The Ministry of Encouragement Part 11

This Preaching in Shorts sermon series is about the Ministry of Encouragement.

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This is what you should have memorized:

Hebrews 10:19-25 (NIV)
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

T – Thinking
R – Recognizing
U – Understanding
T – Talking
H – Helping

As we wind this series down we are looking at some examples of the Ministry of Encouragement and its impact on people. We talked about Barnabas last week and we saw how the ministry of encouragement was used to bring a lot of people to the Lord. Today, I thought we would look at how the Lord operated in the ministry of encouragement and in particular look at the healing power of encouragement. The first thing that we have to consider today is that…

1.) We are all spiritually sick

Mark 2:16-17 (NIV)
16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

All of us are suffering from the sickness of sin. It is a fatal condition. It is only through the cross that we can be healed. Only through Jesus. None of us is good enough in our own strength, none of us can ever try hard enough or perform well enough to be “righteous” apart from Jesus. Why then, are we so often judgmental and critical of others and their sin. Why are we so quick to focus on the way people dress, talk or act? Why do we decide to focus on certain sins and let others slip off the radar? Why do we sometimes act like contact with these people is to be avoided, as though they might infect us? We are already infected, the only difference is that in Christ we have found the ultimate cure. Not that no longer impacted by the disease of sin and its symptoms, just that through Christ it is no longer ultimately fatal for us.

The church is supposed to be a place where diseased people can find the cure, not a place where people are judged because they are sick. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have biblical and moral standards, because the Church certainly does, it means that our focus needs to be helping sin-sick people meet the cure, not consumed with pointing out their disease.

2.) The healing power of encouragement

Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Do you want people to judge you for your struggles? Do you want to be known by your failures? Do you want to be labeled by your mistakes and errors in judgment? Do you want your sin to be your namesake? Neither does anyone else and we need to consider how we relate to others.

Once we own that we are all impacted spiritually by sin (i.e. all of us are spiritually diseased) perhaps then it will be easier to put down our microscope of judgment and really start to see people the way that Jesus does, the way that we want to be seen.

During His physical ministry on earth, when Jesus looked at people, he was fully aware of the sin in their lives, and yet he chose not to make that the focus. Instead, He would look for and at the good in people, the potential people had, and He would focus on that.

You have probably heard the expression, “what you see is what you get”. Which is actually quite true, but it is significantly impacted by what you look for. Let’s look at three encounters that Jesus has with people and see the amazing healing power of encouragement in action.

a.) An adulterer

John 8:1-11 (NIV)
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

I think that when people read this story, there is a tendency to spend a lot of time thinking about what Jesus wrote, and almost everyone has their own pet theory about what He wrote in the sand. I believe there is something way more important than what He wrote, it is what He saw. The religious leaders and the crowds looked at and treated the woman caught in adultery with disgust and disdain. When they looked at her all they could see was her sin. Jesus looks at her and sees something beautiful. When you look at someone, is their sin all that you can see? Does the way that Jesus responds to her in any way say that the sin is not a big deal? No, He gives her the encouragement to change, to grow into the person that God has created her to be. To move past the label of adulterer to “child of God”. Unless you see past the sin in people’s lives to the beauty of their potential, you will never be able to encourage them to go and sin no more.

b.) A tax collector

Matthew 9:9-13 (NIV)
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew was a tax collector, and as such he was hated by the religious leaders and the people. Tax collectors were considered to be the scum of society, traitors to their nation and people that would sell themselves to the highest bidder. As such, they were ostracized by society and were not allowed in the synagogues. Matthew was not a likely candidate for the role of Apostle. And yet Jesus calls Him to follow and He does. Jesus sees the potential in Matthew, and encourages Him to change, and He does. Ultimately, Matthew would write a letter to his countrymen that would become a part of the best selling book of all time. A timeless defense of the good news of Jesus, the gospel of Matthew. In His gospel only, Matthew records something that Jesus says that demonstrates the healing power of encouragement that he found in Jesus.

Matthew 11:28 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

c.) A fisherman

Mark 1:16-17 (NIV)
16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

I have always liked Peter. I think Peter is very representative of a lot of people. He is kind of rough on the outside and he makes a lot of mistakes and he says some things that would be better left unsaid. He might not seem like great Apostle material and yet Jesus sees something in Peter that invites Peter to follow Him. Peter would be the one who would answer Jesus when he asked, “Who do you say I am?”

Mark 8:29 (NIV)
29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

But then, Peter would open his mouth again and get in trouble:

Mark 8:32-33 (NIV)
32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

Peter would later deny Jesus three times:

Matthew 26:69-75 (NIV)
69 Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said. 70 But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. 71 Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!” 73 After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.” 74 Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

But Jesus would make sure that Peter was restored and encouraged:

John 21:15-19 (NIV)
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” 16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” 17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.
18 I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

Just as Jesus had done when He first met Peter, he invites Him to follow still, and Peter, restored and encouraged, on the day of Pentecost would stand up and deliver a message that would deeply touch the hearts of people listening, and three thousand of them came to Jesus that day and the early church was begun. Peter, the fisherman, had become a fisher of men, which is just what Jesus saw when He first met him.

The ministry of encouragement has the power to heal and transform the lives of people. See people the way that God does, and encourage their potential to grow as children of God.

Related posts:

1. The Ministry of Encouragement Part 1
2. The Ministry of Encouragement Part 3
3. The Ministry of Encouragement Part 8
4. The Ministry of Encouragement Part 10
5. The Ministry of Encouragement Part 13

Tags: encourage, encouragement, Jesus moment, ministry of encouragement, Preaching in Shorts

Category: Preaching in Shorts