You might be wondering why, when I've got the whole Bible to choose from this evening,
I decided to speak on refreshers.
It wasn't just so I could put some packs of sweets on your pews, but please do feel to
suck or to crunch if it still takes you while I'm speaking.
The reason why I've chosen to speak on this is to do with 2 Timothy.
We've just finished 2 Timothy, and in 2 Timothy there's a character called Onesiphorus.
Onesiphorus, I think, is one of the great unsung heroes of the New Testament.
He's been described as Paul's pastor because he was the man who went to Paul when he was
in prison and who ministered to him.
And I was thinking in a slightly random way that Onesiphorus sounds a bit like Onesimus.
Onesimus is the subject, as you know, of the book of Philemon.
The two names mean much the same thing.
They're people who are profitable.
I then thought, oh, these two men actually have quite a lot of similarities.
They came from fairly close together.
Onesimus was from Colossae, and Onesiphorus was from Ephesus, both in what was then Asia,
the province of Asia, today part of Turkey.
Both men ended up in Rome.
Onesiphorus, perhaps they're in business.
Onesimus, because he had run away from his master Philemon.
Both men, when they were in Rome, met Paul.
Now, not at the same time, because Onesimus was during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome
when he was under house arrest.
Onesiphorus was towards the end when Paul was in trial for his life.
So it was during Paul's second and much more arduous imprisonment.
And Paul wrote very warmly about both of them to Philemon and to Timothy.
And in writing about them, both times Paul wrote about being refreshed.
That eventually got to the point.
Paul wrote about being refreshed.
And I thought, this is something that was obviously really important to Paul.
That these men had refreshed him, and it made quite a big difference to him in difficult circumstances.
I thought, I can't remember ever hearing anyone speaking about being a refresher.
I've heard of people speaking about encouraging, usually using Barnabas as the prime example.
But never heard of anyone speaking about what it means to refresh others.
So I thought, this evening, we'll redress the balance a bit.
We're going to think about the importance of refreshing others.
And we're going to encourage each other to be refreshers.
I'm going to do something that's a little bit different from the normal this evening.
I'm going to name names.
So as we go along, I'm going to mention a few people who I think are really good examples in our church.
Of those who show the characteristics of refreshers.
Now, please don't be offended if I don't mention you.
You may well be as good as anyone else at it.
And it's just I didn't have to think of you.
They're only examples.
But I think it's good to recognize these people.
And we'll come back to that towards the end.
The importance of recognizing other people.
But let's begin with God's word.
We're going to read a few verses from Philemon and then a few verses from 2 Timothy.
If you want to turn to them.
It's Philemon.
Only has one chapter.
So nice and easy.
And we're going to read verse 7 and then from verse 20 onwards.
So Paul writes to Philemon, your love has given me great joy and encouragement because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people.
And then he goes on a bit and he has his appeal to Philemon about Onesimus explaining how he's become a Christian, asking him to receive him back.
And in verse 20, he says, I do wish, brother, that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord.
Refresh my heart in Christ.
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.
So that's Philemon and Onesimus.
Let's move over to 2 Timothy.
2 Timothy chapter 1.
And just a few verses to talk about Onesiphorus there.
2 Timothy chapter 1.
I'm reading from verse 16.
And Paul writes,
May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.
On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me.
May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day.
You know very well in how many ways he helped me in Ephesus.
Now we will read a few more verses as we go along this evening.
But for the moment, I'm sure God will bless his word to us.
So what does it mean to refresh somebody?
Well, I think the best way to understand that is to understand a little bit about the Greek word that is translated as refresh in our New Testament.
And it's exactly the same Greek word as it's used elsewhere to talk about rest.
Rest.
So rest and refresh, the most common word for refresh in the New Testament, they're the same word.
Now I guess we could say that rest is what I do to myself.
I have a rest.
I go to sleep or whatever.
Refreshment is what I do to somebody else.
I rest them.
I give them rest.
Now sometimes that could be in a literal, physical sense.
That we say to someone, I want to help you in your work for the Lord.
I want to give you a bit of a break from it.
And I'll take over what you're doing for a while.
A true example, a few weeks ago, John Gemmo came to me and he said,
you don't need to come to Friday Fun Zone this evening.
I'll do your door duty for you.
Now I love being at the door at Friday Fun Zone.
It's a great privilege.
But I was quite tired.
There were family reasons why it was quite good to be at home.
And I was really glad of that period of rest.
