Encouragers Needed
A certain Levite named Joseph was known as an encourager. So much so that the apostles gave him the name Barnabas which means the son of encouragement (Acts 4:36). I guess that renaming people in the Bible can be similar to giving nicknames to others. And Barnabas certainly seemed to live up to his nickname as far as the accounts of him in scripture.
Our world is in need of people with the spiritual gift of encouragement yet it is often difficult to find those people in our churches. Christians, especially in America, have become so steeped into the belief that we all have democratic rights given to us by God, that we often hear more complaints in our churches than we do encouraging words. No wonder so many people complain about everything about their church...it is "their" church. I would think we would have a much more difficult time complaining if we all quit attending our own church and started attending God's church.
God designed our churches with a specific structure in mind and we, in our perceived greater knowledge and wisdom, have decided to ignore His will and create religions based on our own vision. God intended for us to have a church based on theocracy, not a democracy. God is the sole owner and authority of the church. God explains that He assigned pastors to be the shepherds of His church. Many confuse the meaning of shepherd because we think of Western shepherd who drove the sheep where they wanted them to go. The shepherd that God describes was like those in the east who led the sheep and the sheep followed them. Pastors are to be loving leaders who proclaim God's vision and plans for the church and we are instructed to follow because God's leaders cannot do it all alone. We are all a part of an enormous organization that is to function together just as a body.
So what happens when we do not have encouragers? Just like a runner training for a marathon, the body of Christ is in training for eternity. We are working to run the race that God has set before us. Many tasks are required for this race: evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, worship and ministry. But training is sometimes very tiring. The body begins to tire and some parts of the body beg for rest. Sometimes the body just doesn't feel like training. Sometimes the body wants to give up. So the body needs encouragers to help us stay focused. God's Word can do that also, but sometimes we just need to hear it from somebody. "Come on, you can do it." "We are all in this together." "Remember the goal."
I am not always the most encouraging person. My mind gets so focused on the tasks, that I sometimes forget to remind others of how much I appreciate their involvement in the process. Encouragement is not one of my spiritual gifts, so I have to constantly remind myself that this is needed. But I know that God has called others to serve Him who have this gift and I believe that the time is ripe for these people to step up and start using their gift to help motivate the body of Christ to continue on toward the goal which Jesus has set before us. Once the church has received an extra helping of encouragement, together we can be encouragers to the world. Besides, what more encouraging message could their be than the one we have to share with the world?
Our world is in need of people with the spiritual gift of encouragement yet it is often difficult to find those people in our churches. Christians, especially in America, have become so steeped into the belief that we all have democratic rights given to us by God, that we often hear more complaints in our churches than we do encouraging words. No wonder so many people complain about everything about their church...it is "their" church. I would think we would have a much more difficult time complaining if we all quit attending our own church and started attending God's church.
God designed our churches with a specific structure in mind and we, in our perceived greater knowledge and wisdom, have decided to ignore His will and create religions based on our own vision. God intended for us to have a church based on theocracy, not a democracy. God is the sole owner and authority of the church. God explains that He assigned pastors to be the shepherds of His church. Many confuse the meaning of shepherd because we think of Western shepherd who drove the sheep where they wanted them to go. The shepherd that God describes was like those in the east who led the sheep and the sheep followed them. Pastors are to be loving leaders who proclaim God's vision and plans for the church and we are instructed to follow because God's leaders cannot do it all alone. We are all a part of an enormous organization that is to function together just as a body.
So what happens when we do not have encouragers? Just like a runner training for a marathon, the body of Christ is in training for eternity. We are working to run the race that God has set before us. Many tasks are required for this race: evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, worship and ministry. But training is sometimes very tiring. The body begins to tire and some parts of the body beg for rest. Sometimes the body just doesn't feel like training. Sometimes the body wants to give up. So the body needs encouragers to help us stay focused. God's Word can do that also, but sometimes we just need to hear it from somebody. "Come on, you can do it." "We are all in this together." "Remember the goal."
I am not always the most encouraging person. My mind gets so focused on the tasks, that I sometimes forget to remind others of how much I appreciate their involvement in the process. Encouragement is not one of my spiritual gifts, so I have to constantly remind myself that this is needed. But I know that God has called others to serve Him who have this gift and I believe that the time is ripe for these people to step up and start using their gift to help motivate the body of Christ to continue on toward the goal which Jesus has set before us. Once the church has received an extra helping of encouragement, together we can be encouragers to the world. Besides, what more encouraging message could their be than the one we have to share with the world?
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