Coming back to 1 Thessalonians chapter five, please. 1 Thessalonians in the chapter five. And we are really only going to be looking at two verses together this morning. The verse 12 and the verse 13, we've read the chapter together. And we're going to be reading just these two verses, verse 12 and verse 13. And we'll read them now. The word of God says, and we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. Amen. We'll finish at verse 13, and God will bless His word. to our hearts. Last Lord's Day, we looked at these first 11 verses of the chapter, and really, we concluded the primary section in the epistle where Paul deals with the return of the Lord. He will make one more reference to it, and we read it when we read the whole chapter. He refers to it again in verse 23, where he talks about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's really referred to it at the end of each chapter in this epistle. But he has finished now addressing the theme of the day of the Lord that we have read about in verse 2. And at the end of the section last week, what we noted in verse 11 was where he said, wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another even as also ye do. Twice in the subsection from chapter 4, verse 18, down to chapter 5 and verse 11, when Paul dealt with the catching away of the church and the day of the Lord, On two occasions he spoke about how these ought to be things that bring comfort to the church. The church should comfort themselves and the church should edify one another with regard to these great prophetic truths. Now I'm not going to do a recap of last week. I don't think I have the time to do a recap, but what we did note at the end of last week was that there was an implication for us as believers, those who are the children of the light and the children of the day, that we should continue to be awake and active until the return of the Lord. And as we have looked at those themes over the past few weeks, I suppose the takeaway for us is that until the Lord returns, we have a responsibility to focus upon living and serving the Lord as we are able to do so. So now Paul has concluded that section, And he returns now to a slightly different theme, a theme with regard to exhortation for the life of each believer and in life for believers. In his concluding remarks from verse 12 down to verse 24, before he signs off the letter, in verses 12 to 24, Paul deals with two main themes. He deals with life in the local church in verses 12 to 15, and then he deals with life as individuals in God's will through Christ from verse 16 through to verse 24. And over the next few weeks, God willing, we trust that we will learn from these verses what Paul is seeking to tell the church in Thessalonica, but by extension to tell us as the church of Jesus Christ today. As God has used Paul, as God by his Holy Spirit has inspired the apostle Paul to write these words, for the edification of the local church. So at this stage, In these verses, verse 12 and verse 13, Paul brings them to the topic of leadership in the local church, leaders in the local church. I'm gonna say, as I'm working through this, I will sometimes talk about the title pastor, I will sometimes talk about elders, I might talk about oversight, I might talk about shepherds. In the New Testament, those four titles are all interchangeable. pastors, elders, oversight, and shepherds. And overseers are really elders. The overseers of the church are the elders of the church. And those titles, those four words are used interchangeably in the New Testament. I just wanted to say it at the start so that I avoided any confusion as I work my way through what we're saying here. Paul here talks, and I'm going to start by talking about the office of the elder. The office of the elder It has to be seen as an office, first of all. It has to be seen as a biblical role. It has to be seen in one sense as distinct from the individuals who fulfill that role or who occupy that role. but it's also the case that the person who does fulfill that role or occupy the role of elder, pastor, whatever title we want to use, they must labor to fulfill it in line with the word of God. That's the responsibility of the person who occupies the role. or who occupies the office. So what I'm saying at the very start is it's not enough for an elder or a pastor to simply say this, I'm an elder, I'm a pastor, you must obey me. It doesn't work that way. That's very clearly not what Scripture teaches. And we're going to see that, God willing, this morning. That is not how eldership or the role of a pastor operates and works in the New Testament. But on the other side, It's also not biblical. In fact, it is carnal to determine that because we don't like or don't agree with individuals fulfilling the role, or we don't like the decisions that have been made pertaining to that role and that office of leadership in the church, that we will not submit to that role. It's unbiblical to think that. If those men who occupy that office, whoever those men might be, and I'm gonna say this right now, this is really hard to preach when you occupy the role. But if those men are living in line with scripture, seeking faithfully to fulfill the role as God has ordained and outlined in his word, and are not on the fundamental tenets and doctrines of the faith leading you astray, then by biblical imperative, you are required to submit to them in the local church. That's what the Bible teaches. And any believer in a local church who refuses to do that is at odds with the plain teaching of the word of God. And I'm not gonna say, first of all, you must submit to the elders. What I'm going to say is, if you refuse to do that, you must first submit yourself to the Lord. Submit yourself to his word. And when you do that, you will find that you will submit yourself to those who occupy the office of elder, pastor, whatever title you want to put on it. Now that I've said that, It is suggested as we get back to the text by some commentators that Paul needed to address this issue because Timothy has alerted him to a problem within the church