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But The Greatest Of These Is Love

Lesson #2

EVERYBODY IS SOMEBODY

Intro

1. People don’t like to be “passed over.”

That is, they like to be recognized on some level that indicates that they are important to someone. And in our world today, people use people. They use people to get a raise, to get recognized, to take them some place, to make their own life easier---in short, to manipulate them.

2. Perhaps that is why people are suspicious of others.

That’s a hard foundation for love to be built upon. And some people have had a

hard life of being used by others.

We bring the Gospel to a door and the person wonders, “What are you selling?”

They are suspicious that the bearer of the Good News is trying to take advantage of them, because that’s what has happened in the past---some times even by people calling themselves “Christians.”

In such cases it takes the work of the Holy Spirit to bring softness to that heart.

Surely, we can see better than most that what the world needs now is love---

real agapé love.

3. Even with the coldest heart there is something within that cries out to be noticed.

We’ve all heard of the infamous “attention deficit disorder,” but there is another

disorder called “attention deprivation.”

This is the feeling that no one really cares about us.

4. David understood this feeling when he wrote these words in Psalm 142:4...

I looked on my right hand, and beheld,

but there was no man that would know me:

refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.

a) We would expect this in our world today...

...but not in the church--- Not among believers!

b) Could the church [me and you individually] ignore our responsibility to each other?

c) How many in our fellowship are lonely, hopeless in heart?

d) I think that the number would shock us.

We are commanded to encourage one another.

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I. DEFINING ENCOURAGEMENT

A. From A Dictionary:

1. “The act of inspiring others with renewing courage, renewed spirit, or renewed hope.”

B. The New Testament:

1. Greek word: parakalein (actually two Greek words)

a) para- - “alongside of”

b) kaleo - “to call”

2. Encouragement is when someone comes alongside us during difficult

times to give us renewed courage, a renewed spirit, renewed hope.

C. From William Barclay:

Again and again we find that Parakalein is the word of the rally-call: it is the word used of the speeches of leaders and of soldiers who urge each other on. It is the word used of words which send fearful and timorous and hesitant soldiers and sailors courageously into battle. A Parakletos is therefore an Encourager, one who puts courage into the fainthearted, one who nerves the feeble arm for fight, one who makes a very ordinary man cope gallantly with a perilous and dangerous situation...

The word Parakalein is the word for exhorting [others] to noble deeds and high thoughts; it is especially the word of courage before battle. Life is always calling us into battle and the one who makes us able to stand up to the opposing forces, to cope with life and to conquer life is the Parakletos, the Holy Spirit, who is none other than the presence and power of the risen Christ.

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• There are different gifts for different believers; some are called to preach, others are called to teach, others to administration, others to evangelism, others to helps and encouragement.

• Yet, there is a sense in which we are call called to “preach the Word,” to teach others, and, yes, even to encourage.

• Let’s look at four reasons why we need to take our responsibility as encouragers very seriously.

II. FOUR REASONS TO BE ENCOURAGERS

#1. It Is The URGENT Need Of Our Day

1. Sometimes you hear people say something like this, “Every generation goes through it’s own problems. We went through ours and young people today face the same things that we did when were young.”

a) I have even made that same statement a number of years ago,

and I believed it was true.

b) But it is not true.

c) The problems of this generation are far more complex than in previous periods of history.

Things that my generation “experimented” with in the 60’s

are epidemic today. In the radical 60’s there was a sub-

culture that many young people were caught up in. But

even in those turbulent years, there was the more solid

main culture of biblical morals and values. Why, for

half of that decade we still had prayer and Bible readings

in government schools---and many schools ignored the

U.S. Supreme Court in the immediate years after the

ruling, having Bible-reading and prayer anyway.

Today that sub-culture has become the main culture. And

just consider the results of living like animals, as if there is

no tomorrow, for a few years: crime & prison crises, national debt, Medicare crisis, health care crisis, drug abuse,

sexually transmitted disease crisis, AIDS crisis, teenage

suicide crisis, pornography crisis, a lack of character crisis,

and on and on the list could go.

And if the Washington, D.C. offers to fix problems A,

B, and C.... watch out, because there will then be a new

set of problems in addition to A, B, and C.

So no one seems to have a cure for all these societal ills.

2. Illustration from Dr. Richard Swenson:

A few years ago, I attended a late-night delivery by a very young-looking twenty-two-year-old mother. As I was the faculty member “on call” and was simply assisting the resident with the case, I had not met the family before.

This was Brenda’s first baby. She was acting bravely despite her obvious discomfort. An occasional cry escaped as the contraction peaked. Then she would close her eyes in exhaustion and await the next wave of pain.

The nurse who both coached and comforted Brenda would occasionally glance over to the window ledge where the husband sat watching television. Brenda has a long second stage labor, and we were in the room for over two hours. But I never heard him utter a sound.

The resident and nurse were doing most of the work with the patient, so I just stood back and watched. Then I leaned against the wall and watched. Then I sat down and watched. I was tired. But despite my tiredness, I was also fascinated by the increasing bizarre social event that was unfolding in the room.

