Scripture: Acts 4:36-37
Sermon Series: One Another – Doing Church Life Together – Sermon 04
Jia Jing (picture) was born in China and came to the United States as an exchange student when he was 16, not knowing a soul. He was assigned to a host family in rural Louisiana who turned out to be a family of criminals. Jia slept in the bedroom with a son who’d been convicted of murder. Within a few weeks his host family had stolen all of his money. Welcome to America!
He was assigned to a new family who were born-again Christians. He had no idea what they were saying but he understood love. They loved him, their church loved him and Jia met Jesus. He graduated from school, eventually got married and decided to start his own company. But his requests for funding were turned down again and again. Jia realized that if he didn’t learn to deal with rejection, it’d cripple his life. He’d heard about a kind of therapy called “rejection therapy,” in which the participants make outrageous requests—ones they know will be rejected—so that hearing the word no gradually loses its power and they discover how to survive rejection. So he began his hundred days of rejection by asking a stranger to loan him $100.
“No.”
On day two he went to a fast food place and asked for a burger refill. “What?” “Can I get a burger refill?” “No.” Another time he went into the grooming area of PetSmart and asked “Can I get a haircut like a German shepherd?” “No.”
He filmed all of these experiences and decided to post them online so that others could watch his humiliation. Hundreds of people begin to follow his strange journey of rejection. As Jia watched himself on video, he reflected on how much God loved him whether people said yes or no to his requests.
Then came the donut that changed Jia’s life. He walked into Krispy Kreme one day and asked for a “specialty donut” – five donuts linked together to look like the Olympic symbol. Instead of saying “no,” the woman behind the counter asked him how soon he needed it. Jia didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t prepared for anything but rejection. “Uh, maybe fifteen minutes.”
This employee put her hand on her chin, trying to visualize the request. Then took a piece of paper and sketched out what the Olympic donut might look like. “Wait here,” she said. A short while later, wonder of wonders, she brought him five interlocking, multi-colored, made to order Olympic ring doughnuts. He didn’t know what to say. “What do I owe you?” he asked. “Don’t you worry about it. That one is on me” she said. “Seriously?” “Yes.”
Jia was prepared for rejection. He wasn’t ready for someone to go out of her way to do him a favor. When he posted the doughnut video, it went viral. He got emails from people around the world who were inspired to battle their own fear of rejection. Interview requests came in from MSNBC to Fox News. The week after the video went viral, Krispy Kreme stock rose from $7.23 to $9.32 and Jia Jing was tagged the “Rejection Whisperer.”
In a negative world, in a world that screams “no,” encouragement is to be the Church’s way of saying “Yes.” Some 40 times the New Testament uses the word encourage.” We are to be God’s encouragers to a “no world.”
We’re continuing our series, One Another – Doing Church Life Together. Maybe you walked in today after a week of rejection? This is a safe place. This is God’s place of encouragement. As your brothers and sisters in Christ, we want to be your encouragers and want you to be ours.
Discouragement hurts. And since the pain of discouragement is so prevalent in our world, as Christ-followers it’s vital that we obey the Bible’s teaching and learn to practice, encouragement.
Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 puts it this way. “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”
John Ortberg (picture) says that we Christians are to be “balcony people,” cheering each other on. Our church needs to be a place where we can find people who believe in us and root for us as they encourage us on toward godliness. Yet being “balcony people” place doesn’t just benefit Christians. When we learn to obey God in this, when we become skilled encouragers. We attract lost people because encouragement is such a rare thing. It’s a discouraging world where the trend is to put people down and point out their faults. People are drawn to places where encouragement is found.
So if someone were to give you a name indicative of your personality, what would it be? What nickname or adjective would sum up who you really are? In the Bible names were often given to a person to reveal their character, personality or destiny. Abraham means “Father of Multitudes,” Peter means “Rock,” Delilah means “Sweetie” or today something like “Cupcake.”
Today we want to talk about a man who was named because he had the gift of encouragement, Barnabas. He’s first mentioned in Acts 4:26-27: “Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.”
