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Billy Sunday once said, “I would rather preach than anything on earth. If President Harding should telegraph me tomorrow, and say, ‘Bill, will you change jobs with me?’ I’d say ‘Nothin doin, Warren.’”

Paul felt the same as Sunday as he expressed in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-14. Paul started the church at Thessalonica on his second missionary journey in Acts 17. In less than a month, he had won sinners to Christ and organized them into a local assembly. Problems were inherent in the young church that had mushroomed. Three of those problems are called by Paul in 3:10 “that which is lacking in your faith.” Paul identifies these deficiencies in chapter four.

Paul used the same word for deficiencies or “what is lacking” that Matthew used when he described James and John “mending” their nets. The fishermen knew if they did not repair their torn nets then the fish would get away. Charles H. Spurgeon desired for his church, Metropolitan Tabernacle, to be a “soul trap.” If a sinner got inside his church for a service, Spurgeon wanted the gospel to be so powerfully preached that the sinner would be trapped and would trust Christ as his Savior. But sin or spiritual deficiencies cause the gospel net to have holes so that the sinners will get away. Those spiritual deficiencies must be repaired and Paul is going to identify the problems and tell us how to fix them.

1. Immorality (4:1-8) because many of the Thessalonians were saved out of immoral paganism (1:9).

2. Idleness (4:9-12) because perhaps they had misapplied Paul’s teaching of the return of Christ. They had quit their jobs and were living off of handouts.

3. Sorrow (4:13-18) over some of their loved ones who had died since Paul had been with them and taught on the return of Christ. What would happen to their loved who died in Christ at the coming of Christ was their concern.

Since most of the people in the church were all saved at the same time there seems to have been the problem of submitting to pastoral leadership since they were all new converts. Paul addressed this sensitive relationship in 4:12-14.

First, Paul Deals with the Congregation’s Relationship to their Pastor in verses 12-13.

To begin, Paul admonishes them to “know” their pastors. Be aware of what is involved in the ministry. Realize that in just the area of sermon preparation much time is required if the pastor is to properly feed the flock of God and have a long term ministry.

Next Paul encourages the congregation to “esteem” their pastors. Paul lists three reasons congregations should appreciate their pastors:

1. Because pastors “labor among you.” Paul will later tell Timothy, “If any man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work” (1 Timothy 3:1). One church member said to his pastor, “You pastors have it made. You make a full-time salary and all you have to work is 30 minutes on Sunday morning, 30 minutes on Sunday evening, and 30 minutes on Wednesday evening.” That church member has no clue to what is involved in pastoring. The great preacher and teacher of preachers, Stephen Olford, once a year would take a service and explain to his congregation what was involved in the preparation of one sermon.

2. Because pastors preside “over you.” God has given the pastor the oversight of a congregation (1 Peter 5:2). He is to “equip the saints to do the work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). The easy way out for the pastor is to do the work of the ministry himself rather than go through all the trouble of training others. But that is not God’s way. First, the pastor will burn out and the work of God will suffer. Next, the people of God will never be blessed by God for serving and using their God given gifts.

This is one of Henry Blackaby’s worthy goals leaders should maintain: Leading to Spiritual Maturity. When we lead our people to spiritual maturity they can since God’s will and ministries will originate with them rather than top-down (Spiritual Leadership, 130).

3. Because pastors “admonish you.” Paul reminded the Galatians, “If I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ” (1:10). That means pastor must preach the Word which means we must reprove, rebuke, and exhort.

Finally, Paul commands congregations to “be at peace among yourselves.” Someone said, “Mom cannot cook a delicious meal in the kitchen if she is always having to separate fusing kids.” The same is true with pastors. A gift a congregation can give their pastor is gift if cooperating with one another in the work of God.

Second, Paul Deals with the Congregation’s Relationship with Each Other in verses 14-15.

Not only does the congregation have a responsibility to their pastor but to each other. In Matthew 18:15-17, when a church member has been  offended by another church member, the offended church member doesn’t first go to the pastor but to the offender. This is the point Paul is making in this section. The church at Thessalonians had three major problems which the pastor was not to solve, according to Paul’s instructions, but the congregation.

Congregations have the responsibility to “warn them that are unruly” who is the Idle from 4:9-12.

When these freeloaders show on our front porch asking for an handout, we are not to call the pastor, we are to tell them, ”Get a job!” This is the first step in Matthew 18:15-17.

Congregations have the responsibility to “comfort the fainthearted” who are those sorrowful from 4:13-18.

Church members who have experienced the death of a loved ones can much better comfort one another than pastors who have not. We buried my wife’s mother on Christmas Eve years ago. My wife can sit down and weep with you if your mother has passed. She can comfort much better than I can because my Mom is still living.

Congregations have the responsibility to “support the weak” who are those saved out immoral paganism and still struggling in 4:1-8.

Paul did not say support the wicked or those still living in immorality. But rather support the weak or those who want to be free from this sinful addition.

Someone said, “The perfect church is always 1000 miles away.” What looks like perfect churches from a distance are not once we get inside. There are no perfect churches but there are blessed churches that follow Paul’s guidelines for the a proper relationship with the congregation and their pastor.

I read this story about a man who seemed to be a A MIS-FIT PASTOR. His case had been solemnly discussed by his many conscientious church members, and the conclusion seemed inevitable—he just was not a man big enough for the fine church he was trying to serve. So a committee waited upon him from the elders of the church,  and in as kindly a way as they could, they told him of his shortcomings and that the only sensible verdict was that he was not cut out for as big a job as the responsibility of this important church.

It looked like the end for the discouraged pastor, but wait! Instead of dismissing him, the committee informed him that their decision was that they would meet in earnest prayer together for him until God did whatever was His will for the poor, ‘misfit pastor’. They were faithful—the prayer group got more and more under the burden and the power of God was more and more evident ni their own lives, and in the pastor’s. Out of that experience, this ‘inadequate’ pastor emerged to become the great Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman. Multitudes eventually owed their salvation to the work that the Lord did through this man of God! How much credit in heaven will go to him, and how much to the ones stood behind him in prayer?