The Marks of a Good Church: Loving Leadership

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  The Marks of a Good Church: Loving Leadership

  This passage is near to my heart, talking about leadership and the relationship between the pastor and his people. Uh, speaking on that subject, being one of your elders and preaching pastor is a unique joy to me. And, um, it's also near to my heart today because I get to tell you what you can do to make my life better. It's just wonderful sometimes how these things shake out. Really, I mean, two verses could be a one week sermon. I'm going to turn into a three month series...hopefully name, image, likeness, deals, book deals. My Instagram account may go from the dozens to the millions, all because I can just camp out here for a long time. However, upon studying it this week, what you see there is that these verses are not very complicated, they're not complex, and I don't intend to make it that. We want to see what is so wonderful and glorious this morning as perfectly designed, God has the church between leadership and membership, between pastor and people, between shepherd and sheep. So I'm excited to get to speak on this today for reasons other than self-serving. For a few weeks, we've been in the return of Christ, the rapture of the living, the resurrection of the dead. And now, as you look at 1 Thessalonians 5:12 to the finish, it can seem a bit scattered if you look at all the different phrases, seemingly independent thoughts that Paul has, it just seems like everything maybe he's been sitting on to tell this church now comes out rapid fire and it could look a little bit disjointed...might be the word. And as I looked at it this week and tried to think how we want to finish this letter out, and is there a way to kind of lump together some of the ideas rather than just really say, okay, I mean, one pastor that preached this section took about 20 sermons because instead of finding the connectivity, just saw one phrase, one imperative, one command, and just spent a week on each one of them. Whereas when I was looking at it this week, what it seems and I don't know if it was Paul's intention or not, that he is dealing with what he would see as the preeminent virtue in the church...love...in three different fashions. In 12 and 13 loving leadership goes both ways. Love from the shepherd to the sheep and vice versa. And then in 14-22, which might seem the most varied, really just the love that exists between the flock. The mutual ministry that a church has to one another is rooted in, grounded in love. And then the last section, the benediction in 23 to 28, is really highlighting the great love of God towards his sheep. How it's the work that he does in us and through us that allows us to be everything that we can be. And so really, that's the way I'd like to end this wonderful letter in the spirit of the Great Commandment. As we call it around here, part of our mission statement that we want to fulfill the Great Commission, go and make disciples in the spirit of the Great Commandment. And what's that?...well, that's Matthew 22:37 to 40. Teacher, what's the great commandment in the law? And Jesus' response is, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So if I had my druthers...how would I say Paul is thinking and trying to finish this letter out? Is it scattered thoughts that he's just, you know, pulls the dump truck up and puts it all on the people versus saying, well, maybe going back to the beginning when he remembers their what?... their work of faith and labor of love, that that thought has never escaped him. That really, it's the love that God has shown this church by his grace and their great beginning, and that is what's going to carry it to the end. 
So today's verses in dealing with church leadership, uh, he will deal with this essential ingredient...loving leadership. And it was then and it is still today...it's right up there with anything else that you would say what's necessary, what's essential for a healthy church body, a good church. And absolutely at the top of the list must be the loving leadership in that church. And I chose that title for today because it functions in two ways. Loving leadership first speaks to the idea that a good church needs loving leadership, from its shepherds to its sheep. As much as it needs sheep who love their shepherds in return. So this sermon, according to its title, wasn't meant to just be a one way street. When you read it and think, oh, loving leadership, it means the the leaders must be loving towards us. Yes, it does mean that. And we'll see that in the text today. But it also means the same. How do the sheep exert love, I should say, to the leadership. What does that look like? And that's also addressed today. So it is this two way street, this crucial relationship of love between a pastor and his people. And you know this. That loving leadership is where good health in the church starts. And without it, how bad health in the church spreads. Loving leadership that goes both ways is where good health in the church begins, and the absence of it will be where a healthy church ends. And many of you know that sadly, by way of experience. Some of you have seen the fruit of a good, loving relationship between the leadership and its membership. And some of you have also lived through when that has gone by the wayside. If that relationship gets damaged, begins to deteriorate, and becomes detached outside of a miracle, outside of a work of God's grace, that church is doomed to die. Because that's what's at the heart of the leadership, of the direction of the church, is understanding that Christ, when he said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it, also immediately did what?...commissioned his disciples to go and spread that message, and to plant those churches and to raise up others that could teach and preach and model and shepherd. And so when there becomes a fissure in the relationship between shepherd and sheep there's very little hope for that church to survive. Which is why it's such a vital topic today. So follow with me as I read 1 Thessalonians 5:12 to 13...so that we can be at HBC all that God would have for us to be. 