Joseph was his given name; his nickname was Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement.” He was nicknamed because it perfectly reflected his character. Barnabaswas A man named “encouragement.”
So who are you? Based on who you are, or on what others think of you, or how you affect others, what would your nickname be?
The Bible commands us to “encourage each other.” Are you an encourager? Are you a Barnabas? We’ll come back to Barnabas in a moment. We want to first work through what Scripture means by “encouragement.” If you’re taking notes…
1.What does it mean to encourage someone? In his book, Encouragement, Larry Crabb (picture) defines encouragement as “the kind of expression that makes someone want to be a better Christian even when life is rough.” Romans 12:8 urges us “If your gift is to encourage, then give encouragement.”
The Greek word, parakaleo, means “to call alongside of.” It’s the idea of coming to the aid or assistance of someone. It implies an ability to help someone in an area where he/she can’t help themselves. It’s the picture of a weary traveler stumbling down the road with a heavy load on his shoulders. His head is low, his shoulders stooped, his knees wobbly, his feet barely moving. Each step is agony. As you watch, he staggers and begins to fall. You can see he’ll never make it. So you rush from your place, come alongside and you lift the load from his shoulders and place it on your own. Then you put your arm around him and say, “It’s all right, I’ll help you make it.” And together you walk down the road. That’s parakaleo. It’s coming alongside another person to help them in their moment of need.
The person who does that is called a paraclete. It’s the same Greek word used in John 14:16 for the Holy Spirit. The word means that the Holy Spirit comes alongside to give us strength to live the Christian life. So this gift could be called exhortation or comfort or consolation or encouragement. It’s the divine ability to lift the load from a brother or sister and help them.
Sadly, there are many, even in the church, whose definition of encouragement is backing up a dump truck, pulling the lever and unloading on somebody. That’s not encouragement; it’s just dumping on people.
When someone with the gift of encouragement spends time with you, you inevitably feel better. Even if they’re counseling you about a weakness in your life, their words somehow make you stronger.
Here are a few other marks of the gifted load-lifters: They genuinely love people. They’re strongly relational. They root for the underdog. They’re open-minded, forgiving and tolerant and are quick to respond to needs. They’re quick to give the benefit of the doubt and spot spiritual potential.
It could be called the “cheerleading” gift. People who have it love to shout encouragement to those on the field: “You can do it. We’re behind you! Don’t quit now.” Thank God for brothers and sisters who encourage the rest of us. They light the way and lift us up when we fall down. Many of us would have quit if someone hadn’t encouraged us to keep on going.
2. The easiest way to be an encourager is to simply say encouraging things. Most of us know how good it feels to have someone encourage us. They say things to us like, “I am really impressed with your servant attitude!” or “You did a great job!”
The 1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany. Everyone thought that Jesse Owens (picture) was certain to win the long jump. The year before Jesse set three world records in one day and was the current record holder for the running broad jump, 26 feet & 8 & a ¼ inches, a record that stood for 25 years. As he walked to the long jump pit in Berlin, Owens saw a tall German athlete taking practice jumps that were somewhere in the 26 foot range. Owens was understandably nervous. He was aware of the tension created by his presence. He knew the Nazis’ desire was to prove Aryan “superiority,” especially over blacks. So with that overwhelming pressure, on his first jump Owens inadvertently leapt from several inches beyond the takeoff board—a foul. Rattled and nervous, on his second attempt he fouled again. He was one foul away from being eliminated from the competition.
At this point, this tall German approached Owens and introduced himself as Luz Long (picture). Then an amazing thing took place. The black son of a sharecropper and the white model of Nazi manhood chatted in view of the entire stadium. Since the qualifying distance was only 23 feet 5 ½ inches, Long suggested that Jesse make a mark several inches before the takeoff board and jump from there, just to play it safe.
Think of it—at the beginning of World War II, this model of Germany’s strength was sharing words of encouragement to a foe both on and off the field. Using this tip Owens qualified easily. In the finals, he set an Olympic record and earned the second of four gold medals during the 1936 Olympics.