It wasn't exactly a three-month sabbatical, but it really meant quite a lot to me.
And I think it's really good we all need rest from a Christian activity.
Sometimes we can say to someone, assuming we've got the gifts and the ability to do it,
I'll just take your duty for a short time to give you a rest from it.
But I don't think that's actually the main meaning of the word refresh or what rest means in this context.
It's not rest from work, I'd suggest.
It's rest in work.
So refreshing is about reviving us in the work we're doing.
It is about re-energizing us.
It is about giving us a real peace and a confidence in what we do at a time when we might be flagging,
when we might be finding things a little bit difficult.
And I think rest is different from encouragement in an important sense.
Now, the two are obviously quite related.
Encouragers will also be good refreshers.
But I suggest encouragement is largely something that we focus on with younger Christians.
Christians, we want to encourage younger Christians to serve the Lord and to be involved in service.
And we encourage them to do things.
And we encourage them in the things they do to help them to develop.
And that's great.
And that is a very, very important ministry.
If we think of Barnabas as being the classic example of an encourager, who did he encourage?
He encouraged the young church at Jerusalem when he sold his field.
He encouraged the apostle Paul as he was a young Christian.
He went and got him from Tarsus and took him to Antioch.
He encouraged the young church at Antioch, young Christians there.
He encouraged his nephew John Mark, again a young Christian.
And he didn't give up on him when Mark failed the first time round.
So largely, not entirely, but largely the ministry of encouragement is directed towards younger Christians.
I suggest the ministry of refreshment is more often directed towards those who've been on the road for a while.
We're just starting out in a race.
Then we don't generally need a rest very quickly.
As we're going on, as we've been doing it for quite a long time, at that point we've reached the stage where actually a rest and refreshment is something that we really need.
So I wouldn't make too big a distinction in it, but I think probably refreshment is more helping those who've been on the road for a while to keep going in their ministry.
And hopefully encouragement is helping those who are just starting out in their ministry for the Lord.
Now before we think about these two characters, particularly a few others in the New Testament,
I thought it would be good to think for a few minutes, well why is it that we need refreshers?
Why do we need to be refreshed?
And as we think about this, we're also going to note that refreshment is very much a work of God.
We'll think about what God does over the next few minutes, and then we'll think of some of the examples in the New Testament and one or two from Brunsfield a little bit later on.
So why do we need refreshers?
Well we need refreshers when we're going through times of difficulty.
We have Paul here in 2 Timothy, and he's in prison.
And everyone has deserted him, and he's on trial for his life.
And it really means a lot to him that someone is able to come in and to refresh him and to revitalise and revive him and give him something of the joy of the Lord again.
And in lots of circumstances, we probably need that too when we face problems in our lives.
Not hopefully imprisonment, but if we have problems with illness, with work, with family.
And lots of different situations where something happens in our life, and we think this is making the going really hard for me.
And someone can then come along and help us and refresh us in our time of difficulty.
There's a verse in 2 Peter.
1 Peter 4, where Peter writes,
What does it mean the Spirit rests?
The Spirit's not taking a rest.
The Spirit resting on you, I think, is the Spirit refreshing you, reviving you, revitalising you.
You're being insulted for the name of the Lord.
You're being persecuted in your Christian faith.
And in a very special way, the Spirit is then there with you and helping and encouraging and strengthening you.
And when we go through times of difficulty, it's great to know that alongside our human refreshers,
we have the Spirit of God who is resting on us and who is helping us to get through our time of difficulty.
So we need refreshment because we all have from time to time problems in our lives.
We need refreshers too because we suffer from weariness.
Dale Ralph Davis had a couple of expressions I quite liked to do with this.
He says,
Most Christians aren't run over, but they're quite often run down.
In other words, we don't have all these big crises sometimes in our lives,
but for a lot of us, we just gradually get wearier and wearier.
And the other thing he said is,
You tend not to get zapped in Christian ministry, but you often get sapped.
So in other words, you don't again have the big thing that knocks you out,
but just the regular working, serving the Lord, serving his people,
it can lead for us to times of weariness.
You may guess where I'm going now in the scripture.
Matthew chapter 11, the Lord Jesus says,
Come to me, oh, you are wearied and burdened,
and I will give you rest or I will refresh you.
The Lord doesn't say, I'm not going to stop you doing any work.