It was around midnight, Brenda’s labor happened to coincided with the end of one slasher-type movie and the beginning of another. The final hour of the first movie was filled with violence. I counted at least ten different extended sequences of knifings, bloody machine gun fights, and exploding cars and boats.

The nurse and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes in disgust. Should I use my authority to demand that the set be turned off? I thought about it for a while and then decided the husband might pull out his own submachine gun and blow me away. Anyway, the first movie was mercifully wrapping up, body bags all over the place. By this time, the baby’s head was crowning. Brenda was still fairly well controlled, but her cries were getting louder and lasting longer. Another ten minutes, I figured.

Still no response from the husband, who was settling in for the beginning of the next movie. On the television screen, a mother, father, and small child were strolling down a big-city street when they stopped to watch a clown act. Suddenly, one of the clowns grabbed the little boy by the hand and took off running across the street. With the boy yelling “Daddy, Daddy!” the clown leaped into the back of a waiting van, the father in pursuit. Just as the vehicle started to pull away, the father tore open the back door. The clown inside shot the father point-blank in the face. Blood was everywhere.

Just then---exactly then---Brenda screamed and the baby was born.

“Go back inside, little one,” I thought. “You really don’t know what kind of world awaits you.”

3. One thing is for sure: our children need a great deal of encouragement.

a) Kids need supportive love, encouragement, and cheering of

their parents.

Most kids don’t get it.

b) Those that do get it, often receive more praise for hitting

a base hit than they do for their good behavior, for their

good character...

...so we have produced a generation of skilled workers

and politicians without character.

c) Children need parents who help them through adolescence,

hanging in there with them...available to talk with them.

4. If we do not equip our church members to be encouragers it is only a

matter of time before our community will suffer from the termination

of ministries that touch their lives that are presently a part of this church.

#2. It is the UNIQUE Priority of Our God

1. Each member of the Trinity has as His priority to encourage.

2. II Corinthians 1:3...

Blessed be God,

God, the Father even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

3. II Thessalonians 2:16-17...

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God,

even our Father, which hath loved us,

and hath given us everlasting consolation

God, the Son and good hope through grace,

Comfort your hearts,

and stablish you in every good word and work.

4. What about the Holy Spirit? ---”Encourager” is one of His names.

a) John 14:26...

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,

God, the Spirit whom the Father will send in my name...

b) John 16:7...

Nevertheless I tell you the truth;

It is expedient for you that I go away:

for if I go not away,

the Comforter will not come unto you;

but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Point: If God is an encourager in all three Persons, then this ministry must

be important for us to claim as well.

#3. It Is the UNDERLYING Purpose of Our Bible

1. Many churches today are driven by market research. One of the problems

with that is that market research grows a church towards what

the people want to hear. It is more man-centered than God-centered.

One of the things researchers tell us is that people want to hear

things that make them feel better.

Many churches who have experienced rapid growth give credit

to market research.

2. The trouble with a “pep talk” is:

#1. It is not based on the Word of God.

#2. If scriptures are used, the talk is more milk than meat.

#3. It is short-lived.

3. When hard times come, pep talks don’t have the staying power and

people lose their faith and spiritual strength.

Most Christians like this have their eyes too much on man’s

personality and not on the message itself.

Rather than producing growing Christians, feeding on the Word

of God, they hop from talk to talk, and usually from church to church.

4. The Bible is filled with encouraging truth.

a) Did you know that the Old Testament was written to give

people encouragement?

1) Romans 15:4-5...

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,

that we through patience and comfort

of the scriptures might have hope.

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

• From Genesis to Malachi it was written for our

learning and encouragement.... so we might

have hope.

• If you don’t get your encouragement from the

unchanging Word of God, it may be short-

lived and shallow.

b) Did you know that the theme of encouragement runs throughout

the New Testament?

1) Paul wrote Timothy and Titus to encourage them in

the Word...

Preach the word;

be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort [encourage]

with all longsuffering and doctrine.

{II Tim.2:4}

2) In I Thessalonians 4 Paul told the believers to be

confident about the coming of Jesus, and he

concludes in verse 18...

Wherefore comfort one another

with these words.

5. One of the goals of every Sunday School teacher should be that their students leave class with encouragement in their hearts.... not something “cute” that we have worked up, but with truths to be found in the Word of God.

#4. It Is the UNCOMMON Opportunity to Begin

A Never-Ending Process.

1. Encouragement is like a pebble thrown into water---there is an immediate impact, but there is also the ripple effect that continues indefinitely.

2. Paul said in II Corinthians 1:3-4...

Blessed be God,

even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation,

that we may be able to comfort them

which are in any trouble,

by the comfort wherewith we ourselves

are comforted of God.

3. Encouragement is infectious.

a) When you have been encouraged, your first impulse is to encourage someone else.

b) You have never truly come to the point of appreciating the

ministry of encouragement UNTIL you have given it

away yourself.

4. Practice it on a DAILY basis, and the ripples may go around the world

forever.

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Conclusion:

1. Has anyone tried to be an encouragement to you lately?

Better still, have you tried to consciously encourage a brother or sister in the faith?

2. What cards have you sent? What letters have you written? What words have you said?

3. You may have started something that will never end.

4. Let’s make encouragement a habit practice ‘til Jesus comes to claim us.