Christian Edification

See the photos and remember some of the memories that we've had here.

Piano that I believe was Mrs. Kaczmalski's parents' piano. It was the piano. It was purchased with their money, so it was a donation that came. And so we have this beautiful place that is pretty much ours. I'm going to stake a claim into it. It's our home, and as we often talk about these walls that provide a roof over our head and a warm place to meet, it's such a blessing for us. And it ties beautifully in with the sermon that we have today, because so much goes into building a home, right? To building a building.

When I was here this week putting the finishing touches on the camera and getting some things set up here, Mr. Kaczmalski showed me the slides that he was going to show of the chicken hatchery. And you'd never know.

There was all these little chicks running around this place making a mess. Like he said, not a single feather has been found. An old car was found. That would have been a centerpiece to leave in this building, wouldn't it? But even a barn. It just doesn't look like it did, right, when it started off to where it is now. It's quite a transformation. And anyone who's ever built a house, we were blessed to be able to do that with our first home.

We were looking at buying used homes, but our realtor said, well, there's this property, there's this builder that's available in the area you're looking for. And they're building at the same price you're looking to buy used homes for. And so it's worth considering.

And so we waited out. They had a plan we liked. And so we built our first home that we owned from the ground up. Not us ourselves, thankfully. Professionals that know what they're doing took that job on. But it was fun to watch the building go up. Like first, the bulldozers came in, cleared the land, got it ready for the house to be placed, took out a couple trees that were in the way, things like that. And then they dug for the foundation footers where the footers would be poured, and the foundation would be poured on top of those footers.

That solid foundation that we all need in our homes to be able to last the winters, to last the storms that roll through. And then the walls start to go up, the two by fours. They put plywood on the roof before they do the shingles.

Windows start to go in, doors start to go in. It starts to look like a home until you walk inside, and then you can see straight through the walls. You can stand in the living room and see the master bathroom and see that it no drywall is up yet because they're now starting to put the plumbing in. They're starting to put the wiring in. But then not far behind that comes a drywall, comes to carpeting, comes to flooring, because kitchen cabinets.

Now it's starting to look like a home. And before you know it, they're doing the finished painting, the finished trim work, and they're getting ready to hand over that house to the new owners. It's not an easy task to build a home or to remodel a building that was once a hatchery. And often we can sometimes even take it for granted. We drive past neighborhoods. How quickly those homes are erected, how quickly a rehab occurs. And before we know it, we're like, I thought they just started that project. And yet if we would count how many man hours went into that, it would be a large number.

A lot of money. Things that look simple, but we recognize that the end result takes a lot of work, takes a lot of looking down the road, and that finished completed structure will be that support for whether it's a home to raise children or a building to let God build a congregation and continue building His family. This building illustration is a wonderful analogy to use as we consider the spiritual organism God has called us to be part of. The building process and building itself is an analogy we see used throughout Scripture and a lot of different examples, especially in the Gospel accounts in the New Testament writings.

As part of the building process, we see in Scripture that God desires that we edify or that we build one another up. And it's not just to build ourselves up individually. Obviously, God is doing a mighty work and each person individually.

That's no, we're not questioning or minimizing that, but the bigger picture that God is doing is what He's doing collectively in building and creating a family. God has started a project in the lives of those who have given themselves to Him, and He is that Master Builder.

Looking again at the word edification or edify, this is a bigger word that we don't use a lot in our modern vernaculars as we talk with one another, but one of the definitions, as I mentioned already, for edification or to edify is to build up. Let's look at Romans 15 as we open our Bibles this morning. Romans 15 in verse 1.

Romans 15 and verse 1, and we have Paul's writings here to the church in Rome, reminding them of the importance of edification of this building up process that we are all part of. Romans 15 verse 1, he says, we then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the week and not to please ourselves, recognizing sometimes we're strong, sometimes we're weak, sometimes we struggle.

And verse 2, he says, let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification, that building up, that strengthening of one another. He says, for even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.

It goes on to say, for whatever things were written before were written for our our learning, that through the patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded towards one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore receive one another just as Christ also received us to the glory of God. I think Mr. Kaczmalski and I were in the same wavelength. We did not talk about our messages, but as I was listening to it, I was thinking I'm going to be referencing it a lot. He brought up some amazing points. How do we build one another up if we're not able to be here present with one another? I recognize illness happens, travels happen, things happen with people's lives, and those things occur. But God has called us to be a greater building together, which we'll look at as we continue into the sermon. But imagine a house with no windows. Well, we need those windows, don't we? Imagine a house with no roof. Well, the winter's going to get in. We each serve a part of this building that God has called us to as we recognize it. Then God says we are to build one another up. We're to strengthen one another. You can have all the two by fours in the world, but if they're not nailed together with nails and other binding and other straps, they're just going to fall back down, right? So it's not just good enough that you have structure. You have to have something to hold it in place. It's not good enough you have to have just shingles thrown up on something, some two by fours. No, you need plywood to provide that support.

