Hi, I'm David Bercot, and today we're going to be talking about how to be an encourager. When I talk with friends and with various listeners of mine, so often I hear that their church is going through struggles. This is extremely common, and it's sad that committed Christians so often can't work together in harmony. I mean, not that lax and liberal professing Christians do any better because they have their church issues as well. But ideally, as kingdom Christians, our church life should be at a higher level.
Now, I certainly don't have the answer for all the church problems out there because they come from many different sources. However, there is one simple thing that all Christians can do that can make a colossal difference in our church life. Paul talks about this one simple thing in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 through 11, and I'm going to read that.
He says, " For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. " Now, we're going to be revisiting this verse in my message on what the early Christians believed about assurance of salvation.
But right now, I want to focus just on that last sentence where Paul said, " Therefore encourage one another and build one another up. " The New Testament churches certainly had their share of problems. But to the best of anyone's knowledge, not a single New Testament church ever split or fell apart. They were all still around and thriving in the second century. Even churches like Corinth and Laodicea who had their issues and failings and that we often think of as problem churches.
And I'm sure that one of the things that helped the New Testament churches to thrive and to endure was their commitment to encourage one another and to build one another up just as Paul admonished them. In fact, Paul practiced the very thing he preached. For example, I want to read to you some of the things that Paul said in the introductory parts of his letters to various churches. We'll start with his letter to the Romans.
Romans 1:8, he said, " First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. " Wow, what an encouragement that would be to hear that the faith of your church is spoken of throughout the whole world.
When he was writing the Corinthians, he said, " I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, sometimes we think of the Corinthians as a fallen church, which they weren't.
Paul had to certainly give them some corrections, but they were a faithful, strong church, and he starts off his letter by giving them some encouraging words. When he wrote to the Ephesians, he said, " I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. " That's Ephesians 1:15 through 16. So he told them, " Hey, I've heard all about your love.
" Wouldn't that be an encouraging thing to hear that an apostle says, " Hey, I've heard about the love of your church, how wonderful it is. " When he wrote to the Philippians, Philippians 1:3 through 4, he said, " I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine, making requests for you all with joy. " So he told them, " I thank my God for you. I appreciate you that much.
" To the Colossians, he said, " To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. " So he begins his letter again by mentioning that he had heard of their faith and of their love for all the saints, building them up before he went on to give them any admonition.
I'll read one more to the Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 1, 2, and 3, he says, " We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.
Again, wouldn't it make you feel good to get a letter like that where someone as preeminent as the apostle Paul says that he personally remembers your church and he remembers the work of your faith and the labor of your love, all of these wonderful things about you. So, Paul was an encourager. He was someone who genuinely appreciated the brothers and sisters in the churches to whom he ministered. Yes, he never hesitated to give strong admonition to these churches when it was needed.
But the fact that Paul was such an encourager I'm sure made it a lot easier for those churches to receive the admonition he was giving them. And from everything we know in history, they did receive and apply the admonition he gave them. Now, of course, few of us are writing letters to congregations. So the question is, what can we do to become encouragers, to be people like Paul who build others up? Well, from the example of Paul, I think we can see that being an encourager begins inside of us.
It begins with having a genuine love for our brothers and sisters. If we don't love others, our encouragement is going to end up being artificial. Plus, we're going to have a hard time being a constant encourager if we don't think encouraging thoughts about our brothers and sisters when we're not around them. So as I said, being an encourager starts on the inside. We need to love others, and we need to regard them highly.
Paul was such an encourager because he was always thinking about the ones in these various churches. And he was continually praying for them. And he was thinking about the good things about those churches. He didn't just think about the problems they were having. When we love our brothers and sisters, it means we're going to be concerned about their well-being.
It means that without knowing any specifics, we can be fairly certain that in any given week, most of our fellow Christians will have gone through some trials. They might be big ones, they might be little ones. At a minimum, they've experienced various stresses and various discouragements. In other words, everyone can use some encouragement on a daily or weekly basis. Now, I want this message to focus on the practical. That is, what are some concrete steps we can take as individuals to be encouragers?
