OPEN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnVuqfXohxc
I’ve been waiting months to use that clip.
It’s clever.
It’s cute.
And whether you realize it or not – it is deeply theological.
Think about it… what did it show?
It showed lot of animals that don’t ordinarily get along… getting along.
These are animals that don’t ordinarily spend much time together.
• Cats and Dogs
• Lions and Bears
• Birds and Cats
• And Deer and Dogs
o And, of course, there’s that Orangutan at the end…
And they’re all getting along.
It reflects the truth stated here in Romans 12
“… in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” Romans 12:5
Later in Romans (15:12) Paul quotes a verse from Isaiah 11 that describes the present day church. That verse says: “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” Isaiah 11:10
Right before that verse in Isaiah 11 are these words:
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together:
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den.”
Isaiah 11:6-8
According to Romans 15:12… those words describe the church.
Really?
Oh yeah.
What God is describing in Isaiah are the personality types of people who come to Christ.
Have you ever heard of a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”?
How about someone being as “gentle as a lamb”?
Or like a “snake in the grass”?
This section of verses in Isaiah is describing people as if they were animals.
Animals who were NOT ACTING like you’d expect.
If the animals in Isaiah 11 ALL acted the way you’d think they’d act - the lambs and the calves and the fatlings and the little children in the text… they’d all be some other animal’s lunch.
But that’s not happening.
Something has changed them.
And that’s what has happened in true churches.
You’ve got all kinds of worldly people coming in and becoming Christians.
People who (before coming to Christ) were wolves and snakes and devourers and now they’re sitting in pews with the innocent and gentle folks of this world.
Ordinarily– if you were to put those kinds of people together for any length of time the only folks left standing are the predators.
THEN how was that God could get so many different and difficult kinds of people into one place where they could actually get along?
1. Well, partly this could happen because of the transformative power of the blood of Christ. I watched one day as an ex-CIA assassin turned his life over to Christ and became a changed man. I watched one day as a child molester came forward and repented of his sin… and something in his eyes changed. I’ve seen ex-homosexuals and adulterers and fornicators all come to Christ and become changed individuals… all because of the power of the blood of Jesus Christ.
2. But there’s something beyond the saving blood of Christ that also adds to change that takes place in God’s people. Something that is embodied in a simple gift listed here in Romans 12: the gift of encouragement.
Paul writes: “If a man’s gift … is encouraging, let him encourage.” Romans 12:6 & 8 NIV
Another version says “If exhorting, let him exhort” HCSB version
Encouraging?
Exhorting?
Those two words don’t sound like they describe the same thing.
Well, that prompted me to take a look at the Greek word here.
The Greek word is “para-kaleo”.
“kaleo” means “to call
“para” means “alongside”
Thus parakaleo means: “to call alongside.”
One of the most famous uses of a word like this is in John 16:7 where Jesus says:
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter (also Counselor or Helper in other translations) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”
Who exactly is Jesus referring to here? (Holy Spirit)
Part of the Spirit’s job is to “come alongside us” and comfort us.
Counsel us.
Help us.
Comfort/Counsel/Help (REPEAT several times)
Now if that’s the Spirit’s job, what do you think the mortal who has that kind of gift is supposed to do? That’s right, they’re supposed to come along side us and comfort us, counsel us, help us.
Comfort/Counsel/Help (REPEAT several times)
Now – as with all the other gifts listed here in Romans 12 – ALL of us are to be encouragers.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:11
“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”
We are to come alongside and COMFORT each other
HELP each another.
ENCOURAGE each another.
This gift of encouragement is a powerful gift.
In fact, we have a guy in Scripture who is literally nicknamed the Son of Encouragement.
Do you know who that man is?
That’s right. We know him as Barnabas.
Acts 4:36 “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement)”
Now why on earth would the Apostles give this man a nickname like that?
(Wait for it)
That’s right - because he was an ENCOURAGER.
The Apostles not only recognized what he was doing… they admired him for it.
