Respect Your Leaders
1 Thessalonians 5v12-13a
11th February 2022
We've been we studying verses 1-11, which urged us to stop wondering about the date of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and get on with living the Christian life in the years allotted to us on earth, diligently and faithfully. Perhaps Jesus will come back before we die. It's more likely that we'll die before He comes back. Either way, let's endeavour to live in faith, love and hope, as Paul exhorts us in verse 8, and let's encourage each other and build each other up, as he urges us in verse 11.
Verses 12-22 teach us about this, about living the Christian life in a Christian way. And the first thing they talk about is our relationship with our church leaders. This shows that the relationship between a church and its leaders is of great importance. If that relationship becomes dysfunctional, then the church becomes dysfunctional.
The original NIV says:
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13a
Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over
you in the Lord and who admonish you.
Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.
But the new NIV translation is rather different. It says "acknowledge" instead of "respect". But Paul's saying more than that we should say "Good morning pastor". He's urging us to acknowledge that our leaders are, indeed, our leaders. That is, to let them lead, to respect them.
Also, the new NIV says your leaders "care for you", rather than that they're "over you". Literally, the Greek word means they are "at the head" or "in front". The word is more about authority than care, although Christian leadership is mostly about caring for God's people.
It seems the new NIV is rather more "politically correct" or "woke", in the sense that it's more in tune with modern secular thinking. That doesn't mean it's always worse than the old NIV, but it does indicate that we should be wary when reading it. The ESV, which is reckoned by many people to be more accurate than both, sides with the old NIV in both these examples.
Church leaders are both over and under the church members. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:5, "we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus's sake". All church leaders should always remember that they're here to serve the church, not the other way round. At the same time, church leaders are called to lead, and to exercise authority.
In Acts 20:28, Philippians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 3:1 and 2, Titus 1:7 and 1 Peter 5:2, church elders are described as "overseers". They are responsible for doing all they can to ensure the church is healthy, and that the church does what God has created it to do. That is, to spread the Gospel to the people around us. They are "over" us.
In Acts 20:28, Paul urged the elders at Ephesus to "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood." Our elders can't be our shepherds if we ignore what they say. They can't keep watch over us if we don't stay together.
So our leaders have a difficult position. They can't demand anything of us, but we should willingly submit ourselves to them. If we won't let our leaders lead, the church won't really function.
There was a time, not so long ago, when an employee would describe his line manager as "my superior". That has died out in recent years, because the society in which we live doesn't want ever to give the impression that we think one person is "better" than another (except, perhaps, if the other person has transgressed some sort of "woke" ideal of speech or conduct). But "superior", in the sense I'm using the word, doesn't mean "better". It means "over".
In any project team, somebody has to be the project manager. The project manager is not always the best engineer. In any church, somebody has to be the pastor. The pastor is not always the best Christian. Biblically, some group of people have to be the elders. A pastor or an elder is not necessarily better than another church member. Indeed, we have no way of measuring such things. But a pastor, and an eldership team, is responsible before God for the well-being and the effectiveness of the church. And they can't fulfil their responsibility if we don't respect them, and their responsibility, and let them lead.
For better or for worse, my church is organised according to the principle of "congregational government". This means that all major decisions are made by all the members meeting together or, at least, by all the members who are able to attend and can be bothered to do so. Sometimes, we take a vote on certain issues. But that doesn't make my church a democracy. We have a responsibility to respect our leaders and to let them lead. If we think they're making a serious mistake or, even worse, if we think they're misbehaving, we should say so. But otherwise, we should back them. They're our leaders. As the writer to the Hebrews tells us:
Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who
must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for
that would be of no advantage to you.
This is how church is supposed to work. God gives us leaders. Sometimes we make a mistake, and appoint a leader who's not ready to be a leader. Sometimes we have to ask a leader to stop being our leader. But until then, we should let our leaders lead. As they say in the world sometimes, "Back them or sack them". In this way, we'll be enabling God's work in and through our local church to continue.
Paul also makes it clear that our leaders – our pastor and elders – are required by God to admonish us. None of us likes being admonished, but we all need to be admonished sometimes. My church is a Baptist church, and Baptist churches have a bit of a "bolshie" streak about them. The Baptist movement came into being because we didn't believe King James I had the right to tell us how to worship God. And somehow we've held on to a bit of a "nobody tells me what do to" attitude. However, we should obey the Bible, which tells us to let our spiritual leaders admonish us.
noutheteō, the word translated as "admonish", can mean to reprimand, or correct, or warn. It's not really about punishment; it's about warning. To admonish people is to warn them of the consequences of their current way of thinking and behaving, and appeal to them to think and act in a more helpful way. It's an appeal not only to their intellect but also their disposition, their attitude. It can be done badly, but it should be done gently. But the bottom line is your spiritual leaders are required to do it. I confess that I do this less often than I should. And some of us receive admonishment less willingly than we should.
As my copy of the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says, "Admonition is a central part of the cure of souls". Paul told the Ephesians, "Remember that for three years I never stopped warning (admonishing) you night and day with tears" (Acts 20:31). He wrote to the Corinthians, "I am not writing to shame you but to warn (admonish) you, as my dear children" (1 Corinthians 4:14). Your pastor and elders dare not neglect this part of their ministry. When they exercise it, please continue to respect them. Listen carefully to what they have to say. Don't go all defensive or passive-aggressive. Try to believe that they're doing it for your good.
Verse 12 talks about leaders who work hard among you. Of course, there are plenty of Christians who aren't leaders but who also work hard in the church. Thank God for every one of them. But in particular, Paul expects pastors and elders to work hard.
Sometimes, and with loving and well-meaning hearts, some of my church members urge me to work less hard. And as I get older, I actually do have to work less hard than I did. But I want to give my time and energy to building the church and serving the kingdom of God. Don't you? And please take a moment to thank your elders' wives, who release their husbands to work hard amongst you.
Verse 13 begins "Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other." No leader, or anybody else, can demand that we hold him in high regard. Respect is earnt, not demanded. But I'd like to say two things:
Firstly, even if you can't respect a pastor or an elder, respect his office. He is, however imperfectly, attempting to discharge the duties that God has laid on him, and that the church also laid on him when they elected him. And he can't discharge his duties effectively if we don't respect him, if we ignore what he says, if we all do what we think is best. The church needs to act as a team if it's to hold together and make a difference in this world, and every team needs a captain.
Secondly, as I've already said, back them or sack them. If my church members think they can find a better pastor than me, then they're welcome to employ him instead of me. I'll walk away. I want whatever's best for them. But if they still believe I'm God's choice to be their pastor, called to serve them so far as I can, then I hope they'll support me.
I do believe that pastors and elders function best when they receive high regard and love from the people they serve. I've experienced tremendous love and support from my church. From time to time, I've also experienced great opposition and unkindness from a few people. I know which I prefer. And I know that when I have their support I'm a far more effective pastor than when I don't.
My advice to you is to remember that none of us is perfect, that all of us make mistakes.