Love for our Fellow-Christians
1 Thessalonians 5v23-28
13th May 2022
Paul's first letter to the church at Thessalonica ends with these words:
1 Thessalonians 5:25-28
Brothers, pray for us.
Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Paul knows that all of us need prayer support, including him. He asks the Thessalonians, "Brothers, pray for us". To pray for our leaders and for our missionaries is a great work in the kingdom of God. No church leadership can remain humble, faithful and wise without the prayer support of the church members. No missionary can remain fruitful and safe without the prayers of Christians around the world. Never, ever, ever, underestimate the power of your prayers. Your prayers for your leaders are love gifts to them and to the church. It's also in your own interest to do this.
Some Christians are disappointed with the quality of their leaders. May I suggest that you pray for your pastors, so that they become wise, gentle and faithful. Pray for your preachers that they become excellent communicators of the word of God, that they understand the Bible, they're faithful to the Bible, and they have the eloquence to persuade those who listen to their sermons of the truth and importance of what the Bible says. Pray for your musicians, that they grow in love for God and in musical ability, and so on.
And Paul urges the Thessalonians to "Greet all the brothers [and sisters] with a holy kiss". Perhaps we should think about whether you and I are required to obey this command literally. In English culture it would be rather weird for men to kiss each other. So this is one instance where I think we can apply a degree of cultural modification to the way we implement this scripture. I think it's OK to shake hands or to hug in English culture. I know this sounds like a slippery slope, and the culture argument has been used to defend all kinds of unchristian practices, but perhaps we can allow ourselves just this one.
More significant, I think, is another aspect of this instruction. The most important word in this sentence is "all". Paul says we should greet all the brothers (and sisters). How we do so is less important than that we do so, and that we do so to all the brothers and sisters, not just the ones we like. A church must never descend into cliques. It would be unchristian to have some brothers and sisters we greet and others we ignore.
Of course you will find some Christians more convivial than others. You'll find some annoying. Some may have hurt you. You may even find some of them threatening. But greet all of them. Greet them with a greeting that we can call "holy", full of grace, love, gentleness and kindness. They're your brothers and sisters. Even if they don't seem very brotherly towards you, be brotherly towards them.
Jesus taught us:
Luke 6:27-28
"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you."
And if that applies to those outside the church, it applies all the more to those inside the church – to our difficult brothers and sisters. Greet all of them. Love all of them. Bless all of them. We're one family.
Paul writes: "I charge you before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers." Again, leave no-one out. We are charged before the Lord to include all God's people. Sometimes we have to exercise a measure of church discipline, but our hearts must always be to include, to bless, to encourage, to tolerate those who don't quite yet understand yet what Christian conduct is supposed to be like.
And finally, Paul writes, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you." May all of us, the ones whose company you always enjoy, and the ones who frustrate you, or bore you, or contradict you, or hurt you, be filled with grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And may you and I, dear brother or sister, always be channels of grace to those around us, including the difficult ones, and never a blockage to grace.
Paul has set before us a wonderful picture of what church can be like: full of love, passion for God, and encouragement for our fellow-Christians. John Stott's commentary on 1 Thessalonians ends with these words: "If a local church is to become a gospel church, it must not only receive the gospel and pass it on, but also embody it in a community life of mutual love. Nothing but the grace of Christ can achieve this."
I pray that God makes your church a community of mutual love, and I pray that neither you nor I do anything, or say anything, to frustrate God's purpose.