Disciple With Love

by Dave Royle

1 Thessalonians ch 4 v9-12

9 But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another; 10 for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more; 11 and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; 12 that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.

Paul hits home at areas that are very close to the churches heart and I believe it needs to be fully understood once again in this post modern culture of ours. So what are these areas of interest?

1. We will look at the whole aspect of brotherly love in v9-10.
2. We will look at ambition.
3. Paul highlights the area of being a busybody.
4. Paul calls all believers to work with their hands.
5. Finally, Paul gives the reason why he exhorts us in these particular areas.

So in fact what we have here is a three sectioned teaching, again typical to the midrashic style of Paul. First we have Paul's encouragement to certain behavior- love. Then we have Paul giving us instruction on how to maintain that behavior. Finally we have the motivation and reason why Paul encourages this ideal behavior.

Let's read v9-10 again-

9 But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another; 10 for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more;

What we have here is an encouragement to excellence. Here were a people who were famous for their love, particularly of the believers. Love of the brethren is one Greek word used by Paul, that word is 'Philadelphia'.

filadelfia , ' fil-ad-el-fee'-ah ; from (5361) ( fila-delfov ); fraternal affection brotherly love (kindness), love of the brethren.

But Paul uses another Greek word for love as well, ' Agapaos '.

ajgapa-w , ' ag-ap-ah'-o ; perhaps from agan ( much ) or compare Hebrew {5689} (`agab)]; to love (in a social or moral sense): '

(be-) love (-ed). Compare (5368) ( file-w ).

So the Thessalonians were practicing and living one kind of love but the example from God was totally a different quality of love. Philadelphia is a love shared by brothers and sisters the children of one father and as children of God we share that love because we are sons and daughters of the same heavenly father. And it is this kind of love that Thessalonica was famous for and at the time it was an especially important kind of love.

Many people, who had turned to Christ and turned away from the state religion or family idols, faced the consequences of being rejected by their family. Whole families would split because a child or even a parent turned to Christ in faith. Now the only place where many of these dispossessed people could experience family love was within the body of believers, their new family.

Today it's often seen as the place of the cults to disunite family. I have counseled many in the UK involved with Moonies, pagan religions, Jehovah's Witnesses who have caused whole family breakdowns and distress. But the reality was for the church then and if the church today would truly live a sanctified life, the Christian will face much distress on the family front. Why? Because when a family member gets saved and gets going for God a battle begins. Light battles darkness. Families cannot then understand the change and finally the Holy Spirit convicts the unsaved members causing either conversion or rejection of Christ as savior.

Philadelphia is important. Philadelphia has to be in place and I would go as far to say Philadelphia is the right of every individual who comes into the body of Christ. It is the entitlement of every child of God and you and I need to understand this.

Love is not a convenient by-product of the Christian faith. Love is not the pudding or the side dish to the meal it's a command from Jesus Himself. Love is you and I saying despite my unloveliness, despite the fact I may not fit in, despite the fact I am not in your clique, I am a child of God, your brother in Christ and I demand my right in Christ that you love me.

But praise God this was not a problem in Thessalonica. The fame of their love traveled throughout the region and what we have next is amazing. What we see is Paul encouraging towards excellence. Paul recognizes their love but then states 'you yourselves were taught by God to love (agapaos) one another'. What he does, he recognizes a higher expression of that gift- Agapaos- and then tells them to excel still more.

Here is a question. How often is it we encourage one another in this fashion? How often do we observe the God given talents and fruits of God's people and say 'That's marvelous, I believe you've got something their- can I encourage you to excel even more'. Encouragement is the bread and butter of daily living. A thank you, a pat on the back, an exhortation, can often take a Christian down in the dumps and raise their spirits. How do we know if we've done well unless we share with one another? One teacher writes that encouragement is the most bio-degradable product on the planet. You receive a whole lot of it and then soon after you are wanting some more.

Love is a beautiful thing and in this we must excel, but there's many things in the Christian life that can sour and upset this love. It's this that Paul begins to speak into and it acts as a warning to the Thessalonians and also to us.

Paul impacts on three areas. Area one is 'Make it you ambition to lead a quiet life'. The literal Greek meaning is 'make it your ambition to have no ambition'. A typical Pauline paradox. Ambition, particularly in the church, has hurt more people than I care to think about. There's more Christians been trampled underfoot in the fight to be house group leader, elder, deacon or Bishop than is found in most corporate institutions. Yet Jesus said ' If anyone is to be great among you, let him be you servant', 'The first shall come last and the last shall be first '. Jesus Himself, king of kings, Lord of lords, came as a servant to pour out his life as a ransom for many and yet so often politics play a huge part in Christendom.

Secondly we are to make our ambition to 'attend to your own business'. Matthew Henry highlights this as the role of the busy body. The person who knows all the gossip. Who has an opinion about everyone and usually what they don't know they make up. It's disgraceful. This person talks about that person to another person and so that person doesn't speak to this person. The consequence is at church they sit apart they don't speak, more rumors spread.

Thirdly our ambition should be 'to work with our hands'. The Thessalonians had a culture problem. The Greeks believed that all physical labor was beneath them and the realm of slaves, some would work diligently, some would sit around and supervise. Again with the church universal we have brothers who would stand and chat and intellectualize and those who will roll up their sleeves and get stuck in.

So why is it that Paul mentions these three things, ambitious people, busy bodies and idle people? Two reasons. Firstly, such lifestyle undermines brotherly love. Even though we are called to love the unlovely it becomes difficult to keep harmony within the body when someone is so ambitious they climb all over you like a rash. It is hard to love someone when they are backstabbing you. It becomes difficult to love when you're sweating week after week and no one else lends a hand. But secondly v12 says ' So you may behave properly towards outsides and no be in need '.

So often we forget we have people looking in from the outside. Particularly in Moriel circles where the ravenous wolf is waiting for an opportunity to strike at the heart of this ministry. Our witness, our honesty, our focus has to be at this time more than anything else 'Christocentric'. There is no room for ambition. There is no room for being a busybody. No room for idleness. Only a brotherly love that excels to Agapaos through Christ. If we behave and act as the world behaves, all we will do is attract those with a similar mind set and our ministries will become filled with like minded people. After all 'like begets like'. The last time I looked my peach tree produced peaches and not lemons. My figs produced figs and not Apricots. Loving, generous balanced believers will produce, yes people with problems, but also believers who are discipled and are willing to disciple with love.