In the sermon titled 'How Children of Light Should Relate to Others,' Jason Dohm explores 1 Thessalonians 5:14-15, emphasizing how believers, as children of light, should interact with others both inside and outside the church. The sermon outlines four key relational approaches: warning the unruly, comforting the faint-hearted, upholding the weak, and being patient with all. Dohm stresses that these interactions should be rooted in the work of Jesus Christ, who serves as the ultimate example of these virtues. The sermon underscores that the Christian community should foster a culture where rendering evil for evil is discouraged and pursuing good is prioritized. It also highlights the importance of patience, recognizing that different individuals require different responses based on their circumstances. The sermon calls for believers to study Jesus’ life and to emulate His example in their relationships with others.

So our sermon text for today is 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 14 and 15, but I'm going to start reading at verse 5 for context. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Therefore, comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their works' sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly. Comfort the faint-hearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all." The title of the sermon this morning is, How Children of Light Should Relate to Others. The title of the sermon is not, How Children of Light Do Relate to Others. Because it's not a foregone conclusion.

We're being called to something in the text. It might be that we relate to each other in these ways. It should be. But it's not a foregone conclusion. It doesn't mean when you're born again that you instantly are perfected in these things.

So we need to be called to the things that we have in our text today, and that's exactly what's happening. That's why Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy have written to the Lord's people, not just in Thessalonica, but to all local churches down through the centuries extending to Sovereign Redeemer Community Church in 2016. So these are the ways in which Children of light, children who have come out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, should relate to other people. Last week, the title of the sermon was, Children of Light and Their Leaders. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy first talked about becoming the Lords.

Then out of that are these exhortations about conduct. Our conduct is shaped by who we are. It's so important that we not get it backwards. Saying that our conduct earns us a place in this kingdom. No.

God through His grace brings us into the kingdom. We're transformed people so we can't act like we used to act. And we have to relate to everybody differently. So that's what this is about. And they began with leadership, but it was a certain kind of leadership.

It was Leadership in the Lord. This is last week's text and in last week's text we saw that leadership in the Lord godly leadership Bears three marks one. It's characterized by labor. It's not a position of privilege It's a position of work And the hardest working people among the Lord's people ought to be the leaders. Secondly, that it's authoritative.

Leaders among the Lord's people aren't just facilitators who just sort of keep things administratively moving along. No, they're real authorities. And they act on the Lord's behalf to govern the Lord's people according to his laws. But it's always to be in the Lord according to the things that he has prescribed. And then thirdly, leadership in the Lord is marked by admonition.

And I defined that last week as instruction with an edge, not just the imparting of information so that you can spit back some facts later on. But the edge of it is to actually come to you in your place in life and to move you forward. The Lord gives us leaders to help us make progress in the faith so that we don't stand still and get stagnant in the faith. But he sends leaders who notice things about us that aren't as they ought to be and who speak to that. So it's instruction with an edge.

And then in last week's text, it was said that children of light should relate to the leaders that God gives to them in two ways. First, they should recognize those leaders. Meaning, they should acknowledge them as ones who have been given authority by God, and they should cheerfully put themselves under the authority of these ones that God has put in place in the local church. And then secondly, that they should esteem them in love. And the text actually says, Very highly, they should esteem them very highly in love.

So this isn't a respect that's given to a drill sergeant because he's screaming in your ear instructions. This is actually fundamentally based on two-way love. Leaders in the church are supposed to love the Lord's people. Of course they are, and the Lord's people are supposed to love their leaders back. So this is the kind of kingdom that we're dealing with here.

It's a kingdom of two-way love, where the leaders are laboring. It's not a position of honor where they're to be served, they're actually to serve. And then the love flows back in the other direction too. Those who are led love their leaders as well. This week, we move away from how we relate to our leaders among the Lord's people and the focus shifts to other relationships both inside and outside the church.

How should we relate to other people? That's what our text takes on. So as we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Oh God, how true it is, How true it is that your kingdom isn't like any other kingdom. It's a kingdom of love.

I thank you for the beauty of your kingdom. And now God, I pray that you would take these truths in the text and use these truths to help us walk worthy of the beauty of this kingdom. We would find ourselves refreshed by your people as we learn to relate to each other in the ways that you've set before us. God, we know we're not fully formed. We know that we're not today what we ought to be.