"But we request of you, brother and sister, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another." Father, your Word is a lamp to our feet and light to our path, so lead us, Holy Spirit, into your truth and into your love today. Amen. 
Well, as I said earlier, it's a pretty straightforward word from Paul to these people, and I hope it can be for us. Now, as you see right out of the gates, he begins with a gentle word. So let that be our guide, as it was Paul's guide here, when he says, we request of you, this is him moving on to a new subject matter. But he's making a request. And not this heavy handed command. This is a pastoral nudge, not a knockout punch...is the tone of Paul with these two verses. He's basically writing as he moves in to talk about the peace down in verse 13, the peace that needs to exist amongst the church body. He's saying that, look, you've already been practicing this. You're excelling in it. Keep it up. He's not writing this to correct a bad problem. There's nothing we can find in 1 or 2 Thessalonians or Acts 17 that would suggest that there was fomenting, some revolution. Some anti-clericalism against some authoritarian despots in this church. There's nothing for us to surmise that from the text. All we have is that as Paul was going to close this letter out, and want this church to focus on some important things and excel still more. He doesn't want this opportunity to pass to remind them...request of them...a gentle nudge. Not a harsh word on the wonderful potential there is for a relationship between pastor and his people.

  So the first thing he wants them to know, our first point today in verse 12 is know who your leaders are. We request of you, brothers and sisters, to appreciate those who diligently labor among you. Now, this is on the heels of Paul reminding these Christians, if you just look from last week's text, the focus we had there was Paul trying to help them remember the defining mark of their lives as the end approaches...between light and dark, between day and night. And so he gives them that, identity reminder. You're children of the day, you're children of the light. And so you should be living like it. And maybe the end of this letter from 12 to 22 especially, is him filling in some details on how to live as children of the light. And first on his mind is the relationship between sheep and shepherds. Now, at the time Paul writes this and we've mentioned this before AD 50, we have to be fair to what these people would have known and not known. And even the language of leadership that is not present here tells us something about how leadership was seen in the church 20 years after Christ left, and with only a few years of Paul's missionary endeavors. We're only a few years past his first missionary journey. Well, most believe approximately AD 46, and that he made it to Thessalonica somewhere around maybe AD 49. And this letter is maybe less than a year later. That in Acts 13 and 14, and you can go back and read that later this week. He and Barnabas are preaching in the regions of Syria, Cyprus, Galatia, Lycia and on the end of that trip is the first time we get a mention of Paul intentionally going back, visiting some churches to appoint leaders. That is referred to in Acts 14 as elders. I'll read it for you. So this is the end of the first missionary journey before Paul heads back to Jerusalem. And it says this...after they, and he's talking about Paul and Barnabas. Verse 21, Acts 14. After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and Iconium and to Antioch. They had already been at these places planting new churches, establishing new believers. But they couldn't stay forever. They were on a mission. They were taking the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, and eventually to the ends of the earth. Verse 22, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. Which is exactly what we're hearing in this letter, isn't it? It's a strengthening letter. It's an excel still more letter. And then verse 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church. And there you see, there was a time gap between when they first were at these churches in Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. And then on a return trip, some time had went on. They appointed elders for them in every church. So it seems we could put together that why Paul might not be saying, brothers and sisters, appreciate the elders is because elders haven't been appointed yet...the office that is. What he probably still has on his hands here are what we're going to read, which is you have some who have emerged from the pack, shown the capacity to do the things we're about to talk about in verse 12. But time and truth need to go hand in hand. He didn't leave this church without some idea of what leadership should be, what it should look like. Uh, first and foremost, because he modeled it to them. But from what we can put together from 1 and 2 Thessalonians, he's not talking about an office or a title here, is he? You find no mention of the word elder or deacon or overseer. Words that are going to come along later in the New Testament. Right now in AD 50, a decade before some of those words are used by Paul, particularly in 1 Timothy. He's just saying, there are those among you. You know who they are, but I want you to know them in a way that goes beyond just names and faces. When he says, I want you, brothers, to appreciate those who diligently labor, why I keep using this word know and why I titled this section that is because really, that word appreciate comes from a root word in the Greek that