Encourage One Another and Build One Another Up
When my son was in the 5th grade, his schoolteacher had five people write a letter to each of the students in his class to encourage them and build them up. She invited us as parents to come to class on the day they were going to read them. When we walked in, the lights were turned down, there was soft, instrumental music playing, and their letters were all out on their desks.
They had just finished reading their letters. As I glanced around, I noticed that there wasn’t one kid in the room who hadn’t been crying. It was obvious that these letters had really impacted them in a powerful way.
I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment, and I don’t think any of those kids will ever forget that moment either.
The words we say can have a powerful impact on one another. I can’t think of too many other things that are more impactful than a sincere word of encouragement.
The apostle Paul knew that too, and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he says this in 1 Thessalonians 5:11…
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Encourage One Another and Build Each Other Up
The Greek word translated “encourage” in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 is PARAKALEO.
Para means “to the side,” or “to come alongside.”
Kaleo means “to call.”
And together it means to come alongside of someone and call out something in them; to encourage them, to strengthen them, to console or comfort them, to exhort or to instruct them
It’s coming alongside of someone to give support to them and inspire them.
I think we get an even better picture of what Paul is saying here when we see the other word that he mentions alongside of parakaleo and that is oikodomeo (build each other up).
Oikodomeo means to increase the potential of someone, to make more able, to build up, edify.
So, we really begin to see what Paul is talking about here when he says to encourage one another and build each other up. We are to come alongside each other and support, inspire, comfort, and edify one another.
Now that you see what Paul is saying to do here, you may be tempted to start really trying to get better at encouraging people and building other people up. However, what I want you to see is that the God has already equipped you for this task.
The God of Encouragement
In Romans 15, the apostle Paul helps us to see more about the character of God.
5 May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul shows us that God is a God of encouragement. God is an encourager.
We even see this when Jesus talks about how the Holy Spirit was going to be with us forever. In John 14, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as a “Helper.” Guess what this word is in Greek?
Parakletos. Sound familiar? Yeah, it’s related to the word Paul used for encouragement (parakaleo) in 1 Thessalonians when he says to encourage one another. It means one who helps by mediating on behalf of, by consoling, by encouraging.
Jesus tells us that The God of Encouragement is going to come dwell in us (John 14:17). Living inside of us, The God of Encouragement will encourage us in our relationship with Him, use us to encourage others, and He will use others that He dwells in to encourage us.
In Christ, You Are An Encourager
Jesus’ promise of sending the Holy Spirit came true at Pentecost (Acts 2). Now, the moment you put your faith in Jesus for salvation, the Spirit comes to dwell in you. You are in a spiritual union with The God of Encouragement.
As a new creation in Christ, you have been made into an encourager.
Therefore, when you are told in 1 Thessalonians to encourage one another, you are being told that because it is a description of who you are as a new creation in Christ.
You’ve been made into an encourager, therefore, encourage one another and build one another up.
When you begin to see this gospel-centered perspective, that’s when you’ll truly begin to encourage one another and build one another up.
Now it’s certainly possible to say things that are not encouraging to other people.
In our flesh, we use words to justify ourselves and cope with the difficulties of life in illegitimate ways. Instead of trusting in who we are in Christ (an encourager), we fall for lies of Satan and believe we must tear others down to get what we need in those moments.
That is why it is so important for us to be able to recognize those lies, renew our minds to the truth, and walk by faith in what God says about who we truly are in Christ and all that we have in Him.
Who is The Encourager wanting to encourage and build up through you today? It could make a powerful impact on them as you trust in Him to do so.