But we pray that tomorrow we would have made progress in the faith. And that the day after that we would have made more progress. And that you wouldn't let us stand still but that you would use your truth to move us forward into conformity to Christ. That's the image that is lovely in our eyes. I pray that you would help us in Jesus' name.

Amen. I would like to begin by looking at verse 14 by itself. So hopefully your finger is in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and I'm going to read verse 14. Read along and we'll stop and consider it. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy write, Now we exhort you, brethren, Warn those who are unruly, Comfort the faint-hearted, Uphold the weak, Be patient with all.

Here in this verse we have four ways to relate to people in various conditions. Four ways to relate. First, before I start checking through the list, I want to build a framework for this. I think it's very easy to come to the list and just get right to the list, and it becomes either self-help or it becomes success tips. So I think it's good to start with the framework, the context that exists here, so that we don't lose sight of that and begin to treat it like self-help or success tips.

We get cheated. If verse 14 becomes self-help or success tips, we're cheated out of the real depth and breadth and beauty of it. So the framework is intended to keep us from that. I'm going to give you three points that I think form the right framework for these four ways. Okay, so here's the first part of the framework.

This is rooted in the work of Jesus. You strip out the work of Jesus Christ, which is the immediate context for this. If you separate it from the immediate context, and you strip out the work of Jesus Christ from this, you just end up with a list of do's and don'ts. Either you'll end up discouraged that you're not doing very well in the do's and don'ts, or it'll be a fad for you, and a list that you give a little attention to for a little period of time and you won't even notice when you've moved on. Anybody ever been through a fad in your Christian life where you sort of had the list at the front of your mind and it faded really quickly and you never even noticed when you moved on until later on when you thought, yeah, well, whatever happened to that?

You know, when I heard this sermon about this or that. These things, these ways to relate are rooted in the work of Christ. Just go back to verses 9 and 10. The immediate context for this is, for God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him." This is in the context of living together with Christ because He's given you life. That's why you live with Christ.

Because He's given you life. He gives you no life. Verse 14, and the tips here are of no use to you. This is about Christ pulling you out of one kingdom and bringing you into another kingdom that is different. This is why we have to act differently, because we're in a different kingdom.

It's rooted in him dying to purchase a people and transform them. So you can't unhook these practical exhortations from Jesus. Jesus died for us and now we are to follow Him and to become like Him. That's the whole point of verse 14, is conformity to Christ. Christlikeness.

His work brings us into His kingdom. And then He is the ultimate example. And we look to Him. We draw from him the strength to live in this way. So you come to verse 14 and it's self-help tips for you and you try to live that out without drawing on Christ for strength.

Good luck with that. You are going to fail. That is recipe for discouragement and failure. Christ is the reservoir and we dip into the reservoir for strength that allows you to make progress in these things that are set before us. And in that, we are looking to Christ.

If you want to know how to do any of the things in verse 14 and 15, who do you look to? You look to Jesus Christ. He is the personification of the virtues that are set before us. Meaning, it's how he lived out his life that is how we can see what it looks like to do this the way it ought to be done. So that's the first part of the framework.

This is rooted in the work of Jesus. You have to start there. The second part of the framework, number two, this is about building a culture. This isn't just me and what I do and don't do. Don't come to verses fourteen and fifteen and be strictly individualistic about it because it's not intended to be individualistic.

There are things that you must do or not do in verses 14 and 15, but again don't disconnect that from The big picture which is Christ is building a culture in His Kingdom. He wants His Kingdom to look and feel and be a certain way based on how we relate to each other. Verse 14, our first verse begins this way, Now we exhort you brethren, it's a corporate calling. This is about more than just you and what you do and don't do. This is about us and what we do and don't do as the Lord's people and the kind of culture we have in the kingdom that he's brought us into after fundamentally transforming us.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are spelling out the obligations which create an overall environment for us. This is what the Kingdom of Heaven is supposed to look like, feel like, and be like on this side of heaven. It's supposed to be marked by these things. By giving us together these corporate obligations one to another, he's creating an environment for us that is good for us, that helps us to be like Jesus. The first part of the framework was that it is rooted in the work of Jesus.

The second part of the framework is that this is about building a culture. In the third part of the framework, The last thing I want to say before I start right into the text is different folks need different strokes. You see that in this verse. Different folks, different people need different strokes. Meaning we don't act the same way towards everyone always.

