Be E N C O U R A G E D !! Part D 2.20.11

We have taken four weeks to look at our need to Be Encouraged. We started out looking at how we can get encouragement from spending time in God’s Word and by reflecting on the great things that God has done for us. Then we talked about how each of us can participate in encouraging others and how our friends in the church here can be an encouragement to us in a variety of ways. Two weeks ago, we started looking at Tychicus and how he came in as an outsider…probably as an interim pastor to encourage believers. Today, we’ll spend a little more time looking at Tychicus and other encouragers in the New Testament…and how our working at encouraging others can multiply into many others being encouraged.

Again, in my desire to be open in front of you, we all can face times of discouragement…last week, due to the large snow load on our roof at school, we had to be relocated for a couple of days…which was NOT fun! One of my co-workers is leaving, and due to the state’s propensity to not pay it’s bills, we aren’t going to replace the position, and I’ll be expected to do 50% more work…in the same time and for the same pay. And, then, the big discouragement was Karen’s dad’s final hours on this side of eternity along with the way all of the family issues played out.

So, like I stated a couple of weeks ago, as your pastor, God is continually working on me too as I prepare and preach these messages. In the midst of all of these issues, I did find encouragement in several places…and surprisingly from the exact sources that we’ve been talking about!

My prayer life has been much stronger the last two weeks as I’ve spent more time asking the Lord for peace, comfort and encouragement. As the pastor from our home church in Pontiac came and read from the Psalms at Karen’s dad’s bedside, I was encouraged. As I heard from several people from our church in Normal and from several of you here at Goodfield, I was encouraged. People from work and students in my college classes who attend many other churches both locally and around the country took time to stop and encourage me.

So, in the midst of a couple of weeks that should be VERY discouraging by all external standards, I am able to stand here this morning pretty encouraged and not full of despair and despondency.

NO, it’s NOT that I’m a super-human pastor with no problems or issues! Rather it’s true that “While God is the author of all encouragement, He chooses to use three main sources in the New Testament to encourage believers.”

1. God, His Son, and His Word

2. God’s people in the local church

3. God’s messengers from other places


Two weeks ago, we started looking at how God uses people from the outside to encourage us. I introduced us to the man Tychicus…the first interim pastor…who Paul sent to several places to encourage people in churches who were facing discouragement.

Now, as we think about this man Tychicus, we might wonder how it was that he knew how to go to a church and bring encouragement to them. We need to go back no further than to his mentor and friend, the Apostle Paul.

Acts 20:1 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 4 He was accompanied by Sopater, Aristarchus and Secundus, Gaius, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus….

As we saw last week, Tychicus is first mentioned in Acts 20. In chapter 19, Paul is preparing to leave Ephesus. As he prepares to leave, he takes time to encourage the disciples. He then set out on his third missionary journey where he revisited several churches that he had previously planted.

From this text, it appears that they too were discouraged and in need of a lot of encouragement. Many of the translations include the word “much”. So, once again, it becomes obvious that while it’s not good for a congregation to be discouraged and to need encouragement, it does happen. It does happen in good churches. It does happen…even when the Apostle Paul is around.

One of the things that I think we sometimes miss in the White American church is the concept of doing ministry as a team. I have a friend who works in a Black church in Bloomington. We have talked several times about how her pastor would never consider coming here to fill the pulpit without bringing at least two or three men with him. Men who would sit on the platform with him, carry his briefcase and Bible, be ready to give him water or fulfill whatever needs he has. They take this New Testament example of team ministry very seriously!

In this passage, Paul definitely demonstrates what it’s like to do ministry as a team of men working together to encourage others. He has at least these seven men learning how to do ministry as they go with him in this group. It’s likely in this journey of encouraging the churches that Paul taught Tychicus how to be a great encourager to others.

Paul had learned how to be an encourager to others throughout his ministry. He learned how to be a blessing and an encouragement even when he was going through incredibly hard times.

