“A Closer Look: Encouragement”
Introduction:
William Arthur Ward said, “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”
Our words are one of the most powerful weapons that we have. With just a few words we can tear a person down and hurt them deeply, and with just a few words we can brighten someone’s spirits greatly and encourage them. Many people use that power that they have to harm people and others use it to build people up.
Have you ever met a person who is an encourager? Have you ever met a person who just builds you up every time you are with them, and you always leave feeling encouraged?
Let me tell you about Donny Merritt…Donny Merritt was an elder in the Lord’s church and had the spiritual gift of encouraging people. He could always see the good in a person and would point it out, and they would be encouraged to continue to grow. Every time I would preach Donny was the first person to greet me, and he would always tell me something that helped him, and he would encourage me to continue to preach. He was one of those people that helped me in my path to getting here. Sometimes the work of the Lord is one of the toughest jobs in the world. Sometimes it is hard because you wonder if you are making a difference in people’s lives, you wonder if people are changing. Donny would always encourage me that God’s Word never came back void and that I had helped him. It would have been easy for Donny to criticize the areas that I messed up and stuttered, and fell over my words. It would have been easy for him to tell me areas I could improve, but instead he found an areas to encourage me and I will always remember him as an encourager.
Perhaps you know a person that has helped to bring you to where you are now.
Throughout the week we can all have things that tear us down and upset us. We live in a fallen world, in which we daily have to come in contact with sin, and other things that can discourage us in our faith. Then you come to church on Sunday hoping for encouragement, you hope to be built up from the encouragement of God’s people, but instead you come into church and you hear people complaining about the things they don’t like at church, you hear people gossiping about other people, and you hear people who show no joy of being in Christ. You wonder why even come to church, the church is just like the rest of the world. The church is supposed to be a place for the hurting to find encouragement. Are you doing your best to encourage people in their faith? You will never know where a person has been and what has happened to them throughout the week and one discouraging word may seem harmless to you, but it may be detrimental to the faith of a brother or sister who has had a week full of discouragement. Hopefully, this morning we can take a closer look at encouragement, where we can find it and how we can give it. Please do not overlook the importance and impact of encouragement, because of our encouragement, people may be spurred on to do something great for the Lord. If you are here today and need encouragement, then I hope that within this message you can find a way to encourage and build up your faith.
Text: Hebrews 10:19-25
I. Encouraged by Faith
One way to encourage people in their faith is to have great faith in your own life. There is nothing that encourages and builds me up more than seeing other people living out their lives in faithfulness to Jesus. Sometimes I will be really down, and then I will see some great growth in someone and that will really build and lift me up. I am also encouraged by great men and women of the faith that display such a great godly attitude. There are many times I am down and tired and worn out and I come to church here and someone’s strong or growing faith in the Lord encourages me to serve the Lord more fervently.
In the early church many Christians had certain spiritual gifts that were given to them by the laying on of the hands by the apostles. Those gifts were primarily to prove that what they were preaching and teaching was truth. Their words about Jesus had to be accompanied by signs to prove it to the world. Those gifts were also to provide revelations to Christians who did not exactly know the order of the church and how they ought to live. As the completed Word of God came into existence there was no longer a need for those gifts, because the full revelation from God was available. The third reason for the spiritual gifts in the first century was that other Christians might be encouraged in their faith by the awesome demonstration of God’s power.
Romans 1:12
While I do not believe that God uses those miraculous gifts today, I do believe that the principle is the same and that is that other Christian’s lives can encourage your faith.
I remember talking to Brother James and he told me how his faith was challenged and encouraged by many of the young adults in his Sunday school class. He said he ahs been extremely encouraged to see growing faithfulness, and eager desire to learn in the future leaders of the church.
One of the best ways to be an encouragement to the body of believers is to simply live your life faithfully to Jesus. As people see your growth and zeal for the Lord they will be encouraged. If you have a fire in your life for Jesus it will spread to other people. A faithful life to Jesus is contagious and encouraging to Christians. Perhaps sometimes you don’t realize the encouragement that you can bring to people, but your faithfulness to church and God’s Word will encourage others faith.
