The Royal Order of Edifiers 8/10/03

Ephesians 4:29

Jesus Christ said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

In a world that tears people down Jesus builds them up.

If Jesus is your Savior let Him control you as your Master. If He is your Master model Him. Scripture says, “It is enough that a servant should be as his master.”

Acts 10:38 gives a succinct summary of the life of Christ: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good…”

There is your prototype, your templet for life. Pattern your life after Him. “He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (I John 2:6).

Jesus seized every opportunity to build people up. Jesus was an edifier. In the word edification the root word for edifice can be heard. An edifice is a building. The process of edifying is the mission of building up.

He edified little children by telling His disciples to let the little children come to Him.

He edified the woman caught in adultery by saying, “Neither do I condemn you. God and sin no more.”

He edified Peter, who denied Him. After the resurrection when they encountered each other Christ ask one question three times, “Do you love Me?” Peter’s affirmation resulted in Christ edifying him by giving him an assignment, “Go feed my sheep.”

He edified one involved in His execution. On the road to Damascus Saul was stricken blind and the voice of Christ was heard to give him instructions to go into Damascus where someone would tell him what to do. Christ sent Ananias to him who put his hand on him and said, “Brother Saul….” In that simple statement Paul was edified.

Even on the eve of His execution He
comprehended the mood of His disciples and said to
them, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe
in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1).

If Jesus is your exemplar then do as He did.

Are you a people builder? Or, are you a member of Satan’s demolition crew.

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a hove-heave-ho they swung a beam
and a side wall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled?
The kind you would hire if you wanted to build?”
He replied, “No indeed,
common labor is all I need,
For I can wreck in a day or two
What it takes a builder a year to do.
I thought to myself as I walked away,
Which of these roles am I trying to play.
Am I worker who builds with care
Carefully measuring life by the rule and square.
Or, am I content to walk the town
Content with the job of tearing down.”

Are you a wrecker or a builder? When people see you coming do they fell, “Wow! Here comes an edifier!” Or, do they look for a back door? You know the kind of person, they brighten up a room just by walking out of it.

Let me be a bit personal for the sake of you pastor and staff. Sunday is a special day of ministry for them. Don’t burden them on this day with complaints and criticism. If an issue is important enough to be called to their attention deal with it professionally and call the office on a week day. Don’t burden the pastor before a worship service by laying some weighty matter on him. Build him up. Assure him of prayer. Edify him.

Apply that same principle to every person you meet here on the premiss.

From nature comes an admirable example of edification. Have you ever notices how geese fly in a “V?” Do you know why? They don’t know how to make a “G.”

Have you ever noticed one side of that “V” is longer than the other. Do you know why? It has more geese in it.

That “V” is aerodynamically lead. The lead goose emergences the greatest wind resistance. The formation reduces the wind resistance experienced by all other by 40%. All that honking we hear is goose talk. They are saying, “Go get ‘um. You’re the man, Atta boy. You rock.” They are edifying the lead goose. They also rotate when the lead goose gets tired he rotates to the back of the formation and another takes the lead. He joins the others in edifying the new lead.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when people walk away from a contact with you feel edified, built up?

Jesus Christ said, “You shall be My witnesses….”

Your speech makes you a good or a poor witness. As His ambassador what you say and do reflects on Him. Ideally, it should be a commendation of Him to all who encounter you.

Are you a member of Satan’s demolition crew or Christ’s developmental school.

I am on a recruiting mission today. I am looking for people who will sign up to be members of “THE ROYAL ORDER OF EDIFIERS.”

Ephesians 4: 12 notes God gives to the church people “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body.”

The church is spoken of as “the body of Christ.” Be a body builder.

Our text gives two requirements for membership.

I. A NEGATIVE “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth”

Perhaps by translating the Greek word for “corrupt” “toxic” we might better understand it.

Does your speech ever get you in trouble? Down in Cajun country near Lafayette a stranger walked into a roadside café and said, “That Bill Clinton is a horse.” A local popped him knocking him down and out. When he recovered he apologized saying, “I’m sorry I didn’t realize this was Clinton country.” The local said, “It ain’t, it’s horse country.”

