Edify One Another

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And this morning, wanna deal with the thought of edifying one another.
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I wrote some scriptures on the board.
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Those will be the ones, the main ones we look at, but we'll look at a couple of others, but this whole thought, and it comes out of the verse that we use as the lead verse was in Romans chapter 14.
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So we probably would wanna turn there so we can start at that point.
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Romans 14, and actually the verse that we use is verse 19, Romans 14, 19.
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Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things which one may edify another.
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So as we begin, let me begin by asking you, if you had to define edify, what would you use to define that word edify? I mean, it's not a word I think that we commonly use today, but what would you say the meaning of edify would be? Build up, anything else? Okay, yeah, I mean, it really, essentially the word means to either build or in the thought of encouragement, build up to repair, to steady, to fortify.
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And it's interesting how the word is used in the scriptures, particularly as we study it this morning, because sometimes the word is translated as building, meaning physical building, and at other times it's translated as edify, and there's different tenses of the word, but it all comes out of the same basic word.
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And I'll just give you one example in Luke chapter seven, where the Lord Jesus Christ encounters the centurion servant, and remember he asked him to come to his house and to heal his servant who was sick.
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And they say to Jesus that he loved the nation of Israel, and he even built them a synagogue.
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Well, that word built in Luke seven is the same word in a different tense, but it's the same word that is in other places translated as edify.
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So you could see that the word could either mean physically a building, an edifice, or it could mean more in a spiritual realm, but nevertheless, the word does have the thought of building up, repairing, fortifying.
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If you would allow me a little lead way, I'm gonna say that to edify in a sense is to be a construction worker.
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That if we think about it, that in order to edify a building, you have to be somewhat of a construction worker.
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And in the spiritual realm, if we're going to be those who edify one another and are edified by one another, then I think we need to consider it in that realm, and it's probably a little looser translation, but nevertheless, I do think the thought of a construction worker will fit in.
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So, sir.
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Say and do things that would tend to increase the faith of someone else.
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Absolutely, from the spiritual right to build one another up in this faith that we hold so dear, exactly.
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And we're gonna get into that even further that if we think about it in a physical sense would be to build something, to create something, to raise it up, to fortify it, to bring it to its ultimate conclusion.
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And certainly in a spiritual realm, that's true.
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So, let me ask you to think about, I'm gonna try to get you to think with me a little bit this morning.
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So, what are the thought of a construction worker? Let's just have a little thought for a minute.
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If you're a construction worker, what would you need in order to do, in order to build? If you're a construction worker, what are some of the things that you're gonna need? A sense on if you're a foreman or a laborer.
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Okay, you're a laborer.
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Okay, I heard tools.
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Definitely we need tools, right? Okay, anybody else? What else do you need? Skill, knowledge, yeah.
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Yeah, you don't want me to build anything unless it's a deck.
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I'm good at decks, but as long as that's all it is.
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Decks can't fall down, it's already.
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Yeah, it's pretty well, and brother, when I put it in the ground, it's staying in the ground.
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What else would you need? So, you need tools, you need wisdom.
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Think of anything else that you need as a construction worker? The right clothes.
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Absolutely.
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How about this one? That you would need some sort of measure of strength.
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Would you agree? Maybe.
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Absolutely.
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Here's one to think about, and I wanna try to tie this in.
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If you're gonna be someone who builds, whether it be physically or, as we will see, spiritually, then I think we're gonna need a hard hat.
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The reason why I say that, I mean, if you're in, now, I'm not just talking about building a deck, but I'm talking about it in a construction site.
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Almost every construction site, are you allowed on site without the hard hat, right? You have to have that hard hat.
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Why? Because of all the inherent dangers that could come out of it, and that if you and I will, as we think through this, that we're gonna need to have a spiritual hard hat on if we're going to try to truly edify each other, because there are some inherent dangers involved in it, and I hope to show that to you as we go through.