So that's what we're going to be doing throughout most of this message. I'm going to start with some of the easiest steps first. In fact, some of these initial steps don't take any extra time on our part whatsoever. So if you're thinking, " Oh, I'd like to be more of an encourager, but I just have so little extra time these days. " Well, there are things you can do that don't take any extra time, no matter how busy you are. These are things you can put into practice right away.
And I'm going to be starting with things we can do at church or at small Bible study groups or at other times when we're fellowshipping with our brothers and sisters. Now, most of these things we can apply at any time, but like I say, I'm going to be giving them in the context of being at church. Okay, number one is smile. That's pretty simple, isn't it? Just smile. It doesn't take any extra time. But what a huge difference it makes when it's a sincere, genuine Christian smile. It builds other people up.
It's an encouragement to them. Now think about it for a moment. When you come to church, how does it make you feel when people greet you with a smile? Perhaps they're even across the room and they can't come over and personally talk to you. But when they see you, they give you a nice smile. It means a lot, doesn't it? Now, I'm going to give you a brief little exercise to do. I want you to picture in your mind three or four of the people in your church. Picture them one at a time.
For each one, think about that person's face. When you picture their face, do you think of them with a smile on their face? Or do you think of them as usually having a somber look, or perhaps a busy look, or maybe a downcast or sad look? Now, of course, there may not be a lot you can do about someone else's smile, but you can do a lot about your own smile. Stop and think about this exercise for a moment.
When other people picture you in their minds, do you think they normally think of you as someone who has a smile on your face? Or when your name comes up and they conjure up a look of you in their mind, do they think of somebody with a sad expression on their face or a somber expression? Well, what we want to accomplish is that when they think of you, they think of somebody with a smile.
Now, in some ways, I hesitate to tell people to go through the exercise I've just described because I don't know what the answer would be about myself when they think about David Bercot. You see, I'm one of those persons who literally has to consciously work on having a smile on my face. A smile is not something that comes natural for me, and this doesn't have anything to do with my disposition. I think I'm as happy as most other people.
The problem is that I had the misfortune of being born with a strange bodily mechanism. You see, when I smile a normal smile, when I have a happy face, it looks to everyone else like I'm frowning. Seriously. And I didn't even realize I had this problem until I was in my mid-teens. I do remember in my earlier teens, different people coming up to me at church and saying, you know, David, it takes 43 muscles to frown and only 17 muscles to smile. Well, I didn't quite get it why they were mentioning that to me.
And even as a teen, I think I've tended to be a questioner. And so I didn't necessarily believe what they were saying. And from what I've learned since, I think that's definitely a myth. But I didn't get why they came up and mentioned it to me. In fact, it happened several times that people said this to me. You see, when I was growing up, I belonged to a sect that we tended to make it a practice to admonish other people.
If there was something in their Christian life that was lacking, we tended to go and say something to them about it, hopefully in a nice way. I think often we carried it to an extreme, but there was some benefit in the fact that people did speak into your life. Now, again, like I said, I didn't get it why they said it to me, because I thought, " Okay, that's interesting. It takes less muscles to smile if that had been true. " And I thought, well, good, because I smile a lot.
Well, the realization came home one day to me. It was a spring day. I was about 15, and I was going to the public library. I'm not sure if I was doing some homework there or was just going to check out a book to read, or maybe some records. Our local public library had a nice collection of classical music, and I often checked out records from them. Anyway, like I say, it was a lovely spring day. I was just happy. There was a bounce in my step.
I had a big smile on my face, just feeling happy with everyone in the world. And just when I came up to the door of the library, this woman who was perhaps in her 40s, she opened the door and was coming out. And as she passed me on the steps of the library, she looked at me and she said, " Is it that bad? " And then she went on. Well, I was speechless. It was like, huh? And I remember I went into the library and I went and sat down and I was trying to figure it out. Why did she say that to me? I'm in a great mood.
I'm thinking everything is right with the world. Why did she think that I was thinking everything was wrong? Well, and as I reflected on it, I thought, I wonder if when I'm smiling, it looks like I'm frowning. So when I went home, I went to the mirror and I gave my normal smile. And I discovered, sure enough, when I'm smiling, it looks like I'm frowning. So that woman thought I had a big frown on my face when I thought I had a big smile on it. Like I say, that was when I was about 15 and I'm 70 now.
