Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. There is an awesome untapped resource in the body of Christ. It is the difference between people having a great day or a terrible day and the word is encouragement.

You want to learn how to speak life into those you love, stay with us and find out how.

Guest (Male): I'm Dave Drury and today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram begins a series called Building Authentic Community, how to lift up those you love.

Turns out even the people who seem to have it all together, confident, successful, like they've got it all figured out, need encouragement just as much as anyone else.

Turning to first Thessalonians chapter one. Chip shows us how the Apostle Paul used the power of an encouraging word to keep a persecuted, struggling church from giving up on their faith. And we'll see why this kind of encouragement is so vital for you and me today.

Now here's Chip with the start of a message titled, How to Help Others Over Life's Humps.

Chip Ingram: When you really talk about how to get over life's humps, there's a number of things that you need. But one of the most powerful, powerful things that God has ever given us is speech.

The power of an affirming word given lovingly, authentically, as God leads is absolutely beyond what you can imagine.

In fact, the Bible is replete with multiple examples of the difference just a word can make. Proverbs 25:11 says, a word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. What a picture. Or in Proverbs 10:11, it says, the mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked.

And third, Proverbs 15:4, the tongue that brings healing is a tree of life. But a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. One simple word really makes a difference.

Now, here's the question we want to ask and answer tonight. Put simply, how can we learn to speak into the lives of people that we love in such a way that it really encourages them? I mean, that it changes them.

I'm not sure the Apostle Paul, although he was an apostle and filled with the spirit, grasped how much he was going to encourage the Thessalonians when he wrote the book to them.

And so we want to look tonight at four ways to speak life to those that we love. And our model is going to be the Apostle Paul and how he did it to the church of Thessalonica.

We're going to look at chapter one, the first ten verses. I want you to get a picture before we read this in one reading, of the people that he wrote to and how they felt and what they were going through. What was the humps that they needed to get over?

Because then when you understand that, as we walk through the passage, you'll get an idea that God really understands the humps you're going through. The Apostle Paul, he's on a second missionary journey and he's heading where he thinks God wants him to. There's open doors and open doors and open doors and he keeps preaching and sharing. He goes to every synagogue.

Late one night, he gets this this vision, this dream. The Macedonian call and he hears from God to go toward Greece. And so he gets up the next morning and tells the guys, hey, there's a change in orders. And so he travels over to Philippi. That's in Macedonia.

There's not even a synagogue there and so the practice of the day when there's not a synagogue is the faithful Jewish people would go to a riverbank and have a prayer meeting. You can pick up the story in Acts 16 if you want to read it later. He shows up and there's a lady named Lydia and boy, she comes to Christ in a group of women. Paul lands in jail later.

There's an earthquake and he and Silas are singing at night and the jailer and his whole household, they come to Christ. The Philippian church is born and I mean, for about two months he's there and more and things really take off.

He's politely asked to leave that city, which happens to him a lot. He travels by on the great Ignatian Highway that connected the Roman Empire. And he goes by two big cities, but they weren't the right ones, and he travels at least five or six days to Thessalonica.

It's a harbor city. It's got about 200,000 people. It's one of the major ports. It is a political, strategic, economic, cultural crossroads of that portion of the Roman Empire. Acts 16 and 17, we find, he does what he always does to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Week number one, he shares it and they say, interesting, we're not sure. Come back next week. So he comes the next week and he teaches and preaches in the synagogue that all the hopes, all the dreams, all the prophecies about the Messiah, he came. He died. He's been resurrected and he's alive.

They didn't go for that too much. A few people trusted Christ and he began to share with the Gentiles. By the third week, so many Gentiles were coming to the faith that the Jews got jealous and they said, get out of here.

We know from this book that he stayed in Thessalonica for at least a few months, because he received two financial gifts from the church at Philippi. He was there long enough to develop his trade because he says, I worked with my own hands. But it was a lot of persecution.

You walk downtown Thessalonica, there's idols everywhere. These people came to Christ in the midst of a great persecution and when they came to faith if they were Jewish, they were separated from their homes. So you had people whose moms and dads said, don't bother coming home.

You had wives who came to Christ, whose husband said, hey, you know what, don't bother coming home. You're disinherited. For Gentiles, they had friends and they would go to all these temples and were involved in all kind of immorality and worshiping of all these idols.

When they came to Christ, they turned from those idols to serve the living God and all of a sudden, they're not getting invited to parties anymore. Not only are they not getting invited to parties, but they're messing up the economy. Now people are mad at them. So they're isolated and they're alienated.

In fact, Paul really gets beat up on this one. So he gets run out of town. Silas is sent back to Philippi to figure out, you know, how they're doing and encourage them. Paul gets run out of town. He ends up in Athens by himself and we hear in second Corinthians, he's as discouraged and despondent as ever.

Finally, he gets refreshed by one of the fellas he's close to, Titus, ends up finally in Corinth. He came through here about some time in about 49 A.D. It's about 18, 24 months max when he writes First Thessalonians.

By this time, Silas has made the circuit. Timothy has made the circuit to check on the church and they've met him back in Corinth and he's gotten the report and he's writing this letter to a group of people that there's a high price tag for being a Christian. That it's tough, that life, economics, family relationships, social acceptability, it is all very, very difficult.

So he writes him a letter to encourage them. Now, just follow along. We're going to read, not study it yet, just listen and imagine you being one of those people. Imagine what it was like if this had happened to your life and and that little apostle guy.

Of course you've got all this joy and God's changed your life and you're forgiven and you have peace, but day to day it's tough. And you haven't seen him in about 18 months and there's probably a few days that you get so discouraged, you start doubting. Can this be true? Other days you just think, I can't take it anymore.

Other days you say, you know, what's the use? You know, we're sharing our faith, we're doing what he said, but it's not making any difference. Listen to what your mentor, Paul would say to you. To the church of Thessalonica from Paul, Silas, and Timothy.

In God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you. We always thank God for you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father, your works produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

For we know, brothers loved by God, that he's chosen you. How? Because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake? You became imitators or mimics of us and of the Lord.

In spite of the severe suffering, you welcomed the message with joy, given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia, that's Greece. The Lord's message rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, your faith in God has become known everywhere.

Therefore, we don't need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell us how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Would that be an encouraging word? Wouldn't it be good to hear that when things get really, really tough? Now, as I've looked at that and studied it and examined it, I think there's four clear things that the Apostle Paul does to encourage people whose lives have lots of humps.

They all have to do with speech. And what I'd like to do now is go through and study it with you. And briefly look at each of these four things out of these ten verses. And we'll use them as our example about how we're going to talk to one another, how we're going to talk to our mates, how we're going to talk to our friends, how we're going to talk to our bosses and employees.

We're going to learn how to communicate with our mouth in such a way that every person that you and me get around, we're going to encourage.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll get back to today's message in just a moment. But first, did you know you can actually watch Chip teach, not just hear him? Just get on YouTube, search for Chip Ingram, and hit subscribe to his channel.

There you'll find full video versions of his Bible teachings, along with entire series on marriage, parenting, leadership, and a whole lot more. Ready to watch whenever it works for your schedule. All right, now back to our message.

Chip Ingram: So let's look at verse one. First of all, I think we need to learn to bestow a blessing. Did you notice how he started it? Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, notice what he says. That's the introduction. Grace to you and peace. The root word for grace is the word joy. It's God's blessing and goodness that comes apart from our merit. And we think of peace as the absence of conflict, but this word for peace means the wholeness of God, the Shalom of God.

The very first thing he does, the first words out of his mouth are, hey, how are you doing? Are you hanging in there? You know, are you getting with the program? Huh? What is it? He bestows a blessing. Grace, God's unmerited, unlimited love for you. Grace to you and peace, his wholeness, his blessing, all of who you are in Christ, that's what I long.

Now for us, culturally that fit well with Paul, but I don't know about you, but don't try this one. Don't go to work and say, grace and peace to you. They'll think you drank something or ate something funny over the weekend. In fact, probably not even a good one to go home tonight and say, my children, my wife, my friends, grace and peace. That's probably not going to work.

So how do you bestow a blessing? I'd like to encourage you to think about blessing people whenever you leave them. When you leave your home, when you leave work, when you leave a friend. Some specifics might be just a look in the eye that's and you say, I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you.

Or you might express, God's going to use you today. You know, they're taking off or they're leaving or you're leaving, hey, I want you to know, God's going to use you today. Or even, you know, may God's peace really reign in your heart. I'm going to pray that for you today.

Another possible example that I've used in my house, just the blessing of tell someone, you know, it's a privilege. I want you to know, it's a privilege to be your friend. It's a privilege to be your mate. It's a privilege to be your dad or to be your mom.

See, it's a blessing. What you're saying is, you matter. You matter to me and you matter to God.

Second time I encourage you to give a blessing is not only when you leave someone, but at bedtime. I say this primarily for those of you that are married and have children. You know that old thing of tucking your kids in? If you're not doing it, start doing it.

Don't send kids to bed with TVs on and sit on their bed, look them in the eye, pray with them, touch them with your hands, and ask God's blessing upon their life. Do it every night. Bless your children. Evoke God's blessing and favor and grace on them. The security will be incredible.

Third is you can bless people through notes, email. You know, it's a blessing to say, I'm thinking about you today. I'm praying for you. It's a blessing to say, hey, hey, as I was praying this morning, Psalm 37:4. Just want you to know, I'm asking God to give you the desires of your heart.

Do you get the idea? Have you got it? I want to encourage you this week, if you want to speak life into those that you love, bestow a blessing, but it doesn't stop there. Notice verse two and three, Paul's appreciation. He says, we give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers.

Constantly bearing in mind, notice this, your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of God our Father. Notice the structure here. First of all, he gives thanks. He lets them know, I'm praying and when I pray, you pop up on the screen.

That's what he says. When I'm praying, Thessalonians, you pop up on the screen. And it's none of this vague, God bless you, aren't you kind of nice people? I think of the specific things that I've seen in your life. He says, I thank God specifically for three things. Number one, he says, your work produced by faith.

The word work here, we get our word energy or activity from. He says, I thank God specifically for the activity and the love, referring probably to evangelism, because we hear later how it's gone out and also for their good deeds and kind acts toward one another. But that's not enough.

He says, I thank God for your for your work that is produced by your faith in Christ, but I also thank him for your labor of love. The word labor here, prompted by love, denotes extraordinary effort. It literally meant to cut, to toil. It's a picture of someone taking bread and hitting it and trying to get it in a certain form to be useful.

Ryrie says, it's toiling to the point of exhaustion out of affection for another person. How would you like someone to pray and thank God that when they look at your life, they see activity that is other-centered because of your faith in Christ, and they see you with a self-sacrificial toil because you Agape, love God and love other people.

That'd be pretty encouraging, wouldn't it? Third thing he says though, is he says he also thanks God for their steadfastness of hope or really it's patience, or I like the best translation is endurance. The word is a compound word Hupomeno. It literally has the idea of kind of a man with weight on his back.

It means holding up or remaining under pressure. It has the idea of when things get hard, when things get difficult, when everyone else cops out, you hang in there. It means to be aggressive, to be courageous, to not give up, to not fall into self-pity, you hang in there and keep on doing when you don't feel like keep on doing.

Why? Because you're inspired by the certainty of hope. Christ is returning, God is good, God is sovereign. And then notice the last phrase, in the presence. It literally means before the face of our God and Father.

He expresses his appreciation for who they are and for what they've done. Do you do that? Boy, I think about this as a father. I hope you have a different personality than mine. I really do. My personality is fairly analytical.

When I see something, the thing that pops out immediately is what's wrong or how it can be improved. You know, if you're a kid, you know what you hear a lot of? Oh, yeah, that's real good except for. Or yeah, yeah, but, you know, do you know how demotivating that is?

You see, people who are constantly expressing appreciation, Thanksgiving, boy, those are people that motivate and lift up and build up. You know what Paul basically did? He said, this is what you're doing right. And I thank God for it.

I'm not being vague, and I'm not blowing smoke. I'm talking about these three specific things. And by the way, it's happening. You want some encouragement. It's happening before the very face of God and he sees what's going on too. Boy, wouldn't that be encouraging?

Let me give you a practical application. Ken Blanchard, he's the author of the One Minute Manager and a number of other books. In fact, Raving Fans is one that would really flow right out of this passage.

And he says in that, tell people what they're doing right. Wander around and catch people doing stuff right and then praise them. And then he says, make it progressive. Don't wait until they have it perfect. When you see people making little inclinations toward doing better, praise them and appreciate them for the progress they're making.

Some of us are waiting until people get it completely right. They're never going to get it completely right because they're a lot like us. Right? How are you doing expressing your appreciation? Have you told a friend that lately? Have you told your parents that lately?

Have you told fellow workers, people that you do ministry with lately? How much you really appreciate. And by the way, jot down under that, be specific, not vague. Second, be objective, not just feelings. Specific and objective things they've done, not just, oh, I feel so good, I get to be your dad or I feel so good we get to work together.

That's nice. But be specific, be objective, and then include some biblical truth. Notice how the Apostle Paul did that? I thank God for these three things. You want some truth to go along with that? All these things are happening right before God. He sees it too.

You can speak life into people's lives if you get in the habit of bestowing a blessing, number one, and number two, expressing your appreciation for who they are and for what they do and what they've done.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And a message titled, How to Help Others Over Life's Humps, the very first lesson in our series, Building Authentic Community, how to lift up those you love.

Remember, if you ever want to revisit or share anything you hear on this program, you can always find these Bible teachings by going to our website, livingontheedge.org. Today's message reminds us how much a simple word of encouragement can matter. And that's really what love in action looks like.

We all long for that deep, unwavering conviction that we're loved just exactly as we are, flaws and all. But in a world that sells love as a fairy tale that simply happens to you, the reality can often feel like a constant letdown. In his book, I Choose Love, How to Love Your Neighbor as Yourself, Chip Ingram challenges everything you thought you knew about love.

He reveals that true, lasting love isn't a passive feeling you wait for.