The Pathway to being an encourager. Encouragement.
HEB 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. This morning I want to talk about the importance and strategic importance of a biblical truth. That Biblical truth is encouragement. Without encouragement the body of Christ can not really flourish.
You meet some people sometimes who are incredibly discouraging. They have a gift of emphasizing the negative.
I remember three people from my childhood. One a teacher who after I played the best game of rugby I had ever played scoring a lot of tries and I came into the class and a friend called Brian Young was singing my praises and the teacher said something so negative about me that I lost heart as a rugby player.
Another person was a teacher who spotted my strength at reading and was always getting me to read stories to the class
And another teacher who encouraged me to write Vince Boyle and used to get me to read my stories to the class.
Guess which two teachers I have tried to keep relationships with as an adult?
Encouragement is so important and we need to be given it.
Encouragement changes history.
You may know the true story of Robert the Bruce King of Scotland.
Bruce and the Spider(Scotland)
HUNDREDS of years ago there was a king of Scotland and his name was Robert the Bruce. It was a good thing that he was both brave and wise, because the times in which he lived were wild and dangerous. The King of England was at war with him, and had led a great army into Scotland to drive him out of the land and to make Scotland a part of England. Battle after battle he had fought with England. Six times Robert the Bruce had led his brave little army against his foes. Six times his men had been beaten, until finally they were driven into flight. At last the army of Scotland was entirely scattered, and the king was forced to hide in the woods and in lonely places among the mountains. One rainy day, Robert the Bruce lay in a cave, listening to the rainfall outside the cave entrance. He was tired and felt sick at heart, ready to give up all hope. It seemed to him that there was no use for him to try to do anything more. As he lay thinking, he noticed a spider over his head, getting ready to weave her web. He watched her as she worked slowly and with great care. Six times she tried to throw her thread from one edge of the cave wall to another. Six times her thread fell short. "Poor thing!" said Robert the Bruce. "You, too, know what it’s like to fail six times in a row." But the spider did not lose hope. With still more care, she made ready to try for a seventh time. Robert the Bruce almost forgot his own troubles as he watched, fascinated. She swung herself out upon the slender line. Would she fail again? No! The thread was carried safely to the cave wall, and fastened there. "Yes!" cried Bruce, "I, too, will try a seventh time!" So he arose and called his men together. He told them of his plans, and sent them out with hopeful messages to cheer the discouraged people. Soon there was an army of brave men around him. A seventh battle was fought, and this time the King of England was forced to retreat back to his own country. It wasn’t long before England recognized Scotland as an independent country with Robert the Bruce as its rightful king. And to this very day, the victory and independence of Scotland is traced to a spider who kept trying again and again to spin her web in a cave and inspired the king of Scotland, Robert the Bruce.
The Duke of Wellington, the British military leader who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, was not an easy man to serve under. He was brilliant, demanding, and not one to shower his subordinates with compliments. Yet even Wellington realized that his methods left something to be desired. In his old age a young lady asked him what, if anything, he would do differently if he had his life to live over again. Wellington thought for a moment, then replied. "I’d give more praise," he said.
Bits & Pieces, March 31, 1994, p. 24.
We all need encouragement and this morning I want to expose three ways in which you can help create a culture of encouragement in your own life and in your church.
In a very real sense encouragement is to be a part of our church culture Our vision says we are to be a caring church family who will do whatever we can to help people become wholehearted followers of Jesus Christ.
Friends we are to be encouragers.
This morning I want to expose three key areas from where you can move from being encouraged to encourageing others
The first area is be encouraged as to who you are in God’s eyes.
It is a truism that if you are not convinced of your own self worth you will not be a great encourager.
The Bible goes to great lengths to encourage us that we are of great worth in the eyes of God.
1. Psalm 139:13 –16
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:13-16
Jesus achieves great things in his ministry because of his great sense of self identity – He is encouraged by who he is in God.
Jesus said – My Father and I are one.
When Jesus is about to go into ministry and John the Baptist baptises him a voice comes from heaven and says:-
MT 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
MT 3:15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
MT 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
God encourages Jesus, which is just as well because he was about to enter a time of great testing.
MT 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
If Jesus needs encouragement then I think we can fairly conclude that we do too.
God loves you with an incredible love.
Jesus spells out the status of relationship with his followers.
John chapter 15 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ then you are his friend.
God loves us so much that he sends Jesus as the scripture from john chapter 3 and verse 16 tells us.
The bit I love about John chapter 3 verse 16 is – Whoever believes in Him shall not perish. If you have been feeling bad about yourself – perhaps unworthy in some way – or if you have been defeated yet again then remember Jesus says “Whoever” you are part of that whoever.
Once we truly receive Christ and truly understand by way of extension what that relationship means, we are now friends of Jesus and God, then our ability to encourage others goes up to a whole new level.
I once visited a man in a retirement home and his opening line to me was “Drop Dead.” I felt that man didn’t have the gift of encouragement.
The second point in being able to encourage others is to learn to deal with discouragement.
Most of us – like Robert the Bruce – I mentioned have to deal with discouragement.
Jesus must have felt discouraged in the Garden of Gethsemene – and how did he feel when his treasurer judas was the instrument of his betrayal or when Peter denied him three times as he was facing his trial.
These are all discouraging things but we must learn to deal with them
I was reading a sermon by David Wilkinson and he speaks about the discouragement of King David:-
What he does in this sermon is discloses David in Psalm 38, we find this godly, righteous man at the end of himself. He was downcast and discouraged, and his struggle had drained him of all strength. Listen to his distraught cry: I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from meI, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs (Psalm 38:6, 8, 10, 13-14).
As I read this psalm, I imagine David slumped in despair. Perhaps what troubled him most was that he couldnt understand why he was suddenly cast down so low. This man hungered for the Lord, pouring out his heart daily in prayer. He revered Gods word, writing psalms that extolled his glory. But now, in his depressed state, all he could do was cry, Lord, Im at the end of my rope. And I have no idea why its happening!
Like many discouraged Christians today, David tried to figure out why he felt so empty and broken in spirit. He probably relived every failure, sin and foolish deed in his life. At some point he must have thought, Oh, Lord, have all my reckless acts left me so wounded that Im beyond hope?
Finally, David reasoned that God must have been chastening him. He cried, O Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over my head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me (verses 1-4).
Let me point out here that David isnt just writing about his own condition in this psalm. Hes describing something that all devoted lovers of Jesus face at some point in their lifetime. Hes talking about being under a demonic attack from a plaguing spirit of discouragement!
This kind of discouraging spirit comes straight from the bowels of hell. And the time comes when every dedicated believer is overwhelmed by this sudden and unexpected experience. No Christian brings it on himself, nor does the Lord send it. Such an attack usually has nothing to do with any specific sin or failing by the believer.
Very simply, the spirit of discouragement is Satans most potent weapon against Gods elect. Most often, he uses it to try to convince us weve brought Gods wrath upon ourselves by not measuring up to his holy standards. But the apostle Paul urges us not fall prey to the devils snare: Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Paul is saying, You have to see your discouragement for what it really is! Its a demonic weapon an arrow that Satan shoots at you from his quiver to get you to doubt yourself. He knows he cant tempt you to turn away from Jesus. So he swamps you with vicious lies to make you think youll never be good enough to serve Christ. He wants to get you so downcast that youll want to throw in the towel!
The key for Christians who want to be encouragers is to see discouragement for what it is – a weapon of evil against the believer.
What the terrorist is to modern society so discouragement is to the human soul.
Thirdly and finally to be an encourager we need to build a culture of encouragement in our own lives.
Barnabas was a first century disciple. You’ll find his story beginning in Acts 4:36. He’s mentioned often in the book of Acts, in fact only Paul and Peter are referred to more. And yet people often don’t know his given name. Why? Because he lived to serve others. His given name was Joseph, but the Christians nicknamed him "Barnabas" because it meant "son of encouragement". Barnabas came alongside people in times of challenge and helped them. (e. g. Acts 9:10-28, Acts 15:36-39)
Jesus is an encourager. When he sees people about to go through hard times he encourages them.
Take for example matthew chapter 24 and verse 6 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
Here Jesus forseas hard times ahead for the Christians and jesus is encouraging them to not be alarmed because they have been forewarned.
These words have encouraged people throughout the centuries – for example:-
On September 3, 1939, Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse was traveling by train through Europe on the way to preach in Belfast, Ireland. Hitler was unleashing his fury. There were wars and rumors of more wars. Britain’s prime minister was ready to declare war. Everything was tense. What was next? Troops were boarding the train at each stop. He saw husbands and wives tearfully holding on to each other for one more moment. Children were weeping. Early on Sunday morning, Barnhouse awakened early. God gave him a text to preach later that morning. It was Matthew 24:6, You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
. He talked of the plight of the people and then added the words of Jesus, Be not troubled. He further painted the picture of separated families and added . . . Be not troubled.
You will notice that this illustration deals with real issues.
We need to be encouraging but not in a trivial way.
William Arthur Ward once said:-
Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.
In this day and age people are hungry for encouragement.
But we need to understand that Christian encouragement is a very profound thing:-
I love this bible verse
PHP 2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
The reading from Hebrews talks about us making encouragement a daily habit:-
HEB 3:12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today,
Jesus constantly encourages his followers to live in a way that will be a blessing to them that is why we read in parables for people to build on rock – encourages people to do all manner of things.
Jesus is an encourager.
It was this great encouragement that so inspired his followers to go into the world as recorded in the book of Acts and to transform that world with the love of god.
We need to remember that one of the names of the Holy spirit is the comforter – encouragement comforts – builds up and that is what the holy spirit does.
Encouragement produces results.
Let me close by sharing two illustrations with you:-
One morning I opened the door to get the newspaper and was surprised to see a strange little dog with our paper in his mouth. Delighted with this unexpected "delivery service," I fed him some treats. The following morning I was horrified to see the same dog sitting in front of our door, wagging his tail, surrounded by eight newspapers. I spent the rest of that morning returning the papers to their owners. Marion Gilbert in Reminisce, Reader’s Digest, February, 1994, p. 12.An elderly widow, restricted in her activities, was eager to serve Christ. After praying about this, she realized that she could bring blessing to others by playing the piano. The next day she placed this small ad in the Oakland Tribune: "Pianist will play hymns by phone daily for those who are sick and despondent--the service is free." The notice included the number to dial. When people called, she would ask, "What hymn would you like to hear?" Within a few months her playing had brought cheer to several hundred people. Many of them freely poured out their hearts to her, and she was able to help and encourage them.
In closing this sermon that I have called a pathway to be an encourager can Invite you to consider three things you can do.
The first area is be encouraged as to who you are in God’s eyes.Embrace God’s encouragement.
The second point in being able to encourage others is to learn to deal with discouragement. Recognise that the devil is the source of discouragement.
And finally - Thirdly and finally to be an encourager we need to build a culture of encouragement in our own lives.
