Parakaleo, Encouraging One Another
One Another week 4
OKAY – welcome to week 4 of our series, “One Another, Doing Church Together.”
UNDERSTAND IN - Matthew chapter 16 Jesus made a very bold prediction…
On this rock (on this truth that I am, the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God… on Me, on who I AM…
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. – Matthew 16:18
REMEMBER… church has nothing to do with geography, a place or a building and everything to do with a people.
Jesus did not predict a place, He predicted a people.
A people who would flourish, expand, and keep pressing forward to every corner of the world.
I pray… for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
– John 17:20,21
AGAIN – Jesus didn’t pray that we would…
• Build great buildings
• Preach great messages
• Have great worship
• Do great things
INSTEAD – Jesus simply and desperately prayed that we would be one and brought to complete unity.
BECAUSE - Jesus knows that the entire deal… that the spread of the Gospel and the redemption of mankind depends on us His followers having relationships that are remarkably different than those in the world….
BY THIS – (how we love one another, how we one another one another)… BY THIS – all people will know that we are His disciples!
GET IT?
MG – that is why we are doing this series.
AND LISTEN…
The way we ‘flesh out’ this command (to love one another ‘just as’ Jesus loves us?) in our everyday lives is…
The way we become and answer to Jesus’ prayer (so that the world will believe in Jesus and find life in Him is…
IS BY – obeying, embracing… IS BY – living out…
The ONEanothering commands that we find scattered throughout the New Testament.
NOW – so far we have looked at
• The Fellowship Of The King, Carrying One Another’s Burdens
• Seventy Times Seven, Forgiving One Another
QUESTION…
DO YOU THINK…
THAT IF - everyone one of us in this room.
THAT IF – everyone who is part of this Jesus-Gathering called MGCC, would have the attitude of Christ, and actually and actively forgave one another and carried one another’s burdens…
THAT - it would help us create a community that people would want to be a part of?
NOW THIS MORNING – we are going to unpack a conversation called, “Parakaleo, Encouraging One Another.”
AND – here is how I want to attack this conversation…
BY – answering 2 questions inregards to encouraging one another…
• Why should we encourage one another?
• How do we encourage one another?
NOW IN - the New Testament, the word most often translated as “encouragement” is parakaleo.
This term comes from two Greek words: para, meaning “alongside of,” and kaleo, meaning “to call forth.”
UNDERSTAND - when people come alongside of us during difficult times to call forth in us…
A renewed courage, a renewed spirit, a renewed hope—that’s encouragement.
NOW – the word Parakaleo, was often used to describe speeches that leaders would give to urge fearful and hesitant soldiers to keep pressing on confidently into battle.
Wallace: Sons of Scotland, I am William Wallace.
Young soldier: William Wallace is 7 feet tall.
Wallace: Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he'd consume the English with fireballs from his eyes... I AM William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You have come to fight as free men, and free men you are. What would you do with that freedom? Will you fight?
Veteran soldier: Fight? Against that? No, we will run; and we will live.
Wallace: Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!!
Wallace and Soldiers: Alba gu bra! (Scotland forever!)
Parakaleo – to come alongside and call forth courage…
AND LISTEN – even our English word carries that very same idea…En-Courage – putting courage into another person…
I. Why Should We Encourage One Another? (because…)
a) The Triune God is all about encouragement
UNDERSTAND – as you look through the Scripture you see that God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit are all about encouragement, are all about depositing courage into the hearts and lives of people.
Paul wrote the following to the Jesus-Gathering in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 1:3,4
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort (encouragement), who comforts (encourages) us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort (encourage) those who are in any affliction, with the comfort (encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort (encouragement) too. – 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
SO – God the Father is the God of all encouragement…
AND LISTEN - we see countless examples all throughout the Scriptures of God the Father encouraging His people
• Abraham – I know, it has been many years since the promise, but listen, you will be the Father of a great nation
• Gideon – I know that you feel that you are from the weakest family in Israel and that you are the least in your family, but I when I look at you I see a mighty warrior.
• Moses – I know you have been hiding out in the desert for 40 years because of your fear of Pharoah, but you will deliver my people from His hands
• Joshua – I know that taking over for Moses and leading my people into the promise land is a difficult task… So, Be strong and courageous, Do not be afraid or terrified for I will be with you.
