On Monday last I drove to Kohimarama to attend a funeral. The wind was lashing in from the northeast and the harbour was quite rough. Along Tamaki Drive waves were splashing onto the footpath and, in places, onto the road. I imagined sailing in a boat in such weather and I pictured the disciples on Galilee when that storm whipped up unexpectedly. I was quite pleased to be on land and I was glad Jesus was with the disciples that day to calm the storm that inspired such fear in their hearts. On Wednesday I was over that way again and the sea was as flat as it can be.

Many things have the power to make us afraid. Threats of physical harm, threats to our security, threats to our finances, threats to disrupt our plans, threats to our sanity, threats that things won’t be good for us beyond this life. So many threats – indeed they’re a daily occurrence. But for the fear they cause there’s always an antidote. How many time does the Bible say, “Do not to be afraid.”? I’m told 366 times. Once for every day of the year including leap years. That’s how much we need reminding.

Paul encouraged
In his first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, Paul felt the need to write about what happens to those who have died. Paul wanted to encourage his friends, so that they would not be sad. He wrote: Our friends, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him.

What we are teaching you now is the Lord’s teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. There will be the shout of command, the archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. So then, encourage one another with these words. [1 Thess.4:13-18].

Notice that he ends this piece of encouragement with the words, “So then, encourage one another with these words.”

What is encouragement?
The Greek word Paul used – parakalleo – means to call someone alongside you. Call one to help, alongside giving support. Since we are no strangers to fear and discouragement we need the support of one another frequently – like every day. We constantly need encouragement. Therefore we constantly need to encourage one another. And with that, since there is so much in each day to discourage us, let’s not say or do anything to discourage one another if we can possibly help it.

What does encouraging do? It gives us courage. My dictionary puts it three ways: to inspire with courage, spirit or confidence – His coach encouraged him throughout the marathon race to keep on running.; to stimulate by assistance, approval, etc. – One of the chief duties of a teacher is to encourage students.; to promote, advance or foster – In our garden we encourage the plants to grow by providing optimal conditions.

So we’re talking about inspiring one another with courage, spirit and confidence to walk the Christian journey well – not to give up, to thrive, not just survive. To live with confidence in God on the optimistic side. Not in fear, despondency and uncertainty but in faith, confidence and good cheer.

Christian encouragement mostly draws on two sources: Scripture and experience. I find our readings today very encouraging. I’ve already referred to Jesus stilling the storm. How encouraging to know that we are with the one who can do that sort of thing. The disciples were afraid because they did not know that Jesus could or would deal with the fearsome situation by ending the storm. They expected maybe he would help them bail, or miraculously provide life jackets. We know that Jesus has the power although we often seem to forget and need reminding.

Psalm 65 is another reminder that God is for us not against us. Our fears are often based on false assumptions and beliefs. We combat fears by replacing the false beliefs with true beliefs – truths like: Jesus can still the storms in our lives; God is for us; God is bigger than all that’s against us.

The way to encourage another is to draw on the truths of Scripture and on our experience of God at work in our lives (and other people’s lives, too). The very point of taking time in church to review our week is to encourage one another by telling what God has done. Of course we’re not restricted to sharing that in church and we do tell each other the good things. So when a friend is in a spot of bother we look into our own experience and say, “This is what helped me in a similar situation.” It is also good to recount Bible verses, like Psalm 65, which remind us that we can give God our worries and get his help to find our way through. When we’re having hassles is a time to move towards God, not away from him, but we often need our friends to encourage us to do that.

Before the sermon we thought about times when we had been encouraged. At this point some shared what they recalled. We found that the encourager wasn’t necessarily a close friend but probably was or became one. We found that encouragement could come in what was said or the way it was said, it what was done or the way it was done. Encouragement can take many forms. We also found that the Bible may or may not feature.

Do it
Now, I figure that when I invited my listeners to think about encouraging times some were delighted when I said they wouldn’t have to speak. These people prefer to think inside their heads. They are called ‘internal processors’. Others prefer to think out loud. They are called ‘verbal processors’. They like to do their thinking by speaking.

People learn in various ways. We learn by hearing, by seeing, by doing, by speaking and so on. In the old days it was assumed that people learned by listening, but this was merely an institutional convenience of schools with large classes. The best teachers have always recognised the benefit of using as many senses as possible and teaching to the various learning styles of the students. If we stick to only one way of learning we limit ourselves severely. I try to be a good teacher by not limiting us to me speaking and to internal processing. What we are talking about today is practical stuff. Encouragement is something we do not something we hold in our heads. So, to fully learn this we need to practice it.

And so we spent a few minutes encouraging one another and I recommend that you take the earliest opportunity to do the same.