Respect in the Church

Silicon Valley Reformed Baptist Church

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Well, our scripture for this morning's message is found in 1 Thessalonians, in chapter 5.

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Well, the message will come from verses 12 and 13. I'll read all the way to verse 22 to sort of prepare us for the coming messages, which will cover the rest of those verses 14 through 22.

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And as you turn in your Bibles there, let me just point out to you that this comes after the Apostle has, as it were, set things right with the

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Thessalonian church regarding their anticipation of Jesus Christ and his return.

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And what they are to be doing to prepare themselves spiritually for his return, what they are to be doing in this world as they prepare for his return, he has covered that and he has them now squared away, so to speak, regarding this great doctrine of the fact that Jesus will indeed return, come back, and call to himself those whom he bought with his blood at the cross.

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And now he turns to more practical matters and is telling the church more specifically the things that they are to do as they await this return of Christ, having given them the founding principles, if you will, for what is to be the church life during this time that we live here, worship here, and await

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Jesus Christ and his return. So that brief introduction, please stand in honor of the reading of God's Word, 1

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Thessalonians chapter 5 and beginning at verse 12. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you, and are over you in the

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Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

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And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint -hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

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

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

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Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophecies, but test everything, hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.

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God bless the reading, and now if it be His will, the proclamation of His Word, please be seated.

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You know, I spent, or as you might think, misspent, my teenage years in the 70s.

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I haven't become a teenager in 1968. And one of the catchphrases of the day, one of the bywords, if you will, was question authority.

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Question authority. Times were almost as tumultuous then as they are now, with the Vietnam War, with President Nixon, a conservative president, and a growing liberal feeling in the country.

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And so this catchphrase was out there. It was almost like a marketing thing. Question authority.

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And this was taught to us by our teachers in high school. They would stand there as progressive, kind of hip, and say, you need to question authority.

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Though what they kind of forgot was that they were telling teenagers to question authority, and we didn't ever quite get that authority was a concept.

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It was a thing that was out there. And we then would easily transfer it with our immature minds, not quite yet taught all the ways of thinking and disciplined thought processes.

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We thought it meant the person. Question the person, was slowly, not slowly,

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I should say, quickly devolved into disrespect for persons. I went to high school, not very many miles from here, in a place that was then, and is now, a fairly poor, rugged neighborhood, a barrio, if you will.

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And one time a teacher had yard duty. His name was

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Mr. Cross. Mr. Cross was a very fine teacher. He was a good -looking guy, kind of slightly built, but very gentlemanly in his appearance.

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He had this perfectly trimmed goatee and a mustache. He wore a bowtie, which in our day was kind of sissy, but he never got teased because it was so perfectly tied, a tweed coat and a fedora hat.

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He was just a real gentlemanly looking guy. He was the teacher, and he had yard duty that day, and he came out to the yard during the lunch break to investigate puffs of smoke.

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Now whatever that smoke was from, it wasn't supposed to be there at high school, and he came out to put a stop to it, to take down names, to do what a teacher on yard duty is supposed to do.

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It wasn't easy to hear, and people came, the guy came closer and closer to him, and soon it was an almost menacing surrounding, and it got more and more menacing.

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Somebody I still remember very well, he was a good guitar player, and he was part of that rugged crowd. His name was Tom, and he came in through the crowd playing his guitar and singing a little ditty to Mr.

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Cross. I still remember it. Mr. Cross, why don't you get lost? And soon, as I was thinking to myself, somebody has to do something about this.

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I, being at the younger age of my class and a little intimidated by this, but thinking in the back of my mind, somebody should do something, but I didn't,

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I have to admit, have the courage to do anything. As I saw this becoming more menacing, a milk carton came arcing over and smacked him in the forehead.

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About this time, I knew things were getting ridiculous and out of hand, although I was, by my passive participation, a part of it.

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Well, it ended when Coach Mooma came out, Coach Mooma with arms like a gorilla and fists to match and willingness to use them.

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But I bring this up to you to ask you to think with me, how could such a thing like that happen?

