. God expects his people to live distinctive lives. The gospel is not just believe in Jesus and go to heaven The gospel is to accomplish the very purpose of God of producing a distinct people in this world that stand apart from the rest of the people of this world that stand apart in their holiness and the fact that they follow Jesus that this one who been risen from the dead has a group of people that follow him faithfully and obey the things that he's commanded us to do.

And so what we have to do is to keep that in mind, that what he's telling us here is not so that, and this is the philosophy of churches today, let's put together a congregation that's going to attract people. let's let's get a congregation that's thriving and alive so so people will come and we can have a big congregation that's not the purpose of this purpose of this is to tell us this is how you live distinctively in this world as disciples of Jesus what's going to characterize us in this congregation as the people of God and one of the things he says he starts out is fulfill your duties to your shepherds and then fulfill your duties to one another so it's a thriving congregation that is what God wants it to be, not a thriving congregation so we can get more bodies in here. All right? So we have to keep that in mind when we see these things.

He wants us to be successful. He wants us to be thriving. He wants a congregation to be alive, but so that it shows its distinctiveness amongst other people in this world. So what we find here then is how disciples of Jesus exhibit their distinctive character. So how will we here at LaRue Baptist Church exhibit our distinctive character? How will we show the character of a disciple?

And the first thing he tells us to do is fulfill your duties to your shepherds, verses 12 and 13. Now I'm going to be honest with you, as I started plugging away and writing this down and my mind was filled with thoughts and I jotted things down and put them on paper and then typed them up and everything, it got to the point where I said, if I cover this whole thing, we're going to be here for a while. So I'm only going to be verses 12 and 13.

I'll do better next time, okay? Although next time I'll be on 14 and 15. But this time we're going to look at 12 and 13. All right? Fulfill your duties to your shepherds. First the question is, who are the shepherds in the congregation?

Who are they? What are they like? He tells us three things that they do in these verses. Who are the ones that are the shepherds? they are the ones, number one, who labor among you. Number two, they are the ones who, they labor among you, they are over you, and they admonish you. He lays out three things that carry on. the shepherds of God.

First of all, they are the ones who labor among you. That word labor is an interesting one. The word labor here means work to the point of exhaustion. Work to the point of exhaustion. What should your shepherds be doing? They should be laboring among you to the point of exhaustion.

Now, you know what the typical view of a pastor is, don't you? Come with me to the post office on Tuesday sometime. So I leave here, I go to the post office, get the church mail sometime during the day. And you go down there, let's say Tuesday morning, and we meet a mutual acquaintance down there and we engage in conversation. We're talking and the conversation ends with, you know what?

I wish I had a job where I only had to work one day a week. Right? You ever heard that? I hear that all the time. I've never heard that one before. Or the kids at school say to your kids, what does your dad do all week?

And maybe you've had the same question. What in the world do you do all week? Well, you know what God says? God says the work ought to be such that it's an intense kind of labor among the people of God. What's that look like? I don't know.

Let me give you a couple days. Let's say it's Monday and the pastor needs to go see some folks who are in the hospital and then after that go see the one person who's in the retirement village. Then he has to stop and meet up with one of the other elders because someone in the congregation has indicated that she wants to end her marriage. And so you've got to deal with that.

So you're going to have to go and stop and talk to that person and encourage her and help her and move her in the right direction and come alongside her and give her hope and try to help her see what Christ would have her to do in this very difficult situation. Then when you get back to the office, take some time to put the agenda together for the elder meeting that's going to happen the next day at one o'clock in the afternoon and then from six o'clock to 8 30 or two counseling appointments one a marriage that's really struggling the other one a guy struggling with depression get home and go home and and talk to your wife tuesday dawns with the hope of maybe you'll have some time to study today for the sermon on Sunday, although there's an elders meeting at one. But then someone stops in suddenly with the news that he dissatisfied with the elders because of a decision they made with regard to the flocks followed by a call from Kyle Stofchek who says there a family in town that just lost their dad and they don have a church and so he was wondering if maybe you could take the funeral.

