Love One Another - How to Lift Up Those Who are Down, Part 1

God is good, but life is hard, isn't it? How do you rise above those circumstances?

I'll tell you how. It takes a thing called encouragement, and today we're going to discover together how to bring encouragement into one another's lives and to bring hope and healing to those in pain. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Our mission is to inspire Christians to be genuine followers of Jesus and to empower them to be active disciple-makers in our world. Thanks for joining us as we continue our series, Love One Another, and today Chip will give us a challenging reminder that amidst all the chaos and demands of everyday life, there are people who are struggling and desperately need some encouragement.

So why don't you settle in with your Bible? We'll be in Hebrews chapter 10 as Chip begins his talk how to lift up those who are down. What did Jesus say? And we know that Jesus said a lot, but we know that the number one thing he said the very last night on the earth was love one another.

How? The way I loved you so loved one another. And he said when we love one another, when we sacrificially unconditionally love each other the way he loved us, he said the whole world, the whole world will know that we're his followers.

How do you specifically do that? This wasn't some milky sort of, you know, yeah, you know, syrupy love each other. This isn't the real fabric of life. He wants us to love each other in concrete, tangible, clear waves from the heart. This wasn't a mushy sentimentalism.

This wasn't a romantic notion of love. This was love where you accept people that are hard to accept, where you encourage one another, honor one another, forgive one another. I want to talk about the power of encouraging one another. How that when we encourage each other, these one another phrases throughout the New Testament, that's how God wants us to love each other. I put a little teaching hand out.

You can pull it out if you'd like. And I'd like to begin with a reality that you already know about, but I'll remind you simply this is that life is hard. It's real hard.

Now there's seasons where it just seems good, but there's other seasons where it's just hard. I looked into the eyes of a man, godly man, been married to a woman for 59 years, and I buried his wife this Thursday. And he turned to me, he said, I just cry and cry and cry and cry.

And then he said, why do I cry so much? He said, I know she's in a better place. Her physical condition, I wouldn't want her to be at all the way she was. She had a severe stroke. But you know, after living with a person for 59 years, and I mean, she finished well, godly woman, great marriage. I mean, I'm thinking to myself, 59 years.

You know, it just must be like someone stepping up and just chopping off both arms and both legs. How life must be after 59 years of deep, you know, that's hard. I mean, life is hard. Oh, God is good. I mean, God is good. He's doing great things and he's answering prayer and he is awesome and he's powerful and he blesses, but in the midst of his goodness, life is really hard. And after a while, it gets harder and harder and harder and harder.

And if it's not going that way for you, just thank him and then set your calendar. Because it's a fallen world and bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. And God is for you and he loves you, but that is not any protective veil over deep, deep pain. And what I've realized in the midst of those two things, I am weak. I can just take so much.

I don't know about you. Have you ever just got to the point where you just get right up to here and you just, you think, I can't take anymore. I mean, I feel like that NFL running back who just, you know, bam, one more guy hits you and you just walk off the field and you take the ball, you give it to the coach, you take off your helmet, you throw it on the ground and you walk in the locker room and say, I don't want to run the ball anymore. It hurts.

Every time I run it, you feel, yeah, all that yardage is good, but these guys are hurting me. I don't want to do it anymore now, but don't get concerned. I got a great support system. I'm not ready to lose my mind, my job. You don't need to write me letters. I don't need any sympathy. I get more than most of you ever can imagine. But what you need to hear honestly is I get to where I just can't take, I'm weak.

I can't take it. I just, you get to where you, you just want to throw it in. And I know if I am and the people that I'm close to are, what I know from scripture is we all are. The dynamic is always happening in ebb and flow. Life is hard. God is good.

We are weak. Sometimes, sometimes the only difference between success and failure is a simple word of encouragement. Sometimes you're right on the edge and you're ready to give up on a marriage or give up on a child or just give up on your faith.

You're right on the edge and you think you can't take it anymore. And the difference between success, moving on, staying in God's will, enduring, getting perspective, hanging in there, getting up and doing it one more time, the difference is simply a simple word of encouragement. Encouragement can come from a friend. It can come by putting their hand, someone's hand on your shoulder and praying for you. It can come from a note. It can come from a phone call.