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It was disrespect. It was a lack of respect for the position that Mr.

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Cross held. He was a good teacher. He was a fine teacher. He taught English and literature.

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I gained much from him in his class. How could such a thing have happened like that? To assault a teacher, not just because of the rugged neighborhood or anything like that.

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It's a lack of respect. It's a lack of respect. This is where lack of respect for a position leads, to a teacher, someone who holds a noble position in society, ending up with a milk carton smacked on his head.

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That's where lack of respect leads. It's not just teenagers in a high school in a low -income neighborhood, but whenever people fail to respect authority, we fail to respect a position.

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This is exactly that kind of sin that's just waiting at the door, crouching as it were, to go back to Genesis 3, and waiting to spring into action.

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And this is just what the Apostle Paul would head off, in these words that he gives to the

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Thessalonian Church, in these words that he gives in the Living Bible to us this day.

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This is what he would head off. Notice that the Apostle Paul doesn't tell them to correct their disrespect, but to begin to respect.

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There's no blatant sin. There's no incident that he covers or addresses.

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This is something he wants them to start, because I believe what he is thinking here is that the disrespect of the positions that the church needs to lead them along for you to grow into the image of Christ through the ministry of the

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Word by the administration of those positions that God has ordained. This is right beneath the surface.

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This kind of disrespect. Now I do not expect that anyone who has this kind of sinful disrespect for the position of pastor is going to send a milk carton arcing over here and smack me in the head with it while I'm preaching.

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But I think this is just the kind of thing that Paul, under inspiration of the

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Spirit, would prevent remembering that God looks to the heart.

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But so one might ask as we think about this, if the church is doing so well, why would he write this to them?

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What do we have to be on guard with ourselves? Again, like I said, I don't see any milk cartons, and if you had one,

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I don't think anyone would throw that or anything else at me or Pastor Owens standing at this pulpit.

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But what lies right beneath the surface but disrespect, an anxiousness almost, to be rebellious, to be independent.

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I believe that this is what the Apostle Paul is warning us of and telling us to positively show respect for the positions that God has ordained in the church to lead the church along.

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Let's look at this text. Let us understand this text and see why this is here. There's different ideas on why the

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Apostle Paul broke into this particular theme at this point. Some of the commentators think it was almost perfunctory.

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It's like, just this is the way I'm going to end this letter. But I think the Apostle Paul is very intentional here because of the danger of rebellion.

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The danger of the rebellion that comes from disrespect is an ever -present danger. At least it's an ever -present danger if you're in a church that is populated by fallen humanity.

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Which is which church? It's every church. It's this church.

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So let's understand why the Apostle Paul is so concerned with this idea that he's telling the church there in Thessalonica, he's telling the church here today in Sunnyvale to respect those who labor among you and are over you and over you we're just going to call lead, that's leadership, are leading you in the

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Lord and admonish you. What's this doing here? Why does the

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Apostle Paul put this in here now? This church was doing extraordinarily well, especially for a church where he visited, as we read in the book of Acts, three

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Sabbaths. Might have been there for four weeks, and then he went off to Athens.

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So this young church is told in some very important ways to keep doing what they're doing.

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You would think that this is a prime example of a good, vital, spiritually growing church in chapter 4 verse 1.

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He says to live lives pleasing to God. Pleasing to God Almighty, just as you are doing.

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In chapter 4 verses 9 and 10, he speaks of brotherly love. And he says continue to do what you are doing in brotherly love.

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So pleasing to God, brotherly love, what you are doing. Verse 11 of chapter 5, which we covered last week.

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Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. Is this not the description of a vital, growing church?

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I would argue it is. So why does he put this here? Why does he go from chapter 5 verse 11, the third, keep doing what you're doing, encouraging one another, encouraging one another and building one another up to this?

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It's the means that God has ordained for this encouragement, for this building up, for this brotherly love to be administered, for these lives pleasing to God to be taught and exemplified is through the leadership of the church.

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I think that's the immediate context here. Encouraging and building one another up. And then at the end of verse 13, which

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I read and we'll cover this when we finish this message, that's how we maintain the peace in the church.