So if you could meet with the family on Thursday and be with them for part of the calling hours, then of course the funeral on Friday. So you jot down a couple notes for that sermon that you'll have to do that week, And then, of course, there's the elders meeting, and then there's a few more phone calls after that, and then an hour and a half maybe to hit the sermon study as best as you can and then head home. I remember Brad Brandt.

Brad is pastor down at Wheelersburg Baptist Church, a dear friend of mine. We served together in a number of different things. But I remember Brad Brandt. We were up in Wisconsin at Darrell Schrock's, Pastor Darrell Schrock's installation service. Daryl, a dear friend of mine, he's one of the guys. He and I go with Dave to Romania all the time together.

You all know Daryl. And we were there. Both of us were preaching at his installation service at the Baptist Church in Merton, Wisconsin. And I'll never forget what Brad did. Brad got up, and here's what he said. I do not get up on Monday mornings wondering what I'm going to do with my week.

Right? now the other shepherds the ones who are not the vocational pastors dan and greg also labor among you but you know what they have to work all day long and then at night or if they can make some time during the day they're the ones that are also serving you and doing things they've got to prepare for flock they've got things to do as well in terms of the ministry they make those calls not to mention they have to be at the elders meeting too. They work hard as well. Sometimes I wonder if they don't have the harder job, working hard all day and then working hard sometimes in the evenings and on the weekends.

Now, listen to me. Listen to me carefully now, okay? Here's where the conflict of interest comes, but I want to make this clear. My intention is not to make you feel sorry for us, okay? My intention is not to make you feel sorry, nor, listen now, nor is it my intention to tell you to quit bothering us, okay? It's not.

Some of you already are sitting there because you say this to me oh pastor I take up so much of your time Let me decide if you taking up too much of my time Don get the idea just leave them alone they busy enough Don you dare do that Don do that The only point is that ministry as a shepherd, according to the Apostle Paul, is a labor-intensive thing, and it should be that, and they should work hard. Now, let's face, let's be honest here. There's lots of pastors who don't work hard.

And I'm feeling bad for them when they have to stand because the shepherds, I think there's going to be a shepherd's judgment. OK, because Hebrews 13, 17 says that the shepherds are going to have to give account for the souls that they watched over. okay and um and so so yeah some guys can be really lazy they can they can milk it for what it is they can get they can get their sermons offline you can get your sermons online now if you want to um but the point is it's it should be labor intensive it should be if you're going to minister to people and you're going to look out for their souls that's a lot of work And that has to happen. It does take work.

Who are those who are shepherds? They are the ones who labor among you. They're the true shepherds. Notice this as well. Here's the second thing that's true of a shepherd. They are over you in the Lord.

Over you. That's an interesting phrase. It has the idea of a protective, benevolent governing. Yes, the elders are to govern in the church. They are to lead the church. No, that term over you is also used in 1 Timothy.

If you want to turn back just a few pages, I'm sorry, turn over a few pages to 1 Timothy chapter 3. You see this word used. It's translated a little bit differently. In chapter 3, it's talking about the qualifications of an elder or shepherd. In chapter 3, verses 4 and 5, it says, He must manage his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive.

For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? Drop down to verse 12. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well There the term It translated manage here It translated over you in first Thessalonians The idea is they are the ones who are to manage They are to ones who govern, but then it's, it's not the idea of governing, like do it or you're in trouble, but it's like fathers, your elders, your shepherds should be your spiritual fathers. or as I love what Dave Durnland would say, your spiritual granddaddies.

They're the ones that you should approach as a dad. The elders have to act in such a way that you can come to us like you'd come to a dad. We can never be authoritarian. We can never be harsh. We can never have the do it my way or the highway kind of an attitude. That isn't the way you're supposed to be as a shepherd.

