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
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