It can come over a cup of coffee. It can come over a meal or God can give it directly to you right through his word. I opened my Bible and I read Psalm 9. The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. The next line, those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. And I read that and I thought he's a refuge, he's a stronghold.

Ingram, you just think you can't take anymore. And the difference between just feeling like I didn't want to go on with the day and saying okay Lord, I'm going to trust in your word even though my emotions aren't on the map today. The difference can be a simple word of encouragement. And what I'd like to do this morning is from the scripture teach you, Lord willing, what is encouragement, why are we to encourage one another, and then how?

How do you do it? What's it actually look like in relationships? So let's first define it. What is encouragement? Webster says it's to inspire with courage. It's to help someone continue on when they're afraid or when they're discouraged, when they want to give up. The meaning of the word in the New Testament is parakaleo.

I only give it to you because you can see para, we get the idea of alongside kaleo, to call. It's the idea to encourage someone called alongside us to give aid, help or support. In fact, I gave it to you because those of you who study the Bible quite a bit, you know, what's the Holy Spirit called in the book of John?

The paraklete, same word. On the very last night when Jesus was with his disciples, he wanted to encourage them and they were afraid. He said, don't worry, I'm going to send another counselor like I've been your counselor, I'm going to send another counselor and he will be with you.

He will be the paraklete. See the Holy Spirit is referred to as your helper, your counselor, your encourager. That's what this word is and that's what God wants us to do for one another. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word literally means to strengthen, sustain, harden, to fortify or to hold up. In 1 Samuel 23 16 it says, Jonathan, in a very vulnerable time in David's life strengthened him in God. To get the picture of how it works, in a literal way this word is used in Isaiah 54 4 and it's used for the strengthening of the pegs, pounding the pegs deeper in for your tent.

So you get the idea? When would you strengthen your pegs? Well, if the wind starts blowing and you're afraid the tent's going to blow over, what do you do?

You get out there and you strengthen the pegs, you get them down deeper. When your life starts falling apart, when you start to feel weak, when you feel like you can't go on, you know what God wants? He wants someone to come into your life and strengthen your pegs, help you make it through where you couldn't on your own. That's what encouragement is. In the New Testament the word, there's one primary word and then a couple closely related words, but they all surround the basic meaning of inspiring to hope. It's a picture of someone, their life is just ready to stagnate and they need some wind in their sails and you give them some wind, you give them perspective, you give them some truth. Two sides of this in the New Testament, it's encouragement with a view to comfort as in 2 Corinthians 1, 3 and 4, God promises that He will comfort us so that we can comfort others with the same comfort He gave us. So part of encouraging people is when they're down, they're afflicted, they're going through it and you step in and you comfort. But the word is also used to encourage with a view to exhort or to motivate to righteousness or holy living.

See sometimes people get complacent, they lose perspective. Hebrews 3.13 says, encourage one another how? Day after day as long as it's still called today, which is how often?

Every day. Lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. I need you to spur me on. I need you to get my perspective back up.

I need you to help me look up and go after it. And we need that from one another. That's what it means to encourage. In fact, encouragement, get this, encouragement is not sympathy. Sympathy is great, but that's not encouragement.

Sympathy means I feel bad for you. Encouragement has two major characteristics. I took every word in the New Testament where encouragement showed up and I studied it and put it in categories. The source of encouragement about 90% of the time, you know what it is in the New Testament?

The source? Truth. It's not emotional. It's not some ooey gooey feeling someone gives you. It's truth. It's the word of God. It's when you come into a person's life and they're discouraged and they're afflicted and they're ready to give up and you say, wait a second, truth.

Isn't there a heaven? Oh yeah. Truth. Sowing and reaping.

Doesn't it happen at different times? Oh yeah. Truth. Aren't we living in a hostile environment?

Why did you expect everything to be easy to go well? See, the source of encouragement is in the context of meaningful relationships. We restore people's perspective by giving them truth. Guess who the agent of encouragement is in the New Testament? Now and then it's an angel, but 95% of the time, guess who the agents are? It's us.