The Lord is saying, I'm going to come alongside you,
and I'm going to help you take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest, you will find refreshment for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
And when we come across situations where we are wearier,
and I guess all of us involved in Christian service from time to time,
we experience that weariness.
It's good if we can know the presence of the Lord with us,
to reflect on the fact that he has been through a life of total devotion
to his Father and to serving others.
And he is willing to come alongside us and to teach us.
And when he does that, he will refresh us.
He will give us rest for our souls.
So we need refreshers.
We need refreshment because we get weary.
And then thirdly, I think we need refreshment from time to time
because we can get discouraged.
One of the greatest things, I think, that brings down people in Christian work
is when they've been doing something for a long time
and either not really seeing the results that they'd hoped for,
or whether something happens that seems to damage or destroy
the ministry they've been working on for a long time.
One of the things I particularly realised through being more involved
in the work in Pilton and Muir House
is how much the normal things that come across Christian workers
are there to an even greater extent
and can happen an awful lot more quickly.
A few years ago, Bridget and I went to a Scripture Union event.
And at that event, the programme had the story
of one of the young people from Muir House on the back.
And people were really thrilled at what God was doing.
And then just a fairly short time afterwards,
this particular young person decided
they didn't want to follow Jesus anymore
and that they weren't going to live as a Christian.
And you can imagine for those involved in a work like that,
you've got someone who seems to be doing really well
and then suddenly they've gone back.
And you see that quite regularly, I think,
in the kind of work that John and Peter and the others
are involved in Muir House.
And just from time to time,
you can just see their heads going down a little bit
if there's been a few things on the go
and then they revive, they get encouraged again
and they pick up.
And for all of us, there is that danger of discouragement.
If you're really involved, you're really passionate
about a work for the Lord,
there is a danger at times you will get quite discouraged in it.
A couple of verses from the Old Testament.
I'm slightly shorned in here,
but there are ones I wanted to refer to this evening.
I think they probably fit in this context.
Psalm 23.
This is the NIV translation.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He refreshes my soul.
The traditional version, of course,
he restores my soul means very much the same thing.
So when we go through times of discouragement,
what should we do?
We should look to the Lord.
We should recognize that he is the one who is able to give us rest
and to refresh us.
Perhaps we should go away to the quiet place,
the quiet waters,
where he's able to speak to us
and to minister to us
and our souls will be refreshed.
And a few sounds back from that,
Psalm 19.
Psalm 19, which talks to us about the wonders of creation
and then talks to us about the greatness of the law.
And Psalm 19, verse 7 says,
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
So if we're discouraged, if we're finally going hard,
what do we do?
Get our Bibles out.
Look for what God has to say to us
and he from his word will encourage
and will strengthen and will revive us.
The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul.
Okay, so that by kind of way of a quite long introduction.
Let's look now at some examples of refreshers
from the New Testament,
and particularly these two men.
It's Philemon actually rather than Onesimus
is the one Paul talks about refreshing others
and then Onesiphorus.
What are the characteristics that people might have
if we call them refreshing?
Now I think most of us will have a few of these,
probably not all of them,
so it's not by any means you have to have all of these
to be able to refresh anybody,
but they're the kind of things
that might be a characteristic of those
who refresh others.
So I'm suggesting first of all
that refreshers love people.
First verse we read from Philemon,
Your love has given me great joy and encouragement
because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts
of the Lord's people.
And Paul very much emphasizes Philemon's love
for the people of God in this short book.
So I suggest refreshers love people.
Now, as Christians, all of us should love people.
We love God, we love our brothers and sisters,
we love those who don't yet know the Lord Jesus,
our neighbours in the world round about us.
But some of us are better at expressing our love
through service,
and others are better at expressing their love
through interacting with others.
Some of us are kind of, by nature, backroom people,
others are much better at talking to people,
at encouraging, at refreshing them.
One of the things that kind of excises
the minds of the elders quite a lot,
we had a discussion with John and Rachel about it
just last week,
is how we welcome and integrate people into the church.
And one of the things that really concerns us
is if people come into the church
and they sit through the service and go out again,
and they don't really have anyone talking to them
or interacting with them.
Now for some of us, that is quite a difficult thing to do,
to interact.
We have to really kind of force ourselves
to go up and talk to strangers.
Other people are really good at it,
and I'm not saying it's easy for them,
but it seems to come a lot more straightforwardly to them.
They have that gift that they can interact well with people.
I'm blessed with a wife who's like that,
and quite often I'm able to go along
when she's talked to someone,
and I can kind of get the introduction
without having to make the first approach myself.