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One more thing that I wanted to put down was that in order to truly do this, you're gonna need a measure of I-E-N-C-E, right? Any English majors? Yes, but I can't remember.
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I think that's how you spell it.
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No, we don't need the first slide.
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That was just a hyphen that really wasn't enough.
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You need patents.
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So you need patience.
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If you're gonna be involved in edify, or even if you're gonna build something as a construction worker, I mean, you're gonna have a measure of patience.
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You can't get to the finish line until you lay all the other things in front of it.
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So let's think of it in that realm, and- I'm sorry, there's another one.
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You need a goal.
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Absolutely, and I'm glad you brought it up, because that was something that I did have down in my notes.
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You need a, I'll just put it this way.
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You need a plan, or a goal.
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In other words, if you're gonna build something, you've gotta have a finished product in your mind, right? And you gotta know the steps to get to the finished product, okay? I think that kind of gives us some sort of a vision of what's involved.
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Don't come in here without a hard hat.
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Come on in.
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We're all construction workers this morning, and everyone's required to wear a hard hat.
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All right, so let's go to Romans 14, and read a little bit, and again, under the thought of edifying one another, and what's involved in it from a spiritual realm, and how can we become better builders, all right? So if you remember in Romans chapter 14, we've been in Romans for quite a bit now with these one another's, and again, I know I've said it to you, maybe Brother Mike has offered it too, that if you think about what Paul is doing in these final chapters of Romans, he's laying out practical applications for the things that he has spoken of in the first 11 chapters.
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And in Romans 14, we looked at this in part for a couple of other different reasons, but I wanna read it this morning with this thought of edifying.
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So I'm gonna read a little bit just to give us a better understanding of what's going on.
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Let me read with you from the beginnings, chapter 14.
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Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
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For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.
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Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him.
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Who you need to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls.
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Indeed, he will be made to stand for God is able to make him stand.
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One person esteems one day above another.
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Another esteems every day alike.
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Let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind.
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He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord, he does not observe it.
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He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks.
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And he who does not eat to the Lord, he does not eat and gives God thanks.
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For none of us lives to himself, no one dies to himself.
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For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.
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Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
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For to this end, Christ died and rose and lives again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
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Well, why do you judge your brother? Why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, every tongue shall confess to God, so then each of us shall give account of himself to God.
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Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or cause to fall in our brother's way.
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And as he continues on, I know and I am convinced of the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him who considers anything to be, considers anything to unclean, to him it is unclean.
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Yet if your brother is, yet if your brother is grieved because of your food, you are no longer walking in love.
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Do not destroy with your food the one for whom Christ died.
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Therefore, do not let your good be spoken evil of, for the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
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The he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved of men.
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Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." So I wanted to read that, try to help us set our minds in the context of it.
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And what I thought was interesting in part is there's a comparison almost, if you will.
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And we talked about this last time where we brought up the thought of judging one another, and it's almost to me a comparison.
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In other words, they're almost at opposite ends.
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If we're going to truly edify, then we gotta be very careful that we're not just judges, that we are, and we could probably open that up even more, but I do think it's interesting that if you think about it, judging one another in a wrong way is almost like destroying.
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It's the opposite of building.
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It's tearing down, right? And so there's probably a difference in construction, right? Either you're in demolition or you're in building.
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I would be much better in demolition, I assure you, than I would be in building because building actually takes, I would think, a greater amount of skill, right? Anybody could destroy.
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Well, most people could destroy.
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But anyway, the thought is that this whole area of edifying one another, it's a skilled position, and it's gonna take skill, and it's gonna take strength, and it's gonna take many things, and it really is something that leads towards peace.
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And it's, again, interesting how Paul brings that up within this thought where he talks about the things that we ought to bring things out for peace, and not just to destroy and to tear down.
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The area that I want, well, let me put it this way.
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Look at verse 19, and there's this word in verse 19 which we find so often in the scriptures, and what's that word? Therefore.
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And it's important that you and I think about this.
