In a previous post we considered why encouragement is needed, concluding that we need help to maintain the qualities that enable us to live as lights in this dark world seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10. Verse eleven answers the question of “who?”
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
Who Needs Encouragement
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Thessalonican church which was experiencing hardships but nonetheless became a model to churches elsewhere (1 Thess. 1:6-7). He also wrote of his own suffering because of opposition against him. Throughout this epistle, Paul pointed them to the future hope of the coming of the Lord. He wrote of being encouraged and their need for encouragement.
Though written to a specific church, these words also apply to us today because . . .
We still live in a dark and broken world filled with troubles that challenge us in our walk with God.
We still look forward to that day when the Lord will come and make everything right.
All followers of Jesus Christ, no matter who they are, where they live, or how they serve, need encouragement to brightly reflect the light of the Lord in their sphere of influence in all they say and do till Jesus comes again.
Who Gives Encouragement
According to 1 Thessalonians 5:11, we are responsible to encourage one another. The New Testament contains numerous uses of the phrase “one another” or “allelon” in the original language. This word depicts a mutual, reciprocal effort on the part of believers, one toward the other. The word for encourage, parakaleo, denotes calling to one’s side, further strengthening the idea of being there for one another. We are to come to the aid of fellow believers.
True, God is the ultimate source of encouragement —
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort (paraklesis – noun form of the verb parakaleo translated in 1 Thess. 5:11 as encourage). (2 Cor. 1:3)
When we encourage one another, we are pulling on that which He has provided — “comfort (parakaleo) those in any trouble with the comfort (paraklesis) we ourselves have received from God” (2 Cor. 1:4).
Encouraging one another is a command for the Body of Christ as seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “encourage one another and build each other up.” Are you not only receiving encouragement from others but giving it as well? Perhaps you need some help in how to do that more effectively. Look for the next post.