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So who is in view here? I've made it pretty clear that it's pastors, but notice that the text does not say pastors, and there's some differences amongst the commentators as to who is being thought of here, who

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Paul has in mind when he says, those who do what? Labor among you? Well, that could be anyone.

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The women who set up the Lord's table here for us, that's labor, and they labor among you. And are over you in the

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Lord would seem to be pastors, leaders, those who have been raised to a formal position and admonish you.

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Some commentators think that this is really speaking of pillars in the church, people who were pillars of the church in terms of wealth.

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They're wealthier than most of the others, so they had the education, they could understand the scriptures, they had the ability to explain and teach, and they could also afford homes where they could host people.

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Based upon what the same author, the Apostle Paul, says in 1st Timothy 5 .17, let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching, speaking of pastors, in virtually the same kind of language as in 1st

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Thessalonians 5 .12. Just one more, Hebrews 13, 7, and 8, remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

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So what is in view here? These who labor among you, who lead you in the

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Lord, and admonish you. It is your pastors. It is the position of pastor that Paul is saying you need to positively show respect and very highly esteem.

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Does it all sound self -serving? I have to tell you, I shy away from this text more than other texts, because it sounds that way.

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Well, what am I saying? I am one of your pastors. Pastor Owens is the other of your pastors in this place.

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Does that not sound so self -serving to say, therefore, God says you're to respect me?

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Well, that is what it says. And to highly esteem, highly is huper, where we get hyper, like someone who's hypersensitive, like going hypersonic, over the top.

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And notice here as we look at this, that the leaders, your pastors and your deacons, are not told to make you respect them.

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You are told to respect them and highly esteem them. That the man himself is to be respectable, that the man himself is to be estimable, that's very true, and that's well covered elsewhere, like especially in 1

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Timothy 3, but that's there and we're here. So we need to find what's being put upon you here.

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What is this command to you? What is this thing that you need to do that is part of,

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I would believe, this maintenance of the things that the Thessalonians were doing, that they're to keep on doing, lives pleasing to God, let me repeat, brotherly love, building one another up and encouraging one another.

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This is one of the bases for it. Ultimately the basis is what? The working of God amongst us, the

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Spirit of God who unifies us. Ephesians chapter 4, that we call out to God with one voice and one accord because of one faith and one baptism.

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There's one Lord who is God over all. That's the basis of this.

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So we're talking in sort of a horizontal level here. What is the basis for this respect and esteem that you're to have?

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Well again it's the laboring, it's the working, it's the ruling, it's the setting an agenda for the church, it's telling you here's how we're going to promote the gospel, it's the admonishing, it's the rebuking, it's the counsel.

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It's actually respecting and esteeming the functions. You see it's the position and not the man.

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It's the position that must be held in such high regard. Now that the man is supposed to be qualified for the position, yes, absolutely.

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And the church has recourse against a man who is no longer qualified, who falls from that grace, all true.

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But as is my habit we're going to stay a bit myopic, we're going to stay right here on what this one scripture says, which is you're to respect this,

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I'm not going to say the man, the position, the functions that are carried out, the good that you receive from what the man or the men do for you.

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You see the position, not the man. Do you ever see Band of Brothers, the true story of Easy Company in World War II?

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They were part of the 101st Airborne. There's a time there when Captain Sobel is walking by Major Winters, and he doesn't like Major Winters because Major Winters became a major, and Captain Sobel's remained just a captain.

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So there's this whole friction between the two, but here's the point. At one point Captain Sobel walks past Major Winters and does not salute him.

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He calls him back, he says, Captain Sobel, Captain Sobel! He stops and he turns towards him, and he says, we salute the rank, not the man.

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And so finally Captain Sobel gives him a salute, and Major Winters gives him a snappier salute, which is dismissive, but the salute.

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And here's the point, we salute the rank, not the man. You respect and you very highly esteem the position and the function, and not the man, though the man is to be estimable and respectable.

