And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. –1 Thessalonians 5:14
This is one of my favorite passages. It helps us see there are people in our midst who are idle, some who are fainthearted and others who are weak. A wise minister/counselor will use a different tool for each person.
We are to admonish the idle. The word there for “idle” isn’t a word that means idle as in lazy. It means undisciplined. It’s the busybodies that we see in 2 Thessalonians and just a little in 1 Thessalonians. These are people who are refusing to respond to the commands of the leaders—and quite likely not listening to the command that if a man wants to eat he needs to do work.
And so to these stubborn idlers, Paul says, “admonish them”. The word “noutheteo” means to put sense into someone’s head. This isn’t just a rant or a lecture or a finger pointing session where you get in somebodies face and start yelling at them. What Paul has in mind is patiently instructing someone with God’s Word. Showing someone how their lifestyle doesn’t match up with God’s Word. A strong encouragement. When someone is set in their ways and living in active rebellion you don’t coddle them with a message of grace and Jesus loves you. You admonish them.
But at the same time you don’t admonish the faint-hearted. As one person has said, “Wisdom dictated that they should not ‘warn the weak’ nor ‘encourage the idle’”. Instead we are to “encourage the faint-hearted”.
To encourage someone means to come alongside someone and speak to them. The picture is of someone crying on a park bench and another person comes up beside them, puts their arm around them, and just encourages them. The picture is of someone that is “small-souled”. They feel as if they don’t have what it takes to do that which is required of them. These are the ones that say, “I just can’t do this anymore. I just don’t have what it takes.” Such a person doesn’t need a kick in the pants, they need encouragement. They need the gospel to come alongside them and strengthen them.
The third group that Paul looks at is the weak. This is such a great picture. The weak are those that are literally strengthless. They can’t support their own weight. Their legs are buckling from underneath them. It might mean some sort of physical ailment. It’s the same word used in Romans 5, “While we were still helpless”.
And I love what Paul says to them. “Help them”. The word for help means “to hold oneself over against”. What Paul is saying is that we are to be the strength for those that have none. Be the legs for those that can’t get their legs underneath of them. This is of the solider wounded in battle and his brother in arms comes up beside him and walks with him. That’s the picture here. There are those in our midst that are like this.
You don’t admonish them. You don’t say, “get up and walk”. You also don’t just give them words. They need more than words of encouragement. They need you to walk for them for a season.
Of course it takes great wisdom to know where someone really is. I imagine that those that needed to be admonished could at times appear just like those that are weak. It’s not that their legs aren’t working it’s just that they are lazy bums and they haven’t used their own legs for so long they have become weak. So it takes a great deal of wisdom. But we are being encouraged here in our community to consider these things. People matter. Treat people according with where they are.
And this, my friends, is why your online “church” is never enough.
When I write articles, I may have specific audience in mind. There are times when I may write something a bitter stronger. In such a time I’m doing this in the hopes that someone who needs admonished will pick it up and the Lord will use it for His glory. At the same time I often write with the intention of helping those who need encouragement. That’s a vast majority of my writing. But I have no idea if the person reading it actually needs a kick in the pants. I have no way of personalizing and contexualizing articles in which I write.
I don’t really know you. (Unless I do).
The same is true of your online “pastor”. He doesn’t really know which tool is needed to help you grow in Christ. Thankfully the Spirit can and does use our work on social media and blogs and books and such. But you need more than this. You need those in your life who know whether you’re idle, faint-hearted, or weak. And that can only really happen in the context of a local church.
But let’s be honest here. The real reason why we can so easily substitute online church for local church is that our experience usually isn’t much different. Many of us aren’t actually known in our local church either. Whether it’s because the system and structure of our church isn’t conducive to such a thing, or we ourselves aren’t those who pursue actual life together, the problem is still the same. We aren’t known well enough to be given specific counsel with the proper tools needed.
Most come to church on a Sunday morning, share a few distant prayer requests, sit in on a bible study, sing a few songs, listen to a sermon, shake a couple hands, and then go home. We aren’t actually known nor do we pursue really truly knowing one another. Apart from the handshakes, the smell of an ushers coffee breathe, and the physical sensations of “being there”, what really is different between your local church experience and just staying home and watching a TV preacher. The music on television is probably better and so is the preaching. It can be catered to your own needs for that day. But it’s still not as good as being known in a local church.
We don’t see things correctly. The idle often think they’re weak. The faint-hearted rebuke themselves for idleness. We need another set of loving eyes to come alongside us and properly apply the gospel. And for that you need a local church. And for that to actually “work” and matter and do what it’s supposed to do—you need to pursue being known and to know others.
Be known.
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