We’re told in Acts 14 of a time when Paul was even stoned and left for dead. He miraculously was able to get up, and the following day he continued on in his preaching ministry. As we see in the text, he and his friend Barnabas left and started on a journey to encourage the churches that they had previously started. Paul’s message to these churches is one that he was certainly living out…life is tough and following Jesus could even get you left for dead, BUT keep pressing on and follow Jesus no matter what.

Acts 14:19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
Acts 14:21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.

From his own personal experience, it’s obvious that he knew how to take a bad situation and keep his focus on the Lord so that he could encourage others in whatever situation they were in.

If you turn over a page or two to Acts 16, you enter into the story of Paul and Silas being thrown into prison, their singing praises in the prison, the earthquake, the jailer and his family becoming believers, and then this verse comes up:

16:40 After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and encouraged them. Then they left.

Once again, despite incredible struggles in his own life, Paul is focused on encouraging the Philippian believers. I’m not sure how things were so bad for these believers that they needed encouragement from a man who had been beat, thrown into jail, and survived an earthquake that caused extensive damage to the prison. I think that we would often times think that the encouragement should happen the other way that the believers in Philippi should be working hard to encourage Paul and Silas.

Col. 2:1 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. 2 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, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.

In the book of Colossians, not only had Paul sent Tychicus to encourage the believers, but Paul also expressed his deep desire to encourage the people there and at Laodicea. He wanted to encourage both those he knew and those he didn’t know. For some reason, he firmly believed that as an outsider, he could provide great encouragement for these believers. As we know Paul, he obviously had told them about the need to study the Bible and pray and to encourage each other; yet he knew these believers needed more…the encouragement of people from the outside to help their hearts be more in love with Christ so that ultimately they would not be so discouraged.

So, Tychicus learned how to be an encouragement consultant from traveling with Paul and became an expert at going into churches at Paul’s request to bring that blessing and encouragement. Paul was an expert at shaking off the physical and emotional injuries that he received at the hands of others and then moving on to finding the discouraged and he brought encouragement to them. The next question is where did Paul learn how to be such a blessing to people? How did he become so concerned about encouraging churches and people…even when they were not his own local body?

To get to that part of the story, we have to jump way back in the book of Acts prior to Saul’s conversion.

Acts 4:36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

Here, we’re introduced to a man named Joseph. However, if I had given you a quiz this morning about men named Joseph in the Bible, my guess is that he would have been forgotten. We often talk about the Joseph in Egypt, Joseph the earthly father of Jesus, and at Easter we even talk about Joseph of Arimathea. But, we often skip over Joseph AKA Barnabas. That’s because throughout the rest of the New Testament, he’s only listed by his nickname, Barnabas. He was evidently the all star of encouragement. He was such an encouragement that the believers just called him “Mr. Encouragement”.

A few chapters later in Acts, Saul, the persecutor of Christians becomes a Christ follower. But now, there is a major problem. If someone has built their entire reputation on wiping out Christians, and now claims that he’s a believer in Jesus, what are people going to say? “Yea, right!” And, can you blame them…no. How do people know he isn’t just trying to trick them so he can come in and kill them, or take names down and do something to them later?

Acts 9:26 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. 27 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. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

So, it’s no surprise that the believers in Jerusalem don’t want to talk with Saul. In Acts 9, we’re told part of the story about how evidently Mr. Encouragement had taken the time to get to know Saul well enough that he was able to come before the church leaders to say that Saul had indeed been converted.

Wow! Can you imagine the encouragement that was to Saul, the new believer? Ultimately, Saul became an integral part of the first century church and became the encourager for many others. So, the encouragement of Barnabas impacted Saul and Saul impacted Tychicus. As a team, these three men encouraged many churches and believers…not only in AD 60, but they still are an encouragement to us 2000 years later.