And that's quite a good thing to do.
But some people, I think,
are really good at talking to those whom they don't know.
And some of us not so good,
but we need to make a bit of effort.
So there's one thing all of us could try to do.
But in the particular context of Philemon,
the way Philemon showed his love,
especially to the people in Colossae,
was he had the church,
he had his home,
in his home.
He had the people along,
he showed them hospitality.
And that ministry of hospitality
is something that is really important
and is really valuable.
And again,
from a discussion with Johnny and Rachel on Tuesday,
we will be making some suggestions
over the next week while
about how we as a church
could be better perhaps
at showing hospitality,
particularly to new people
when they come.
Now there are lots of people already
in this church
who are very good
at showing hospitality.
And again,
I'm going to,
hopefully not be divisive
by sending me out people,
but I wanted to mention Ian and Nan,
and I wanted to mention Ian and Nan particularly,
because when our kids
were a little bit younger
a few years ago,
they made a point
of inviting them out
separately from us.
So it wasn't,
we were invited along
and the kids kind of
came along with us.
Ian and Nan
invited our children together,
gave them some identity
and had something suitable
for them that evening.
Now lots of others said
very good hospitality,
I'm sure equally thoughtful
in the way you go about it.
But it's a really great ministry
and a way to show
God's love to others
and to refresh them
in their Christian life.
Refreshers love people.
Second thing I suggest
is that refreshers
recognize God's work.
Refreshers look at something
and they can say,
I can really see God
at work here
and I'm rejoicing in it.
That's what Paul's relying on
with Philemon.
Philemon's got this slave,
Onesimus,
who appears to have run away
and perhaps stolen something
from Philemon.
And Paul is sending
Onesimus back
and saying,
Philemon,
he's become a Christian,
he's now a brother
in the Lord,
will you receive him back?
And fairly clearly,
Paul is also saying,
well not directly,
will you receive him back
but not as a slave, please?
He's now your brother
rather than being a slave.
He does it very cleverly.
And we read how Paul says
that Philemon refreshes
the hearts of God's people.
A little bit later on,
Paul says,
Onesimus is my heart.
And then second part we read,
Paul says,
refresh my heart.
So very much directing Philemon
to say you receive Onesimus back
and you rejoice
in what God has done
in his life.
And I'm quite sure Philemon did.
But it would have been easy
for someone in his situation
to say,
so Onesimus managed
to get around Paul.
He's pretended to be a Christian.
I'm going to have nothing
to do with him.
And very important
that he was able to see
that God had worked
in Onesimus' life
and to be able to receive him
as a brother
in the Lord Jesus.
There's another example
Paul gives of refreshers.
Next we read from Romans chapter 15.
He says,
this is writing to church in Rome,
pray that I may be kept safe
from the unbelievers in Judea
and that the contribution
I take to Jerusalem
may be favorably received
by the Lord's people there
so that I may come to you
with joy
by God's will
and in your company
be refreshed.
And actually probably better
translated at the end of that,
we can be refreshed together.
That's the sense of the word
that Paul uses.
So why are they going to be refreshed
when Paul comes to Rome?
Well it is Christian fellowship
and enjoying being with one another.
But I think particularly
it is because of what Paul
believes and hopes
will have happened
in Jerusalem.
So there's the one thing
about being preserved
from those who are
against the gospel.
But more significantly here
I think that Paul
is looking for the favorable
reception by God's people.
Paul had gone round
the churches
of the ancient world
and he said to them
there's a famine in Judea,
it would be really good
if you could help out financially.
And some of them
had given spontaneously
and generously
like the church in Philippi.
Others had given
perhaps more reluctantly
with a bit of a prod
like the church in Corinth.
But Paul had collected
a significant amount
that he could take back
to Jerusalem.
But there was a real danger
that Paul might have
got to Jerusalem
and the church at Jerusalem
would have said
this is Gentile money,
we can't receive it.
We are Jews,
they are Gentiles,
we are not going to take
the money
that they have given
for us.
And Paul is praying
that the Christians
in Jerusalem
will recognize
that God has been at work
in the Gentile world,
that he has brought
many there to know him
and to trust in the Lord Jesus
and that he has laid
on their hearts
to share fellowship
with their brothers
and sisters in Judea.
And if the Christians
in Jerusalem
recognize that God
had been at work
in the Gentile church
and rejoiced in the fact
that they had given them
this gift,
then Paul would have been
really refreshed
in his ministry.