And just before beginning this message, I went to my mirror again and gave my normal smile. And sure enough, it still looks like I'm frowning when I'm smiling. The edges of my mouth are turned down when they should be turning up because I'm happy. I'm smiling, at least in my mind I am. But that's the way my bodily mechanics were built. And there may be a lot of you who are programmed that way. I doubt I'm the only one on earth. So I'm going to encourage you to go to your mirror and smile.
I don't mean an exaggerated smile, just a normal smile, and see how you look. Can other people tell that you're smiling? Or does it perhaps look like you're even frowning like happens with me? Now, there is a way around this. If you have the same problem that I do, you can't help how you were designed, but you can work on having a smile. I've found for myself I have to make a conscious effort to have an animated look on my face if I want to look like I'm smiling. It's not going to work to just have my normal smile.
People are going to think I'm frowning at them. I have to make a point to have a big smile to make sure my eyes brighten up and my whole face lightens up. And that way people will know that I'm smiling at them. And of course, that's a bit of work. And it's something like you say I have to consciously do because it's not going to come natural. But I do believe that it is important to smile. So I do go to the effort to do that.
Now, other people can tell you how successful I am, whether I remember to do it all the time or not. I probably don't. But the important thing is, I want people to know that I'm smiling at them because I know that's encouraging. But most of you aren't handicapped with the problem that I have. Smiling isn't going to take much effort for you at all. But either way, whether it takes some effort or not, it doesn't take a single minute of extra time. And yet, what a difference it makes to other people.
As I said a few minutes ago, think for a moment how you feel when someone smiles at you. Doesn't matter whether it's at church or not, but particularly at church. It warms you up inside. It cheers you up. In short, it's one of those little things that people do that encourages you. And if everyone at church would regularly smile at everyone else every Sunday or every Wednesday night, imagine how much you would look forward to being with others in your congregation every week.
I mean, just being there would uplift you and brighten your spirits before anything was ever said. Well, and hopefully that's the very thing you are experiencing in your church. But that's not the case for all of us. Because unfortunately, somewhere along the way, and I don't know if it was from the Calvinists or what, exactly. I don't want to pick on them.
But when you think of the Puritans and other Calvinists, you do normally think of them as having a very somber expression, whether that's a fair stereotype or not. But somewhere along the line, this idea originated that we should have a somber expression on our face when we're at church. Of course, certainly we don't want to have a silly grin on our face or to take church lightly. But being serious about our Christianity doesn't mean that we need to go around with a somber look on our face.
In fact, I would argue just the opposite. Christianity is a joyful religion. If we do take our Christianity seriously, then we should have a joyful smile on our faces, particularly when we're with our brothers and sisters. So that's step number one of how to encourage others. Simply have a smile on your face. All right, step number two on how to be an encourager is to be an encouraging listener.
Now, we're still looking at a church service, and so we're going to be talking about being an encouraging listener during church. Whether it's a sermon, a Sunday school lesson, or any other type of message. Now, if you've never spoken in public, perhaps you've never thought about this whole subject. You may think of a sermon as a one-way conversation. The speaker talks and you silently listen. But you need to make it a two-way conversation. Well, how do you do that? It's by being an encouraging listener.
Well, what does that mean? Well, the best and easiest way to be an encouraging listener is to simply pay attention during this sermon or the Bible lesson. A speaker can tell whether you're listening or not, and just by being an attentive listener, you're giving him a huge amount of encouragement. And once again, this doesn't take even one extra second of your time. You're there at church anyway. But you can be an encourager just by being an attentive listener.
But now there's a second thing you can do to take this up to an even higher level. Now, this isn't something that comes naturally for most of us, but it's something we can all learn to do with some practice. And that next level is to not only listen attentively, but to listen with an encouraging smile. I've personally preached in many different churches during my lifetime, not just a lot of churches, but a lot of different kinds of churches.
