Acts 18 Sermon

There’s a word I keep hearing from people during this season of life, and it’s the word discouraged. People are discouraged. You are probably feeling discouragement. Discouragement over isolation, loss of normalcy, loss of relationships. Discouragement over an incredibly bitter election season. Discouragement over masks and social distancing. Discouragement over limited singing in our worship service. In so many places and from so many people I keep hearing this word. People are discouraged.

Now, if we don’t learn to handle our discouragement well and in a Christ-like manner, it will become cynicism. It will become bitterness. Our discouraged hearts will become critical hearts. You’ve seen this progression haven’t you? You have seen Christians, people who you’ve walked with in the Lord, people who truly love Jesus and serve him, but who have not addressed their discouragement, you have seen them say things and post things on social media that are designed and leveraged not to build anyone up, but to tear people down - even other believers.

Church, this is not the way of Christ. We are called to spur one another on to love and service, to build up, not to tear one down. Hebrews 10:24 says,

“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.”

When times are discouraging, times are tough, times are frustrating or painful, instead of responding with bitterness and critical hearts, we respond by encouraging one another. We are called to be a people of encouragement.

So, I want to challenge you today to respond to the hostilities and the emotion of our time with encouragement. This morning I want to talk about three things: First, it is especially in difficult times that the Church must be a community of encouragement. Second, encouragement isn’t just about comforting, it’s about the gospel mission. Encouraging our fellow believers is mission work. Finally, we need to be a people of encouragement because it enables us to do more than we could do otherwise. So turn with me to Acts 18.

After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.

We’ve said before that Christianity originated and thrived in a really difficult world, and this is a perfect example of the kind of opposition the early church faced. The Roman Emperor Claudius had banished Jewish Christians from Rome, which is to say, he said get out of Rome or else. Among these displaced believers were Aquila and Priscilla, who traveled some seven hundred miles to Corinth. They are living as exiles in a foreign city. What did they have to leave behind? What was their situation like? This was going to be a tough time for them to say the least.

But who do they encounter in Corinth? They encounter the church. Paul hears about their situation, and he goes to see them. He came alongside them, worked with them, gave them community, gave them encouragement. This is what Christians do in difficult times. We encourage one another.

What does it mean to encourage someone? The Greek word that’s translated as “encourage” in the New Testament means to turn someone towards a particular action. The best way to describe the idea is to think of the game Izzy Dizzy. Izzy Dizzy is that game where a kid takes a baseball bat and spins with their head down around and around, ten times, and then tries to run a short race around a cone and back. It takes two people to play, because after spinning and spinning for that long, you’ve lost all bearing. You need that other person to point you in the right direction - to physically take hold of you and put you in a place or posture where you can run the race. That’s the image of encouragement in the Bible.

Especially during a time like this, it can feel like we are just spinning and spinning. We can’t get our bearings, we’re uncertain about the future, confused about where to go and what to do as Christians. Well, when we encourage a brother or sister, we are taking hold of them, steadying them, and turning them towards the goal of serving the Lord and serving others in love. There are people in this church community who need that from you. They need you to mirror Paul, who in turn is mirroring Jesus, and seek out and invest in your fellow believers. To encourage them.

What I’ve seen over the past few months in this politically charged environment and in all the stress of our situation, I’ve seen the opposite of this. One of the most discouraging aspects of this season for me has been watching Christians reject their responsibility to build one another up. It would be like in Izzy Dizzy your partner not steadying you and pointing you in the right direction, but tripping you instead, or stepping back and commenting on how ridiculous you look.

May that have no place in the church of Jesus Christ! We have a higher calling. We are called to use our words and our actions to build one another up, to spur one another on to worship and to mission. Paul says in Ephesians, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths {or your FB posts} but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Christians encourage one another in difficult seasons. Thats the first thing.

Second, encouragement isn’t just to provide comfort, but to energize the mission of Christ. It is mission work. Look at verse 5:

When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

How are things going for Paul in Corinth? Does he seem a little discouraged? It’s apparently tough sledding in the synagogues of Corinth. But here comes Silas and Timothy, returning to Paul from Thessalonica, and we know from other Scriptures that they bring encouragement to Paul that spurs him on, that gives him strength to continue proclaiming the gospel in the city. Paul writes about this in 1 Thessalonians 3:6 saying:

“But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith.”

