Main Idea: Choosing life together is the way believers are to keep life from coming apart.

This morning we’re going to talk about "Life Together." That term comes from the title of a book written by a man named Dietrich Bonhoffer. Bonhoffer was a pastor in Nazi Germany during World War II. He was executed by the Nazis on Sunday, April 8, 1945. Before his arrest and imprisonment Bonhoffer pastored an "underground" church that sought to fully live out what it meant to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Bonhoffer believed that authentic Christianity was impossible unless it was lived out in community, in "life together" with other Christians. He said, "Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ…The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and his work become the one and only thing that is vital between us." (Life Together, p. 21, 26) What Bonhoffer is saying is that the closer believers are to each other the more the differences that divide them become insignificant leaving them to focus only on Jesus Christ. What I want us to see today is that choosing life together is the way believers will keep life from coming apart.

God has done an amazing thing for believers by giving us the opportunity to share life together with one another. So many times I have seen in this church and other churches a willingness to join with some other Christian in their time of need or crisis and share life together with them. So often the testimony that people will give is, "I don’t know where I would be if not for fellow believers." It doesn’t always mean the believers in the same church but it is that sense that my Christian life would not be what it is unless others had chosen to share life together with me.

If we are honest, that isn’t true for everyone who is a Christian. Too many believers are tempted to live what I call "parallel lives." In other words, each of us are living our lives parallel to each other rather than intersecting each other. Our "lines" or "lives" will come close to each other when we are in the same space at church but for the most part we are each living our own distinct, separate lives. It is not that we don’t care about another’s problems or issues, it’s just that we already have so much going on in our own lives that we don’t have the energy to deal with what is in yours. Besides, if we get too close, there could be friction and things could get messy so let’s just leave it alone. We’ll continue to live our own parallel lives and call it "fellowship" when we are in the same room on Sunday. What we fail to understand is that it is our coming together, risking the friction that gives the Christian life it’s uniqueness and in turn keeps life from coming apart.

Evidently there were some concerns Paul had about the Thessalonians’ "life together" because he chooses to address some specific concerns as he begins the conclusion of this letter. There were some obvious places of friction that had occurred but Paul wasn’t telling them to back away from each other. He was guiding them in how they were to work it out. His advice to them, as well as to us, is to choosing life together is the way believers keep life from coming apart.

The first thing he advises them is in regard to their leadership in the church. He tells them that they are to highly value those who lead (I Thess 5:12-13). The church in Thessalonica was not made up of the influential leaders of their city. It very likely was made up of common people who had, because of their devotion to Christ and the struggling church, become obvious leaders of the church. What seemed to be happening was that some in the church had a "you’re not the boss of me" attitude and had begun to disrespect the leaders. Paul challenges them to highly value those who lead rather than ignore their service and sacrifice.

He tells them two very important things: Respect the leaders for who they are (v. 12) and love them for what they do (v. 13). In verse 12 he tells them to "honor" their leaders. This is a great word because it means more than "do what they say"; it is more that they are to "get to know" them. The idea is that their lives would so intersect because of the natural encounters of life together that they would really get to know the leader and out of that they would appreciate and respect them for who they are.

There are, however, some things that are to be understood about those in leadership. They are people who "work hard among you." This describes those who are so devoted to the church and the work of ministry that it has cost them in time and energy. Also, they are those who, as other translations say (NASV, NIV), "are over you in the Lord" or "have charge over you." I realize that even the thought of a church leader being "over" another is foreign to us but there is a clear biblical responsibility that leaders have toward those who follow. A third thing is that they are those who "warn you against all that is wrong." In other words, they give direction to the church as to how they are to live their lives and point out areas where they are headed in a different direction from what is pleasing to God.

I can say that this is a church that highly values its leadership. It is rare—extremely rare—that any of us who are the fulltime leaders and ministers of this church are ever treated in a way that is disrespectful or demeaning. You are a church that loves its staff and we are the ones blessed by that. Because you value us, you should expect that we are devoted to you so much that we spend our time and energy—we give our lives—to serve you. Ministry isn’t for the person who wants an orderly 8 to 5 job. We should be people who you can say that "work hard." Also, in that relationship between leader and follower is the sense of responsibility that we have toward you. You may cringe at the idea of our being "over" you but it should not be for the purpose of controlling you but directing you toward the very best that God has for us all. That’s why when we choose to "admonish" or "warn" you, it is because our lives are so interconnected that we see that the direction you are headed is pulling you away from God’s best for you and the church itself. Thank you, FBC, for respecting us as we seek to lead you toward God’s best for us all.

