Build up in Love to Love

This morning I continue my study of the word “builds”. I was led to Ephesians 4 where Paul continues discussing the Body of Christ, the church. Where this is the focus of the passage, I was touched by the below verses that round out the passage that seemed to refer to me as a follower of Christ.

“¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” – Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV)

Here what I see is Paul giving me instruction on what I am to grow into and how I am to be built up. I am to grow up, into Christ and do so by being built up in love. I realized that it is more than just learning and knowing, but it is becoming. I am to embrace the love that is Christ and grow into being like Christ. Christ is love and isn’t He what we all should strive to become.

NO, I will never be Christ. I am and will not be the savior of the world. I am a sinner and even as those sins have been forgiven and wiped away, I will never be sinless. I cannot become Christ. But, I can grow to be like Christ. I can act out of love, provide love, and be built up in love. Christ is love and I can be like Him.

What do I get from growing up and being built up in love? I get security. I get to be loved or more accurately, I get to experience and realize love. I get to give love and experience and realize just what love does in others as it has done in me. I get to be like Christ and carry on knowing that regardless of my circumstances, I am loved and will be rewarded in heaven with even more.

Verses 15 and 16 above give me the confidence to be built up in love and as Christ is love, I am built up in Christ. This building up in love leads to me growing up into love and into Christ.

What are you built up in and into? Are you looking to be built up into something or someone who seems to have it all together? What if you instead focused on love, being built up in love and into being like Christ to experience and realize what love really is?

Love Builds Up

What a great study for me this morning. God led me to 1 Corinthians 8 to continue my study on the word “builds”. Here I found a familiar passage that I do not remember thinking of in this way. Love builds up. The passage is on not leading others to stumble by our actions. What I do not remember considering before was love being the reason. Yes, we do not want to cause our neighbor to stumble in their faith, but we do it out of love.

“¹Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.” – 1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV)

“⁷However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” – 1 Corinthians 8:7-8 (ESV)

I/we have the knowledge that we have salvation that comes from God and that our sins are forgiven. We also know that those things that may have been prohibited in the old testament have been relaxed or removed as such thanks to the new covenant with God. We are not impacted positively or negatively in the way we go about those things. We have been forgiven and serve our savior without the burden as noted in verse 8 above.

It is our neighbor that is not in the relationship with the Father that is still in struggle with the law. Our neighbor does not have the security of God and therefore find themselves conflicted with how to proceed when placed in a position of question. These neighbors lean on the law and also look to us as they are in belief that we are going against that law and it breaks down the relationship with us and pushes to close the door that leads to Christ.

“¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.” – 1 Corinthians 8:13 (ESV)

It is out of love that we are to abstain from those things that would cause another to stumble. Whether it is not eating the food, or not having that glass of wine, or staying away from that specific movie with them present. I know that I am just enjoying each of these as they are not prohibited, but the cause my neighbor to stumble and increases their anxiety, therefore I should stay away in order that I am building them up through love for them.

What are you doing in front of others? Do you realize that it may be causing them to stumble in their faith or be pushed away from the faith? What if you were to abstain from those things so as not to cause them to stumble, but build them up through love?

How You Build Matters

There is the story of the three little pigs that built their houses, one of straw, one of sticks, and one of bricks. The wolf came to blow them down and was not able to destroy the one built of bricks.

“¹²Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.” – 1 Corinthians 3:12-13 (ESV)

Like the three little pigs, we have options when it comes to build the church of God. We can build with quality building materials and build to last, or with cheaper materials that are sure to be destroyed or degrade with time.

“⁹For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. ¹⁰According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.” – 1 Corinthians 3:9-10 (ESV)

Paul points out to the church at Corinth the need to “take care how” the church is built. Not of physical materials, but of sound doctrine, faith, and obedience. We are to build the church on the foundation of Jesus Christ, not on the words of man. We, the church are “God’s building” and the church is worthy of being built the right way, not with speed and cheap materials to get the structure up, but over time with care, hard work, planning, and with materials that are of substance.

As I type here I cannot help but refer to the buildings that are used for God’s Church. We put a lot of effort into the building of church buildings. The structures are of wonder to behold. Grand and ornate, a visual spectacle. And frankly lots of “money” goes into making them to be just so. Where we are following the lead of our Old Testament ancestors who built temples to be so grand and ornate, are they really “necessary”. Many a church started in a living room, or a schoolhouse (our church was planted and continues, 5 years later to meet in a school), or some other venue. We have to remember that God’s Church is the people and not the building itself.

