The Normal Beaty Bunch

QUIZ: Encouraging or Discouraging? How do I feel on Sunday morning?

My parents didn’t get a job they were really praying about.

One of my students at school suddenly moved out of state overnight last weekend

Discovered that someone hit the bumper on my new car and messed it and part of the quarter panel up.

Air conditioner went out at our house

I got asked to do a special project at church, and when I got there, they didn’t need me

Surgery for my little foster son

As you have probably figured out, I’ve had some pretty discouraging things happen over the past month or so. My guess is that some of you have had some kind of discouragement come across your path in the last month, the last week, or even the last day.

For some of us, we might have a small trickle of discouragement that is offset by the large amounts of encouragement that is coming into our lives. This allows us to not worry too much about the bad things because there are more good things going on.

However, there are times when we have more discouragement going on than encouragement to overcome the struggles we’re facing. How do we find encouragement in tough times?

This week and next, we’ll be looking at the Scriptures to find some answers.

Today, we’ll look at the first two sources of encouragement and then next week, we’ll be looking at the third one.

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

Read: Romans 15:1-7

In this passage, Paul tells us that one of Christ’s goals on earth was to encourage us as we reflected on all that He endured from the insults of others. His endurance is to be an incredible example for each of us as we follow Him.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago when I was here, I love playing basketball with junior high kids because I can look pretty good. I think that this passage is also encouraging us against that kind of wrong comparison. If I didn’t get a raise this year due to the economic situation and I keep comparing myself against someone who just signed a multimillion-dollar sports contract, how will I feel? If I watch American Idol and compare my ability to sing on the worship team, how will I feel? If I compare my preaching to Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll or Mark Driscoll who have been preaching for years, could I at times feel discouraged?

So, Paul is exhorting us that if we compare ourselves against the things that Christ had to face, that we would be encouraged. Maybe instead, I should be thinking about the pastor in India who has to walk dozens of miles to preach in various churches, or the missionary who sends their third grader to boarding school 12 hours from home, or the Christian in China or Iraq who is fearful of getting beat or imprisoned for even killed for their faith. Now…how does that reframe our perspective?

If you turn over to Philippians 2:1, Paul continues on with a similar theme. Being part of Christ’s body should bring you encouragement and comfort. What part of remembering our relationship with Christ should encourage us?

How about things like:

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us

God loved us so much that He sent his only Son so we could have eternal life

We have one mediator between God and man…Christ Jesus

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to keep forgiving us of our sins

As you reflect on these truths, do they bring discouragement or encouragement? Belonging to and being united with Christ and all that He has done for us should bring great encouragement to each one of us.

Going back to Romans 15:4, Paul also tells us that the things that are written in the Bible are there to encourage us and give us hope as well.

Think through some of the basic Bible stories in the Old Testament…

· God provides an ark for Noah and his family

· God provides a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son

· Joseph survives being sold as a slave, being falsely accused, being in prison, and he becomes the number 2 man in Egypt…probably in the world at that time.

· Moses leads the people out of captivity in Egypt!!

· Joshua leads the people in the conquest

· David defeats Goliath

· God shuts the mouths of the lions for Daniel

· God protects Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

· Despite incredible sin, and captivity, God uses Nehemiah to rebuild the wall and Israel starts to function again

Of course, there are dozens of other stories that can provide encouragement for us throughout all of the pages of the OT. As I was putting this message together this week, I found myself feeling more encouraged just recounting the AWESOME God that we serve.

Again, as I focused my thoughts on the incredible problems that people faced, but that were supernaturally overcome by God’s power, my issues seemed to dissolve a little bit.

Verse 5 clearly states that God gives us encouragement. I find that in our American society that it becomes so easy to crowd God out that we don’t take the time to listen to Him. We can read a few verses or a quick devotional without thinking through what we’ve read and without taking the time to ask the Lord what He wants us to learn from our study.

