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The Gift of Exhortation: Encouraging Others in Faith
The Word of the Week focuses on the spiritual gift of exhortation, which is the God-given ability to motivate and encourage others in their spiritual growth. Pastor Josh Massaro explores how this gift is essential for building up individuals and the church community, emphasizing the importance of coming alongside others to challenge and support them in their faith journey. He highlights that exhortation is not about pushing or pressuring people, but rather about walking alongside them and fostering genuine relationships. Throughout the discussion, he draws connections to biblical teachings, particularly in Romans and Hebrews, to illustrate the significance of encouragement within the church. As we strive to embody this gift, we strengthen the body of Christ and fulfill our call to love and good works together.
The podcast episode hosted by Pastor Josh Massaro takes listeners on a deep dive into the spiritual gift of exhortation, emphasizing its vital role within the church. This gift, characterized by its focus on motivation and encouragement, serves as a powerful tool for nurturing spiritual growth among believers. Pastor Josh defines exhortation not only as a means of providing encouragement but also as an active partnership in faith, where one believer comes alongside another to support, challenge, and guide them toward a deeper understanding of Scripture and a closer walk with God. Throughout the episode, he elaborates on how this gift manifests in practical ways, such as mentoring, counseling, and providing clear steps for spiritual development, all aimed at glorifying God through service to others.
The essence of exhortation, as articulated by Pastor Josh, is its outward focus—encouraging others rather than seeking self-recognition. He discusses the importance of humility in exercising this gift, warning against the temptation to seek personal accolades. Drawing from biblical passages such as Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4, he emphasizes that every believer has received a gift from God and is called to use it in service to others. By examining the characteristics of an effective exhorter, Pastor Josh highlights the necessity of compassion, clarity in communication, and the ability to discern spiritual needs in others. The episode further explores the historical examples of exhorters in Scripture, providing listeners with relatable models to emulate in their own lives.
Towards the conclusion, Pastor Josh encourages listeners to actively practice exhortation within their communities, underscoring the importance of daily encouragement and accountability among believers. He cites Hebrews 3:13, which calls for daily exhortation, as a reminder of the urgency and necessity of this spiritual gift. The podcast wraps up with an invitation for all Christians to embrace the call to exhort one another, reinforcing that while not everyone may have the spiritual gift of exhortation, all can strive to develop this crucial aspect of their faith journey. This episode is a poignant reminder of the communal nature of Christianity and the responsibility believers have to uplift one another in their spiritual walks.
Takeaways:
- Exhortation is a spiritual gift focused on encouraging others in their spiritual journey.
- Individuals with the gift of exhortation help others apply biblical truths to their lives.
- Exhortation is about coming alongside others to motivate and challenge their growth.
- The role of exhorters in the church is to strengthen the body of believers together.
- All Christians should strive to improve their ability to exhort and encourage one another.
- Exhortation involves building relationships and following up on spiritual growth with compassion.
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Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Pastor Josh:In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical words that have great significance to our faith.
Pastor Josh:The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are familiar with in scripture.
Pastor Josh:So come along with me.
Pastor Josh:Let's study the Word of the week.
Pastor Josh:Pastor Josh here.
Pastor Josh:The word of the week is again gift.
Pastor Josh:We've been studying the spiritual gifts listed in Romans chapter 12 here for many weeks now.
Pastor Josh:And we are going one by one and looking briefly at each one of these gifts and how they fit in within the church and how we as Christians can identify those spiritual gifts in our life.
Pastor Josh:And so we pick up with Romans chapter 12.
Pastor Josh:And we have talked now about the gift of prophecy.
Pastor Josh:We've talked about the gift of ministry or service.
Pastor Josh:We've talked about the gift of teaching.
Pastor Josh:And this week we find ourselves looking at the gift of exhortation.
Pastor Josh:We need to ask a few questions with the gift of exhortation number one, what is exhortation?
Pastor Josh:It's the gift of God given to us through the Holy Spirit, focused on motivating others to, or encouraging others in their spiritual growth.
Pastor Josh:Okay, so this is the gift of encouragement, the gift of motivation.
Pastor Josh:You could say it this way, coming alongside of someone to pull them along or encourage them along, even, even challenging them to come along in their spiritual growth in accordance to Scripture.