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In other words, as we think of this idea of edifying one another, the therefore is to teach us to stop and to consider what he had just said, and then he, in that way, lays it out.
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Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace, and the things by which one may edify another.
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One may edify another.
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This is an interaction, if you will, between two parties.
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So when you and I think about edification, this is not a solo thing.
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You can edify yourself, right? And we ought to.
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We ought to build one another up, and we ought to build ourselves up.
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But this whole idea of edifying, especially in the church, is that you and I have to have this idea of selflessness.
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In other words, let's just take it in the sense of a marriage, or a family, but in a marriage.
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If you're really gonna edify, if you're really gonna build up your partner, if you're really going to be, in that sense, a construction worker, you really have to be selfless.
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Because if you're selfish, and you're devoted to yourself more than anything else, how are you ever gonna get to the point of edifying your mate, your spouse, your partner? There has to be this thought of selflessness, and we ought to be greatly concerned for the other one's welfare.
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Agree? Otherwise, it goes nowhere.
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Certainly, in the church of Christ, we ought to think about it, and remember, these admonitions are given to us in the context of our life together as a community of believers.
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So if you think about it from that standpoint, if we're gonna really edify one another in the community of believers, we're gonna have to be selfless.
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Selfless versus, what's the opposite of selfless? Selfish, right.
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So again, I would have to give myself the second seat in order to seek to help you be built up.
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And you would have to do the same for me, and there should be this commonality amongst us all that will do that.
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I have a quote here, and it was from Matthew Henry.
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And he said this, because again, he's trying to talk about the reality of, if we're going to build one another up, edify one another, we're gonna have to be selfless.
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And he says this, many, and he brings it up with the thought of peace.
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He says, many wish for peace, and they talk loudly for it, who do not follow the things that make for peace.
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Meekness, humility, self-denial, love make for peace.
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We cannot edify one another while quarreling and contending.
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And then in the context of Romans, he says 14, many for meat and drink, destroy the work of God in themselves.
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Nothing more destroys the soul than pampering and pleasing the flesh and fulfilling the lusts of it.
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So others are hurt by willful offense given.
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So when you think about that, if we really going to edify one another, we're gonna have to be selfless.
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And we're gonna have to be in that way, more concerned with the welfare of the other than the welfare of ourselves.
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When that certainly be what we would, we think would be right in many other relationships, in a marriage relationship, in a family relationship.
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Well, it's no different in the church, or it ought not to be anyway.
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It ought to be that we all have this goal in mind as you brought up the plan.
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And it ought to be that we are selfless to accomplish that plan.
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And by the way, what is the plan? What is the goal? What is the goal of me trying to edify, seeking to edify you and you seeking to edify me? What's the goal? Glorify God.
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And by glorifying God to do what? To bring us all to maturity, right? To build us all up, that we all grow in the grace and knowledge, right? That it's not just a one man show where as long as I'm being built up and I'm being edified before God, I don't need anybody else.
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I don't need to do anything else.
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And that's that Lone Ranger.
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It's all about me.
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And it's really not, it doesn't mix with the flow of scriptures in that you and I would have to think about that.
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That if we're really gonna fulfill the command to edify one another, we're gonna have to have a plan.
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And like I said, all these other things enter into, by the way, what would be the tools? Somebody said tools.
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What would be the tools to edify one another? Huh? Right, you would need the scripture, right? That would be the tools.
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I mean, if I'm gonna seek to edify you spiritually, I don't need a hammer unless it's the hammer of God's word, right? And I don't need to wield it like a hammer, right? Because again, too often we use, even in that sense, we use the word of God to tear down rather than build up, right? We're pretty good at that.
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We know how to kind of do things that don't really lead to the start of edification.
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And like I said, you'd need a hard hat.
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Anybody here would disagree that if you're gonna try to edify someone else, you're gonna get hurt at times.
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Not only are you gonna get hurt, you're gonna be misunderstood.
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If your intention is to truly edify someone up and build them up in the faith, there's gonna be times where you're going to not only have to take the backseat, but you're gonna be misunderstood.
