Jump Start # 1796

1 Thessalonians 5:14 “And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men.”

I don’t understand why. That will be the heart of this Jump Start. Our verse today, specifically identifies three different spiritual states of brethren and the proper response to help them. Paul lists: unruly, fainthearted and the weak. Implied is a fourth state, and that is the spiritually strong who this passage is addressed to, who will be active in helping improve these brethren. There are different responses to each state that is listed. The unruly were to be admonished. The fainthearted to be encouraged. The weak were to be helped.

All of this reminds us that we are not in the same spiritual place. It also reminds us that “one-size-fits-all” often doesn’t work. Mixing things up here could really make a mess. If you encouraged the unruly, they’d go off even farther in their rebellion. If you admonished the fainthearted, you’d crush and destroy them. It is important to understand the condition that these hearts were in and the proper spiritual remedy that they needed.

This morning our focus is upon the weak. Help the weak, Paul says. The weak Christian. Weak isn’t a good place to be in for anything. Weak coffee is pitiful. Someone with a weak back won’t be much help come moving day. Someone with a weak stomach won’t be able to clean out old stuff left in a college frig. Weak eyes, can’t see well. A weakling, gets bullied and picked on. There just isn’t much to put in the positive column for someone who is weak.

Weak spiritually, is not a good thing. They will attend, but it’s more out of habit, family or guilt, rather than desire. Because they are weak, they are not thinking spiritually. They make wrong choices and poor decisions. They hang around, date and marry people that they shouldn’t. They do that because they are weak. They allow other things to come before God. The weak do not read the Bible much and worse, they do not understand it. The weak are on the outside, looking in. They do not engage in hospitality with the church family. They do not do spiritual things outside the church building. They are weak. When it’s time to look for deacons and elders, their names are never mentioned. They are weak. When it’s time to look for teachers, they are never considered, because they are weak. Some will remain weak for decades. Nothing changes. All kinds of opportunities are offered to grow and get involved, but they won’t be there. They are weak. They set the path for their children to follow. Too often, they will even be weaker and many will have no time or room for the Lord what so ever.

Here is what I don’t understand.

Why don’t they see that they are weak? They can look at others. They can see others excelling spiritually. They see others teaching, being appointed as deacons or shepherds and yet no one ever thinks about them. Do they see that? Does it bother them? They know others are coming back to worship on Sunday nights. They aren’t. Do they see that they are weak? Are they happy being weak?

Why don’t they do something about their weakness? Why don’t they come to Bible classes? The weak usually only shows up to worship once a week. They have done their duty, as they see it. They are busy with other things. Things, they feel, that are more important that their spiritual life. They hear and see all the great events that a congregation will put on, which are opportunities to learn, connect and grow. Yet, the weak won’t be there. Why? Do they like being weak? Do they like having a faith that really doesn’t do anything for them? Because they are weak, they struggle with sin often, worry and fear dominates them, and they really do not understand the difference between the Lord’s church and the denomination down the road. Worse, they really do not care to know the difference. One is just as good as the other. The weak couldn’t answer the simplest questions about faith. They don’t know. They don’t care that they don’t know.

Why don’t they see that life would be so much better if they were strong? So many of the things that they struggle with would be settled if they were strong spiritually. They would have confidence, assurance and hope if they were stronger. Their marriages would be better if they were stronger. Their outlook would be brighter if they were stronger. Yet, here they remain, weak.

Of the three conditions listed in this passage, unruly, fainthearted, and weak, it’s the weak that I don’t understand. It’s the easiest to improve. Every congregation has some who are weak, including the Thessalonians. We can point the fingers to the elders, the preaching, the classes, but at the end of the day, it falls upon weak hearts who are content to remain weak. Of the three conditions listed, unruly, fainthearted and weak, it is the weak that is the most miserable. Too much of the world is in them to be a strong Christian and just enough faith and guilt in them to keep them from leaving all together to return to the world. So there they remain, in no man’s land. Miserable at church and feeling guilty with the world. It’s time to get some help.

Why be weak when you don’t have to? Why be weak when there is a better way? Why be weak when it’s doing you no good? Why be weak when it’s most likely killing your family spiritually? Why be weak? What’s even worse, is when you pool a whole bunch of weak together and you have a weak church. I have seen such. Just close the doors and sell the property. Get on board with the Lord. Preach the word. Get serious. Pray deep prayers. Pump some encouragement into that stale building. Become alive or quit pretending.

I simply do not understand weak.

Roger