Silas and Timothy brought Paul encouragement, and what was the fruit of that encouragement? It energizes Paul, even in the difficulty he was experiencing in his mission, to not give in and not grow weary, but to persevere in his mission for the gospel. Encouragement is missional, it energizes fellow believers to continue their work for the Lord. To continue to show Christ’s love in a hostile world, to be generous and gracious, to be hospitable and intentional with neighbors.

Paul gets a second dose of this mission-energizing encouragement, this time from the Lord himself. At some point in his ministry to the Gentiles in Corinth, he evidently fears for his safety and is thinking about throwing in the towel, when the Lord came to him in a vision and encouraged him. That encouragement enabled him to stay for 18 more months. So listen, encouraging folks in this community isn’t just about easing their pain or discomfort, it’s about energizing their mission. It’s about giving them the strength to love God and love their neighbor. It’s mission work.

And lastly, as we see here for Paul, encouragement enables us to do more than we otherwise could do. Have you seen those videos or hear those stories about people do crazy things because of the adrenaline pumping through their bodies? Like moms who life cars to save their children? When we were in Colorado, there was a story that came out from a nearby town of a mountain lion that attacked a little boy, maybe five years old, right in his own yard. The mother was inside and saw the lion pounce, and she ran out unarmed, punched the mountain lion in the face, and grabbed its jaws, wrenched them open, and pulled her son’s head out of its mouth. Do you know how strong you have to be to man-handle a mountain lion? Her little boy was saved, suffered only minor cuts to his face, and all of this because of the adrenaline that empowered this woman to do more than she normally would be capable of.

That’s what encouragement does for us. It’s the adrenaline of the soul. Empowered by the encouragement of our fellow believers, we can do more. We can serve more. Sacrifice more. Love more. Give more. Witness more. You know this to be true! Proverbs 18 says that words have the power of life and death. Elsewhere they are described as a tree of life that brings healing. There is a power in encouragement, which is why so often in the New Testament, the church is called to be a people of encouragement, spurring one another on to love and good deeds.

So, how do we do it? How do we become a people of encouragement? I’ve got three ways for you. First, embrace the “and.” We can be frustrated AND still encourage others. We can be experiencing loss and lament AND be a support for someone. We can be hurting AND build up the church community.

This isn’t about discounting our pain and loss and frustration. It’s about acknowledging the reality of your pain while holding fast to the ultimate reality of our hope that is in the Lord Jesus. The gospel has the power to meet the world at the point of its deepest need precisely because it embraces the AND - We live in a world that is fast fading away, and a world that is breaking in as we speak. We live in a kingdom that is crumbling, and we live in a kingdom whose foundations can never be shaken. To be a source of encouragement, we need to embrace this “and.”

Second, we must commit to one another in relationships. There is a temptation today to hold relationships at arms length. We’d rather not invest, we’d rather not engage too much right now. But if we’re going to encourage the body, if we’re going to build up this community, we’ve got to dedicate ourselves to one another. We can’t be relational tourists, dropping in every now and then. We’ve got to commit for the sake of the other.

Which brings me to the last way we become people of encouragement, which is to think about how you can give, and not just what you can get. How can we deposit something into another’s life, to spur them on, to give comfort, to energize their mission - how can we deposit something into another’s life, rather thank thinking about what we can get from them, what we can withdrawal. What comfort we can receive, how will this affect me positively? No, let us think more about how we can positively affect others in this community. What can we give, rather than just what can we get. That is biblical encouragement. And it is so important.

When you look back on this time, five years from now, what will you see in your life? Will you see, this was just a time when I was cynical, bitter in my heart, critical of others, even other believers, even others in this church. Or will you look back on this time and say that that was a strong and powerful time. That was a time when I took hold of God’s promises and participated in his mission. When the gospel grounded who I was, and directed what I did. When followed in the footsteps of Christ, and I gave myself away, I died to myself for the benefit of others. When I was a source of encouragement, and committed to my community, using my words to heal and unite.

That’s what we want to see looking back, so what are the steps you plan to take to become a source of encouragement for folks in this community and for the world out there? I challenge you this morning to respond to this moment with encouragement.