And every indication
I think that that is
what happened
with the church
in Jerusalem.
If the church
had refused
to accept the money
and refused
to see God's work in it,
then it would have been
really discouraging
for Paul
in what he had done.
What does that mean for us?
It means that we should look
at what people are doing
for the Lord
and sometimes we'll look
at it and say,
well, I wouldn't do it
that way.
That's not the way
we've done it in the past
or that's not the modern
way of doing it,
whatever.
Look at what people
are doing for the Lord
and say,
is the Lord in it?
And if the Lord is in it,
we should rejoice
as we recognize God
at work.
One of the things
I find quite encouraging
at Brantzfield,
a few times I've heard
people say,
well, I'm not that happy
with some of the things
that are being done
at the moment.
It's not the way
I would do it,
but God is clearly
at work and so as a church
we're moving forward
and we can rejoice together.
Really important
that we recognize God's work
and when we see someone
doing God's work
that we encourage them in it,
even if it's not necessarily
the way that we would have
gone about it ourselves.
So refreshers,
recognize God's work.
I'm going to move on
to look at Onesiphorus now,
so we're moving on
to 2 Timothy
and we have three points
from him
that I want to think about.
And the first one is
that refreshers are there
when you need them.
Paul is in Rome.
Paul is in prison in Rome.
He's going through,
certainly in a physical sense,
the lowest period
of his life.
He knows that he's coming
towards the end.
He knows it's very likely
that he'll end up
being executed
and when he's in Rome
he finds everyone
is not wanting
to associate with him.
Those who had been involved
in some way
in his ministry,
he mentions people
like Phygelus
and Hermogenes
and he mentions
the whole province of Asia
having rejected him.
These people,
when Paul was going
through his most difficult time,
they weren't there for him.
They weren't willing
to stand with him
when it came to the crunch
and he was on trial
for his life.
Onesiphorus comes along
and he's not ashamed
of Paul's chains.
He recognizes the work
that Paul has done
that has been of the Lord
and he recognizes
the benefit he's had,
no doubt,
from Paul
in his own life
and he's determined
that he's going to spend
time with Paul
and to help him
during his time
in prison.
So important,
isn't it,
that when people
are going through
times of difficulty,
that we're there
standing with them.
Think of a few Christians
who have gone through
quite difficult periods
in their lives
and quite often
they look back,
I'm not saying
this is a good thing too,
but it does happen,
quite often they look back
and they'll think
this person
and that person,
they supported me
and they were there
for me,
but actually these people
when I was going
through times of difficulty
they were nowhere
to be seen,
they were no help
at all.
And sometimes the people
who were the most help
were people you wouldn't
have expected
and the ones
who weren't very helpful
were people
who you might have expected
to be more involved
in helping them.
Very important
if we are Christians
that we stand together
in the Lord Jesus.
We're not just
fair weather friends,
happy to associate
with others
when it's an easy thing
to do,
when it's very pleasant
to do it,
but not around
when people really
need us.
Onesiphorus,
the refresher,
he was there
when Paul
really needed him.
Second point
about Onesiphorus
is that refreshers
go the extra mile.
Refreshers are willing
to go above
and beyond
what might be
expected of them.
Onesiphorus
comes to Rome
and he can't find
Paul very easily.
Not very clear
why he couldn't
find Paul very easily
but it was a bit
difficult to find him.
And you can imagine
a lot of people
that have spent
a little time
asking around
and perhaps
searching for Paul
and when they
couldn't find him
they've said,
well,
I've made my effort,
I've done my best,
I'll go on now
and I could tell
people he just
wasn't available
to find.
Onesiphorus
doesn't like that.
He goes around,
I don't know if he
says to people,
where's the prisoner,
have you seen Paul,
whatever,
and he goes around
and with great difficulty
he eventually
finds Paul.
And when he finds
Paul,
he just doesn't
make a token visit
and go once
and try to
encourage him
and then go away
and go about
his business
after that.
Rather,
Paul says,
he often
refreshed me,
he often refreshed me
and was not ashamed
of my chains.
here was a man
who was really
willing to put
himself out
for Paul
to go the extra
mile
to serve
the servant
of the Lord.
And important
for us too
to be like that.
Extra mile
is a great phrase,
of course,
it's from the Lord
Jesus himself
encouraging people
if they're forced
by a Roman soldier
to carry a burden
for one mile
to go the second mile.
