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Encouragement—Pass it On! 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 |
April 30, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
I wish you could have known my grandmother. We called her, Nanny. Nanny died several years ago at the good old age of 96. She was a wonderful grandmother on all accounts and she also walked as closely with God as anyone I have ever known.
Nanny lived on her own until the last few years of her life and then moved quite willingly into the nursing home in her little home town of Ash Grove, Missouri. She said she didn’t mind moving to the nursing home because now her whole Sunday School class would be back together again. Even though she was quite frail and confined to a wheelchair by the time she entered the nursing home, she immediately started looking for ways to continue serving the Lord. She told me, “Until I die I know that God’s got something for me to do.”
The first thing she noticed was that every resident in that home was hurting in some way. So, Nanny made a list of all the residents in the nursing home, began listening to their stories and as she discovered their needs and struggles started praying for them. In fact, she prayed for every resident…by name…every day.
The next thing that Nanny noticed was that the majority of the residents in the nursing home were lonely. Most lived everyday with an abiding sense of being all alone. And Nanny sensed that God wanted her to do something about it. So, until the last few weeks of her life when she finally became bedridden, Nanny spent her days wheeling herself from room to room to lift the spirits of the residents by letting them know through her presence that they hadn’t been forgotten or abandoned. And she didn’t skip anyone. She visited them all.
She said to me, “Tommy, I don’t know how much good it does. Some of them can’t speak. Others don’t know who I am or who anyone else is for that matter. But, even so, I always sit with them for a while, talk to them, sing to them and pat them on the arm”. She said, “I just try to let them know that someone cares about them.” Then, Nanny paused for a moment and said, “And they always seem to smile.”
And we smile, too, just thinking about it, don’t we? Because there is something inside of us that knows that there is something profoundly good about lifting someone’s spirit. When we realize that our words or actions have been an encouragement to someone we sense immediately that we’ve done something right. We feel good about ourselves. We feel a sense of satisfaction.
And there’s a reason that we feel that way. It’s because as children of God it feels good to live the way that God wants to live; to function as God designed us to function. And, folks, God designed us…every one of us…to be encouragers.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says it like this:
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Folks, God designed us to be encouragers. God has a grand plan that has been carefully crafted to help us experience the very best that life has to offer. And a key component of that plan calls for us to encourage one another. It’s part of our God given job description as children of God. This morning, I want us to spend some time thinking about how we can excel in this part of our job.
Let’s start by defining our terms. The Greek word in our text that is translated as, “comfort” or in other versions “encourage” literally means, “a calling to ones’ side.” It’s a beautiful word picture that looks like this: here is a person that senses that another person has a need of some kind. So they go to that person and stand along side them in their time of need. And they become for that person a source of strength, comfort and encouragement.
And, of course, as Christians our primary role model for this lifestyle of encouragement is Jesus. Jesus was the ultimate encourager. In both His words and His actions Jesus always found the perfect way to comfort, to encourage and to lift the spirits of others. No wonder He had crowds following Him everywhere He went.
We noted a moment ago that encouraging others makes us feel good. And now we see one of the reasons that it does. Part of the joy that we experience as we encourage others comes in the knowledge that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. When we encourage others we are modeling the lifestyle of Jesus. And folks, as Christians, that’s pretty much what life is all about.
Now, about now some of you may be thinking, “You know, all of this talk about encouraging others, well, it’s fine for some people but that’s just not me. I’m not wired like that. The way I look at it—everybody’s got challenges. I won’t bother you with mine, so don’t bother me with yours.”
Well, folks, I hate to burst your bubble, but if you are a child of God you need to know that this call to be encouragers to one another didn’t go out to some of us. It went out to all of us. It’s not a suggestion. It’s an essential part of God’s plan for our lives together.
--1 Thessalonians 5:11 says it like this, “…encourage one another and build each other up…”
--Hebrews 3:13 says, “…encourage one another daily…”
--Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another…”
There’s just no escaping the primary lesson here and that is that every child of God is called by God into the ministry of encouragement.
