The Marks of a Good Church: Mutual Ministry

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  The Marks of a Good Church: Mutual Ministry

  Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5, and we'll be in verses 14 and 15 today...just two verses. And you may have already noticed if you grabbed one of the pieces of papers on your way in there is no outline for today which may cause some of you fear and trembling. Will it ever end? Will there be any destination in mind? And it's because I didn't write a sermon this week. I just thought I'd wing it. No, I'm kidding. When I looked at these two verses and tried to see how it lays out, really what you'll see in verses 14 and 15...it's just an array of commands, one after the next. And they do relate, but not in a way where you could say, okay, let me take these two verses and summarize it with this and take these three and put it there. It's really where Paul is at in this letter to a real church that had real problems. But we also know at the beginning of the letter that they were a very good church. They were an 'excel still more' church. They had done a great work from the beginning of the letter where he says, your faith has sounded out, we don't need to say anything. You guys' are doing it. And he just commends them and encourages them all along. And then he gets to chapter four and says, there are a few things I do need to talk about. And really now towards the end, it's in some ways, a style of letter where I don't know if you've ever written to someone, brother and sister in Christ or family member where you kind of, you know, you review. Uh, what's been going on in your life. And maybe it takes on a little bit more of a narrative form, and then towards the end, you just kind of whatever thoughts you need to get out, you fire away with. And so it can seem a little unconnected towards the end of this letter you've received or written to somebody else, because you're kind of just emptying all your thoughts out and, uh, whatever comes to mind, you put it there and, and that might be a little bit of what Paul's doing here. Why, uh, from 12 to 28, it looks and sounds a little different from the rest of the letter. It's just, uh, one rapid fire command after the next. And really, between verses 14 to 22 alone. I counted as I was looking over this, 14 different imperatives, commands. And so I was just going to give you a 14 point sermon today. Two people would have enjoyed it. The rest of you would have been like, ease up. Seriously! Uh, but I wanted to limit it today to these two verses 14 and 15. And I'm really excited to teach them because as I do, they really embody the fellowship that we are to enjoy at its highest level when we're truly involved in one another's lives, not keeping each other at arm's distance, but really, um, opening up and opening our lives to other people, not trying to hide behind any mask. Or as friend and I joke, um, you know, in being transparent with people, we talk about it in regards to life group. You know, there's some people that they are just comfortable in their own skin. You show up to life group, which is a major ministry of our church for discipleship. And when it comes time to do mutual ministry, which is a portion of life group, where it's accountability, it's being honest and open and transparent. There are those who it's like they come in their jammies, you know, they some would if you let them. And it's just, this is who I am. I'm just here. You see exactly the way I am. We talk about the jammy person. Maybe moving along the lines. Maybe somebody comes a little more buttoned up that they're not, as, you know, just open. They want to look put together. And then you got the turtleneck person that you don't see anything on them up to here. And then my favorite is the hazmat suit. They just come and you can't see anything...are you breathing in there? And they just kind of keep you at a distance. And this section really challenges that. Because it says, if we're going to be the church that Christ has purchased with his own blood and paid for your sin, and yet we still are finding ourselves in the struggle of life. You've got to obey these commands, because this is how the church builds itself up in love; Ephesians 4:11-16 16 would say. That unless you get this real with other people, uh, speaking into their lives and letting them speak into yours, uh, we're not going to grow. We're not going to become all that God would have us to be in Christ. And that's why I'm excited to teach it. Because though last week, in a self-serving way, I got to talk about leadership and the loving relationship between sheep and shepherd...people and pastor. This week is not about leadership; it's about fellowship and myself included. That we're all in the mix of these two verses, because this is how we're going to enjoy the richest fellowship in Christ. When we can speak into someone else's lives, the truth and love, and we can also receive it from them. In the same way, last week that I said there was a word for me as a pastor and the elders here to learn about our leadership. And then there was, of course, commands for the people to follow. This week, it goes both ways. On one level, you need to listen to this sermon with an ear towards...am I doing this towards others? These commands I'm given. But then you're listening with the other hear saying, and am I receptive to when other people are doing this to me? It's not one or the other based on oh, am I a leader here? Do I lead a small group? Do I lead a life group? This is beyond that because this is discipleship in the raw. This is letting somebody really know who you are and it's reciprocal. And if we're going to be the church, God wants us to be in fellowship, sheep to sheep, there's commands here for us to keep. So, follow along with me as I read these two short verses that have a lot to say.

  1 Thessalonians 5:14-15, We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one repays another with evil for evil. But always seek after that which is good, and for one another and for all people.

  Father, your word is perfect, so use it to renew our souls, make us wise, rejoice our hearts and enlighten our eyes, we ask. Amen.

