Spring will be here soon. This is the time of year for things to start looking up. This is the time of year for the winter doldrums to start to go away and we begin to feel more optimistic. The sun begins to shine, the birds begin to sing, and new life and new color start to spring up. I guess that’s why they call it Spring!
So why are there still so many crabby people out there? Why are there so many people who are so miserable? Have you noticed that there are still some people who just get under your skin? They have a way of just ruining your whole day.
I’ve had that happen to me three times this week––twice in one day. Of course, it had to do with ‘old ladies and social media.’ It wasn’t anyone associated with this church, and I won’t get into the details of it, but a couple of things I’ve done, in fact, one thing that I didn’t do, were met with sharp, snarky, stinging criticism. I’m not sure if these people were trying to be helpful or trying to be hurtful, but they’ve succeeded in ruining my day nonetheless.
And they’re known for doing that––at least two of them are. I’m not their only target. But it still stings. Why do people have to be that way? I think part of it has to do with their generation(s), but it’s still no fun.
Have you met anyone like that? Someone who just ruins your day? You’re having a perfectly good day, the sun is shining, you’re actually having a nice day at work, maybe it’s your day off. And then suddenly, you get a phone call, an email, or a grouchy customer who walks in the door, and your whole day––maybe two days––are shot.
Maybe it’s not a rude customer, it’s your boss. Maybe it’s after you come home and it’s your spouse.
Either way, now your day is ruined, and you have this tightness in your chest or in your stomach. Why are there people like that? Do they even realize what they’re doing to cause you such stress and misery? Do they have any idea how they come off? For some, it’s like they want to accomplish that. But what’s it like for them to be so miserable all the time?
But the real question is not about them, it’s about us. What are we supposed to do?
The Bible tells us to pray for people like that. I’m sure they need our prayers. The Bible tells us to be kind to people like that. Long-suffering, as the King James puts it. Or in more modern terms––patient. Sometimes, it still eats you up, doesn’t it? Not too long ago, I mentioned not to pray for patience. Why? Because your patience will be tested. Trust me, I did not pray for my patience to be tested this week.
But there are other things out there that bring us down. Like I said, it might be work-related; it might be family-related; it might be social media-related; it could be bills piling up; it could be your health, it could be someone else’s health and they’ve just received bad news; it could be a number of things. Maybe it’s memories that won’t let go of you. Something else that I’ve mentioned recently is that we’re all human, and we’re all fragile.
I could go more into talking about those who intentionally or unintentionally hurt us and how we are to relate to them through kindness and forgiveness. But today, I’d like to take a step further and talk about how we are supposed to treat each other in general.
If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Hebrews 10, and we’ll look at verses 23-25.
As you’re turning there, I’d like to ask you a few funny things I found about being grumpy.
- Why are New Yorkers always so grumpy? Because the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey.
- My marriage counselor asked if it was true that I generally wake up grumpy in the morning I said, “Nah, most of the time I just let her sleep”
- What do you call a loaf of grumpy bread? Sourdough!
And last but certainly not least…
- A recent survey showed that 6 out of 7 dwarfs are not happy. I’ll give you a minute to think about that one.
Scripture: Here’s what God has to say. Not about being grumpy, but about how to cheer each other up. Hebrews 10:23-25 say:
23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Do you see anything here about being bitter or snarky or trying to get under each other’s skin? I don’t. Do you see anything here about starting an argument or making sure you let everyone know you’re always right or making sure you’re always taking control? No.
There might be a time and a place to say something to someone who needs a little correction, but the Bible says to speak the truth in Love––and it goes to define love, too, so that you have a checklist to remind yourself how to act when you’re tempted to lose it or just go back to your old ways. The Bible talks about turning away from anger and controlling the tongue. And here is a set of verses that says pretty much the same thing, but using different words. Our job is to do what the writer of Hebrews says to do here, “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
I’ve used these verses before, they’re popular, and pretty much any time you’ve heard these or read these, they are in conjunction with church-going. Why should we go to church? Well, the Bible tells us to not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing. And that’s right. But isn’t it interesting that the writer of Hebrews isn’t just talking about church, he’s talking in a general sense, do not give up meeting together…but encourage one another.
Certainly, church is a big influence and is a great way of meeting together. It could be your “meeting place” and it certainly is where we meet with God. In the Old Testament, another word for tabernacle is “tent of meeting.” Before Solomon built a temple, the temple was a tent, and it was referred to as a tent of meeting. More specifically, it’s where God would meet with His people. But today, not only do we get to meet with God in His house, but we get to meet with each other.
It’s great to see so many people milling about after church for a few minutes, and we should restart our coffee and snack time again, and restart our adult Sunday School. I know we’ve talked about it, it’s just a matter of doing it.
But it’s great to meet with God’s people and fellowship with our church family––the family of God. In God’s eyes, our church family is our actual family. Our Kingdom family is our actual family. Those who are sons and daughters of God are our true brothers and sisters.
Here’s a little forgotten passage of scripture. Just two verses in Mark, chapter 3:
20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. 21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
Even Jesus’ family thought he was out of his mind. You would have thought that by now, they would have seen and understood. A few verses later, we read:
31 Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked.
34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
So, not to take away from our earthly family, I think doing so in a truly literal sense would make us a cult, but to understand that we truly are a family. “The Family of God” is not just a saying or a nice little song, it’s the truth. And as such, we need to act like a family, whether inside this church or outside; whether fellow Christians go to this church or that church or no church. We are truly one family.
Going back to verse 24, again the writer here says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”
I like the way he says, “let us consider.” He doesn’t go on and tell us how, he gives us a chance to consider how. The reason why is because there are many ways in which we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds. But, the single way is through love. The single way to spur someone toward love is through love.
