Encouragement Toward Love and Good
The writer is pointing out in Hebrews 10:24-25 what some/many are not doing. They are not meeting together and loving one another and encouraging one another to be loving in the Lord. When that is lacking from our lives, discouragement from the enemy sneaks in and pulls us away from God when we should be trying to draw near to God.
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Daily Encouragement
One can look at Hebrews 3:13 and assume that encouragement means to just encourage others to do what ever it is that they want to do or that we want them to do. If we encourage others to do what they want that could lead to enabling. If we are encouraging others to do what we want then that could be manipulation. We need to encourage one another daily in what the Lord would want for us. We don't want to succumb to sin as the rest of verse 13 states. So if we fellow brothers and sisters in Christ encourage each other to follow after God's heart and serve His will and not our own, that will pull us closer to Him and push us further away from sin. Your Christian walk was not meant to be done alone.
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Warning Against Idleness
In reading 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 we get to see the encouragement against idleness. What is idleness? That means being inactive. Imagine your car sitting still in neutral. It has potential to go forward or backward, but it just sits. It is useless. I look at MANY (far too many) Christ followers who see themselves as right with God but do not serve, read or read and study the Word. It is time to start doing more for the Kingdom of God.
Idleness did not just mean inactivity. In verses 6-7 Paul directs fellow Christ followers to keep away from any brother/sister in Christ who is walking in idleness. That means if this believer is not living like a believer (I assume more often than not) then you have every right to keep your distance. And why wouldn't you? We already know that bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33). So if someone among you is not following the example of Christ, then it is okay to leave them to their ways. You don't have to fix them or feel guilty that they chose their lifestyle.
In verses 10-11 Paul calls out those who would not (notice that it wasn't cannot) work. He says, if they aren't willing to help and work and they just want to be busy bodies, then they should not eat. This I understand was specific to the church and not local government. The thinking is that people thought if Jesus was coming back then what was the point of working. They decided to let others work and they reap the benefits of giving Christians. Paul didn't like that, but he also wanted those who were doing the right thing to not grow weary in doing it (verse 13). Paul knew how to call out those that weren't doing the right thing but also knew how to encourage those that were doing the right thing in the name of the Lord.
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Continue With the Learning
Paul makes a great point in 2 Timothy 3:14. He says to Timothy "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it." In verses 10-13, Paul is commending Timothy for following his example as a mentor and then tells him that Christ followers will be persecuted and that evil people will continue doing what they do being deceived and deceiving others. I think that is (while it is very specific to Timothy) great encouragement to continue in the faith while others will not and try to persuade you not to. I know far too many people who have a problem with me having the faith that I have in an "invisible God." They lack faith and do not understand Jesus's life as I do. But I will continue in my learning of who God is, who Christ is and who I am with the holy spirit.
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Do Not Grow Weary
There are times where I really do not want to keep pressing on (sometimes that includes writing this blog day in and day out) but I know that my work in the Lord must continue. God called me to do this, He did not tell me to stop, yet. He did not give me a different assignment, yet. When we are doing the Lord's work it can be tiresome. Serving is not always easy even when it is a strength that you have. In 2 Thessalonians 3:13 Paul tells us not to grow weary in doing good. Sometimes that weariness comes from others not encouraging you, excessive critiquing from others, or sometimes it is not what we wanted out of something. To be honest, there are times I struggled continuing this blog because I was not getting enough response from people. But, I press on in the Lord as I am doing good in His name and know that what I want out of something is not always what is best for the Kingdom. My approval from others has nothing to do with the impact the scripture can have on their hearts and minds...so I press on in the Lord.
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Encouragement of One Another
Paul spends the portion of this letter reminding or informing the church of how they should be living their lives according to the Holy Spirit. If it is fleeing from sexual immorality and knowing how to control one's body as in verses 3-8. Or it could be the informing of the coming of the Lord (second coming perhaps) as well as our ascension into Heaven (even those who have "fallen asleep" in the faith) in verses 13-17. Overall, Paul wanted people to be informed and also encouraged which is why in verse 18 he says "Therefore encourage one another with these words." If we are not encouraging one another with the truth from scripture then what are we doing with it?
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As We Do for You
"As we do for you" are words that Paul wrote to the church in conjunction with Timothy's report about the church. Timothy was mentored by Paul and Timothy had good things to say after visiting the church of Thessalonia. Paul makes several references to being connected to the church spiritually. In verse 6 he says that Timothy reports that they remember kindly Paul and the others he is with and that they long to see Paul and the others as he longs to see them. There is a connection there. In verse 7 Paul says that he and the others are comforted about the church because of the faith of the church. Paul didn't have to be concerned with them because they kept the faith according to Timothy's report. And in verses 11-12, Paul shows us once again the connection he has to the church (which to me is very encouraging). He sought for the church to get their proper direction led by God and Jesus. He also wanted them to "abound in love for one another and for all" as Paul and the others did for them. It was bigger than just leading a church and helping build it but as he said before like a nurturing mother or an encouraging father. Paul cared about what he was doing and why.
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Leading and Loving Like Parents Should
I noticed a couple of things Paul said in this chapter that stuck out to me more than other verses. He compared the way that he was gentle and how he exhorted (encouraged) the church. In verse 7 Paul says "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children." He is talking about his approach to correcting the church for missteps. He was gentle. He wasn't harsh and full of blame, he was gentle like a nursing mother would/should be. He also makes the comparison in verses 11-12 to being like a father and encouraging the church to "walk in a manner worthy of God." He is saying this is what a father would. He should his solidarity with the church by comparing his style to that of their parents. And since honoring your parents is in the law (Ten Commandments) then it would be in their best interest to respect Paul as such as the parent of the church, metaphorically speaking.
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Bear with One Another in Love
There is so much we can miss when we chose (yes it is a choice) to not honor God with our words and hearts. When we are not honoring God, then we are not honoring others either. When you submit your will to Christ and let the Holy Spirit work through you, ideas like those found in Ephesians 4:2-3 are easier (not easy) to follow through on. It is not about doing it on your own volition but it is that of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes "with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." That humility and gentleness and patience all come from the Holy Spirit and these are a part of the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). Furthermore, in Ephesians 4:29, Paul tells the Ephesian church to watch what they say. He tells them to use their mouths to speak words to build each other up, not tear one another down.
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Praise and Appreciation
For as much as Paul condemns what the Corinthian Christians, do, say and think, he will also praise them for what he sees them doing that is right. In verses 6-7, Paul says that God comforts the downcast (saddened) and that he and his ministry were comforted by Titus coming and him being comforted by the Corinthian Christians. Here he not only praises the church, but he also acknowledged God as a comforter and sees Titus as solution to needed comfort. He is praising and respecting everyone in this section. No matter how people look at Paul for his intensity and some times his sarcasm, you can't over look his appreciation of
the blessings.
Paul ends this section of text in verse 16 once again affirming the church. He tells them that he has full confidence in them. He doesn't take shots at them and undercut them and say that they need to prove themselves to him. While he would have every right to do so, how does that build them up? It doesn't. That wouldn't be very encouraging. Paul sees the positives and points them out.
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