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So what are the qualifiers here? Do you have to do whatever this man in this position says? Is that what it means to respect and to highly esteem, to hupper, esteem him?

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Well, no, there's some very important qualifiers here. Very important qualifiers. In the

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Lord. You respect what this man does to you from this position, whether it's myself or Pastor Owens, whoever stands here at this pulpit, and gives you the

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Word of God, you respect him because he's giving you in the Lord. What does that mean?

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What is simplest, we're telling you what the Lord says from His Scripture. We're being true to what it says, and whatever level of clarity we can bring, with full integrity and the best of our ability, here's what

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God says, this is in the Lord. And that's a great qualifier for you. I don't come into your home and tell you how to arrange your pictures.

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I don't tell you what furniture to have. That would not be in the Lord, would it? Many years ago, some of the young men in this church planned a hike in the

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Sierras. Now back before multiple sclerosis slowed me down and stopped me, really,

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I was a hiker and did a lot of hiking in the Sierras. So advice was asked of me because this was an area

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I'd been. And one thing I said was, well, don't go to this pass, which you're going to go over, and drive to it because you go from sea level to this level.

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At 80 miles an hour, your body doesn't have time to get used to it, and you might get altitude sickness, which turned out to be true for some of them.

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But here's the point. Another man in the church at the time, also an experienced backpacker, was very offended that when

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I told them they should get to the portal, the parking lot, and spend the night there and get their lungs used to the altitude, they didn't follow my advice.

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He said, they should have done what you said. I said, well, I don't really care that much. I want them to have a good time and be safe, but I didn't care that much.

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He said, no, you're the elder, and they're to obey their elders. Well, without going into a lot of detail about that, that's not what the apostle

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Paul says here. Why are you to respect what the man who holds this position tells you?

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Because there's a constraining factor here. It's in the Lord. As I tell you what

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Jesus Christ in his word says to you, as I properly interpret and apply the scriptures to you, that is in the

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Lord. So it's a qualifier. And it's because of their work. Esteem them very highly because of their work.

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So again, what are you esteeming highly? What are you showing respect for? In this context exactly, without going to the other scriptures about the man himself, though we should go there some other times, but right here in 1

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Thessalonians 5, 12, and 13, it's what we do.

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It's who we represent to you, which is Jesus Christ. It's the functions that we bring about to you, which is to show you

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Jesus Christ, portray him as crucified, to tell you how the Spirit works amongst you, and so forth.

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It's in the Lord, and it's because of their work. Do you receive any good from the work that your pastors in this place do?

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All praise to God. All glory to Jesus Christ, if that be the case. Do you receive any good, any benefit?

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Do you grow in the Lord by the ministry of this church, and particularly the ministry of your pastors, that function that we carry out?

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That's where you're to have the regard. That's where you're to have the respect, the very high esteem.

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It's because of the work that is done. It's the rank, not the man. It's the position, not the man.

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And as a major in the army, must be qualified to be a major, and able to lead men, and so forth.

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Whether you like that major or not, if you're a captain or a lieutenant, or on down the ranks, you salute him, and you snap the first salute.

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Now, this is not a military organization, but the point, I think, still carries. Salute the position before the man.

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That's one reason why the church must be careful about who they raise up, because of regard for the position.

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This is one reason we need to be circumspect about who we lay hands on. Because of the position that we're going to fulfill when we lay hands on them, and ordain them to that position.

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We need to be careful about it, because we respect the position, the function that is carried out.

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Remembering, too, that the polity, the organization of the church, is ordained by God.

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It is God who says we're going to have pastors. Pastor Owens and I didn't just come into this place and say, hey, wouldn't it be neat if we had a new position?

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Let's call it pastor. Of course not. Paul went, as he founded churches, and he went from place to place, and he appointed elders in each church.

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He appointed pastors. It's a God -ordained position. And so it's the position that God would have in the church to do things such as maintain all those just -as -you -were -doings, and here to maintain the peace that comes at the end of verse 13, and we'll come to that later.

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Remember, it's God who ordained the position. And so it's the function and the position, it's the rank that is holding this high regard.