How we relate to people is influenced by their circumstances and their current condition. You don't treat people the same way all the time. It varies, it needs to vary, it must vary, we're called to vary it based on The circumstances in their current condition. Different struggles call for different responses. Have you heard of a one-trick pony?

That's a common expression. It references, let's say, a circus animal. A pony at the circus. They bring out the pony, and the pony does its trick. The pony knows one trick.

And When it comes out, it's only ever going to do one thing. It does its trick. Then you take it back in and feed it. Then you move on to the next town. You're doing another show and it comes out again, what does it do?

It does its trick. That is all it is ever going to do is its trick. Why? Because it is a one trick pony. It doesn't have another trick.

So if you happen to need that trick, you are in luck with that pony. If you need something else, you are out of luck because it is a one trick pony. People in the body of Christ cannot be one trick ponies as we relate to each other. Because you are relating to different people who are in different circumstances in life. If all you are is a one trick pony, you cannot obey verse 14.

Even the same person needs different things from the body of Christ at different times in their life. I mean this is so obvious. And yet, I think we find ourselves with a bent towards being a one trick pony. We sort of have our thing, our bent. And so, whatever comes up, that is the answer.

No, no, not if you're going to obey verse 14. Now something is assumed here. Different folks need different strokes. Something is assumed here. It's assumed that you and I notice that we're not so self-absorbed that we're oblivious to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We're actually taking notice of other people and their disposition and their circumstances of life. And we're not so blinded by just the things that are going on in my life that I'm oblivious to what you need. That's sort of a big assumption. That's no foregone conclusion either, is it? There is a focus on others in this text that we're called to.

We're called to know our brethren and to notice what's going on in their lives so that we can respond appropriately. Okay, here are the four ways that are set before us in which we relate to certain ones. Way number one to relate. Warn those who are unruly. How should we relate to the unruly?

We should warn them. That's exactly what the text says. Who are the unruly? The Greek really helps us to drill down into who the unruly are. Listen to what you find in the lexicon for this Greek word.

Disorderly, out of ranks of soldiers. It's a military term meaning out of ranks. The military calls for discipline. There are rules to be followed in the military. You can imagine a line of soldiers before their commanding officer.

They're all in a line, but one guy's out of line. One guy's out of ranks. This is what it means. This is the unruly. Just filling in what the lexicon says, deviating from the prescribed rule of order.

So the rule of order was, we're in line to be inspected and this is a deviation from that. What's got to happen? You've got to come back into line. You're out of order. You're deviating from what has been prescribed.

Among the Lord's people, It's been prescribed how we think, speak, act, treat each other. And when there's a deviation from that, a significant deviation from that, somebody's got to say, soldier, back in line! You're breaking ranks. You're out of order. This is actually given to all of us together.

Most Christians see someone break ranks, someone's out of order, out of line, and what do they think? Fetch the pastor. Fetch the pastor. We pay a guy for this to bring the guy out of line into line. Somebody called the pastor.

In men's Bible study, A man there said, this is not the pew-warming disengagement that we're used to seeing in the modern church. We're not called to pew-warming disengagement. Where when we see a brother or sister struggling and coming out of line, coming into a place of disorder, that we go fetch the pastor. No, we're not disengaged just here to warm pews. We're a body.

We're a body. We have obligations to each other. More than just the pastor has an obligation when someone is unruly. We, together, should warn them. Brother, this is not right.

Sister, this is not right. You're harming yourself, and you're harming ourselves. You have an impact on us, because we're one body, and you're out of line, and you're hurting you, and you're hurting us. And you should turn around, and go the other direction. You have to come back into line.

Imagine that local church where everyone in the pew understands that when one of us is unruly that all of us have an obligation to say out of line come back into line and this is not licensed to be a jerk among the Lord's people it's not that These warnings can be so gentle that sometimes it's hard to even detect they're a warning. They don't always have to be that way, but they can be that way, and sometimes it's appropriate for them to be that way. But think of that. Think of that church environment where someone begins to drift. Maybe they haven't even seen it yet.

It's possible to drift and not feel it yourself. But their brothers and sisters notice the drift, and they say, out of line, you've got to come back into line. Now, that describes a hard place to be for the consistently unruly. We want the local church to be a hard place to be for the consistently unruly. We don't want it to be an easy place to be unruly.