Yet in almost every single one of them that I've ever preached at, there's nearly always been at least one person in the audience who listens with a big, encouraging smile on their face. And I can't tell you how uplifting that is to the speaker. It makes speaking a joyful experience because you feel like at least one person out there is really appreciating what you're saying.
And of course, when I'm speaking, I usually make it a practice to look at that smiling person a lot because, like I say, it encourages me as I'm speaking, and I feed off of their energy. Probably every speaker, no matter how seasoned they are, no matter how good they are at speaking, that somewhere during their message, they begin to wonder whether they're really reaching their audience, or perhaps their sermon is beginning to drag.
So, when just one person is listening with a big supportive smile, that makes you feel so good as a speaker. Now, just right now, off the top of my head, as I'm saying this, several names and faces immediately pop into my head of people that I've noticed through the years that they invariably listen with a big, encouraging smile on their face. I'll just mention a few of the names that I've noticed. Dean Taylor is one, Finny Kuruvilla, Harry Argo, Brandon Biler, and John D. Martin.
And I know there's plenty of others. Those are the ones that just immediately come to my mind. Now, you may or may not know who those brothers are, but if you do know who they are, you probably recognize one thing they all have in common. And that is, they're all really excellent speakers themselves. And I think that's why they're also encouraging listeners. It's because they know how much they appreciate those kind of listeners when they're the one speaking.
Now, thankfully, as I've said, nearly every congregation I've ever been at has someone who listens with a big, supportive smile. And just as often, it's a sister as it is a brother. And when I speak at a church, these encouragers are often people I don't even know. I may be speaking at a totally unfamiliar congregation. And as I speak, I'm scanning all of the faces before me. And boom, there they are. They stand out like a beacon. There's that person with this big, supportive smile.
So, as I'm speaking during the rest of my sermon, I keep returning to them to look at them for continued encouragement. Now, I'll be perfectly honest with you. Listening to a sermon with a big encouraging smile doesn't come naturally to me at all. Now, being a good listener in church has been a habit I've developed since childhood. That now just is second nature. But I honestly don't know whether I'm usually smiling or not during a sermon.
And unfortunately, if I am smiling, it probably looks to the speaker like I'm frowning. So I have to continually remind myself to work on this aspect. Because I want to be the most encouraging listener I can be. And even if I can't remember to be smiling throughout the entire sermon, I can at least during different parts of it to be sure to give the speaker a big supportive smile. But the main thing is to be an attentive listener. Every speaker appreciates that, and that's something everyone can do.
But what's the opposite of being an encouraging listener? It's being a discouraging one. And unfortunately, almost every congregation has discouraging listeners. In fact, I've been at churches where those kind of people make up the majority. And when it is, I can tell you it makes it really hard to get through a sermon in a church like that. It just sucks the energy out of you as a speaker. So what are some ways you might end up being a discouraging listener and not even realizing it?
Well, to begin with, just by not being an attentive listener, you're being a discouraging one. Just sitting there in your seat with a blank disinterested look. Oh, that really drains a speaker. Even worse is to be talking to the person next to you or passing notes to someone during the message. But you know what's worse of all? At least for me, it's someone sleeping during the sermon. Personally, there are few things I find more insulting and more discouraging than to have someone sleeping while I'm speaking.
I mean, imagine how you would feel if you were talking to someone in your living room. And then as you were talking, they slowly began to nod their head drowsily, and then finally they just fell asleep there right on your sofa. I mean, you'd probably assume they were feeling ill or something, but if it wasn't that, it wouldn't make you feel very good, would it? In fact, you would obviously conclude they weren't finding the conversation very interesting and you wouldn't want to go on with the conversation.
Well, it's no different during a sermon. If you fall asleep during a sermon, or it could be a Sunday school lesson, or you nod your head drowsily, it's the same thing as telling the speaker that you don't find his message very interesting. And that's pretty discouraging when you're the one up there speaking. But what if you're really trying to be a good listener and you find you frequently have trouble falling asleep or becoming drowsy during church? Well, there are several practical steps you can take.