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We need to see how close, though, disrespect, and God's view of that disrespect, but how close disrespect is always ready to brim out.

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It's right beneath the surface. I want to give you some examples from the scriptural history.

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I gave you an example from my own life when I was a teenager. One of the most dreadful incidents that I ever witnessed and passively was a part of.

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In 2 Kings 2, we come to Elisha. Very well -known passage where the boys tease him, they mock him, and the bears come out and maul some of them.

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Before we read just a couple of verses from 2 Kings 2, just to remind you, Elisha was

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Elijah's successor. And during the Elijah or Elisha cycle of prophecy, when each one was there, they were the word of God in Israel.

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And if you read through their histories in 1 and 2 Kings, when they go outside the environs of Israel, there's no word of God in Israel.

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They are the prophet. The maid in Syria told her master, there's a prophet, there's the prophet in Israel who can cure your leprosy.

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She told that to Naaman. Naaman, the prophet. This is very important because he was known to be the prophet, the spokesman for God, the sole unique during that time spokesman for God in that land.

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So he was known, that position that God ordained him to. So with that little bit of background, chapter 2, verse 23 in 2

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Kings, he, that's Elisha, went up from there to Bethel. And while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him saying, go up you bald head, go up you bald head.

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He turned around and when he saw them, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she bears came out of the woods and tore 42 of the boys.

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Now why 40 of the boys hung around while two of them were being mauled and would they die and all these other things, we're not even going to touch.

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Here's the point. They jeered at Elisha. They jeered at the prophet, which is to jeer at what?

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God, who ordained the prophet. And so when Elisha calls down a curse upon them,

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God hears and God sends those two bears and 42 of them are badly hurt, if not killed, we don't know.

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But it was God's view of this disrespect. It was just brimming at the surface.

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It's just ready to go. Always a danger for us.

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That's God's view of it. And then there's a couple of incidents in the book of Numbers. And again,

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I want to just give you a quick description and I want us to pay attention to God's view of it. In Numbers chapter 12,

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Miriam and Aaron, that's Moses' brother and sister, they oppose Moses. And here's what they say.

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Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? In other words, aren't we as good as him?

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Aaron could say I was his spokesman. He doesn't like to speak. He argued with God about that. I'm the one who talked to Pharaoh.

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Aren't I as good as Moses? Why does he get to be in charge? And Miriam would say, after the safety of the

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Red Sea crossing, we came to the other side. Was it not I who led Israel, the women in song?

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Didn't the Lord speak through me? Is it not inscripturated, the song that we sang? Has the

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Lord spoken only through Moses? It's not disrespect from his own brother and sister, but disrespect for the position because these ominous words come next.

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And the Lord heard it. So what was God's answer to this? We're not going to read it.

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It would take too long. We don't want to go into a lot of detail, but the first thing he does is he tells Miriam and Aaron, you were there when

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I spoke one -on -one with Moses. You were there when through Moses I redeemed

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Israel. You were there when through Moses I drowned the Egyptian army and saw you safe to the other side.

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You saw what I was doing through him, through the position to which

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I had raised him, to the rank which I had given him. Not Moses himself.

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God is no respecter of persons. Moses was a murderer. He killed that Egyptian. Moses sinned so badly before the

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Lord he didn't get to go into the Promised Land. God's no respecter of persons. It's the position. So that's

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God's first answer. His second answer was we struck Miriam with the most dreaded disease of the ancient

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Near East, if not even still today, which was leprosy. That living symbol of the ugliness of sin.

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Leprosy. And he gave that to her because of her disrespect, not so much of Moses, though Moses received the disrespect, but of the position, the function that by God's decree he was carrying out.

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In Numbers chapter 16, when Korah gets Dathan and Abiram to side with him against Moses and then they get a following, which is 250 of the chief men and they go to Moses and they say to him, you have gone too far, which is sometimes translated or interpreted as stop being so presumptuous,

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Moses. You've gone too far for all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the

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Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves in the name of the

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Lord? Let's point out, Psalm 106, 16 says that they were just jealous.

