In Colonial
days, wealthy ladies were proud of their wide-board oak floors. At least once a week servants would wet-rub
and then dry-rub these floors to make them shiny. It was a very simple task involving running a
wet mop along the grain of the wood and then a dry mop.
But
sometimes a careless worker would mop across the grain and it would produce
streaks on the floor. When that happened,
the lady of the house would scold the servant for "rubbing the floor the
wrong way." That is where we get
our phrase "to rub someone the wrong way." Unfortunately, I am afraid
that we often take pride in “rubbing people the wrong way”.
The lesson
today is “how to rub people the RIGHT way. And there is one surefire,
fail-safe, foolproof, guaranteed way to rub someone the right way. It works any time, any place, on practically
anybody, and the way to do it is by encouragement. It is especially a great
thing to do when someone is really having a bad day,
Encouragement
is something we all need in our lives. Human nature is so quick to tear down
rather than to build up. For every word
of encouragement we probably hear ten words of discouragement.
The Bible
talks often about “spiritual gifts”. One
that often seems to be overlooked often is “encouragement”. When writing about our
gifts, Paul says “…… God has given us different gifts for doing
certain things well……. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging.
(Romans 12:6,8)
Far too
often we are guilty of taking the time to discourage someone, but never taking
the time to encourage someone. There is
an old saying, "Write your criticisms in dust, your compliments in
marble." But so often we do
just the opposite. As the old saying
goes:
Once I did
bad and that I heard ever; Twice I did good, but that I heard never.
Encouragement must be pretty important because it is mentioned several times
in the Bible:
So
encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (1
Thessalonians 5:11)
Let
us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as
some people do, but encourage one another… (Hebrews 10:24-25
Don’t
use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so
that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. (Ephesians 4:29)
Brothers
and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are
timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. (1 Thessalonians
5:14)
We all get
discouraged and we need encouragement. There
is not any place that we need it more than in our homes and in our
churches. Don't ever underestimate the
importance of the mutual support that we gain from one another when we both
give and receive encouragement.
Today we are
going to look at a man who made the Encourager's Hall of Fame. He was everyone's best friend. He may have been the most popular Christian
in the early church. By studying his
life we can learn how to be an encourager.
We can all
be a person who brings blessings to others.
Let’s take a look of one of the great encouragers in the New Testament,
Barnabas.
Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called
Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement), Acts 4:36
One of those things we see about Barnabas that was so encouraging was that ol’ Barney put his money where his mouth was. Barnabas ". . .having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet." (Acts 4:37) The first church contained many poor people, and many times when people would come to Christ they would lose their jobs.
Furthermore,
a great revival had broken out on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem (Acts 2),
and many people had come to know the Lord Jesus who lived in other places, but
they stayed behind because they wanted to receive instruction; they wanted to
be in fellowship with other believers and they wanted to grow in the Lord. So their backs were financially against the
wall. Well, Ole Barney, being the
encourager that he was, took a valuable piece of property, sold it, and gave it
to the apostles to help meet the needs of the people.
You see, an
encourager sees a need, and then says, "I will give what I can, and I will
do what I can, to meet that need."
But now don't get the idea you have to have money to be an encourager. You may not be rich in money, but every one
of us has so much we can give to others as a gift of encouragement.
Sick people don't need money, they need a word of concern.
Lonely
people don't need money, they just need a few minutes of time.
Hurting
people don't need money, they just need a touch on the shoulder.
Discouraged
people don't need money, they just need a word of hope.
You see, an
encourager is a selfless person. He's
always trying to think how he can bless somebody else, or help somebody else,
or strengthen somebody else. By the way,
you see this same trait again in Barnabas over in Antioch. " and they
sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of
God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all
their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great
number of people were brought to the Lord. " (Acts. 14:22-24)
After Paul (his
name was Saul before he met Jesus) met Jesus on the Damascus road, he ended up back
in Jerusalem. Well, word got out very
quickly that public enemy number one was back.
You see, at that time the church considered Saul of Tarsus the most
dangerous man in the world. Nobody would
speak to him. In Jerusalem he was the
most hated and most feared man in all of Israel. In Acts 9:26-27 we read: " When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the
believers, but they were all afraid of him. They thought he was only pretending
to be a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how
Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus."
Everybody
else shut the door. James, the brother
of Jesus, he wanted nothing to do with Saul.
Peter, who had the keys to the kingdom, kept the door locked. John, the apostle of love, said, "I love anybody but Saul." Andrew, who loved normally to introduce
people to Jesus, said, "Forget it" when it came to Saul.
Then notice
v.27, "Then Barnabas. . ." Here comes ole Barney to the
rescue. Here comes the Minister of
Encouragement.
That is the
mark of a real encourager; he will champion the underdog. He will jump on the
bandwagon
when everybody else is jumping off.
He'll walk into your house when the whole world has just walked
out.
Barnabas
was an encourager, and encouragers don't look to the past, they look to the future. Barnabas didn't look at what Paul had done;
he looked at what Paul could do. He said
in effect, "Don't look at the man for what he was. Look at the man for what he is."
Let’s set a
goal for us all to become encouragers. It is very possible that we all could have
this special gift. So if
we have the gift “to encourage others” we need to get to doing
it. When people come to church
they ought to find bridges going up and barriers coming down. We ought to tear down the barrier of racism,
and build up the bridge of acceptance.
We ought to tear down the barrier of prejudice, and build up the bridge
of love. That is what an encourager
does.
If we want
to rub people the right way, every chance we get bring a blessing to others;
break barriers for others; build bridges for others. The amazing thing we will find is that we are
encouraged in the process.
