Building Each Other Up

[00:00:00] I trust that we've come this morning with a desire to understand and to fulfill God's purpose for our lives. Let's put that reminder up for you this morning to remind you what our theme is for this year. A few weeks ago I preached about glorifying God and I challenged you to ask yourselves how you could glorify God and to pick out something specific. [00:00:36] Great. And I'd like to just open it up if somebody has something you want to share about how the Lord challenged you in your life to glorify Him. Something you'd like to share about that, I'd like to give you that opportunity. Anybody remember that? Or did we all forget about it already? Anabaptist, Anabaptist, Anabaptist [00:01:36] I would tell them this is also a warning of when we pray, it's easy to pray, Lord, that I want to dedicate this day to you, I want to concentrate this day to you. But I really think what that means, that that means that everything I do today is going to be for the sake of God's sake, not for what I want to do, not for doing our own thing. Really, for our own sake, God. All right, thank you. [00:02:17] I just want to apologize this morning. Sam and Miriam kind of laughed there behind me when we said there wasn't going to be a class again today. How many times have we said next Sunday is the class? And I was sick this week and I didn't think my voice was going to hold up for a class and a sermon. So, Lord willing, we plan on next week. This morning I want us to think about building each other up. Now, I picked this picture because of the building that's there. [00:02:53] And I want us to think about this. We're thinking about the theme of fulfilling God's purpose. And we thought about how we can glorify God. And now this morning, we're going to look at another one of God's purposes, how we can build each other up. One of God's purposes for me, for you, for each of us, is that we glorify God. [00:03:32] That's one of our main purposes in life. Another one of our purposes that we want to see this morning is, God intends for us to build each other up. Now, how much work did it take to build that building? It's a pretty elaborate building, right? It's not just a little doghouse that you slap together in a half a day. It took a lot of work. And that building has a way of bringing importance to people. [00:04:12] Now, let's just ask ourselves some questions. Which is easier to do, to build or to tear down? It's always easier to tear down, isn't it? You can go, my brother's helping on a project down in Mississippi where some people's house burned down and they went in there in about a day and tore the house, it didn't burn down, it just burned inside. And in about a day they tore the whole house down. They're starting over. Well, they've been working a week already and they've got, you know, probably at least another month of work. [00:04:53] So, look at the comparison. One day to tear it down, and a month or two months to build it back. It takes a lot more work to build up. What would happen, what do you think would happen in our lives, in the life of the church, if we would make a determined commitment to build each other up? What do you think would happen? [00:05:29] Is edifying, and I want you to notice this word edify, because this is a Bible term for building up, and we'll look at that. Is that only for our group? Or does it apply to everyone? In other words, if we were all here building each other up, would we be fulfilling what God intends for us to do? Or does he have the bigger picture in mind where we build people up all over the world? How concerned am I with being built up? [00:06:06] I've heard people complain already, nobody said they missed me, nobody encouraged me, nobody noticed what I did, you know, and just on and on. They were focusing on being built up, right? Is that where my focus is? That I want to be built up? How interested am I in building others up? I think we need to ask ourselves these questions. [00:06:38] Is this my concern? Which one is God's purpose for me? Is God's purpose for me that I am built up? Or is God's purpose for me that I build others up? Now, the word edifice or edify in the dictionary is a building, especially a large or imposing one, [00:07:08] and that's one of the reasons why I picked that picture. It's also a complex or elaborate institution or organization. So we'll notice that this applies to the church. We're not just talking about physical buildings. We're talking about something bigger than that. In the Bible, it actually means to be a house builder. To edify, or the different usages of that word, [00:07:38] To edify means to be a house builder, to construct or to confirm. And these are all the different words that are used in the English. To be in building, to be a builder, to build up, to edify, to embolden. Those all are the same words. They come from that same thought of building a house, building a structure. and so it's important for us I want us to notice a number of things that come from the scriptures this morning [00:08:14] that tell us what God intends for us to do we are to pursue building up because it's God's will for us and it's also part of peacemaking Romans chapter 14 verse 19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another. Who's he talking to? [00:08:47] He's talking to Christians. Let us follow after things which make for peace and things wherewith we can build each other up. That's a big project, isn't it? Is that going to get done in a day? Is it going to get done in a month? Is it going to get done in a year? Is it going to get done in a lifetime? It's going to continue on, isn't it? We need to be involved in building up. [00:09:20] Now, I want us to also notice this morning, Edification is all about others. When it comes to God's purpose for my life, edification is all about others. Romans 15.2, and this verse is loaded. We could spend all morning on this verse. Romans 15.2, let every one of us, who? [00:09:53] Who's excluded here this morning? Let every one of us please his neighbor. That sounds like a big job, doesn't it? Well, look what the purpose is in it. For his good to edification, to building up. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification. [00:10:27] He's given us a huge job, a huge purpose. Now, when you go to work, those of you that work in the factory, you know especially how important it is that each one does their job. Because if the line gets held up back at the beginning, everybody else goes home late, right? Each one has to do their job. Now, most of the guys are doing it because they want a paycheck or they want to be able to get their job done so they can go home or whatever. [00:11:08] However, what kind of a factory would it be if everybody in the factory had the good of the other guy in mind? Would you like to work in that factory? It would be a fun place to work, wouldn't it? It would just be enjoyable because everybody's not thinking about themselves, they're thinking about the other guy. What kind of a church would it be? If that was happening. [00:11:43] Where we're concerned with each other that we can grow and be built up. That we can be blessed, that we can be encouraged, that we can be strengthened. What kind of a church would that be? Maybe we can find out. And when I say these things, I'm not trying to be critical. I'm not saying that none of this is happening. I'm trying to encourage us that we recognize how much this is part of God's purpose for us. [00:12:16] You know, when we don't fulfill purpose, we feel frustrated. We feel unfulfilled. People talk about feeling unfulfilled. If you start looking at these purposes and you start acting on them, you're not going to feel unfulfilled. You'll be busy fulfilling the purpose God has. God is the master builder. We're just working together with Him. 1 Corinthians 3, 9 and 10 [00:12:46] We're laborers together with God. You are God's husbandry. You are God's building. All of us are God's building. According to the grace of God which is given unto me, this is Paul, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. Let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. You are God's building. [00:13:22] The church is God's building. And we are building together. Paul says, look, I've laid the foundation. I'm the one that started this, along with the other apostles, started this whole structure of the church. Jesus Christ the head, but they've laid the foundation. They've done the groundwork, the beginning work. And now we are continuing to build. What would this building look like [00:13:52] If the worker that was assigned to a certain section of this building decided that he didn't need to show up anymore and you had a big section, say you had this section right over here, those three windows, that area right in there, there was just a hole there, would the building look impressive? No, you'd say something's wrong. It just doesn't look right. It's not able to fulfill the purpose it was intended for. It's not where it needs to be. How many times am I causing that to happen in the church where I am not building others up and therefore there's a hole there. [00:14:40] There's something that doesn't look right. There's something that doesn't fit well. Now, Paul talks about, in Corinthians, he talks about a number of things. And one of the things is, he says the gift of prophecy is given for the purpose of building the church. The Corinthians had decided that the gifts were all about them. And so they decided, you know, if I can prophesy, then I'm really somebody. [00:15:11] But Paul says, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. God gave you these gifts. God gave you your giftings. Not so you could look good. Not so everybody would look at you. God gave them so people would look at the building and then look at Him. And so he's saying, look, in 1 Corinthians 14, 3 and 4 He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself [00:15:44] But he that prophesieth edifieth the church Isn't it interesting? The very gift that God had given them to build up the church They were using to tear the church apart The purpose that God gave this gift, you're overlooking, you're missing, you're losing it. [00:16:16] Now, the true understanding of the gifts is that we must use our efforts to build His church. Who gave the gifts? God. He gives to each one of us gifts according to His will. And the purpose of those gifts is that we build the church. 1 Corinthians 14.12, again here in the context of the gifts. [00:16:46] Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to what? The edifying of the church. The building of the church. And so he's challenging us. He says, look, our focus in what God has given us is to turn around and use that to build the church. To see the church grow. [00:17:17] To see the church blessed. To see our brothers and sisters encouraged and strengthened. And so God gives someone the gift of knowledge. Is that so He can stand up and say everything He knows? No. It's so He can share it with a brother or sister that's struggling. God gives someone the gift of healing. Is that so they can walk around and drive a big car and live in a big house and have a big program? No. [00:17:47] It's so that people can be blessed through them. That's why God has given those gifts. And we've got to understand that God did not give us what we have for ourselves. That's not why He gave it. And that's such an important thing for us to understand. Now, here's an important one. Edification is not all about my desires. We live in a society that's focused on my rights. [00:18:29] I have a right to this. I want this. I can have it. I should have it. If I can't afford it, you should buy it for me. That's the whole concept of our society. And we as a church have bought into that same concept. We come together and we go home and we say, my needs weren't met. I wasn't fed. I wasn't encouraged. [00:19:02] Nobody talked to me. Whatever, you know. Paul says, look, 1 Corinthians 14.26. Again, this is all about in the context of gifts. How is it then, brethren? When you come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Everybody wants to bring their own agenda. What does he say? Let all things be done to edify. [00:19:34] When I come this morning, what was my goal? And I don't want to just have this be a focus on church because it's a lot more than what happens here. But what is my goal? Is my goal just to show up and get this over with so I can go home and eat and take a nap? Or is there something that I have in mind that I come this morning [00:20:04] I have something on my mind that I feel the Lord is prodding me to build up