  As we begin this today, thinking about the church and really this section brought to my mind Ephesians 4, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. As in when we're going to study this today, how to do mutual ministry within the church. This is really something that isn't just for us to sit idly by and we'll talk about the idol here and say, you know, that was a great sermon for someone else. Versus saying no, this is directly applicable for every person in every situation here if you are a follower of Jesus. Because this is about life in the body together in a way that's not meant to be in isolation. Like, of course we're going to need to apply these verses in a way to ourselves personally, but they are lived out corporately as we're on a mission together for the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we're taking care of the church on the inside. As we look at these two verses today and what they command us to do. But we can't lose sight of the greater good in this, that it's not just that we become better Christians, more Christ like in the process. It's that as our church grows in its Christ likeness, we grow in our ability to be a better witness to the people around us. It's for the greater mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and to do it in a way that we are able to see our lives individually and collectively as a church, so that we don't go out there into our community or elsewhere and are accused of being hypocrites. You know that we want to tell everybody else how to live their lives, but we don't do it ourselves, collectively as a church. And this is also applicable personally, that for me to receive the instruction in these verses is so that I can rightly see the log that's in my own eye in order to help someone else take the speck out of theirs. So I want us to think about moving through these verses as a unit. And even I want to give the image of the church as a military unit, as a platoon, because as we'll talk through some of these, uh, types of Christian in the church, there is this language of, of a group of people moving on mission together. And yet it's easy for soldiers to fall out of line. It's easy for soldiers to get scared. It's easy for soldiers to get weak and need to be helped along, because the mission is greater than any individual person. The mission to tell the world of the good news of Jesus and how they can find hope in him. We need to help each other in the process. So let's talk about mutual ministry. The mark of a good church. How did the believers relate to one another and build each other up in love? Because we are just a bunch of imperfect people following one perfect savior. Like, yeah, that always has to come to our minds immediately in any sermon that is going to lean into us in our Christ likeness, talking about our sanctification, talk about repenting of sin and growing in him.

  It's because we're imperfect people, and there's only one perfect Savior and Lord, and he's the one that we trust. He's the one that we follow. The rest of us were just a collection of former rebels, now redeemed, rescued by Christ. And so that's the heart we need to receive this with.

  So let's jump into mutual ministry method number 1, in verse 14. We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the unruly. Now we urge you is applicable to all the following verses, as in Paul is moving away from in verse 12 where he said, hey, we request of you. And we told you that was like a gentle pastoral nudge. Uh, this is a shoving you out of your seat, not just like, hey, listen up to what he's going to say. It'd be good for you. This is him...this word urge has urgency to it. It's a more forceful word. Uh, it's not that little nudge. This is not a knockout blow. But I would say it's a body shot. It should take the wind out of us. And wake us up and say, this is serious Christian living. And if I take serious what I believe, it should affect how I behave, or else what is it? So let's start with his first urging mutual ministry method number one um, admonish the unruly, warned the straying sheep, the disorderly disciple, the frivolous follower. He calls this group the unruly. And he could, some believe, who have studied this text inside and out, be connecting it back to, if you look in chapter four, verses 11 and 12, and even later in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, there were idle people. And that's why some of your versions have admonished the idle. He could be thinking of the people back in 4:11-12 who he has to tell them to excel still more; make it their ambition to lead a quiet life. Don't just be hanging around loitering as a Christian waiting for Jesus to return, quitting your job, banking on...why work?...if Jesus is coming back. He says that in verse 12. You want to be able to behave properly to the outside world and not be a burden to those in the church as best as it is possible. So that could be the admonition to the unruly here...could be. But I would say it's broad enough to encompass what this word means and why I used military imagery. The unruly was a word Paul took from other Greek texts or used in the vernacular of his day, speaking to a soldier who falls out of line. Who's not keeping up with the pack. Not because necessarily they're weak falling behind. They just want to do their own thing. And that's why they're called unruly or undisciplined or disorderly or disruptive. And the damage it does to a group as a whole, whether you want to talk of a military unit, it drags the group down. It drags the church down when this person is insistent on following their own path. And he says to get them back on the path, you need to admonish them. And that was a word we looked at last week talking about elders and pastors and teachers who give instruction. It's a word for trying to set something in a person's mind. This is a speaking word. To admonish the unruly isn't just I'm going to pray for that brother or sister. Of course we should be doing that. I'm going to speak up because I care for the progress of the gospel, moving through our church as individuals, and then collectively, I've got to say something. It's a jackknife word in the New Testament...admonish, as in, it can be useful in a lot of different situations. And though it might sound harsh, the idea of admonishing and trying to place something in a person's mind in that placing truth in a person's mind is either one of two things...to correct bad beliefs, or to correct bad behavior, or a combination of the two. When we admonish each other in Christ, it could be because of some erroneous belief...maybe not heresy. Not all error is heresy. All heresy is error. That you're saying, hey, brother, I the way you're handling that text or that thing you're reading right now, I'm just. I'm not so sure of it. Can you tell me more about what you're exploring there? And that may call for an admonishment, a correction. Or it could be bad behavior. Hey, brother, the Bible says this and you're doing that. Um, I've been around you a few times, and your speech has really been, uh, down in the sewage, you know, the way you're talking around your friends, but you say you're a Christian. Uh, that the Bible just speaks directly against that. Let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth...bad behavior. Sometimes a bad belief can lead to bad behavior, as in this letter, that their erroneous beliefs about the return of Christ had led some people to quit their jobs and just mooch off everyone else. So sometimes what you believe will have that implication on your behavior. And honestly, we should expect that, shouldn't we? If we really believe what we're trusting in here, we should live differently. Paul's commending to do it in the right way. And so he's saying you're going to have to admonish unruly people, those falling out of line, stepping out of line, not keeping up, wanting to do their own thing. But lest we say that sounds heavy, harsh, judgmental, I want you to think about, um, just that all purpose word of admonition in the New Testament how when we look at it elsewhere, it actually isn't harsh. It's not overbearing. It has three qualities that if you trace it through the New Testament, I think you could summarize this way. Admonishing other believers is common, as in it's part of our everyday life. It's compassionate as opposed to harsh, and it's communal as in, it's for everybody to do not just the exclusive property of the teachers.