There’s something about a true encourager that changes people.
ILLUS: I just did some research on “encouragement” and I discovered the most interesting thing
According to an article at CNN a couple years back:
Research shows… that Bosses should use positive comments a lot more -- about six times more -- than criticism. The study, done by the University of Michigan Business School several years ago, compared team performance to the frequency of praise and criticism given within the teams.
The best-performing teams used about six times as many positive comments for every negative one. By contrast, it found that the worst performing teams, on average, used three NEGATIVE comments for every POSITIVE one.
Leadership consultant Jack Zenger noted: "Negative interactions tend to dampen the enthusiasm and commitment of the individual".
An American psychologist, John Gottman, found that a similar ratio for positive and negative comments (6 to 1) from spouses to each other will lead to happier marriages.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/14/business/criticism-praise-feedback-work-life/
ILLUS: And you can see how encouraging plays out in the real world:
A woman in one office brought in her new baby and her 7 year old son to work one day.
Everyone gathered around the baby, and the little boy asked, “Mommy, can I have some money to buy a soda?”
“What do you say” she said.
He replied “You’re thin and beautiful.”
The woman reached into her purse and gave her son the money.
Now if that’s true in the business world
And that’s true in the home
Do you suppose that maybe being an ENcourager rather than a DIScourager might be a valuable gift in the church?
Of course it is.
But this gift is about more than just being a “cheerleader” and saying encouraging words.
Hebrews 3:13 advises that we should “exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Exhort means to “strongly encourage or urge (someone) to do something”
Part of the goal of an encourager is to strongly encourage/urge those around us to do more than just sit there.
All through Paul’s letters he uses this word that way:
Romans 12:1 “Therefore, I URGE you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship.”
1 Corinthians 1:10 “I APPEAL to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you…”
1 Corinthians 4:16 “I URGE you, then, be imitators of me.”
You see, the person with this gift does more than tell you what you want to hear. They tell you what you need to hear. What you need to do. They don't do this because they are better than you, but because they “believe in you.” They look deep inside of who you are and they see your potential. And because of that potential that they see, they “urge” you to be more than you have been.
They’re not afraid to upset you now and again by tell you the truth, but they are so committed to helping you be all you can be, they challenge you to the next step in your faith.
Now there one more step involved in this gift.
Barnabas took his gift of encouragement and put his reputation on the line.
We all remember the story of Paul’s meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus, and his baptism into Christ by Ananias just a few days later… but few people realize how hard a time Paul had living down his past.
You see, the reason Paul was on the road to Damascus was because he was on his way there to arrest and imprison Christians. This was what Paul was known for. For years PAUL was the FACE of persecution.
Acts 8:3 tells us that he went from house to house, and dragged Christians out of their homes and put them in prison. EVERYBODY knew who Paul had been.
So when Paul was baptized into Christ, that’s STILL how people viewed him. He wanted to meet with the disciples, but Acts 9:26-27 tells us that
“When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.
BUT BARNABAS took him and BROUGHT HIM to the apostles. 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.”
Barnabas didn’t have to do that.
Barnabas didn’t have to put his reputation on the line for this once vicious man.
But he did.
Once Paul came to Christ Barnabas made it a point to stand beside him.
To declare that Paul was a changed man.
To publicly state that Paul needed to be accepted by other Christians.
He had Paul’s back.
Paul was facing rejection and hatred for his past.
And Barnabas boldly approached the Elders and set the record straight.
A person with the gift of encouragement goes to bat for you.
I worked on this next phrase all week:
Encouragement is the gift that greases the gears.
Let me repeat that:
Encouragement is the gift that greases the gears.
Without this gift, a church will grind and scrape its way through life.
Without this gift, a church can be morally upright, righteous to a fault and doctrinally correct beyond anything you’ve ever seen. But without that gift it will become a cold dark congregation. Without the gift of encouragement a church will disintegrate.
A church CAN NOT exist a family if this gift is missing.