in Thessalonica. And the problem, it's believed, stemmed from the Thessalonian, Thessalonican church being a young church populated with young believers. Paul and Silas and Timothy have gone there and they've planted the church and people have got saved and they've come into the church and everybody's coming from the same place. There are no mature believers in the church. And it is the case, even though that might be the case, that Paul's church-planting ministry, elders were supposed to be appointed in every church that was planted, in every city that Paul went to. And as you read through the New Testament, you'll see that the practice is there. It's defined in Acts 14, verse 23. You'll find that when he wrote his letter to Titus, in Titus 1, verse 5, that he was to appoint elders in every city. It's possible that because of the circumstances when the Apostle Paul was in Thessalonica and had only been there for a short period of time and was still teaching the church and still building them up in the basic doctrines of the faith, and then he was chased out of the city in a hurry and he had to flee. It is possible that elders hadn't been appointed before that happened. And I'm firmly of the view that that is probably the case, but I'm also firmly of the view that whenever Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica, one of the things he sent him back to do was to appoint elders in the church. And maybe it was in response to that that there arose a problem in the church. Some people weren't happy. Some people weren't happy about those who had been set apart for the role as elder. Maybe they felt that, well, I've been here just as long as them. It should have been me. Elders are not appointed based upon length of service. Elders are appointed to a spiritual role, and it is God who guides and directs to the men of his choosing by the Holy Spirit. And so as this issue has arisen, perhaps, in Thessalonica, and Timothy has come back to Paul and has highlighted this issue, to address it at the time, but also, as I've said already, as directed by the Holy Spirit, Paul has given these steps for the church today regarding church leadership, how it's to be worked out, how they are to be treated. And there are three things in these two verses that we want to look at this morning. I want you to see, first of all, that there's a recognition of God's leadership pattern in the church. Verse 12, the first half of verse 12, Paul says, and we beseech you, brethren, to know them. We beseech you, brethren, to know them. Now the verse goes on and says who they're to know. To know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. But we want to stop just there. We beseech you, brethren, to know them. Sometimes in life and whenever we're trying to deal or different people are trying to deal with directing someone or perhaps even correcting someone and maybe in the workplace, maybe in the family setting or wherever it might be, there are different approaches that are taken to try and encourage or direct someone to do the right thing. And sometimes there does need to be a very direct approach taken, while at other times a softer approach is required. And it's normally best to try the softer approach first. But it is the case that the soft approach doesn't always work, because some people don't respond to it. Some people think that the person making the response, they've come to you and they've been very gentle and very soft in their approach, and therefore they think that that makes the person a walkover, or a soft touch, and sometimes people try to take advantage of that fact. I don't think, as we look at how the Apostle Paul handled various conflicts and problems in all the local churches in the first century, that we could ever say Paul was a soft touch. When you read Paul's letters, he certainly wasn't a soft touch. He wasn't afraid to speak directly when it was needed to be done. But on this matter, on this occasion, writing to young believers in a newly planted church, Paul begins with a gentle approach. Because the language used in the opening section of verse 12 is not challenging language, it's not confrontational language. The word beseeched there really could be translated as ask. Paul's really saying we ask you, brethren, to know them which labor among you. He speaks to them in a collective term when he calls them brethren. And while that's a masculine noun, it's used in the epistles collectively to describe the church, to describe fellow believers. And one of the reasons why that is, or certainly it could be argued that one of the reasons why Paul writes in that way and why the New Testament makes that focus upon brethren is to demonstrate the order God's biblical order in the church and in the home. It is the husband who is to lead the wife and the family in spiritual life. It should never be the other way around. It should never be the case that it is the wife who's driving the agenda spiritually while the husband sits back and takes a back seat. So maybe it's the case here that that's an implication of the word brethren here when Paul speaks, but he's including everyone. in the church whenever he's writing these words. He says, we beseech, so this isn't just Paul. Remember, it was Paul and Silas and Timothy, chapter one, verse one, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus, they were all party to the writing of the letter, but it's attributed to the apostle Paul. They're the men responsible for the planting of the church under God, but Paul primarily, as the apostle to the Gentiles, gave this gentle reminder to the believers in Thessalonica. The word beseech is only used four times in his epistles, and three times you find it in his letters to the Thessalonian church. He's being gentle with them. It's not a word of rebuke, but rather a word to direct them into the right path. So what is it that he wants to direct them to? He says, we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord. To know them. The word know here is the word that carries the weight in that phrase. It's the primary verb. And it has the thought