They are over you in the Lord. They are to govern in a protective, benevolent, loving, serving way. By the way, that kind of leadership should stand out in this world where power is so, so sought after, so obvious, right? You want the kind of power that you say you jump and everyone says how high. That's not what God's talking about here. He's talking about governing and leading in such a way that you're like spiritual fathers.

But notice that they are over you in the Lord. They have to govern you in the Lord. What does that mean? It means that they're not these autonomous sovereigns. They're not these little kings in their little kingdoms. That's not what it's all about.

Because they're representatives. They're representatives of Jesus' authority, not their own. their authority comes from the Lord it is not from you and it doesn't come from their position now in many churches and I grew up in a church like this I never forget my dad showing me the showing me the the what's the word the schematic of how a church is had congregation at the top and pastors below it I don't think that's biblical that comes from our American way of life that's saying, that says the power for government comes from the people. And the answer is in the church, the elders authority comes from Jesus, not from you.

Now I'm not insulting you. I'm just saying that they are over you in the Lord. They're not over you in the democratic process. They're over you in the Lord. Their authority comes from the Lord. It doesn't come from you, nor does it come from their position.

Just because they're elders, that doesn't give them a right to boss you around. Their authority comes from the Lord. They've been commissioned by Jesus to carry out His orders, not theirs. they don't have a choice of what to tell you or where to direct you that has to come from from the Lord Jesus and they can only insist on the things that Jesus insists on they can only insist on the things that Jesus commands your elders your shepherds cannot tell you how many cars you're allowed and when you step over the line to being ostentatious with your vehicles.

They cannot tell you how many children you must have or cannot have, for which some of you are glad, given you all ought to have six kids. Can you imagine how big our congregation would be? No, they can't tell you that. They can't tell you whether you can or can't watch television. They can't tell you where you work. They can't tell you how much you ought to give in the offering.

They don't have any authority in those areas. But your shepherds can insist that you go to work every day. They can insist on that. If you're lazy and you decide not to go to work, you should expect your shepherds are going to be knocking on your door, telling you you need to get to work. That when you're mistreated at work, that you're responsible to love the person who's treating you badly.

They have the right to tell you. That's what you must do. They have the right to tell you men to lead your families and you wives to submit. they can say that living with your boyfriend is unacceptable and will not be tolerated why because those are the things that Jesus talks about those are the things that Jesus commands those are the things that Jesus insists on there is where their authority is so they can they're over you in the Lord they their authority comes from the Lord and they can only tell you what the Lord says all right they must lead but they must lead in the direction that jesus has laid out already the third thing they are the ones who admonish you Do you see that word admonish in your text That's a word that goes beyond teaching.

It is not synonymous with teaching. It goes beyond teaching to the duty of helping you change. That is, it's instruction for the purpose. It is teaching, but it is instruction for the purpose of warning or correcting you. It is to be given to you so that you change your direction, so that you go in the right way. He's talking here about counseling. here he's talking about the face-to-face ministry of god's word intended to bring you into conformity with the commandments of jesus you could easily translate that counsel you although i think it's a little bit broader than that but it certainly is included in that now all of you here know that i am committed to the association of certified biblical counselors you all know that You all know I'm kind of a fanatic about it.

Can I tell you why I'm a fanatic about it? I realize that some people have never heard this story. Here's why I'm fanatic about pursuing that and being involved in that. When I came here in 1985, I came here with the typical view that we usually get in seminary, and that is this is an academic exercise. I go and I study for 40, 50 hours. I get all, you know, what a life.

I get to read and study for 40 to 50 hours a week. I get out, I preach sermons. You're all happy, the church grows. What a wonderful situation. But that's not how it works. Pretty soon people are knocking on my door and they're coming with problems.

And I'm scratching my head and I'm going, What? I don't know what to do. Can you come back like in October when I'm preaching on the family? I may have something then. Right? That's the way it was.