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You're going to be, you might not even win.
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How about that? You might not come out on top.
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Imagine that.
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That's why I said, in a sense, we need hard hats because lots of inherent dangers.
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So this whole thought of edifying and building one another up.
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And again, I'm not sure that we all really take it in.
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Why did we come here this morning? Did we come here this morning because it's Sunday morning and we're supposed to come here and we've been doing the same thing for X amount of years and this, that, and the other thing.
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Or did we come here in part, we came as a body to worship God.
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Well, did we not also come in a certain way to build one another up? Or is it only certain people that are involved in this edification? It's not, it must be a contribution.
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And the scriptures are full of those exhortations, right? That everyone is responsible for this building up.
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And if you think about it, remember what it says, it says that we are being built up for a habitation of God in the spirit.
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So is that what we thought about when we came this morning? Or did we think about a gazillion other things? Well, or do we only have it in our minds for certain people or certain things or certain purposes that are based on selfish desire rather than selfless desire? I guess what I'm trying to get us to think about is are we really concerned for one another? And how does that concern work out? I can say I'm concerned about my wife all I want, but how do I show it? How do I build her up? You're not supposed to answer right now, babe.
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Okay, that's why you're not.
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I got all the charts, I'm good.
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You're good, okay.
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I got the hard hat, so I'm good.
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So to think about that, let's look at another one because I think it'll help us and enhance it.
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In 1 Thessalonians chapter five.
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Again, as you're turning it, just think of all the people say, well, I don't really need the church.
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Well, did you ever think about the church needs you? Well, I can just worship God on my own.
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No, you can't because you can't separate God from his church.
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But anyway, 1 Thessalonians chapter five, I'm gonna look at another section.
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Again, under this thought of being a, if you would, you'll accept that a construction worker.
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And I'm gonna read the first 11 verses of 1 Thessalonians five.
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Really only have three or four scriptures and we got a few minutes.
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Okay, 1 Thessalonians 5.1.
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But concerning the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need I should write to you for you cells know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night.
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But when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman and they shall not escape.
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But you brethren are not in the darkness so that this day should not overtake you as a thief.
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You are all sons of light and sons of the day.
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We are not of the night nor of the darkness.
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Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
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Those who sleep, sleep at night.
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Those who get drunk or drunk at night, but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
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For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we shall live together with him.
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Therefore, there's another one of those therefores.
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That word therefore is one of the most powerful words in all the Bible by the way.
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If we were really give our minds to it, because in other words, it's almost as if the writer before he says therefore is building up to a place to make that therefore stand out.
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And so as he just read, and it's interesting to me, it's in the context of Christ's return, in the context of the coming of Christ, in the context, if you will, of the consummation of all things.
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Regardless of how it works out, and that's not the point, but in light of all that, so in other words, in the light of the fact that Christ is coming again, therefore, look what it says, comfort each other and edify one another just as you are also doing.
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There's that word again.
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Same word as if physically you were to build something, but now in the thought of spiritually.
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The reason in the context is so important.
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We ought to edify one another because Jesus is coming again to gather us together.
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I hope we realize more and more as we go through this one another's of the unity and the union that we're involved with each other, that it is absolutely essential, not optional, not partial.
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We ought to give ourselves to it.
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If you're going to build something, you have to give yourself to it, right? You have to be in it.
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So I thought about that.
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You ever hear the story of the chicken and the pig, right? So the chicken and the pig, they're talking about the bacon and egg breakfast, right? And the chicken says, I'm interested.
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The pig says, you're interested? I'm committed.
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And if you think about it, that's the way we gotta be.
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We gotta be in it.
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I mean, the pig is in it for all, man.
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It's a one-way ride for him.
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Chicken has a little bit of interest.
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If we're gonna edify one another, if we're really going to be desirous to see one another grow, then we have to be committed.
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And there's also another thought.
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We have to be concerned.
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If we're not concerned, we're not gonna be committed.
