C.J. Mahaney on Encouragement

C.J. Mahaney will be preaching for us at Bethlehem Baptist Church for the next three weeks. As I explained before in this post, the theme for our messages during the five months Pastor John Piper is on Sabbatical is “Toward all the Fullness of God through Jesus Christ”. This month the sub-theme is “Toward Fullness of Love for One Another”. C.J. Mahaney and the churches affiliated in his Sovereign Grace Ministries, are particularly marked by their mutual love and care for one another, and thus it is fitting that he will preach for us on this topic.

His message yesterday was very, well, encouraging! And thus, I wanted to share it with you all. He preached from this text:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Eph. 4:29 ESV)

His topic this week was encouragement and he insisted no text was as suitable to that topic than this verse. He emphasized that the message of Eph. 4:29 can literally transform your Christian life. Here are his simple three points:

“Œ1. Encouraging Words – v. 29a.

The text is first of all, a command. And it covers every word you speak. None are to be corrupting (Greek word for rotting or perishing food) words–words which corrupt others. All are to be edifying words–words which build up others. Eph. 4:25, 31, and 5:4 are all contextual examples of corrupting words. To edify others we must know them and speak about the evidences of grace in their lives to them. We should especially be telling the gospel to one another often, as nothing is more encouraging, he said.

“Œ2. Appropriate Words – v. 29b.

“As fits the occasion”. Our words must be appropriate–suitable to the situation and the individual. We need to know the person or study them to determine what kind of encouraging words best fit the occasion. 1 Thess. 5:14 lists appropriate responses to differing kinds of people, and the rest of Scripture can help us as well.

“Œ3. Purposeful Words – v. 29c.

The ultimate aim and purpose for our words should be giving grace to the hearers. Remember this command is universal and thus every interaction we have with anyone should be purposefully used to give grace through appropriate and encouraging words. Everyone needs grace, and God graciously allows us all as believers to be means of grace–channels of blessing–to one another, and even the lost.

My summary does not do justice to the sermon, but shortly you will be able to find a link to the audio sermon here. May God help us to strive to be grace-giving, encouraging speakers (and bloggers) making every attempt to use all of our daily average of 25,000 spoken words (and all our written ones) for God’s glory and the benefit of our brothers and neighbors.

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7