And the first person to congratulate Owens was Luz Long, in full view of Adolf Hitler. Here’s a picture of the two friends (picture). Owens never saw Long again. Long was killed in World War II but Jesse Owens later wrote, “You could melt down all the medals and cups I have, and they wouldn’t be plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long.”
All of us who have been encouraged can understand why Owens said that. We know how wonderful it feels to have someone who encourages us. I think we have a minimum daily requirement of uplifting words from others that we must hear if we’re to endure the discouragement that comes from living in a fallen world. Proverbs 15:4 says, “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life.”
Please don’t misunderstand me. Sometimes the kind of encouragement someone needs is loving, constructive criticism. Being for someone, wanting them to succeed, spurring them on to good deeds—can include telling them painful things…if pain is the only way to bring about growth. Sometimes encouraging words are “warning words,” “confronting words,” “admonishing words” —because those are the kinds of words that benefit most. As Proverbs 27:6 reminds us, “Wounds from a friend can be trusted.”
Verbal encouragement is a vital habit for Christians to learn to practice. And please don’t just say them, write them, and not just in a text. When you write someone a note of encouragement, they’ll read it over and over again.
3. A great way to be an encourager is by sharing your resources. Remember Acts 4 told us that Barnabus sold some property to help the fledgling church. For Jewish culture, this was huge. For a Jew everything was the land, the inheritance. Barnabus generously sells part of his heritage to help out. It was unheard of in that day. Generous people are encouragers.
For many of us it’s easier to give away money than our more valuable resource, TIME. In the early 1970s Jim Croce (picture) wrote a song that said, “If I could save time in a bottle, the first thing that I’d like to do, is to save every day ‘till eternity passes away–just to spend them with you.” Such beautiful lyrics. It would be nice if we could save time, but we can’t. Just a few months after Croce wrote that song, he was tragically killed in a plane crash at the age of 30.
There are 168 golden hours each week. The average person spends 56 of those hours sleeping, about 24 hours eating and for personal hygiene, and about 50 of those hours working or traveling to work. We only have about 35 hours a week of “discretionary” time. It’s about 5 hours per day.
Where are you investing those hours? If I were to follow you around and observe you for those 5 hours, after about 10 days, I’d know what’s most important in your life. For some checking their phone or surfing the Internet is most important. For others watching TV is what’s most important. Many call it “me time.” Yet when do we find “others time” outside of our immediate family? It’s nearly impossible to be an encourager if you’re not sharing your resources.
4. A great way to encourage is to see potential and give someone an opportunity. While we know him as Paul the Apostle, the early church knew him as Saul the Persecutor. Saul had been one of the ring leaders of those who tormented the early church. He’d arrested, whipped and imprisoned them. He collaborated in having Stephen stoned to death. Then he got permission from the Jewish authorities to go to Damascus to stop the beginnings of the Christian movement there. But on that Damascus road, Saul ran head on into the risen Christ Himself, and discovered to his great astonishment that those he’d been persecuting were telling the truth…Jesus was the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah. As a result of his Damascus road experience, Saul became a follower of Christ himself. He changed sides.
But Christ-followers were understandably terrified of Saul, so he wasn’t welcomed with open arms. They distrusted Saul and we can understand their feelings. They thought it might be a trick that Saul was playing, a ploy to infiltrate the church so he could find out who was part of the movement and destroy it from the inside.
At that crucial moment in Saul’s life, who steps in but Barnabas. The Son of Encouragement began to do his thing! He said in essence, “You guys are wrong about Saul. He met our Lord on the Damascus road and has placed his faith in Him. Saul has changed! I can vouch for him!” At the risk of his own reputation, Barnabas took the former persecutor and went around to all the Christians and put the weight of his influence behind this new convert.