Philippians 1:14
Paul’s life of faithfulness was an encouragement to the whole church in the first century. First, people were encouraged by the great demonstration of the grace of God changing the one who persecuted the church into the one who was the main preacher to the Gentiles. Then Paul’s suffering for Christ become an encouragement to the church, not because they were encouraged that he was in pain, but they were encouraged at his faithfulness to preaching the gospel despite opposition.
One reason to live your life faithfully to Jesus is so that others might be encouraged a built up to live faithfully to Jesus. Perhaps people are down and discouraged, and you can play a part in building them up simply by living your life. Also, if you are down and discouraged yourself, put yourself around people who are strong in their faith. I think that it really good for someone to hang around people who will cause you to strive to live more committed. Your faith and the faith of others can encourage people in the Lord.
II. Encouragement by Scriptures
When I am down and discouraged my favorite place to go is God’s Word. There is nothing more encouraging and uplifting than the scriptures. It is amazing that no matter what your need and no matter what you read, if you are seeking help and guidance from God’s Word you will be encouraged by what you read. There is no other book that has the power to affect your life like the Bible. I know that statements like that become so cliché, but it rally is true, and I cannot explain why that is the case. God’s Word is life changing and transforming. I love the spiritual encouragement that we can find from God’s Word.
Romans 15:4
One of the reasons why God revealed His Word to us was for our encouragement in our faith. Without scriptures we would not know about God and how we are to live our lives, but the scriptures give us clear examples of people living faithfully to God despite opposition. One of the most encouraging aspects of the scripture is the fact that God used real people just like you and me. They had real struggles; they dealt with the same sins and the same issues that we deal with. They were not superheroes, but they were people, and God used them. The Bible encourages me because it was written on a level and in ways that we can relate and understand. The Bible is not so distant from us and so scholarly that only the elite can understand it, but we can all relate to it and be encouraged by the examples of faithfulness and the encouraging words found in the scriptures.
II Timothy 4:2
As Paul writes to Timothy he assumes that through the preaching of the Word encouragement will come as a result. God’s Word bring encouragement and hope to the hurting.
If you are down and discouraged the best thing that you can do is read God’s Word. Within God’s Word is a power that words cannot describe to fill a void in your life. As we et discouraged as well all will throughout the week if we turn to God’s Word we can find an encouragement from the scriptures that will build us up and lift us up out of the tough situations that this world might throw our way. God’s Word is the greatest source of encouragement that there is, and so often we neglect His Word when we are down. We become so complacent and tired in our discouragement, but sometimes we need to seek encouragement on our own. Sometimes we need to go out of our way to find ways to be built back up, and the number one way is through reading of the scriptures. I give you a 100% guarantee that if when you are down you come to God’s Word openly and seeking help you will find the encouragement that you need to carry on and grow in your faith.
One of the best ways to be encouraged is to seek out the promises that God has for Christians.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail
By the living Word of God I shall prevail
Standing on the promises of God
III. Encouraged by Deeds
Also we can be encouraged by the good deeds of our brothers and sisters in Christ. There are many times in scripture when Paul speaks of the encouragement he has received because of the good deeds of other Christians. One way to be a great encourager is to do good deeds for other people. There are many brothers and sisters with great needs, and we are called to carry their burdens for them. This means that we must go out of our way to help them and do what we can for them. I can guarantee that as you do a good deed for others in the faith they will be encouraged.