  So first, um, admonishing is a common or normal or standard part of Christian living. Colossians 1:28, we proclaim him speaking of Christ, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. The end goal of that is to present people mature in Jesus, and the way you get there is through admonition. Right after he says, we proclaim Jesus as in we preach Christ and Him crucified. Just like Paul did when he went to Thessalonica in Acts 17, he moves into what?...teaching them the council of God. Jesus says, go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, Son, and the Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I commanded you. You teach by way of admonition, instruction, and correction. But note this is common to Christianity. We admonish every man, we teach every man we want to present them complete in Christ. I would venture to say that it's one of the most essential speaking aspects of our fellowship in the body of Christ. That if you're not one for admonishing, instructing, correcting, whether receiving it or giving it, you're missing out on a vital portion of how Christians exist in the body of Christ. We all are like sheep who tend to stray and are going to need a correcting word now and then. So it's common.

  Second, it's compassionate...that as we do it, it should come out of a heart of love, care, mercy for some sinning brother or sister, not judgmentalism...compassionate. Acts 20:31, Paul is saying farewell to these Ephesian elders that he really loves dearly, and he says this to them. Therefore be on the alert, Acts 20:31. Be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years. I did not cease to admonish each one of you with tears. How does he admonish them? Stoic? Unmoved? You know, it's just the truth, and they needed to hear it. No, he said, I didn't cease. So he was responsible to his task to teach them, to give them instruction, to bring correction. But how did he go about doing it? Because it's really tempting for us say, oh, yeah, I want to admonish, I want to teach, I want to correct, and then have the line like...well, they just needed to hear it. And that's just the way I am. You know, what's sad to me is, you know, when we think about that and we think about the times we've admonished other people, and we think about Paul's example here and we say, you know, what's the ratio between the times I've admonished somebody and caused them to cry versus the amount of times it's brought a tear to my eye? Has it ever? In your zeal to instruct and correct...when's the last time you cried over the situation of the person that you were admonishing versus made them cry? It happens. I mean, when we're really having to bring the truth to somebody and they know we love them, they could produce that in them...tears might flow. But did they ever flow from you, the one delivering it? Or do the arms cross and the face scrunches up and the brow furrows. And that's the face of admonition that that person knows...parents with your kids. Is it admonition with tears? Or is it an admonition that they would say, yeah, I cried a lot. Never saw my parent do it. Making them question did it come from love? Or did it come from legalism?...judgementalism. You've broken the law again. How could you do that? That is instructive and it is corrective, but it's not reflective of Paul's compassion in Acts 20:31.

  So it's common, it's compassionate, and then third, it's communal. Romans 15:14, Paul's ending a wonderful letter to this church. And, they've been doing well, you know, similar to the Thessalonians, there's some instruction he's giving, and especially in 14 and 15, a lot of instruction of how the stronger bear with the weaker. But he says this to everyone in Romans 15:14, wrapping up. Concerning you, brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another. What does he commend there? Well, he commends their knowledge. They're full of it. They know what they believe. He commends their goodness as it's coming from the right place. And then he says, because of that, you know what it is to say you're doing it in the right way. You are able to admonish one another, as in, it's not the exclusive property of the teachers and preachers and pastors and elders in the church. All of you should be doing this. So you kind of put those three things together and you say, is an admonition really a harsh thing? Is it a heavy thing? Should it be something that we run away from, whether we're the one receiving it or the one having to give it, or if we really see it as the New Testament presents it. It's common, as in, this is normal. Deep breath. I got to go talk to this person. Don't just take a deep breath, but take a deep look at your heart. Is this coming out of