Because the truth is, if we don't corporately make it a hard place to be for the unruly, you're going to get a lot more unruliness. That's how it works. And if it's all of us together, rather than somebody fetch the pastor, then it actually allows the warnings to be more gentle. If there is a culture, again remember this is about building a culture, if there is a culture where if you are unruly, the expectation should be, there are brothers and sisters coming to you to say back in line, like our Lord has prescribed how we talk and think and walk with one another and you're out of line right here I'm going to show it to you. You said this, the Bible says this, you've got to come back into line.

If a culture is built where we all understand that we all have this obligation, then the warnings can be gentle. But if a culture exists where a warning is the last resort, a warning from the pastor is the last result, then the unruliness has gone unchecked for a long period of time and you're past the point where gentleness is an option. You can see the wisdom of God in this. It catches it early. It doesn't wait for the pastor to take notice.

It doesn't wait until it's escalated to the point where leadership has to be involved. Finally, think of all the time Jesus spent warning the unruly in the Gospels. If you had to make a list, how many times can I think of in the gospels that Jesus warned the unruly, it wouldn't take you long to fill up the page? Here's just one example. In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces the seven woes against the scribes and the Pharisees.

What's he saying? You're out of line. God has prescribed how his people should behave. You're out of line. A woe is a warning.

That's what it is. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. He's warning them that they're soldiers that are out of order, that are out of line, and they have to come back into line. So we look to Jesus in this if we're to be conformed into the image of Jesus, warning the unruly, it should be on our radar. Jesus does that all the time in the gospels.

Matthew 23 and the seven woes against the scribes and Pharisees is just one of many many examples. You can fill up the page with your own. That was number one. Warn those who are unruly. This is a corporate responsibility.

This is all of our responsibility. Way number two to relate. Comfort the faint hearted. So how do children of light relate to the faint hearted? They comfort them.

First, imagine if I comfort the unruly. Because we're going to reach back to the last one. That's not appropriate. You're supposed to warn the unruly. If you're a one-trick pony, and comfort is your trick, If someone's unruly and you're just patting them, comforting them, you're going to get a lot more unruliness.

It's not appropriate. That's not how we do it in the Lord's people. Or think, if you warn the faint-hearted, you and your lack of faith. Back in line. Unbelieving one.

Not appropriate. If you're a one trick pony and warning is all you got When you encounter the faint hearted, they get the warning. Not appropriate. This is not how the Lord's people relate to each other. The faint hearted get comforted when the children of light are relating properly with one another.

No, we comfort the faint hearted. Look back to chapter 2 verse 14. These exhortations are written to a specific church. What has that church been going through? Chapter 2 verse 14, For you brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus.

For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen just as they did from the Judeans. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy look back at this church and they say, wow, the things you're going through are just like the church in Judea. What were they going through? Intense persecution to the point of martyrdom. We don't have any evidence of Thessalonians that were martyred but you can't rule that out based on chapter 2 verse 14.

It says you're imitating them. You're suffering the same thing from your countrymen as the Judean Church is suffering from their countrymen. And we know what kind of persecutions they were being subjected to in Jerusalem. Do you think that can make new believers faint-hearted? The people who brought the gospel chased out of town in a couple of months.

So they're left without their spiritual fathers in the faith. They're experiencing the same persecutions that they were experiencing in Jerusalem. Intense persecution. You think that can make new believers who haven't really learned about the faithfulness of God over a period of decades, you think that can make them fainthearted? Of course it can make them faint hearted.

It's a wonder they weren't all faint hearted. Maybe they had saving faith. Maybe they had small faith, though. They definitely had new faith. And Faith grows over time, don't you know it?

So they needed to be encouraged not to give up. They needed to be comforted and encouraged. This is how Matthew Poole describes the faint hearted. Such as dare not venture upon hazardous duties, or faint under the fears or feelings of afflictions, or are dejected under the sense of sin and their own unworthiness, or fears of God's wrath and assaulted by temptations which endanger their falling. The point out of the Matthew Poole quote is there are a lot of things that can make you faint hearted in the world.

Life brings a lot of things to your doorstep that can make you faint hearted. Here's Matthew Poole's list. Hazardous duties. Have you ever been face to face with hazardous duties and been faint hearted? Feeling of afflictions.

Have you ever been face to face with feelings of afflictions and been faint hearted? A sense of sin and unworthiness. Anybody here never been under a sense of sin and unworthiness that made you faint hearted? What are you crazy? Of course, of course we've all been under a sense of that.

And been faint hearted. We've all been assaulted by temptations and just felt like we weren't going to make it one more day. And been faint hearted. Listen to Isaiah chapter 35 verse 4. Isaiah 35, 4.