of acknowledging, of recognizing, of paying attention to. It's a word that's used quite often in the New Testament. In fact, it's used in that well-known verse in Romans chapter eight and verse 28 that we love. It says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. We know that. We acknowledge that. And we like it in that verse because we take confidence in knowing the assurance of the promise of God to us in that verse and in all of our facets of living. But let's take the same thought of that word and bring it across to 1 Thessalonians 5 in verse 12. We beseech you, brethren, to acknowledge, to pay attention to, to recognize them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord. You see, the men, and it's men because that's God's order, the men who are placed as leaders in any local church, we are to know them. We're to acknowledge them. And we will know very quickly that they are not perfect men by any stretch of the imagination. And every man who occupies the office of elder or pastor will tell you that there are times that they get it wrong. And they know there are times when they will disappoint you. And they even know there are times when they will upset you by their decisions and by their actions. I think if I'm honest, it could be said that that's doubly the case for the one who has the primary responsibility of handling God's Word. To put yourself out there every week, to stand up and preach. And if something is said that pricks the conscience and we don't like it, well, it's easy to blame the preacher. or something said that provokes a response because it's not in line with what we think or what we believe, even on things that are non-essentials, even on things that are really of not massive significance, and yet, for some people, that causes issues. And even in those situations, that doesn't warrant a rejection of the biblical principle of church leadership. Paul directed the appointment of elders in every church, and the church was to acknowledge that order, and to acknowledge, and indeed, as we go on through these verses, to value the men whom God has placed into that office. And we must never forget that it is God who has placed them. Warren Weersbe writing regarding this verse 12 says that the responsibility of the church towards spiritual leaders requires that they accept them as those who have spiritual authority from the Lord. As they follow the Lord, the church must follow them. The church must also appreciate them as spiritual leadership is a great responsibility and a difficult task. It is dangerous when a church family takes their leaders for granted, fails to pray for them, work with them, and encourage them. So this is the first thing which Paul highlights. There must be a recognition of God's leadership pattern in the local church. But the second thing that we see in the latter part of verse 12, is that there are responsibilities placed upon those who lead. And we know that. Your elders know that, that we have responsibilities. In this verse it says that we are to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. So there is instruction in this verse for elders with regard to the weight of our responsibility. And listen, we understand, I understand that Paul is reinforcing this to young believers lacking in spiritual maturity in a young church where everybody was at the same level in this regard. But while that's the case, there had to be someone who took on the leadership. There was someone who God had appointed. They were not self-appointed. I've said it earlier already that in line with their requirement to appoint elders in every church, it was possible that Timothy, when he returned to the church on Paul's behalf, as he spent time there, he had observed the church. He had observed the believers. He had watched them, how they were laboring, how they were working. Those who demonstrated the requirements for leadership, those who had those spiritual attitudes and who had the required gifting in certain aspects. And then they're chosen. And they're chosen above others and placed in leadership above others despite their inexperience. And Paul here wants to encourage them in the role. And he's encouraging the church to know them and to value them. And as he does that, he outlines the role. And in verse 12, it appears to have three components, which is they that labor among you, are over you in the Lord, and admonish you. But when you actually break it down, it's actually only two components. And we're going to look at them under two headings. I want you to see, first of all, those who labor. Them which labor among you. In the 21st century church in Northern Ireland, people have all sorts of ideas about what the Word of God might indicate as the work of the elder or pastor. In fact, some of those ideas aren't really even grounded upon the Word of God. They're grounded upon what is common practice, what has become custom and practice, if we want to put it like that. Some people have this idea that the preaching side, it's just a couple of hours a week. And every pastor knows the old line that he's heard a thousand times. I wish I had a job like yours and only worked one day a week. I wish I had a job like that too. That would be fantastic, but that's not the reality of it. There are some who think that the pastor, his main role should be that he should be in houses all the time. And then he just gets up on a Sunday morning and preaches whatever comes into his head. Others think that the pastor should be at every single meeting and every single ministry and every single outreach of the church, whether it's a pastor or an elder, you should be at everything all the time. And it is important that the elders of the church show their support for the efforts and labors and ministries of the local church. Those things are all important. And they're not undervalued. But the word of God tells us plainly where the elders should labor diligently. Over in Acts chapter six, we read in the opening verses of Acts chapter six about the appointment of deacons in the New Testament church. And the reason those deacons were