  compassion, out of a love for this sheep? Remember we talked about back in chapter three when Paul said in verse eight, now we really live if you stand firm in the Lord. He could endure it no longer. He had to hear from them. He had to send Timothy to them. Their growing in Christ was life to him, and their falling back in Christ would have been death to him. That's that heart of compassion...an earnest pastor loving his sheep. Is that how it comes out from you? Now, I guess I need to put a disclaimer here in your zeal for admonition. I want to deputize you today, but not to be...Walker, Texas Admonisher. I want you to think about a particular thing as you would want to be faithful to admonish. And so I'll use the picture of Chuck Norris. You know, when you're moving in with the warrant and you're going to search the premises of this person's spiritual life and issue the summons and make the arrests...are you sure you got the right person? I mean, are you positive that you have perfect vision to evaluate where that sheep is at? Or maybe, are you seeing things mostly correct? But is your subject...are you absolutely sure they're guilty of unruliness?...as in correcting their bad beliefs? This person that you're talking to and maybe they're new in the faith, or maybe not, and they're reading something and they're trying to work out their salvation with fear and trembling, and they're trying to define or understand or describe the Trinity to you, and it sounds suspicious. Is that the equivalent of them denying the Trinity? But if you just move in so quick with that admonition. You know, sliding across Grudem's Systematic Theology. Versus saying, hold on, let me understand a little bit more of what you're saying there because the Trinity is a very vast subject and nobody's got it perfectly nailed down. But I want to hear more of what you have to say. Is that going to be your first instinct, so as to draw them out rather than what?...shut them down. That might be just on the level of belief. But think about it on the level of behavior this person you've been around, um, and maybe you sense a little bit of pride in their life. Is it a pattern?...that you have to now admonish. Or could it just be, um, you know, the way they said that thing in life group the other night sounded like they were, um, contradicting you, and you sensed that, and it was a particular situation. But you're certain that they're the arrogant that needs admonished. How much did that have to do with your ego? Are you seeing it rightly, is all I'm asking? That's part of this as well. Sure, we don't want to, you know, qualify everything with, okay, die the death of a thousand qualifications on admonishing. But we do want to say, am I seeing it rightly? I understand what it means to admonish. But do I understand what the unruly person really looks like, what they really sound like, and then move in because I have a proper perception of the situation? And once you understand them accurately, Biblically, you've identified the issue. Then you proceed with confident caution in admonishing them. So that's mutual ministry method number one.