The first one is to make sure you're getting a good night's sleep beforehand. Saturday night is not the night to stay up late. Make it a habit to always get to bed at a decent hour on Saturday night. And when I see young people sleeping in church, I can almost guarantee you it's because they were out late on Saturday night and I'm not against young people having recreation or fellowship with other young people. But make it Friday night or Saturday afternoon.
Or if it's going to be Saturday night, make sure that it ends at an early hour. But what if you do normally get a good night's sleep on Saturday night, but you still get sleepy during a sermon? Well, being an active listener will help. And what do I mean by being an active listener? Well, one thing, you're attentive, but also you're making constant eye contact with the speaker. You're making it, as I said, a two-way conversation. Nod your head occasionally, in agreement with things that he's saying.
Now notice I said nod your head in agreement, not nod your head because you're drowsy and falling off to sleep. If the speaker mentions a scripture and is starting to read a scripture, make sure you look it up and read along with him if you possibly can. All throughout the message, give the speaker encouraging smiles just as we were talking about. Some people find it helpful to take notes during the sermon, even if they're never going to look at those notes again, just as a way to keep themselves alert.
After trying those things, if you still find that during a particular sermon you're getting drowsy, well then get up and go to the restroom. That will give your brain a change of pace. If you're extra drowsy, maybe go to the fellowship hall if your church has one and walk around for a few minutes. Even if you have to go outside to do this and take a walk, it's a whole lot better than sleeping during the sermon.
And if you find you have a frequent struggle with drowsiness in church, try drinking a cup of coffee right before church. In fact, if you need to, bring a thermos of coffee with you to church, and then go to the fellowship hall or to your car and have a cup of coffee immediately before the sermon. And even during it, if need be. Now, I know those are unconventional suggestions, but just remember, there are few things more discouraging to a speaker than to have someone sitting there sleeping while they are speaking.
Okay, step number three to being an encourager is to express appreciation to others. And this applies both during church and outside of it. Proverbs 12:25 says, " Anxiety in the heart of a man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad. " Ephesians 4:29 says, " Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear. " So a good word makes a huge difference in the lives of people. It encourages them.
Paul says, " Make sure that what comes out of our mouths is something that's good for building up. " Now, as I said, I want to make this primarily a practical message, not a theoretical one. So let's talk about some specific situations where we can make it a point to express appreciation to others. Well, first, since we've just been talking about sermons, let me encourage you to develop the habit of letting the speaker know that you appreciated his message.
In some churches, there's a time for feedback at the end of the message, but in every congregation, this is something you can do after the service is over by going up to the speaker and letting him know. And this applies not only to the sermon, but also to devotionals, to Sunday school lessons, to children's lessons, and to small group Bible studies. Whoever did the teaching, show your appreciation by going up and letting them know you were blessed by what they had to say.
More than likely, that person has spent a lot of time in preparing their message, and it means a lot. When someone lets them know that their hard work wasn't for nothing, that people benefited from what they had to say. Now, there's a good, better, and best way of doing this. The good way is to go up and say, " Brother so-and-so, thanks for your message. " Or, " I wanted to let you know I appreciated your Sunday school class. " That means a lot. Just doing that. That's the good method, and it goes a long way.
But now there's even a better way, and that is to put a little bit of animation in your voice to really convey that this is a sincere appreciation that's being expressed. So you can say something like, " Thanks so much for your message. I was really blessed by it. " Now that really makes a speaker feel appreciated, and it makes him want to preach again on another Sunday or to return the next week to teach Sunday school again. Now, there's even a best way, and that's to do this.
Go up to the brother and say, " Thanks so much for your message. That was really a new thought for me about such-and-such. " Or maybe you can say, " Thanks so much for your message. I really appreciated your illustration about this or whatever. " In other words, find something specific in the message that you found worthwhile. And then that way, whoever was teaching really knows that you got something out of his lesson. Of course, to follow up on that best method goes back to being an attentive listener.
We should all develop the habit of listening specifically for things that we can mention to a speaker or to a teacher of a Sunday school class of something by which we benefited from their message. And if you don't get a chance to go up to the person after church and to speak to them, well, there's nothing wrong with sending them a text afterwards or giving them a phone call and expressing your appreciation that way.
