-Show Love, Don’t Grumble-
Philippians 4:6-8
Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer.”
I Peter 4:8-9, “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.”
This summer two college boys traveled across the country handing out complements to everyone they met. Wherever they traveled they were interviewed by local news and even appeared on national news.
Why were they highlighted on the news? Because the natural tendency is to highlight bad news and focus on the negative things in life! In San Francisco and San Jose, CA. the when a handful of people marched the streets protesting whatever the protest made the evening news and a picture in the next days’ newspaper.
The tendency is to look at what’s wrong with people, the world, the church, rather than what’s right. Someone said: “10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is made up of how you respond to what happens to you.”
The ministry of encouragement simply stated is this: “Believing the best about everyone you meet.”
Billy Graham in his book, Unto the Hills, writes: “Christ can take the discouragement and despondency out of our lives. He can put a spring in one’s step and give one a thrill in his heart and a purpose in his mind. Optimism and cheerfulness are products of knowing Christ.”
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” Proverbs 17:22
In our retirement years one ministry we can all participate in is the ministry of encouragement – “Show love, Don’t Grumble.” Our ministry is to daily practice Psalm 19:14: “May the words of my mouth and the mediation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
What an opportunity Carollyn and I have in our family with four married children and now 17 grandchildren to practice the ministry of encouragement.
Let me suggest several ways we can enjoy a ministry of encouragement.
I. Don’t Dwell on the Past, Focus on the Future. Philippians 3:12-14
The devil, according to legend, once advertised his tools for sale at public auction. When the prospective buyers assembled, there was one oddly shaped tool, which was labeled “Not for sale.” Asked to explain why this was, the devil answered, “I can spare my other tools, but I cannot spare this one. It is the most useful implement that I have. It is called Discouragement, and with it I can work my way into hearts otherwise inaccessible. When I get this tool into a man’s heart, the way is open to plant anything there I may desire.”
Focus on the lord Jesus Christ: remove your eyes from your situation and circumstances.
The Apostle Paul focused on the future. He said, “I am focusing all my energies on this one thing. Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.” Phil. 3:23
With the Apostle Paul we confess that we have not arrived, we continue to strive toward perfect love.
When you surrender your life to Jesus, it is your beginning. It’s like stepping on the first step on a long staircase. You keep walking up the stairs until you walk into the arms of Jesus. The stairs are not an escalator that carries you up without any effort; you have to move up step by step.
It takes the grace of God to forget the hurts of the past. Paul had many hurts to forget. He regretted leading the stoning of Stephen. He regretted causing havoc to the early church.
Has past experiences caused you to become bitter. Bitterness is unresolved anger turned inward. Bitterness becomes hate. Bitterness is the opposite of sweetness. Instead of sweetening everything in life, it sours everything in life.
It is only by the grace of God that you can forget the past. To dwell on the past or focus on the future is a choice we each have to make.
Colossians 2:1-2 “I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,”
Colossians 4:7-8 “Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.
1st Thessalonians 4:18 “Therefore encourage each other with these words.”
1st Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
Friends help you focus on the future.
One of the greatest God given encouragements you have are friends. It is always tougher if you have to bear it alone. Paul found great strength for his life and ministry from his friends, Barnabas, Silas, Timothy and Aquila and his wife Priscilla and many others.
King Solomon knew the value of having friends. He wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:9-11, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their work: For if they fall, one will lift up his companion; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”
You may have heard the story about Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play major league baseball. While playing one day in his home stadium in Brooklyn, he committed an error, and his own fans began to boo and ridicule him. He stood at second base, humiliated, while the fans jeered. Then shortstop “Pee Wee” Reese came over and stood next to him. He put his arm around Jackie Robinson and faced the crowd. The fans grew quiet. Robinson later said, “That arm around my shoulder saved my career.”
You never know what a smile or a hug will do in encouraging another person.
To become an encourager don’t dwell on the past, focus on the future.
Second, Commit to live with a servant’s heart.
II. Live with a Servant’s Heart. Phil 2:5-7
“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing, he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.”
A fully devoted disciple lives with a servant’s heart. You believe that God is in control and is for you and not against you.
Discouragement is a destroyer. It sees the obstacle but faith sees the way out. When you are discouraged, you are telling God that He cannot help you. Joshua sent out spies to spy out the promise land they brought back a report that discouraged the Israelites; they saw the people of the land as giants that they could not overcome. They had forgotten that it was God who said they should go and possess the land. They should have known that since He said they should go, He would be with them because the battle is the Lord’s and He will fight it. These people eventually provoked God to anger and they all perished in the wilderness. They did not get to the promise land. Only their children did. God would rather prolong the day, than the night. He will not prolong your darkness.
The discouraging, faithless report of the ten spies with their majority report caused the Children of Israel to not trust God and suffered the consequences of defeat and 40 years of suffering in their dessert wanderings.