Without one, the other doesn't work effectively. And we see in Scripture, time and time again, this calling that we have to be together, to build one another up, to strengthen one another. And this is not just a job that we can do far off, not as effectively as we can together.

The word edification comes from the Greek word okeomei. And from Thayer's Greek lexicon, it means the act of, so there's this action component to it, this act of building or building up. It can also mean the act of one who promotes another's growth. I really like that definition, the act of one who promotes another's growth. That's what we are called to do.

From the English Standard Version, I'm going to read Romans 15, verse 1 and 2 again. We read it from the New King James, but I'm going to read it from the English Standard Version, because it really kind of, it just, it gets in there. It kind of jabs a little bit. It says, we who are strong have an obligation, I love that word, we have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak. Is that easy? It's not, because we all fall short. We all have bad days. We all have times where our bad attitude shows up. You guys have probably even seen that with me from time to time. You can read it on my face. It's not one of my strengths. Whatever I'm thinking, you can usually pick up on in my expression. And there's probably been some days where you're like, he's not doing so good. Maybe I need to pray for our pastor a little bit. Yes, please pray for me.

There are times where we struggle. There are times where we have to bear along with one another, and we can praise and thank God that he bears along with us, right? Days where we haven't done anything much to please maybe our Lord and our Savior, yet his love has not changed and departed from us. He bears with us when we also have our shortcomings and our failings. And so, again, from this English Standard Version, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. And I like verse 2 from the English Standard Version of, well, let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up.

To build him up. A few questions as we continue through the sermon today. If someone were to ask you what edify or edification means, could you explain these words to them in a practical sense? I hope as we go through the sermon, he'll be able to say yes to that. How would you describe edification in the Christian sense? Another. We'll explore that. And are we supposed to edify or build up one another? I've already given you the answer. See, I'm like the college professor that tells you the questions that are going to be on the quiz. We know we're supposed to edify or build one another up. And if we are, then what does this look like in the life of the Christian?

So with today's sermon, let's work to answer these questions as we consider the topic of edification.

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 2. We're going to spend quite a bit of the remainder of the sermon here in the book of Ephesians. It's one of Paul's letters that many consider is an encouraging letter. I'm going to have to get used to this microphone a little bit too, make sure I'm standing where I'm supposed to so everybody can hear me.

But the historians and the biblical scholars, they view the book of Ephesians as one that primarily focuses on encouragement. One of Paul's letters, we know a lot of his letters were corrective letters or things that he was warning to avoid, like Gnosticism, different things that were creeping into the church. There were issues with sin at times in the church. He was trying to correct a few issues. But the book of Ephesians is primarily a book of encouragement.

And it's a book that focuses on what we have in Jesus Christ and also what we have together as the body of Christ, as the family God has called us to.

Paul opens up chapter two by reminding the reader of our need individually to be fixed, because it really all starts there, to be restored. And this all came through the life of Jesus Christ, just like the building project that went on here to restore this building into something that is so different that if somebody was dropped off into this chicken hatchery today, they would be like, this can't be the same building. Is that what God has been doing in our lives individually? Paul addresses this in Ephesians 2 verse 1. He says, And you, he, speaking of Jesus Christ, made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath. That's a big, I mean, that's a gut punch, right? Before we even knew what we should be doing, before we even really recognize the weightiness of what God wanted us to become, we were children of wrath. We had no hope. We had no future. We had no path forward.

And then God said, hang on a second. I can, I can, I'm going to do something here. Are you ready for the ride? And then that restoration, that transformation started to occur, that, that renewal that he saw that was possible. And we see that in verse four. I love the beginning of verse four. Verse four, the first two words of verse four, I think, are some of the most powerful words in Scripture. But God, I was not, I love, because, because we, Paul just laid out our humble beginnings, right? He, he laid out the, the, the issues that we dealt with and that, that he was going to start to work at. And most of the people in that type of a restoration project would throw their hands up and say, this is pointless. This can't be done. We'd be better off leveling the building and starting from scratch. This, this isn't a remodel. But God says, this is a remodel.