It is absolutely critical to the existence of a loving and growing congregation.
It is the gift that greases the gears.
ILLUS: We have a man who started coming to this congregation a few months back. He’s told me that we have a very friendly church. In fact, he describes us this way “this is an unnaturally friendly church.”
He means that as a compliment.
And he’s right. This church isn’t normal. We are friendly way beyond what you’d expect to see in other congregations. But the question is: how did we get that way?
I’d like to be able lay credit for that. But it was like that before I got here.
So I began to ask around as to how we became like we are. And several folks gave me the same name: Jim. Jim is an Elder, and for years he’s made it his ministry to sit at the front door and hand out bulletins. But he does more than hand out bulletins. He smiles at you. He talks with you. He asks you about your family. He is truly interested in YOU.
You know how this church got to be so friendly? Jim infected you. He’s the disease, and you caught it!
ILLUS: Let me tell you about another person here with this gift of encouragement. She’s a sweet woman in the congregation who makes it a special point to note to watch over others in church. If you’re sick, she’s on your doorstep asking if she can help. She sends out notes of encouragement to all kinds of people at church who miss a couple of Sundays. And she’s always telling me about this or that person and the problems they face in the hopes that maybe I can help them in ways she can’t.
And if you didn’t know she was doing all this… you wouldn’t know she was doing all this.
These are the kinds of people that create the loving and friendly atmosphere we have here.
Their gift is the grease for our gears.
But now there is the problem when discussing this gift.
The problem can be when people say things like:
“Well I don’t see anybody going to bat for me!”
OR “I don’t see anybody stepping up and saying encouraging words to me.”
You know what the problem is with those two complaints?
It’s in that silly word at the end of each of them: “ME”
Anyone who would say something like this is expecting to be served.
Anyone who’s miffed because they didn’t get their compliment/back scratched views Christianity as being all about “ME”.
And it’s not.
Jesus said: “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28
This isn’t about whether I get the compliment.
This is about whether I GIVE the compliment.
That’s the contest.
God is up in heaven watching to see if you understand the rules of the game
And the game is: how many compliments can I give out?
How often can I encourage others in their faith?
So how do you know if you have the gift of encouragement?
1. You find yourself complimenting people all the time
2. If people aren’t getting compliments… you find ways to do that
3. If people are being ignored or mistreated, you’re right there defending them
4. You have people’s backs
5. You make it YOUR job to make the church friendly
6. You seek out new people and introduce them around
7. You look for people who aren’t here this Sunday – call them/visit them
8. You cringe when you hear another church member criticize others.
9. Your greatest joy is when you’ve given another person joy.
What are the weaknesses of this gift?
1. Tendency toward Pride
2. Tendency toward territorialism (this is MY gift)
3. Bitterness if you don’t get your compliments or your protection
4. Rebellion when you can’t see others protecting people you think should be defended
5. You can tend to overlook people’s shortcomings… not confront when they need it.
CLOSE: THIS IS A GREAT GIFT.
But it’s not a gift people ordinarily come by “naturally.”
We’re trained, almost from childhood to taunt and ridicule others.
You’ll see it all the time on the playgrounds of our schools.
But why do even kids tear down rather than build others up?
Frankly, because it’s easier to do that.
I want to close with this poem:
I stood on the streets of a busy town.
Watching men tearing a building down:
With a "Ho, heave, ho," and a lusty yell,
they swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman of the crew,
"Are those men as skilled
as you would hire if you wanted to build?"
"Ah, no," he said, "no indeed, just common labor is all I need.
I can tear down as much in a day or two
As would take skilled men a year to do."
And I thought as I went my way,
Just which of these two roles am I trying to play?
Have I walked life's road with care?
Measuring each deed with rule and square?
Or am I one of those who roam the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?
A Christian ought never to be ridiculing and tearing down others.
We ought to always be driven to compliment, challenge and protect one another so God can receive the praise.
INVITATION