• Paul – I know you are intimated by the ungodly city of Corinth, But do not be afraid. Keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you and no one is going to attack or harm you, because I have many people in this city.
AGAIN – God the Father, is the God of all encouragement.
AND IN - one of his letters to the Thessalonians, Paul reminded his readers that Jesus (God the Son), IS at the very core of His ministry, an encourager.
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father encourage you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. God loved us, and through his grace he gave us a good hope and encouragement that continues forever. - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
YES JESUS – is all about encouragement…
I MEAN – in the Gospels we see Him time and time again coming along side of people and pouring in courage through both His words and actions…
AND LISTEN – one of the names for God The Spirit is ‘The Encourager…’ IN FACT - that is exactly how Jesus introduces Him in John 16…
But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. When I go away, I will send the Helper (Encourager) to you. If I do not go away, the Helper (Encourager) will not come.
– John 16:7
Why Should We Encourage One Another?
#1 – The Triune God is all about encouragement, and
#2…
b) Encouragement is one of the purposes of the Bible
Which is a lamp to our feet and a light for our path.
(Psalm 119:105)
In other words, the word of God is what provides direction for how we should live, and listen…
Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. The Scriptures give us patience and encouragement so that we can have hope. – Romans 15:4
B/S – Paul says that one of the main reasons that God breathed the words in this book was to give us encouragement so we can have hope.
AND LISTEN – I stand before you today as someone who has experienced more times than I can count the supernatural renewing encouragement that this book gives.
I MEAN - this book has
• picked me up when I was down.
• given me hope when I had none
• quenched my thirst when I was dry
• given me strength when I was weak
• pushed me forward when I wanted to quit
• surrounded me with peace in the midst of the violent storms
• revived my spirit when my soul was downcast
Why Should We Encourage One Another?
#1 – The Triune God is all about encouragement
#2 - Encouragement is one of the purposes of the Bible
c) God has commanded us to
UNDERSTAND – 4 times in the NT God commands us to encourage one another…
AND B/S – when the Sovereign King of the Universe tells us to jump, our only response should be ‘how high’ – amen?
That is if we really love and know Him…
Jesus said in John 14 that if we love Him we will keep His commands… And God says through the apostle John that anyone who claims to know Him but does not do what God says is a lair and the truth is not in Him.
OKAY SO – here are those 4 passages where we are commanded to encourage one another…
Encourage one another with these words. - 1 Thess 4:18
Encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are already doing. – 1 Thess 5:11
Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
– Hebrews 3:13
(So, encouraging – is a do it right‘now’ thing…)
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… – Hebrews 10:24
QUESTION Why should we encourage one another?
• Because the triune God is all about encouragement
• Because encouragement is one of the purposes of the bible
• Because God commands you to, and
d) Everyone battles discouragement
QUESTION…
HAS - anyone in this room besides me ever battled discouragement?
IS – anyone battling it at this very moment?
DOES – anyone in this room believe there is a high probability that the waves of discouragement will crash against their lives sometime in the future?
UNDERSTAND – every Jesus follower has a calling. And the noise and lies of the enemy are designed to interrupt, derail, steal, kill and destroy that calling.
AND LISTEN – the truth is…
IF - we ever are going to become who God created us to be… IF – we are ever going to accomplish the things that God planned in advance for us to do in Christ… we will have to defy and overcome the onslaughts of discouragement.
AND LISTEN – I think that discouragement is much more deadly than most of us realize…
YOU SEE… Discouragement can and often does…
• Lead to feelings of fear
• Discouragement can increase our level of insecurity
• Discouragement can take us to that dark place of depression and despair.
• Discouragement can cause us to become so self-centered that all we can see is the pain and the pit we find ourselves in… when there is still an entire world waiting for us to engage them with our mission.
• AND – discouragement can move us to act in ways and do sinful things (in an attempt to deal with or cover up our pain) which in turn brings on feelings of condemnation.
OKAY…
Here is a simple definition on discouragement…
Discouragement - is the gap between what we expect and what we actually experience.
Discouragement is this expectation gap…
AND LISTEN – discouragement can show up in countless ways…
• We want something, but we can’t seem to be able to get it
• Or we wanted something (job, a relationship, an opportunity) and we got it, but it did not turn out the way we wanted it to.
• Discouragement can set in because of what other people say or don’t say or because we keep drinking the deadly toxin of comparison.
• It can be set off by something big or something small.
