“Encouragement is like peanut butter -- the more you spread it around, the better things stick together.” —Unknown
“Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.” —William Arthur Ward (author, administrator, & educator)
There is great power and blessing in encouragement!
The Encouragement of Truth (Acts 15:31)
Context: Acts 15:24, 29. The new believers were confused. Shouldn’t the Gentiles be required to do the same things God commanded the Jews to do? Gentiles were now among Jews in the church. The Gentiles were not circumcised, but the Jews were. They were not yet required to uphold the 600 and some laws the Jews followed. These differences made some believe the Gentiles were not saved (Acts 15:1). So, in essence, Paul says in verse 24, “we did not give a commandment for the Gentiles to do these things for salvation!”
Truth can encourage us in so many ways!
Psalms 86:11- There is unity with truth.
“Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.”
John 4:24- There is genuine worship with truth.
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
John 8:32- There is freedom with truth.
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 17:17- There is power with truth. (sanctify)
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
John 14:6- Jesus is truth.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life….”
The Encouragement of Grace (15:31)
Context: Acts 15:1
In short, grace is undeserved favor. We haven’t earned God’s favor with rituals and observances of the law. If we had to earn such favor, we would be a most misery and destitute people!
Think about it this way: If Elon Musk were to approach you and say, “I want to give away 100 million dollars, but you have to earn it.” What would you do? How could one possibly “earn” 100 million dollars? What if a doctor came to you and said, “I have the cure for diabetes or cancer, but you have to earn it before I will give it to you.” Well, how does one earn 100 million dollars or the cure for cancer?!! It seems impossible! What could we possibly do that would be worth these grand gifts?
In the same manner, no one can earn the forgiveness of sin and eternal life in heaven! Paul wasn’t arguing for argument’s sake. Paul was confronting lies to protect the blessings of God’s grace alone for salvation.
The Encouragement of Unity (15:33)
We know from observation, experience, and God’s Word that discontentedness, bitterness, resentment, and envy will spread like disease among a group of people – and then bring about tremendous disunity and discord. Disunity & discord will then overflow and bring tumultuous times in a local church.
There were mob scenes in Iconium and Antioch…and in Lystra, Paul was even stoned. This discord in the community would attack the strength of unity in the church. The pursuit of unity is seen in Paul and Barnabas going back to the places that treated them so poorly (14:21). This missionary team’s decision to return to the place that persecuted them was a vital part of bringing them to the point we see in Acts 15:33.
Years ago, a piano turner told our church that our grand piano had 5 or 6 cracks in the sound board. So, we did numerous things to try and keep the piano in decent shape; however, 2 years ago the piano tuner came to tune the piano and told us it was no longer possible to tune it. He shared how he would begin tuning in the lower notes, but by the time he started tuning the mid-range notes, the lower notes were already out of tune. This meant that the piano could no longer tune to the standard of a consistent pitch. The piano was becoming more and more “disunified” and the musician could hear “discord” – not harmony. For the piano to be useful, the keys need to play to a unifying pitch.
For the church to function for the cause of the gospel, there must be unity in Christ!
The Encouragement of Sustained Ministry (15:34-35)
They didn’t pop in and pop out of Antioch... they remained in Antioch to continue preaching and teaching the Word of God. This required words of truth and genuine relationship!
Today, too many Christians will pop in and out of churches faster than they take vacations. Many pastors will change churches faster than it takes to dig deeper and truly help a church family. The Lord will most certainly move us to a different church because of doctrinal problems or because He wants to use us to reach a different group of people. However, that does not normally take place every 2 to 3 years (which is actually the habit of church shoppers). There is a deeper kind of encouragement that comes from sustained ministry.