I Thessalonians 5:12-14

I Thessalonians 5

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

For many reasons, it can be very difficult to be submissive to authority and work can be very hard because of this. From a young age, we are taught to challenge the status quo; this can be a good thing, but when we translate it to challenging the rulers over us (by usurping their authority), we are violating God’s commands.

In this passage Paul says, respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you. In other words, be respectful to those you work with and that work over you, even if they reprimand you. We are to be submissive and obedient, not just outwardly, but inwardly within our heart as well.

However, this concept doesn’t stop there. Not only are we to respect and obey them, we are to ‘esteem them very highly in love because of their work.’ This is similar to the idea of respect, but actually takes it further with connotations of admiration, honor, and reverence. He follows this directly with ‘be at peace among yourselves.’ There shouldn’t be this tension between you and those who are over you or a deep-rooted mistrust, disrespect, or bad attitude. You should be at peace and living in a way that reflects your respect for them.

This passage continues by talking about our responsibility beyond just respecting our authority. It says to admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak- this implies that all of us should be giving our best. If someone is just being lazy or not trying, encourage them to do better. If others are tired or weak, come alongside of them and serve with them. This kind of goes against what many of us naturally think. We see someone else struggling at work or we are asked to do something extra and we think, ‘that’s not my job.’ Some of us think that by others looking behind or inept, we look better. But that isn’t what God wants from us. Instead, yes- admonish the lazy- but help the weak or fainthearted in their work.