I can just imagine
the Roman soldier
used to people
cursing
and being very
reluctant to go
even the first mile
and if someone
then volunteers
and says,
actually,
I'll take you home,
I'll go the second mile
with you,
what a refreshing thing
that must have been
for them
in their work
as a Roman soldier
thinking it was
not so bad
after all
with these people
in Judea.
And very good
important for us
that we are willing
to go
the extra mile
in serving God.
Embarrassment time
again,
example here,
lots of examples
of the church
but I'm going to pick
out Pete and Terry.
Pete and Terry
involved in loads
of things in the church.
If anything comes up
that we ask for volunteers,
almost always
they're among the first
to volunteer for it
and even when
they're not asked
then they see things
that need done
and they just do them.
And it's great
to have people like that
and there are others
in Brunsfield,
great to have people
like that
who don't say,
well I will do this
and this
and then I think
I've done my share
for the church.
I've done my duty,
I've done as much
as most people
and that's it.
We need people
who are willing
to go the extra mile
and to serve
selflessly
and with real servant hearts
for the Lord Jesus
in the church
and that is what
really encourages
the leadership of churches
or any kind of Christian work
when we see people
growing in their faith
and willing to serve
others
rather than look
for their own comfort.
Let's be people
who go that extra mile.
And then the final point
about Onesiphorus
refreshers leave you
feeling better.
Now it would have been
possible for Onesiphorus
to go around Rome
to do all his
searching for Paul
to go and visit him
fairly regularly
and when he got to see Paul
he could have said
something like this
well it's been really hard
finding you Paul.
I've spent hours
wandering these dusty
hot streets
being quite dangerous
talking to people
about you
because they might
not like me
associating with you
and I found it really hard
coming here.
And the church in Ephesus
were really not doing
very well.
Timothy's got a bit
too big for his boots.
He's just a young man
but he thinks he can
tell us what to do
and he says he does it
with your authority
but no one really
believes that.
We've got people
coming in,
false teaching,
all sorts of things
going on.
It's really quite
discouraging.
And there are people
like that
in Christian circles
and churches.
There are people
when you talk to them
they're always
complaining.
They're always
unhappy with their lot.
They're always
complaining about
other people
about leadership
or other people
in the church
and that seems
to be the way
they almost live
their Christian lives.
And you almost
go away feeling
really weary
from talking to them
rather than feeling
encouraged.
Really good
if as Christians
when we get together
we can be
encouragers,
refreshers
of one another.
Now I don't know
what Onesiphorus
said to Paul
but I would imagine
that when he came
to Paul
he would take an
interest in Paul's
situation
what were his needs
was there anything
he could do
to help with them.
They talk I'm sure
about the Lord Jesus
and about the suffering
of the Lord
and how our suffering
however bad it seems
there's nothing
compared with that
and all that he was
willing to do for us.
Perhaps they look
forward to heaven
knowing that Paul's
life was nearly
at an end
and looking forward
to the joy
it would be
to be received
and to receive
the crown of righteousness
that was in store for him.
I don't know
that kind of thing.
Showing an interest
in Paul
and talking with him
about the Lord
and about spiritual things
and that is the way
that we should be
with one another
if we really want
to refresh each other
in our Christian work.
Not complaining
not grumbling
and not depressing
one another
but rather trying
to encourage
and strengthen
one another
in our Christian faith.
Lots of examples
of that too
I'm going to pick
on Graham.
Graham's actually
gone out with
the young people
this evening.
Graham I've lost
quite a number of times
people have come to me
and they've said
something like
that Graham
he's a really nice
young man.
Now it's usually
ladies of a certain
vintage who said that
and I think
it doesn't sound
a very spiritual comment
to begin with
but I think
actually it is
because what
they've noticed
is that Graham
makes time for them
even if he's running
around busy
this morning
and he takes
a couple of minutes
just to speak
and ask how they are
that he's interested
in them
and he's got
something spiritual
to help them with.
Now again
lots of other people
I could have chosen
but really good
if we can be
these kinds of people
who take an interest
in others
and when we go away
they say
that was really good
it was good
to talk about the Lord
and to be able
to share
my thoughts
and my issues
with somebody else
I feel a lot better
from that conversation.
Refreshers
leave you
feeling
better.