Let’s look, again, at what we read earlier in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. It says,
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
Folks, there is a principle at work in these verses that is seen throughout the New Testament. A principle that is foundational to the Christian life. I call it the “Pass it on Principle.” It works like this—what you have received from God, pass on to others.
--Have you received the gift of mercy from God? That’s great. But, don’t keep it to yourself—pass it on to someone else. Be merciful to others.
--Have you received the gift of forgiveness from God? That’s great. But, don’t keep it to yourself—pass it on to someone else. Be forgiving of others.
--Have you been on the receiving end of God’s patience as you’ve struggled to become the person that God ultimately wants you to be? That’s great. But, don’t keep it to yourself—pass it on to someone else. Be patient with others.
That’s the “Pass it on Principle.”
And in these verses in 2 Corinthians that same principle is applied to the gift of God’s encouragement. Have you found any encouragement in your relationship with the Lord? Have you ever been on the receiving end of God’s compassion? Has God ever lifted your spirits at the very moment that you were about to give up hope? Have you ever been comforted by God’s presence in the midst of a really painful experience? That’s great. And now that you’ve experienced the blessing of God’s encouragement, pass it on. Share the gift of encouragement every chance you get.
We get another helpful insight into this call to encouragement in Ephesians 4 where in verse 12 we’re told that each of us is to use the gifts that God has given us in such a way, “that the body of Christ…(that’s us, the church)…may be built up…” Then, verse 29 tells us that one of the ways we accomplish that goal is to speak, “only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs…”
Folks, what a wonderful target to aim toward as we think about how best to use this amazing gift that we have in our words—speak only those things that build others up. But, somehow I think I may need God’s help to hit that target. I don’t think I can hit this one on my own.
“Lord, help me to be sensitive to the needs of the people You bring into my life, today. Show me how I can speak to those needs with words of comfort, wisdom and encouragement. Lord, if I could just encourage one person today what a joy that would be. I’ll gladly give You all the glory, Lord, but I’m asking You to give me the words. I’m asking You to be present in my words. I’m asking You to encourage and comfort someone through the things that I say, today.”
What a wonderful way to maximize the value of this incredible gift we have in our words.
Now, I must tell you, at this point, that if we’re going to excel as encouragers to one another we will have to overcome one very significant obstacle. We will have to defeat a little beast called, pride. And here’s why. Encouragers have to be attentive to the needs and interests of others. And pride, of course, is only interested in itself.
Listen to what Paul says about this in Philippians 2:1-7.
“If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who…made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant…”
So, while pride is always asking, How does this help me?, the encourager asks,
--How can I help someone else?
--Who can I build up, today?
--Whose spirit can I lift, today?
--Who needs an encouraging word from me, today?
No matter where I am, these days…
No matter what I’m doing, these days…
No matter what’s happening around me, these days…
In the back of my mind, I am constantly aware of the fact that my mom is in the process of passing away and my father is sitting all day long at the bedside of the woman he has loved for 60 years, hoping against hope.
Its just part of life, but it’s a hard part. A really, really hard part of life. But I want you to know that it’s a hard part of life that has been greatly eased for me because of the encouragement that you have given me. Cards. Letters. Phone calls. Gifts. Kind words. Hugs. The assurance of your prayer support. Encouraging me to go and be with them whenever I feel like that’s where I need to be. Over and over again you have lifted me up with the encouragement that flows from the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.
And, interestingly, as I have shared my unfolding story with you, many of you have been moved to share with me similar stories that are unfolding in your lives. And I have had the privilege of encouraging you out of the overflow of encouragement that I’m receiving. And as a result of all of this, I’ve drawn some conclusions.
--I’ve concluded that everyone has a story of struggle, hardship, pain or loss.
--I’ve concluded that most people will tell you their story if they sense that you care enough to listen.
--I’ve concluded that encouragement is always welcome, appropriate and powerful.
--I’ve concluded that it pleases God when His children encourage one another.
--And I’ve concluded that no matter how much encouragement you give away, God will make sure that you always have more to give.
Folks, if you’ve been encouraged in any way through your relationship with God there’s just no reason to keep it to yourself. Pass it on. Pass it on.
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum