Encouragement in simple things…
I’ve posted before about how I’ve been encouraged by the church. I’m often encouraged (exhorted, admonished, taught, etc.) in scheduled times of teaching. But, sometimes the most encouraging times can be a simple, unplanned, spontaneous response to how God is working in the life of a brother or sister in Christ.
One of our sisters in Christ (You first met her in a post called “What really matters…“) shared with us during our last Lord’s Supper/Fellowship. She told us that she had a rough week. But, God had continually ministered to her through an old song: Great is Thy Faithfulness. She said she didn’t even know all of the words, but one phrase kept repeating in her head: “All I have needed thy hand hath provided”.
We all agreed that we needed to be reminded of God’s faithfulness, so we sang the first verse and chorus together:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
One of our brothers remarked that that song references Lamentations 3, so we read this passage together:
Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3:22-24 NKJV)
This was such a special time, and it all began with someone being willing to share about how God used one line of a song to encourage her, and with the church giving her opportunity to share. This led to all of us being reminded that God is faithful, and that He is our portion. And, as the last phrase says, “Therefore, I hope in Him!”
Unplanned… unrehearsed… unchecked… simple… heartfelt… encouragement.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:16-17 NKJV)
What really matters…
This seems to be the week for me to discuss some local friends that God has placed in my family’s life. On Monday, in a post called “Encouraged by the church again“, I shared a very encouraging thank-you note that one friend gave me. On Tuesday, in a post called “Relationships and Ministry“, I shared the story of another friend who was meeting with believers closer to his home and serving with them. Then, on Friday, in a post called “Exhortation to remain faithful…” (the title was much too long), I discussed a passage that was brought up by my friend Leah. So, here is another one…
I (and other friends) recently received an email from a friend of ours. She gave me permission to publish her email here. I’ve changed the names to protect the innocent. I hope it encourages (and convicts) you as it did to me.
Dear Friends… I’ve had quite a day… I thought I’d share.
How insanely small is my perspective? How incredibly short-sighted am I? How quick am I to anger? How tiny are the things that I let get to me? How unaware am I of what is important? Let me tell you… it is small, short, quick, tiny, and very.
My husband and I have had a kind of tough week. We’ve been bickering about just about everything. We both feel kind of beat up and worn out. Let me give you an example of what we bicker about. My husband gets home from UPS at 10:30PM. I tell him that I might be able to pick up a Wednesday night shift at the restaurant. He says “will you please pick it up, we need the extra money”. My response should have been “Sure darling dearest! I want to help our family in any way I can” Can you guess what my response was? I bet you can’t! I said “I JUST SAID I WAS GOING TO PICK IT UP!” and then I continued with my madness with, “I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’D ASK ME TO WORK MORE THAN I ALREADY AM!” For clarification purposes you should know that I don’t work more than 20 hours a week at the restaurant so this is a ludicrous statement from the get go. Of course at this point my husband must be thinking, “Who is this person? What did I say? Are we having the same conversation?” As you can imagine, knowing me, the rest of the conversation continued downhill.
These are not rare occasions that I decide to over-react. I know you are all thinking “You? Over-react? NO!!” But it’s true, I am too quick to anger. Another example from today: I was working and a couple came at 11:00 (what time we open). They didn’t leave until 3:00 (an hour after I’m usually gone). The couple occupied one of my four tables for my entire shift and they left me four dollars, less than 20%. I was LIVID! I told all my co-workers how mad I was and that I can’t believe how rude people are sometimes. As soon as I left, I called my husband and told him how mad I was and that I CANNOT believe these people… “if I ever see them come in again I’m going to tell them to go sit in someone else’s section!”
Remember, I am in my car at this point, driving home from work. About ten seconds after I get off the phone with my husband I hear this loud crash. I can’t see what happened because there is a garbage truck right in the middle of the intersection ahead of me. All the cars in front of me started going around this truck when the light turns green, and I start thinking, “Great! Stupid man can’t drive and now I’m not going to make it through this green light!” I do make it through the light, and on the other side of this truck I see glass everywhere. I see people on the other side of the highway jumping out of their cars and running towards me. I see the truck driver grabbing a fire extinguisher and jumping out of his truck. I look to my right as I continue to pass the truck and I see what used to be a Toyota Camry. I see a fire. I see that the drivers side door is now somewhere on the passenger’s side of the car. I see that there is no way that anyone is getting out of this car alive. And then, I don’t see anything at all because I can’t stop the hot tears from gushing down my face. I start screaming “GOD, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, let them know You!!”
I keep driving home because I know that there is nothing that I can do. I just cry and pray and cry. I keep thinking, somebody just lost a brother, or a sister, or a daughter, or a son, or a friend, or a husband, or a wife. After several minutes of those thoughts I begin to personalize the shock. I begin to think about what my husband and I have been arguing about. I begin to think about all the opportunities to do what was right that I passed up. I think about all the times I consider calling my mother or sister but don’t because I’m just too tired. I start to see how selfish I am, and how careless I am with my words. I see that I have this unconscious attitude of being unbeatable. I can’t die, or be hurt, or lose an argument. I see that I think I deserve so much. I deserve a bigger tip. I deserve a better section. I deserve a bigger thank you. I deserve for my husband to tell me to put my feet up. I deserve a vacation from my 20 hours a week. I deserve only green lights. I don’t think about how I deserve hell. I don’t think about how God provides, not the people who come camp out in the restaurant. I don’t think about how my husband works 60 hours a week. I don’t think about how much I’ve been given. I am alive, I have my parents, I have my Savior, I have a healthy beautiful nephew, I have loving in-laws, I have a sister who would walk through fire for me, I have a husband who works 60 hours a week so that I can work 20 and take care of our house… so that I can be what I’ve always wanted to be when I grow up, a wife and a mother, I have a church body that bends over backwards every time we have a “crisis”, I have friends that laugh with me, I have so much more than I deserve. Nothing in this world teaches us that we don’t deserve a single good thing. We are taught that we deserve a new car, we deserve a big house, we deserve a family, we deserve, deserve, deserve… So often in my arguments with my husband this phrase is said, “I DON’T DESERVE TO BE TREATED THIS WAY!” Well sure you do! You deserve a lot worse!
I have a problem with anger. I have a problem with my temper. I have a problem with forgetting the lessons that I learn. I will probably lose this shock-induced clarity in about a week. I just wanted to share this with you so that maybe you could have a week of clarity with me. Maybe this time it will stick, maybe our perspectives will change. Or maybe we just need to help remind each other of what really matters.
Encouraged by the church again…
Last night, a dear friend of our family handed me a hand-made card with a very encouraging note inside. I asked her if I could share it here, and she said that I could. I pray that this encourages you as much as it encourages me:
I want to say “thank you” for the way you “pastor” our church family. We were talking with another couple today over lunch and I shared with them that I’ve always been a person that is very “involved” at church (volunteering for this & that), but I’ve never been more challenged to minister than I have been as part of this church. Your philosophy of ministry, that each member is to minister, causes me to continually reflect on how I personally am ministering to/through the church. When I see a need not being met, I know that instead of just complaining about it, I should pray about and act on it. Thank you for this challenge you have given me. I pray that I will depend more on the Holy Spirit to use me within the body.
How encouraging! This dear sister has stopped trying to “get involved” in church programs, and has started seeking God’s will for how he wants her to serve others.
How does God want you to serve?
Not forsaking, but encouraging…
I have read several commentaries, articles, essays, and blog posts that use Hebrews 10:25 as an proof that Christians should regularly attend Sunday morning meetings. But, is that what Hebrews 10:25 teaches? First, read the verse within its context:
Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. (Heb. 10:19-25 NASB)
Notice how the phrase “not forsaking our own assembling” relates to the other parts of this sentence, since this is actually one long sentence.
Since therefore, brethren,
- we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,
- and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
- let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
- and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another;
- and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
(Some of this may be a little technical. If you get bogged down, please keep reading. I try to explain things in both a technical and also a non-technical way.)
Notice that this sentence is composed of one conditional clause (“Now therefore, brethren, since…”) followed by three subjunctive clauses used as commands, then an adverbial clause describing how we should do these commands.
In other words, the author is saying since we have confidence and since we have a high priest, as a response to these things, we should (as a command) do three things: 1) draw near with a sincere heart, 2) hold fast the confession, and 3) consider how to stimulate one another. In fact, we should do these three things “all the more” because the day (return of Christ) is drawing near.
The first two commands are fairly straightforward. First, we are to draw near to God – “to God” is implied because the author has just told us that there is a new and living way into the very holiest place, which is the presence of God to the author of Hebrews (see Heb. 9:24-25). Second, we are to hold fast to our confession, that is, our faith. We can do this because our faith is in God, and God does not waver or falter or change his mind. He keeps his promises.