the church I think it's important for us to think about edification is not about what I want When the building is built, the people that built this building How did they build that you suppose? The guy showed up and they said, boy, I think a window ought to be here. And the guy that did the other side said, well, I think the windows ought to be over here. [00:20:38] There ought to be a door here, and this ought to be this color. And the guy on the other side said, no, I'm going to paint mine this color. No, they had a plan, right? And everybody that showed up worked according to the plan. And that's what Paul's saying. God has a plan. His plan is for the church to be built up. And so He's given us gifts, He's given us abilities, He's put things in our mind and in our heart, and we need to be for the purpose of building up the church. [00:21:14] The intent of edification isn't always understood. And Paul says this in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. He's writing to a Corinthian church that had a lot of problems. He says, though I should boast somewhat more of our authority which the Lord hath given us for edification and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. He said, look, you think that I'm coming here talking to you the way I talk because I'm after you, because I've got your number, because I've got something to bone to pick with you or something of that. [00:21:49] He says, no, I'm here because of edification. There were some things that need to be cleared. There were some things that need to be settled. Some things that needed to be straightened out so the church could grow. So that it could be built up. Also in 2 Corinthians 13.10, He says, Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the power which the Lord hath given Me to edification and not to destruction. [00:22:20] He said, the Lord has put on my heart, you're building up. Now, we can translate this into parental terms. As parents, we want our children to grow up, right? We want them to be built up. And so, there's times when discipline is needed. There's times when we have to be a little firm. We have to do some things that we don't normally do. [00:22:53] That's what Paul's saying. It's part of edification. And so we need to understand that, that just because something isn't to our liking doesn't mean it's not for edification. We need to stop and consider it. Now, the faithful servant of God is always working at building up the saints. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 19. Again, thank you that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak before God in Christ. [00:23:24] We do all things dearly beloved for your edifying. Paul could stand in front of the church and he could say, look, in front of all the churches that he had established and that he visited and so on, he could say, look, my goal, my purpose is to build you up. That's why I've done everything that I've done. That's a pretty big mouthful, isn't it? To be able to say something like that. [00:23:55] Everything that I've done has been to build you up. Wouldn't you like to be able to say that? I think that's a challenge for us. God gave structure to the church so that it could be built. God had a plan. I already mentioned this. God had to plan. He was busy working in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 12. He says he did this for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. [00:24:29] And he's talking about the different people that he's given to the church. The teachers, the apostles, the ministers and all those kinds of things. He's saying I did this for the building of the church. So God has put some things in place with the church so that the church can be built up. We just need to keep that in mind and we need to see where God's plan, where God's place is for us in all of that. [00:25:04] Now, the body functions as it was designed when we build according to His plan. And he talks about that, Paul talks about that when he talks about gifts. He says, the body fitly joined together works together. And here in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 15 and 16 he says, Speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things which is the head, even Christ, [00:25:38] From whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. What's he saying there? He's saying, look, your body parts don't work by themselves. You cut your arm off, it stops working. [00:26:09] You take your body parts and they fit together. And the muscles, and one of the things, if you do any studying and you pay any attention, one of the things that's happening is your muscles are pulling your joints together. If your muscles quit doing that, your joints want to come apart. And so he says it's compacted by that which every joint supplieth. [00:26:39] This body is working together. It's filling the place that God has for it. And as that happens, it builds itself up in love. A sick person doesn't grow. Very well, you take a child that's sick, they don't grow well When their body is healthy and functioning well, then they grow It's part of what life is, and it's part of life in the church [00:27:13] When the church isn't working together, when each one isn't filling their place When each one isn't concerned with building up the church, the church stops growing Our mouth has a whole lot to do with this whole thing of building up. Ephesians 4, 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Look what he says. [00:27:45] That which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers. Have you ever thought about your words as a building process? As part of a building process? We've all had words thrown at us that made us feel torn down or tore up. [00:28:19] Words are an important part of this whole thing of building up. And Paul says that so specifically. Look, and David, David asked that, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. When the encourager Barnabas did his work, the results were very positive. Barnabas was known as the encourager, the comforter. [00:28:49] He was one that built up. And this happened after Paul, Saul at the time, had come to destroy the churches. In Acts chapter 9 verse 31. But the context here is that Barnabas had gone and told the church leaders that the apostle Paul, this man Saul, was a child of God. It was a changed