Say to those who are fearful hearted, Be strong, do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. Isaiah tells us what we should say to the fearful hearted. I think that's a subset of the fainthearted.

What should we say to them? God will save you. We can look the fainthearted in the eye, we should look the fainthearted in the eye, and tell them with great confidence that God will save them, that God will deliver them. When you have a brother or sister who is faint hearted, what do you say? You point him or her to God.

You point them to God. This is how we comfort the faint hearted. We don't just pan a smiley face over the top of the thing that is making them faint hearted. Turn the frown upside down. That's how you comfort the faint hearted.

Just turn that frowny face upside down. See, it's now a happy face. No, we point them to God. We give them God. Because God is faithful and he delivers his people and he sustains you through anything.

That's what he does for his children. So we say to them, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. Acknowledge our God in all your ways and He will direct your paths. That's a close paraphrase of Proverbs 3, 5, and 6.

A faithful God is what the faint-hearted need. And that's what we have. That's what we have to offer is a God who will come and save his people at the right moment. You say, well, he's been slow, but he'll come. That's what we should tell them.

He'll come. He'll deliver you. You give them God. Finally, think of all the time that Jesus spent comforting the faint-hearted in the Gospels. Again, fill up the page.

Read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John or think through them in your mind. Just the accounts of Jesus and what he did when he was walking on the earth and think of how many times he comforted the faint hearted. Here's just one precious example. The woman with an issue of blood in Matthew chapter 9. If there was ever a faint hearted person in scripture, it was the woman with the issue of blood in Matthew chapter 9.

It had been happening for 12 years, and she's out of money. She's already spent it on the physicians. But instead of them making her better, she only got worse. I'm sure it was a blessing to her to be healed. If that's all you come away with is physical improvement from that, The beauty of it for this woman is that God took notice of her.

After twelve years, He took notice and He delivered her. And she went home knowing that God was for her. This is the comfort that we have to offer to the faint hearted, is Jesus and a hundred stories of how he comforted the faint hearted. Like the woman with the issue of blood for 12 years. That was the second way to relate.

Warn those who are unruly. Come from the faint hearted. Now, way number three to relate. Uphold the weak. How should children of light relate with the weak?

They should uphold them. We should uphold them. The idea is that there is a person on the verge of collapsing from lack of strength. That's the picture. Teetering, teetering, on the way down, Children of light come right up under the arm and uphold the week.

There are two texts that I want us to consider that are very relevant. First listen to Matthew 12 20. In Matthew 12 20, it's not Jesus speaking, it's our Gospel writer speaking or writing. And Matthew is actually quoting Isaiah 42. It's a messianic prophecy.

It's a foretelling about the Messiah, the Redeemer. Matthew quotes Isaiah 42 and says, this is Jesus. This is from that quote. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench. This is a picture given to us by the prophet Isaiah of what the Messiah will be like.

There will be a reed, a damaged reed, But when the Messiah comes, he won't break the reed. There will be a smoking flax, like the light is just about to go out. But the Messiah, he won't quench that flax. Quite the contrary. Jesus is the friend to sinners.

Jesus is the best friend of the weak. Because he knows How to uphold the bruised reed and to uphold the smoking flax. Gently blow on the smoking flax so that it bursts into flame. And to gently handle the bruised reed so that it recovers and is stronger than ever. This is the Messiah.

The bruised reeds have nothing to fear from the Messiah. The smoking flax has nothing to fear from the Messiah. He knows how to bring that to flame. To bring that to strength. And he does it.

Here's the second. I want you to turn here to 1 Corinthians 12. I'm going to sort of cheat. I'm saying this is one, but I'm going to sneak a second one in 1 Corinthians. Here's the second text, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, I'd like to read verses 20 through 26.

Follow along. But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. No, much rather those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. Those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor.

And our un-presentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. For if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it." What does 1 Corinthians 12 teach us?

It teaches us not to despise the weak. Like again, we Again, we have to support this brother again. This brother is still weak after all this time. It teaches us that we actually need the weak. In verse 22, the weak are called necessary.

That's a different way to look at it. The Weak are necessary. We need the weak. We can't be what God is making us into unless we have the weak to uphold. They're actually necessary.

They actually make us flex and use our muscles. The weak are necessary. It's good. It teaches us that this is part of God's plan. Verse 24.