How do we carry out these commands? Do we do them individually or corporately? Well, we certainly help one another with this. However, you cannot draw me near to God. You cannot hold fast my confession. In the same way, there is no group, church, organization, institution, etc. who can do these things for any believer. These are individual requirements.
The phrase that we are interested in (“not forsaking our own assembling together”) is actually part of the third command, and it is carried out in response to the conditional clause. This is important. The phrase does not stand by itself, and it should not be removed from this context.
Furthermore, the phrase describes what the author means when he says that we should “consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds”. We do this (“stimulate one another to…”) by “not forsaking” which is followed quickly by “but encouraging”. So, the opposite of “not forsaking” is “encouraging”. This also is very important. The author wants the readers (and us) to think seriously about how to stimulate other believers toward “love and good deeds”. How does he expect us to do that? He does not want us to “forsake” our meeting togther, but instead he wants us to encourage one another. Apparently, some were already “forsaking” their meeting together. (I have previously published an examination of this word “forsaking” in a post called “Not Forsaking the Assembling of Ourselves Together“. In that post, I argue that “not forsaking” means something like “not giving up your responsibilities”.)
The author of Hebrews expects us to lead others toward a life of love and good deeds. In order to do this, he understands that we must encourage one another. Instead, he finds that some of the believers are giving up their responsibilities when they meet together. This could happen in several ways, at least two of which come to mind.
First, the believers could stop meeting together. If this happened, then they would not be able to carry out their responsibilities toward one another; they would not be able to encourage one another. They would be “forsaking” their meeting together. This is usually the only case that is considered, and it is usually assumed that this “meeting together” must be an official meeting (sometimes called “Sunday Morning Worship Service”). However, this is not what the text says. Instead, the author could have any meeting of believers in view. If the readers stopped meeting with other believers at all, then they could not encourage one another.
Second, the believers may have been meeting with one another, but they were neglecting their responsibilities toward one another. In this case, they were still guilty of “forsaking” their assembling together. In other words, attendance alone does not allow a believer to keep this command. Meeting with other believers plus encouraging other believers is necessary to carry out the meaning of this passage.
But, when we gather together, surely believers are encouraged even if we do nothing, right? Yes, but that is not the point here. Other believers may have drawn near to God, but that does not mean that I have. Other believers may be holding fast to the confession of faith, but it doesn’t mean that I am. Other believers may be thinking about others and how to stir up love and good deeds within them, but it doesn’t mean that I do that.
Just as the other commands are individual requirements (“draw near” and “hold fast”), so also this command is an individual requirement.
Think about this carefully. If this examination is correct, then no group, church, leader, organization, pastor, preacher, etc. can carry out this requirement for you. God expects each individual believer to build up other believers by thinking carefully about them and stirring up love and good deeds within them, by not neglecting their responsibilities when they meet, but by encouraging other believers.
I am afraid that in many cases, believers have neglected this command, and have handed their responsibilities over to others. Many times, believers are happy to sit, sing, and listen, because they think they are obeying God by attending. Is God interested in attendance? No more than he was interested in burnt offerings and sacrifice. God is interested in obedience.
One more point before I finish. Notice that, in this passage, there is no particular meeting in view. This means that anytime believers get together, they have responsibilities toward one another… whether they are gathering officially on Sunday mornings, or whether they get together for coffee. We must never neglect our responsibilities toward one another, but instead we must encourage one another.
Schnelle on Building up the Church…
This is an excerpt from Udo Schnelle’s Apostle Paul: His Life and Theology, translated by M. Eugene Boring (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005), page 221:
The Goal: Building Up the Church. The Spirit that proceeds from God and is effective in Christ is manifest in a variety of ways, but it is “one and the same Spirit†(1 Cor. 12:4). It leads into a wealth of diversity but not into the poverty of division. It belongs to its essence to establish unity, because it is itself “one Spirit”. The Spirit’s unifying work is seen especially in the fact that it generates what benefits the church (12:7, “the common good”) and what serves its “edification” (building up; cf. 1 Cor. 14). All charismatic gifts must be measured by this fundamental principle: “Let all things be done for building up” (14:26).
Encouraged by the church…
Okay, so we gathered with the church this weekend… several times. Two things stand out from this weekend that greatly encouraged me. These were not the only two things that encouraged me. I was encouraged by some songs that were sung. I was encouraged by teaching. I was encouraged as several people shared words of thanksgiving and praise. I was encouraged by a “baby shower” (I did not attend though). But, what two things did the church do that encouraged me the most this weekend?
- We were spontaneously (that is, unplanned) invited to share pancakes with a couple of families Saturday evening.
- A good friend came out in the freezing rain to bring us key lime pie for our anniversary. Our anniversary was actually last weekend, but there was sickness in his family and our family last weekend. So, his family remembered us this weekend.
I pray that God has used me to encourage other believers as well… maybe even in small things like pancakes and key lime pies.
Did she or didn’t she?
Grace at Emerging Grace asks whether or not she is guilty of “forsaking the assembling” in a post called “Forsake Not…“
I’ve written about this topic in this blog post: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together“. Is this passage (Hebrews 10:24-25) warning believers to attend a meeting, or is it teaching them to encourage one another when they are together? If the warning is to attend a meeting, then the majority of believers are doing great! If, instead, the author of Hebrews is warning his readers not to stop encouraging one another, then some of us may be missing something here.
So, did Grace “forsake” or did she not?
Barth on Edification…
The following quote is from Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics IV.2 (Trans. G.W. Bromiley Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1958, page 627):
In modern times, under the influence of Pietism, we have come to think in terms of the edification of the individual Christians—in the sense of their inward inspiration and strengthening and encouragement and assurance. The cognate idea has also arisen of that which is specifically edifying. Now all this is not denied. It is, included in a serious theological concept of upbuilding. But it is only included. In the abstract, it is quite impossible. Even in Jude 20, which as far as I know is the only verse to which appeal may be made, epoikodomein [to edify, to build up] cannot possibly mean private edification. No such thing is ever envisaged in the New Testament. The New Testament speaks always of the upbuilding of the community. I can edify myself only as I edify the community.
When I was reading through this passage the first time, that last statement stopped me in my tracks: “I can edify myself only as I edify the community.” How many times have I gathered together with the church only to consider what would build me up? How many times have I looked back on songs sung, Scripture read, or sermons preached only to consider what I got out of them myself?
If we are supposed to edify one another at all times, and especially when the church gathers, then our thoughts should not be on ourselves. Instead, we must consider what builds up (matures) the community as a whole. If we are obedient in this, then we are obeying, honoring, and worshiping God.
Are we building up the individual or the community?
Are you involved in church growth?
God has a church growth method:
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV)
According to this passage, every believer should be involved in God’s church growth method. Lately, I have been asking myself what part I play in making the body grow and build itself up in love. So, what are you doing to make the body grow?
Update: Perhaps a better way to ask this is: How is God working through you to grow (that is, edify) his church?
Mutual Edification and Activities…
(Part 5 in a series on the implications of mutual edification as the purpose of the gathering of the church): I have argued previously that the purpose for the gathering of the church in the New Testament is mutual edification (1 Cor 14:26)—each believer building up other believers and being built up himself or herself (see here, here, and here). If most churches understand their purpose in gathering to be something other than edification (i.e. worship or evangelism), then this change in understanding will have significant implications for the contemporary church. These implications fall into both philosophical as well as practical categories.
This series will examine several of the implications of mutual edification for the gathering of the church.
Fifth, and finally, believers should remember that while certain activities may aid in the edification of the church, the activities themselves do not please God. Even eating the Lord’s Supper, which Jesus commanded the church to partake in order to remember his sacrificial death, does not please God if the believers eat and drink in a way that does not build up others (1 Cor. 11:20-21).
There are many activities that believers performed during the gathering of the church in the New Testament, including teaching, reading, praying, sharing (partnership), debating, disciplining, prophesying, speaking in tongues (with interpretation), and breaking bread. However, incorporating certain activities in the meeting does not necessarily mean that the church is edifying itself. Activities do not produce a successful gathering of the church; mutual edification does.
Modern pragmatism teaches that churches should imitate the activities of other groups of believers who are “successful.†Scripture teaches that churches must work to ensure that the body of Christ is built up during their meetings.
If the purpose of the gathering of the church is mutual edificatio – and I believe it is – then there are certainly other implications. If you think of other implications, tell us about them in the comments.
Implications of Mutual Edification Series:
1. Mutual Edification and Individualism
2. Mutual Edification and Leadership
3. Mutual Edification and Excellence
4. Mutual Edification and Reverence
5. Mutual Edification and Activities