Can you believe that after three years of graduate study in seminary, you don't know what to do. I tell folks, you know what, if someone had called me in that first year and said, Pastor Tim, I've got a gun to my head, and unless you can persuade me otherwise I going to blow my brains out You know what I could have said Do you have a Greek text nearby We can parse some participles together That what I could have done But in God's providence, I found out about this counseling training in Faith Baptist in Lafayette. Some of you old, old-timers remember that.

I would travel over there for 12 weeks every Monday and get counseling training. And here's, and can I tell you something? If it hadn't been for that, I would have quit the ministry 25 years ago. no doubt in my mind I would have quit. Now, why is that so important for you to understand? Here's what I learned. Here's what I learned.

That counseling is not something that a pastor can add to his repertoire if he's got the time to do it. Counseling is shepherding. That's what it is. It's binding up the wounds of the sheep. And that if you're not counseling, you are not a shepherd. You hear me?

That's why I'm so devoted to that organization. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Huntsville, Alabama for the weekend, teaching at a counseling training event. Why? Here's what I do. Whenever I go to those things, three or four of them, three a year or so, or wherever I go, yesterday I was speaking at a counseling conference up in the Cleveland area. Why?

Every time I get up and speak, and there'll be a class maybe of 75 to 100, sometimes 200 people, I say, how many of you out here are pastors? And some people raise their hands. And I'll say, you guys, let me tell you something. This is not what we're talking about here. This is not something that's nice if you want to do it. This is shepherding.

This is shepherding. This is what God expects you to do. I want to build into guys as much as I can this idea that they're to take care of the sheep, not send them off to someone else who cares nothing for their Lord and cares nothing for their walk with God. So, I was going to say long story short, but short story long, that's why I'm committed to that.

That's why I'm committed to that because it is. If I understand this text correctly, this is what we're supposed to be doing. All three of us are supposed to be doing that. Now that means more than you setting up appointments to talk to your shepherds it means more than that it also includes when a shepherd sees something in your life that out of line he has a responsibility to come and help you line it back up that's what it also means Yes, shepherds have the responsibility to poke their noses into your business.

Yes, they do. If your life reflects something contrary to the commandments of Jesus, and if you're headed in a direction, maybe you're not there yet, but you're headed in the wrong direction, it's their responsibility to warn you. That's what all this means. So shepherds not only have the responsibility of teaching correct doctrine and refuting error, they have the responsibility of helping God's people line up with the truth, with the truth that they're teaching.

So these then are the ones who lead in the congregation and who must do the work of laboring, governing, and counseling. Now, what duties do you have? What duties do you have? You find that? First of all, in verse 12, he says, respect those who labor among you. You must recognize them.

The word translated respect is the word know. It's just the word know. Know those. And I don't think it means respect. And the reason why I don't think it means respect is because in verse 13 he says, esteem them highly in love. And that would be redundant.

What I think he's drawing on here is saying to them, no, or recognize as leaders in the church those who do such things. Now, when I was growing up and when I was involved in a church, that's not how they recognized leaders. You know how they recognized leaders? You know who we need to be leading this church? the successful car salesman in our town, the wealthy farmer, the community leader who's the superintendent of schools, those are the guys we want to be leaders.

And I can tell you that in being involved in a church that did that, it wasn't this church, it was horrible. Why? Because these were not men recognized as those who labor in love They weren't known for that. They were known as successes. Well, who else do you want leading your church, right? You don't want some guy who's slaving with the children, trying to do his dead-level best to administer to kids.

You don't want him as a leader. Come on. You want this guy who's a successful businessman. That's who you want to lead. That's not what God says. He says you want those who have shown that they love you because of their labor, you see.

