Sometimes the small miscellaneous statements are the most profound.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. ¹⁵ See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies, ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good. ²² Abstain from every form of evil.

²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

²⁵ Brothers, pray for us.

²⁶ Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

²⁷ I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

1 Thessaloniaans 5:12-28

It has been my experience that in most cases, when people look seriously at Scripture, those final words of greeting or salutation at the end of a letter are overlooked as just personal comments without much value for us all. Preachers will often dismiss these sections since they don’t usually contain any meaningful doctrinal statements. But this section today has so much powerful material in small packages I want to go through and comment on them phrase by phrase.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

1 Thesssalonians 5:12-13

With all the scandals surrounding celebrity Pastors, it is easy to become jaded toward church leaders. Even average ordinary Pastors have problems. Being aware of all of this, the Apostle Paul admonishes us to respect our elders and esteem them, not because of their perfection, but because of their work. Whether one is the lead Pastor of a mega-church or the Pastor of a small country congregation of 50 people, it is work, hard work. A faithful shepherd of 50 puts in just as much work on his teaching preparation every week as one preaching to a mega-church. The work is just as hard.

“Be at peace among yourselves” implies that if we don’t very highly esteem our leaders in love, we will leave room for unloving attitudes of heart to grow within us and lead to dissension and other ungodly heart conditions. Think about your own heart’s attitude toward your leaders in Christ. Do you esteem them very highly in love because of their work? Maybe this reveals a need for repentance on your part and a prayer to God to help you to grow in love.

Forgive me as I run down a bit of a rabbit hole here. As the old phrase goes, “I’m going to stop preaching and start meddlin’.” In the United States, there are many, I would estimate, millions of Christians who are not members of a church. I know some churches don’t have formal membership, but it is usually evident in some way who is a part of that fellowship of believers and who is not. But I digress. The point I am making is if you aren’t part of a committed fellowship of believers (a church) with recognized leadership, then you do not have leaders who are over you in the Lord. You cannot obey this Scripture. Repent and find the church body where you belong.

¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 

1 Thessalonians 5:14

This verse addresses the “brothers” and not the Pastors. It applies to us all on how to treat certain categories of brothers and sisters in Christ. The “idle” are those who are disorderly or undisciplined. In modern parlance, the flaky. These folks need admonishment to get their act together and grow up.

The fainthearted are the emotionally weak. They need encouragement, not admonishment, as the idle brother.

The weak are those who don’t have a good grasp on the grace of God and are in fear of being outcast by Jesus if they don’t fully measure up. Paul addresses these folks in Corinth regarding eating meat or not. These need help which often means instruction in the gospel so they are no longer weak in the faith.

Paul’s overall instruction is to be patient with them all, the idle, the fainthearted, and the weak.

See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

1 Thessalonians 5:15

This is one of those that is easier said than done. But the instruction is clear; it’s’ just not easy. No retaliation. I believe Paul is addressing this fully within the church, which means some church folks were doing evil to one another. Even if your brother mistreats you and does evil, your response is to be one of doing good to them. Here’s a secret. You can’t do this on your own. You can only obey these instructions in the power of the Holy Spirit. It requires that we live in intimacy with Jesus if we are to obey these instructions. We are to do good to our brethren and those outside the household of faith, i.e., everyone.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

These three admonitions are profound. They don’t take a lot of explanation. But, again, we can only obey these if we have an intimate walk with Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit. Rejoice always: I can easily rejoice sometimes and maybe even a lot, but always is the command. There is no innuendo here; it is straightforward, rejoice always.

Pray without ceasing: another impossibility, right? Yes, if we don’t have that intimate walk with Jesus. Unceasing prayer cannot be the proverbial drop to your knees and cry out to God kind of prayer. Elsewhere Paul refers to “all kinds of prayer.” Maybe it would be good to spend some time in Scripture and some good Biblical books on prayer to discover these “all kinds” of prayer. Together they will allow us to obey prayer without ceasing. It is indeed a goal to pursue.

Thanksgiving is all circumstances: Another unnatural behavior. When things are good, or we are conscious of God’s blessing and goodness, it is easy to be thankful. When our child is sick unto death; when we lose a job and were already struggling to make ends meet; when we are attacked at work for our Biblical values, it isn’t so easy to be thankful. But even in these profoundly disappointing and painful circumstances, there is much to be thankful for, and we are admonished to be thankful in all circumstances. Our circumstances do not change our salvation; we are still saints, we are still alive with Christ, we are still part of a kingdom of priests, and we still have the incredible hope of the New Heaven and New Earth where there will be no disappointments.

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not despise prophecies, ²¹ but test everything; hold fast what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

Many believers have been taught to violate these commands constantly. Many Christian leaders have been taught and continue to perpetuate the doctrine that says the gifts of the Spirit, like prophecy, have ceased and forbid believers under their leadership to participate in them. Those leaders are violating all three of these verses. In this context, it appears to me that quenching the Spirit refers to forbidding the use of the gifts of the Spirit. Paul especially points out not to despise prophecy but to test it to see that it doesn’t violate Scripture. And, if it checks out, hold on to what is good.

Many of these cessationists (those who believe the gifts of the Spirit have ceased) are so because of the misuse of gifts among continuationists (those who believe the gifts of the Spirit continue today and will until Jesus returns on the Day of the Lord). They have a valid argument. It is one of my criticisms of some of my fellow continuations bothers. Biblical guidance on how to use the gifts is ignored. That is wrong.

Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22

There is no comment needed here. Abstain from every kind of evil, period. Search Scripture and see what Scripture identifies as evil, and don’t be involved.

²³ Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

This is Paul’s prayer for us that we will be sanctified wholly. Sanctified means to be made holy in conduct and set apart by God for himself. Interestingly, Paul expounds on the meaning of “you.” He identifies you as spirit, soul, and body so that we don’t miss that he wants everything about our being to be holy.

This is a grace-filled declaration; he who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. We have looked at several impossible and near-impossible instructions, and now Paul says, God will do it. We are not alone in living this life as God has called us to do. He is there in us to make it happen.

I love Pauls’s final phrase. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. We have just read a series of admonitions that we cannot on our own fulfill. So, Paul ends with a pronouncement for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ to be with us. That power will sanctify us and make us holy to keep the commands he has just shared with us.

I encourage you to take some time with this Scripture and meditate on it, asking Jesus to talk to you about it. He will, you know.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.