The Benefits of Encouragement
Indianapolis First Friends Quaker Meeting
Pastor Bob Henry
April 12, 2026
Good morning, Friends, and welcome to Light Reflections. This week the scripture I have chosen to support my message is from 1 Thessalonians 5:11 from The Message.
So, speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it.
Now that we are through the Easter holiday, I want to return to the list of catalysts that bring back our joy in difficult times that we were exploring before Palm Sunday. We ended by looking at honor and respect, but today we will explore an important but often overlooked aspect of our faith, encouragement. I have not found many people,
· Who do not like to receive an encouraging word?
· Who do not appreciate a kind, timely word spoken into their life when they needed it most?
· Who do not love to have the knowledge that someone will stand by their side and help them, even in their darkest hour?
Folks, encouragement is so valuable. Even the Biblical Proverbs speak to the value of these words to our souls. Take for example:
· Proverbs 12:25 - Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.
· Proverbs 16:24 - Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.
· Proverbs 25:11- A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
And this is only a few in Proverbs, but the entire Bible continues to emphasize the importance of encouragement and its benefits to both our lives with one another and our own souls.
I am sure most of us know what it’s like to be around a positive person, when you are respected, maybe even liked, and made to feel like you can tackle just about any project.
There’s power in the knowledge that someone believes in you and is willing to encourage you in your endeavors.
However, there is also power in the toxicity of people as well. Either you want to stay away from them, or you are sucked in and pulled down. It’s only realized, how heavy their words have been, when you are no longer being knocked around by their negative and discouraging comments.
A fairly new study, conducted by Y. Joel Young and colleagues at Indiana University, Bloomington in 2019, was conducted to evaluate encouragement as a character quality. These researchers hoped to find a way of measuring encouragement to enhance psychologists’ ability to counsel their clients.
According to the study, a genuine nature of encouragement is a character strength that you benefit from just as much as those being encouraged. Thus, by encouraging others, people will like you more and others will like themselves, and it circulates to create an environment that represents what they consider the “good life.”
I sense that is what we are trying to achieve in this world together – the “good life.”
Like I said earlier, the Bible emphasizes encouragement throughout its pages. Back in the early days of the church in Jerusalem, there was a man who was such an encouragement that they did not even call him by the name that his parents gave him. They simply called him, “son of encouragement.” We know that name as Barnabas. The name “Barnabas” literally means son of encouragement.
In Acts 4 we read that Barnabas sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money to the apostles so that they could take care of those in need in Jerusalem.
In Acts 9 we read of the church refusing Paul because he was a persecutor of Christians and because they did not believe he was a true disciple. But who was the person who came to the side of this persecutor of Christians? Barnabas did. Barnabas brought Paul to the apostles and told them about how Paul had been boldly preaching the message of Christ.
Then in Acts 15, after Mark had left Paul and Barnabas during their first preaching journey, who wants to have Mark come with them on the second journey? Barnabas does.
We need this kind of encouragement. This is exactly what the Divine Spirit has called for us to have toward one another. You and I should be constantly being nudged to encourage one another. Just as we read in our scripture for today – “…speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind…”
More than ever, we need this kind of encouragement in our communities and world.
Now, take a moment to think about the shadow side of this conversation, how many people do you know that have the gift of discouragement?
It often can be much easier to be the discourager! When a discourager talks, they seem to always have something negative to say. Hope and joy is dashed often just by them opening their mouths. Everything is a complaint. Everything is a discouragement and frustration. Sadly, this kind of “Eeyore” or “Debbie Downer or Bob Bummer” attitude can easily be developed in the church. But this is not what we are supposed to be toward one another.
God says that we need to encourage one another and build one another up.
Not only should we consider the example of Barnabas but let us also take a moment to reflect on the example of Jesus.
Really think about this. I spent a couple hours trying to come up with one instance when we see Jesus being a discouragement or offering a discouraging word. And I will be honest, I could not find one.
The Samaritan woman that Jesus encounters at the well has a hot mess of a life. Does Jesus speak encouraging words or discouraging words? It says in the story itself that he encouraged her spirituality and even strengthened her faith.
Consider the woman who was caught in adultery that the leaders are ready to stone. Does Jesus encourage her or discourage her? What wonderful words he says, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.”
Or consider the woman who enters the Pharisees’ house and is weeping over the feet of Jesus. The Pharisee wants, as he labels her, a notoriously “sinful” woman, out of his house. What did Jesus say? “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
In none of these situations does Jesus say, “What is the matter with you?” He does not say, “What is your problem?” Instead, he simply received people to him and sought healing for them. And that had to be a huge encouragement for women in his time. Remember, women in Jesus’ day were seen and treated as property and were being controlled by patriarchal and misogynistic men. For Jesus, a man, to be encouraging to women in this way is almost something unimaginable for his time. That is going above and beyond in encouraging.
What I want us to think about this morning is how we need a lot more encouragement in our daily lives and less of a stick. I sense we all carry a verbal stick close by to quickly pull out and attack people with these days.
Too often we like to start with a verbal stick with each other rather than some verbal encouragement! This does not mean that there is not a place or a need for rebuke. There still may be a need for rebuke, but it is not the only thing we need. It is not the only tool given to us by God. Actually, we need to start with encouragement so that any rebuke can be heard, understood, and respected.
All this reminds me of a story I once heard that moved me deeply. I would like to share it to close my thoughts this morning.
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young couples walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by.
Although the other man couldn't hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Then unexpectedly, a sinister thought entered his mind. Why should the other man alone experience all the pleasures of seeing everything while he himself never got to see anything? It didn't seem fair.
At first thought the man felt ashamed. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window - that thought, and only that thought now controlled his life.
Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running in. In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped along with that the sound of breathing. Now there was only silence--deathly silence.
The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.
It faced a blank wall.
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
May we follow that man’s example in our lives. Amen.
Now, as we enter waiting worship this morning, I want us to take a moment and consider someone in our life that we believe needs our encouragement, today. In the silence, consider what you will do or say to encourage that person and then begin to make a plan to do that after worship. Allow the Spirit to inspire your encouragement in this time.
Or maybe you want to encourage someone out of the silence right here this morning. If so, stand where you are and a microphone will be brought to you. Let’s take this time.