Again, it’s not about being in control over someone. It’s not about starting an argument or telling someone what to do or how to think. It’s about teaching how to love by being an example of love. Peter says, “8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
You can sense the gentleness in his voice when you read this. Here is an example of Peter being an example of loving one another, not just teaching it, and doing so without grumbling.
In the book of Acts, at the end of Chapter 2, we read:
“42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
So, did you notice again that they continued to meet together in the temple courts? But they also broke bread in their homes and ate together? So meeting together in church is good. It’s not just a place where we come to meet God, it’s a place where we come to meet each other and we can, just as the disciples did, meet at each other’s homes too.
But you can see here how he had already been practicing what he had been preaching. The beginning of these verses say that: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” In addition, they were offering hospitality to each other, not only by meeting in each others’ homes, but also by giving to anyone who had a need.
And notice it said they offered hospitality to one another, “without grumbling.” Just as Peter encouraged his readers to do.
I have to admit, I can grumble and complain sometimes. I’m introverted and although God called me to be a pastor, I’m not the most people-person person in the world. The other day, I called to refill my monthly phone card, and it’s one of those things where you call, an automated voice on the other end walks you through steps and you have to ‘say this’ and ‘say that’ and then you can type in numbers and then say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or whatever. And Diana was watching me, and she was like, “who are you talking to?’ And so I told her what I was doing.
And when I got off the phone, I said, “You know, I am one of those people who would rather prefer to talk to an automated voice than a real person.” And you know what she said?
“We know.”
And in my driving job, it’s 100-percent hospitality. I can’t say as I always want to talk all the time, but I do my best to be kind, courteous and professional. And a lot of people appreciate that regardless of how talkative I am, or am not. You can be hospitable without being talkative.
At the end of that passage, it says that the apostles were, “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.” And notice it says next, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
I don’t think that is a coincidence. I don’t think that the phrase is put there haphazardly as if it’s ‘all these things all happened.’ No, these things built upon each other. The Lord added to their number because the people saw something in the lives of the apostles that was different that in the lives of everyone else. And the people knew that this certain something was the love of God; and the power of God––because they saw God working in miracles too––and the people needed that. But I don’t think that it was all signs and wonders. I think the fellowship of believers––the familial aspect of the unity of believers––had something to do with it too. The love and hospitality they showed drew people to Christ.
Going back to Hebrews, at the very end of those verses, it says, “but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” And the word, “Day” is capitalized. So you know that the word, Day, is referring to the Last Days, or the return of Christ or The Day of Judgment.
Of course, as stated last week, no one knows the day or the hour of Christ’s return. Believe it or not, not even Jesus knows, only His Father in Heaven has it secretly on His calendar. Now, we don’t know why Jesus doesn’t know. Maybe Jesus might be tempted to spill the beans? I don’t know. Certainly, the angels might. But because no one knew, the writer encouraged his readers to be on guard in case that Day was approaching. That Day, even back then, could have been ‘any day.’
Last week, we spoke about ‘That Day.’ We spoke about how all of these things that we’re seeing on the news about wars and rumors of wars could lead up to that. Certainly, we don’t know, but it could. We have a worldwide sort-of antichrist culture. We have a type of Christianity (of sorts) where people have “a form of godliness but deny its power” perhaps unlike any time in history––and I think that means people believe a false Christianity. And I learned this week about a type of new economic strategy where a digital worldwide currency could emerge that would control what people buy and how much. It’s all part of what’s called, “The Great Reset,” and if you get a chance, look into it. It sounds like a precursor to 666 to me.
All of these things are inching to That Day, step by step, one way or another. It could be soon, it could be a while, but we’re seeing how the pieces of the puzzle can and are fitting together.
We need to stick together now more than ever. We need to edify each other now, more than ever. Edify. What does that mean? It’s not a word you hear much, and it’s another churchy phrase that has gone out of style.
It means to build each other up. The Greek word that the Apostle Paul used means “to build a house, erect a building” or “to build up from the ground.” The New King James Version uses this word in a couple of places. “Romans 14:19 says, “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. (NKJV)”
Jack Wellman in Whatchristianswanttoknow.com said:
I believe as the days grow more and more evil and the persecution grows worse and worse (which it is), we are going to desperately need to be encouraging one another, building up one another, and edifying one another. This may be more important today than at any time in the church’s history, but the point is, we should be building up one another, more and more, even more so as we see the day of Jesus’ return approaching (whenever that will be).
Now more than ever, we need to lift each other up, whether they’re our friend; our earthly family; our church family; our spouse; our boss; those people who drive us nuts; those who get under our skin; those who want to be spiteful and nasty; those who cause tightness in our chest and in our stomachs.
We need to shine the light and shine the love of God to even them. Those who get under our skin are probably the ones who need the love of God the most. We all make mistakes and we all do things and say things and act in ways we shouldn’t. James 3:2 says, “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” And if you want to read some harsh words about harsh words, you can finish reading the rest of chapter 3.
But John ends this chapter by saying:
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. 18 Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Now is not the time for bitterness, now is not the time for spiteness, and now is not the time to strike back at those who are. Now is the time for unity and love. It has always been the time for those things, but now more than ever. There are a lot of fragile people out there suffering today with things we don’t know about. Everyone is struggling with something deep down––financial woes, family woes, insecurity, time management, stress––a number of things. Now is not the time to cause strife or add fuel to the fire when someone comes at you with harshness. Now is the time to fight back with love, and come to the shelter of your family at home and at church to not only give that much-needed love but to receive it too.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 one more quick verse before we close. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on First Baptist Church of Watkins Glen
Featured Image by Joseph Redfield Nino from Pixabay