But thanking or complimenting a speaker or a Sunday school teacher is only the beginning of this step three of expressing appreciation. There are so many people we should be thanking for the contribution they make to our churches. Particularly those who carry on tasks that we tend to take for granted or to overlook. For example, the ones who teach children Sunday school. I mean, in our congregation, the Sunday school teachers leave at the beginning of the adult Sunday school class.
They go downstairs where there are a number of rooms and that's where the children are taught. So most of the adults are never going to hear those Sunday school teachers. They just see them leave the room. That's all. So it's very easy to forget them. But the ministry they carry on, the difference they make in the lives of our children is tremendous. So remember to thank them. What about the ones who keep our bathrooms and our kitchens stocked with supplies?
I mean, this is not normally something that's done openly. You may never see the person bringing paper towels to the church or toilet tissue or something like that. And so it's easy to just totally forget about it. But you know, those supplies didn't just get there by accident. And if you don't know who does this in your church, make it a point to find out who's doing it, and then give thanks to that person. That will really encourage them.
Another thing, in most churches, you have people who are preparing various schedules: cleaning schedules, hospitality meal schedules, schedules for meals for new mothers, and schedules for all kinds of things like church cleaning. Now, few people take notice of the work of the brothers and sisters who make out these schedules until something goes wrong with the schedule. A week gets skipped or something like that. And then everyone notices when something goes wrong.
But when everything goes right, no one takes notice of it. But we should remember these very people when things are going smoothly. Because they're going smoothly because of the work that some brother or sister has done. So again, we should make it a point to thank them periodically for their work. Okay, another ministry that's overlooked are the meals that are prepared for fellowship meals and love feasts and things like that. It's very easy to take for granted the work that our sisters do in this regard.
They usually don't prepare the meals right in front of us unless it's our own wife or mother who is doing it. And so we come to church and the meals are there and yeah, it's easy to take it for granted. Well, in the future, let's not take it for granted. Let's make a point to thank people for the work they've done, the contribution they've made to the fellowship meal. And particularly if you can point out a particular dessert, a particular vegetable or meat dish or salad.
Well, then again, your words of appreciation are going to mean that much more when you add something specific to them. What about the person who keeps up the congregation checkbook and pays for all the congregation bills? Those people rarely get thanked, but it's a time-taking ministry of love that benefits everyone and is not something that's particularly fun to do. Well, hopefully I've inspired you to think of others in your church who perform both large and small ministries.
Make it a point to encourage them by thanking them for their work. But we shouldn't think in terms only of the ministries and services that our brothers and sisters perform when it comes time to think about encouraging others, although it's a good starting point. But Paul expressed appreciation for the faith and the love of other Christians. So we should make it a point to do the same.
We can express appreciation to others just for their example in Christ, or for their thoughtfulness, or their cheerful disposition, or for whatever gifts they may bring to our congregation. This is something we can do in person when we talk to them at church, or it's something we can do when we're visiting them in their homes, or when we're talking to them on the phone. This latter type of appreciation is something that especially works well when we express it in a greeting card or an email.
So the next time you're sending a birthday card, for example, to someone, make it a point to add something that you appreciate about that person's faith, or about their love, or their Christlike qualities. In addition to saying happy birthday, you can say, " I thank God for you. " And then make sure that what you're saying is true by thanking God for them in your prayers. These kinds of expressions of appreciation also work quite well in text messages.
A few months ago, a person in our congregation sent me a text, saying something to the effect, " David, we really appreciate the contribution you make to our church. " That was it. It was just a short message. But I can't tell you how much that little text message encouraged me. It helped me to brush aside various discouragements that I was dealing with that very day that the text message arrived.
Now, to help you put that text into its proper perspective, I should explain that my ministry is primarily to the church at large and to seekers of God's kingdom. Locally, there are a lot of people in our congregation who carry a much heavier load than I do. Our local congregation would function quite well without me. So getting a message like that was very special because I'm one of just many jigsaw pieces of the puzzle when it comes to our congregation.
And hopefully the local ones who are carrying a bigger load than I am receive frequent messages like that as well. Now, at the beginning of this message, I mentioned that to really be an encourager, it has to start inside us. For one thing, we have to love others and to care about them. And when it comes to expressing appreciation to others, it helps enormously if we truly view others higher than ourselves.