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Moses never exalted himself. The scripture says he was the most humble man on the face of the earth. He had been placed in a position by God and the assembly had willingly followed him.

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Now to say that all in the congregation are holy is true enough, and we could say that here, could we not?

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Does not the apostle Paul consistently call members of the church saints, holy ones?

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He calls you those who are sanctified and are being sanctified, those who are holy and becoming more holy.

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So, sure, it's true. All in the congregation are holy.

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By God's calling, by Jesus Christ in his blood, by the faith he's given you to believe the gospel, made holy, sanctified, taken apart out of the world and sanctified or set apart to his purposes.

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Here in the church, we're all equally holy, are we not? And not by our doing, by the redemption we have in Jesus Christ who gave himself up for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

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That's Titus 2, 14. And so he addresses the whole church as those who are holy, those who are becoming more holy.

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So Korah was correct but his pride led him to his error.

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His error was that the Lord had determined that there be a leadership through which this grace is administered and it's administered to you by the ministry of the word in preaching, in counseling, in Sunday school, in laboring, in leading, in admonishing, in prayer times.

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See, God's design for the church is that there be leaders. There be pastors and deacons those who are raised up by the assembly for the work that the

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Lord would see done in his church. Do you have this kind of respect for the position?

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Pastors for more than a generation or two have fallen in hard times in terms of the respect that society in general has for them.

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And pastors should be respectable in some of the scandalous things that have happened even recently in the last year or so.

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And men who have fallen from grace are increasing that, accelerating that slide that society has against pastors as a respectable profession.

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How will it ever build up if that respect, if that very high esteem for the position and for the function and for the

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God who ordained the position and the function is not seen here in the church? How many times will those thought bubbles rise up and say, yeah

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I'll respect you but only in so far as you don't tell me what I have to do. My job,

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Pastor Owen's job, every true pastor's job is to tell you what to do. And in so far as you

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Bereans who look to the scripture to see if the things that you're told from this pulpit are true, in so far as they are true, you are to respectfully obey them.

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Well there are guidelines, there are parameters. Those thought bubbles rise up and say, yeah

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I'll respect but you know, I really know what I need to do myself and you're not going to tell me.

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Might as well throw the milk carton. You might as well tell God that you don't like his design for the church.

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He ends this little section at the end of verse 13 He says, be at peace among yourselves and I do believe that it is sort of a bracket, not an inclusio in a formal sense because the themes are different but verse 11, encourage one another, build one another up just as you are doing.

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How? Respect for the position and the function that you receive from this ministry.

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And then verse 13 at the end, and be at peace among yourselves. How is peace related to this?

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Because the opposite of respect is going to be rebellion. It's going to be rebellion.

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Again, not a milk carton coming arcing over to hit somebody here as they preach. No, nothing like that of course.

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It's an attitude. It's a growing discontent. It's a feeling of independence.

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It's those people who say, I don't need to come to church. I don't need to be with the saints. I can get a YouTube sermon that's just as good.

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I can worship at home by listening to the radio and getting some good Christian music. No, you can't. You need to be here.

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I don't mean this one particular only place. I mean here in the church with the brethren receiving the ministry of this function.

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Without that proper respect, without this function working properly, there is no peace, no true peace.

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You know, in Acts chapter 23, Paul's confronted by a lawless man who orders him struck on his mouth when he says something he didn't like.

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And Paul said to him, quote, God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me according to the law?

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And yet, contrary to the law, you order me to be struck? Well, he was right to be angry because he was struck against the law.

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He shouldn't have been. But what do we read next? Those who stood by said, Would you revile God's high priest?

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And Paul said, I did not know, brothers, that he was a high priest for it was written, You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.

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Even a ruler who's doing evil is the position is what we're getting at.

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The position, not the man. That priest was a whitewashed wall. He was a tomb full of dead man's bones. Yet Paul acknowledged that he should have spoken with respect.

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You know, if ad hominem is to speak to or against the person, we may have a new doctrine of ad statem to speak to the position that he holds against us.

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That's the biblical demand. Peace on the church depends upon this.