You need not only be careful what you say but where you say it. Solomon wisely said, “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from trouble” (Proverbs 21: 23)

An ageless axiom states: “Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity.”

We are very adapt at exonerating and exempting ourselves. Therefore, I pray the words of this message will slip by the defenses of your mind and explode with reason therein.

The Scripture warns against slander. The Greek word translated slander literally means “devils,” or “diabolical.” There is no characteristic so unbecoming of a Christian as to deserve the title “devilish” as that of a slanderer.

The word means a gossip, defamer, one who smears, back-bites, or slurs another.

In the vibrant book of James (3:3 -10) is found this exhortation.

As an adolescent my Mom gave me a little hand written note which I kept in my wallet until I wore it out. It contained this great truth that has influenced my life: “A soft answer turns away wrath.”

Scripture urges us not to answer a fool according to his folly.

Let all corrupt speech die under the holy breath of God.

II. A POSITIVE We are to speak “what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Vs. 29)

This is an appeal to let your tongue be sacred to what edifies.

Join the ROYAL ORDER OF EDIFIERS.

Be careful in talking to or about youth. Build them up. Infants have confidence in their parents, grandparents, and others close to them. What they hear influences them dramatically. They tend to want to live up to what those they love say about them. If they hear negatives they come to believe them.”You are stupid” results in stupid conduct. “You are a bad boy” consequents in bad behavior.

One prisoner abused as a child wrote this haunting poem:
“Please stop the hurt
I’ve suffered from my birth.
Please stop the pain
And teach me love again.

Our life together is too dear
For your love to be replaced by fear.
You say you love me every day,
But you hit me when things don’t go your way.

I’m lost, lonely, scared, and sad
I tremble at the thought of making you mad.
My love is yours, but at times you’re so cold,
If life’s like this, take me before I grow old.”

Conversely, positive reinforcement results in good behavior.

One of the four things noted earlier that do not come back is “the neglected opportunity.” Don’t miss an opportunity to build up someone —– anyone.

You build people up by encouraging them to be their best and do their best at everything.

God does not require us to be the best at anything. He desires us to do our best at everything. Build people up to become and be their best for Christ. Christ did it.

He did it for little children by instructing His disciples to let them come to Him.

He did it for the woman caught in adultery by telling her she was forgiven and go and sin no more.

He did it for Simon Peter after Peter’s denial by giving him the assignment to feed His sheep.

After the resurrection He did it for one of His accusers, Saul, on the road to Damascus by telling him where to go to get help.

It is enough for a disciple that he be as his Master. The church is called “the body of Christ.” Let’s be body builders.

One wonderful way to do this is by relating Scripture. Many have been edified by the simple verse: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

Exhort with the truth: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19).

Who is the person you know who needs edifying most? It might well be yourself. You can build up yourself by reminding yourself of these and other great Bible promises.

You motivate someone when you give them a motive for their needed attitude or action. A motive is an urge within that incites action. When you build up a person you are giving them hope that produces proper action.

Motivating people is easy compared to keeping them from de-motivating you. Use the Scripture as your shield.

I talked to a widow recently who had not spent a night alone in their home since she and her husband moved in. He knew she was afraid to stay alone at night and had been her companion every night of their married life. At the time of his death she was all alone. She edified herself with the Scripture, “What time I am afraid I will trust in Him.” She has and told me her fears vanished. She edified herself with the Word of God.

Edify yourself and others with this truth: “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows them that trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7).

Jesus Christ offers you this edifying invitation:
“Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
To the lost He appeals, “He that comes to Me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

If God Be for Us… And He Is! Part One

Romans 8: 31

Jesus is someone with whom everyone can relate. 

Descriptively the prophet Isaiah spoke of this: 
“He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”  (Isaiah 53:3)

Does that sound like your autobiography?

Yet, He was so winsome that little children flocked to Him.

He was so joyous His detractors accused Him of being drunk.

He was so optimistic and insightful that masses gathered to hear Him speak.

In your highs and in your lows Jesus Christ is present and can relate to you. The closer you relate to Him the better equipped you are to deal with the diverse issues of life. In every congregation there are those who are personally celebrating the fact “life is good” and their cup is running over. Conversely there are those who feel like even though they have asked God to fill their cup instead someone has come along and eaten their lunch. In between are the masses alternating between these two moods.  Regardless of where you are presently on the scale you have been at virtually every other point and likely will continue to slide up and down the scale. Therefore it is expedient to store up spiritual resources to equip you for every phase of life.

