“Dysfunctional But Loved”
Text: 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
10-25-2026
In the name of Him who loved and rescued us rebellious sinners, dear brothers and sisters in Christ. You may not realize this but we follow a lectionary here at Zion. All it means is that there are a set of Scripture readings assigned for each Sunday which rotate over a 3-year period. At the end of the 3 years, we go back to the beginning and start all over again. That provides variety in what we hear from God’s Word. It also gives your Pastor plenty of material to preach on. However, that’s not true of certain festivals in the church year, like today on Reformation Sunday. The readings are the same—year after year. Needless to say, after 30 years in the ministry I’ve preached on those 3 texts multiple times. Anyway, I tell you all that to explain why we’re not using the traditional Epistle reading for Reformation. Our text is the one assigned for October 25th if there wasn’t a special festival being recognized. As you’ll see, though, it actually does fit the Reformation theme.
Let me start by asking you a loaded question. Don’t answer out loud or raise your hand. Here goes: Is your family dysfunctional? Uh oh, I saw some vigorous head nodding going on! But I suppose we should go back and define what “dysfunctional” means. Simply put, it’s when something is not functioning as it was designed to work. When a machine is dysfunctional it may be due to a part that’s missing or broken. When it comes to a family being dysfunctional it’s more complicated because it’s caused by unhealthy behaviors and attitudes which damage relationships and drive a wedge between us. And you can’t fix that by simply replacing parts. Dysfunctional families take lots of hard work to repair.
So, with that definition in mind, I’ll ask again: Is your family dysfunctional? I’ve got news for you, if you said no then you’re either not telling the truth or sadly mistaken. Due to sin in our world, every family is dysfunctional. Your family and mine does not function as God intended it to. Sins such as selfishness and pride won’t allow us to interact as God had originally designed for our families. Granted, some families are more dysfunctional than others. But none of us can claim to be operating 100% according to God’s plan. We are all, by definition, dysfunctional. Okay, now that we’ve established that then we’re ready for the next question: Is it possible for sincere love to exist within a dysfunctional family? The answer is “Absolutely! Yes!” That’s because despite our imperfections which disrupt our families, we can still love those very same people. In fact, it’s love that keeps our dysfunctional families together and allows us to work together.
Well, just as all that is true about our biological families, it’s even more true about our church family. And that’s the underlying truth to what St. Paul is saying in our text for today. He wrote to various Christian churches that he had been instrumental in starting. We have some of those letters found in our New Testament books of Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and his two epistles to the Thessalonians. In each of these he points out certain issues that were causing major dysfunctions within those churches. Some sound worse than others, but to one extant or another they all were dysfunctional. Sin and error had disrupted the manner in which they were supposed to be working together and it threatened to erode their faith. In our text, we have a fine example of how Paul handled these situations and it can guide us in our own dysfunctional church family.
So, what were some of the problems that were causing this dysfunction in the Thessalonian church? Well, aside from the usual things like sinful pride and worldly lusts, they had some unique issues that were disrupting their congregation. First of all, there were people who were stirring up trouble by trying to discredit Paul and Silas. They claimed that these two missionaries were merely con men, peddling a fake new religion in order to bilk these folks out of their money. Evidently some of the converted people were having second thoughts as a result of these lies. But Paul reminded them how he and Silas worked on the side while preaching to them. They earned their own money so they wouldn’t be a burden on this new church by expecting compensation from them. Their actions refuted the lie.
Another problem was that some of the Thessalonians were confused about Christ’s return. They were convinced that it would happen right away, which it very well could have. Unfortunately, some of them decided that there was no sense in going to work on Monday if Jesus was coming on Tuesday. You can’t take money with you into heaven so why bother earning any more if it will all go to waste? There was some truth to that, but the problem was that while they were waiting for Christ’s return they still needed to eat. So, they were sponging off the rest of the congregation for support. This stirred up resentment and conflict between them. More dysfunction. Paul wrote to tell them to live their lives in Godliness and keep working to provide for themselves because no one knows exactly when that Last Day will be.
Because of this, and other issues that weren’t even mentioned, the Thessalonians were definitely a dysfunctional church family. But even so, they were loved. In the first chapter of this letter, Paul reminds them that they are loved by God, who showed that love by graciously sending Jesus to die on the cross to save them. Now, in this second chapter, Paul expresses his own personal affection that he had for them. In verse 7 he uses a powerful illustration to describe his love. He says it was like the relationship of a nursing mother to her child. Let that sink in for just a minute. In a very real way, that mother is literally giving of herself in order to feed and nourish her beloved child. And that’s what Paul had done for the Thessalonians. He says in verse 8, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”
Then in verse 11, Paul rounds out this imagery by saying that his love for them was like a father’s love for his children. A loving father only wants what’s best for his kids. He watches over them. He teaches them to embrace the good and reject the bad things of this life. In the case of Paul, he saw to it that his “children” in the Thessalonian church had been taught the most important lesson of all: about salvation through faith in Jesus.
You see, even though they were dysfunctional, Paul stilled loved them and so did God. Paul worked to help them resolve their dysfunction by God’s grace and forgiveness. And isn’t that really what the driving motivation of Martin Luther was back in the year 1517? His beloved church was very dysfunctional. There were false doctrines being taught that were misleading people and damaging their faith. In love, Luther tried to clear the haze and get back to the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ. Like Paul, he was hated and persecuted for it. However, they both endured it because of God’s love which filled their hearts. God’s love led them to have a deep affection for their dysfunctional churches.
Isn’t it funny, though, that many people don’t believe this is true of our churches today? How silly! Our pews and our pulpits are occupied by a bunch of poor, miserable sinners and yet we somehow think it won’t cause our own church to be dysfunctional, not operating the way God had intended. That’s not something to be happy about or proud of, but it’s a reality we need to face. We definitely need to repent of our sinfulness which is the root cause of all the dysfunction in the Christian Church and our own congregation. Whether it’s sinful pride, arrogance, worldly lust, or selfishness, we need to humbly bow and confess it before God. And we need to know we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. His suffering, death, and resurrection resolved the dysfunction between us and our loving, heavenly Father. We need to hear that we are loved by God, even though we are dysfunctional. Then, we need for the Holy Spirit to work in us and transform our harmful behaviors and attitude towards one another. By His power, our dysfunction can be changed so that we function beautifully as God intended for His church to work.
The love that Paul had for the Thessalonians is the same love Martin Luther had for his beloved church. That’s why he was willing to risk everything, even his life, to help get the church functional again in its relationship with God. The love that Paul and Luther had is also the same love I have for you. I fully realize we are a dysfunctional church. That’s what sin does to us. But you are still loved, by both God and by me. I know that my love for you is imperfect because I’m a dysfunctional sinner too. And yet, compelled by the love of God I willingly share not only the Gospel of Christ’s salvation with you, but I also share my life with you. We are a family. Yes, we are dysfunctional at times, but we are loved and forgiven by God. May that love permeate our whole heart and mind so that we function as the holy church that the Lord intended us to be. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!