• Or by something big to you, but small to others.
• Discouragement can hit as hard when we’re winning as when we’re losing…
• Sometimes discouragement comes upon us like a flood and other times it is just this incessant drip of unmet expectations that never seem to go away.
BUT LISTEN – regardless of how it arrives (and it will arrive, it is inevitable)…
DISCOURAGEMENT – always displaces hope and leaves us feeling like this…
It’s not working, so what’s the point?
I MEAN – it is one thing to put in the blood, sweat and tears and see results… BUT – going through all of that pain, when there seems to be no purpose… when nothing seems to have changed. THIS – is the place where discouragement thrives.
It’s not working, so what’s the point?
YOU KNOW – I think the people walking around the walls of Jericho had to be wondering on that 7th day… as they were walking around those massive walls for the 6th time that day.
Walls that looked exactly the same as they did 7 days earlier.
It’s not working, so what’s the point?
YOU SEE – it’s not pouring ourselves out for a worthy purpose that depletes us.
INSTEAD – what depletes us is giving something everything we have - and ‘seeming’ to be getting nothing back in return.
AND MGCC - when the internal dialogue of discouragement starts mouthing off in our heart and mind, we need to remember — that the Enemy’s goal goes way beyond putting us in a bad mood temporarily.
NO - he’s trying to talk us out of trusting God’s plan for our life at a foundational level. LISTEN – he is not just trying to derail you. He is aiming to limit the impact God wants to make ‘through’ you and ‘beyond’ you, for His glory and your good.
Get it?
YES - discouragement is everyone’s battle…
AND LISTEN - feeling discouraged does not…
• make you a spiritual wimp
• mean you have denied your faith
• mean that God cannot use you
I MEAN – some of the greatest people of faith that we find in the pages of Scripture battled discouragement.
The apostle Paul… who wrote ½ of the New Testament and who is arguably the most influential and effective Christ-follower who ever lived battled discouragement… and at times felt ‘crushed and overwhelmed far beyond his ability to endure.’
John the Baptist… battled discouragement.
Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?” – Matthew 11:3
The prophet Elijah had a massive bout with discouragement, after what was perhaps his greatest victory (2 Kings 18) and asked God to take his life…
Another great man of God you probably heard of, King David often struggled with discouragement and the places that it took him… (yeah, when we read this guys journal we are like, ‘hey this guy needs some serious medication) I MEAN - more than once he would cry out…
My soul is downcast within me… - Psalm 42:6
Bottom line - we have more than enough people, things and circumstances ‘DISing’ our courage (discouraging us), what we need is more people in our lives who are ‘ENing’ our courage (encouraging us).
Why should you encourage?
• Because the triune God is all about encouragement
• Because encouragement is one of the purposes of the bible
• Because God commands you to, and
• Because everyone battles discouragement
And they need someone to come along side of them.
AND B/S – you can be that somebody who comes along side of, and calls forth… someone who pours courage into one another.
II. How Do We Encourage One Another?
NOW – I want to spend our remaining time, talking about 4 practical ways that we can encourage one another and build one another up…
a) Greet Kindly
When you see somebody, greet them kindly.
Greet them kindly.
UNDERSTAND – in every gathering of people you will find 2 types of attitudes
SOME - people come with the attitude of, “I’m so glad you see me.”
OTHERS - show up with the attitude, “I am so glad to see you.”
MG – let’s strive become a Jesus-gathering full of the second of people… where our attitude is not about others seeing us, but us seeing them.
OKAY HERE’S THE DEAL - anytime you are about to head into a gathering of people or enter into a conversation, I want to encourage you to throw up a quick ‘flare prayer’ and say “Lord…
HELP ME - to be that second kind of person.
HELP ME – to be the kind of person who does not make every gathering about me, but who offers a sincere greeting to others, “man, I am so glad to see you.”
IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 10 – when Jesus sent His disciples out into the nearby towns and villages to tell them about that the kingdom of God was near, He gave them the following instructions…
When you knock on a door, be courteous in your greeting.
- Matthew 10:12
I MEAN – how practical of our God to say that when you encounter somebody, be sure to give them a courteous and greeting.
UNDERSTAND - 28 times in the New Testament we are commanded to greet each other.