Paul wrote to the Philippians, " In lowliness of mind, " he said, " Let each esteem others better than himself. " That's Philippians 2:3. And if we do truly esteem others more highly than ourselves, then it won't be hard to see and appreciate the contributions that others make to the body of Christ.
When we reach that point where we really esteem others as better than ourselves, well, 90% of the battle has been won, then it's just going to be a matter of taking the time to express that appreciation, because we're already feeling it. But if we're not feeling that kind of appreciation, then let's work on the inside. Let's think about the good things that each brother and sister brings to our congregation.
Now, one final thing before we leave this step number three of being an encourager by expressing appreciation. And that is, please don't forget to give appreciation to the larger church-wide ministries that are out there. There are so many worthwhile ministries that serve the entire church. And you may think that, well, they already receive enough letters of appreciation. They don't need one more. But I can guarantee you that their workload goes on and on on a weekly basis, and so do the discouragements they face.
And so it means a lot when they do receive letters of appreciation. And I can tell you this from personal experience. If the Ministry of Scroll Publishing has in any way blessed you, then let me encourage you to give thanks in your prayers to the hundreds of people who encouraged me in the early years of this ministry.
Because in the first few years of Scroll Publishing, the attacks against us were so strong that I don't doubt that I would have given up in discouragement if it had not been for the hundreds of letters and phone messages of appreciation that we received from various people. It would seem like every time I would feel like just dropping the whole thing, a letter would providentially arrive that would give me the needed encouragement to continue on.
So never underestimate what words of encouragement may mean to any of the other ministries that are out there. I can guarantee you, they do make a big difference. Up to this point, we've talked about three ways of being an encourager. The first one was smiling at others. The second was being an attentive, encouraging listener, and the third was expressing appreciation to others. As you've probably noticed, none of the things we've talked about are very difficult or time-consuming.
Being an encourager is one of the easiest ministries there is. And yet, it's a ministry that has an oversized impact. The discussions for the remaining steps are going to be shorter, but that doesn't mean that these steps are any less important. All right, number four. Come to church prepared. For a Sunday school class or a small group Bible study to be a really upbuilding, enjoyable experience, it requires participation on the part of the congregation. And to have meaningful participation, it requires preparation.
There are few things more discouraging than sitting through a Sunday school class or Bible study where hardly anyone participates. The leader asks a question and there's no response. Or perhaps after an embarrassing silence, someone throws out a hastily put together comment. Throughout the whole study, he's having to like pull teeth just to get a response. The entire study drags and everyone is glad when it's finally over with.
Well, those kinds of Bible studies and Sunday school classes have a discouraging effect on everyone present, which is exactly what Satan wants to happen. So let's not put a smile on his wicked face. Let's put a smile on the face of our heavenly Father. We can do this by preparing for church. Be ready to offer meaningful answers and comments during Sunday school and during Bible studies. Do what you can to make those studies robust, upbuilding times for everyone present. By doing that, you'll be a true encourager.
All right, step number five, a very easy one. Be at church on time. You know, it doesn't take one minute longer to arrive at church on time than it does to arrive late. The drive to church still takes the same amount of time. But what a difference it makes to your brothers and sisters. It's really discouraging to find that church is supposed to start in five minutes, and yet only about half the congregation is there. The meeting sort of starts with a dull thud.
And when you habitually arrive late to church Sunday after Sunday, you're saying to your brothers and sisters, " Look, I really don't value this meeting that highly. I'm going to show up, but it's not such a priority in my life that I'm going to set my alarm or arrange my schedule to make certain that I'm there at the very start. " And that kind of attitude discourages everyone. So a fifth way of being an encourager is to simply show up to church and to various church functions on time.
And when I say on time, I don't mean at the very last minute. Try to show up at least 10 or 15 minutes early so that you can visit with your brothers and sisters before the service starts. That's going to enable you to share words of encouragement with them and just words of mutual love before the service begins. But more than that, arriving early expresses to your brothers and sisters that you're looking forward to seeing them. And that in itself is very encouraging. Step number six.