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Peace in the church depends on this. And this is why Paul ends this way when he talks about the respect and the esteem you're to have for that position.

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And he says, And be at peace among yourselves. That wasn't just tossed in there. Peace is a hallmark of the church.

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In Jesus' high priestly prayer, he says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.

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Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled nor let them be afraid. Be at peace.

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Peace in the church is one of the main characteristics that we're to have.

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Can there be peace in the church when her leaders are always looking over the shoulder? Wondering which arrow is going to be coming from where?

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Which dart is going to find the weak spot in their armor? Can you be encouraging and building one another up when each one is doing what is right in their own eyes and not following the leadership that God has ordained?

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And we could also say that this way. The fact that God has ordained leadership. Be at peace among yourselves.

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Maintain the peace that Christ has won for you that he has given to you. I want to give you a few quotes about this because it's very important that you understand that Paul didn't just say,

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Oh, I forgot to tell them about peace. It's very intentional here. F .F.

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Bruce says this, it's a little bit of a long quote, bear with me. It may be asked why this injunction should come here immediately after the call to recognize those who cared for the church.

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It may be that the recognition of such people and deference to their judgment would check any tendency to anarchy with consequent strife that might manifest itself among them.

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Has Moses only spoken through you? You've gone too far, Moses. No. We've not gone too far.

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I labor among you. Pastor Owens leads you. We admonish you in the

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Lord. As long as we're within those guidelines, in the Lord.

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Not giving you advice about what car to drive or what kind of oil filter to use or what backpack you ought to carry or anything like that.

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None of that. In the Lord. Then our peace depends upon your respect for the position that is giving you that counsel.

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William Hendrickson puts it this way. I love this one. Stop your carping. Instead of continually criticizing your leaders, follow their directions so that peace results.

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And finally, John Calvin says, have or cultivate peace with your leaders. Excuse me.

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For Paul, in my opinion, had in view to oppose the artifices of Satan who ceases not to use every endeavor to stir up either quarrels or disagreements or enmities between people and pastor.

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Hence, we see daily how pastors are hated by their churches for some trivial reason or for no reason whatever because their desire for the cultivation of peace, because this desire for the cultivation of peace, which

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Paul recommends so strongly, is not exercised as it ought. Where does it begin, brethren?

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With respect for the position. With respect for the rank.

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If you're a Christian, if you're a member of the church, the body of Christ, and that most general membership expresses itself in the local church, if you are that and the local church, even small ones or very large ones, such as our church is a small one or Capitol Hill Baptist Church is a big one, a large one, there's a leadership structure that comes from the

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Bible and it's a structure that is a new work of God yet underpinned by the entire history of God's working for his people.

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So the Apostle Paul would have the Thessalonians to have us to maintain these good things that they were doing and the good things that we are doing and to keep them going in this way by staying with your leadership, by respecting and very highly esteeming them because of the position and the function that they hold.

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Do you have this respect? Do you have this very high esteem for pastors?

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I don't mean me particularly and personally though I'd love that but that's not Paul's point and that's not my point.

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It's what I do. It's what I'm doing now. It's what

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Pastor Owens will do in the afternoon when he brings another message to you from the Old Testament. It's the function.

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It's the good you receive from it. It's falling peacefully in line with God's ordained structure of the church.

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Close with Hebrews 13, 17 where the Apostle writes obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give who will have to give an account.

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Let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you.

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May we be that church that shows the proper respect for what God has ordained for the leadership of the church and by that may we continue to grow in the grace of our

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Lord Jesus Christ and may we have a peace amongst ourselves that will show us to be truly His church and Jesus' disciples.

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Amen. Heavenly Father I give you thanks once again for bringing a convicting and a hard passage to us but by your

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Holy Spirit Father may we all be obedient from Pastor throughout the congregation all of us having respect and regard for this position that you have ordained and by that Lord may you grant much grace upon this place give us growth in the

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Lord personally growth in the Lord in numbers and you Father in all things receive all the praise and the glory for what you would do for we ask it on Jesus' name.