Lift - How to Lift Up Those Who Are Down, Part 1

Are you tired of taking flack for your faith? Do you find that just because you're a Christian you have an impossible situation with your family or your work?

But what do you do? Don't give up. God has a word of hope for you today. The awesome power of encouragement based in the book of 1 Thessalonians. Well, in just a minute, Chip will begin identifying four unique ways we can help someone whose faith is under intense attack.

In fact, he's got a lot of helpful insight to share. So let's get started. Go to 1 Thessalonians Chapter 2 in your Bible as Chip begins his talk, How to Lift Up Those Who Are Down. I'll never forget the first day of Sociology 101. I was 18 years old. I had just become a Christian about seven or eight months before.

I had never opened a Bible in my life until I was 18, and so I've been reading it now about six or seven months. I was overwhelmed with what I was learning. I had zeal.

I was excited. The thought of forgiveness and peace and purpose. I was a zealous, brand new, whistling in the hall Christian. And then I went to sociology class. You've got to remember, this is 1973. The 60s are rounding to an end.

Kent State is barely in the rear view mirror for those of the era. I walk into class, and people are filing in, and I notice there's an unusual guy sitting on the desk up front. He has, for the day, extremely long hair, which was really unusual then for a teacher at this school.

He had frayed jeans, a rather unusual shirt, a headband, sandals, and he was sitting cross-legged on top of his desk. He was warm. He was friendly.

He said nothing for the first five or ten minutes. We all sat down, and he sat there, bow-legged, you know, crossed, you know, looking at us, saying nothing. And then he began to open up, and we found out he was the teacher. Every textbook we studied, whatever you always thought or believed about life, about God, about America, about anything, he had a book to refute it. And he started for the next semester, week after week after week, to challenge every single thing that I believed, and I mean decimated the Christian faith. Now, I don't know the Bible very well.

I don't know how to answer any hard questions. And at first I just thought, well, he's a little unusual. But he had a captive audience, and it wasn't long before he raised some doubts in my heart, and the confusion in my soul began to grow, and then I felt inadequate and I couldn't answer the questions. And I wasn't ready to give up my faith because I didn't want to become like this guy, but he was dealing with a lot of issues that I didn't know how to deal with. And I just felt knocked down. I just felt like he took the air out of my sails.

He took the whistle off my lips. Whatever joy I was experiencing, I spent most of my time semi-confused and insecure and struggling and just feeling kind of beat down. His arguments weren't good enough or strong enough to really cause me to question the depths of my faith, but they were strong enough just to keep me messed up most of the time. And my observation is it's only a matter of time before something or someone attacks your faith that will raise doubts in your heart, confusion in your soul, and a sense of inadequacy in your mind. In fact, you might have a work situation where there's such a culture of unbelief that basically day after day it just assaults your faith and makes you feel lower or smaller because you're a believer. Or you might have an antagonistic family member.

That works well. You know, someone that just, whatever you say, they have a little needle and their goal is to pop the balloon of your life whenever they get a chance. Or I've had a couple, quote, intellectual relatives and you get together three or four times a year and they just keep asking these questions that at this point in your life you know someone has good answers but you don't.

Or you have the fellow student or teammate that just, you know, keeps looking at you. You really believe that stuff? Are you kidding? Don't both brain cells work with you?

I mean, I don't get it. I thought you were a reasonable person. Or finally there's the old friends who just question your newfound faith and say, how long is it going to last?

How long are you going to go through this phase? And so the question I want to ask and answer tonight as we're in the second part of a series on encouragement is how do we encourage those people whose faith is being knocked down? How do you encourage the people that you know and that you rub shoulders with whose faith is called into question? They're constantly bombarded by criticism.

They're ridiculed or attacked and maybe even persecuted on the job or in their family situation or on a sports team or school where they're at. How do you come alongside them when you see them wavering and faltering? What is it that God wants you to do as a fellow believer to encourage them, to lift them up, to help them work through their Sociology 101 experience and come out the other end a stronger Christian? That's what we want to ask and answer today. And God has a game plan. And the game plan at first sounds really kind of weird.

You know what the game plan is? Remember, remember, remember. The Bible is replete with the importance of remembering. In fact, in the Old Testament, the Bible will say, be careful lest you forget the Lord your God. Moses, when he took the second generation in, you know what he named the book? Two Deuteronomies, the second law.