man and they could hear his message and believe it as from God. [00:29:26] And then in verse 31 he says, Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. Because of the work that Barnabas did, the encourager, the church was built up. Now, if Barnabas would have went around and said things, he would have went ahead and said, you better watch this guy, I think he's a fake. [00:30:01] I don't, I wouldn't trust him, he's got a bad track record. What would have happened to the churches? They'd have been destroyed, wouldn't they? But here, they were built up. Throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria. A huge area. All of them were built up because of this one man and him using his mouth to build up rather than tear down. [00:30:33] We have to point others to the Savior in order to truly edify Him. Acts chapter 20, verse 32, And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I'm pointing you to God. I'm giving you into God's hands. He's the one that's able to edify or to build up. He's able, His grace is able to build you up. [00:31:04] And so we have to point others to the Savior. And that's an important part of this whole work of building up. Pointing people to Jesus. Leading people to Jesus. Encouraging people to come to Jesus. Edification can only happen when we care, not just because we know. 1 Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1 [00:31:37] Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up and charity edifieth. Charity builds up. Caring, loving. I'm sure many of us have had, probably all of us have had the experience where someone came to us and shared some knowledge with us from the perspective of knowledge. [00:32:11] They knew something about our situation and they shared some knowledge with us, but they didn't care about us a bit. Did that build us up? No. If we use it properly, it can help us, but it doesn't really build up. People need to know how much we care before they're going to care how much we know. That's an important part of edification. [00:32:47] Caring for one another opens the door for sharing. and for helping. If we don't care for people, then all the things that we share are going to be just wasted, trashed. They're actually going to do more harm than they do good. So we've got to remember that edification only really happens when we care. [00:33:20] When it's done out of a spirit of love. Now, our question should never be what's wrong with it, but rather will this build the body? This is important because a lot of people come around with this question. Well, why can't I do this? What's wrong with this? And Paul talks about this, 1 Corinthians 10, 23. All things are lawful for me. Paul says, there is nothing that I can't do as a child of God, but all things are not expedient. [00:33:56] All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. There's things I could do, and so Paul took it like this. He said, to eat meat offered to idols is not wrong. It's not a sin at all. But if I've got a brother that's going to be offended when I eat that meat, I won't eat it all my life. Because I want to build up the church. Now, I'm not saying that we need to go around and try to please everybody. [00:34:31] That's not my point. But I want us to stop and think, what is our attitude? What are we asking when it comes to our lives? Is it all about what I want to do and where I want to go or is it about building up the church? Is it what I want to have or is it about building up the church? I think it's important that we consider what Paul is saying here. We're commanded to edify. [00:35:05] This isn't an optional thing we're talking about. This is something that God tells us we're to do. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 11, Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as ye also do. He's given us a whole list there. If you read down through what he's saying there, he gives us a whole list. He tells us to give thanks in everything. He tells us to rejoice evermore. He tells us to pray. He tells us a whole lot of things. [00:35:38] And in the middle of this, part of what he says is, you're to edify one another. It's part of God's purpose for us. It's part of the work that he wants us to do. And until we are involved in edifying each other, we're not fulfilling God's purpose for our lives. I think it's that straightforward and that clear. So I'd just like to challenge us this morning. Let's get to work. It's a big job. It's a lifetime job. It's a job that reaches out around the world. And I want to commend our congregation. I think we do well in certain areas of that. [00:36:23] We reach out. We try to build up Christians around the world, encourage them in their work, and help to strengthen them and so on. But I think there's a lot that we could do among ourselves. And I think we've got a big job to work together to build each other up, to be involved as those that are edifiers, house builders, those that are doing the work that God asked us and instructed us, commanded us to do. [00:37:00] We're going to stand for prayer. I'm not going to come to the back after we're done. I don't want to pass my germs around, so we'll have prayer and you'll be dismissed. Let's stand. I'd just like to challenge you to look through these things that we've looked at this morning again and pick one of them. And say, ask the Lord to show you which one. Just pick one of them and say, I am going to make a point. [00:37:34] of edifying in this regard, in this method. And just really take that to the Lord and let it be something that can bless your life and bless others. Father, we thank you this morning. We thank you for your mercies. We thank you, Lord, for your goodness. We thank you for your interest in each of our lives. Lord, there's so many ways where we get all into ourselves. [00:38:05] We think about our rights, we think about our needs, we think about our desires, the way we'd like to see things done. And Lord, I pray that you would help us, that our purpose might be to build the church. To build up each other, to encourage, to strengthen, to bring blessing and glory and beauty to the church So that you're honored, so that you're blessed and lifted up [00:38:38] I just thank you and praise you Lord for all that you've done for us I ask that you dismiss us with your blessing, in Jesus name, Amen