God composed the body. Now that raises the stakes for how we think about the weak. Because if God composed the body to despise the weak is to despise how God has done things. Now it's off of the personality and it's on to your view about how God is proceeding in world history. When you despise the weak person, you've despised how God is proceeding in world history, and you should repent.

It teaches us that we should have the same care for one another. Those are the words of verse 25. Having the week in the body of Christ is not unusual. It's necessary. It teaches us to care.

It pulls us out of our fixation with ourselves. We're in our little world with our blinders on where we only see our own circumstances and we only care about things that are directly related to us and it pulls us out of that. It forces us out of that and it's good. It's wise of God to have composed the body this way. He's wise.

He's smarter than you. That's why the weak are among the Lord's people. Now what does God have in mind? Paul's already told us in 1 Corinthians, flip to chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, he speaks of the weak and it makes it so crystal clear and beautiful of why God has composed the body this way.

By the way, as an aside, nobody thinks they're weak. Everybody thinks it's the other guy. That's why, back in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it said, those who seem to be weak, seem to be weak. Alright, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, I'd like to read verses 26 through 31, through the end of the chapter. Follow along.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. And the base things of the world, and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

That as it is written, He who glories, Let him glory in the Lord. That's probably why you're in the Lord, is that you're a weak thing. That's probably why you're here. That's probably why I'm here. God can glorify himself by taking the weak and then bringing them into his kingdom and then over time making them strong.

He glorifies himself by doing that. That's probably why you and I are here. Finally, the Gospels are full of Jesus upholding the weak. Think of the father in Mark chapter 9, this desperate father whose son has a devil that keeps trying to destroy him by throwing him into the water and into the fire. He'll just become rigid and foam at the mouth.

It's been that way since his youth. Nothing has been able to change it. He's even brought his son to the disciples while Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and his disciples pray and nothing happens. He comes to Jesus and says, Jesus, if you can do anything about this. Jesus says, if you can believe.

What does the Father say? I believe. Help my unbelief. This is Jesus upholding the week. Or Peter in Matthew chapter 14.

Jesus says, he's on the water. They thought he was a ghost, but he says, in his eye, don't be afraid. Peter says, if it's you, tell me to come out to you. Jesus says, come on. Peter comes on.

And the water is supporting him, but the view of the wind and the waves erodes his faith and he begins to sink. And Jesus literally upholds the weak. He grabs him by the hand and he keeps him from sinking. That's just a picture. It's just a picture that Jesus upholds the week.

Peter's faith isn't what it should be. But not a word of rebuke. Not five seconds underwater so he learns his lesson. But he reaches out and he literally upholds the weak in faith. It's just a picture to show what Jesus is like.

That's number three, uphold the weak. Number four, finally. Way number four to relate. Be patient with all. How should children of light relate to everyone?

They should be patient. So how should you warn the unruly with patience? How should you comfort the faint hearted with patience? But we dealt with that. We dealt with your faint hearted self.

We dealt with your unruly self. There might have to be more than one warning for the unruly. There might have to be more than one set of words of comfort for the faint hearted. How should you uphold the weak with patience? You're still weak?

How should you correct the erring with patience? How should you admonish the one who can't quite seem to get free from the besetting sin with patience? You sinned that way again? Patience. How should you deal with everyone with patience?

Now that doesn't mean that we ignore and tolerate sin. That's how patience is. What kind of definition of patience says we ignore and tolerate sin? So we shouldn't think of it that way. That means we persistently address with patience.

We just keep at it. That does mean that we deal with others as we have been dealt with by God. This is really the point. This is just about extending to others what you've received from the Lord. How patient has God been with you?

Oh heavens, heavens, think of the answer to that question. How patient has God been with you? Okay then extend to that kind of patience however much it is just extend that much We'll just say you don't have to go beyond that It isn't one and done it isn't even three strikes in your out It's that we forgive 70 times 7 Isn't that what the disciples asked Jesus? How many times do I have to forgive him? Seven?

Seventy times seven. Forgiveness is just one category of many, but that's the math. That's the patience math that is given to us in our text. 70 times 7. We keep going back.

We keep encouraging. We keep warning. We keep praying. I haven't even talked about prayer. That's a negligence on my part.

We really have six mini sermons in this sermon. You have to appreciate how dense the teaching is where we are in 1st Thessalonians 5. If we chose to make these two verses a six part series, you could do it like that. You think we can't do a full length sermon on warn the unruly, or on comfort the faint-hearted, or on uphold the weak, or on be patient with all, or on not rendering evil for evil, or on doing good to all. Those are easy, easy, easy.

If you did a sermon on each one of them, you would have a rich scripture testimony on each of them. So we're actually going fast, even though It doesn't feel like it to you. It feels like it to me. After studying this, I have an appreciation for how dense where we are in 1 Thessalonians 5 is. I don't want you to miss that.

Not one and done. Not three strikes and you're out. It's seventy times seven. 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, verse 4, love suffers long. It's the same word that is rendered be patient with all.

It's the exact same Greek word. Love suffers long. Galatians 5.22, the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering. It's just a variant of the exact same word.

It's the same word. A different part of speech. It's part of the definition of love. What is love? Love suffers long.

That's part of love. It's a fruit of the Spirit. If the Spirit of God is working in your life, this is one of the things that's being developed. Long suffering, the ability to do 70 times 7, not one and done or three strikes and you're out. Here's what Matthew Henry says, This duty must be exercised towards all men, good and bad, high and low.

We must not be high in our expectations and demands, nor harsh in our resentments, nor hard in our impositions, but endeavor to make the best we can of everything and think the best we can of everybody." This is a life of patience. Making the best you can of everything, thinking the best you can of everybody. You keep going back. And you keep going back. And it's not, if you do that one more time, we're finished.

Only if you want God to be finished with you, if you do it one more time. That's the gospel deal. The words of Matthew 18 are frightening. If you don't forgive, God won't forgive you. Finally, think of how many times you've marveled over the patience of Jesus in the Gospels, especially with His disciples.

Think of how many times you've said to yourself, how can they not get this? And expecting the next verse to be rebuke, to find Jesus being patient. How many times in your reading of the Gospel have you expected rebuke in the next verse? But it never comes. He's patient.

He saves his rebukes for certain things. Verse 15. We're back in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We're done with the four ways to relate to others. Now verse fifteen.

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. So if you're taking notes on the handout, it's see to it that you're brethren, don't do this and do that. You're filling in blanks, it's brethren this do. See to it that your brethren don't do this and do that. The don't do this is rendering evil for evil, the do that is pursuing good.

First, notice that this also is corporate. I'm going to mix this with the first part of verse 14. We exhort you brethren, see that no one renders evil for evil. So We have a joint corporate responsibility to see to it that we have a culture where it just won't do to render evil for evil. It is true that I shouldn't render evil for evil, but this is teaching something that's beyond that.

This is teaching that we should have a culture, build a culture, cultivate a culture, nurture a culture, where it's not acceptable for any of us to render evil for evil. This is corporate. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy began with what we must not do, rendering evil for evil, repaying evil with evil. Payback! No payback!

Now again, These are a people facing evil treatment. We saw that in chapter 2 verse 14. They're being treated like the church in Jerusalem is being treated by their countrymen. So they're under intense persecution. They're being treated in evil ways.

So This is not an intellectual exercise for them. This is real life. People are being evil to you. You are not allowed to be evil back. Who can tell me what the golden rule is?

I'll quote it exactly from Luke 6.31. Just as you want men to do to you, you also do likewise to them. In our home, we have the Purple Rule. It's the flip-flop of that. I asked Janet this morning, why the Purple Rule?

She said, I don't know, It's totally arbitrary. It's just because it's not gold. We're from Greenville, so ECU is purple and gold. We have the purple rule, which is, do unto others as they have done to you. We call the purple rule all the time.

When someone is responding in kind in our home, it gets called. Oh, the purple rule, that's what Jesus wants us to do. We do to others as they have done to us. Right? The purple rule.

We use sarcasm as a powerful tool in our home. Purple rule. Doing to others as they have done to you. Responding kindly. Isn't that what Jesus told us to do?

No, that's the exact opposite of what Jesus told us to do. You're supposed to do to others as you would like for them to do to you. Now, I want you to see the Golden Rule in context. So turn to Luke chapter 6. This is our last cross reference.

Luke chapter 6. The Golden Rule is embedded right in the middle of this. But it's essentially a sermon on not rendering evil for evil, but always pursuing the good. So it's Jesus' sermon on 1 Thessalonians 5, 15. Luke chapter 6, I'll be reading 27 through 36.

Luke chapter 6, 27. Jesus says, But I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.

And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back and just as you want men to do to you you also do to them likewise but if you love those who love you what credit is that to you Or even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Or even sinners do the same.

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? Or even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High, for He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore, be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." That's the whole point there at the end. According to Ephesians 5.1, as dear children we are to imitate God.

This is just trying to be like God. What does the verse say? He His kindness to the unthankful and the evil is almost unfathomable. It's not hard to imagine why he destroys the wicked. It's hard to imagine why he withholds it, why he's so patient, why he gives so much time to repent.

Why he makes the offer so freely and broadly. We're to be like him. We're not to render evil for evil. So what must we do? Always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all.

We're given the when, what, and for whom. When, always. Always pursue what is good for yourselves and for all. Always. Never off duty, never on vacation.

When you go on vacation, you still look for opportunities to do good. What? Pursue what is good. This isn't a vision of someone who stumbles across an opportunity to do good. If you stumble across one, do it.

Do the good. If you stumble across the wounded man in the story of the good Samaritan, and by all means do good to him. This is a person who has actually gone beyond that, who is pursuing what is good, seeking it out. Matthew Poole says, it's not enough to avoid doing bad. That's really the point.

There's two sides to this coin. You get them both in the verse. Don't render evil for evil. Don't do evil to people. But it's not enough to just withhold responding in kind.

We're to pursue what is good. For whom? For those who are inside and for those who are outside. Who does that leave? Nobody.

There's only inside and outside. That's it. Listen to Galatians chapter 6 verses 9 and 10. Galatians 6 verses 9 and 10. And let us not grow weary while doing good.

For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. I think the same thing is being taught here in 1 Thessalonians 5. We prioritize the brethren, but we don't limit to the brethren in doing good. We prioritize them, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

We have a duty even beyond to our brothers and sisters in Christ. But not only a duty to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not limited in pursuing good just to the people who are Christians, who are in the faith now. God has plans that will be accomplished to expand His Kingdom. It's the doing of good that is part of that plan.

They see us doing good works and they glorify our Father in heaven. That's part of the plan to expand the kingdom. Very important that we pursue what is good, both for yourselves in-house and for all out-of-house. Finally, who is the ultimate example of both not rendering evil for evil and always pursuing what is good? Jesus, Of course Jesus.

What's the ultimate example of that? The cross. We talk about not rendering evil for evil, but instead pursuing good. It's the cross. It's the cross.

Jesus is the reservoir that we pull from for all of this. We follow in his steps with the strength that he has purchased with his blood. Applications. Three obvious and simple. Application number one.

Send your roots deep into the gospel. Send your roots down to that river. If we turn this into self-help or success tips, we totally fail. The only way you go about actually having verses 14 and 15 established in your life is to send the roots down deep into the atoning work of Jesus Christ. That's where the joy is that you need to go relate to other people in these ways.

You have to be a full person. You have to be an overflowing person to do this consistently, to live this way, to relate to others this way consistently over years and decades. You have to be overflowing. You have to send your roots down to the Gospel and drink of that in abundance. Number two, study Jesus.

I've tried to peg every one of these six things in the two verses back to Jesus to show our best example, Our best bet in imitating somebody who has done this right is to look at the Gospel. Study Jesus. We can never be in the Gospels too much. You can be in other places too little. That much is true.

You can be in the minor prophets too little, but you can't be in the gospels too much. Here's a thought. Go read a gospel this week. Mark's the short one if you want a short one. Speed read it.

Meaning don't worry that you can't savor every verse, but just read it through. Not in one sitting, I don't have that kind of attention span, but just, hey this week, gobble up a gospel and just watch Jesus. Watch him on the pages of the Gospel of Mark or pick your one. See how he talks. See how he relates.

See how he warns the unruly, or comforts the faint hearted, or upholds the weak, or is patient with all, or doesn't render evil for evil, or always pursues what is good. And then number three, go and do likewise in the way you relate to others. Look at Jesus, study him, study him hard. Then go and do likewise in how you relate to others. Father, I thank you for your word, it is a treasure.

God, we are in awe of how dense this section of 1 Thessalonians 5 is. Every phrase is a deep well. I feel like we've just skimmed a little off the top for every one of these phrases, but I thank you even for that. Even that is rich, Lord. Thank you for your Word.

There are no other words in the world that is like your Word. Thank you for this great treasure that you've given to your people because you love us. Thank you Lord for your love. In Jesus' name, Amen.