Support and Encourage

A Simple Conversation

There were once two friends. They had gone to school together, they had been roommates for a while, they had stood in each others’ weddings, and they still made the effort to get together at least once or twice a month. One year, their two families even decided to go on vacation together. That week, they went to a house they had rented together. It was a really nice cabin, with a balcony overlooking a beautiful valley. Towards the end of the week, they sat out on that balcony together. The rest of their families were going through the nightly bedtime routine, so they were just sitting and enjoying the evening. In a moment of quiet, one of them spoke up and said gently, “we’ve been friends for a real long time haven’t we?” The other one nodded. “I really value that friendship, but that has led me to be a little selfish - I have been holding something back on you because I don’t know what it would do.” The other straightened up a little bit, paying closer attention but not interrupting. “I want to give you this Bible, you know I’m a Christian and I know that you don’t really believe - but I’d like to share what I believe with you, because I know it’s really important for you to know it.” The other person sat there for a second before replying, “okay, let me hear it.”

That started a long conversation about sin, about the fact that people all fall short of God’s expectations and humanity’s need to be forgiven. They talked about how Jesus came to earth as a man, how He died for the sins of the whole world, and what His resurrection meant for the two of them sitting on that balcony. Over the next months, that Bible sat on the other person’s nightstand. It was there in the coffee shop when the two would meet every week and talk more about the faith. It was there as the believer poured support and encouragement into the other person, conversations that the Holy Spirit worked through and brought them to faith. God worked through that initial gift of a Bible and through all of the time invested in conversation after that, to save that person’s soul.

The reason I share that story with you all this morning is because, to different degrees, most every Christian can identify with it. Someone put you in contact with God’s Word - maybe it was a friend like in the story, maybe it was a parent when you were a lot younger, maybe it was a stranger who set you on the path that brought you here today. And along the way, your faith has been supported by family, by friends, by pastors, and by all sorts of people that have poured into you - investing you with their support and encouragement. John celebrated Gaius for doing exactly that. Gaius was walking in the faith, he was practicing the faith that he preached, not perfectly, but he was striving to do what was right and live according to Jesus’ teachings. And more directly, Gaius worked to support other Christians in the ministry that they do.

Support of the Harvest

Sometimes when we talk about supporting and encouraging others, we limit ourselves to just younger Christians. But the reality is that Christians of all different maturity need support and encouragement. In our reading, John received encouragement because he heard stories about how well the people he had taught were doing. Gaius received support from John in the form of his wisdom and his letter. And there were these other people doing ministry that Gaius was supporting by giving them a place to stay and supporting them physically. Even today, people just coming to the faith need support and encouragement. But so do the leaders in the church, people who come to help get things set up, people who work on leadership teams, Elders, people who have been Christian longer than I have been alive - they need support and encouragement too, even if it looks a little different than new Christians. For them it might look more like encouragement and gentle reminders, not needing as many questions answered any more. And that extends to professional church workers too. Pastors like me, worship leaders, directors of Christian education, Christian teachers - they need support and encouragement too, even though that looks a little different. For them, it tends to look more like John as he hears about the faithful growth in the people he taught or like the missionaries that Gaius supported as they received the funds and material support they needed.

It’s like a farm that’s taking in a harvest, which is an image that the Bible uses for ministry a few times. When a farm is taking in a harvest, no one person is doing everything so everyone needs support, but each person has a different role in the harvest so that support looks different. The person in the field swinging the scythe needs a sharp scythe and probably some water throughout the day. The person gathering the crops needs baskets and a clear place to store them. The person in town buying the seeds for the next year needs the capital to buy the seeds. Even the manager of the whole process needs people updating him on the progress of everything so he knows where to direct extra resources.

Support and Encourage

And that’s the process, the cycle that we’re called into. It starts with a Christian encouraging and supporting someone else. That helps faith to grow and for them to mature as a Christian - just like the story that I shared with you at the beginning. But then those Christians are called to encourage and support others, something that looks different for every person. But that’s not an optional step, in our reading Diotrephes decided that he wasn’t going to be a part of that and John did not respond kindly to how he was doing things. As Christians, we should be supporting one another - no matter what stage of faith we’re at. And what that results in is a sustainable cycle of growth.

By supporting people as they come to faith, the church will continue to grow. By supporting people in whatever stage they’re at, those people stick around. If we as Christians fail to support new believers, the church will not grow. If we Christians fail to support Christians, they will slowly, gradually fall away. We must do both for the sake of the Gospel. And that isn’t just to build up and support some organization, it is to save souls. We do this because we know that everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead will be saved, we support and encourage each other so that we always remain rooted in that truth until God takes us home for all eternity. Amen.