Make sure that fellowship in your congregation isn't limited to Sunday mornings and midweek services. Regularly invite people over to your house for a meal. Or if that would be too much of a burden financially or time-wise, invite them over for a snack in fellowship. We read in Acts that when the church was just a few weeks old, they were getting together every day. And it makes a family or a single person feel really special to get invited over to someone's house.
And it's during these informal times of fellowship that we often receive the most encouragement. Because we're able to have longer talks together and to really get to know one another better. On Sundays, you really only see just a part of other people. And if you only see them on Sundays or on other church meetings, you probably don't know them very well at all. Of course, when we do have informal times of fellowship, it's important that we make sure our conversation is upbuilding.
The last thing we would ever want to happen is for people to leave our home after a meal, being more discouraged than they were when they arrived. Step number seven, be a volunteer. Earlier I spoke about giving words of encouragement to those who are speaking and to those who carry on various ministries that often go unnoticed. These people will really be uplifted by your words of appreciation. But you know what would encourage those people even more? Well, that would be to volunteer to take their place.
If for a long time they've been putting together the schedules for various church functions, I can almost guarantee you that they're ready for a break. And that same thing holds true for all of the positions that are filled by volunteers. It's really discouraging to be needing a break from whatever task you're handling, but basically you're saddled with it permanently because no one will come forward and volunteer to handle the task for you.
A church where people readily volunteer to fill needed tasks and needed ministries is an encouraging place to be. So, to be an encourager, you need to be a volunteer. Now, I'm not suggesting that you overload yourself with too many responsibilities. Rather, I'm only saying that you should shoulder your fair share of the needed tasks of the church. A church where a few people are overloaded with responsibilities is a church where you have some very worn out, discouraged people.
So don't let that happen to your brothers and sisters. Make sure you're handling your equitable share of the responsibilities of the Church. And our eighth and final step is this: Support your church leaders. I've saved this step for last because in many ways, it's the most important way that any of us can be an encourager. No congregation is going to flourish when it has discouraged church leaders. Yet being the pastor of a church or an elder in a church can be one of the most thankless jobs on earth.
And that is so very wrong, yet it's so often the reality. But Hebrews 13 says, " Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the Word of God to you, whose faith follow considering the outcome of their conduct. " And again, in Hebrews 13:17, we read, " Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
" So God wants us to be supportive of those who shepherd our congregations. If those who carry on the smaller ministries in the church need encouragement, how much more so do those who carry much of the weight of the congregation on their shoulders? And if anyone needs words of encouragement and thank you cards, it's them. If anyone needs to be invited over to the house of others for a meal, it's them.
Likewise, being at church on time is an encouragement to everyone, but it's especially encouraging to your church leaders. The same can be said about volunteering and listening attentively in church. So if you're serious about wanting to be an encourager, and I hope everyone listening to this message wants to be one, then make sure that you encourage and uplift your leaders, and that you pray for them regularly. Let them serve with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
Well, in conclusion, let's review what we've talked about on how to be an encourager. We've discussed eight steps. The first one was simply smile at others. The second was be an attentive, encouraging listener. The third was build others up by sharing words of encouragement with them. The fourth was prepare for church services so that you can fully participate. Number five was regularly invite others over to your house for a meal or just for fellowship. Number six, be at church on time.
Number seven, volunteer for the different ministry and tasks that church life calls for, but don't overload yourself in the process. Number 8: Support your church leaders. If they are highly encouraged, they will be able to do their very best in ministering to everyone else. Now, I want to end this message by making a somewhat unusual suggestion. And it's this, that once a year, you pull out this CD or download if you're listening to it as a download, and re-listen to it once a year.
Not because this has been such an outstanding presentation, but because it's such a key subject. And if you're like me a year from now, you're going to have forgotten most of the things I've said. So I personally plan to re-listen to this message once a year for my own benefit. So I will remember to put into practice all the things I've talked about because I want to be an encourager. And if we all make it a priority in our lives to be encouragers, the impact it will have on our churches will be astounding.
It will be a huge step forward for the kingdom of God.