Regular people. In fact, if you wanted to sum it all up, we could say this. We are to aid, help, support, and intercede for each other by means of comforting and affliction, strengthening in faith, and motivating toward righteousness. In short, encouragement, or this idea of building up others, is taking the truth of scripture by life and word in the context of meaningful, caring relationships to restore perspective and thereby provide hope which carries us through affliction and above complacency. That's what encouragement means. Now, let me give you four quick reasons why we need to encourage one another. And then what I want to do is do today a little bit differently. I want to give you an example. I think we'll learn more by just having an example than learning this is what it means here and this is what it means there. But let me give you four reasons why encouragement is absolutely critical. The first one is it's commanded.

And really that's enough. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11 says, encourage one another and build each other up. However God has designed this life that we're to go through in Christ, He never designed it for you to make it alone.

We're to encourage one another. The second reason is because sin is deceitful. I already quoted Hebrews 3, 13, lest your hearts be hardened. The fact is, left to yourself, I'm left to myself, I will start to go into denial, I will start to compromise, I will start to move south. Remember that old hymn, prone to wander, Lord I. It's true. It's old and it's true. And left to yourself and me left to me, I get out of the context of meaningful relationships, I'll give you Bible verses to support why I sin.

I've seen it happen. See we need one another to keep us focused. Third, because spiritual growth requires it. 1 Thessalonians 3, 2, the Apostle Paul sends Timothy to this brand new group of believers in Thessalonica to strengthen and encourage them in their faith. You can't grow to be all God wants you to be without the ministry of other people to comfort and to inspire, to motivate, literally to ignite you, to go on with the Lord.

Fourth reason is because we lose perspective so easily. The whole book of 2 Corinthians is a study in this. Paul talks about his ministry but in 2 Corinthians 7 verses 3 to 7 you've got the Apostle Paul. Now the Apostle Paul is a man of awesome gift, powerful intellect, amazing spiritual giftedness, right? In 2 Corinthians he is ready to throw in the towel.

He is ready to quit. He is, I mean, when you read the passage carefully, he's clinically depressed. But then he says, but God refreshed me through the coming of Titus. Even the Apostle, see it's not, well if you have enough gift or if you're spiritual enough, there'll be a time in your life, and it's probably already come, that you desperately need someone to come and strengthen you or you'll fall flat on your face. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and Chip will be back to finish today's message in just a minute. But quickly, did you know you've been uniquely gifted by a Heavenly Father who loves you? Stick around after the teaching to discover a valuable tool we've developed to help you identify and embrace the divine gifts you possess. But for now, here's Chip to continue our series, Love One Another.

So that's why encouragement. But how do we do it? What's it look like?

How does it actually function in real life relationships? I think the best picture that I know of, there may be better, the best picture for me is in Hebrews chapter 10, verses 19 to 26, and I've put it in the notes, I've put the text there. Now what I'd like to do is, you need to understand the background of this book is, here's a group of people that are falling away from the living God. They're early Jewish Christians, and when you came to Christ as a Jew, not only in that day, but in this day, but especially in that day, you were totally ostracized. If you had a job and you became a Christian, your job was likely gone. If you were a part of an extended family and you became a Christian, you said Jesus is the Messiah, they had a funeral for you. Not only that, the Roman Empire was having its struggles and they found there was a good scapegoat. Let's blame the Christians. And so, I mean, to be a believer in the first century was like, not only a salmon swimming upstream, but where the stream is really uphill.

I mean, it was tough. And after a while, some of these early Jewish Christians, I mean, they were getting such flack. You know, they were looking at each other and saying, you know, why don't we just, we know what we know, but why don't we just kind of go back to the synagogue and why don't we, let's just cut it with this Jesus stuff.

The price tag is too high. And they needed encouraged. They needed to remember what was really true. And so the writer of Hebrews, throughout the book, but especially in chapter 10, is going to encourage them. And he does it just like how we've talked about. In verses 19 to 21, he gives them two major facts. He says, this is true. And then, in verses 22 to 26, he's going to say, therefore, here's three actions.

And as we do this together, I think you'll see some practical ways to encourage the people in your life, in your network. Follow along as I read. He says, since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place. Literally, it's the holy of holies. Remember, he's speaking to Jews.

