1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” The one-another commands in this verse are to encourage and build up, but that instantly begs a follow up question, doesn’t it? Encourage toward what? Should a person be encouraged in every behavior and attitude? Clearly, not. And who builds anything without some kind of blueprint? What exactly are we striving to construct when we build one another up? The objective this Sunday will be to help us see what Biblical encouragement looks like and how it might differ from notions about encouragement in the world. We’ll also give some thought to the role of our one-another community, the church, in the messy construction project going on in each of our hearts.
The danger of reading 1 Thessalonians 5:11 in isolation from the surrounding verses is that its advice sounds virtually indistinguishable from many voices in our culture today that call us to affirm, validate and support a person in their pursuits regardless of what those are. However, 1 Thessalonians 5:11 points us toward something that is very needed and powerfully helpful in the midst of any Gospel-shaped community.