To Know
Dear Ones,
I want to share with you something the Lord has been teaching me. We have all been taught certain things and I have been learning that we were misinformed on some of them. It is important when reading the Bible to study verses in context lest we misinterpret what is being said.
For example, we have been taught that we are to know those who labor among us. I have even fallen for this erroneous teaching. However, the Lord has shown me that this has encouraged us to dig into the lives of our brothers and sisters with the excuse that we are just trying to get to know them. In reality, what we are doing is prying and being nosey. Some are even looking for ammunition to use against someone else. Sad, but true.
Let’s look at where this erroneous teaching came from.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 King James Version
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
If we study these two verses and read them in different versions we learn what is actually meant by “know them which labour among you”. Let’s look at the NASB which is supposed to be the most accurate translation.
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 NASB says it like this…
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, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
In the NASB, the meaning is becoming clearer. To appreciate someone is a bit different from knowing them.
I like the way it is put in The Message version.
And now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!
Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.
Now we are getting some understanding. If you read commentaries from theologians, they also agree that the meaning of the KJV “to know” is really saying that we are to take note of those who are laboring among of us and appreciate, honor, love, respect them. One even says that it is not to know their names and who they were. Therefore, prying into a person’s past in an attempt to get to know them is not what this is supposed to be about at all. We all have a past. The past is in the past. The future is now.
What we should really be doing is observing and taking note of those who are working hard in ministry and appreciate them. Treat them with honor and respect. Point them out to new disciples and freeloaders as examples of Christian conduct.
To know someone is to recognize that they are working hard in a ministry. Whatever ministry that may be. Whether that ministry is the Pastor or music or nursery or hospitality or even a parent. If they are working hard and doing a good job, we recognize that they are called to do that ministry and deserve honor and respect. We show them that we see what they are doing and appreciate them and their faithfulness to do what the Lord has called them to do with excellence.
Conclusion: Stop prying into the lives of others. Stop asking questions about their past and who they were. What matters is who they are now and who they are becoming as Kingdom Citizens. Treat your brothers and sisters with honor and respect. Appreciate them as the gifts that God made them to be.
Ephesians 4:14-16 NASB
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
One last thought. What if a person who is in the witness protection program starts coming to your church? How do you think they would feel if you started asking questions about their parents and their past in an attempt to get “to know” them? They have a new identity. A new name and maybe even a fabricated backstory, but I don’t think they would be comfortable about another person asking them a bunch of questions about who they were. I believe that they would be scared. They would most likely leave and not come back.
Meditate on this. Do you really want to drive people away from church because you are nosey? I adjure you to mind your own business. If someone wants to share something about themselves, they will. Your job is to listen, observe, take note, appreciate, honor and respect others, not pry into their past.
Shalom