Philemon 1:7
I don’t know if today you want to be the encourager or the encouraged, but I can tell you that doing good for others encourages people. I am always encouraged when somebody does something good for me because first of all it is relieving a burden from me, but secondly you are seeing the reason why they are doing go things. Good deeds are especially encouraging when they are done in the name of Jesus by one of your brother or sisters in Christ. Think of how powerful the church would be if we carried each others burdens and needs, if we all pulled together to be a united force for Jesus. I believe that one of Satan’s greatest weapons is wounding people. I heard of an army soldier who said often in war he would not kill, but he would shoot to wound because in doing so it would take two people to tend to him and then that eliminates three enemies. I believe that is what Satan has done. He has wounded many people, and we have to tend to those people’s needs. There are people broken, and with great needs, but we are called to bear their burdens. If we all took a share of other people’s burdens then the church will be far more functional. Our good deeds may mean the world to a person with great needs. This doing good deeds were a great description of the ministry of Jesus isn’t it?
Acts 10:38
Jesus was the ultimate doer of good deeds, and he went around doing good for others, and you can be sure that people’s faith was encouraged because of the good Jesus did. We cannot go around healing people’s diseases, we cannot raise the dead or make the lame walk, or the blind see, but we can help people with their needs here on this Earth. We can do good to others whatever that might be. It might mean that we give something to someone in need, it might mean that we help them with something sacrificing our time, it may mean that we do something to help them with their brokenness.
As imitators of Jesus, let us also do good deeds for others so when we have a need others will be there for us and that others might be encouraged.
IV. Encouraged by Words
Our tongues are an extremely powerful weapon that we have. With it we can lift up someone’s faith and with it we can thrash and tear someone down just as quick. Have you ever been discouraged by the words of a fellow Christian? I know that I have. I have heard it said that some of the meanest and rudest people are in the church. I heard that most waitresses hate to work on Sunday’s because the people that come from church are the rudest people. It is a shame that so many people take that which could be used for good and use it to tear down. Words have an impact on people’s faith. That is why it is so important for us to be careful what we say and how we say it. Maybe we do not know how our words will fall on other people, but our words can seriously hurt someone or seriously help someone. I don’t know about everyone here, but I want to be a encourager to people’s faith. I want to be able to say things that build people up and not tear them down. I want to encourage you not to look at people with a critical eye, looking for an area to tear down, but look with an encouraging eye, thinking of something to can say that will build their faith.
Acts 15:30-32
As the Christians heard these words spoken to them they were uplifted and encouraged in their faith. It is great to be able to encourage people about things like the way that they look, something else external, but when you encourage some aspect of a person’s faith you are building their faith. If a person never feels encouraged or that people are grateful, they will not want to do the work of the Lord. I would encourage you to find a person that you notice something positive in and encourage them. Tell someone you can see their faith growing; tell someone you appreciate what they are doing for the Lord. Those words will encourage them and they will remember that forever. Since your words have such an impact on people we ought to be careful what we say and when we say it. In the words of mothers everywhere, “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. Go out of your way to encourage people’s faith and to spur them on to love and good deeds. A simple word of encouragement can inspire further work for the kingdom and spiritual growth that you would not have imagined. Think of great of a place the church would be if we all encouraged everyone. We should never leave church discouraged. The church should be a place where the hurting, the burdened, the discouraged and the broken can find healing and encouragement. What are you doing to help in that process? Are you waiting and expecting others to do the encouraging? We can all be encouragers of people’s faith. The ultimate encouragement comes from Paul’s words to the Thessalonians regarding the second coming of Jesus.
I Thessalonians 4:16-18
Doesn’t that encourage you and build you up? Jesus is coming again!! This world is hard sometimes, we can get discouraged easily. Perhaps some here have been discouraged over the years from doing the work of the Lord, perhaps you feel that your faith is in vain. I can assure you that it is worth it and the benefits are great. Perhaps today you are burdened and discouraged by cares that you have. Maybe you are broken by sin, maybe you are broken because of family situations or work problems. Jesus, said, come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest for your should. Jesus wants to take those burdens if you will come to Him. Perhaps today, you are discouraged by others sins, I want to encourage you to press on and stay the course because there will be no sin in Heaven, and hopefully Jesus will come soon. We still have a chance now though to come to Jesus and serve Him wholeheartedly. There is no encouragement like a life-sold out to Jesus, for you and for those around you.