  Mutual ministry method number 2...encourage the faint hearted, the sad sheep, the disheartened disciple, the crestfallen Christian. This category of person could relate to 4:13-18...we talked about them already a couple weeks ago that they needed comforted with what?...new information about Jesus's return. They knew about his death and his resurrection, but they didn't know...have those Christians that have already fallen asleep, um, will they be second hand when Christ returns? So that had some of them dismayed, faint hearted, if you will. And other ones might have felt that, well, those that died are with Christ. Maybe he returned already, maybe we missed out and that has them down. And he says in verse 18, comfort one another with these words...we're going to be with them in the air. So that could be the audience that he has in mind when he reminds them to encourage the faint hearted. This isn't the unruly soldier who's doing whatever they want to do, either being idle kind of moseying around, or being rebellious, just taking off on a mission on their own. This type of soldier in the platoon is...the bullets are flying and they're scared. And so you look back in the pack and they're huddled together in the middle of it, afraid to do anything. The word fainthearted here is the, uh, word for small soul. It's a good word picture for what's going on the inside of them, which is a good clue to how you need to handle them. Right? Whatever you see on the outside that you're now deciding and discerning...how do I speak to this person? Because they're not moving along with the pack. We're moving the mission forward. What's wrong with you, you wuss? Did you read them rightly? There could be something causing their knees to knock on the inside. Not just fear of what's happening on the outside. Hebrews 12:12 says we should strengthen the hands that are weak, and the knees that are feeble. Part of discerning this person is understanding, Hey, are they timid by nature? Does this go back way before this situation? Have you taken time to get to know them, to understand that. It could be this is just part of who they are. They have a timid nature, a small souled nature. They're easily fainthearted over things. Or it could be a situation that they're going through that normally they're really brave, courageous and strong. But this trial that they're going through has really shrunken their soul. It's small spirited, it's a broken spirit, and you need to help them in the healing process rather than make it hurt even worse by questioning their loyalty to Jesus. Come on, get up and march. What are you so afraid of? Isaiah 35:3-4 is a nice description of how he is trying to help these people who feel lost in the wilderness...little to rejoice in Israel at this time that Isaiah writes it. And he says in Isaiah 35:3, encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, take courage. Fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come, and he will save you. That's not pointing somebody to the maybe empty well of their own heart, and they can't draw any courage out of it. It's telling them to look up to the God of the heavens, who rules and reigns, who calls the sun to set and calls the rains to come. And they need refreshing from him. That's our job...to be encouragers. I think of David on two levels. One, I think of David in the Psalms and how he is just so open about where his strength comes from, where his trust is, even though he's this mighty warrior. I mean, he is, as was called, a man of bloodshed, raged into battle, conquered enemies, but his trust and his hope was in God. Psalm 34:8, 0, taste and see that the Lord is good. How blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 40:4, how blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust. Psalm 84:12 O Lord of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in you. But I also think of David in his weak moments. I think of first Samuel 23. I mean, it's in the midst of him being on the run. Uh, things got real bad in chapter 22, where David feels responsible for the for the wiping out of an entire city, out of Nod because David had went and met with Ahimelech and, um, Doeg the Edomite, who's like one of the worst characters in the Old Testament. You just want to punch him in the face. Uh, he was the one that was spying on David's meeting with Ahimelech. And that leads to, uh, Saul ordering the execution of 85 priests of Nob. And David says in verse 22 at the end of that sad chapter, I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would tell Saul, I've brought about the death of every person in your father's household. I mean, he's starting to feel small souled. Chapter 23 comes and he's on the run. And in verse 14, he's living in the wilderness and the strongholds. He's in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And verse eight says, Saul has summoned all the people for war to go down to Keila, to besiege David and his men. Verse three says David's men, his mighty men. They're afraid. They say to David, we're afraid here in Judah. We can't go to the Philistines. We can't stay here. So I think David was potentially a little bit fainthearted. How was God going to help him? Well, God, in verse 14 it says, Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hands. So God was the one protecting him. But David doesn't always see that. He doesn't know what God's doing behind the scenes to keep him protected. So God sends him help in another way. Verse 15, now David had become aware that Saul had come to seek his life while he was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David at Haresh, and encouraged him in God. That's an awesome verse. It doesn't tell you the details of what Jonathan was doing. What did he do? He showed up. He put his own life on the line, his own well-being. He went to see his friend. But he didn't strengthen him with his own hand as son of King Saul. He took David's shaking hand and put it in

  Yahweh's. He strengthened him. He encouraged him in God. That's what it means to encourage the fainthearted. There's not this master plan of every perfect thing you need to say to be able to encourage somebody. It starts like David had with Jonathan, a friend who was just willing to show up when the chips were down. What did he tell him in Verse 17? He said, don't be afraid. The hand of Saul, my father will not find you. You'll be king, and I'll be next to you. There are some things in that statement that were true. And some things that weren't because Jonathan was dead by the time David took the throne. But his own well-being didn't get in the way of the well-being of David, did it? He said, I'm going to go and see this guy. He needs my help. One commentator wrote... What an oasis of encouragement in the desert of Ziph. You may think you have little to offer somebody who's faint hearted, who's ready to give up. Because you might see that timid person who's gone through this hardship. Who's lost a loved one, who's found out they have cancer, who's lost their job, and you know, they're fainthearted and they're weak and they're timid. And if you're like me, sometimes, rather than go to see them and try to help them, you yourself become timid. Because you don't know what you're going to say. Right? I mean, it just. I'd like to go. I'd like to do something, but I don't know what to say. I don't know what to do. And so you're stricken by your own timidity. Isn't that ironic? And I could say from experience, which is instructive, though not infallible. My biggest regrets are the times I didn't say anything because I was too shy, timid, scared to try to help that person. And I could honestly say that the times I have just shown up and tried to say maybe not even said anything, but just say I'm here. Is there anything I can do to help? Give him a hug. I never regretted that. I might have fumbled over my words. I might have felt like, I don't know if that did anything for them. But at least I showed up. At least I tried. So let's be on the lookout for the faint hearted followers of Christ and give it our best to strengthen them in. you? No, who are you strengthening them in? You're strengthen them in Christ. You're doing what Jonathan did. You're putting their hand in Yahweh's hand. He's the one that holds them, right? He's the one that can ultimately help them. You're just trying to remind them of that.

