Ephesians 6:20ff

And now we come to our last passage in Ephesians. Tychicus is sent to Ephesus so that he can encourage the Ephesians (2 tim 4). It is to that word that we turn to day to study. Here is Paul in his last months of life, worried about the churches that he has planted. He wants to send them a word of encouragement. He wants them to keep on in the faith.

Encouragement can be defined as any word or action that spurs one on towards greater holiness and godliness. It pours courage into a persons life, instills hope, helps them make it to the next step. Tychicus has that ministry. Apparently Paul was worried about the Ephesians falling away from the faith. He writes Ephesians and send tychicus to deliver it so that they wouldn't.

The bible speaks on the timely use of words. Prov 18:21, 12:25, 15:4, 16:24, 25:11, and the untimely 25:20. Proverbs 13:12 speaks of a hope that is put off. That is discouragement. Of course we know discouragement by its other more common words...Depression, despair, regret, sadness. We get into a position where we refuse to struggle, we deaden our hearts from any hope of rescue or happiness. The bottom floor of discouragement is the utter absence of any hope, accompanied by a feeling of powerlessness. The root cause often being a loss of intimacy in our lives. Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt like giving up on Jesus? Have you ever wondered what's left for you? You haven't walked this path alone. Read psalms 88. Here in this passage of Ehpesians, Paul was worried that the Ehpesians were losing hope. He was worried that their concern over losing Paul would drive them to think that God has abandoned him, and in turn they would feel abandoned. Paul, knowing that he would face certain death, is even more aware of the problem discouragement could bring.

There is a path that the discouraged walk. We desire relationships and fulfillment but we are often disappointed. This disappointment robs us of stability and often sends us into despair. As this cycle repeats over and over again...desire aroused...hope disappointed...and soul deadened through despair.....it leads to a hatred of desire and motivation. Lonliness is another result of discouragement, loss of hope, despair. Eccl 4:9-12. Without human relathionships to provide us with encouragement and hope, the world seems dangerous, cold and profitless-in a word...meaninless. This only leads to deeper despair, a further running from motivation and escaping into isolation.

Discouragement looks at the world and says I am alone, no one can help me. No one cares for me. Even worse, they only try to make my life more miserable.

Discouragement looks at your situation and says that you have no hope, things are not going to get better, but they can't possibly get worse.

So what do we do about it? I believe Paul gave us some answers in these last 4 verses. The first is find a friend, be a friend. Tychicus had been with Paul for over 10 years and had grown to be one of his dearest companions. But more, a person who he had a deep bond with. A person who went through the same struggles Paul did. A person he had a deep friendship with. These don't come often, and most people run from them. Most people are scared to hope for a friend that is closer than a brother. If you want to encourage someone, offer them friendship....begin to care about them deeply. Are you a person who has a lot of deep friendships? Do you let people get to know the real you? Are you afraid that if people knew who you really were, they wouldn't like you? Do your family know you? Have you been hiding from intimacy? Do you settle for shallow relationships? Are you sick of the emptiness it brings? Were you aware that close friendships are God's balm of healing in our lives? Have you been hurt by friends? Is it time to start again and develop deep friendships?

The second thing to do about discouragement...develop a deeper bond with God. One thing we learn from the Psalms is that despair can often send us into the arms of God. Pauls last 4 words give us insight into what he thought was important...Peace, Love, Faith, Grace. All aspects of a deep relationship with God. Each a key to beating discouragement in our lives. Notice also that the love spoken of has a strong relational aspect within the church. Are you serious about getting to Know Jesus better? Do you have a personal relationship with Him? Better yet, is it an intimate personal relationship...one that goes beneath the surface. If you are shallow with people you will probably be shallow with Jesus as well. Are you shallow with Jesus? Does your Christian life seem to be stalled? Isn't it time to know Jesus in a deeper way?

END of EPHESIANS

Here is a small questionnaire about forgiving yourself. The higher you score the more susceptible you are to discouragement. This is something you need to be aware of. A lot of times our inability to be encouraged, or our ability to get depressed, is directly linked to a decision we make not to forgive ourselves. Do you have a hard time forgiving yourself? Take this quiz and find out. Answer each question either true or false. At the end add up your scores. This quiz was copied from a book that I have used called "Forgiveness is human."

1 I don't think of myself as an evil person

2 I feel guilty because I don't do what I should for my loved ones

3 I often feel that no matter what I do now I will never make up for the mistakes I made in the past.

4 I regret things I do more often than other people seem to regret the things that they do.

5 A lot of times I have feelings of guilt or regret for the things I have done.

6 I often feel like I have failed to live the right kind of life.

7 I rarely feel as though I have done something wrong or sinful.

8 I often get in trouble for not being careful to follow the rules

9 I frequently put myself down for failing to work as hard as I should

10 It is easy for me to admit that I am wrong

11 I find it hard to forgive myself for some things that I have done

12 I frequently apologize for myself.

13 I am often angry for myself for the stupid things I do.

14 When I hear a sermon, I usually think about things that I have done wrong.

SCORING 

1 point for true in questions 2,3,4,5,6,8,9,11,12,13,14

1 point for false in questions 1,7,10