AND - 5 times we are told to greet one another with a holy kiss
YOU KNOW – the other elders and I have met recently and have decided that in order to follow Scripture more consistently we are going to start ensuring that we begin doing that ‘holy kiss’ thing at Maple Grove.
Just kidding. UNDERSTAND – it is culture thing.
BUT LISTEN - we should greet each other with a warm handshake (elbow bump) make eye contact and let other people know. “I am really glad to see you…”
How do we practically make encourage one another part of the DNA of His church that meets at 3210 Proffit Road…
#1 Greet kindly (question did anyone feel a little encouraged when we did that this morning)
#2,
b) Listen Intently
Listen intently…
A desperate and discouraged lady once came to see Jesus.
SHE - was out of money,
SHE - was out of hope,
SHE - was out of health,
SHE - was even out of friends.
SHE - had suffered for 12 years with a blood disorder that caused an issue of blood.
SO SHE - was considered unclean, the doctors could not help her.
SHE - could not go to the temple to worship,
SHE – could not be around people, SHE had been completed isolated, cut off, alone (ever been there?)
AND THEN – one day she heard that Jesus was coming through town.
AND SHE – was convinced that He could help her.
BUT – the problem was, Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd of people. AND SHE - wasn’t supposed to be where people were. NEVERTHELESS – she knew she had to get to Jesus.
SO AS JESUS - was walking through the crowd…
A CROWD - of people who were celebrating Jesus
A CROWD - of people that included the leader of the synagogue who was talking Jesus to his house where his
Daughter was dying. AND - Mark writes…
Having heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His robe. For she said, “If I can just touch His robes, I’ll be made well!”
Instantly her flow of blood ceased, and she sensed in her body that she was cured of her affliction.
At once Jesus realized in Himself that power had gone out from Him. He turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My robes?”
His disciples said to Him, “You see the crowd pressing against You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
– Mark 5:27-30
YEAH - the disciples are like – ‘you’re kidding Jesus, right?”
BECAUSE - it was a huge crowd and everyone was touching Him. BUT LISTEN - there is touching and there is touching.
AND – this lady had touched him.
NOW - she might have been hesitant, because she wasn’t supposed to go around touching people. She was unclean.
BUT JESUS - would move until he got an answer to His question, “who touched me?”
AND FINALLY – in Mark 5:33 He tells us…
She came, shaking with fear, and knelt down in front of Jesus. Then she told Him the whole story. – Mark 5:33
QUESTION - how long do you think it had been since someone had listened to her story?
Jesus took time to hear her whole story.
I MEAN – the city leaders were pulling on Him, His disciples were hurrying Him. A girl was dying.
But Jesus stop and He gave her His full undivided attention.
And he heard her whole story.
And finally he said to her,
Daughter, be of good cheer, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. – Luke 8:48
NOW - it’s the only time in Scripture that Jesus called a woman daughter.
He encouraged her. He blessed her.
UNDERSTAND - He didn’t need to hear her whole story.
I MEAN – could He have healed her and keep going on in His mission? Sure, He could…
BUT MAYBE – he wanted to do more than heal her body.
MAYBE – he wanted to heal a wound that was in her spirit.
UNDERSTSND – when you listen to somebody….
WHEN YOU – stop everything….
WHEN YOU – mute the TV, close your laptop, put away your cell phone…
WHEN YOU – lock your eyes on someone and you listen to their story. You are giving someone one of the rarest of gifts. Your undivided attention. AND - that my brothers and siters encourages them. GET IT?
AND LISTEN – we all can do that, right?
I MEAN - you don’t have to go to college to do that.
You don’t have to have any special training.
You already know how, so just do it.
Another idea… praise specifically.
c) Praise Specifically
Be specific in your praise.
Now there is a passage in the book of Hebrews that speaks to this very thing…
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… – Hebrews 10:24
Let us ‘consider.’
UNDERSTAND – this is what I call ‘premeditated praise.’
YES - there is a spontaneous praise, that is random and very genuine.
BUT – there is also the, ‘Okay, I am going to find so and so – and I am going to give him or give her some encouragement Yeah, I am going to figure what can I say to Spur them on and then I am going to say it to them.
AND LISTEN – our premeditated praise, our words have tremendous power…
The words of the wicked are like a murderous ambush, but the words of the godly save lives. – Proverbs 12:6
Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up. – Proverbs 12:25
The soothing tongue is a tree of life… - Proverbs 15:4
How good is a timely word – Proverbs 15:23
Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. – Proverbs 16:24
The tongue has the power of life and death…
- Proverbs 18:21
I love what Larry Crabb writes in his book, ‘Encouragement, The Unexpected Power Of Building Others Up.’