He's using all Jewish terminology. By the blood of Jesus, by a new and a living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. Now, I'm a Jew and I'm thinking, let's see, holy of holies, the only way to get in the holy of holies, well how?

High priest once a year. But we have a new way, not the old way, not the old covenant, a new and a living way. And the veil, what happened when Jesus died on the cross? The veil of the temple was what?

Rent in two. And so there was now access, immediate personal access for every believer, not through the blood of an animal, but through the blood of the Son of God. Every believer, he's wanting to remind them, this is a fact, this is a truth.

Don't give up what you have. You have 100% available access to the living holy God in the holy of holies 100% of the time because of what Jesus did on the cross, fact number one. Fact number two, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, then he's going to make an application. Now, they know all about high priests. They know all about the need to have a priest to be an intercessor to represent you before God and represent God before you. And he says, now you have a high priest, but it's not like the old way. Your high priest is sitting at the right hand of the Father. You have a high priest who's praying for you as Jesus is praying for us.

When you go into the presence of God directly, not through anyone, not through the law, but directly on the basis of faith through the blood of Christ and his resurrection, you have a high priest. And no matter where you're at in your life, you have two things going for you. Number one, you have 100% access to God 100% of the time, and when you get there, you'll never be alone. When you come before God as a believer, he's saying to these Jewish Christians, there will be a high priest at the right hand of God, and he's called an advocate, a counselor, 1 John, our attorney, and he will plead your case. And so he gives them these two awesome facts that for us should blow our mind, but especially for those Jews that go, wow. And so notice the structure of this passage, it starts out with sense, sense, focuses on two facts. Now notice how the structure, three key words, let us, let us, let us, there's three exhortations.

Since those two things are true, now remember, these people are drifting away from God. What's the exhortations? Exhortation number one, verse 22, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having or literally having had our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. It's in the perfect tense.

It's a participle. He's saying, this already occurred to you, those who really believe. He said, let's draw near to God. You're drifting away from God. He says, draw near to God, how? Sincerely, from the heart.

Why? Because your hearts have been sprinkled, you all have been forgiven. Christ's blood and work has applied to you.

You can come with confidence. He's changed you. Second, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Interesting little thought here. The word hold fast means someone who takes control of something, someone who holds something down, someone who is mastering something. He's saying hold onto, don't let go of what? The confession of your faith. Remember that time when you came to Christ, when you said I believe in him as the Messiah. Remember in your own life when you asked Christ to come into your life, he says hold fast to that, not wavering. The word literally means to lean away from. Not leaning away from God, but leaning into him.

Why? Because he's faithful. See, he's given him truth.

Two facts. Fact number one, access to the very presence of God is available 100% of the time for a believer in Christ. Fact number two, regardless of where you're at in your life, in your experience, when you go into his presence in prayer, you will never go alone.

You will always meet a friend, an advocate, an attorney who's there to plead your case. Therefore, do what? Draw near to him. How? Sincerely. Why?

Because he's already forgiven you. Step two, hold fast. Don't let go of what? What you've professed. Live out how you believe.

Why? Because God's faithful. Even if it's hard, he's faithful. Three, and let us consider, literally give attention to, ponder, examine with regard to the spiritual welfare of one another in the body. Let us consider how to stimulate or provoke one another to love and good deeds. Get your focus outward. Have relationships in the body of Christ where we motivate one another to look outward instead of inward. Because when you're discouraged, where do you look?

And we do that analysis of the navel. Oh my, poor me. It really is hard. It's harder than anybody else. I've got spiritual light. I've got spiritual light in my spiritual navel, you know.

It's terrible. He says, provoke one another. It's a strong word. Only here used in the New Testament in a positive way. It literally means to ignite. What are we to ignite one another to love and good works?

Not forsaking the assembly of ourselves, the idea of close relationship, but being motivated. Why so much the more as we see the day approaching, the reference there is to return of Christ and the judgment that's going to come. So you see the structure as you examine the structure. There's two facts out of those two words, sense, sense. And the two facts are very, very simple. One, we have access into God's presence because of the unconditional love, forgiveness and acceptance provided by Christ.