Pastor Josh:And so just like all the other gifts that we've seen so far, this is a gift given to us by God through his grace after salvation, led by the Spirit, so that we can help in areas within the church, encourage others to come to an understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
Pastor Josh:And ultimately, as we've seen in First Peter, chapter four, to glorify God.
Pastor Josh:And so the gift of exhortation is, is that Spirit given gift to motivate others, to serve God, to motivate others to grow in their knowledge of the Lord and the application of their knowledge to godly wisdom.
Pastor Josh:And so it's calling to action somebody who understands the truth of God, but now needs to apply that to their life.
Pastor Josh:And so this is done to strengthen both the individual and the body of believers for service to the Lord, obviously for the purpose of exalting the name of God.
Pastor Josh:And so an individual who has this gift appreciates serving, but also has a, has a desire to look into others, have compassion for others and challenging others.
Pastor Josh:So this is a very all of these gifts are, are not self focused.
Pastor Josh:It's the opposite of that.
Pastor Josh:There's humility there, it's others focused.
Pastor Josh:So, so these individuals would be able to give clear and practical goals and steps to achieve spiritual growth.
Pastor Josh:And so this is somebody who focuses on individuals and loves individuals, loves mentoring, loves counseling.
Pastor Josh:They might even have the element of teaching along with this.
Pastor Josh:They would be able to explain well, to communicate direction well, able to understand difficulties in the way and prepare folks for those difficulties.
Pastor Josh:Helping people make decisions, helping people finish what they have started.
Pastor Josh:Giving people the drive to see spiritual growth in others as well.
Pastor Josh:So we talked about this last week, Second Timothy, chapter two, verse two.
Pastor Josh:You, you teach some so that they can teach some, so that they can teach some.
Pastor Josh:So you've been taught and then you teach others and then other people teach other people.
Pastor Josh:Well, it's the same thing with exhortation.
Pastor Josh:You know, there's that idea of people have exhorted us, encouraged us, challenged us.
Pastor Josh:And then there's other people that we can challenge in our life so that they may encourage and challenge others.
Pastor Josh:And so this is a wonderful gift in the ministry, a needed gift in the ministry because we have so many people that as we, as we already seen in First Peter, chapter four, there's, there's the manifold or the various gifts of God.
Pastor Josh:So different people fall on different areas of the spectrum within serving the Lord.
Pastor Josh:And so like all of the gifts, this is a needed gift in the process of moving people forward.
Pastor Josh:But like in every gift, you have the challenge of either living within the spirit or living in the flesh.
Pastor Josh:So a spirit filled teacher or a spirit filled encourager is going to be someone who has the desire to push people forward, has a desire to discern the spiritual growth or the spiritual gifts in other people and, and then allowing them to get to a place of, of maturity in their life.
Pastor Josh:And so, but then you have the other side of things where there's the, maybe the fleshly or the carnal exhorter.
Pastor Josh:And you know, again, in all of these gifts, the person walking in the flesh is looking for self recognition.
Pastor Josh:They're seeking praise of, of them, of their own work.
Pastor Josh:And so we have to be careful of that.
Pastor Josh:Obviously, someone who's walking in the flesh might feel that they could take credit for what they're doing by exhorting and challenging others, maybe even would elevate a, their, their personal experience or their opinions above scripture.
Pastor Josh:So, so again, like all of the other gifts, we need to make sure that we are exercising this in the Spirit now we go back to first Peter, chapter four in that regard because it of gives us that.
Pastor Josh:That touch point, that, that beginning point in, in reminding us what these gifts are all about.
Pastor Josh:So as every man hath received the gift, so some of us have received the gift of exhortation.
Pastor Josh:Some of us have received the gift of prophecy.
Pastor Josh:Some of us have received the gift of.
Pastor Josh:We're going to talk about later on giving.
Pastor Josh:And so the list goes on and on.
Pastor Josh:So some of us have been given that gift.
Pastor Josh:All of us, we should say have been given a gift.
Pastor Josh:And then he goes on to say, even so, minister, that's serving the same one to another.
Pastor Josh:So again, the focus is other.
Pastor Josh:So an exhorter is looking to see who he or she can exhort, who he or she can encourage, who he or she can exemplify spiritual growth to in their life.