A few chapters later we read that the church was growing very quickly—so fast in fact that it was too big for the leaders to handle. They needed other leadership, and again Barnabas did his thing. He went looking for Saul and brought him back to Antioch. He must have said something like, “Saul, you have what it takes to be a leader in the church. It’s obvious that God has gifted you for this task.” Barnabas saw potential in Paul and acted on it.
Do we have Barnabas’ vision? Evangelism and discipleship is messy. When new folks come in to church, they often bring baggage with them:
They’re untaught. They don’t know our language. They don’t know the Bible. They may have sinful habits that they don’t even know are wrong.
They are unpolished. We do so many things that are strange to them. We sing a lot and read the Bible a lot. In our worship services, we stand up, sit down and stand up again. If they come when we serve the Lord’s Supper, they’re intimidated. They can’t figure out what to do with that plastic glass of grape juice.
They may have offensive habits. They sometimes swear right in public and don’t even know it. They may come from painful divorces or painful family situations or are dealing with addiction. Their kids may misbehave.
As encouragers, we are going to love them through all of it, just the way God has loved us. Being a church family of encouragers means we’re committed to keeping the spiritually healthy healthy and helping the spiritually wounded heal.
Our world is divided into those who think the best of others and those who think the worst. As encouragers, we must be those who see God’s best in all people and urge them to pursue it. This morning you might be sitting next to a Paul or Paula. Someone who God will use to make an eternal impact in His Kingdom or take the Gospel to places it’s never gone before. All he/she needs is an encouraging nudge from you toward their God-given potential. Is there someone in your life who you should encourage in this way?
5. A great way to be an encourager is to direct others to God’s promises. Acts 14:21-22 says, “When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Paul and Barnabas went around to the churches they’d just planted to strengthen the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith.
Have you thought about that? We need to encourage each other in the faith. But how do we do that? Not by our advice or our opinions. We need to direct them to God’s Word and His promises. Scripture has power.
We shouldn’t assume that all are strong in the faith and doing well spiritually. We need to continually encourage each other. Everyone is going to go through tough times on this journey with God. Paul wrote to the Romans and told them that he longed to be with them so that they could mutually encourage each other in the faith (Romans 1:12). We’re to encourage others to turn to and trust God’s Word.
6. A great way to be an encourager is to be the source of God’s second chance. On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played the University of California in the Rose Bowl. In that game a player named Roy Riegels (picture) recovered a fumble for California but somehow Riegels got confused and started running 65 yards in the wrong direction. One of his teammates, Benny Lom, outdistanced and tackled him right before he scored for the opposing team. When California attempted to punt, Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety which was the final margin of victory.
That strange play came in the first half. Everyone watching the game was asking the same question: “What will Coach Nibbs Price do with Roy Riegels in the second half?” The players filed off the field and went into the locker room. They sat down on the benches and on the floor, all but Roy Riegels. Riegels put his blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, put his face in his hands, and cried like a baby.
If you’ve played football, you know that a coach usually has a great deal to say to his team during halftime but that day Coach Price was quiet. No doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels. Then the timekeeper came in and announced that there were three minutes before playing time. Coach Price looked at the team and said simply, “Men the same team that played the first half will start the second.” The players got up and started out, all but Riegels. He didn’t budge. The coach looked back and called to him again; still he didn’t move.
Coach Price went over to where Riegels sat and said, “Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second.” Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with a strong man’s tears. “Coach,” he said, “I can’t do it to save my life. I’ve ruined you, I’ve ruined the University of California, I’ve ruined myself. I couldn’t face that crowd in the stadium to save my life.” Then Coach Price put his hand on Riegel’s shoulder and said to him: “Roy, get up and go on back; the game is only half over.”
And Roy Riegels went back, and the Tech players said that they have never seen a man play football as Roy Riegels played that second half.
Our God is the God of the second chance. Sadly, we’re not always. Turn in your Bibles to the second book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Mark. That Gospel illustrates that our God is the God of the second chance.