Pastor Joel Osteen in his book, Your Best Life Now”, tells the story of Nick, a big strong, tough man who worked in the railroad yard for many years. Nick was a faithful worker, but he had one big problem he had a negative attitude. He was known around the railroad yards as the most pessimistic man on the job. He perpetually feared the worst and constantly worried that something bad might happen.
One summer day, the crew were told they could go home early as a favor to the foreman’s birthday. All the workers left, but Nick somehow locked himself in a refrigerated boxcar that had been brought into the yard for maintenance. The boxcar was empty and not connected to any of the trains.
Nick yelled and screamed and banged on the doors, but since everyone had gone home no one heard his call.
Nick new he was in a refrigerated box car and guessed the temperature in the car was well below freezing. He probably thought, “What am I going to do? If I don’t get out of here, I’m going to freeze to death!” The more he thought the colder he became. He found a piece of cardboard and scribbled a message, “Getting so cold. Body numb. If I don’t get out soon, these will probably be my last words.”
The next morning, when the crews came to work, they opened the boxcar and found Nick’s lifeless body crumpled over in the corner. His body was cold as ice.
Nick died, but the investigators discovered that the refrigeration unit of the car for the box car in which Nick died was not even turned on. The outside temperature that night was 61 degrees.
Rather than thinking about the worst of every situation we need to trust God and think about the best of every situation. We need to practice what Paul says in Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
Surround yourself with positive people. With positive people by your side you can turn obstacles into opportunities. Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 4:8-9 (Living Bible), “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.”
1. Don’t dwell on the past, focus on the future-
2. Commit to living with a servant’s heart and
III. Determine to be An Encourager
Ephesians 4:29 – “…Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”
What person comes to mind when you think of an early church leader known as an encourager? Barnabas! His name means “Son of encouragement.” Acts 4:36
The believers in Jerusalem shunned Paul, but Barnabas stepped forward and brought him to the other apostles and testified to the transforming power of God at work in Paul’s life. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. Acts 9:26-27
What does encouragement look like?
Barnabas shows us the essence of encouragement in these scriptures.
Acts 15:36-40 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
The essence of encouragement is believing the best about someone. It involves magnifying the good and minimizing the bad.
Encouragers see the growing competency in other people and they affirm it or express their support. You know the old saying; "Behind every successful man is a (surprised mother-in-law) wife who believes in them". Great things are achieved by great people and great people are supported by significant others who have spoken affirming words of courage and inspiration into them. Believing what people can become is a very Barnabas-type thing to do.
Encouragers magnify and celebrate the good and deemphasize and minimize what is less than good about people and various experiences.
James 1:2-4 “Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” (NLT)
The encourager looks beyond the immediate pain or suffering to what God is painting on the big picture. They lift the vision of people to see how even this disastrous circumstance can be used by God to bring good.
Corrie Ten Boon tells an amazing story along these lines in her book "The Hiding Place". The Nazis had imprisoned her and her sister Betsy.for harboring Jews in their home. The prison camp that they were in was apparently riddled with fleas. The conditions were absolutely horrific and beyond imagination. However during a time of prayer that Corrie once had with Betsy she heard her pray "Lord thank you for the fleas!" Corrie couldn’t go on in their prayer meeting without stopping her sister and asking why she prayed along those lines, to which Betsy lovingly explained from her heart "Corrie don’t you see, the Lord provided the fleas. That way the guards will not bother us in our barracks so we can pray and worship freely". In other words Betsy had Barnabas eyes to see the positive side of a difficult circumstance.
Being a Barnabas doesn’t necessarily minimize the pain and suffering that a person goes through. It is more than just being supremely positive. But in whatever we go through there is always a bigger picture that God is painting and a Barnabas-type encourager helps people to see it.
It’s always easier to knock down dominos than build them up.
It’s easier to cut flowers than to weed and cultivate them.
It easier to focus on what’s wrong with people, the world, the church that focus on what’s right.
Thee is awesome power of the listening ear. After moving to our new home in Palm Harbor, we invited our neighbors Joseph and Mary over for an evening meal to get acquainted. One question I asked them helped us to learn their life story. I asked, “Where did the two of you meet?”
Closing:
Someone has written:
I watched them tear a building down;
A band of men in a busy town.
With a `HO-HEAVE-HO’ and a lusty yell;
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, `Are these men skilled?
And the men you’d hire if you had to build?’
He gave a laugh and said, `No indeed!
Common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two,
What builders have taken a year to do.’
And I thought to myself as I went on my way,
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who works with care?
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker, who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?
Ephesians 4:29, “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be food and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer.”
Lets look at the good and build up, lift up, cheer up, call up, praise up our church and every one in it and everyone we meet.