At our last elder’s meeting, our pastor was encouraging us to work at studying the Scriptures more carefully and to really reflect on the Word. Recently, one of our older elders came to him and said, “Pastor Ed, you preached on that passage back in September of 1999” or something like that. As John showed Ed his Bible, he had the sermon notes from both messages written in his Bible…and the notes from hundreds of other messages from Pastor Ed and others. That was a huge challenge to me as well as an encouragement to keep on studying the word carefully and taking better notes so I can reflect on what God is telling me as I listen to Him.

So, what are some practical ways that we can soak up encouragement from God? These are ideas to encourage you on ways to be encouraged yourself…NOT a burden of adding additional things to your schedule or to make you feel guilty and discouraged for not doing these things.

a. Get Godly input from somewhere…first we need to admit that we need that input so that we make it a priority in our lives

b. Come to church, but is listening to a 30 minute long sermon 3x a month enough? If you’re counting on the Sunday morning sermon to be your only encouragement from God and His Word, you might be surprised that you could receive more encouragement by plugging in more.

c. Get involved in a Small group. I have several friends at work who meet every Tuesday night for their group, and I often hear them planning with excitement or celebrating after their group about what they’re learning and what they see God doing

d. Attend a Sunday School class. Like a small group, it gives you the opportunity to study God’s Word more and get encouragement from It and to interact with other believers so you can get encouraged by them as well

e. Spend some time with the Lord. I know that this can sometimes feel like a legalistic “you must get up at 3 AM and have your quiet time every morning or God won’t like you any more. However, these two passages show us that you should receive encouragement from your time with the Lord as you get to know Him more and as you celebrate all that He’s done. It should be an energy filler not an energy drainer!

f. Read/listen to Bible somehow. Some of you LOVE to read! Some of you HATE to read! Yet, we each NEED to get encouragement from the Word somehow. Maybe you do a great job of reading through the Bible every year. Maybe you focus on a certain Bible book for a while and read the same book over and over so you understand it in a deeper way. Maybe you commute and listen to the Word on CD’s. Maybe you work out, and put the Bible on your iPod so you can listen to it while you run or bike. Again, how would your day be different if you were reminded that God cared enough for a widow that He provided bread for her, her son, and Elijah for a long time during a draught…be encouraged…he can take care of you today as well!

Not only do we get encouragement from God, His Son, and His Word, but we also should be encouraged by 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”.

If we go back to Romans 15, 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? I have a good friend who I’ve been sharing Jesus with for the past two years. She started coming to church with our family around Christmas, and then earlier this spring, she accepted Christ, and I had the joy of baptizing her a couple of months ago. Now, as someone who has lived a life of sin and who struggles with some of the “biggie sins”, it has been a stretch for our church to reach out and love her through her struggles. BUT, she has been incredibly encouraged, as several women in the church have been walking with her through and in spite of her failings!

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.

In verse7, Paul tells us to accept one another. I had invited my friend Robin to church probably every week for three or four months 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! As someone buried in sin, 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).

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 Community Free are known as people who love and encourage each other, what will people in this area do…praise the Lord!

Over in the Philippians passage, 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.

When we started attending our current church about five years ago, the average 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. How encouraging!

Over in 1 Thessalonians, Paul continues on with his theme of encouragement. 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, as 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 stop 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 Community Free 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 be 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 Awana instead of complaining that their kid didn’t get a chance to say all of their verses… If I were struggling with sin, that someone would encourage me and help me out of that sin… If I stepped up and tried teaching Sunday School or helping Caleb 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 Community Free could look…how do we really do that?

Here are some of my thoughts on ways that God’s People in THIS local church can help one another:

1. Verbally…thanks for all you did for VBS; thanks for putting together the Manly Man pigeons and gravy event last week, thanks for playing the drums today; Caleb, thanks for taking my son or daughter to Belize

2. Written…text, email, FaceBook, Twitter, pen and paper, Bill A on Facebook, email from Di >Dale>Kathy

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 Awana, from pulpit,

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

6. Practically…take a meal to someone (a couple of weeks ago, someone brought us a meal after Lei’s surgery), invite them to come to an event

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 first two aspects 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 at Community Free.

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