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If we're not going to have a plan in mind and that plan or that purpose or that desired end to be to see others grow closer to the Lord, we'll never be committed to it.
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That's why people's marriages fail.
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That's why many things fail is because people are not committed.
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They're not really, they're just interested.
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You ever see a marriage that's built on nothing but generalities? I've heard people, and you probably have too, and know people that got married because it was good for each one.
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It was good for their life or it was good for their life.
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Those kinds of marriages usually don't go very far because they're not really committed to the other.
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They're committed to their own purpose and goal.
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And it just so happens that it works out in a way that profits them.
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So when you think about it, as Paul says this here, in light of the fact of, look at verse nine.
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God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together to him.
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That's why we ought to edify one another because Christ died for us.
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We are his bride.
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We are his people.
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We are his building, his habitation in the spirit.
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And if we're not going to build one another up in the faith, and again, remember, in the worship of God, there's no neutral place.
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Either is or ain't.
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Either you are with Christ or you're against Christ.
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Either you are edifying or you're destroying.
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There's no place to say I do neither.
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Now, again, people will try to say that I'm involved, but I'm not really involved.
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We need to be all in.
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We need to be all in and we need to build one another up and we have to have strength and we have to have patience.
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I thank God for my wife's patience with me because I push it, don't you? Or am I the only one that's, hey, I'm the only one? Wow, all right, that's the end of this lesson.
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But think about it again.
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If you're gonna build your kids up as they grow up, you're gonna need patience.
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Definitely need the hard hat because it doesn't always go the way you want it to go.
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Wouldn't it be great if you could just tell somebody something once and I got it and then, but it doesn't work out that way.
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Same way in the church.
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And again, we all have to be in it.
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You're gonna say something, Gary? Just, yeah, you already said what you needed to say, right? So think about that.
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So I'll ask you as we got a few minutes left, I'm gonna go to another scripture too, but I wanna ask you, how are you doing? How are you doing in this edifying thing? Do you consider yourself as a construction worker in the church of God? Do you consider yourself as one who is seeking more for the welfare of another than for yourself? Or is it all about us? Is it all about what I want? What I need? How I feel? Again, we have to be sold out here.
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We have to be like the pig.
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And I'm not trying to be funny, but really we gotta be committed.
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Just think about, let me ask you to think about this when we're looking at another scripture.
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Can you imagine what the church of Christ could do, could be if everyone who was involved in a community of believers was sold out, was in it to help the other people of God grow in grace and knowledge? Now, again, all under the sovereignty of God, I understand that, but I think we would be further along.
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In light of the fact of his coming again, because friends, he's coming again.
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We say it, but do we believe it? And are we wanting to be, remember what Jesus said, those basically who are building, working, edifying, well done thou good and faithful servant, right? Or, and I'm gonna mention this and you have to work through it in your own mind.
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I really believe one of the keys that would help us to think about this is that we're all gonna give an account, not for judgment.
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We talked about that.
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We never to be judged.
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Christ was judged at the cross in our stead.
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However, I believe we are going to give an account for understanding and perspective, not only for what we've done, but for what we refuse to do.
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Think about that, because God knows our hearts.
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He knows the hard heartedness.
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He knows the stubbornness.
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He knows the unwillingness on our part to take second seat versus first seat.
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And we are going, I believe we are going to give an account of that in that day of why we refuse or why we did not seek to edify God's people and sought rather to have ourselves satisfied than to be selfless.
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Because if you think about it in verse 10, we're still in 1st Thessalonians.
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Look, that's the premise, right? He died for us.
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Where would we be if Christ was not selfless? Where would we be if he didn't have a plan and the plan would be that we would be his own special people where would we be right now if the spirit didn't have in that sense, great patience with us? Where would we be if there wasn't strength involved in this on the part of God? We are kept by the power of God, it's the strength of God and the power of God.
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Where would we be without all these things? So then are we truly those who are edifying one another or is it all about me? All right, let me ask you to look very quickly at another, it's 1st Corinthians chapter 10.