You know what the key word in the book of Deuteronomy is? Remember, remember, remember, remember, because you know what happened? The first group forgot. They forgot God's great acts.

They forgot his great ways and they didn't follow him. Now, the Apostle Paul, as we learned, went into a Greek town of about 200,000 people, Thessalonica, planted a church. It started to multiply. It started to grow. It started to mushroom. They were becoming well known.

I mean, they were on fire and making incredible impact. And then some people came along and started slandering Paul, slandering their faith, poking fun, just a little criticism. Well, you know that Paul. Yeah, we heard about him. He's just out for your money. Oh, all that new Christianity stuff.

Oh, man, it's dying out. Or we've heard this. We've heard that. And they kept poking and poking and poking. And so by the time Timothy came back to give the report, he said, Paul, they're really doing well, but man, they are taking it on the chin. Week in and week out, people are questioning your motives. They're questioning your message. They're questioning the validity of the Thessalonians faith.

And, you know, I got to be honest with you, Paul, they're having a great impact, but, you know, they're going through some hard times. And so in Chapter two, verses one to twelve, First Thessalonians, guess what Paul does? He causes them to remember the most important things in their life in order to restore their perspective so that they grow through their faith being knocked down. How do you help? How do you encourage people? This faith is being attacked or slandered. Now, I'd like to read through the passage, and as I read it, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to pull out a pen. I'm going to put you to work with new little Bible study. Whenever you read a passage of scripture, words or phrases or concepts that are repeated are often the key to understanding the passage, because if they're repeated once, twice, three times, they're important.

If they're repeated five, six, seven times, they're probably the theme of what's being taught. So let's listen to what the apostle Paul does first in verses one and two. He reminds them of their reception of the message. He says, For you yourselves know, brethren, that are coming to you was not in vain. But after we already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid such opposition. You got your pen out?

Put a little box around. You yourselves know in verse one and then verse two, put a little box around. You know, first two verses, isn't it interesting that he's, you know, you yourselves know he's bringing things back to their memory.

Notice in verses three through six, he reminds them of the character of the messengers. He, Timothy and Silas, he says, For our exhortation does not come from air or impurity or by way of deceit, but just as we've been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. So we speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know.

Guess what? You're going to put a box around, nor with a pretext for greed. God is our witness, nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ, we might have asserted our authority. Put a box around, as you know, in verse five. Next, he reminds them of the ministry they received in verses seven through 11. He goes, But we proved to be gentle among you as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her children, having thus a fond affection for you. We were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives.

Why? Because you had become very dear to us. Verse nine, put a box around the next phrase for you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you. We proclaim to you the gospel of God. Notice verse 10. You are witnesses. What's that do? It reminds them.

Put a box around that. You are witnesses. And so is God how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behave toward you believers. Just as verse 11, you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each of you as a father would his own children.

Why? Paul reminds them of the results in their lives when they receive the message so that are resulting in that you may walk in a manner worthy of God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. Now, just by way of doing a little Bible study, by the way, this is what I do. I'll read a passage over and over and over.

And any concept that is repeated, then I'll circle it or underline it. Look at verse one. You yourselves know. Verse two, you know. Skip down to verse five as you know. Skip down to verse nine for you recall. Verse 10, you are witnesses. Verse 11, you know. Are you getting the idea that possibly the apostle Paul right into these people whose faith is being undermined, that he wants them to remember something?

Could this be a possibility? Why? See, there's something extremely powerful about remembering what we tend to do is see the problem on the horizon.

And it doesn't have to be very big. But as that problem gets closer and closer and closer, what happens? We lose perspective and we lose sight of all of this, let alone all that happened behind us. And one of the great ways to get perspective is to pull that problem back in light of history and what God has done and who he is and what you've experienced. Then all of a sudden, it's just a little pebble to deal with.

But when you're looking at it right through here, it looks pretty big, doesn't it? And so the apostle Paul is going to teach the Thessalonians, remembering God's work in the past is the key to getting perspective for doing his will in the present. That's what he's going to teach him. He's going to teach him, yeah, there's attack, there's slander, you lose perspective. But remembering God's work in your past is the key to getting perspective to do God's will in the present.

And most of us don't do that much. And now what I'd like to do is I'd like to give you four key principles to help people who are faltering. Here's how to help them. First thing I think you need to do is help them remember the day. Just remember that phrase, remember the day.

You've got a friend, you've got a son, you've got a daughter, you've got a mom, you've got a dad, you've got a brother, you've got a sister. Whoever it is, help them remember the day they came to Christ. Notice what Paul says in verse 1. For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you wasn't in vain.

It means it wasn't empty. It's in a tense of the verb that means we came and something happened and the results are continuing in prosperity. He goes on in verse 2, but after we had already suffered and been mistreated.

He said, remember, we were in Philippi. Man, we got our heads bashed in. They took the clothes off our back. They threw us in prison. We were Roman citizens.

We were publicly humiliated for doing what? For preaching the gospel. And yet even though we went through that, you know that we had the boldness in our God.

I like the NIV's translation. It says, we dared to speak to you about the gospel of God amid such opposition. Let me give you a couple things as you try and encourage people about remembering their day when they were saved. First, help them remember their experience. Now we're in a day where people take experiences to an extreme.

But sometimes in the church we go the opposite direction. When's the last time you just sat down and really pondered your experience? Where you were in your life. What would have happened if you hadn't have trusted Christ? Think of all the things that have changed.

Think of how little you knew. How much God must have loved you. Where you were. What your life was like.

The direction it was going. And boom, he came into your life. When's the last time you really thought about that?

Well guess what? The way God wants you to encourage other people, he wants you to remind them through a letter this week. Or through a phone call. Or through an invitation to lunch.

Or through an email. He wants you to do something to spur them on to remember the very day that they were saved. To reminisce if you will. It will be a powerful experience and it will give them perspective. The second thing you might want to do to help others is help them remember the price tag and the sacrifice of those who shared it. You know sometimes we look at our salvation experience just through our lens. The Apostle Paul in stirring up their memory. You know he does something.

He makes sort of one of those left handed compliments to himself but he does it in such a way not to give him glory but to encourage them. He says, you know this stuff preaching the gospel? It's not cheap and it's not easy. The last major town I did it in was Philippi. I got beat up. I got stripped publicly. I ended up in jail. And then I got run out of town.

Now thinking human beings realize that when that happens to you, keep your mouth shut next time. The Apostle Paul says though a very interesting word. It has the idea of confidence and courage combined. And as you look at the translation some of them translate the confidence and others the courage. We had boldness or we dared to speak even though there was a lot of opposition. What do you think the message is to the Thessalonians? You matter.

Hey you really matter. Last time we shared this message we got beat up. When we came into town we knew it was going to be a rough situation and we dared to speak. We boldly proclaimed the message because that's how much you matter to God. When's the last time you thought of the price tag of the people who shared Christ with you? The bricklayer who was so instrumental in my life.

I found out later that I remember the first Bible study I went to. It was on Thursday nights. Real down home guy. He'd come with his moccasins and he did have a nice guitar. Martin guitar. I didn't know anything about guitars.

It was an old one. He could really pick it too. Did a lot of bluegrass back then. He'd wear his jeans, his moccasins. He'd open up his living room and he wanted to reach this campus for Christ. The fullback on the football team invited me to go. I went because he was the fullback on the football team. He was big and he was nice.

I thought whatever he said I should do right now. I didn't have any friends. Didn't know anybody.

I walked up this little road about a mile, mile and a half. I walked in Dave's house and I didn't know what to expect. I mean I don't know anything about this Christian stuff.

I mean I've been a Christian like two months. And there's four other people in me. Five of us. I'm thinking this is a big meeting. And then I learned later that for four years that's about how many people he had.

Five people to eight people. Twice a week he went down on campus and shared his faith. Every Thursday night for three and a half, four years he opens up his home. He had decided this would be the last year.

If God doesn't do something then he's moving on. He moved to that little town to reach that campus. He was independently employed. He was a bricklayer.

He could go wherever he wanted and he traveled all over to do his trade. He wanted to reach that campus. He moved his family to that little town to reach that campus of about four or five thousand.

Now for whatever reason that year it took off. That was my freshman year. By the time I was a junior we dug out the basement underneath his house. And we had 250 kids in Bible study all over campus. And we saw a wave and a movement of God.

But you know something? That guy hung in there for four years with five people a night on Thursday. And him giving two or three nights a week to tell kids about Christ that didn't seem to give a rip. But he kept telling. He kept going.