Life inflicts about the same setbacks and tragedies on optimists as on pessimists. No one has more reason for optimism than a Christian. We have reason to bounce back from setbacks as a result of two things. One is a resource of biblical principles which when applied give reason for optimism. The other is lessons learned from our practical experiences. The text with which we are dealing comes out of the experiences of the penman.

My wife and I went fishing for silver salmon on the Kenai River in Alaska. It is a scenic setting. One bank was the home of fishing bears, the other was roamed by caribou. Seals bobbed up and down in the water looking for lunch. Boats were anchored all along the way as people awaited a big catch. There is a sonar device in the river that counts the thousands of fish going up-stream. Suddenly I saw something amazing: it was a fish going downstream. Then I realized this one was dead. The obvious lesson is that any dead fish can float downstream, but it takes a live one to fight its way up-stream. 

Persons alive in Christ often go against the current of popular opinion, but they are going the right direction.

If you are alive in Jesus enthusiastically follow Him upstream.

Pro Life – – – Yes

A deeply divided US Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and wiped out the right to abortion, issuing a historic ruling likely to render the procedure largely illegal in half the country.

The impact promises to be transformational. Twenty-six states either will or are likely to ban almost all abortions. Thirteen have so-called trigger laws designed to automatically outlaw abortion.

The issue of abortion deserves an objective biblical perspective. Most pro-abortionists never mention having a pro-biblical perspective. There is none. They merely refer to a woman’s right to her body. The right of the unborn to his or her body deserves advocacy.

That is not merely a fetus in the womb of a woman. That is a work of art and God is the artist: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. your eyes saw my unformed body” (Psalm 139: 15, 16).

In Scripture the Greek word “brephos” is used for a young child in the womb and as well as those already born. This evidences the sanctity of the lives of both.

Studies show why young women often seek abortion. The reasons most frequently cited were that having a child would interfere with a woman’s education, work or ability to care for dependents (74%); that she could not afford a baby now (73%); and that she did not want to be a single mother or was having relationship problems (48%).

Since Roe v Wade many Americans have become hardened about abortion. Many are so hardened they fill streets in protest marches favoring it.

The mothers of numerous well known individuals considered an abortion. Some are: Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Tebow, Pope John Paul II, Justin Bieber, Jesse Jackson, Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Brooke Shields, Cher, Eartha Kitt, Faith Daniels, Ethel Waters and many others. Consider all the delayed-gratification in that list.

Much is said about a woman’s right to her body. Medical science has progressed since Roe v Wade to the point that it is known that which was formerly considered merely a fetus is now known to be a person. Hence, there are two persons occupying the same space. Only one, however, can make a choice affecting both.

I started the first home for unwed mothers in the state which had a capacity for fifteen young women. In considering the name for the home I suggested the name Clay Home. It honored the former owner and depicted the fact that the young women who lived there were clay in the Potter’s hand.

Recently I met a young mother who identified herself as having been a resident of the home. She said her son, born while she was living in the home, was just entering college on an athletic scholarship. She gave him the name of the home, Clay.  Her gratification in giving him birth was evident by the pride shown in talking about it. He was one of many given birth as a result of our ministry.

The other thing evidencing my support of pro-life is that I started the first abortion clinic in the area where young women considering an abortion could receive pro-life counsel. Since then several hundred young women have changed their opinion and given life to their children.

Concern for young women faced with a choice of life or death should be expressed by prayers and support of pro-life individuals. The decision of the young woman is a decision affecting two lives, hers and that of the child.

Who Is That Knocking at Our Door?

This is a lesson in history and caution for America.    

The Hyksos are a little known people. Time writes faintly on the pages of these mysterious people in light of their impact. They seem to have emerged out of Asia and settled in the Eastern Nile Delta around 1650 BC. They were Semitic, though not Jews, and spoke and wrote in Semitic. They were not of one nation, but many drawn by a common denominator; Egypt, an opportunistic land of promise. It is speculated that among their various nationalities were Hurrian and Indo-European people.