And it's only through God. I love that statement. But God, underline that in your Bibles, if you feel like marking up your Bibles. And remember where this is at, because this fills in the gaps for everything that God has ever done in the time of his working with humanity. Things are falling apart, but God. Things we don't know what direction to go, but God. Health issues arise, but God.

He says, but God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love, in which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved.

He goes on and says, and raised up together and made us to sit, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Talk about a remodel. Talk about a building project made us alive together in Christ. Verse 7, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceedingly riches of his grace and his kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. What an example of a loving God who is the restorer of man. A loving God who, by his example and by his willingness to work with the flaws of humanity, says, watch what I'm about to do in this building project. And then he starts going to work, right? Blood, sweat, and tears goes into a building, sometimes literally. I'm sure there's times because Molski's were ready to throw in the towel and say somebody else can have this building project. This is too much money, too much time, too much hassle. I've done some building projects where I hit my hand with a hammer. That doesn't feel good. Catch it with the edge of a saw. All of a sudden, I got to go find the box for band-aids. Sometimes blood, sweat, and tears goes into a remodel. And as we are being remodeled, as we're being transformed, it doesn't always feel great in our lives. It sometimes hurts. It's sometimes extremely painful. Sometimes we don't even see the end. We can't visualize what God is doing in our lives. It doesn't make sense.

But as I often say, when we look through life, it's often through like a paper towel holder roll, right? Our vision is only whatever we can see out the other end. And when we turn it, that's all our vision is. But God sees so much bigger what He's doing. His vision is unmeasurable. We see it through a small lens. He sees the big picture. And so when we ask those questions, it comes from a sincere heart. What is He doing right now? It doesn't make sense. I don't understand.

But God.

But God.

Again, verse 8, But for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Notice verse 10, this building project. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for what? Good works, which God prepared beforehand that we are His workmanship. Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

This is the way that God looks at each one of us individually.

We are the clay in the Master Potter's hands. We are the two by four, or the window, in the Master Craftsman's hand. That Master General Contractor who is building something for purpose.

All analogies break down at some point, but in one sense, we were broken down buildings that needed a lot of tender loving care, TLC, right? We needed to be restored, and God did this for us when He called us to His church and opened our minds to His truth. And in another sense, we are that brand new creation, granted, because He did not just take a whole bunch of broken down rocks and rubble and say, well, I'm just going to just glue it all together and make it work. In another sense, we're created in newness with new materials, with God's Spirit working within us.

We were transformed into that of a butterfly in a sense, right? I always love the documentaries when they talk about the life cycle of a butterfly and its humble origins, its humble beginnings. If we didn't know where a butterfly came from, we would never think it came from that ugly caterpillar, right? And sometimes they say, ugly or the caterpillar, it seems like the prettier the butterfly. Nor if we ever saw that caterpillar, would we ever, in our wildest mind, on our own, if we didn't already know where a butterfly came from, would we ever imagine that worm, that caterpillar, would turn into a butterfly?

God has shown us what He is doing in the lives of man through His creation time and time again, and we see that with this caterpillar that ends up with this beautiful butterfly.

But is it an easy process? I didn't realize it until I was watching one of these documentaries, because I just think it goes into its little cocoon, into its chrysalis, and then some things just kind of change and move around, and then it turns into this butterfly. I don't understand how it happens. But did you know the caterpillar, when it's inside that chrysalis, that cocoon, it actually liquefies itself? It's almost like it melts itself down. It no longer holds a lot of the structures it did as that caterpillar. It liquefies itself, and then all the cells reorganize into what becomes a butterfly. And that's why the two do not resemble each other at all.

And when we consider what God has done in nature and what God is doing in the lives of mankind, we can see the magnitude of what God is doing in the lives of man.

We are like that caterpillar, that humble beginning, not a lot it can do for itself, other than try to hide from the birds, right? Then it transforms into that of a butterfly, and then it flies away, and it serves the purpose that it has. And the beauty and the magnitude of something that never in our minds becomes something that it is.

God is the restorer of man. He is the one who gets all the credit in bringing us out of our darkness and setting us on a new path, and how desperately we needed that newness of life.

Let's continue in verse 11 here, Ephesians 2. Paul says, Therefore, remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh, verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. We were hopeless. That's what Paul is saying here. We had no real hope. We could put our hope in mankind and relationships, but what does that do? They fail.