If we skip ahead a couple more chapters to Acts 11, we find that as a result of Stephen’s murder, that believers had fled Jerusalem to other pars to the world. In that process, something strange happens…GENTILES become believers. But, wait…can that be? Is Jesus able to save the Greeks in Antioch like He can save Jews?

Acts 11:22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.
Acts 11:25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

While from our perspective, this seems like a strange question, it was a critical question for the early church! People really wondered if it could happen. But, how would they be able to verify whether this is true or not? Once again, Mr. Encouragement is called into action. The church leadership sends him to Antioch where he is able to discern what is going on with these Greek believers. As he arrives as the outside ambassador of encouragement, he does indeed find that these Gentiles are believers and he does what he does best, he encourages them.

He then also realizes that these new believers needed more help than he could provide on his own and he went and found Saul and enlisted him to assist in the education of the new disciples.

So, we see that Barnabas started this encouragement from the outside…both personally by standing up for and encouraging Saul the new believer, but then also by helping Paul learn how to be a professional encourager for the believers in Antioch. From this solid beginning, Paul is able to later train Tychicus to also be that kind of professional encourager.

So, in case you didn’t realize it, Barnabas, Paul, and Tychicus are no longer alive on Earth! Since this seems to be an important pattern in Acts and the epistles of people coming into churches from the outside, where can we get that same kind of professional encourager to come and help us fight discouragement when we face those struggles?

I thought of a few ways that we can get that outside encouragement as individuals and as a congregation.

1. Someone coming in to provide pulpit supply. I hope that I and others that have come in during this past year have indeed provided encouragement for you in many levels…bringing the Word, letting you know that the Church cares for you, and so on
2. One of the aspects of belonging to a denomination like the ABC is the support that hopefully we can get from the Great Rivers Region. As part of the responsibilities that Craig read last week, one of the aspects that I’m working on is to try and build some relationships both with other ABC churches in the area and with the region. I hope you were encouraged to see Rev. Sanders here last week.
3. Missionaries that you support can also be great sources of encouragement. Just like Tychicus brought ministry updates from Paul, the updates about what God is doing in other parts of the world are great sources of encouragement. To hear how people are coming to Christ, growing in their faith and being trained to minister across the globe should ignite your passion and help chase away the discouragement that can crowd in! Since I’ve been here, I’ve heard very encouraging reports on ministry in Haiti at the Extension Service and about ministry in Panama at the Men’s Breakfast. I also got a very encouraging email from Lynn Wolland last week telling me about the missionary and the Gideon’s representative that spoke at the church they’re attending in Florida.
4. I know that not everyone has an iPod, but most of us own a computer that allows us to download podcasts, listen to sermons, watch messages on YouTube, etc…. I have been incredibly encouraged over the years by being able to download and listen to sermons, chapel messages, encouraging words, and so on that I can listen to in my office, my car, or in my house. On my computer and then even in the car on my way to Earl Troyer’s mother’s funeral a couple of weeks ago, I got to hear some incredible sermons from Founder’s Week at Moody that really blessed me. I’ve also heard from several people that they’re reading the sermon notes online…even when you’re not able to be here on Sunday.
5. Christian music is another source of encouragement for me.
a. One of my family’s favorite things to do is to go to Christian Music Festivals, and there are several across Illinois that we can go to in order to be filled up with Positive and Encouraging music…
b. Wait…that’s a tagline from a Christian radio station. Whether it’s positive music or preaching, Christian radio is another great source of allowing outside, professional encouragers an entrance into our lives
c. Listening to Christian music on your iPod, tape player, 8-track, record, or whatever is another way for God to speak into your life words of encouragement

I realize this isn’t a complete and exhaustive list, but I want us to work at realizing that it’s probable that we will encounter some discouragement at some point or even at many points in our faith journey. Our loving Father wants to encourage us through Himself, His Son and His Word. He also wants to encourage us through other believers giving us encouragement here in Goodfield Baptist Church. And then, we’ve seen that God wants to encourage us from outside sources like Tychicus, Paul, and Barnabas…or through some of these more contemporary and practical sources.