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1st Corinthians chapter 10, and I'm just gonna read a couple of verses and then a summary verse and we'll be done.
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1st Corinthians 10, verse 23.
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And as Paul has been continually laying out all these different problems in the church in verse 23, 1st Corinthians 10, he says, all things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful.
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All things are lawful for me, but all things do not, why? Edify, build up, let no one seek his own, but each one the other's well-being.
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Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord's and it's fullness.
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If any of those who do not believe invite you to dinner and you desire to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for conscience sake.
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But if anyone says to you, this was offered to idols, do not eat for the sake of the one who told you and for the conscience of the one who told, for the conscience sake, for the earth is the Lord and it's fullness.
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Consider conscience, I say, not your own, but that of the other, for why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience? But if I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for food of which I give thanks? Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, giving no offense, either to the Jews or the Greeks or the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.
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There's a selfless apostle.
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All things are lawful, but all things are not profitable.
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Even for the other one's conscience sake, again, who's the focus of Paul? The other.
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Who's our focus when we gather together, when we are covenanted together? Let me ask you this to think about it this way.
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Do you really wanna see me beatified? Do I really wanna see you beatified? And if so, what am I doing to contribute to that? Or is my expectation only you're responsible to help me, but I'm not as much responsible to help you.
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Imagine how far you would get.
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I think of it sometimes like in the unions, like the construction unions and whatnot.
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All I do is weld, that's it.
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I'm not doing this.
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I don't cut anything.
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That's my job.
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I'm a welder.
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All I do is clean up.
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That's my job.
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And what does it create? It creates a lot of problems.
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It really doesn't help the situation.
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So I'm asking you to think about it because the reality brothers and sisters is that there are many things that do not edify.
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There are many things that do not build up or tear down.
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And so therefore we must weigh it out.
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We must truly weigh out what I do, what I won't do, what I say, what I won't say, how I treat you, how I don't treat you.
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And again, that's why I said you need a heart because if we're really gonna do that, we're gonna get hurt.
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We're going to have to, at times, lose.
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But are we really losing? Are we really losing if our goal is to see others grow? And we act in a way to help that end, and we never really lose.
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We just glorify God, right? Because we are his building.
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We are his people.
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It's interesting, right? We, plural, are his people.
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We ought to do all things, as he says, all things are lawful, but all things are not helpful.
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All things are lawful for me, but all things do not edify.
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One more verse, and we'll close.
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Romans, go back to Romans now, Romans 15.
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Romans 15, I'm just gonna read the first four verses.
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Romans 15, verse one.
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We then, who are strong, ought to bear with the scruples or the weaknesses or the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves.
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Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification.
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For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.
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Whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we, through the patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
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So see it? Let each of us please his neighbor for his good leading to edification.
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Which loving, godly parent doesn't do things to edify his or her children? And as a parent, would we not say that we've not always come out on top by doing that? It takes great pains, but we have to have a goal in mind.
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What is the goal? When we raise our kids, what's our goal in mind? That they would know God and that they would prosper in this life and that they would be able to take care of themselves.
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Well, we need what we say to them, what we don't say, what we will do, what we won't do.
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It all should factor in.
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Same thing in the church.
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Again, what use would you think of someone who's in a position in the church, with elder or whatever way you wanna put it, but in all they ever did was do things for themselves.
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Wouldn't be long before it would be noticed, would it? So again, I hope this helps us because I do believe these one another's are extremely important.
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And again, it's right there in verse three, for even Christ did not please himself.
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So I pray that God will help us to be better construction workers and to be more in tune with how to build than to destroy.
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I think destroying is rather natural and building up in faith is pretty much supernatural because just think of what God is using.
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He's using us.
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I mean, not only is he working on us, he's using us to work on us.
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And that can only be what God can do.
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No one else could mold something so good out of something so bad.
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So, okay, let's close with a word of prayer.
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Father, thank you for our time together, Lord.