We could put our hope in our jobs. What happens? It goes away. Money. That's the one. We can put our hope in our money. It disappears faster than anything, it seems like, doesn't it? What about our own health? If I take care of myself well enough, you guys know the answer to that one. Many of you have dealt with severe health issues. And as Mr. Kismalski mentioned, life does not go on forever, and we've lost part of our family here over the years as well, as their physical life comes to an end. If we put our hope on the things of this world, of the physical, we have no hope, as Paul says here in verse 12. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once afar off have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace.

That's a passage we can read over a lot of times and just move on to the next verse. But I want to pause here and really consider this word peace for a moment, because it says that Christ himself is our peace. This is quite a statement he makes, and there's so much that is contained in this word peace. It can mean a state of national tranquility, that we have a peaceful nation around us, or we have peace in the nation and the society we live in. It can also mean peace between individuals, that there's harmony, that there's concord, that there's not conflict between one another. Peace can also mean security, safety, or prosperity. We know these things. It can also mean of the Messiah's peace. It can also mean the tranquil state of one assured of salvation through Christ as well. We often think of peace in this physical sense of safety, peaceful relationships, harmony, things are going in a way that we feel comfortable.

But Christ is our peace. We can rest assured that because he has lived this life and gave himself for the world, that our future is already moving down a path towards that butterfly, right? It's been assured. Downpayment on eternal life has been paid through the sacrifice and our acceptance of our Lord and Savior on our behalf, His death on our behalf. And so we are renewed. We are being transformed daily. We have His Spirit living within us as we go forward and as we let Him change us and as we let ourselves be in His peace. Again, verse 14, for He Himself is our peace. Verse 17, and He came and preached peace to you who are far off and those who were near. For through Him we both, and Paul is speaking collectively here, have access by one Spirit to the Father. This is that oneness that we, again, will dive into a little bit more as we go on. And as Mr. Kuzmulski read in the sermon at verse 19, now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. I've talked about it a lot. I'm not going to go into it too much, but this calling out, we were strangers among one another until we walked in the door our first time to services. We looked around and we said, wow, what a rough group of people. No. I trust and hope that you were welcomed in and that you were made to feel part. You were made to feel you were encouraged to be where you were at. You recognize that other people God was working with at the same time as He's working with you. When we went through the struggles of 1995, when our previous affiliation changed our beliefs, I'll never forget the first time I walked into a United Church of God congregation when I finally had the strength to do it to say, I've got to go someplace else. I thought it was going to be me and like two other people. I thought I was going to be the weird one in high school all over again, being the only one with our beliefs and an entire group of people. And I walked in that first week in in Gladewater, Texas, walked in the door there and there were hundreds of people and I said, I'm not crazy. I am not lost. Okay, this now this all starts to make sense and it's going to be okay. That humble beginning that we all had to be part of the body, to be brought in, to be grafted in, to start recognizing that we have a family that we're now part of was amazing.

And as Paul said again in verse 19, that we've been drawn together to be the household of God. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone, as we all are different pieces. I don't know if you're the two by four or if you're the nails. I don't know if you're the concrete foundation. I don't know if you're the carpeting or that fine trim. I'm, I'm, never mind. We'll just keep going on. Everybody can envision what you are and what others are. Some of us are, can be seen from the outside. Some of it's the support that we need to keep things upright. Some of us are behind the walls. We're the nails, that support that many of us just move on and forget. I happened to be looking at my house yesterday and realize that big metal beam that runs across the basement that supports the floor. Boy, what would my house look like if it wasn't for that? But I don't know that I've always recognized that where it was placed at in the house and for what purpose. But again, somebody would much smarter than me, much more understanding did that. And that's how God has brought us all together again to be this building with Christ being the chief cornerstone. Verse 21, in whom the whole building and the word building here is the same Greek word for edification. So, you know, we looked at edify, building up, strengthening. Verse 21, the word building here is that same Greek word in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple to the Lord in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit.

This again is the way that God looks at each one of us, that building project worthy to hold his own spirit. I'm not sure I've always appreciated that aspect because when we go through life, sometimes we get frustrated with one another. Sometimes it's with our spouses. Sometimes it's with our children. Sometimes it's with one another. Sometimes there's conflict, a disagreement, hurt feelings. Somebody said, can you believe what somebody said to me? Or didn't say.