to be appointed were to take responsibility of the care of the widows from the apostles. Now why were they doing that? Well, Acts chapter six in verse four tells us. so that they could give themselves, now let's notice this, give themselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. So they could give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the words. We often leave out that word continually. The primary labor for the elder, the pastor, is to labor for the church in prayer and in the ministry of the word. And that word continually means to give unstinting attention to something. It's not there by chance. It's not there because somebody decided to slip it in. It's there because that's what God told Dr. Luke to write when he was writing the book of Acts. Now, whenever we think about that, and we bring it back then to this idea of laboring among you, well, the word that's translated as labor in 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 12, it's the Greek word kopeaou, and it literally means to toil with wearisome effort. To toil with wearisome effort. The ministry of prayer for the local church requires strenuous effort. It doesn't just happen in a prayer meeting on a Thursday night. or in the prayer meetings before the service on a Sunday. I can tell you now, your elders are men of prayer who pray for you on an ongoing basis. The ministry of the Word requires care and attention and effort, and I can speak from personal experience that many times it's done through weariness, which has been brought on by spending time in the Word when you can find time for the Word because you're running about doing lots of other things. but yet the time needs to be spent in order to rightly divide the word of truth. Whenever we were looking at 1 Thessalonians chapter two earlier on in our studies, we saw how Paul likened these roles to parental roles. He talked about the nursing mother who was feeding and the guiding father who was leading. And the elders have to take those responsibilities very seriously. One Bible commentator puts the labor in these terms. He said, spiritual shepherds must proclaim the gospel, explain and apply the truth, warn and admonish the sheep, and counsel them from scripture. Now the responsibility for that teaching ministry, in many ways, in a local church, in this local church, if I speak personally, the ministry of the word sits primarily with me. And I can tell you now, I can assure you now, that nothing comes without effort and application to study the Word. You speak to anyone who has sought to be a faithful pastor, and they'll tell you the same thing. I'm reminded often, and I'm more often reminded, sometimes I wish I hadn't done it. I have a friend who, I read a quote one time, and it really challenged me, and I asked a friend to put it onto a plaque for me, which now is in my study. It's the words of a pastor, a preacher called H.B. Charles, Jr., and he said this. He said, a passion to preach without a burden to study is a desire to perform. I'm not here to perform. This is not a performance. I'm here because God called me to labor in his word, to minister his word, to preach in this local church in order to glorify him. That's my calling. I want you to notice something else here. They labor among you. They're available, accessible, because they're among you. All leaders are part of the flock of the chief shepherd, all part of the local church, who will labor for the Lord among you. But then look what goes on, because not only do they labor, but they lead. Because it says, and are over you and admonish you. Society is teaching people today to rebel. To rebel against authority in so many different things. And there's this culture, this mindset today that we're in control of everything ourselves. And that if we don't like it, we can just stamp our feet and say no. I coined the phrase that maybe children might say, you're not the boss of me. Children say that. You're not the boss of me. That is filtered into the local church mentality. And it has. And yet when we come to the word of God, and listen, I want you to understand, in general life, in everyday life, the elders are not the boss of you. But in the local church, the elders are over you. They are among you, but they are over you. And that's the word of God. They have the right to admonish according to Scripture in line with Scripture. There's a contrast. They labor among, but they are over. It's very difficult to be among and to be over at the same time, and yet that's the organic structure of God's church. There are those who have the responsibility to lead. And the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter chapter five and verse three that as they lead, they're not lords over God's heritage. We're not lording it. We're simply seeking to honor God. Simply seeking to glorify Him. And they are to take the oversight. and they are to feed the flock of God, and they are to lead the flock of God. I think whenever I preached on elders, whenever we did our series on the New Testament, or what is a Baptist actually, back in 2021, and I preached on the two offices of elder and deacon, and I think at that time I said something like this, it's not that elders are dictators, elders are directors. And the responsibility of the elder is to direct the sheep to look away to Jesus. That's my responsibility to you. To direct you to look away to the one who is the Lord of the church. We're not lords over you. There's only one Lord of the church and it's Jesus Christ. Elders should labor actively to be examples to the flock. Not perfect men, we'll get it wrong. But labor to obey this book. and to be an example to the flock. Leadership brings responsibility. That responsibility includes instruction, that responsibility includes exhortation, it includes admonishment, and folks, listen, even at times, it includes discipline. And that is God's design, and it is God's book. It's God's word and it's God's way. And we must not respond to the structure that God has given for his church by applying worldly ideology to it. That brings us now to our third