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1 Thessalonians 5:12
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12 And [de] we beseech [erotao] you, [humas] brethren, [adelphos] to know [eido] them which [ho] labour [kopiao] among [en] you, [humin] and [kai] are over [proistemi] you [humon] in [en] the Lord, [kurios] and [kai] admonish [noutheteo] you; [humas] KJV-Interlinear
12 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, NASB
Within every generation, God provides people to whom He has given talents and abilities, which are to be used for the benefit by others.
God placed everyone in this world for the purpose of good. Not for evil.
God placed everyone in this world for the purpose of advancing to a point of completeness. Not to finish life, incomplete.
God placed everyone in this world for the purpose of living with Him in heaven in eternity. Not for living in destruction in the Lake of Fire.
So, God, and God is pretty smart you know, but anyway, God placed many resources in this world for your use.
To some He made lawyers. To some He made doctors. To some He made nurses. To some He made secretaries. To some He made mothers and fathers. To some He made coaches. And this list will go on and on until it includes everyone, including you.
For everyone has a role in life, and their role is not to serve themselves, but to serve God first and others second. And this service begins in only one way, your study of the Bible and your growth to spiritual maturity.
Paul mentions those who are in the service of the Lord. Most folks believe that this means pastors or instructors. And well, it does to a degree, but it also means all people who are advancing in their spiritual lives, and therefore are functioning in the service of the Lord, from within their residence in their fellowship sphere.
And because all blessings come to this world from God through positive and advancing believers, then all believers possess an elevated role in life, over all others. Not as superiors or managers or sovereigns and the like, but because of their relative place in life through their spiritual relationship with God.
The easiest example of this is to compare a believer to an unbeliever. The unbeliever has no relationship with God, and yet the unbeliever receives blessings in this world, because God blesses the believer. This is blessing by association. God provides air for the believer to breathe, therefore the unbeliever receives this blessing indirectly.
This applies to the laws of establishment, and to nearly every biblical principle that you can imagine, which apply to all of humanity. God may even give an unbeliever business talents in order to provide some believer a job. So the unbeliever received their talent not because of anything they did, but because God chose to support some believer (and others) through that unbeliever. The believers job was the objective, not the unbeliever.
God gave doctors the talent to heal. This talent they apply to others for the benefit of others.
God gave farmers the talent to grow, to be patient, to endure hardships. This talent is applied for the benefit of others, as others enjoy the foods produced by the farmer.
Likewise, God gave talents to some of the purpose of teaching the Word of God, of whom it is implied here, but Paul is really including all who serve in the Lord, by means of their God given talents through their spiritual growth, no matter what those talents might be.
This entire world functions by means of the grace of God, and for no other reason.
God placed people into history, at the proper time and in the proper place, for the purpose of developing their talent or ability, such that life for others might be more enjoyable, and for making the advance to spiritual maturity, easier.
‘To appreciate,’ is how some of the texts of the many versions of Bibles are printed, but what this means is that you need to be able to ‘recognize,’ ‘to know,’ this truth, to appreciate the talents that God has provided, and more than anything, to be thankful to God, for them all.
Every person with a talent or ability, is in effect a superior to you, with respect to their ability. You are superior to others with respect to your ability, as well as being subordinate to others because of theirs. This is not a command superiority, but a relationship through social interactions and such. If you need brain surgery, you don’t ask advice of the shoemaker. The expert is the surgeon.
All believers are in the service of the Lord. Granted most are spiritually dysfunctional and their service is more or less, offline. But the greatest impact that society can have, comes only from the blessings that come to society, through advancing believers, as well as the many indirect blessings that come through the many talents and abilities that God gives to all people in general.
Your greatest response to this principle, is to understand it, and then to acknowledge it through your day to day living habits.
This is your admonishment, to learn, to take warning, to understand the relationships of people in the world, how God has applied their talents for your benefit (whether a positive benefit or a testing benefit), and how all of history fits together for the ultimate conclusion of history, as well as your own role in life.