He kept casting the seed. And I fortunately was kind of in that last installment. And I realized he paid a price. And when I think about that I think what an honor God.

That encourages me. The life lesson? You need to remember the day for yourself for sure. That's not the life lesson.

You need to remember the day for others. But here's the life lesson. Sow the seed wildly. Sow the seed of the gospel wildly. Past difficulty is not a prediction of future impact.

We need to remember that. Jesus in his parable told us only 25% of the time people would respond well. Parable of the soils. Sow the seed wildly. Just every time.

Every opportunity. Tell people. Tell them there's an answer for sin. There's forgiveness. It's Christ. He came. He wants to give him peace. He wants to give him a new life. He wants to forgive him from the wrath, just wrath of God.

Sow it wildly. That's what the apostle Paul does. And then remember the day. Remember the day that you were saved.

It will give perspective and encourage others. Whatever you can do to encourage them to remember the day they were saved. Second principle here is not only remember the day but Paul says remember the people.

We need to remember the people that God used in our life because when our faith is a little shaky bringing back to mind those people and remembering their character and remembering later their love will help us get perspective. Notice what Paul says in verse 3. He says for our exhortation or our appeal does not come from air. It means delusion or impurity. There was no sexual connotations. Or by way of deceit.

Now you say why would he say sexual connotations? In that day every Tom, Dick and Harry was roaming around the Roman empire and they were doing their little tricks. And they did their little tricks either to hoodwink, they were charlatans just like today. And they did it to get a following, to get self-promotion, to get money and then most of the ancient religions had some sort of sexual deal hooked in with them. And the leaders were highly involved in it. And so the apostle Paul defending himself he says when we came it wasn't no air, no impurity sexually and no trickery or deceit.

The word means literally a bait like for a fish. He says but just as we have been approved by God, notice this phrase, to be entrusted with the gospel so we speak. We've been approved by God. God's approval is on our life and we have been entrusted. We are stewards of the gospel so we speak.

How? Not as pleasing people but God and he says who examines our hearts. The character of the servants of the gospel message he says we were straight shooters. Notice verse 5 he says for we never came with flattering speech. We would call it a con man. It's the idea of leading people along, getting them to follow you, building into their confidence until the point you take them down a different path and the whole goal of the different path is you fleece them.

Either emotionally, monetarily or sexually. He says not us. We never came with flattery as you know nor with pretext or it's literally a mask. No hypocrisy. We didn't come for greed or money. He says God's our witness nor did we seek glory from men. This wasn't about self-promotion or making a name or trying to be a somebody.

Either from you or others even though by the way let's get this straight. As apostles we had every right to exercise some authority but we didn't even do that. We gave away our apostolic rights in order to serve you.

Here's his argument. They're being attacked and they're going through their sociology 101 experience of faltering in the faith. And the apostle Paul says first of all let's remember when you were saved. Remember that?

Yeah. Second he says let's remember the character of the messengers. Remember me, remember Timothy, remember Silas, remember how we lived.

These attacks, these questions that are coming to your mind they're unfounded. And so let me give you a couple of ways underneath here to help people. First help people remember the character of those who ministered to them. Help them think back of a person or two that they really admired that were really straight shooters. They were people of integrity. Second get them to compare the character and quality of those who ministered to them with the character and quality of those who are attacking them. That's critical.

Did you get that? Get them to compare the character and the quality of those who really genuinely helped them in their faith and compare that with the character and the quality of those who are attacking. I'll still never forget the day. I mean he had me going up one day and down the next and then he talked a little bit about his family and I asked questions and I saw his lifestyle and I saw his morals and I saw his lack of them. Then I saw his hypocrisy and his inconsistency. And what he was good at, it was a game people played in the 60s and late 70s. You know what people were really good at then? Cutting everything down and saying what was wrong with everything.

But there weren't very many people who then stood up and said and I'm willing to own the moral responsibility about how to make it right. All he did was cut down everything and everyone. And then as I watched him, you know what? He didn't even live by the same standards that he said.

And I remember I was confused and I stepped back one day and I thought, okay, there's a lot of questions and I can't handle all this. But I watched the way this bricklayer and his wife love each other and the kind of family they have and when he says something, he means it and he's faithful and he's loyal and he's true and all he's done is love me. And I weigh that over against this professor who cuts down everything that I believe and who's cynical and sarcastic and his relationships aren't working and he's hypocritical in what he says versus what he does.