I'll never forget I was a deacon for a short time in a church and I'll never forget my first deacons meeting it blew me away I came home in tears because I knew our two pastors I knew those guys as men who loved loved the Lord Jesus and loved the people of God and we got in that deacons meeting the very first deacons meeting I ever went to and these guys sat there and said, okay, how many calls did you make? And the pastors had to line out everything and do this, and you're not doing enough, and you ought to do more, and all this sort of stuff. And I remember sitting there thinking, wait a minute, this is mixed up.

You guys should be answering to them. You should be helping them, not them, sitting, you know, we're management, you're the laborers, we're going to see that you're doing your job. It was so sad. I was in tears when I came home that night. I thought, is this the way they treat our pastors? Right?

But again, again, the idea of recognizes as leaders someone who's known for his sacrificial love is not what people do. They want the successes. They want the big men in the community to lead the church. And that's not the... Look at what Jesus says. Turn over to Mark.

Turn over to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10. This is how the kingdom of God works. Mark chapter 10, verse 42. And Jesus called them... He's talking about his disciples now.

Remember, James and John are mad. They're mad... Or no, James and John aren't mad. James and John have asked Jesus for the top places in the kingdom. And the other ten are ticked off because they want the top places And you guys got to them first We got to have a chance for those jobs too So they ticked off And Jesus says to them in verse 42, you know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them.

And their great ones exercise authority over them. And that could be translated exercise tyranny over them. And that's what we aspire to. telling people what to do right it's not how it's it's you know how many kids or do you know how many people serve under my kid that's what we brag about right my kid has 30 people working under him right he's that's not what jesus says he says but it shall not be so among you but whoever would be great among you must be your servant and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all Why?

Because that's what I did, he says. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many, like me. I didn't come to boss people around. I came to give my life for them. Now, Jesus isn't saying it's wrong to exercise authority. We see that he exercises authority.

But why? Because he loves them. And he's given his life, and he says, that's the way you need to be. The greatest, listen, the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the slave. of all. That's a sign of leadership. Someone who will be a slave.

You want leaders. You want to recognize those who have a reputation for sacrificial love, for the willingness to work hard out of love. Those who are slaves. Those are your leaders. That's what he says. You recognize those folks who will do the exhausting labor because they love you.

He says you need to highly esteem them. Show them respect. Show them great respect. Show them great respect. I grew up in a church that essentially said the pastor is the hired hand. we hire them, we fire them of course they didn have plurality of elders which I think is what the Bible clearly says but it was like you get tired of them you get a petition you get two This is in the Constitution You get two of the people to sign the petition you can throw them out I'm supervising a guy right now and supervising his counseling right now, an associate pastor in a church who had been in a church before, but they threw him out, got rid of him, out of here, right?

That's not respect. How do you show respect? You know where you know where respect is? You really respect your leaders? Have someone sit down with you. Well, that doesn't work here because we all eat dinner together.

But when you get together, when the family sits down to eat dinner, right, what do you say about the ones who are your leaders? Do you say, oh, well, you know what they say. Is that what you say? Is that what you say about them? You kind of say, well, you know, they're just... That's not respect.

How do you show respect? You show respect by trusting them. Now, you know, if they're servants, you've learned that you can trust them. You trust them. You listen to them, especially when they tell you difficult things. You obey them when they tell you what the Bible says.

All right? John Calvin once remarked that too often people of the congregation do not act like sheep, they're bears. Pastor Good, who was one of the guys that taught me biblical counseling, a great man of God, I remember we had, I observed his counseling, and as, you know, when the people would leave, we would talk about that and say, what did you see?

What would you have done? That sort of thing. and in one of those situations he said, you know what? You know what I tell the people like this sometimes? You know how the Bible says that shepherds are going to have to give an account for the ones that they shepherded? Sometimes I tell people, you know what? When I stand before Jesus to give an account, I'm not going to have to give an account for you.

You didn't let me be your shepherd. You didn't listen. Right? He says, highly esteem them in love. have you ever shown respect to someone that you don't love sure you have you do it every day at work don't you yeah you respect the guy over you because if you respect him not because you love him but you respect him because if you don you end up on the street so you show due respect but he says highly esteem them respect them in love What does that mean How do you esteem your shepherds in love It means affection.