When we sin, if we repent God forgives us and helps us start over. Acts 15 records a time when Paul and Barnabas were preparing for another missionary journey and Barnabas suggested that they take John Mark with them. But Paul disagreed. You see, on their first missionary journey, Mark had found the going too rough, had turned back and deserted Paul and Barnabas to go home to Momma. Because of this Paul felt that Mark wasn’t dependable and said as much. But Barnabas stood by his guns and so did Paul. The result of this sharp disagreement was that Paul and Barnabas decided to part company. Barnabas took John Mark and set out for Cyprus. It’s the last we hear of Barnabas in the book of Acts but it’s not the last we hear of the results of his encouraging nature.
Years later, when Paul was old and in prison, and feeling somewhat discouraged himself, he wrote Timothy and said, “When you come, please bring John Mark with you, for he is useful to me.” (1 Timothy 4:12) John Mark got the message and went to Rome. He became his former critic’s colleague until Paul’s martyrdom and then John Mark worked alongside of Peter, whom he used as the source of the first gospel ever written—the Gospel According to Mark.
Think of it! How many countless millions have been led to follow Jesus because they read of His footsteps in this Gospel. If tradition serves us well, John Mark went on to become the founder and pastor of the church in Alexandria. John Mark was able to do all this because Barnabas encouraged him by helping him to see that God does give us second chances. The amazing fruit of John Mark’s life was the result of encouragement, expressed through a Christian who believed that with God’s help we can start over.
Have you ever wished you could have another chance—that the slate could be wiped clean? Have you ever day-dreamed and thought, “If I could go back in time and re-live my life again, I wouldn’t do this and I wouldn’t do this or this…etc.” I know I have—I think we all have….because sin is never as good as it seems it will be. It always hurts to disobey God….and so, when we do, we long for one more chance. Wonderfully, God is the God of the second chance and God wants us to be encouragers like Barnabas, giving others, especially our brothers and sisters a second chance.
That’s the good news of the gospel. You can’t mess it up so bad that it can’t be fixed. When Jesus Christ died on Calvary’s Cross, He took the punishment for all our sins all on Himself. On the cross Jesus made it possible for God to forgive us, to wipe the slate clean and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. On the cross He fixed it. That’s the Gospel. God giving everyone a second chance. I like how John Ortberg (picture) puts it. “If there is one way that human beings consistently underestimate God’s love, it is perhaps His loving longing to forgive.” Can you imagine Barnabas’ conversation with young John Mark? “You failed God, but if you ask Him, He’ll forgive you and give you another chance. He’ll help you to start over.”
Have you ever noticed that when you’re on the top, everybody is your friend? But blow it and often your friends will bail on you. The Bible teaches that Christians run in when everyone else runs out. We want to be there when people are at the bottom as well as when they’re at the top.
Recently, I had a friend who’s name was all over the local media. He blew it. I don’t know all of the details and don’t need to. As I’ve done other times, I mailed him a note that I was praying for him.
God has given me so many chances and I want to share with others His grace and that He’s the God of the second chance!
Conclusion: We’re family and God has commanded us to encourage each other. Let me share three Take Home Truths and we’re done.
Everyone needs encouragement. God’s Word commands us to “Encourage each other.” I need to encourage you and you need to encourage me. We need to encourage them and they need to encourage us. When it comes to encouragement there are no boundaries on who you should encourage. That sweet old lady that you work with needs encouragement. That old grumpy, mean boss of yours needs encouragement.
Encouraging others is to be habitual. Keep encouraging, keep motivating, and keep inspiring others to obey God. If you’re encouraging others, keep doing it. If you’re not encouraging others, start doing it. Maybe before you start your day pray, “Lord, use me to encourage someone today.”
Encouraging others is important to God. It’s so important to Him that He provided some believers with the gift of encouragement. The gift of encouragement is the God-given spiritual ability to motivate others to obey God. If you don’t have that gift, pray and ask God to give it to you.
Before you put your notes away, before you leave this morning, I want you to write down the name of one person that you know who needs you to encourage them this week? And then do it. God wants us to be a church family of encouragers. Can He count on you?