was for knowing someone, but knowing them beyond just the facts. It was an intimate knowledge. It would be a word in the New Testament for appreciation, acknowledgement, respect, as in you've gotten beyond the surface with this person. You know what they're about. It doesn't mean you're best friends with them. But he's saying that there should be recognition of this person's life to the degree that you can appreciate them accordingly. And if it was about the title, then he might have said that you appreciate those elders. But instead of talking about titles, he focuses on task. How are we going to know those who we are to appreciate and honor and respect? Well, I'm going to give you three characteristics of them. And you see those in verse 12 defined and described by what they do. Not some title that Paul has bestowed upon them yet. They diligently labor among you, they have charge over you in the Lord, and they give you instruction, and that's all the same person. This isn't dividing out between there's some who do this, some who do that, some who don't. No, the sequence of this is for Paul to say, I'm going to describe this person to you, and that's who you should know. Know them by their labor. And as I tried to kind of take those three descriptions, and this is why this sermon is for both you and I. Because you should be able to identify these types of leaders amongst you. And those who have been identified as these type of leaders get their what?...they get their marching orders from us. Even though this was written to the sheep; this is also for the shepherd. And so let's look at those three qualities in verse 12. If you want to call them sub points. What are the marks of a spiritual leader for you to appreciate? I'll give you three words as they relate to the task of a shepherd...caring, leading, and feeding. Caring, leading and feeding are the three marks of spiritual leaders. And they are these marks in early form. That's what's so important to know this passage as it relates to knowing what to look for in a pastor. This is ground level...grass roots. No title or office being mentioned here. This is, you will know this man by his fruits. He's a shepherd. And shepherds care and they lead and they feed their sheep. So let's break those down. Let's talk about caring for the sheep. That's the phrase diligently labor among you. It describes the work overall, the work of caring for sheep. It's a wearisome toil, as you would expect, the work of a shepherd to be. On a very literal level, a shepherd guarding against dangerous threats...wolves. I mean, David talks about back when he was a shepherd fighting off a bear. I mean, that's dangerous work, toilsome work. And then chasing down the sheep, trying to keep them with the pack. I've never hung out with a shepherd. I'm purely guessing at this, but I imagine it's hard work rounding them all up. It's hard work rounding up my own five little sheep at home, and we're on a barely a half an acre. And I was driving through the hinterlands of a distant land called, I think it was Taylorsville this weekend. And, I mean, it was the hills were alive with the sound of music. It was lush and green, and I looked over as I was taking my son to a birthday party, getting lost on the roads because there were a couple different Icard Ridge roads. But eventually we just come upon to the left was this awesome area with a bunch of goats in it, and now I'm going, I'm not calling anybody goats here, I'm just saying instead of sheep, goats. But it was a big area. And as I'm thinking about this text, If the guy was like, hey, Adam, get out there and round those goats up, I would have no idea what to do. Like, am I supposed to take a rope and...they're just going to scatter everywhere. And that's the toilsome work. That's the diligent labor that a shepherd's to be doing amongst his sheep. Its sweat, its tears. Fortunately for me, it's never been blood. Let's keep it that way. And it can be argued, I mean, this was what Paul thought of when he thought of the work of the ministry as a shepherd. The idea of work, that word labor there is one of his favorite words in the New Testament to describe the work of the ministry. 1 Corinthians 15:10, by the grace of God, I am what I am. His grace toward me didn't prove vain, but I labored even more than all. 2 Corinthians 11:23, are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane, I more so in far more labors. And then he goes on to explain specifically all those labors he had for the sheep. Galatians 4:8, I fear for you that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. Philippians 2:16, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Jesus I have reason to glory, because I did not run in vain, nor toil or labor in vain. Colossians 1:29, for this purpose I labor, striving according to his power in me. 1 Timothy 4:10, for it is for this I labor and strive because we fixed our hope on the living God. Are you getting a flavor of how Paul thinks about his ministry?...it's diligent labor. My life verse 1 Timothy 5:17. Elders who rule well are considered worthy of double honor...just joking about that. Especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 2 Timothy 2:6, the hard working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops. You might have thought that was a long walk for a short drink of water, but I read all those to reinforce Paul's first point. It could seem like, oh yeah, diligently labor. Yeah. I mean, he breaks a sweat. No. Loving leadership from the shepherd to the sheep is first and foremost defined by this care...that is effort, that is sweat, that is toil, that is work. And if it's anything less than that, it's not shepherding. So for the shepherds here, my fellow elders, hard work should be obvious and evident as we labor among our sheep. Don't lose sight of that little phrase among you. Remember that back in the beginning of this letter, how Paul talks about, you know, verse five of chapter one, the kind of men we prove to be among you. And then how many times he kept saying in chapter one and two, you know, you know, you know, when he had to defend his ministry against those who tried to discredit it. How do they know? Because he was among them. And was he just standing around among them? No, he was laboring. As puritan Matthew Henry writes, pastors be laborers, not loiterers. Growing up I would see those signs around town. No loitering. You know, you don't really understand what that word means as a ten year old, and then you figure it out. You understand that word, and you're like, what's so bad about loitering? If I just want to stand next to this wall, what's so bad about that? Well, i don't know still to this day, actually. I'm just now I'm contemplating it. Is it so wrong for a person to just want to stand on a sidewalk and do nothing?...not hurting anything. But for a pastor to be a loiterer is a crime. A shepherd that just stands around as if there's no work to be done as if there's no labor to be done. And yet, like any fallen individual, it's tempting. It's tempting to loiter as a pastor, as a shepherd, but to not labor or to make it look like you're laboring. And so that's a call to the shepherds to roll up their sleeves or shepherds, whatever he wears. Get your hands in the wool and smell like sheep. Exegete that, brothers. Smell like sheep. If you don't, you're not a shepherd. For the sheep loving leadership begins with appreciating those you see in the work, having a greater awareness of the work of the leaders. If you are new to HBC. We are an elder-led church and there's passages that talk about that structure. 1 Timothy 3, 1 Timothy 5, Titus 1, 1 Peter 5, Acts 20, Hebrews 13. But we're not here to preach those. We're just here to focus on this first sub point of point number one, to know your shepherds is to be able to recognize and appreciate the ones who are working hard among you. Now that might beg the question, hey, if you just take it at that. Like, aren't all Christians to be striving? Aren't we all to be workers? And the answer is yes. So what differentiates these leaders from others? And that's actually as the next two words come into view. We all are to work hard. We all are to read Colossians 1:29 and want to strive. But now look where he goes to take their diligently laboring. But there's two particular ways in which they labor in which they care. So if you're thinking, when I'm looking for the qualifications by way of work of a pastor. They care for the sheep, its work, its labor, its effort, its among. And then it kind of can break out into these two next phrases have charge over you in the Lord and give you instructions. So that's where I get the idea of leading and feeding, having charge over you in the Lord. he next phrase is leading the sheep. Caring goes into those two categories, leading the sheep a greater spiritual responsibility than the rest of the church body. By way of that charge over you in the Lord. It's a word that charge over you that is a compound word meaning to stand in front of. It evokes the image of that shepherd because of the dangers and the need to be guided towards green pastures and still waters, he has to be out front. He can't be lagging behind loitering, if you will. And that's what that phrase charge over you means. It's not about lording over, but it's leading in front. It literally means to stand in front. It relates in 1 Timothy 3...just a few pages over to the calling of a man who aspires to the office of overseer. That's the word also for elder. And one of the qualifications for an overseer, verse four. He must be one who manages his own household well. Why? Because verse five, if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the Church of God? That word for manages is the same exact word here of have charge over. It's the word for stands in front of. And it gives the simple qualification that if a man does not stand in front of his family well and lead his family well, what would you expect him to do if you put him in charge of the church? Is he suddenly going to know how to turn it on, if it's never been on? He won't. And so that's the first level, one of the first qualifiers for a man who aspires to the office of elder. And that's why elders in this church have to be examined in how they lead their little family before they would be entrusted to a larger family. George Whitfield, for whom this room is named, said this, "For every house is, as it were, a little parish, every family of flock. And if any of the little ones perish through a leader's neglect, the blood God requires at their hands." It's a weighty call, first and foremost to the fathers among us, to the leaders of homes. And to never want to discourage a man from aspiring, but to let them know the high calling that it is. And that that first level of qualification is not that he could sit amongst a group of pastors in a church and impress them with the doctrine he knows. But to ask that man, what does this look like in your home? How have you led what you were entrusted with however many years it was ago that you got married? What have you been doing to lead and labor there? Before, we would entrust you to lead and labor here. So that's the point Paul is making in...have charge over you in the Lord. Now, it's important that we see the phrase in the Lord. It's important as among you connects to diligently labor...charge over you in the Lord is the most important part of this verse, because that's where spiritual authority is derived. All authority is from Christ and to Christ and through Christ for the Shepherd. As in he does not at any moment misunderstand that his authority is delegated authority. It's borrowed authority. He is a stand in. For the what? ...authority of Jesus Christ over His church. Jesus's church. It's not the pastor's church. It's not the elders' church. It's Christ's church. And so when we know that all authority is from him and for him and through him, and that as Hebrews 13:17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. That I have no higher level of accountability as a spiritual leader than that. The account I will give is to the Lord Jesus Christ, and any and every charge I have to the flock is under his charge. So in a strange way, as I was thinking about this this week, I am a servant to the sheep here, but you're not my master. Because servants tend to have masters, right? Oh, who are you the servant of?...there's your master. It's not how it works. You might say that sounds kind of prideful. Could, but it's very dangerous if I think you're my master. Because then who am I going to be working to please? The temptation to become a yes-man. The temptation, on the other hand, if I think it's just you I answer to, and I have enough sway and charisma and charm to woo you. I laughed myself thinking about that because it's a joke. But if I don't understand that my master is the Lord Jesus Christ and my charge is under him, the fear of man becomes a pretty big temptation. But if I understand, I am absolutely your servant. This is what I exist for. But I answer to him. That's where the weight comes. That I give an account to him for how I served you. Not to mean I'm not above feedback...people asking questions. My own son...Dad, do you try to get better at preaching? Yes, son. Please don't ask that on the drive home. Wait till Monday. 1 Peter 5:4 says, when the chief shepherd appears, that's why we know we're under shepherds, because the only chief shepherd in the New Testament is Jesus. 1 Peter 5:4, when the chief Shepherd appears, you'll receive...you under-shepherds...will receive the unfading crown of glory. So just as there's no greater weight of accountability, there's no greater anticipation of reward than that...to receive the unfading crown of glory from him for how I shepherded. So if a pastor loses sight of that, if he forgets who's head of the church, he's done. He's done, and he could still, for a time being, have a following of acolytes who drink Kool-Aid of charisma, but he'll eventually be shown for who he is. More importantly, and this is the daunting thing, that guy that buys his own hype and thinks he's in charge. He will be shown eventually for who he's not. He's not the chief shepherd...never will be. None of us will be. And God in His grace may give him some time to learn that the hard way, or he may shortcut it. He may speed it up. But leading the sheep, that second idea having charge in the Lord comes down to giving spiritual guidance. If you're like Adam, what's the definition for having charge in the Lord? I would define it this way. Leading the sheep comes down to giving spiritual guidance according to the doctrine of Jesus Christ as head of the church. Like, I need to know that if I'm going to give any spiritual leadership to this body or any elder is, I need to know good doctrine. Who's the head of the church?...Jesus. And then direction through the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. So it's no authority is from me, to me or through me. It's from him and to him and through him, guided by his Spirit and the Word. So that's the second one which leads into the third...feeding the flock, giving instruction. So the diligent labor is carrying, the charge over you is leading, and to give you instruction is feeding. Good shepherds of the flock are defined by their teaching. They keep the sheep healthy through a steady diet of good doctrine. Now that word for instruction, you know, it's a pretty plastic word in a New Testament. I mean, it's malleable. It's used in a lot of different contexts. It's admonishing, it's exhorting, it's explaining. But the word itself actually isn't so much about how you do it. It's what you're trying to do. Instruction here...this word is what the shepherd is trying to do in feeding the flock is this. And this is the literal word to place something in the mind. So, what am I trying to do this morning with you all? I'm trying to place something in your mind...the truth of the Word of God. That the weight of the Word of God is explained and applied by the preaching of the word will leave you with some weight of implication of how you should live your life. I'm driving for something not to again, and especially in this text, achieve some agenda of my own. But actually, if I can explain it and instruct it and inform you in the right way, the Word of God through the Spirit of God will do the work for me if I've done it right. Try to place that in your mind to put it in there. The inescapable reality that this is something I must obey today because God says it. That's what it means for the shepherd to feed the sheep. Paul trained others to do this, to proclaim it publicly, to teach it from house to house, to pour into individuals. And so in our church, it's not just what I do up here, but it's what we're doing all the time and trying to train others to put the Word of God in people's minds through Bible studies, life groups, counseling one on one. This past weekend, raising up men in this church to be able to teach at the men's retreat. Now there was Kurtis teaching, but then there was three other men that we have worked with to grow in teaching the Word of God, to be able to put it in the minds of the hearers. It's something that I and other elders here are called to equip the entire church to do on a regular basis, but then we want to see you take it and do it as well. We don't want it to stop with us. And we rejoice that we see it happening around here all the time. But don't get caught up in the how as in is it, you know, is it straightforward? Is it from the side? Is it this heavy thing? Is it. No. It's what he's saying is it's the end game of it. What do you have to do to get that in the mind of the listener? However you can do that without compromising the integrity of the message itself. And so that's why we even train our teachers and children's and youth to not teach the same way that I do. One, because they're their own teacher, but also they need to know their audience and the way that a young mind or a young mind can receive the truth isn't the same way that you're going to receive it. That's the important part of this thing if we're going to get it right. So in feeding and leading, pastors are caring for the sheep. And kind of wrapping this first verse up. If you're to know us and appreciate those who diligently labor and have charge and give instruction again to my fellow elders, can the sheep see in us the fulfillment of these descriptions? If you're friends with a pastor, maybe you have a buddy who's in the ministry and he struggling in his church. Maybe sometimes wondering, what am I there to do? Maybe you could encourage him in this this week what you just learned. Say brother, don't overthink the thing. There are a lot of other things you could think you're supposed to do, but if you're not doing this, you're not pastoring. For the sheep...what does it look like for you to appreciate those who are leading you? I guess simply said, do you know your leaders? And I'm not talking about our likes and dislikes. Although hey, I will not refuse a pie if you catch on. I drop those hints about sandwiches and other things, but it's far more than that. Do you understand us by our work, by our leading and feeding? That's first command of Paul today is to appreciate those by knowing what it is they're called to do. 
 And then point number two today, verse 13, not just know what they do, but love what your leaders do. That's the thrust of verse 13. That you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. What's the work? We just talked about the work. We broke it down. It's caring, it's feeding, it's leading. And because of that work that they do, you have an esteem and a respect. But it's not just lip service. It's a love from the heart because you can try to tell people to respect you by the way they talk to you. But they could say it and not mean it. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. And there's no love behind those words. So Paul's not just looking for "yes, elders. Thank you, elders." It's, what's the love behind it that causes you to esteem them very highly? He says it's because of the work. Which means you need to know what that work is in order to love them for it. And then when you see that work done, that love grows, because that work is directly related to your life as the sheep. And in what that shepherd is trying to do in my life. He's trying to love me. He's trying to lead me. He's trying to care for me. He's trying to feed me. So this other request, this godly nudge, is to honor them not for some platform or position, but for the pains of their labor. There's a fine line between worshipping the man versus appreciating the work. Nobody's calling for pastor worship here. Just calling for people to recognize the work that's being done among them and then in love, esteem them for it, honor them for it. Honor them for the right things, the shepherding things. There's pastors today who call themselves pastors, but they do no shepherding. One way to recognize that is some ways in which they describe themselves in ways that pastors would have never described themselves. Pastors today are visionaries, influencers, thought leaders. They don't work like they've been in a pasture or smell like it. They don't preach like sages of old, but pop culture experts of today. They're a shepherd to screens, but not to sheep. They're known to followers, but not to a flock. They're captivated by the numbers, but not captive to real names in their own congregation. They might be known to many online all around the world, but they're not known by their own church. They're there, but they're not among them. And that's more prevalent today now than ever. That's not a pastor because the pastor's title defines his task. He belongs to a people. And his people belong to Christ, and he's been entrusted with them. The sheep don't exist for him to build some platform to be known and noted. He exists for them. As Paul says earlier here in 1 Thessalonians 2:20, you are our glory and joy. Do you get that?...how that relates to this. You don't exist for my glory. You don't exist for me, so I could have something to do every week. I exist for you. And I exist for your good. And when you're good flourishes in Jesus Christ because you ultimately belong to him, and I'm just an under shepherd then I can say, like Paul, this isn't about me. Chapter