We sometimes have that. But if we recognize that that other person is a human being worthy of God's spirit dwelling within them, boy does that level the field a little bit. And if we would go forward and keep that as the forefront of our mind, that would change everything, our entire interactions with one another. When we're hurt by someone, we would be willing to bear long with them because you know what? That person has God's spirit within them and they are worthy of that spirit residing within them. And then when the other person, and then when we hurt someone or we're the receiver, we're the giver, whatever that is, for that other person to look at us and say, you know what?

They're having a bad day, but God has deemed them worthy because of their acceptance, their willingness to walk with them, their willingness to confess that Jesus is their Lord and Savior, to have his spirit within them. What a leveling attribute that that is. If we could look at one another in that way, do we consider the magnitude of this when we consider one another in the fellowship he has called us to be together? If we recognize it, it comes with a huge responsibility to walk according to the spirit that dwells in each of us, and then to view one another not only as a child of God made in his own image, but to view one as someone made worthy to walk on this earth with God's own spirit in them and in us.

This should cause us to pause and really look at one another in awe and appreciation of what God has done and what God continues to do in the life of that person, and it should cause us to be patient with ourselves as well when we fall short because it's hard, right? We all mess up. We all say something out of frustration, out of anger. We say something out of with love being in the backseat of the car. We all do it, but to recognize God is still working with us, we're not done yet, and we're going to continue to go forward, and we're going to be patient with ourselves as well because God is patient with us. Going on to chapter 3 of Ephesians, and at the beginning of verse 1, he says, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, verse 4, by which when you read and may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and the prophets, he says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel. God is grafting everyone in together. It doesn't matter if you're Jew, Gentile, male, female, rich, poor, he gets to make the decision of the pieces that are coming together, and we have to then accept it and say, this is good, and we're going to continue to be in this building project with God. He says in verse 7, Of which I became a minister according to the gift of grace of God, given to me by the effect of working of his power, to me who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Verse 14, he says, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened. This word is different from the Greek word edification, but it has a similar meaning. To be strengthened with might through his Spirit and the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded and loved may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and the length and the depth and the height, that we may be able to understand God, understand what he is doing in our lives, understand what he is doing in the lives of fellow man around us in our society, what his long-term plan is for this world. We can see that. We can measure it. We can start to understand what is going on and be okay with it. We can be okay with the outcome of this election this year. Why? Because God sees bigger, but God. We understand what God is doing because he's revealed it to us, the width, the length, the depth, the height. Verse 19, to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him, I love this passage, who was able to do exceedingly abundantly, I love those two words being put together, above all that we may ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. And then starting with chapter four, we get to what you have heard me read several times before. It's hard for me not to acknowledge this as one of my favorites in Scripture because as I study God's word, more and more and more and more favorites come out.

But this is one that just sits close to my heart because of what it means and what it pictures and what where you all are placed in it and where I am placed in chapter four at the beginning and not to lose sight of this because Paul says in verse one of chapter four, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy. Remember the beginning when we were looking at edification and it's saying like the thing. Let me go find it real quick. I don't want to I don't want to paraphrase it and get it messed up. When we were reading in Romans, he says we have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak to build him up. He says to walk worthy. This is that action part again, right? This is that action part of edification, this action part of strengthening. Walk worthy of the calling to which you were called. This calling entails seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, right, for the rest of our lives. I mean, these are two simple two two action aspects of it, but boy, will we spend the rest of our lives trying to do that.

Seeking first the kingdom of God and seeking after his righteousness. It also means following that great commandment that Jesus Christ shared. Love God first and love our fellow man.

Love others as we would want to be treated and respected and handled at times.

And then we see the attitude, as Paul lays out in verse two of the attitude in which we must walk worthy. He says, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bonds of peace. Remember the definitions for peace, that tranquility, that calmness, that that comfort that we have together, that unity that we have is one body, one building. Verse four, there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope of your calling. There's only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. This is that oneness that we have in Christ and in our Father God.

I'm so thankful that Paul was inspired to put this here. I'm so thankful of the truth of Scripture. We don't have multiple faiths. We don't have multiple baptisms. We don't have multiple callings. There's oneness in this family. There's oneness in this building. Granted, we are all different shapes, different sizes, different structures, but the end goal is the same for all of us. Verse 11, and he himself gave some to be apostles. This is where he's saying there's different roles. There's different responsibilities, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Why? For the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. Notice, for the edifying, the building up, the strengthening of the body of Christ.

Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature, to the fullness of Christ. When we get the building, the occupation permit, right? I don't know if the Kosmalski's and their building project, they had to wait till people signed off saying this building can be occupied. This building can be used for the purposes that you envision it to be used. When we got our home, it came with us too. You get that occupancy saying you can now live here. You can raise a family here. This is what we're working towards. The measure of the stature, the fullness of Christ. That we should no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. Not getting caught up in our past lives, not getting caught up in our past failings, not getting caught up by whatever is swirling around us in society. It's so easy to get distracted. It's so easy to have our vision go off. We are on the highway to the kingdom of God, and then all of a sudden we see something off in the ditch, and we're like, what is that? The next thing we know, we're in the ditch right next to it.

We can't be children tossed to and fro, carried about every wind of doctrine, things that come into our midst that are not scriptural. By the tricks of men, cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, we got to fight against these things that come into our midst, come into our lives, come into our mind. But speaking the truth in love may grow up. It's a different Greek word than edify, but again, it means to grow, to increase, to become greater, to grow up in all things and to him who is the head Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effect of working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. Every part does its share, not for each of us individually to somehow get the glory and look at what I've done, look at what I contribute. I'm that beautiful front door that welcomes everybody when they come into the house. It's not about that. It's not about that. It's about the edifying, the building up, the strengthening that we each are to do. The English Standard Version says, when each part is working properly, it makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Then beginning with verse 17, Paul begins to paint a contrasting picture between the ways that we have been called to build one another up and the way that society commonly operates around us still today. Verse 17, he says, this I say therefore in testifying the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. We see these things in society around us, and it's easy, and we could quickly start pointing our finger at this person or this social issue or this immoral decision. But do we see that God says that they're ignorant too? They don't even realize?

Most of the time they don't even realize what they're doing. Paul says they were blind, there's blindness in their heart. I mean, we were once blinded.

How easy would it have been for people to point fingers at us? And maybe some did.

Paul says in verse 18, their understanding was darkened. They didn't have the light.

Imagine being in a forest, pitch dark, no moon, no flashlight, and you're trying to figure your way through the forest in a mess, and you've got a hungry lion chasing you.

Satan is after the world. He's after every human being he can capture. And imagine just running through that forest with no flashlight, no way running into trees, tripping on logs that are down on our path. We're blinded. We're ignorant. Everything's dark. That's our society around us.

That's why they need our prayers. That's why they need our support, as we can try to help them see that there's a different way of life that they can go. There's hope that we have in our hearts. There's a joy that can't be robbed from us.

Set a point in the finger. Recognize that Paul's spot on when he says they don't understand.

And we were once just like them, living in lewdness, working with uncleanness, being greedy.

But then Paul pivots again back, verse 20, talking about who we are. And he says, But you have not so learned Christ. If indeed you had heard him and been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.

And notice he says, so first he said, put off. Now he's going to say, but put on, but that you put on the new man which was created according to God, and true righteousness and holiness. This put off, this put on, it's like, it's like clothing. It's like our coats. It's like our jackets that we put on because it's cold out. We, you take a jacket off, you take off the worn out jacket, the one that has holes, the one that's not keeping you warm anymore, the one that's not useful, the one that's not edifying, the one that's not helpful.

And then we get that brand new jacket with all the brand new materials inside of it that keeps us warmer than any jacket we've ever owned in our life. And it looks nice. I mean, it's, it's styling. And we put that jacket on, and now we go forward in this newness of life.

Paul says in verse 25, therefore put away lying, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. He says, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down in your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Verse 29, verse 29, he says, let no corrupt word, proceed out of your mouth. But what is good for necessary edification, again, strengthening, building up, this is what we should be talking about, this is our attitude, that it may impart grace, God's grace, right? That grace that we are so thankful that we're under, so thankful that we've been able to receive, we can pass that along to others. That it may impart grace to the hearers, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God and Christ forgave you. The bitterness, the wrath, the anger, the clamor, it's like taking a sledgehammer to this beautiful building that we have. Could you imagine somebody, one of us, walking in the door with a sledgehammer, one Sabbath, and just going to town on the piano? Or going to town on the drywall? That may be a window. We'd be appalled. We'd be forward. We'd be grabbing that sledgehammer right out of their hands, wouldn't we? What are you doing? Can our words, can our attitudes, can our wrath, can our anger be that same sledgehammer to one another? And if we are feeling these things, if it's in our heart, if it's in our mind, we recognize when things aren't right. We recognize when anger and clamor and these descriptions, bitterness starts to set in. We know it.

We're not, we can't lie to ourselves.

