I Thessalonians 5:19-22

I Thessalonians 5:19-22

These verses are part of the context of verses 12-18. By the verse division, these appear to be single instructions for general applications. They are, in fact, part of the instructions of how to deal with the unruly people in the church. 

Often when dysfunctional individuals in the church attack a preacher or elder, the other leaders, who are called to guard the flock, decide it is easier to get a new preacher or elder than deal with the unruly member. So, the preacher becomes discouraged and leaves. But the preacher is not the only one. The grammar of verse 19 is very clear, translated literally. Paul says, “Stop quenching the Spirit, which is what you are doing now.” Allowing the unruly person to be disrespectful of the leaders and to misbehave without accountability causes the Spirit to withdraw from the life and ministry of the church. Ministers who have been through an ugly church fight can very likely tell you of sensing the distinct absence of the Holy Spirit at some point. If a church does this enough times, eventually it will die. By the way, have you noticed how many churches are closing across our nation?

In verse 20, Paul wisely strikes a balance. During a church conflict, people will sometimes or often say, “I believe the Lord is leading us to….” Paul warned not to reject such statements out of hand. The Lord may in fact be leading. Rather than believe everyone who says the Lord gave him or her direction or, equally bad, miss the genuine guidance of the Spirit, Paul commands that we “examine everything.” The word is taken from testing metal to see if it is precious or common. One way of putting it is, “Is this advice golden, or is it just cheap tin?” This was no flippant review or casual glance but a careful and detailed assessment. In the process, Paul assumes there would be both good and evil. Paul advises to hang on to the good. He used the word for beautiful or comely and rejected in dynamic terms evil (the root word from which we get the word porn). The bad advice of the unruly is as bad for the church as is pornography. Paul says we must abstain from every form of evil. The evil of the one who would undermine the leaders of the church must not be allowed to exist in the church. 

In the church you can have the unruly person or you can have the Holy Spirit, but you can never have both. 

“Lord, grant us the courage to deal faithfully with unruly church members. AMEN”