Now which of those carry the most weight? Do you get it? See, that's what the apostle Paul's doing. And we need to ask and help people who are discouraged, ask them whose life has the most credibility. You've been listening to part one of Chip's message, How to Lift Up Those Who Are Down, which is from our series, Lift the Awesome Power of Encouragement. Chip will be back with us in studio shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. You know, we all face seasons of discouragement, doubt, and hopelessness.

So how can we keep those feelings from polluting our hearts and minds? Well, in this series, Chip explains why encouragement is the answer. Join us as we uncover how choosing to support and inspire others brings out the best in us. Now if you've missed any part of this teaching from 1 Thessalonians, catch up any time through the Chip Ingram app.

Well, Chip has joined me in studio now to share a quick word. Just before I come back and talk about some application for you in today's program, I just want to pause and thank those of you who are our monthly partners. You know, there's a significant group of people that each and every month, all various sizes, give monthly to Living on the Edge. And it is such a joy to know that there's stability and income that we know that's coming in that allows us to plan in really significant ways.

And if you're one of those, I just want to say praise God and thank you very much. It's an indication of your heart. It means that you're aligning with our mission. And I pray that God richly blesses you. Well, as Chip said, if you're already a financial partner, thank you. With your help, Living on the Edge is ministering to more people than ever. But if you're benefitting from this ministry and haven't yet taken that step, now's a great time to join the team. To become a monthly partner, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org or text DONATE to 74141. That's the word DONATE to 74141 or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org.

App listeners, tap DONATE. Well, with that, here again is Chip with his final application. Do you know someone who is really going through a hard time right now because of their faith? I want you to ask God to bring to mind, is there someone who's being criticized or bombarded, someone who's ridiculed maybe by their family or at work? I mean, someone who's maybe even persecuted. I mean, they are about ready to give up the faith or it's a constant struggle. Does anyone come to your mind like that?

See, that was the situation that the Thessalonians found themselves in. And Paul wrote this letter to say, I want to help you. I want to encourage you. And the theme of his letter was remember, remember, remember. And so as this person comes to your mind, I want to give you a little game plan to help them.

Remember, a word of encouragement can transform a person's life. Your time with them, helping them remember, can make all the difference in the world. But you say, well, what is it that they need to remember? There's going to be four things.

I want to give you two of them today. The first thing is they need to remember the actual day that they came to Christ. They need to ponder and think about when was the day, what happened, where were they, what was their life before, because see what this will do is give them perspective. And that sounds so trite. Most people won't do that and they won't do it well. But let me give you a little clue.

Here's what you do. You know this person. They come to your mind.

God's brought them to your mind. You give them a call, send them an email and say, hey, can we do kind of lunch next week or breakfast or can we just grab a cup of coffee or take a walk? And you don't make a big deal. You don't act like it's some big meeting, but you know their situation. And when you get with them, you say, Bob, Mary, whatever their name, would you tell me how you came to know Christ? And they might say, well, gosh, you know, no, I want the long version.

I really want to hear it. And ask questions and get them to rehearse and think back. What was their life like before they became a Christian? How forgiven, how loved, and the transformation that's occurred.

And what that will do is give perspective. That's what Paul did here. The second thing you need to do is help them remember the people God used in their life. Isn't that what Paul did right out of this passage? You see, you got away these people that are attacking you and these people that have loved you.

And you have to say to yourself, I'm getting a lot of flack, but in the end, who do I want to be like? And you can be the friend that just helps them rehearse it and say, tell me who led you to Christ. What was attractive about their life? What was it about their marriage?

How was it that they lived in their singleness? What was it, the winsome quality? And you ask them and you get them talking and you know what will happen? Someone's going to get encouraged and the Holy Spirit of God will use you to do it.

What a deal, huh? Go do it. Thanks, Chip. As we close, our mission at Living on the Edge is to help Christians live like Christians. And one of the best ways we can continue to do that is through programs like this. So when you hear a particularly helpful message, we hope you'll pass it on to others. Now, you can easily do that through the Chip Ingram app or by forwarding them the free MP3s you'll find at livingonthedge.org. And don't forget to include a note about how it made a difference in your life. Well, until next time, this is Dave Druey thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.