Sermon Central
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A Missing Piece For An Uplifting Church Series
Contributed by Jim Butcher on Mar 12, 2019 (message contributor)
Summary: This passage models for us what encouragement looks like. How can my church become more encouraging?
WHY IT MATTERS: Encouragement is precious because it’s relatively rare.
- There are some sermons where you have to spend the majority of the message explaining the idea. This is not one of those messages.
- This is a straightforward concept. We know what encouragement is. We know that it’s a good thing. Yet most of us don’t do it much at all. We’ll get into the reasons why in just a minute.
- Verse 24 is striking to me. In fact, I think it could be seen as the lynchpin of the whole passage.
- The whole passage contains a lot of specific encouragements which we’ll get to later in the sermon. For right now, let’s just consider the interesting emphasis that this verse gives us.
- Having complimented the men he was sending to them, Paul then closes out the chapter by complimenting the Corinthians too. This is the beginning of his praise for them that we will see in chapter 9. So this is kind of the dovetail.
- There are a couple nice phrases in this verse.
a. “show these men the proof of your love”
- Paul clearly has confidence that the Corinthians will not disappoint him and he’s willing to say it out loud.
b. “the reason for our pride in you”
- Paul also tells them that such actions are why he and his companions have great pride in the Corinthians. Here again, encouraging words.
[Maybe don’t put this section in the sermon outline – just share as part of the previous point.]
WHY IS ENCOURAGEMENT SO DIFFICULT FOR US TO DO?
1. IT'S A MOMENT OF VULNERABILITY.
- If it’s a sincere personal compliment, it’s a moment of vulnerability. We’re saying, “I appreciate you” or “You matter to me” or “I need what you share.” Whatever the specific reason, we are sharing something personal and that is difficult for some people.
2. IT'S JUST EASIER NOT TO.
- It takes a little effort to step out and say those words. We wonder, “What if I say it wrong?” or “What if they don’t like what I say?” or “What if it’s awkward?” There is no guarantee that it will go well. Sure, we know it could be a golden moment, but it could also see us walking away muttering to ourselves about how stupid we are.
3. WE TAKE PEOPLE FOR GRANTED.
- And then there are the multitude of situations where we don’t encourage the person because saying something encouraging never crosses our mind. We just take them for granted. They always do that. They’re always there. They always take care of things.
- Most of us have experienced not noticing someone until they are gone. Whether it’s a person getting sick, being out of town, or even dying, we just presume that they will take care of all the things they always take care of. It’s not until they aren’t there anymore that we notice how much they handle.
WHY IS ENCOURAGEMENT SO IMPORTANT?
1. PEOPLE GET TIRED OF THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY.
- When you’re a leader of a church or a point person for a ministry, the weight of the responsibility can weigh heavily on you.
- “How are we going to meet budget?”
- “Where can I find enough volunteers?”
- “How can we turn around this downward trend?”
- “How can we move forward and do better?”
- “Who is responsible for the mistakes that were made?”
- This weight gets particularly bad during moments of crisis when everything comes to a head. It also is especially heavy when there are problems that don’t resolve and so you have to deal with them over an extended period of time.
2. PEOPLE FEEL TAKEN FOR GRANTED.
- The old vets of your ministry team may feel like this. They’re the tried and true people you know you can rely on. They’re the ones who are quick to jump in to help. They’re your core people.
- That’s a recipe for sometimes feeling taken for granted.
- Others may feel like these folks don’t need encouragement because they’re always there. But that doesn’t mean they don’t need encouragement. They may have switched to doing what they do out of obligation and duty instead of love for God. They may just be doing it out of routine. Some encouragement can help them do it for the right reasons. Some encouragement can help them do it with joy.
3. PEOPLE HAVE SELF-DOUBTS.
- Let’s talk about two groups: rookies and grunts.
- Rookies are new to ministry. They aren’t really sure they’re doing it right. They may feel like what they’ve done is a mess. They can use encouragement that they are heading in the right direction.