Pastor Josh:So even so, minister, the same one to another as good stewards.
Pastor Josh:I think that's important to note as well.
Pastor Josh:It's that stewardship principle.
Pastor Josh:This is not something that we have been accomplishing in our own strength.
Pastor Josh:This is a gift of God.
Pastor Josh:We don't own this.
Pastor Josh:We are stewarding what God has given us.
Pastor Josh:And so that gives us that humility, perspective, that gives us that selflessness and allows us to see where truly the source of all these things are coming from.
Pastor Josh:So good stewards of the manifold.
Pastor Josh:We already mentioned that.
Pastor Josh:The manifold, the various gifts of grace, the manifold grace of God.
Pastor Josh:So there's so much packed into that verse.
Pastor Josh:And we know that it's from God, we know that it's for God, and we know that ultimately we are just the vessels in this process of exhortation.
Pastor Josh:So you think about different ways that we could exhort people.
Pastor Josh:You know, you look at Scripture and you think of some individuals that might have been good exhorters.
Pastor Josh:I think of people like David.
Pastor Josh:He would exhort others.
Pastor Josh:And David's mighty men, he came alongside of them and encouraged them to stand fast in their faith and, and fight for the cause of the Lord.
Pastor Josh:And then, you know, you can think about back at.
Pastor Josh:In the New Testament with Paul.
Pastor Josh:I mean, Paul would definitely be considered a teacher, definitely a prophet.
Pastor Josh:But we do know that Paul would come alongside and exhort others.
Pastor Josh:And I think that that's an important ministry gift that all of us can at least strive for, even if we're not necessarily gifted in this supernaturally.
Pastor Josh:I think that we all should strive to be better at exhortation.
Pastor Josh:Exhortation in the area of encouragement and the area of challenging others coming along And I think that's important to notice too.
Pastor Josh:It literally means to come alongside of other people.
Pastor Josh:It doesn't mean to push people.
Pastor Josh:You know, I think sometimes that gets out of context when we think about, you know, challenging people.
Pastor Josh:It's like, well, I don't push people.
Pastor Josh:I don't condemn people.
Pastor Josh:I don't, you know, judge people.
Pastor Josh:No, exhortation is, is essentially coming alongside of someone and urging them to do something.
Pastor Josh:So it there is that in the Greek, the idea of being close, the idea of walking alongside them.
Pastor Josh:We're in the trenches together.
Pastor Josh:And Paul Instructs Timothy in First Peter, or excuse me, First Timothy, chapter 4, verse 13.
Pastor Josh:In the ministry, he says, till I come give attendance to reading to exhortation into doctrine.
Pastor Josh:So we know that exhortation has to be a part of the church just as much as doctrine, just as much as biblical teaching sound.
Pastor Josh:Biblical teaching needs to be within the church.
Pastor Josh:So does exhortation.
Pastor Josh:And so the word is used there in the concept of encouraging, admonishing and challenging others to spiritual growth.
Pastor Josh:And so in that case, Timothy's job as a pastor was to encourage those within his body, within the flock, as an under shepherd.
Pastor Josh:And so we know that obviously this would be a gift that many pastors should, should have or at least grow in.
Pastor Josh:But we know that the church is more than just the pastor.
Pastor Josh:The church is made up of many individuals.
Pastor Josh:And so the exhortation gift can be exhibited in many different areas within the church.
Pastor Josh:So the Holy Spirit gives believers these gifts for a purpose.
Pastor Josh:And that purpose is to bring them closer to the Lord so that they can reach more people for Christ.
Pastor Josh:And so I think what we can leave with, with this thought is ex exhortation is not pushing.
Pastor Josh:Exhortation is not pressuring.
Pastor Josh:Exhortation is not putting a guilt trip on somebody for spiritual growth.
Pastor Josh:But it is a time where we can come alongside of somebody and so doing it together.
Pastor Josh:Let's do this together.
Pastor Josh:So exhortation is not just talking the talk, but it's walking the walk.
Pastor Josh:And so people with the gift of exhortation don't just proclaim the truth.
Pastor Josh:That's the gift of prophecy.
Pastor Josh:There is some proclamation of truth with exhortation, but the exhorter develops relationships.
