Sunday 10th August – Free to encourage one another – Pastor Robert Voigt

I have preached on our St. Petri theme my whole ministry in one form or another:  Set free to live free.  Freedom is such an important theme in our lives and

world that we commemorate every event that won us freedom: e.g. the end of a war, or a particular sacrifice that helped to bring freedom eventually (Anzac Day).  This year we have spent a lot of time being reminded that being set free is at the heart of the gospel: we can do nothing to earn God’s love and mercy.  Jesus did that – 100%! – and we receive it through faith in Jesus as our Saviour.

Today we will focus on the second part of our theme: to live free.  And I have chosen 1 Thessalonians 5:11 to help us do that:

Very briefly, we need to know something of the background of this letter.  The apostle Paul spent just three weeks in Thessalonica.  In that time a number of Gentiles, non-Jews, had believed the good news and become disciples of Jesus.  Then Paul had to leave in a hurry because of persecution, and the brand new Christians were left by themselves – after just three weeks of teaching!  And they too were persecuted – and had stood firm.  I am in awe of such people!

But there are dangers in not having more teaching.  Being under constant pressure from the authorities, they started to focus on the wrong things.

• They focused on the Second Coming of Jesus. Some thought he would come very soon, so they stopped working.
• They worried about those who died before Jesus returned.
• They began to disrespect their leaders, which caused division.
• The stress of persecution tempted them to fall back into their old lives – lives of immorality and idol worship. Freedom was a matter of life or death.
• And some didn’t like Paul.

So Paul wrote to them, rejoicing that they had not given up their faith in tough times, and encouraging them to remain faithful to Jesus.

Today we rely on the Holy Spirit to speak to us through the apostle Paul, and from the example of the Thessalonians teach us the truth that we are Free to encourage one another.

In comparison to many parts of the world, we have a civic freedom that others can only dream of.  And, like the Thessalonians, we can get sidetracked by focusing on things that aren’t central to our salvation.  They chose the Second Coming of Jesus.  We choose our individual freedom to do as we please, while at the same time, pass judgment on those who don’t measure up to our expectations and standards.  I say “we”, because as congregations and a denomination we have often made it clear to non-Christians that they need to get their act together before they can join us.  We are always tempted to see the worst in others while ignoring our own sins and faults.

The point that Jesus made to all who are free because of his sacrificial love is that we are now free to think of others more than ourselves.

Now, with God’s help, we can do better than the Golden Rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself”.  We can actually find joy in following Jesus’ command:Now, with God’s help, we can do better than the Golden Rule: “Love your neighbour as yourself”.  We can actually find joy in following Jesus’ command:

Following Jesus means denying ourselves and taking up our crosses.  And among other things, it means that it is costly to follow Jesus.  We always need to subdue our sinful self-centredness and selfishness, and give our lives in service to others.

Unlike the Thessalonians, we are not being persecuted for our faith.  But we are being put under increasing pressure from a society that is turning away from God and becoming more like the world at the time of Jesus.  So many people who have grown up in the faith have drifted away – and that’s people of all ages.  We have become a minority in society when once Christianity was considered the basis for our society.  The Church no longer holds an honoured position in our culture – many leaders and people generally tolerate it, rather than respect it for what Christians still do.

So many feel free to walk away from the faith. That’s why the words of Paul are an important reminder to us who claim to be Set free.  He wrote in 5:11,

The simple fact about being free in Jesus means that we now belong to him.  When we came to faith we were freed from sin, death and the devil so that we were now free to serve the Lord.  As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:14-15,

.  And then he repeats that thought in another way,

So how are we the live free in the service of others?  How are we to encourage one another?

Well, here’s what the word encouragement means: To give courage to, to help, hearten, support, inspire and promote hope and confidence.

In his second letter to the Thessalonians Paul wrote of God’s encouragement:

So “encouragement” is much more than saying things like, “Good job!”  “You can do it.”  “Well done!”  Or even “Thank you.”  Encouragement is about giving courage to people’s hearts and strengthening them to love and serve the Lord in every good deed and word.  We help them to keep their eyes fixed on Jesus, and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

And in Ephesians 4:29, Paul used a building image to help us understand how to encourage others.

Translators of the Greek word have used English words such as unwholesome, foul or abusive, or harmful.  But the literal meaning is corrupt.  So Paul’s meaning is, Don’t say or do anything which corrupts or waters down or belittles the fruit of the Spirit.  For these nine fruit are not grown in us for our personal use.  They are given for the good of others – for their encouragement.

Building others up means that we will always encourage them to continue growing in the faith.  It means that we will provide many opportunities to learn and then put into practice what God reveals to us through his Word.

Encouragement then is mostly meant to help people keep trusting the Lord, no matter what’s going on around them.  Using Paul’s analogy of life as a race, we are to urge others to keep running so that they finish the race.  Now this is the main reason why Jesus set up his Church.  The church is people, never a building.  The people meet together for mutual encouragement in worship to receive God’s gifts of grace through Word and sacraments.  The people gather to do together what they cannot do on their own.  And they form groups together to offer mutual courage, support and confidence as they study, pray and serve others.

A rather old-fashioned phrase that I still find helpful is “mutual edification”.  It means that we build each up in the faith, supporting one another, being there for each other as we face life’s challenges together.  We need to have an individual faith but never a private faith.  No one can believe for me, but I can’t remain faithful on my own.  We were created to be in fellowship with others.  We need one another.  And therefore encouraging one another and building each other up according to our needs, is not a suggestion.  It is God’s will for us – because we are free to obey him.

The apostle John reminds us, encourages us and builds us up with these words:

We are God’s new creation.  We have put off the old Adam, and put on the righteousness of Jesus, the new Adam.  Through the power of the Spirit within us, we can love, forgive, sacrifice and serve in freedom.  To live free is to follow Jesus.

And the peace of God grant you joy in your freedom through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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