Pray

Be E N C O U R A G E D !! Part C 2.6.11

Good morning!

Here we are back together again! As I’ve talked with various people this week, I’ve heard a variety of responses to whether we’re feeling encouraged…or discouraged. I thought about having a quiz this week, but decided to let us all off the hook from coming to church to have a morning pop quiz.

If you’re just joining us, we are taking a four-week look at our need to Be Encouraged. Two weeks ago, I shared a little bit about how easy it is for me to get discouraged just through the events of life. As I’ve talked with friends here at church and friends at work over the past couple of weeks and mentioned that I’ve been preaching about encouragement, I have received several interesting comments. I’ve had three or four friends ask about reading my notes and asking more questions about being encouraged.

I’ve been prompted myself several times during this past week to email or call people to encourage them as God lays them on my heart. I even got a nice encouraging email back from my friend Bob…the youth pastor who we became friends with up in Michigan many years ago, after I had contacted him last week.

I hope that you too are finding people to encourage and that you’re being encouraged by others as well.

It seems to me that many of us may indeed face times where we are especially aware of our need for encouragement.  If encouragement is a need for us, and if we are struggling with discouragement, a key question that we need answered is, “Where does encouragement come from?”

We are looking at the fact that “While God is the author of all encouragement, He chooses to use three main sources in the New Testament to encourage believers.”

God, His Son & His Word

God’s people in our local body

This week (and next week), we are going to look at the third way I see people in the New Testament getting their encouragement level recharged. That is through God’s messengers from other places.

While we can and should get encouragement from God and His Word and from our friends at church, God also knew that there are times in our lives when we need someone to come in with a fresh perspective and a different viewpoint to bring us encouragement. Perhaps it’s like a business realizing they need some help and so they call a consultant to come in and help them out. Or someone who is working on a special project finds a mentor who will come alongside of them to give them the guidance, direction, and encouragement to succeed in their task.

I may have mentioned this to some of you, but we didn’t have room in our kitchen or dining room for our family to sit together. So…we’ve torn out the wall between the two rooms and are fixing that and replacing the 35 year old broken cabinets and putting a laundry room in, and other such things. While Karen and I are pretty good at these things, we’ve chosen to have a contractor help us in the process. He is doing some of the aspects that we don’t feel comfortable with and then he’s giving us guidance and instruction on how to do other parts on our own. In that process, we’ve been really encouraged by how much work is getting done and the things that we’re doing…and of course the money we’re saving by not paying Steve to do everything.

Steve has been an incredible encourager to us in this physical work project, but from my study in the Word, I believe that often times, we need that spiritual encourager to come and help us out!

As I mentioned during one of my other messages, we have 10 children: Caleb Daniel, Hannah Joy, Joseph Peter Johnmark Isaac, Sarah Faith, Elizabeth Hope, Benjamin Paul, Aaron Joshua, Samuel David, and Noah Levi. Do you notice a common thread?

Yes…they’re all Bible names! As we have named our children, we have worked hard to choose names of people who exhibited Godly character qualities and who were passionate about their walk with God.

Of course, as we’ve worked at naming our four little foster boys, some of the older kids have come up with goofy options for names from the long genealogical lists or obscure people hidden in some corner of the Bible.

It’s been interesting to me how there are some Bible names that are “acceptable” in our culture: Matthew, Mark, Mary, Joshua, Jesus, and John. While other names like Methuselah, Meshach, Miriam, Jezebel, Jehoshaphat, or Job just aren’t used nearly as much!

As I was working on this message, I found another one of those “little used” and probably “little known” names. As I searched the New Testament for the word “Encouragement” and it’s various forms, one name popped up about half a dozen times in Acts and the Pauline Epistles in relationship to being an encourager. That man’s name was Tychicus.

We are first introduced to him in Acts 20 where Paul lists several men who are traveling with him. In other parts of Paul’s epistles, we see him delivering the epistles of Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. It is also likely that he spent most of Paul’s third missionary journey traveling with the Apostle, and then was with him in Rome at the end of his life.

Acts 20:1           When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said good-by and set out for Macedonia.  2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece,  3 where he stayed three months. Because the Jews made a plot against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.  4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy also, and Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia.

Based on information in the books of Titus and 2 Timothy and church history, scholars believe that he was also sent by Paul to replace Titus as the leader of the church in Crete for a while and at another time to relieve Timothy in Ephesus. So, he may have been one of the first interim pastors to help churches in transition.

As I explored more about Tychicus, I discovered that Paul trusted him with several very important tasks and missions. Paul had spent three years in Ephesus starting and providing the foundation for the church there. I encourage you to go back to Acts 19 and 20 at some point to refresh your memory about all that God did during Paul’s stay there. It’s also a church where Paul had strong relationships…especially with the elders there.

As much as Paul desired to go and visit and encourage the people there, he was unable to do so probably because he was imprisoned in Rome at this time. Instead, he sent Tychicus in his place to do that encouraging, someone he really trusted and someone who would really convey his heart and attitude as well as the words of his message.

Eph. 6:21           Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing.  22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

For whatever reason that we don’t know, the people in Ephesus were discouraged and needed someone to come and encourage and comfort them. Their hearts were troubled and they needed more encouragement than just that from their personal devotions or from others in their church. Evidently, even churches that are started by someone as great as Paul can come into times of discouragement and just need an outsider to come and remind them of God’s faithfulness and that God is in control of the things that were going on in Paul’s life.

Likewise, there were issues of discouragement going on in the church at Colosse. They too needed both a letter from the Apostle Paul as well as someone to come alongside of them to personally bring encouragement to them. Paul was still in prison when he wrote Colossians. It’s unclear as to whether Tychicus is sent on two different trips to deliver these messages or if he takes care of both on one journey.

I found it interesting as I reflected on these two passages that at a very similar time, two of the important churches that Paul had established were having discouragement crises! I think that one of the biggest issues with discouragement is that we often think we’re the only people (or only church) that is sad, discouraged, disheartened, dismayed or depressed.

I often have discussions with the parents of kids at our school about the need for their kids to get some friends outside of our school. Kids come to our school because they have major issues. So, if all of your friends are from a school where everyone has serious problems, they probably won’t be very helpful for you. I think it can be the same for us. If we’re depressed and we hang out with mostly depressed people, it’s going to be hard to be encouraged again. Isn’t it? If many people in a church are sad about a particular issue or situation, that can dominate the discussions and the whole spirit of the church for months or even years.

Paul evidently knew that this was the situation of these churches and he sent Tychicus to bring a message of encouragement to the people in the Colossian church.

Col. 4:7     Tychicus will tell you all the news about me. He is a dear brother, a faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.  8 I am sending him to you for the express purpose that you may know about our circumstances and that he may encourage your hearts.  9 He is coming with Onesimus, our faithful and dear brother, who is one of you. They will tell you everything that is happening here.

If you remember the story of Philemon and Onesimus, Onesimus was a slave who ran away, became a Christian through Paul’s ministry in Rome, and is being sent back to Colossae to make things right with his master.

In this situation, Tychicus was coming as the outsider to encourage at least three different groups of people: Onesimus…he needed to return home, face the music, and get on with living out his new faith with his former master and his new family of Christians at First Baptist Church of Colossae. He needed to encourage Philemon to listen to Paul’s words and to accept Onesimus back…and as a brother in Christ as well. Thirdly, he was to encourage the Colossian church and help their hearts to move from being discouraged to being encouraged.

Now, as we think about this man Tychicus, we might wonder how it is that he knew how to go to a church and bring encouragement to them. We need to go back no further than to his mentor and friend, the Apostle Paul. Next week, we’ll look a little bit at the connections with Paul and Joseph to see how he learned how to be a great encourager to the churches!

