If Christians are known for nothing else, the world has witnessed the love of Christ through the way we stand by those in need. Christian friends show empathy for the real-life challenges and heart breaks of others. We show compassion. We are called to show the love of Jesus to all.

Do you need encouragement? Does someone close to you also need your encouragement?

Do you sometimes feel that you are in this life alone.. no one near to help you through these tough times? Have you ever been there?

Why not reach out to encourage someone who needs help even more than you?

Anyone who loves God will want to encourage the heart of another created in His image, a soul mirroring our own imperfections.

Worshipers of the Lord at Colossae needed encouragement. The Apostle Paul had travelled to churches near them but never to Colossae. Yet Paul wrote a letter to believers (possibly worshiping in the home of Philemon) in Colossae just to encourage them in Christ Jesus.

“Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis were three closely-situated cities mentioned by Paul in the New Testament, each possessing Christians… Colossae was completely destroyed by the AD 60 earthquake. After that it survived only as a small village. Source

Colossians 1:

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul encouraged others, both personally and by mail. Do you?

He trained Timothy in the faith just as Saul of Tarsus had been mentored by leading Jewish scholars. Paul, full of the Holy Spirit after his personal encounter with the risen Christ, met with Peter, James and the Apostles and others in Jerusalem and many cities throughout the Roman Empire. Epaphras from Colossae was one of those who sought out Paul and others to learn more about the truth and encouragement of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone. Isaiah 9:2

Colossians 2

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

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These are true servant believers who genuinely love and pray for those in Christ they know only by report.

Hard times and good times come and go for all. Flesh and blood real families lose their home, their job, a loved one or perhaps even suffer the devastation of losing all of these earthly treasures.

Do you not treasure a roof over your own head? Have you never suffered loss of income or death of a beloved family member?

Hurting souls in Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis would soon be devastated by an earthquake.

(They did not know it.) Their day to day peace from the commerce and lifestyle of the Roman Empire would soon turn to shambles.

Is life in this 21st century so different? Are refugees in Turkey, Greece, Yemen, the E.U. and many other places in this fallen world not souls in need of encouragement? Do these not long for food and need true hope from believers of the only Way to our own salvation? Is our life not meant to show Christ’s love in tangible ways to every soul we touch with His Truth of eternal life?

Empires of these chaotic times will crumble and fall as well. The love of Christ is witness to those hearing false prophets, now as in the days of Paul.

We must encourage not only believers of the Way, but the pagan of false belief.

6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Colossians 3:

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.

You are serving the Lord Christ. 25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

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It is now as it was in the days of the early church, a time when Paul and others of the Way encouraged all the churches and the beloved saints in fellowship with the Spirit. The relationships of the saints of Christ’s church remain bonded in His love. Souls and lives of fellow believers await the pouring out of Christ’s love though your encouragement of others.

Colossians 4:

7 Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

8 I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts,

9 and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. 10 Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), 11 and Jesus who is called Justus.

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• Could the church add your name to the eternal list of those who reach out to other believers with encouragement?
• Do the words of your mouth and works of your hand overflow in the love of God, the compassion of Christ and the building up of others in the Holy Spirit?
• Will the list of faithful include my name as a soul who encourages others?
• Will you be remembered by others for your encouragement in the Lord?

Be encouraged in the Lord by encouraging others.

We give thanks to God our Father, Jesus Christ our Lord and the Holy Spirit for the grace of this day and the joy of eternity in His unsurpassing love. Amen.

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This is the fifth message in a Lenten series in preparation for Easter, 2016.