  Mutual ministry method number three. Help the weak, the scrawny sheep, the devastated disciple, the fragile follower. Now, how does this differ from the last group? Well, we can be again, maybe instructed by going back to chapter four. And again, like I said, some who have studied this far more than I see these three words: the unruly and the fainthearted and the weak relating back to chapter four. Well, who would the weak person be? The weak person struggling in sin. Who can't help themselves out of that ditch they're in. Well, who was that person? At the beginning of chapter four the one that he needed to say, this is the will of God, your sanctification. Abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion. Well, that's a weak person. Why are they weak? They need admonished. They're unruly. True. There is an element of correction to a person who is willfully engaging in sexual sin. He does need to be instructed. But again, if you're diagnosing their situation correctly. In that unruliness, could the root of it be weakness? That they need help and nobody's ever tried to help them before. Come alongside them, walked beside them in their struggle with sin. Maybe they've always just been admonished. You just need to stop. Why can't you just get over that sin? How long you been a Christian now? But has somebody ever come alongside to help them. Helps a beautiful word. This word Paul uses here in the New Testament. It's the image of somebody clinging to someone else. Holding on to somebody for dear life. It's the picture I have in my mind when I go out with my kids hiking, and when they come to the age where they're strong enough to walk on their own, but not smart enough. And we're up on Rough Ridge, and we get near the top of it, and there's that rock that we shouldn't go out and take a picture on. But, you know, it's the selfie age. We got to do it. And of course, everybody wants to see me with my toddlers up on a rock. You know how many thousand feet up in the air?...especially my mom. But, you know, we could be having a good old time hiking up the safe part. But the moment we get around that part, the cling comes out, the holding on for dear life, Dad comes out, and Mac and Davey aren't going anywhere because I got them. And that's the way we're to help the weak Christian. When you come alongside them, they may be slippery and squirmy. And their feet are dragging. But you're going to hold him. You're going to drag them if you have to, to get them back where they need to be. This isn't the soldier huddled up in the middle, scared. It's not the unruly soldier moving away from the pack. This is just the battle weary soldier who's lagging behind. And you say, I'm going to carry you for this next mile if I have to. To get you to the spot where we can find some rest. Is that how you deal with the weaker Christian in your life? Because if it's anything it's draining. We can all admit that. Trying to help that weak brother or sister who seems to be stuck in that same sin pattern over and over again, and you feel like you've tried everything. And you might have. And you say, so what do you do when you've tried everything? Um, Paul tells you. Be patient. Comes right after help the weak. Be patient, not just with them, with everyone. They could have a little bit of unruly, a little bit of faintheartedness, a little bit of weakness. Whatever it is, be patient with them. Don't drop them if they're weak. Don't leave them if they're scared. Don't let them wander if they're going to go off and say they'll get what they deserve. He says no, be patient with them. Try one more time. However you need to do it. Admonish them, encourage them, help them. But be patient with them. They're in process.

  For those that lose patience I think verse 15 is there intentionally. Because I'm just wondering where that fits in. But then when you read it, in light of what we just read, you know, our patience can be tried in being helpful to the weak, can't it? Galatians 6 says, we're to bear each other's burdens, but watch that we don't get tempted ourselves. And so maybe Paul puts this timely verse 15 in saying that you could get so frustrated, irritated, worn out, worn down by a weaker Christian who just can't seem to get it together. So see that no one repays another evil for evil? What do I mean? Maybe they're the unruly brother or sister that when you try to help them, what do they want to do back to you? They want to bite you. I mean, as a sheep. Sorry. I moved the image. As a soldier. They're being unruly. And you go to bring them back in and they turn around and try to punch you. Again, hopefully they don't really do that. But he's saying, look, somebody might test you to the point you want to retaliate and give him evil for evil. He doesn't specify what that evil is. He's just saying, how are you going to return to them when they come at you like this or just run the other way? He says, don't retaliate, repay them evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. John Calvin writes about this verse, how these things connect. He said, "Patience contrasts with a feeling of irksomeness." What a great word. "For nothing tires us out more than trying to apply the correct cure to the different spiritual diseases our brothers and sisters suffer from." Amen. Apparently not. Nobody gets irked in here. Wow. I mean, we should be the strongest church in history. Either we're all perfect, or we just could give a rip about everybody else and we just go along our own way. But he is saying, like, when you are trying to patiently help the weak, encourage the fainthearted, admonish the unruly, at the very least, at the very least, we can become irked. But I think verse 15 shows at worst we can sin against them in response. It can provoke something in us. And we need to deal with that in our hearts. Sometimes it could be evident on the outside. Sometimes it's grumbling and murmuring on the inside that turns into gossiping somewhere else with somebody about where that person's at and why they're such a drag. And I mean, like, of course you say it with the purpose of prayer. So I think that's why 15 is there. I mean, generally speaking, that's the way of the Christian is to not return evil for evil, but seek after the good. But I see, especially when he's saying be patient. And I think back to 1 Corinthians 13:4. We studied that last year. And the first two aspects of love that Paul comes out with in verse four are love is patient and love is kind. And we said, how do those work together? We said, well, patient love is that long suffering love that sees the evil coming in the distance, coming up in our own hearts, and we keep it at bay as long as we can, and we counteract it with kindness, which is proactive, quick to do them good, slow to do them wrong, quick to do them good. And those things can work together.