We got to get that sledgehammer out of our hands, because if we're turning it and just whacking one another with it, we'd be appalled. Somebody physically doing that, we should be appalled if we're doing that with our words and our attitudes to this beautiful building that God has given to us. This beautiful family, this beautiful temple that God is building spiritually.

And Paul finishes again there in verse 32, saying, even as God in Christ forgave you, and we're so thankful for that forgiveness.

Going back to the building analogy for a moment, we can never forget that each of us is a building project for God. We're going to have our good days, we're going to have our bad days.

Where human nature gets the best of us and it causes us to slip and to stumble.

None of us are immune yet to the impact of our own nature, battling God's nature and our bodies.

Jesus spoke of this in Matthew, Paul spoke of it multiple times in Romans, and James spoke of it, of course, in the book of James.

Why did Jesus and so many of the writers speak of this? Because it's just the truth of who we are.

We fall short and we, at times, mess up.

Every single one of us. We all struggle in this way and we wish often we weren't. I mean, we're wielding that sledgehammer, hitting things when we wish so desperately that hammer wasn't in our hands. But it just seems like we can't help ourselves sometimes.

And at times, we are the one wielding that sledgehammer and out of control.

But as we move towards the end of this message, I don't want to leave us focusing only on the challenges that we have in our own nature and the challenges we face in our walk with Christ.

Because like one who's building a house or building a new home for God's people to meet in, God's vision is on the end result of what he is doing in our life. We often focus on the day-to-day aspects because it's right in front of us. We're physical human beings. It's the now, but God's focus is on the end result and what he wants us to become.

Let's pivot a bit and focus on something we talked a lot about this past year with our teens. I'd like to bring up our past theme from this past year's camp program again, because the theme for last summer was race to your crown. It was a powerful theme and it's a powerful analogy that Paul uses here in Ephesians about racing and finishing our race. This is what we're on. We're not on the 100-meter sprint that is over in nine point something seconds. We're on that Tough Mudder. We're on that endurance race. We're running a triathlon.

We've finished our swim in our previous part and now we're on our bike ride, 112-mile bike ride. When we get done with that bike ride, we've got a marathon we still have to run. It can seem like a lot. It can seem like too much, but God. He's going to see us through. He's the one that's going to build us up. He's the one that's going to give us the strength when we feel weak and we're going to continue running this race that we're on.

Every one of us is running this endurance race to the kingdom and like anyone who trains for a long or enduring race, there's ups and downs on our journeys. There are times we slip and we fall and we bang ourselves up. Ever see that in the Olympics? Ever see somebody trip on a hurdle?

And we can immediately, we ourselves cringe because we know how bad that's going to hurt, how bad that hurt. Ever see somebody wreck their bike in the Olympics? And I'm like, I've wrecked a few bikes in my time, not in the Olympics, but enough to know when you go down and you hit that pavement, it hurts. We're going to have our ups and downs as we slip and we fall and we bang ourselves up. And there's times where we bang ourselves up enough, we're not competing at our peak performance level, and it's frustrating and it's difficult when this occurs. But we also have to be patient. Remember that the fellow people we're running with in this endurance race, they're also going to slip up. They're also going to fill. And you know what they need in those moments? They need a hand reaching down and says, here, let me help you back up. They don't need judgment saying, well, didn't you see the hurdle? Don't you know how to ride a bike?

Boy, if my friends growing up would have done that when we wrecked my bike and stuff like that, trying to do a ramp or something, they're going to be like, don't you know how to ride a bike?

I didn't need that right now. I needed somebody to help me straighten out the wheel that I just bent.

Maybe find me some band-aids if their mom has any at their house, right? That's what I need.

That's what we all need when we wreck our bike. We need somebody who's willing to help us back up so I can fix the bike. Because you know, you wreck it and the handlebars go sideways, and then you're trying to ride your bike with sideways handlebars. I've done that a few times, trying to get home where I could get some tools to fix my bike. We need that buddy who says, my dad has some tools in the garage. I can fix that right now. You don't have to go home.

That's what we need to be able to help one another up when they struggle and when they fall.

When Christ offered the invitation to the disciples to follow after him, he did not call them from the mighty of the world, did he? He did not call them from the best rabbi schools because then Mike Phelps's mind, that would have made sense. Here's Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He's going to make disciples who are going to go out and preach the gospel and share the good news and do it effectively and do it powerfully. So I need the best. I got to go to the best rabbi schools. I got to find the best scholars, and these people will then be able to do amazing things in my name. If I was Jesus Christ, right? He didn't do that.