point, verse 13. We have a recognition of God's leadership pattern in the church, we have the responsibilities of those who lead, and then we see in verse 13 the regard for leaders which is required. The regard for leaders which is required. Look at verse 13, read it with me. and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. You see, Paul goes back now to how elders are to be considered in the church and by the church. He has touched on it at the start of verse 12 when he talked about knowing them, but now he goes further. And he breaks it into two aspects. Again, this verse breaks down into two parts. The first part is this, that they're to be esteemed in love. Esteem them in love. The word esteem, of course, is Greek. It's the word hegeomai. It's a verb which is associated with how leaders are to be viewed by those who are under their authority in the local church, how they ought to be regarded by those in the church. So this is how you're to regard the elders of the church. It's to be done in a certain way. Very highly in love for their work's sake. Very highly in love. I know how hard I am to love. I understand that. We're all like that a little bit. That little phrase there, very highly, is a compound superlative. It literally means exceedingly overflowing all bounds. That's the literal meaning of those words. Exceedingly overflowing all bounds. Do you know why we've had really dry weather for the past two and a half weeks while the kids have been doing their exams? And once the exams are over, we're going to get a lot of rain, OK? And the ground's all dried up, and the water has nowhere to go. And then we have floods. exceedingly overflowing all bounds. There's your picture. There's your picture. And I'm sure, and I'm not gonna be hard about this, I don't want to be seen to be ungracious about this, but I'm sure there are some who are already struggling with that thought. I struggle with it. Perhaps even thinking that's beyond what I can do. Or maybe thinking that's beyond what I'm willing to do. Listen, I'm personally not comfortable preaching this because I'm standing up here asking you to do this to the elders. It draws attention to me as an individual. But maybe you're uncomfortable hearing it. But neither of those feelings is reason to ignore what God says in his word. We can't ignore it if we want to be faithful. We can't ignore it if we're going to be obedient. We can't ignore it if we expect God to bless in this local church. We can't ignore it if we want to see Him move in power and the saving of souls. It cannot be ignored because it's God's Word. And the elders, as examples to the flock, have to manifest this as well. We have to love the flock. We have to demonstrate that by our work because this is to be reciprocated for their work's sake. That's what verse 13 says. And we've already defined this work. What is their work? Continually in prayer and the ministry of the word. That's the standard that you hold your elders to. That's the standard. Not that they didn't do this, didn't do that, or didn't do the other, but this. John MacArthur writes this, he says, the work the shepherds do is the ministry of the word which feeds the souls of the flock. God has called these pastors and set them apart for the important work of leading his church. Therefore, the people under them are to lovingly acknowledge their ministry labors, overlook their non-sinful human frailties, encourage them, and give their best for them. That's really what it means to esteem very highly in love. But Paul doesn't stop there because he goes on and he finalizes this subsection of the letter by linking this regard for elders with peace in the local church. Look what he says at the end of verse 13. Be at peace among yourselves. Who's he writing to? He's writing to a church. He's writing to believers. And he's saying be at peace. It's a relational statement. There's an acknowledgment that the elders rule over the church, lead the church, but there's also contained in this sentence that reminder again that they are also among the church, be at peace among yourselves. That word's repeated twice. It's repeated in verse 12, then it's labor among you, and then it's repeated in verse 13, be at peace among yourselves. And this reference to peace among the fellowship is absolutely vital. This should be the normal environment which we strive for as fellow laborers for the Lord. but so often it's not there in the local church. Often that comes from discord. Often it comes from disunity. Very often it comes from a rejection of or a rebellion against those who have the rule over you. That's why it's here in this place, after Paul has dealt with those issues. It's here for that reason, because that's the primary reason why there's not peace in the local church. One commentator says this, every believer, every believer, this hit me hard, every believer has enough of the flesh in him to divide and wreck any local church. We want to know the Spirit of God move in our midst, don't we? We want to know God blessed. We want to know that God's going to move in power, that he's going to move in our midst, that we're going to experience the Holy Spirit moving in our lives, and that we're going to see that manifested as souls are saved, as believers are built up, as the church grows, not necessarily in terms of breadth, but in terms of depth. We want to see that. We need to assure we have this right attitude. And that's both elders and those who are not elders. It's everybody. Maybe you think it's not possible, and certainly it's very hard. But as we seek to glorify God, and as we seek to submit Him, we're reminded in the Word of God that the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake, and be at peace among yourselves. And we remember that God's design for the local church is for his glory, not for anybody's elevation, not so that we have something to boast about. but that we lift our view, we lift our gaze, we lift our attention to the one who is the Lord of the church, our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless His word to our hearts this morning.