two, verse six, we didn't seek glory from men. You're the glory. Like, that's the most amazing thing about being a pastor is to see the glory of God that we're being transformed into one degree to the next, Paul says. To see that happening in a people's life. Why would you try to steal that? Why would you try to get in the way of that intercept that when it's all for him? But it's tempting to do, and it can be tempting to do if you don't know what you're actually called to do. So the point Paul is making in verse 13 here is that the love from a sheep to the shepherd is proportional to his loving labors for his sheep. If a pastor is wondering why there's no love from the sheep, maybe he has to step back and look at his labors for them. There should be an affectionate admiration, because the sheep know the work that the shepherd is doing for their good. And they understand the calling he's been charged with. So what are shepherds? They're like Moses helping Israel to make it out of the wilderness, across the Jordan, into the Promised Land. They're like Hopeful in Pilgrim's Progress at the end, trying to help Christian get across the river. The best work I get to do is to help you get to heaven. It's the best thing I get to do...to help guide you to the gates...back to your chief Shepherd. And anything I can do here to help that...that's what I exist for. I don't define my identity by it. But it is what my job is. And if it ever stops being my job here or any of the elders here, it stops being their job. They're not pastors. They become something else...decision makers, bean counters, board members, whatever. The title that matters most is the one that describes us most thoroughly...Shepherd. And you don't have a shepherd without sheep. And when you do that and the sheep respond in love, it's heaven on earth. So maybe today as we apply this to our lives, Verse 13 for you. What's the nature of your love to your shepherds? Maybe it's difficult because you've been burned in the past, maybe here or somewhere else. But consider today's text. God's reminding you, if that's you this morning, if there's some angst, if there's some distance between you and church leadership. God's reminding you, sheep, that's not the part of the pasture he wants you to live in. It's not healthy there. It's not life giving there. The Word of God says to love them for their work. Esteem them...even in spite of their flaws. Speaking from experience, there are no perfect pastors to follow. That doesn't excuse me or others from the charge to be your example. But it does give us the ability to lead this church in the way God designed. And for a good church to flourish, good leaders need good followers, just as good followers want good leaders. We can't do it without you, and you're not to do it without us. That's the way God designed it. It's wonderful when you think about that as a pastor. What am I going to do without you? Nothing. I could resort to becoming a TikTok pastor. I don't think I'd have anybody watching. What can I do without you?...any of our elders here...without sheep? And likewise, you're not to do it without us. And so those ditches, those man-made ditches that we make, the anticlericalism ditch. We don't need leaders. We can figure it out. We're all a kingdom of priests. Or the other ditch of authoritarianism. Just, it's all on that, pastor. He's the man. Let him do it all by himself. You don't go in those ditches. You stay on the path that was plowed by the Lord Jesus Christ, which is today, is to say that it's a pastor and his people working together, trying to fulfill. Why do you think live in peace with one another comes at the end of that? He's not having to say that because they're not living in peace. He's just saying, look, if you understand the beauty and wonder and joy of this relationship between people and pastor. You'll be living in peace with one another. And that's how it's meant to be. That's how the gospel moves forward. How does the gospel get hindered? Church division. Right? What slows the church down more than division? Nothing. What stops the gospel from making progress more than a divided congregation? People against their pastor, the pastor against his people. What a waste of time. What a waste of money! What a waste of effort. So live at peace with one another isn't just Paul kind of throwing a shot in at the buzzer. He's saying that's that's the great spot to live when you get how this all works together. A pastor with no people following in love will get nowhere on his own. Stuck, stymied. Like a stagnant pond with no life. It's a dead church, but a people with no pastor leading is like a wild river with streams flowing in all directions except straight ahead, full of sound and fury, accomplishing nothing. It's fierce and flowing, but it's chaotic and confused...a Disorderly church, but a pastor and people together, loving leadership from the shepherd and sheep loving their leadership produces what Paul is hoping for here...a glistening lake teeming with life to the edges, full of enjoyment for all that are in it, living in peace with one another. 
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for the hope that it calls us to. We thank you for the joy that it brings our hearts. We thank you that as it works on our lives and especially a text like this, that can be so easily forgotten. Just two verses tucked away in 1 Thessalonians gives us such clear direction for our day to day lives here in this church. Do its work in me. Do its work in our leaders. Do its work in our people. We pray. We thank you and praise you in Jesus name. Amen.