Again, as we’ve been looking at these two opposites of being encouraged or being discouraged, I hope that you are indeed looking at ways to both be encouraged and to encourage others! My prayer continues to be that we will become people who are so encouraged ourselves that we will overflow with encouragement and love to others here in our area.

I wonder too if there are people that God is calling us to be a Tychicus to. As we talked last week about encouraging one another in our own congregation, are there ways that you can be a blessing to someone in another church or someone else that you know? Whose life can you graciously step into to share about what God is doing to encourage you? Who can you share something new that you’ve learned from your personal Bible study this week? Who outside of our church can you write a note to or even just put an arm around to be that Tychicus kind of encourager from the outside who can help someone else in the next seven days?

Be E N C O U R A G E D !! Part B 1.30.11

QUIZ: Encouraging or Discouraging? How do you feel on Sunday mornings?

·      Did any of you have any health related issues during this current week?

·      Did any of you have a good report on medical tests?

·      Did any of you have a problem at work?

·      Did any of you have a stellar week (or at least a pretty good one) at work?

·      Did any of you have a problem thinking about finding a job or looking for a new one?

·      Did any of you have any problems with any of your family members?

·      Did any of you have a celebration with something about a family member?

·      Did any of you have a positive interaction with someone asking them to come to church or asking them about their spiritual relationship?

·      Did any one work a little harder last week to get some encouragement in God’s Word and spend a little more time with the Lord?

How are you doing today…are you coming to church this morning encouraged, discouraged, or somewhere in the middle?

Last week, we started this little series on being encouraged by looking at the phrase:

In the New Testament, we see that while God is the author of all encouragement, He chooses to use three main sources in the New Testament to encourage believers:

•God, His Son, and His Word

•God’s people in the local church

•God’s messengers from other places

Last week, we invested our time in looking at how we can get encouragement from God, His Son, and His Word.

We talked about how we should get encouragement from the things that Christ has done for us personally. We quickly reviewed several of the “big Old Testament stories” that demonstrated that God has done great things that should encourage us. We also talked about some practical things that we could do to get some of God’s encouragement flowing into our lives.

This week, I want us to look at a second way that God provides encouragement to us…that is through God’s people in our local church. It was interesting for me this week as I searched the Word for information on encouragement that the three forms of encouragement are often tied together very closely. It’s almost like God has designed us to need a balance of encouragement from Himself, those who are close to us, and those who are more distant from us to give us that complete “encouragement package”.

I want us to look at Romans 15 again this week as we see some of the other aspects of this verse that focus on how believers should work together.

Rom. 15:1   We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.  2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.  3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”  4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.  5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus,  6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

We see that Paul gives us several instructions on how we should relate to others. First, we need to bear with those who fail or those who aren’t as spiritually strong as we are. Can you think back to a time when you were a new believer and you messed up? Can you think back to a time…this month that you’ve messed up?

One of my students at school is a Christian, but he seems to have a lot of struggles in his life. Of course, it doesn’t help when both parents and an older brother have spent much of their lives in and out of prison. On Thursday, I took him with me to our school’s basket ball game that was at a gym across town. In that process, we had a good time to talk about this very issue of his need to work harder to follow Christ and to be strong in his faith when he feels like failing. Then, on Friday, he totally lost it and threatened staff and spent much of his day in a time out room. So, how do I keep responding to him? Do I tell him, tough, you’ve blown it and I won’t work with you any more or pray for you? NO! Paul tells us that we need to hang in there…even if we aren’t pleased with the situation!

This second instruction from Paul is that we need to seek to please our neighbors. Whether it is our physical neighbor next door or our neighbor sitting next to us this morning, working to please our friend is another source of encouragement.

I believe that this is a struggle for many of us who are Americans. Our culture is so self-focused that it has become almost “un-American” to seek to please others! Whether it’s buying a vehicle that I really want for myself, choosing my favorite meal, going to my favorite restaurant, listening to my favorite radio station or CD, running up huge debt and expecting someone else to pay for it, and on and on it can go!

