The Main Reason Peace Is So Important
Paul commands us to “be at peace among yourselves” (v. 13). In a sermon I gave a few weeks ago on 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, I discussed how this command relates to avoiding unnecessary burdens on your leadership by not quarreling with each other. I'd like to offer further explanation to clarify what I mean.
Why Peace in the Church Is So Important
In a sermon several weeks ago on 1 Thessalonians 5:12–28, I offered this comment on Paul’s command to “be at peace among yourselves” (v. 13), which he says in relation to respecting and esteeming your spiritual leaders:
He . . . has in mind that followers give their leaders the gift of peace. When he says, “Be at peace among yourselves,” it seems to be in relation to obligations toward leadership, perhaps indicating, “Do not add burden to your leaders by quarreling with each other,” which I can tell you, is a true burden. Since your leaders labor for the well-being of the church, quarreling directly undoes the work we are trying to do.
One function of the elders—then and now—is to judge disputes for the sake of peace. It’s not getting in the way of their ministry; it’s part of their ministry.
The next day, I was talking with a congregant who had a question about this. What he took away from the point was essentially, “You guys are doing ministry, and solving disputes among congregants takes away from that work.” I can see how he got that from what I shared! And I’m glad he brought it up because it provided an opportunity to clarify my point and, hopefully, dispel a sneaky misconception. The clarification is very important for our life together, so I want to share it with you. Here it is in three parts:
“Solving disputes among congregants takes away from that work.”
Actually, it’s the opposite. Settling disputes is part of our ministry.
The office of overseer is patterned after the elder model employed by Moses in Exodus 18, where, at Jethro’s advice, he established a court system of sorts where disputes would first be settled by elders in lower courts. (You should go read the full account; it’s fascinating.) Rather than everyone coming to Moses to inquire of God and judge disputes, they came to elders set over them—“able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe” (v. 21). The end result of this strategy resonates strongly with Paul’s command in the Scripture passage. In Jethro’s words: “If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace” (v. 23).
And so, one function of the elders—then and now—is to judge disputes for the sake of peace. It’s not getting in the way of their ministry; it’s part of their ministry.
“You guys are doing ministry . . . ”
Indeed, the elders and pastors are doing ministry, but our ministry is essentially (1) to care for souls (Hebrews 13:17) and (2) to help the church do ministry!
Regarding that second part of our ministry, here is Ephesians 4:11–13, emphasis added:
And [Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The Scriptures are clear: shepherds and teachers—ruling elders and teaching elders, in our context—exist to equip the saints for ministry. Our ministry is an equipping one; it’s ministry for ministry’s sake. We minister to the saints to help them minister to one another—to build up the body of Christ.
And again, the end result includes peace, or unity: “ . . . until we all attain to the unity of the faith.” Which brings me naturally to my last clarification:
Unity is part of mission.
In the end, Paul doesn’t command the church to be at peace among themselves simply because quarreling burdens elders. It goes beyond that, and it burdens elders because elders are tasked with moving the church toward unity for the sake of mission. We see that from the texts above and from what Jesus says in John 17:20–23. Praying to the Father for his disciples, he says (emphasis added):
Our unity tells the world that God sent Jesus to the world in love.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
Twice in this short paragraph, Jesus relates unity to mission. Our unity tells the world that God sent Jesus to the world in love. The message of salvation is proclaimed in words, of course, but also in our oneness.
And so, ultimately, that’s why our peace is so important and why leaders in God’s church are called to settle disputes for the sake of peace. “Be at peace among yourselves”—not to make things easy on your elders, but because their work is to promote peace and because your work is to be at peace for the sake of ministry and mission.