They began as a trickle, moving into lower Egypt. However, many had already entered, bringing with them some advanced principles and implements that seem beneficial to Egyptian culture. Among their arts and crafts were some advanced weapons of war. They introduced the chariot for warfare. As their numbers increased, so did their impact on the culture and economy of the region. This led to the opening border of Egypt providing an unofficial invitation, and soon caravans of Hyksos flooded. This surge resulted in larger numbers of them moving north and exercising greater influence on Egyptian culture.

As their numbers increased, a 500-meter long “giant fence” was built to stem the influx. Their numbers entering decreased.

By 1782 BC, in the Egyptian city of Avaris in Lower Egypt, they established the Second Intermediate Period (1782-1570 BC). From their number, leaders emerged. Two declared themselves a Pharaoh and ruled north and south Egypt. Some scholars believe the pharaoh with whom Moses related to have been a Hyksos. There is little evidence to support this. Overall, Hyksos ruled Egypt for over 200 years. The trickle became a tsunami.

When driven from Egypt by Almose of Thebes, their destiny has been as mysterious as their emergence. However, while in Egypt they influenced the religion, economy, morality and culture in general.

When a significant culture invades a nation, they invariably set about to change the very things that attracted them there.

America is facing a challenge not unlike that of ancient Egypt. One can’t help but be moved by the thousands seeking entrance into our country. Their plight, however, does not give them the right to violate our laws.

A clash is likely at our border not between cultures, but between compassion and the laws of a sovereign state. It is yet to be revealed who sponsored and organized the caravans and why. Seven thousand people didn’t meet by chance in a park and agree to take a hike to America.

Allowing illegals in is an open invitation for more to come. Then our government (you and I) will have to provide them with the support the country from which they came from didn’t.

Like with the Hyksos, what matters is the issue of what ideals and ideas do they bring with them and how will that change America. This ancient issue needs addressing. Who sets about to build a house and does not first count the cost? The ethos of America is at stake.

The process of legal immigration is valid and valuable. We need immigrants, but we need to know who they are and what their intent is. That is how American immigration has always worked and it worked.

Remember the Hyksos and pray for America.

A Different View of Abortion

Imagine these scenarios. If all the infants in all the wombs of all the women of all the world could communicate at the birth of one of them named Sam the others could be heard to say, “Poor ole Sam passed on.”

Now, imagine this scenario. An intruder came in and dispatched Sam, forcefully taking him out. The others could be heard to say, “Poor ole Sam was brutally murdered and drug out. He had such potential, yet, he was mercilessly killed.”

That is abortion as seen from the victim’s viewpoint.

Fifty years ago when abortion was legalized it was said it would lead to a new philosophy. Young adults would grow to believe that if it is legal to kill at that stage it is okay to kill at any age. Without it being said the concept would prevail subconsciously and murders would increase. Sure enough in the streets of our cities deferred abortion is being practiced on young adults by young adults. The principle instrument used for the deferred abortion is the handgun. 

In abhorring the horror of abortion the welfare of the young mother must be considered. Assistance in not aborting must be given to her. No federal funds can be expected to give assistance to young mothers who elect to give birth to and rear a child. The private sector will have to provide assistance. Keep in mind there are already pro-life clinics that give assistance.

Almost all of those who go to pro-life centers have made their choice to give birth before going. Most go there seeking advice and help. Protesters disrupting centers that are there to help them inflicts hardship on such potential mothers. This disrupts the mother in making her choice.  

In general pro-life centers act as a referral center designed to provide a loving non-judgmental environment. They don’t shout condemnation and wave the Bible in the face of a potential mother. There is no condemnation, only love. It is little known they dispense diapers, clothing, and vitamins until the child is two years of age. Council regarding finding funding and a place to live is also afforded. Insight, not pressure, is given regarding potentially putting the child up for adoption in a good home. They are there to help, not condemn. 

Further help is needed by enacting laws making adoption faster and less expensive. Birthing clinics that make giving birth less expensive would greatly help.

This is a bright hour for churches to show even greater compassion and more support. Families capable of adopting and rearing a child should step forward. All should pray. This is a new era and new concepts as to how to best meet the needs are surely going to be needed. Arise to the needs.