This is one of the areas that I think that we as a church may need to address in the coming weeks and months. What does it look like for me as a member of Goodfield Baptist Church to purposefully choose to let my preferences go in order to please others in the congregation? What things might have to change so more people in the church are pleased with church?

Also, I think this is a huge question that we’ll need to answer about how to please our neighbors outside of the church. How do we show our Christian love to that person we’ve known here in Goodfield for the past 60 years? How do we minister in such a way as to please the people who are brand new to Goodfield, and might not even know the church is here? How do we purposefully seek to please the families of the students who come on Wednesday evenings and make our church more inviting to them?

These are tough questions, but they are sure ones that we need to think about and ask if we’re going to fulfill what God tells us here in this passage.

In verse7, Paul tells us to accept one another. I had invited a friend from work to church probably every week for three or four months a year ago…getting turned down each time. However, just before Christmas, she came to me and asked, “Is your church judgmental, or will they accept me like I am?” WOW…she got it! She was buried in sin in so many areas of her life. She needed love, acceptance, and encouragement. Of course, we don’t condone and accept sin, but Paul tells us that we need to love others exactly like Christ accepted us (while we were still sinners).

That also applies to us as we come to worship together. Is there someone in this congregation that you don’t agree with or have a problem with? It might be something as seemingly insignificant as the ladies in my father’s church that didn’t speak for 20 years over that crazy piece of pie that we talked about a few weeks ago. It might be that you disagree with a vote or a choice that has been made in the church. It might be that you think that church should always look and feel the same as it did in 1947 or 1987, or you might be wishing that the church were more contemporary. In the early 40’s, Dietrich Bonheoffer, the German theologian and martyr, said that all churches are contemporary; it just depends on which period they’re contemporary with.

Whatever your disagreements are with others, the Lord is telling us to accept each other. This may mean you agree to disagree with someone, but think about the encouragement it would be if you were able to come to church and worship together without there being a huge barrier between you and someone else.

Shortly after graduating from seminary, Karen and I were serving at a church in Northern Michigan. A couple of months after moving there, I got a call; “Hi Andrew, this is Bob, and you don’t know me, but I know who you are. My wife and I are pretty lonely, and we live across the street from you and wondered if we could come over sometime.” What a strange call! As it continued on, I discovered that Bob was the youth pastor at the Assembly of God Church in town. Having just graduated from seminary, I knew my Bible and my doctrine and I KNEW that “those people” at the Assembly had messed up theology!

As we got together though, Bob & Rhonda became great friends! We realized that we agreed about most things in the Bible, and disagreed about a relatively few things that weren’t core beliefs about salvation. Despite not agreeing about everything, we fully accepted one another and I was always encouraged when I was able to get together with him and do ministry together with him! Working on my sermon this week prompted me to send him a note of encouragement as he currently serves the Lord at a Bible school in Ethiopia.

In verses 5-7 Paul tells us that as we encourage each other and work together, we will achieve unity and bring praise to God. Think about that…if people at Goodfield Baptist are known as people who love and encourage each other, what will people in this area do…praise the Lord! I think so much of this goes back to that theme in the Advent Conspiracy series about Loving All and becoming known as a congregation that is known for how we relate to each other and those around us.

Over in Philippians 2, which we also looked at part of last week, Paul echoes some of these same themes…don’t be selfish, stuck up or looking out for our own interests. Instead, we need to encourage one another by loving, by being unified, by being humble, and by looking out for the interests of others.

Phil. 2:1   So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

When we started attending our church in Normal over five years ago, the average attender was probably about 60 years old. Yet, the elders and staff were convinced that God was calling us to reach out to younger families. Our children’s facilities were sub-par, and not inviting to others. However, our church, made up of mostly people without children, decided to go ahead and build a beautiful children’s wing. The result…those of us who did have kids were greatly encouraged that many of the older members in the congregation were looking out for the interests of people other than themselves. They invested heavily so that we could minister better to others. AND, many of them have jumped in and are working in the children’s ministries as many young families have started attending. How encouraging!

