Positive Feedback
We should look for opportunities
to give positive feedback to those
who serve as our spiritual leaders.
Here's Gene:
We see the importance of this Principle
on positive feedback in chapter 7.
We have to go ahead to chapter 7.
And we see it in the life of both Paul
and his missionary companion Titus.
But at this point in his letter,
we can understand more clearly
where Paul was when he wrote this letter.
We can understand more clearly
when Paul wrote this letter.
We can understand more clearly
why he wrote what he wrote.
By the way those are significant questions:
Where? When? Why? What?
If you want to interpret Scripture,
those are four words that you need to ask
in order to understand the Bible.
But in this particular case, we need to review
in order to understand this.
Now we've covered some of this before,
but like all of you, I need to review myself
as I think about this.
So let me just go back and review
what has happened.
Let's remember that the apostle Paul
was on his third missionary journey
and he was in Ephesus.
And he stayed in Ephesus for three years.
And toward the end of that stay in Ephesus,
he discovered that there was
a problem in Corinth.
A church that he had helped found
on the second missionary journey.
And it had to do with a
disciplinary situation that was serious.
We're not told the specifics
but it's a serious issue.
So what happened?
Well Paul got on the ship.
And boarded that ship. And went to Corinth
and tried to solve the problem.
He couldn't solve it.
And he left and he went back to Ephesus.
But before he left, he said:
I'll come again.
But then he decided against that
because he felt it would complicate things.
Instead, he wrote a letter.
We call it the painful letter,
which was delivered by Titus.
And then Paul left Ephesus,
having an agreement with Titus
that he would meet him in Troas
to get a report on how they
responded to that painful letter.
However, Titus didn't show up in Troas.
And so Paul went on then,
probably crossed the sea.
Probably by boat or ship,
rather than on land.
Though he could have gone by land.
And he went into Europe.
He went into what is called Macedonia.
Probably to Philippi--a church that
he also started on the
second missionary journey.
Now with that background,
look at what we read in 2nd Corinthians,
going back to chapter 2.
Because this helps us pull all this together.
Again, this is review:
When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ,
even though the Lord opened a door for me,
I had no rest in my spirit because
I did not find my brother Titus. ...
In other words, for some reason Titus didn't show up.
Because he was supposed to come.
They had arranged a meeting.
And he would report on how the Corinthians
responded to this letter.
...Instead, [he said] I said good-bye to them
and [I] left for Macedonia.
Now just a little bit of thought here.
And that is that there was
a thriving church in Troas.
We know that it's true because
on the third journey, when he was returning
and going back to Jerusalem,
he came to Troas.
And you remember, there was a guy
by the name of Eutychus.
Who was way up I think on the third floor.
Fell asleep.
Paul was teaching and teaching on into the night.
He fell down. And he went down.
He was dead, it appears,
and Paul brought him back to life.
And so there was a group of believers there.
And there was a group of believers
probably when he left Ephesus
before he went to Macedonia.
But he said: The door's open for me here
but [I've] got to go on.
I've got to find Titus.
I've got to find out how the Corinthians
responded to that letter.
So we read about that here
in 2nd Corinthians chapter 7:
In fact, when we came into Macedonia...
Sort of keep the map in mind there.
Leaving Troas. Went into Macedonia--
probably Philippi:
...In fact, when we came into Macedonia,
we had no rest.
Instead, we were troubled in every way:
conflicts on the outside, fears within. ...
Now keep in mind that the
churches of Macedonia were
the Philippians, the Thessalonians, the Bereans.
If you go back to the book of Acts
in the second letter, in every instance,
there was persecution.
In fact, Paul had to leave those churches
to get away from persecution.
But now he's back in Macedonia
and there's intense persecution.
And he's facing it.
In fact, you will see the churches
were in intense poverty.
There were serious problems in those churches.
And so he describes that:
[But God, he said. Notice:]
...But God, who comforts the downcast,
comforted us by the arrival of Titus...
Titus showed up.
Can you imagine that meeting?
Titus, where have you been?
You know, I've been worried sick.
What happened?
How did they treat you?
How did they respond to that letter?
And Titus of course, gave a positive report
that they obeyed and took care
of the situation. So, he said:
...But God, who comforts the downcast,
comforted us by the arrival of Titus,
and not only by his arrival but also
by the comfort he received from you. ...
In other words, I was comforted
because Titus was comforted.
And you responded to him.
And even though he brought this letter,
you welcomed him,
and you welcomed my words,
and you obeyed.
And then he says:
...He [Titus] told us about
your deep longing, your sorrow,
and your zeal for me,
so that I rejoiced even more.
In other words, they obeyed.
They dealt with that issue.
And it was a real comfort to Paul.
Now earlier, we said that probably this is
where Paul rolled out a scroll
and took his quill and began to write
the second letter that we have here
to the Corinthians.