God intends for us to be people who use words to encourage one another. A well-timed word has the power to urge a runner to finish the race, to rekindle hope when despair has set in,
to spark a bit of warmth in an otherwise cold life, to trigger healthful self-evaluation in people who don’t think much about their shortcomings, to renew confidence when problems have the upper hand. – Larry Crabb
NOW - I received some timely, live giving honey comb dripping words like that a couple years back…
THEY - were on a note left in envelope for me, along with NE Patriots coffee mug.
B/S - let’s be a Jesus-Gathering (of specific praise), let’s be prepare who consider how we may spur one another on to love and good deeds.
YES - let’s be a church, a Jesus gathering that embraces the truth and power of Ephesians 4:29…
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. – Ephesians 4:29
Encouragement note…
AND – I gotta tell you that I am beyond excited about the power of encouragement and the building up of one another that is going to be unleashed as people fill out these notes…
YES – timely words of encouragement…. Are fixing to be unleashed… urging people on, giving life, lifting spirits, rekindling hope, renewing confidence and returning focus and peace.
BS – do we become a Jesus-Gathering that encourages one another…
• Greet kindly
• Listen intensely
• Praise specifically, and
d) Thank Others Consistently
UNDERSTAND – when we read Paul’s letters we see that He consistently let people know that he was thankful for them.
Romans 1:8, 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:16, Philippians 1:3, Colossians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians, 2:13….
Paul, Silas and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you. We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:2
e) Point Upwardly
NOW – the 4 passages where we are commanded to encourage one another… are found in 2 books of bible.
1 Thessalonians and Hebrews.
AND LISTEN – when you look at those verses within their context, it is readily apparent that both Paul and the writer of Hebrews had come along side of discouraged Jesus followers and were pointing them upwardly.
NOW - the Jesus followers in Thessalonica were discouraged because they had lost loved ones and they were grieving that loss… so Paul point them upwardly in
And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died.
We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.
First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
So encourage each other with these words. – 1 Th 4:13-18
UNDERSTAND – we encourage one another by pointing upwardly - about our, about future, our forever in heaven with both our loved ones and Jesus.
AND BY – reminding each other (as we see in the 2 times that we find the command to encourage one another in the book of Hebrews)… about the amazing covenant, the agreement that we have with God because of the blood stained cross.
Which is what the entire letter of Hebrews is about.
UNDERSTAND – the book of Hebrews is written to Jesus-followers who had left Judaism… who are giving up, who are throwing in the towel, who are quitting, who are saying
‘I can’t do this anymore following Christ is to hard.”
We’re losing friends. We’re losing property. Some of our folks have been put in jail. Our world is shattered – so let me go back to where I came from.
SO - the writer of the book Hebrews writes the book to tell this Jewish Christians don’t go back, keep pressing forward.
YES - I know you want to go back, I know you feel like going back, I know you think it’s not worth it to keep going, I know it doesn’t look like this Jesus thing is working…
BUT - keep going. Don’t stop. Don’t turn around.
AND LISTEN – throughout the letter He keeps pointing them upwardly telling them again and again that Jesus is better, that Jesus is worth it, that what they have in Jesus
• Forgiveness of their sins
• Renewed and restored fellowship with God
• A high priest who can sympathize with their weakness
• Being part of a kingdom that is unshakeable.
• And access to the very throne room of God (which we can enter anytime with full assurance and confidence)
IS - so much better than anything else they could ever find… anywhere. SO -
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:23-25
UNDERSTAND MG – encouraging one another by pointing upwardly is where we tell people the truth, about…
• the incredible future that is ours
• the amazing covenant that we are a part of
• the power, glory and beauty of the simple Gospel
YES - It’s where we tell people the about who they are.
It’s where we go toe to toe with this tidal of discouragement
And tell people the truth….
• You are made by God
• You’re - known by God, loved God, chosen by God
• God is for you, God is with you
• The Lord is your shepherd, you have everything you need
• God has a dream for you
• God has a future for you
• God is not done with you yet
• So stand firm in your faith
MG - somebody needs to tell people the truth
Let’s be that somebody!
And let’s encourage one another by…