Over in 1 Thessalonians, Paul continues on with his theme of encouragement.

4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

5:1   Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.  2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.  3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.  4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.  5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.  6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.  7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night.  8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.  9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,  10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.  11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

12   We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.  14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.  15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

In Chapter 4, he talks about the coming of the Lord and then tells the believers to encourage one another that Jesus will return! An old Michael W. Smith song had the lyrics in it, “when things get bad, and you can’t stand to look, it’s time to read to the end of the book, when Jesus comes and His kingdom begins”. Indeed, if we’re in the middle of tough times, we may need one another to remind us that ultimately, we’re on the winning side and that ultimately, things will be better. I don’t know about you, but I’ve sure had times in my life where I couldn’t see or feel much because of the discouragement that I was in. I needed a friend to come alongside of me to help me keep an eternal perspective.

Continuing on, Paul reminds the believers in Thessalonica that they shouldn’t be surprised when Jesus comes and that we need to remember that whether we die or are still alive when Jesus returns, He’s paid the price of sin for us and that we will live forever with the Lord. Again, another very encouraging reminder that we may need from our friends.

He also gives us a list of specific ways to encourage others in the church…those who are working hard in the church, live in peace…don’t cause problems with others; encourage people who need to step up and be part of the team; help those who are weak; be patient with EVERYONE, and be kind to everyone.

Now tell me, what kind of a church would we be if everyone followed these guidelines to encourage and bless each other? For me, that would be a very inviting place to come and join. If I knew that people were working to help me when I was having problems with my kids instead of judging me…. If I knew that people would appreciate me for helping their kids in the nursery instead of complaining that we could still hear kids during the service… If I were struggling with sin, that someone would encourage me and help me out of that sin… If I stepped up and tried putting together a Sunday Morning Service or tried helping Craig & Lisa with the youth groups people would be patient and understand that I’m just learning…wouldn’t that be encouraging!

OK…so these are a few thoughts of how we could look…how do we really do that?

Here are some of my thoughts on ways that God’s People in THIS local church, THIS Goodfield Baptist Church, THIS one located here at 201 Robinson St. can help one another:

1.    Verbally…thanks for all you do to get the bulletin put together and printed; thanks for putting together the Men’s Breakfast, thanks for playing the piano today; thanks for working with our youth for the past decade…since you were in college and coming here; thanks for shoveling the sidewalks or parking lot; thanks for your faithfulness to this congregation for the last 50 years; thanks for serving on the deacon board this past year; etc…

2.    Written…text, email, FaceBook, Twitter, pen and paper, I was really encouraged this week by some emails that I received from Betty and Judy as they told me they were excited to clean the church and work on the service together! Here are a couple of fun ones where you can see the progression of God working: email from Di >Dale>Kathy, Bill A on Facebook,

3.    Appropriate Physically: knuckles, arm bump, hug

4.    Publically…note in bulletin (thanks for helping me while I was recovering from surgery), thanks to everyone who is helping with cleaning the church

5.    Privately…stop by house, talk to someone when you see them

6.    Practically…take a meal to someone (a few weeks ago, we had several friends bring meals over after the new boys came to live with us), invite them to come to an event…whether at church or in the community (like the Goodfield Dinner this week)

7.    Practice it…turn to someone beside you and give them a word of encouragement…not an essay…just a word or two.

OK…today, we’ve looked at the second aspect of being encouraged. I hope that even if you’ve had a month or a week full of discouragement that something today has at least lit a small spark of encouragement in your heart. I also hope that you’re thinking of ways that you can be an encourager to others around you in the Body of Christ here in Goodfield, Eureka, Congerville, Deer Creek, and beyond.

Next week, we will be looking at being encouraged by God’s messengers from other places.