And you remember where he began
with the first paragraph?
With comfort.
You remember?
He generally talks about the comfort
that we received.
So you see a connection.
He used the word comfort a number of times
in the opening paragraph.
And I think that the thing
that motivated him was this report
from Titus to write to them.
And he starts out with this
positive, positive statement
about the comfort he was feeling.
And because of that comfort,
he could comfort them.
So here is this report that he received.
You know, there's something I want us
to see from this passage,
[that] we didn't see before, when we looked at it
in a earlier Principle.
And I was trying to give you the whole context
of when he wrote this letter.
Because we referred to it then--I jumped ahead.
But sometimes I think we forget
that a lot of spiritual leaders
are experiencing anxiety.
One of the reasons for anxiety
is they're godly shepherds.
They care about the sheep.
They worry about sheep who go astray.
That's a true shepherd.
We forget about the rejection
that they feel at times because of people
who don't want to hear the truth.
I think that we could safely say
that just watching their sheep wander
in the wilderness of sin,
keeps a conscientious pastor awake at night.
That's the kind of heart that Paul had.
Remember when he wrote
to the Galatians, he said:
I travail in birth again,
until Christ be formed in you.
That's an interesting metaphor.
I led you to Christ.
I gave birth to you--in travail.
But now I'm travailing in birth again,
until you start living like Jesus.
It's a fascinating metaphor.
And that was Paul's heart.
And so I think that this event in Paul's life
certainly teaches us: That all spiritual leaders
need encouragement,
and one of the most effective ways
to do this, is to give positive feedback.
And that's what Paul received.
And it brought comfort to his heart.
And comfort to his soul.
The Reflection and Response question simply is:
In what specific ways can we
offer positive feedback to
our spiritual leaders today?
And I would say that one way we can do that
is just words of appreciation.
It's so easy, I think to forget that
these individuals are just human.
And they bear burdens.
And a lot of times they have to keep up a
positive situation and not share
everything that's going on.
But the fact is that many spiritual leaders
are hurting because of some of these issues.
And there are ways we can do that.
I just received two emails this week.
I think three emails.
One person just out of the blue said:
Wow, the Life Essentials Study Bible
is changing my life.
For the first time, I really understand
the Scriptures.
That's very encouraging.
I also got a letter from someone
from years ago, who discovered my book
"The Measure of a Man" and said:
It's changing my life. It's changed my life.
I'm with a group of men.
In fact their wives are saying:
I don't know what's happening
but it's changing my husband.
Is that encouraging?
You better believe it.
So encouraging words are
really motivating and helpful.
So let's not forget our spiritual leaders.
I shared with you a very specific
Illustration--it bears repeating.
I shared it not too long ago
in a previous Principle.
But I had the privilege of working with
Dr. Howard Hendricks at Dallas Seminary.
He invited me to come to teach
at Dallas Seminary when I was teaching
at Moody Bible Institute.
And he gave me a great deal of freedom
in terms of what I was doing.
And it led me to get involved in church planting.
And probably, I wouldn't be teaching tonight
on this Life Essential Study Bible
if he had not invited me to come to Dallas.
That was years ago.
He's with Jesus now.
But before he died, Elaine and I
met with him just to say:
Thank you for what he had done for me.
And he made an interesting statement.
He said: You won't believe this Gene,
but I can count on my hand
the number of people who look back
over their shoulder and say thank you.
And he had built his life into
many, many individuals.
And the fact is, I was traveling
around the country.
Some of you have heard me share this.
But these men that he had taught
came up and said:
Oh, Prof Hendricks changed my life.
I said: Have you told him?
They said: Well, no.
I think one reason they don't
is because he came across so powerful
that they didn't even think
he needed encouragement.
Well I happened to know that
he needed a lot of encouragement.
And so I decided to do something--
that is encourage him.
And when they would come up to me
in California, or the East Coast, or Chicago,
They'd say that. I'd say: Well, have you told him?
And they'd say: Well, I guess not.
I'd say: Would you like to tell him?
They'd say: Well, yeah.
I'd take out my cell phone.
I'd dial Prof Hendricks.
And his wife usually answered.
I'd say: Jean, this is Gene--
his wife is Jean. Is Howie there?
Well, yeah, just a moment.
Howie got on the phone
and I said: I want you to hear from
one of your students.
And I handed the person the phone.
So the individual could say: Thank you, Prof
for what you did in my life.
Before he died, I think I did that
about 8 or 10 times--
in order just to give him encouragement.
Can you imagine what that did?
And what that meant to him?
So here's the Principle to Live By.
And of course, it applies to all of us
because we all need encouragement.
We need to encourage one another.
But in a very special way:
We should look for opportunities
to give positive feedback to those
who serve as our spiritual leaders.
If Paul needed it, wow, we all need it.