Fact two, since we never go into God's presence alone, we never have to be afraid. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, How to Lift Up Those Who Are Down, from our series Love One Another. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Do you remember those iconic What Would Jesus Do?

bracelets? In this compelling series, Chip unveils Christ's simple, profound answer to that slogan, Love One Another. Through various New Testament messages, Chip will instruct us on how to build authentic friendships, resolve conflict, navigate challenging relationships, and more. Discover what it takes to genuinely love your fellow Christian brothers and sisters in the radical way Jesus modeled.

You're not going to want to miss a single program of this series. I'm here in studio now with Chip, and Chip, as you meet people around the country or read the numerous emails we receive, people are discouraged about their identity or not knowing what their life's purpose is. Now, what would you say to someone wrestling with those weighty ideas?

Well, first, you are right, Dave. I mean, this is a super important topic today. A recent Harvard survey showed that nearly 60 percent of young adults in the U.S. are unsure of their purpose in life.

I mean, that is a massive number. And as daunting as that may seem, God knows exactly why He created each one of us with unique talents and gifts and abilities. And here's the good news. We have a resource that can help them discover exactly what that is. It's called Your Divine Design. It will help you, listening to my voice right now, discover the spiritual gifts that God has given you. And better yet, it'll help you put those gifts into action. So if you're struggling with identity or purpose, it's my prayer that God would use Your Divine Design to let you know with certainty that God has a great purpose for you.

Great encouragement, Chip. In fact, we believe so strongly in this tool and its impact on our spiritual walks, we want to get this book into as many hands as possible. That's why all month long, when you make a thoughtful investment in giving to Living on the Edge, we'll send you Your Divine Design as our way of saying thanks. Learn more by going to LivingOnTheEdge.org or by calling 888-333-6003.

That's 888-333-6003 or visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Donate. Please know how much we appreciate your support. Well, before we go, here again is Chip to share a few insightful words for us to think about. As you listen to today's program, there's part of it that probably felt very much like an in-depth Bible study as I looked at the Old Testament word for encouragement and the New Testament word and gave you a fairly academic explanation. But that's very important that we understand that encouragement is not simply an ooey-gooey feeling, that it's not just putting your arm around and feeling empathy for one another. It's taking the truth in the context of a caring relationship and then putting the truth in front of people's eyes and in their heart so that when they want to throw in the towel, that truth becomes the rudder of their ship. It becomes the foundation of their home and they refuse to quit.

People email me and it's very exciting to hear emails and letters. I got two within the same week. Both were women who were struggling deeply in their marriage. One is someone who made a lot of very huge mistakes. Another was a woman involved in a lot of ministry and really was struggling with her husband and really struggling with the whole relationship. She knew in her heart the truth, what she needed to do and stay in the relationship and love him, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

But feeling-wise, she just didn't feel like doing it. She talked about hearing the truth on a program about marriage and God's word about marriage. She said, you know something I realized? I've spent all my energy pointing out in my heart what's wrong with my husband and I heard the truth and it encouraged me to look at me. And she said, you know something?

I started doing that and I asked God for help and I don't know if my husband's changed at all, but our marriage has gotten a lot better. Another woman wrote along the same lines during the series about marriage and she said, will you please tell people that what you said is true? She said, you know, I had an affair. I abandoned my marriage. I left God and I've experienced unbelievable pain because I didn't listen to the truth. And I want people to know now, years later I've come back.

It still haunts me. But it is the truth of his forgiveness, the bedrock truth that no matter how far you fall, Jesus died for me. He loves me.

He's forgiven me. That has encouraged me now to walk with him and little by little, despite the pain and the consequences, he's restored my life. Next broadcast, we're going to take this concept of encouragement and help you learn to take the truth in the context of your relationships and give hope and healing in a way that you may have never known God could use you. So be with us.

Looking forward to the remainder of this meaningful talk, Chip. Hey, as we close, would you stop for a minute and pray for Living on the Edge today? We've never seen a greater need for God's truth to go out than right now. And by God's grace, Living on the Edge has provided encouragement, teaching, and personal discipleship resources to more people than ever. So thank you to those who support us in prayer. God is doing amazing things. Well, join us next time as Chip continues his series, Love One Another. Until then, I'm Dave Drouie, thanking you for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.