  Well, that's what you see in verse 15. He's saying slow to not repay them. That word, see that, is a word for take extra caution. Be extra aware that no one repays another evil for evil. When what?...we're ministering to one another, things go bad sideways taken the wrong way. But he says, be quick to seek their good. Be kind in your love. Be. Be patient in your love, and be kind and let those work together. So you kind of step back now, take a deep breath and say, you know, practically speaking, how do I put this all together? Well. Back to the beginning. We are moving on mission in one direction. We're striving to be all that Christ would have us to be. And I think these two verses show us that we are going to have challenges on the inside, not just the outside, but it's not just the culture being corrupted that's a challenge to the church. But within here we still have sin in our own hearts we have to deal with, and that's what we're here for one another to deal with. So level with that. The standard of the Christian life is going to be admonition, encouragement, helping, patience, not returning evil, proactively doing good. That's just part of what we signed up for. If we really believe the gospel's that good; Christ is that worthy, the church has a mission, then we will believe we need to carry these out. So on one level, just know this is part of the norm.

  I would say on another level, let's take our focus off of, okay, because sometimes we want to take the words like what does it mean to admonish or encourage or help? And I'm like, I don't like that. What it means to help is to do the opposite of it. You know, don't be unhelpful. Like actually try something. It's a very general word, just like I said with admonish. But I would say what really helps us to apply these is to actually today take some time and even in life group this week, or just as you run this back, uh, try to distinguish in your mind or discern if you want to use that phrase, how good are you at categorizing people that you want to help? There is an emphasis on the action of what we say and do here, but I would equally challenge us not just to apply the commands, but discern the categories. How good are you? How accurate are you at diagnosing the categories of conditions for the sheep you minister to? Because a misdiagnosis can make the matters really worse. If you admonish a faint hearted person, you're going to crush them. What you thought was them being rebellious was them being small souled. Likewise, the small souled person that you're not getting a good read on and or the unruly person that maybe has the ability to make you think they're really down and out and struggling, and it's just a cover for their sin and you encourage them. Or maybe out of timidity, you just can't admonish. So the person that is being unruly in your life, you're always just like, ah, just let me hug you and keep at it. And you're just basically signing off on them, staying on the path of sin they're on. This doesn't come back to not maybe understanding admonition and encouragement and help. It's misunderstanding the category of sheep you're dealing with. Think about this in relation to life group. If some of you are new here and don't know what I'm talking about, it's our small group ministry. Out of 700 or so people that attend here on Sundays, about 400 or so are in a life group ministry, which we praise God for. We'd like to see it, everybody in it. That'd be an awesome problem to have, because Life Group is one of the key places where we get to live this stuff out. That's why we do it. We invite it into our lives. Or at least we try to. Unless you're in the hazmat suit. Thank you. But think life group leader about or even just life group member when you're in mutual ministry time. How are you doing at diagnosing someone properly? If I were your flock leader and go to ask you. Hey, how's that person doing? You say...not faithful. And I say, oh, sorry to hear that. Why are they not faithful? They're not coming. Why are they not coming? Because they're not faithful. Oh that's brilliant. Not faithful because they don't come. Don't come because they're not faithful. Man, you nailed it. Another scenario. Okay. Why are they not coming? Well, you know, they say they're just really tired. Really tired? Could that be weak? It could be helping the weak. Okay, so why do they say they're really tired? It's just a lot to get the kids ready each week for life group and this, that and the other. Oh is there a way we can help that? Well, you know, they have a new baby and it's up all night. And by the time they hit 5:00, like...oh, what if we provided a way for mom to get a nap? Like, you're trying to actually help the weak rather than be like, suck it up, man. Everybody gets tired. World's run by tired men...tired moms. Why aren't you coming? Well, just, um. Yeah. We're busy. Why are you busy? Uh, kids are in sports. Oh. How many days a week? And they tell you how many days a week. Okay. You're not faithful. No. Why is sports such a priority? Is it being unruly? Or maybe there's faint heartedness in there. Maybe that person thinks that you know that kid's future success rides on them playing six games of baseball a week. And you being a non athlete, just read that as unruly. And you don't get underneath it and say, like what? That's a lot of baseball. And your kid is six. But you unpack it because you're being patient with all and you understand, you know, growing up, getting a scholarship was everything to that guy and his dad. And his dad drove him so hard that in his mind, somewhere deep in his heart, he thinks if he doesn't set his kid up for the most success scholarships and sports or scholarships in academics, he's failed. Is that being unruly? Could be. Could it be faint hearted about it? And nobody's ever really dug into it. But, you know, you read the thing perfectly. Don't show up...unfaithful...admonish. It could be a combination of things and I think we'll be a better church, better life group leaders, better small group leaders, better disciples. I mean parents with your kids. How easy is it for us to misdiagnose our kids condition? You hear a scream in the other room. You know who's the usual culprit. You walk in ready to make the arrest, but you don't slow down enough to say hey, for the 50th time. What happened again? But you just immediately move into crushing them. Without saying, oh wait, this situation happened and it actually this time it wasn't your fault. You still responded wrong. But you're not just heavy with that, it's immediately your fault.