Some unlikely refreshers
refreshers
the church
in Corinth
the church
in Corinth
was Paul's
problem child
you read the two
epistles to the
Corinthians
and you think
what a terrible church
there are so many
problems
one after the other
there's immorality
there's snobbishness
there's all sorts
of things going on
that you think
this is a church
that is really
going through
difficult times
and Paul must have
been really
depressed
about it
and Paul writes
his first letter
he then says
another letter
which isn't
kept for us
in scripture
that was really
hard
firm letter
and then he sends
Titus to see them
and Titus to go
and try to work out
where the church
is spiritually
now it's still
not perfect
read 2nd Corinthians
and there's still
loads of problems
there
but this is what
Paul says
about Titus'
visit
in addition to
our own
encouragement
we were especially
delighted to see
how happy Titus
was
because his spirit
has been
refreshed
by all of you
I have posted
to him about you
and you have
not embarrassed
me
so church
with lots of
issues
and lots of
things that
we would look at
and say
that's not
very satisfactory
and yet actually
when Titus went
there he could
see God
is at work
these people
are growing
in their faith
and I'm really
refreshed
and encouraged
and everything
that Paul said
about how good
they are
it's true
despite all the
issues
it's true
they are God's
people
I am refreshed
I am happy
because of them
again great
if people
coming among us
can come to us
and can say
I came here
I'd heard about
the church
at Bransfield
I heard you
got a good
welcome
I heard there
were some
fine Christians
here
I came
and it was
true
I was really
refreshed
from meeting
with God's
people
and sharing
with them
refreshers
leave you
feeling better
so five
simple points
refreshers
love people
we should be
those
who take
an interest
in others
and are
willing to
take when
they're
visitors
or people
others
don't talk
to
them
we recognize
God's work
we rejoice
in what God
is doing
even as not
being done
the way
that we
would have
done it
we're there
when people
need us
we're willing
to go that
extra mile
and we
leave people
feeling better
from having
had some
interaction
with us
let me
finish with
this
and this
is why
I've been
to a
limited extent
this evening
naming names
this is what
Paul writes
again to
Corinthians
1 Corinthians
he says
I was glad
when Stephanus
Fortunatus
and Achaius
arrived
because they
have supplied
what was
lacking
from you
for they
refresh my
spirit
and yours
also
such men
deserve
recognition
now we don't
know what
these guys
have been
doing
and they've
obviously
done some
good work
in Corinth
and they
visited
Paul perhaps
and passed
on the
greetings
of the
Corinthian
Christians
and been
able to
help him
in the
way that
the others
hadn't
but Paul
says
people like
that
who just
go about
quietly
doing
Christian
work
encouraging
strengthening
others
refreshing
others
in their
faith
these
people
deserve
recognition
I'm not suggesting
we should have a
refresher of the month
board or anything
like that
but really good
within a church
and I've only mentioned
a few this evening
if there's someone
you think
some of these things
Ian's talked about
this evening
I really see them
in that person
go and tell them
encourage them
and recognize
what the Lord
is doing
in their
lives
again it's
something I will
encourage and
refresh them
and we'll guard
against the
weariness
discouragement
and so on
that we've
talked about
we should be
good at
recognizing our
Christian brothers
and sisters
the work of
the spirit
and what they
are doing
in building
God's church
and in
refreshing us
in our
ministry
so more
refreshers
please
is the
message
to see
think about
how you can
serve others
in the church
how you can
encourage and
strengthen them
in their faith
how you can
refresh them
when perhaps
they're flagging
then as a church
we'll be really
revitalized
and we'll have
a real joy
in serving the
Lord
and in living
for him
in our city
let's pray
together
Father we thank you
for your word
we thank you for
these two men
we thought about
and
I leave them
particularly
and Onesiphorus
we thank you
that they were
men who refreshed
others
who were
loving
who were
caring
who went
the extra
mile
who were
willing to
recognize
the work
that you
did
who left
others
feeling
better
for having
met them
we pray
that you
will help
us to be
like that
that we
may have
a ministry
of refreshment
in our church
that all of us
may be able
to support
and strengthen
one another
and that through
that we may
have a real
joy in the
Lord
we recognize
that ultimately
the work of
refreshment
is your work
it comes to
us through
the Spirit
and it's only
by the work
of the Spirit
changing our
lives
that we can
too become
refreshers
we pray to you
take your word
take what is
from yourself
use it
in our hearts
and our lives
that we live
lives that are
more honoring
to the Lord
Jesus
and more like
the perfect
life that he
lived
we give you
our thanks
in his name
Amen