Paul tells them to also love them for what they do (v. 13a). Here he adds more emotion and raises the level of honor even higher. He says, "Think highly of them and give them your wholehearted love…." Can you see the beauty of what he is saying here? Leaders are to be wrapped in love by those they serve. That is not saying that we should be put on a pedestal by anyone at any time. It is teaching that there is a bond of love that holds us together, that when we as leaders succeed, you love us and when we fail, you love us. That is hard and risky but it is clear what Paul is teaching. There is not one minister of this staff that has not been loved at times far more than we deserve. There are mistakes that we have made and you have never failed to love us. It doesn’t mean you were bashful about speaking the truth into our lives but it means you love us in spite of all our mistakes. You can tell a lot about a church by the way it values its leadership. We are blessed that you understand that choosing life together values those who lead.

It’s hard to tell if Paul is moving on to another idea or continuing to reinforce the relationship between leaders and followers when he says, "And remember to live peaceably with each other." (I Thess. 5:13b) Personally, I think Paul is moving on to another topic and is telling the Thessalonians that choosing life together shares the same dream. You see there could be no higher dream, vision and goal that any church could have than that we do all we can to live in peace with each other. Yet that is not easy no matter how high, noble and worthy it is. That is why Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God"(Matt. 5:9). We are never more like our Lord than when we are making peace between other people but especially between other Christians.

However, you can’t make peace or live peaceably without choosing life together. You can live a parallel life and have ongoing animosity or bitterness toward another Christian and as long as your paths don’t cross, here or elsewhere, then you are at "peace." Yet if you choose what Paul is describing here in these verses, your lives will intersect and the friction that exists between you and someone else will need resolution, not separation. When you share the same dream of being part of a community of faith, where life’s frictions are not denied but resolved, then you will do all you can to "live peaceably" with each other. You can’t do this living parallel lives. It only happens when you share life together. Sharing the same dream of living in peace pulls you together when the friction wants to pull you apart.

Choosing life together values leadership and shares the dream of peace but choosing life together makes a commitment to those who struggle. (I Thess. 5:14) While Paul has this grand ideal and dream of peace, he realizes that not everyone in the church has the same intensity or passion. In fact, there are people who just struggle. What Paul is saying is that the church is the place where people make a commitment to those who struggle for whatever reason. Some have motivational issues, others are just beaten down by life and still others are standing on your last good nerve! Yet no one is to be passed by or run over but there is to be a commitment to get them back where they need to be, if at all possible.

The first group struggles with motivation to care for themselves. Paul says they are "lazy." The word actually means someone who is marching and gets out of step in the formation. Those people may have just quit working and were sponging off the other Christians in the church. This happens sometimes where persons come to a church because it is an easy touch for them not having to work. I think more what we see are persons who get "out of step." They start heading off in a direction that is going to result in disaster if they don’t get back in line. Those people need love but they need warning as well.

The next group that struggles are those who are overwhelmed by life. Paul says that they need encouragement. The idea of someone being "timid" is not a personality flaw but a person who has had so much stuff happen to them that they can’t raise their head up. Life has overwhelmed them and they are too overcome to ask for help. For those overwhelmed by life, they need someone to give them courage to overcome what has them overwhelmed.

Not everyone in the church is a "take charge" person. There are people in churches that just aren’t as emotionally strong as others. It would be easy to bypass or ignore those people. Yet it is those very people that we need if we are going to share life together. Those people for whom life has become overwhelming may need someone to cry with them, care for them or confront them to move on in spite of what has overwhelmed them. They need someone to put courage "in" to them. They need to be encouraged.

Another group that struggles are those who just can’t go on. Paul says we are to "take tender care of those who are weak." The phrase "take tender care" really is the verb for holding on to someone and refusing to let go. The weakness that he speaks of is one who is weak spiritually. That person is not to be pushed aside but is to be held on to for all its worth and refuse to let go. Far too often we don’t want to spend the time it takes to hold on to another believer when they are weak in their faith. It takes time and energy to cross over into someone else’s life rather than live parallel to them. What difference would it make in our church life if all those who are AWOL on our church roll had been held on to with the passion this verse requires? Life together means holding on to those who can’t go on.

