Month: August 2019

Matthew 25:14-30
I Corinthians 15:51-58

Talk about someone needing a little encouragement! A pastor whose sermons were very long and boring, announced one Sunday that he had been called to another church and that it was Jesus’ will that he leave that week. Whereupon the song leader got everybody up to sing, “What a Friend we have in Jesus.”

Last week, we began a brief series on the topic of ‘encouragement,’ using as our text Paul’s words to the Thessalonians, “Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up” (I 5:11).

We noted that although there is a real need for any kind of encouragement, Biblical encouragement isn’t focused on complementing someone’s pedicure or telling them how good their homemade salsa tastes. Indeed Paul’s counsel to ‘encourage one another’ follows a discussion about the hope we should have in Christ for life beyond the grave.

With that in mind, Biblical encouragement is always shared in the hopes it will, in some way, accomplish one of four objectives:

1. Encourage people to embrace faith in Jesus as Savior,
2. encourage people to become more like Christ in behavior,
3. encourage people to trust that God always has their back
   as Paul encouraged the Thessalonians,
4. encourage people to know that God is using them in some way for the purposes of helping Him build His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

It is concerning this last objective that I would like to offer some Biblical encouragement to you today and next Sunday as well. That is, I want to encourage you to know that God is using you in some way for the purpose of helping Him build His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Specifically, as we serve Him.

I want to encourage you to know that God is using you in some way for the purpose of helping Him build His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

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I Thessalonians 5:1-11

Speaking of encouragement who is more in need of it in this story; the wife or the husband or the marriage counselor they made an appointment with because they felt their marriage needed a shot in the arm? The wife was hurt and upset and as she began to recount her loveless life, tears filled her eyes and her lips started quivering. It wasn’t long before the wise counselor realized what the problem was, so without saying a word he took her by the hands, looked in her eyes for a long time, smiled, and then gave her a big hug. A change immediately came over her face; she softened and her eyes lit up. Stepping back, the counselor said to her husband, “See, that’s all she needs.”
The husband pulls out his Daytimer and says, “Great, I’ll bring her back to see you every Tuesday and Thursday.”

Regardless if we are husbands or wives, parents or children, brothers or sisters, friends or colleagues; to experience all the joy that relationships have to offer requires copious amounts of . . . ENCOURAGEMENT!

The practice of encouraging others is a key ingredient in experiencing harmony in any relationship. And giving encouragement can do more than yield harmony; encouragement can go a long way toward bringing about a positive transformation in another person’s life.

That’s why a change immediately came over the face of the wife in that story, that’s why her eyes lit up. Because encouragement can lead to a changed for the better life, for both the person giving and receiving it.

That’s why Paul encourages the Thessalonians to encourage one another. The word translated here in I Thessalonians as ‘encouragement’ occurs 106 times in the New Testament. ¹ It literally means ‘to call to one’s side;’ ² almost always with the intention of telling someone something positive. The word is more often translated ‘comfort’ than ‘encourage’ though you will agree that comforting words are encouraging words, and vise versa.

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Romans 12:1-2

An intoxicated guy staggers into a Catholic Church, enters a confessional booth, slowly sits down, but doesn’t say, “Father forgive me for I have sinned” or anything. The Priest, on the other side, conspicuously coughs a few times to get his attention, but the inebriated sot continues to sit in silence. The Priest says, “I’m listening, my son,” but still no response. Finally, the Priest pounds three times on the wall. The drunk mumbles, “Ain’t no use knockin’! There’s no paper on this side either!”

There is a stigma associated with “Recovery Groups” because many of us wrongly assume that recovery groups are for people like that guy; for alcoholics and drug addicts. Well, I’ve got an eye-opener for you today!

According to Gerald May in his landmark book, Addiction and Grace, we are all addicted to something; it’s just a matter of what or whom.

I am not being flippant when I say that all of us suffer from addiction. Nor am I reducing the meaning of addiction. I mean in all truth the psychological, neurological and spiritual dynamics of full-fledged addiction are actively at work in every human being. The same processes that are responsible for addiction to alcohol and narcotics are also responsible for addiction to ideas, work, relationships, power, moods, fantasies, and an endless variety of other things. ¹

What kind of other things? I’m glad you asked: controlling other people, hoarding, the internet, gambling, lighting fires, sex, smoking, spending money, stealing, thrill-seeking, seeking approval.

An on-line Reader’s Digest article, Surprising Addictions: says that people can become addicted to:

Visine, tattoos, tanning, on-line dating, pulling your hair, diet soda, shoes, television, taking selfies, extreme sports, apologizing, negative self-talk, romantic love, video games, chewing ice.” ²

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Psalm 51:1-17
Matthew 5:4

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Bible scholars agree that although the word translated ‘mourn’ could be a word used for the ‘mourning of the dead,’ that to understand this beatitude as such limits what Jesus had in mind.

For example, John Stott writes:

It is plain from the context that those Jesus promised comfort are not primarily those who mourn the loss of a loved one, but those who mourn the loss of their innocence, their righteousness, their self-respect. It is not the sorrow of bereavement to which Christ refers, but the sorrow of repentance. ¹

In his commentary on this verse, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, after noting that this beatitude deals with spiritual mourning, has:

As we confront God and His holiness, and contemplate the life we are meant to live, we mourn our utter helplessness and hopelessness.” ²

And the other great British scholar, William Barclay, translates, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted as follows:

Oh the bliss of the man whose heart is broken for out of his sorrow he will find the joy of God.” ³

In other words, blessed are those who first recognize their brokenness and then cast themselves on the mercy of Christ, for they shall find comfort.

From my study of this saying, I conclude that Jesus is promising blessing for people who are broken in one of three ways:

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