  I mean, this applies in hundreds of ways. Just taking these three ideas, applying be patient to all and saying we could be much better disciplers in the church because at any given moment, and this is on the receiving end and the personalizing it, we could be in any one of these categories, not just us trying to help others, but looking into our own heart and realizing I get faint hearted. It doesn't help me when somebody just comes and skips right over, finding out what's going on in my life to admonish me. Why would I do that to somebody else so haphazardly? So understanding the categories we're in is maybe one of the most important things about applying this text today.

  But I do want to speak to one last category of person, because Paul is speaking to brothers and sisters. Verse 14. He's speaking to Christians, and there are unruly Christians and weak Christians and faint hearted Christians. But if you're not in Christ today, you're in a different category. You're in the category of the lost. That's the most devastating category to be in in here. To be a lost sheep. To be a lost soldier. To be fighting on the wrong side. And what's amazing about this passage today, and should come as encouragement to you...it is because before any person could speak into your life to help you in the situation you're in...Christ comes to you. Christ comes to you in Isaiah 42. Where it says, behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit among or on him. He will not cry out or raise his voice, nor make his voice heard in the streets a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. Can I introduce you to the greatest admonisher and the greatest encourager, and the greatest helper that you can ever find. It's Jesus Christ. He's the one that if you find yourself lost or unruly today, he comes straight to put a truth into your mind this morning. He admonishes you to turn from your sin and to trust in him. He's the way, the truth and the life. He wants to set that thought in your mind today by way of instruction and correction. Christ says to you, you need me. I am that servant, the one in whom God delights. And I have come to bring justice to the nations. This great God, who would come to save the world from its sin, is speaking to you this morning, telling you must repent and believe in him for eternal life. And yet, you might receive that truth, but there could be a small souled, broken spirited part of your heart that feels like, well, why would he want to save me? I'm busted. I'm worthless. But that same one who can

  bring forth justice to the nations says, if you're a bruised reed as in if you're this twig that snapped but it's hanging on by a thread. He doesn't finish the job. It says he will take that bruised reed and he won't break it. He'll restore it. He offers you his grace and his mercy. He died for sinners just like you. And if you were this smoldering wick that's down to that. What? You see it in a candle it's down to its last spark. And just the slightest gust of wind from anywhere miles away could put it out. And he says, no, I'm going to, in my perfect life on your account and my sacrificial death, I will cover you. And I will bring life back to you. That's who you need to meet today. You need to meet the great admonisher and the great encourager and the great helper, who in your weakest says, come to me, you who are what?...weary and heavy laden, weak and faint hearted, maybe even unruly, and I will give you rest. That's the Christ who calls to you today. You need to call on him to be saved. He offers you forgiveness of sin, and all he asks of you is to cry out to him for mercy. Save me, the sinner. That's the good news of the good Shepherd. He calls you to turn back and flee to him. To call on him to be saved.

  For those in Christ today, I'll close with a quote from Richard Sibbes. He wrote, he was a Puritan, of whom it was said that heaven was in him before he was in heaven. And he wrote a little tract called The Bruised Reed, an Exposition of Isaiah 42 fulfilled in Christ. And this is what he says to the believer.

  "That though we may think we have moved on from that state of being a bruised reed or a dimly burning wick, we really haven't. It says bruising makes us set a higher value on Christ, for then the gospel becomes the gospel indeed, as we see, the fig leaves of immorality will do us no good. Even after our conversion, we still need bruising. So that reeds may know themselves to be reeds and not oaks. There must be conformity to our head. Jesus Christ, who was bruised for us, that we may know how much we are bound to him."

  Let's pray. Father, we thank you this morning for your son, the Savior of the world. Who came for the first time to save those who are perishing. Not to snuff them out. Who will return a second time in judgment. But in between that time, even today, he calls sinners to himself. And we pray that you would do that saving work in here for the person who finds himself away from him, away from you...rebellious, living life by their own design, trusting in their own righteousness that's shadow righteousness. And they know it's not the real thing. But would you reveal yourself to them as their Savior this morning, the great Shepherd, the guardian of our souls who calls his sheep and they hear his voice. They turn and are saved. We thank you that you minister to us this morning, Spirit, through pointing us to Christ so that we can be the encouragers, the admonishers, and the helpers that he saved us to be. We ask this all in his name. Amen.