He went after the fishermen. He went after the tax collector, which nobody wanted to hang out with.

He went after those who didn't have everything going right in their life.

And he said, I am going to do something with you.

He didn't call those who already had everything figured out. He called those who had a heart to follow him because, again, he knew he could do mighty works in their lives.

Let's turn to Matthew. I was going to skip this for the sake of time, but let's go to Matthew 4 and verse 18. Let's keep our nose right in Scripture. Let's not go anyplace else. Matthew 4 verse 18. Let's look at this calling.

Okay.

Matthew 4 verse 18. Jesus is the description of Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee. In verse 18, Simon called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

And what did he say? Then he said to them, follow me. Walk alongside with me. Journey with me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him, and going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, and the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending the nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and they followed him.

When James, John, Peter, Andrew left their fishing careers behind them, they put the nets down, they got out of the boat. Did they have any idea where Christ was going to take them? How God was going to use them? Did they have a clue, an ounce of understanding?

They had no idea. Did you ever envision where God would take your life? How God would use you? How God would develop his fruit within you? I had no clue. Never envisioned I would be able to have pastor next to my name. That's somebody else. And yet it's a humble calling to be in the hands of the master craftsmen, the master artisan, the master potter, the master foreman. Whatever analogy we want to use that God is doing in the lives of human beings, it's humbling, and it's an honor to be simply in his hands. They had no idea the magnitude of their decision to let go of that net, to step out of that boat, and to follow after Christ by saying yes to Jesus. Did they instantly become perfect and have everything figured out? No. But they began their race through the kingdom with their faith established on their Lord and Savior. We have an invitation to be part of God's building project. We have an opportunity to build one another up, to edify, to strengthen one another.

Let's look at Hebrews 12 in verse 1. We're getting near the end, so you can be patient with me a little bit longer. You know, I try not to go an hour the messages, but Hebrews 12 in verse 1.

This follows, of course, as you know, Hebrews chapter 11, which we often refer to as a faith chapter. So it goes through all these people who stood the line, who held the line, who were in the trenches, who went places that God had no clue where God was going to lead them.

Their vision wasn't on the day-to-day as much as it was on the kingdom of God, the finish line, the end result. They were seeking a heavenly kingdom, one that this world never offered. And following that example of all these faithful people, we get to chapter 12 in verse 1, where he says, therefore we also, you and I, are counted in with these people from Hebrews chapter 11. He says, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, all of those who have gone before us, those members that are not with us right now because they are asleep in the graves, waiting for the return of their Lord and Savior, we've been in their presence. They were some of the pillars for our congregation and our lives. They were some of the moms, some of the dads, some of the aunts, some of the uncles. This is part of this group that Paul, or that the writer of Hebrews is saying, that we're surrounded by this group of people. He says, let us lay aside every weight in the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Not looking at what we can do, but verse 2 says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

And let's turn next to Philippians chapter 3, because we do have to be patient with ourselves as Paul was patient with himself. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12, considering the race that is set before us, as we just read in Hebrews chapter 12, Paul talks about the approach we have to take on our Christian rate, the mindset that he himself maintained because he wasn't perfect himself. Philippians 3 and verse 12, he says, not that I have already attained, he hasn't received, he hasn't crossed the finish line yet, he has not received that spiritual body that he so desperately wanted to be a full spirit son of God. He says, I have not already attained, or I am not already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me. He says, brethren, I do not count myself to if apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. He's saying every one of us has an opportunity at any time to be renewed and to walk in newness of life, to put behind us whatever sins we, whatever sins occurred in our lives 10 years ago, 5 years ago, or even yesterday. We can put that behind us. And he says, reach forward to those things which are ahead. I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God and Christ Jesus. Each of us is a building project before God. He sees our potential, and he sees all that we can become. He did not call us because we had everything figured out in life. He called us because we could see that we were broken people who had need of one who could fix and heal our brokenness. And through the work that God is investing in each of us, he wants us in return to edify or to build up each other as we continue our race to God's kingdom. The Apostle Peter understood this very clearly, just as Paul and the rest of the writers did, and we'll close in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5. 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, and as we close, keep in mind the word edification, edify, building up, strengthening, and the responsibility we have to one another to continue to operate in that way. Breaking into the middle of verse 5, 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, in the middle, he says, Yes, all of you be submissive to one another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves on the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He says, Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

But may the God of all grace who called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, life is hard, trials come, but he says that God will perfect, establish, strengthen, or edify, or build up, and settle you.

To him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.