As if Paul couldn’t say it clearly enough, he tells them to "Be patient with everyone." There are some people who struggle and struggle and struggle. You feel like you have tried everything in the world to get them back in step, infused courage in them and have held on just as long as you can. For those people Paul says, "Hold out just a little longer!" But I think he is also telling them to demonstrate patience with those who are not believers as well. Everyone is everyone—believer or not, church member or not. It is a virtue of our faith that when you step on my last good nerve, I hold back just a little longer.

One of the main characters in the movie Seabiscuit is a broken-down, unemployed cowboy named Tom Smith. Millionaire Charles Howard, who is about to engage in a horse racing enterprise, has a campfire interview with Smith, and asks why he bothered rescuing an old, lame horse that was sentenced to death because of a broken leg. Tom replies, "You don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause it’s banged up a bit." Every horse is good for something, Tom claims. This devotion to horses convinces the millionaire that Tom should be his trainer.

Later, when Red, the jockey for Seabiscuit has disappointed Tom and the owner, Mr. Howard, Tom wants to fire him. To Tom’s surprise, Mr. Howard requests that Red remain as his jockey. Dumbfounded, Tom demands a reason. Mr. Howard states, "You don’t throw away a whole life just because it’s banged up a bit." Choosing life together means committing to those who struggle because, "You don’t throw away a whole life just because it’s banged up a bit."

As Paul ends his thoughts about life together, he tells them that choosing life together never gives up on love (I Thess. 5:15). It would have been so easy in the culture and pressures that those believers faced to have given over to revenge and hatred. They were being persecuted by the Jews as well as their fellow Greeks so they had every reason to give in to the retaliation for their treatment. But Paul says that it is the responsibility of the church, of the believers, to keep someone from doing that. Even though he did not quote the words of Jesus here, you can’t help but recall that Jesus died for the people they wanted to hate. That hasn’t changed for the believer today. We have the responsibility to help someone else see that they can’t pay back the evil done to them. They are, instead, to "try to do good." That really is a weak way of translating the verb that Paul uses here that actually means "chase after" or "pursue with relentless determination" acts of love in the face of hostility. And he adds, "to each other and to everyone else." Meaning not just those who are believers but to everyone with whom you have a reason to get even. Do you see someone in the church who wants to settle a score? It is our responsibility to remind them that they can’t give up on love. Jesus didn’t with them and they can’t with other people.

Recently I have become a fan of the TV series LOST. It came out in 2004 but I was not interested then but have recently finished Season 1 on DVD (SO DON"T TELL ME ABOUT SEASON TWO AND THREE!) The show is the story of how forty-eight survivors of a near-fatal plane crash must learn to fend for themselves and fight the unusual occurrences on a deserted island.

One of the characters is a physician named Jack, who rises to a leadership level in the group of survivors. In one episode they are running out of water and Jack has gone in search for water farther in on the island. While he is away the rest of the group begin to fight among themselves over the water that is left. They turn on one man who had discovered some hidden water and shared it with another passenger. Jack returns to find them ready to harm the man with the water and tells them, "Leave him alone!"

He says, "It's been six days and we're all still waiting. Still waiting for them to come. But what if they don't? We have to stop waiting. We need to start figuring things out. A woman died this morning because she went for a morning swim. He tried to save her life and now you're about to crucify him because he took some water?"

"We can't do this. We can't just hope it'll figure itself out. It's time to start organizing. We need to figure out how we're going to survive. I found water – fresh water in the valley. I'll take a group in at first light. You don't to want to come? Then you find another way to contribute because "every man for himself" isn't gonna work anymore, people. Last week, most of us were strangers. But now we're all here. And God knows how long we're gonna be here, but...If we can't live together, we're gonna die alone. (Lost, ABC TV, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2004)

"If we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone." As believers in Jesus Christ we are the hope of the world. We are the ones who have been invested with the knowledge of the source for Living Water-Jesus Christ. The culture in which we find ourselves is hostile to everything we stand for. It is absolutely essential that if we are going to survive that we choose life together. It is the only we can keep life from coming apart!

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org