We are taking a brief two-week look at our need to Be Encouraged. Last week, 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 from church and friends at work this week and mentioned that I had the opportunity to preach here last week about encouragement, I have received several interesting comments. I’ve had three or four friends ask me to send them my notes and/or give them the church’s website so they could listen to the message.
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?”
Last week, we looked 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; and God’s people in our local body. I hope that you took advantage of some of the suggestions last week and worked at getting more Godly encouragement through time with the Lord and His Word. I also hope some of you took the time to be an encourager to people here in the Community Free Body!
This 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.
1. God, His Son, and His Word
2. God’s people in the local church
3. God’s messengers from other places
While we can 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 the 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.
As I mentioned during one of my other messages, we have 8 children: Caleb Daniel, Hannah Joy, Joseph Peter Johnmark Isaac, Sarah Faith, Elizabeth Hope, Samuel David, and Levi…we’re still working on his name after he’s adopted. 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 two 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 this week, 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 he 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 is still in prison when he writes 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 body of Christians at the Colossian Community Church. 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.
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. 5 These men went on ahead and waited for us at Troas
As we saw earlier, 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. And…here I am without any other of the elders or deacons from my church to accompany me.
But, 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 is able to get up, and the next 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.
a. I hope that I and others that you have coming in during this time are providing 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 great aspects of belonging to a denomination like the EFCA is the support that you can get from the Great Lakes District office.
a. I encourage you to let Chuck Warren and the others from the office to be a blessing to you all…both now and in the years to come. I have found that whether it’s people from the district office or people from other churches in the area that God can really bring encouragement through them.
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!
4. I know that not everyone has an iPod, but most of us own a computer that allows us to download podcasts. 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
5. We live in a crazy busy world. I have often struggled in recent years to find time to read books. But, over the past 18 months, I’ve rekindled my passion for getting some of my external encouragement from great Christian books. I’ve been blessed recently by reading Extravagant Worship by Darlene Zschech, From Good to Great in God’s Eyes by Chip Ingram, The Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley, and several others. I’ve also read several Christian biographies this year that have again encouraged me and challenged me in my Christian walk.
6. Christian music is another source of encouragement for me.
a. That can take on several forms. We recently had a Christian musician come to our church and sing original songs and share his testimony. It was POWERFUL and it really helped encourage me
b. One of my family’s favorite things to do is to go to a Christian Music Festival, and there are several across Illinois that we can go to in order to be filled up with Positive and Encouraging music…
c. 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
d. 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 Community Free Church. And then today, 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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