As Paul noted, when the church is not built on the foundation that is Jesus Christ and should be built with sound doctrine, faith, and obedience through care, hard work, and planning it will be subject to and will be destroyed when it is put to the test. The story of the three little pigs shares this moral. Hard work, careful planning, and diligence pay off, while laziness and taking shortcuts lead to failure and danger. How you build the church of God matters, we should be using only the best materials.

What materials are you using to build God’s Church? Are you throwing things together to get a roof over your head? What if you were to take care and build on the foundation of Jesus Christ with sound doctrine, faith, and obedience through care, hard work, and planning?

Build Your House on Righteousness

I believe it should go without saying to build your house on righteousness, but what does that really mean. I have studied and written that righteousness is not something that we can assign to ourselves, only God can count us as righteous. So how are we to know we are building on righteousness.

“¹³Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing

and does not give him his wages,

¹⁴who says, ‘I will build myself a great house

with spacious upper rooms,’

who cuts out windows for it,

paneling it with cedar

and painting it with vermilion.”

— Jeremiah 22:13-14 (ESV)

In the verses above, we find what not to do. As I read the above, I see a selfish man who takes advantage of others in order to elevate himself. I see the one who is more concerned with his own possessions and status than that of others around him. This is certainly not righteous.

Now, having fine things and seeking assistance from others does not indicate unrighteousness. It is the using of others and placing those things above the well being of others where one demonstrates unrighteousness.

There it is, what is meant by building your house on righteousness. No, we cannot declare ourselves righteous, only God can. But, what we can do is demonstrate righteousness daily in all that we do. We should be doing righteous actions. We should be building others up as opposed to exploiting them. We should be sharing with others instead of building our own wealth and status. We are to love, care, and protect those less fortunate. We are to share the gospel with others as opposed to keeping the LORD to ourselves.

Righteous actions do not make us righteous and somehow make us better than others. It does not make our house any more or less than that of our neighbor. But, what righteous actions show is our understanding of where it all comes from. Righteous actions demonstrate the love of God flowing from our heart. Righteous actions show who and where we have given ourselves to, the LORD.

“¹⁵And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” – Joshua 24:15 (ESV)

Joshua makes it clear to the people that he gives himself to the LORD. He will serve the LORD and seek guidance from Him in all matters of His house. Joshua chose righteous action in the name of the LORD to build his house. He was not the selfish man taking advantage of others to elevate himself. He did not consider himself righteous. Joshua built his house on righteousness through his actions in the name of the LORD. We should be doing the same.

Where are you building your house? Are you gaining while those helping you get there are less than taken care of? What if you decided to build your house on righteousness through the actions in the name of the LORD instead?

The LORD Builds Our House

This morning as I study, I am reminded that the LORD is indeed the one to build my house.

“¹Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.”

— Psalm 127:1 (ESV)

As noted in the commentary of my bible, “The basic theme of this wisdom psalm is that without the LORD’s blessing, all human toil is worthless.” “of course those who build a house must labor on it, and certainly the watchman of a city must stay awake. At the same time they must carry our their efforts in faith, trusting God to make the work beneficial.” In order for sustainability, there must be a reliance on the LORD.

I take this also to be more than just the physical building of the house and the watching over a city. I see this in the success of that which is in the house. I want to ensure that my family is built on the LORD and that which He provides.

The LORD is the author of me and I am to give Him the glory. He provides for and blesses me and my house. I know that He does so thanks to my accepting of His gift of salvation. Yet, in order for my house to maintain, I must be reliant on the LORD. In verse one above, the author states the LORD “builds the house”. I see that as not just building, but also maintaining as a sort of warranty plan to keep the house in good shape.

Our house will last many lifetimes when we take care to ensure that it is kept up according to the builder’s specifications. The builder here is the LORD and the specifications are His Word as He guides us from day to day. It is great that the Word of God is available to everyone and all the time to review and follow. There is no digging for the plans or working with out dated equipment. The specifications are timeless and always available. We only need to consult God’s Word for how to work through whatever has come up.

Lori and I are likely in our physical house for the foreseeable future and where the house itself is only 10 years old, we will have to look for and consult the plans to begin some of the maintenance even now. But, in our God fearing house, which will be 29 years in April, I like to believe that we are in constant review of the plans as even now the LORD is building. Our boys may have moved to begin work on their personal houses, Lori and I are adding rooms for what comes next. And what better place to consult for those rooms than the master builder Himself, the LORD our God.

Who is the builder of your house? Do you see your house as built and looking for the next? What if you see that your house if continuing to be built and maintained by the LORD and the plans are in His Word?