Show them affection. You say, oh, pastor, no, no, no, no, no, no. When you're shaking hands at the end of the service, I'm not going to fall all over you and start kissing you. I say, okay, that's not what I'm talking about. All right? Let me tell you how it looks like.

I remember some years ago, and I hesitate to say things sometimes. because of the affection this congregation has for its leaders. I remember some time ago, it's a long time ago now, I said something about, yeah, I was with a group of guys, or I might have said it from the pulpit, yeah, my car is just kind of sputtering along, I don't understand what's wrong with it, I've got to figure it out. And the next day, like, five guys are at my house with the hood of my car up.

Okay? That's affection. What does love involve? and loves long-suffering. Well, you guys got it. You know what I remember about my early days here? You were so long-suffering.

You were so long-suffering. Sometimes I look back and say, I hope God wipes out the whole first five years of my ministry here. I just hope no one remembers anything. but during those five years you were very long suffering that's love loyalty you're loyal to your leaders you're loyal to them you stand by them and he says do this because of their work don't do it because of their reputation don't do it because of their position you don't love them just because they're they serve over you or manage don't do it because of their status inside or outside the congregation, but because they serve you, because they love you, because they want the best for you, because their hearts, because their hearts desire is that you, is that you can give a good account when you stand before Jesus.

That's our desire. and you you respect them because of that not because of their position but because of their hearts lastly what does he say he says be peace among yourselves. Peace will flourish in a congregation where love increases between the shepherds and the flock. There will be peace in that kind of congregation. What could possibly happen if the elders work hard serving the flock out of love and the flock responds with affection and long-suffering and loyalty?

What do you think is going to happen? You're going to have peace. It's going to be a peaceful congregation. When you respect your leaders and their judgment, you check the tendency towards anarchy and strife. Where everybody is saying, no, no, this way, no, this way, no, that way. No, you follow, you trust.

That will check the tendency to anarchy and strife. The most restless, strife-torn, combative, unhappy churches are the ones that believe that the shepherds serve at their pleasure. those are the most unhappy congregations you find So if you want a thriving congregation if you want a church that stands out as a distinctive community that follows Jesus faithfully then fulfill your duties to your shepherds Now as we conclude, I want you to listen carefully. Alright?

I'm speaking for all three of us here. We have no complaints. All right? We have no complaints about this congregation. This congregation, to me, is a Thessalonian congregation. I would say to you, you're doing well, do it more and more.

I would say to you, there is not a lack of love here or respect for the shepherds that serve here. I will say that without reservation. sometimes I say to other pastors I think sometimes God must think I'm a wimp because we just don't have a lot of trouble here we have a peaceful congregation And I want to say to you as the Apostle Paul has said to the Thessalonians you're doing well. Do it more and more.

We have no complaints. We have no complaints. But realize, realize this, you live in a culture that despises, that actually despises anyone telling you what you should be and what you should do. We live in a culture now that has just elevated the individual to the place where you can never tell anyone what they should be or what they should do. And that kind of thinking can easily mold you.

And so I would say to you, don't let that be a part of you. Don't let it start sinking in. Don't go that route. Remember, Jesus reigns over distinctive people and you show your distinctiveness by how you respond to your shepherds. Remember that this congregation will thrive as it continues to fulfill its duty to its shepherds God help us to be that kind of a congregation God be praised that we do have that kind of a congregation Father, thank you for your work in this people.

Thank you for your patient, loving, guiding of this congregation over many, many, many years. we would pray that you would help us to do so more and more. Thank you now for your word. It doesn't leave us in the dark. It tells us what we need to know. It's sufficient for the task, and so we thank you for it. And so now impress upon us the truth of these scriptures on both shepherds and congregation for your glory that the glory of Jesus would be seen here.

We thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen.