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Growing a Healthy Church 1 Thess 5:12-28 · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  It's good to be back together and in God's word. If you guys have your Bibles, you can open to 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5, we are actually going to finish the book of 1 Thessalonians this morning. Next week, we'll begin our Christmas series. And then in January, pick up in 2 Thessalonians. But we finished the book this morning. I have loved this study because, and I've said this almost every week, this book describes people like us. People who are broken and imperfect and incomplete. People who sin and who fail.
• 0:30
  who have trappings and vices. It describes real people with real problems. And that is me. I need a real gospel. I don't need something fake. I don't need to just mouth words. That's not what I need. I need real salvation from a real Savior. And that's what this book has been about. Allow me to read our passage this morning, and then we'll pray and begin. Beginning in verse 12 and going to the end.
• 0:59
  It says, 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. 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. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.
• 1:28
  Give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit and soul and body become blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
• 1:57
  I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. God, I pray that you bless the preaching, reading, hearing of your word today. We thank you, Lord, that we have it. We thank you, Lord, that we own one. We thank you, God, that you've given us your spirit to teach us according to your word. We pray, Lord, that you would also break our hearts where we need to be convicted. I pray that we would be encouraged where we need to be encouraged.
• 2:25
  God, conform our lives to the pattern of your word and not to the pattern of this world. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, the church is the most blessed institution on earth because it is the only institution on earth was Christ himself as its head. It is the only institution on earth which Christ promised to eternally bless. And it is the only institution on earth promised to overcome the gates of hell.
• 2:57
  Our little church here in Westminster is meant to be a microcosm of the church as a whole. In other words, what Christ is doing through his people on a global level, he is also doing on a local level through Highlanders.
• 3:12
  Around the world, Christ is calling people out of darkness and into his marvelous light. He is pushing against the enemy's kingdom and reclaiming ground in people's hearts and minds. He is raising and training and sending out missionaries. He is planting and replanting churches, and he has called us to participate in this where we are. But today's church, today's church culture seems to have become obsessed.
• 3:44
  With growth. There is an unparalleled number of church growth books being published and purchased. Many pastors have become preoccupied with numbers. How many people in attendance? How much can we increase our budget? How many giving units can we attract to our churches? That was a startling thing for me to realize. That there are people.
• 4:13
  who call their people pastors who call their people giving units rather than people and don't get me wrong our desire as a church is to grow we want to grow right but our definition of growth might be slightly different we want the lord to be magnified he is exalted forever exalted on high right that's why we sing those songs we want what john the baptist wanted when he said that christ must increase and he himself must
• 4:43
  decrease man that's a book that's not going to sell very many copies there's a church growth book jesus bigger us smaller for a church to function properly there are horizontal responsibilities there are relationships in the church among people and pastors leaders shepherds and sheep that must flourish and thrive but there are also vertical responsibilities between the people of god
• 5:11
  to their God. And what we have this morning are the ingredients necessary for a growing, healthy, vibrant church. You guys, many of you guys know this story. So excuse me for saying it again, but I don't know that I've ever shared some of these pictures with you guys. When Chase, my youngest son, was born, he was very small. And here's a picture of the day that he was born. He had to go into the NICU, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
• 5:42
  He was in the ICU for two weeks to grow. He was small. They said unexplained growth restricted, which means he was nearly full term, somewhere around 36 weeks, 35, 36 weeks. So not necessarily super premature, but he was only just a shade under four pounds. He was about three and a half pounds when he was born. Tiny. Here's another picture of him. You guys can see some scale. There he is, his little wrists and ankles.
• 6:09
  where honestly his legs were about the width of my pinky finger. He was a tiny little dude. Here's another one just a couple of days after he was born. You can see my hand there. That's me holding him. He was just a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny little guy. And nothing wrong with him necessarily. They couldn't figure out what was going on with him. But they just said, we're going to put him in intensive care because he needs to grow.
• 6:39
  For two weeks, Hallie and I, every three hours, night and day, went to the intensive care unit to go and visit and feed our son. We have to scrub in every time, three minutes at the special sink with the nurses watching.
• 6:52
  right? There was actually a little timer that would actually click down the three minutes. They give you this Brillo pad thing and soap and you scrub from elbows down every three hours for three minutes. I mean, our skin was completely raw, irritated, disgusting, horrible. It hurts so bad by the end of that two weeks because every three hours we're doing this just to go in and pick him up. We couldn't touch him without doing that. They didn't want him to become infected or sick. But every three hours we'd go and feed him. And there was this
• 7:22
  number of grams goal that we had to get to they wanted him to be 1800 grams before they would let him come home which is basically the equivalent to a couple of cans of soup that's basically what it is
• 7:36
  And so 1,800 grams, and we're just kind of climbing and climbing and climbing and then dipping and climbing and dipping. Over the course of that two weeks, we finally have our final weigh-in, and we were praying for a certain doctor because this one doctor was a little more lenient on the 1,800 grams than some of the other ones were. So if you get into the 17s, he might let you come home, but bring in your little car seat, you know, and they only make one size for those car seats. You bring it in, you set it down. I mean, and Chase, when he was done, you know, I'd hold his head like this, and his little rear end would...
• 8:05
  only come down to about there so i'm holding them in one hand you put it in the car seat and he just disappears you know and those straps that are meant to come down over their shoulders and clip right here we're above his head clipping above his head like how he's not going to stay in there you know and the nurse i mean honestly just looked at me and the day we brought him home the nurse just looked at him and then looked at me and said just don't get an accident you just don't don't get an accident on the way home he needs to grow i remember the the doctor giving us
• 8:34
  This formula, these formula supplements, calorie supplements for Chase, each one of these little bottles that he was eating were 21 calories. 21 calories, like a stick of gum. You know, 21 calories. And then the nurse said one time, but we put a calorie booster in there. So his are 23 calories. 23 calories, that's nothing.
• 9:00
  When we were finally leaving, we got the lenient doctor and he was into the 17s and we could finally take him home. This little, little tiny boy, the doctor looked at us on our way out. I'm not kidding. He said this, do not let this child cry. You cannot let him cry. I thought, well, why not? You know, our other boys were both nine pounds when they were born.
• 9:23
  You know, they tried crying to get their way. We just let them go, you know, cry all you want. You're not getting picked up. You know, you eat when we say eat, you know, that kind of thing. We're in charge. You're not in charge. But this one, he said, do not let the baby cry. If you do, he will starve himself to death. The calories he burns crying are more than the calories that he can take in eating. You cannot let him cry. For the next four years, Hallie basically held Chase.
• 9:51
  For the next four years, every night he can't cry. He will starve to death. Isn't that crazy? The doctor said, if you want this boy to grow and thrive, if you want him to have a vibrant life, you look at him now like, man, he's doing great. He's awesome.
• 10:05
  Last year we went to the doctor. The doctor, relatively new with us, new with Chase, doesn't know Chase's story, sat us down. He thought he had really bad news. You know, the doctor sat us down, the pediatrician. He said, why don't you guys sit down? He's coming in great on height, but his weight is actually very small. He's in the seventh percentile in weight. He thought he was delivering bad news to us. It was actually great news.
• 10:26
  Like, whoa, we made it to seven. That is great. The doctor said, well, wait, how big was he when he was born? We told him three and a half pounds, less than the first percentile. And he says, never mind, seven is awesome. Seven is great. Just keep feeding that kid as much butter, as much cream cheese as he wants. Just give him as much as he wants. Try to get some pounds on that kid. If you want him to grow, if you want him to be healthy and strong, we were ordered by our doctor to follow specific directions.
• 10:56
  We want them to grow, follow the directions. The Lord's commendation this morning is pretty simple. You guys see it here. There's no deep theology in our passage this morning, right? Pretty much just simple statements about how to treat one another. Simple statements. You want a healthy, a vibrant, a God-honoring church? Do you want your church to grow in all the right ways? Then follow the directions.
• 11:20
  Follow the directions. There are two horizontal relationships we're going to talk about this morning and then one vertical. The first horizontal relationship, people to people, are between the pastor and his people. The leaders. What the Bible describes using words synonymously. Elders, shepherds, pastors, overseers. Some church traditions even use the word bishops. Bishops. All of that class.
• 11:49
  is what i'm describing as the leaders of the church if you want a healthy vibrant church then the leaders must lead which means they must also be followed look at verses 12 and 13 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 and so be at peace among yourselves
• 12:18
  1 Peter 5, verse 1 says this, I exhort the elders among you, shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly as God would have you. Not for shameful gain, but eagerly. Not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. The Lord appoints leaders in every church.
• 12:48
  and imbues them with authority. Notice in verse 12, it says these leaders are over you. Do you see that in verse 12? They are over you. The Lord imbues these leaders with authority, but notice also that this is not meant to become a dictatorship, that this is not meant to be tyrannical, but rather a theocracy with the Lord as their head and these leaders as what the Bible describes as under shepherds. They are over you, but it says,
• 13:18
  In the Lord. In the Lord. So let's look first at what these leaders are to do, and then we'll look at what the leaders deserve. Leaders are to labor among you. They are to labor among you. The word for labor is from the Greek word, which means exhibiting great effort and exertion to the point of exhaustion. Can you imagine that? You go to a church, he says, where the leaders aren't tired, then something's wrong.
• 13:50
  The faithful man of God is willing to work diligently at his role as spiritual elder, advisor, counselor, disciple maker, and teacher. He should be the example of hard work and a God-honoring work ethic. He must understand that his privileged position means a higher expectation on him from God and from his people. And yet some of the laziest men I have ever met have been pastors. Crazy to me.
• 14:22
  listen to what john macarthur says about it successful leadership in the church comes to those willing to work to exhaustion for the sake of the divine mandates and spiritual objectives embracing the proclamation of the gospel the establishment of churches and the edification of believers they really aren't in it for the money he says the leaders of the church should be leaders they should work themselves to the point of exhaustion not because it's the right thing to do not because
• 14:51
  They get paid to do it. But because there really are souls at stake, there really are souls at stake. If there's a man just going through the motions, then he's not pastoring the people as if their souls are at stake. Not many people know this, but I actually meet with...
• 15:12
  A group of men here from our church, about 10 men, if they all show up on the same Tuesday morning, there are 10 of them, Tuesday mornings at 6.30 a.m. here in my office, 6.30 in the morning, from 6.30 until 8 for an hour and a half. We walk together, we talk, we laugh, we pray. I've opened the door for them. We read all kinds of books together. I've opened the door for them to ask me any question they want about any topic, anything in the church. My thought is I want to give them kind of an open door.
• 15:39
  If these men are considering going into ministry, being pastors, missionaries, elders here in the church, in fact, I can see this church being blessed by those men someday in coming generations. I've been asked before, why 6.30 in the morning? Why 6.30? It's not because of my schedule. It's because I want to make it hard. Honestly, don't tell them I said this. But I just plain want to make it hard. I want to see which of these guys, you want to be an elder in the church?
• 16:12
  Are you willing to tell your body who's boss? When that alarm clock goes off at five o'clock in the morning and you have to wake up and you got to put your big boy pants on, right? And you got to start drinking coffee because you got to get your devotions. You got to get your time in the word. You got to get your time in the prayer. And then to be here on time for 630, I want to see which of them is willing to do it. Ministry is hard. And he recognizes that right up front.
• 16:37
  He says, those who labor among you. Not only is the shepherd meant to be a laborer, he's also a teacher. This says that he will admonish you. To admonish means to give instruction that applies to daily life. He's not just a teacher. He's a teacher that has something good to say. I can't figure out boring sermons. I'm over them. You know where you're shifting and twitching and checking your watch and you're like, man, wrap it up.
• 17:06
  This is not life-changing message, right? This isn't life-changing preaching. He says the godly leader must have something good to say. The shepherd must teach God's people not only what the word says, but how it must be lived out. He must be an effective teacher. His preaching must spark a hunger and a thirst for righteousness. And yet some of the most boring men I've ever met have been Bible teachers. I can't figure that out. Richard Baxter, Puritan writer.
• 17:37
  wrote a book called The Reformed Pastor in the year 1656. We're coming up on 400 years later. And guess what the book was about? At least this section of the book was complaining about boring preaching. Listen to what he says. So great a God whose message we deliver should be honored by our delivery of it. God should be honored, not only in the content of the message, but in the delivery as well. Did you catch that?
• 18:09
  It is a lamentable case that in a message from the God of heaven, of everlasting moment to the souls of men, we should behave ourselves so weakly, so unhandsomely, so imprudently, so slightly, that the whole business should miscarry in our hands. God should be dishonored, His work disgraced, and sinners rather hardened than converted, and all this through our weakness or neglect.
• 18:39
  How often have carnal hearers gone home jeering at the palpable and dishonorable failings of the preacher, not of the message being preached? How many are asleep under us because our hearts and tongues are sleepy? We bring not with us so much skill and zeal to awaken them? That's the pastor's job. The pastor is to work, even to the point of exhaustion. The shepherd is to admonish and teach God's people should spark.
• 19:10
  a hunger and thirst for righteousness. But what do they deserve? That's what they do. What do they deserve? Notice it says two things. We ask you brothers to respect those who labor among you. And verse 13 says to esteem them very highly in love. Sheep are very often difficult animals to tend. One of my spiritual giants, spiritual heroes in my life was a man named Florence Suedos. He was Hallie's high school youth pastor. He was the one, he and his wife led Hallie to the Lord. In fact,
• 19:43
  His wife said this to me when she found out I was going to be a pastor. She said, Danny, being called to tend God's flock is the greatest privilege a man can have. But don't forget that sheep can bite. And thus, sheep can make the pastor's job an absolute joy or an absolute nightmare. And the Lord issues two commands to the sheep as they relate to their church leaders. To the sheep, he says, respect them.
• 20:08
  The shepherds, overseers, pastors, elders among you respect them. It could also be understood as having intimate knowledge of them. It involves a deep personal relationship that becomes the basis for appreciation and devotion. You say, well, why do I need to know my pastor to that degree? Why should I know my pastor so well in intimate knowledge? And the reason is this, because it is easy to criticize a stranger, but to criticize a loved one is a lot more difficult.
• 20:39
  You should know, he says, the men who have been appointed over you. Know them well. Have intimate knowledge of them. And then lastly, he says, to esteem them very highly in love. This phrase means to hold them in the highest honor, to make their respect limitless. A shepherd is called to a difficult task based upon his ability to feed the sheep, a process which, although a privilege, can only be described, I think, as a mental, spiritual, emotional
• 21:10
  To stand in front of people every week, and this is not a complaint, this is an observation, but to stand in front of people every week is hard. It's hard to have something new to say. It's hard to have something challenging to say. It's hard to consider the fact that not everybody out there is necessarily on your side. That you receive criticism rather than encouragement. I heard C.J. Mahaney one time.
• 21:37
  The pastor of Sovereign Grace Ministries say, every 40 minute sermon feels like eight hours of hard labor. Alistair Begg, one of my favorite pastors of all time, favorite Bible teacher said this, I preach every Sunday and I quit every Monday. I preach every Sunday and I quit every Monday. And there is nothing, church, there is nothing as blessed as a sheep who is determined to encourage their shepherds.
• 22:04
  There is nothing better than that. A sheep who is determined to encourage their elders, encourage their overseers, encourage their shepherds. There is nothing better than that. And I'm telling you, if you will adopt that mentality, the way that this says, I'm not making this up. I know it sounds very self-serving. But verse 13 says, esteem them very highly in love because of their work. I am telling you that if you will take on that mentality, I am going to go and encourage those men appointed over me as elders, shepherds, pastors, whatever. That is going to be my job.
• 22:33
  then there is nothing those men won't do for you. It is a joy. It's a joy. The Lord fills you with energy for the task. Man, I would love to serve the people who encourage. Hebrews 13, 17, Obey your leaders, submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. And let them do this with joy and not with groaning.
• 23:00
  for that would be of no advantage to you. He says to the shepherds, he says, you better be teaching, you better be working. To the sheep, he says, respect and esteem them highly. Make it a joy for them to lead you. That's first. That's this horizontal relationship between elders and the people. What about between people and people?
• 23:21
  Notice in verses 14, there are people that must be served. He continues in verse 14. 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. So there is an element of a healthy, vibrant, life-giving church that has nothing to do necessarily with the elders, but rather how we treat one another. The sheep have a responsibility to help the sheep.
• 23:51
  Admonish the idle. The same word for disorderly. There are some who attend Highland, but do nothing. They do nothing else. They come, they sit, they leave. And we love you. If that's you, we love you. We're glad you're here, but we want you to progress to the point that you're actually coming in looking for ways to minister to others. Progression in that. Admonish the idle. Encourage the faint-hearted, the despondent, the worriers, the fearful.
• 24:20
  the people who have been paralyzed into inaction, the discouraged that must be encouraged. Let's be a people who will come alongside one another and help them over this faint-heartedness, over this despondency. He says, help the weak, the dependent. Paul's exhortation for the weak.
• 24:41
  is that the church grab a hold of and hold firmly to them. The spiritually strong are to stand alongside the weak. And my question this morning is, who are you holding up? Who are you holding up? It's such a funny trend that we can slip into. There's this rut that we feel like everything in the church is meant for us. We are meant to be encouraged. We are meant to be the one, right? It's all directed at us. We adopt this consumer attitude with the church, and that's not what it's meant to be.
• 25:10
  If you're brand new in the church, if you're brand new to Christ, then sit and let us bless you. But otherwise, come alongside somebody else. Hold one another up. Continues, he says, be patient with them all. All of them, no matter how different. Perhaps the most difficult challenge a shepherd faces is the great variety of people God has called to his church. Much simpler to lead homogenous groups.
• 25:40
  than one made up of people from different ages and cultures this is why it's easier to lead sages than it is to lead the whole church it's easier to lead young adults than it is to lead the whole church as you know we never have complaints about the music at young adults we never do why because everybody in there basically likes the same kind of music so we play the music they like much more difficult to try to appeal to a large spectrum of people does that make sense
• 26:12
  It also explains, I think, the great draw right now to house churches. I'm not going to say anything against house churches, praise God for house churches, pray that God advances his kingdom through house churches, but it also explains the great draw to those house churches because it's just plain fun to meet with people in your living room with only the people who are just like you. If you could do church by invitation only, right?
• 26:46
  Like, oh, yeah, that seems kind of fun. I mean, you know, we were here on Friday decorating with a few families here from church. You know, some friends of ours. It's kind of become a fun tradition the Friday after Thanksgiving. We were here four or five hours putting up the leaning Christmas tree and the wreaths and all of that stuff, and it was fun. You know, I thought there was, I don't know, 25 of us. I thought, man, our kids get along with all of them. I thought, man, these people are easy to talk to. Let's just meet in my basement, right?
• 27:17
  Us form no more. That's it. Like, that's not the church. Why? Because people would get left out. I guarantee there would be people who wouldn't ever get invited. Right? But man, when you've got your doors open, you just say, all welcome. All welcome. You're inviting people who are different than you. I don't mean hard. I mean different.
• 27:44
  It is good for us to gather. It is good for those young adults to mix in and to have to sing songs they don't necessarily like. And guess what? It's good for you sages too. It's good for you guys. We try to build a mix up there, right? We want one song every week that everybody likes, but there's probably going to be a song that you don't like. And that's a good thing.
• 28:05
  It challenges us. It pushes us to grow in our faith and to serve one another. Man, that's wonderful. Be patient with them all. See that no one repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. The disruptive people in your church. Perhaps the toughest job of all is to obey the command of this little phrase. We must be a people who refuse to retaliate. We refuse to retaliate.
• 28:32
  Even if evil has been offered, goodness will be given. And you can be sure of it if you begin to engage with people in the church. If you begin to do the things that these verses, verses 14 and 15 say, if you begin to do those things, you will at some point be wronged. And the question is, how will you respond?
• 28:54
  How will you respond? We serve a Lord who was willing to fall on his sword for our sake. And that's what ministry is. Ministry to other people is a daily falling on your own sword. Over and over and over and over. Impossible to offend. Impossible to wrong. Walk on me just like they walked on Jesus. Because it's not about us. It's about him. So those are the two horizontals. What about the vertical?
• 29:21
  And here it is, beginning of verse 16, the Lord must be present. If you want a healthy, vibrant, life-giving church, then the Lord's got to be there. Verse 16 says, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. In other words, the Christian life is meant to be, your relationship with Christ is meant to be joyful, prayerful, and grateful. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
• 29:45
  He continues in verse 19. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything. Hold fast what is good and abstain from every form of evil. It might seem obvious, but the Spirit-filled disciple must not reject the Spirit. It's funny how we are saved by the quickening work of the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Him, and then the rest of our lives try to live in the flesh.
• 30:14
  We as believers must be sensitive to the Spirit's lead. We must follow without hesitation. The genuine Christ follower must be open to the call of God through His Word and must be committed to discernment if there is new revelation given. When he says, do not despise prophecies, that's what he's referring to, the prophetic utterance of God's Word, primarily through the preaching of His Word.
• 30:40
  but also through a genuine relationship between your heart and the Father's heart. Open to say, God, what would you have me to do that is not explicitly stated in here? Because obviously that's what I'm going to do. But when God calls, when God leads, He says with discernment, hold fast what is good and abstain from the evil. Above all, the Christ follower must be committed to personal holiness.
• 31:11
  is what he says in verses 21 and 22. And that's exactly what is promised if those horizontal and vertical relationships are functioning the way that they should. And notice in verse 23, his conclusion. What happens if we have a church like that? What will happen? He says, now, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Man, I'm a little bit tired of partial sanctification. Step at a time, sinning a little bit less than last year.
• 31:43
  right? Doing pretty well and then falling again. Like at some point, Lord, just finish your work. I don't want to sin anymore. I'm tired of it. I don't want to struggle anymore. I don't want to be tempted anymore. I want to live like your son lived. I'm tired of it. And he makes this promise. May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. Then may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Man, that sounds pretty good. And don't worry. He who calls you is faithful and he'll do it.
• 32:12
  If our leaders lead and our people respect and esteem them so that they are served well, if the Lord is present, Highland will continue to grow. Not only numerically, I believe that will happen as well, but more importantly, into a healthy, God-honoring church. Just like that little three-pound baby. You want the baby to grow? Then do what we're telling you to do, those doctors said. You want your church to grow? The Lord says, do what I'm telling you to do. Pastor to people.
• 32:44
  people to people, and then people to God. We pray, God, thank you for your word and thank you for this book. And God, I pray, pray that you've been honored in all of it. God, as we sing now, we really do make this a prayer. God, we cannot accomplish this work that you've called us to without your help. We need you, God. We need you. Lord, our desire is for you to be glorified. We want you to be magnified. We want you to increase. We want to decrease. God, may you receive honor in all.
• 33:17
  And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.