Pastor Josh:The exhorter takes time to do extra things when people might be struggling with their Bible study or their prayer time or even just elements of their life.
Pastor Josh:And so an exhorter is someone that takes it a step further from the proclamation of the truth.
Pastor Josh:It takes.
Pastor Josh:They take it a step further than teaching the Scriptures.
Pastor Josh:So it could look like this.
Pastor Josh:You know, a person could get up and say, thus saith the Lord.
Pastor Josh:This is true from Scripture.
Pastor Josh:But an exhorter would then come alongside of someone who might be struggling in an area and say, hey, can we go grab some coffee?
Pastor Josh:I'd love to help you out with this.
Pastor Josh:I'd love to pray with you on this.
Pastor Josh:I'd love to walk you through some steps to get to this place in your life that God wants you to be.
Pastor Josh:And so like we mentioned before, regardless of whatever gift that we are given in, in the primary sense, all Christians should desire to become better at this gift of exhortation or this aspect of exhortation within the ministry, because this shows, this shows the love that we have for other people and it ultimately will strengthen the body of Christ the more that we exhort each other to love and to good works.
Pastor Josh:And so all of us are called to exhort each other, challenge each other to that.
Pastor Josh:And I think that that is an element of the church that sometimes gets overlooked.
Pastor Josh:Sometimes we don't have a problem with the proclamation of the truth, but sometimes we have a problem with the follow up, following up with the understanding that, hey, someone needs help, Someone needs help here.
Pastor Josh:Hebrews chapter 3, verse 13 talks about we need to do this every day.
Pastor Josh:The encouragement has to happen every day, the exhortation has to happen every day.
Pastor Josh:And I think that that is showing the importance of, of the love that we have for each other, but ultimately the, the practical application of, of the truth of God, even, even in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24 and 25.
Pastor Josh:Very familiar passage when it comes to the assembling of ourselves together as a church.
Pastor Josh:But it, but it says, and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not forsaking of the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting, there's our word there, but exhorting one another.
Pastor Josh:And so much the more as you see the day approaching.
Pastor Josh:So the call is, is that we are all up to meet, we are all to spend time together, and we're all called to exhort each other.
Pastor Josh:And, and that's the idea of provoking each other to love and good work.
Pastor Josh:It's not a negative provoking that we're provoking just means to stir up, to encourage, to, to revitalize, to get each other fired up for the cause of the gospel.
Pastor Josh:And so we as a church are called to meet together, but meeting together is not enough because if you go on farther in that verse, it says, but exhorting one another.
Pastor Josh:So the goal is to meet, yes, as a church, but then the next step would be meet and then exhort each other for love and good works.
Pastor Josh:And, and I think that is what God has called us to do when it comes to the area of exhortation.
Pastor Josh:Now we'll come back next week and we will look at the gift of giving and we're going to go through each one of these gifts here listed In Romans chapter 12, these ministering gifts.
Pastor Josh:And when we get done with that, we'll have a good picture of these spiritual gifts listed to us In Romans chapter 12, as we serve the Lord together.
Pastor Josh:Well, after that study, we will get into a new one.
Pastor Josh: ong with us here this year in: Pastor Josh:These will be posted every Wednesday and I hope that you can enjoy these, grow with us on these, and then share some of these with your friends and family.
Pastor Josh:Because the more we promote the Gospel, the more we're able to see people come to the understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done for us.
Pastor Josh:And we want to proclaim the truth to all of the world.
Pastor Josh:So I encourage you share it with one person maybe that you know.
Pastor Josh:And I hope it'll be a blessing for them as it has been for you.
Pastor Josh:Well, God bless.
Pastor Josh:You have a wonderful week.
Pastor Josh:We look forward to coming back next week and studying more about these gifts of grace.
Pastor Josh:God bless.
Pastor Josh:Hey, I really appreciate that you listened to the Word of the Week podcast.
Pastor Josh:If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church, Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us on Facebook or YouTube or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me directly at Josh Massaro at middletownbaptistchurch.org stay tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper into words that impact our life according to scripture.
Pastor Josh:Thank you so much.
Pastor Josh:God bless.
Pastor Josh:We'll talk to you soon.
