Admonish, Encourage, or Help?

Notes from Scott Sutton's sermon on Sunday, August 24, 2025.
Sermon text: 1 Thessalonians


1.) The Gospel is meant to transform your relationships
"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."

• Both Peter and Paul are focused on how we think and how we act. The focus is thinking right and acting right, and the context is as we anticipate the return of Jesus.
• As long as we are waiting for Jesus to return, we are focusing on healthy relationships. Why? Because one of the marks of a true Christian is how they relate to other Christians specifically and other people generally. A church marked by division misrepresents the Gospel.

2.) The idle, fainthearted, and weak are meant to be helped differently

• This means that the answer is no. We are not allowed to assume that we know why someone is acting a certain way. In fact, according to these verses, it seems extremely important that we work hard to get that right... to understand what someone is really struggling with.
• First, God doesn't intend for you to stay in that spot. Second, healing and help are designed to come through your relationships.

Erwin McManus: "There is no emotion that can exist without a story." What is the story
behind how someone is feeling? Sometimes the only way to figure that out is to let
someone feel what they are feeling, be quick to listen and slow to speak, and you'll learn
something about them.

3.) Admonish the idle

• Don't admonish everyone.
• Idle is a military term meaning "unarranged, lacking good order, and even insubordination".
• Proverbs 13:4 "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied."
• Proverbs 19:15 "Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger."
• We admonish the idle because we want their souls to be richly supplied rather than hungry and malnourished.
• Admonishing is correction coupled with instruction. Sometimes for years and sometimes with tears.

4.) Encourage the fainthearted

• People get fainthearted... "little-spirited"... "small-souled"... "despondent"...Everything on the outside is so overwhelming, that everything on the inside starts to feel small and inadequate
• The good thing about faintheartedness is that we finally realize that we are not strong enough, smart enough, or steady enough to handle life on our own. In a sometimes painfully merciful way, it brings you to the end of yourself.
• Encouragement consists of helping someone to take the focus off of themself, and onto God.

Isaiah 40:10-11 "Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for
him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his
flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his
bosom, and gently lead those that are with young." 27-31 "Why do you say, O Jacob, and
speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my
God"? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the
Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is
unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases
strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but
they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like
eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."

• Not smart enough, strong enough, or steady enough? God is.

5.) Help the weak

• To help means to "hold oneself opposite to; to adhere to and hold fast to; to cleave". In this help there is a sense of permanency and rigor.
• It takes giving up off of the table.
• In Acts 20, Paul is giving the Ephesian elders some parting words and direction in how they are to serve the body in their leadership. 20:35 "In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

6.) Be patient with them all

• Impatience is a threat
• Hebrews 5:1-2 "For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He can deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward, since he himself is beset with weaknesses."

Discipleship Questions:

1. Why is it dangerous to just assume why someone isn't acting right?
2. Have you ever experienced "fundamental attribution error"? If so, spill the beans.
3. What are some challenges in serving the idle, fainthearted, and weak?
4. Why is it bad to admonish everyone?
5. Are there times that you have been admonished? Encouraged? Helped? Discuss.
6. How is impatience a threat?
7. How does Hebrews 5 encourage us to stay the course as we serve others?
8. Who in your life needs to be admonished? Encouraged? Helped?
9. Is there anyone who you are wrongly admonishing? What's your next step?