We've been in a little series here on the one another commands of Scripture. There are many of them and we've tried to clump some of them together or group them together so that we could effectively talk about them. We've been talking about the one another commands and society will tell us that there are two ways to deal with people. And we can either compete with them or we can coddle them. We can either climb over them on our way to the top or we can cave to them in order to keep the peace. We can be aggressive or passive. There are people that are green lights and people that are red lights. But God shows us, and God's word, we'll see tonight, shows us another way. It's a third way that goes beyond just those two options. It's not competition, it's not coddling, it's a community. It's called the church. It's a place where we invest in one another, it's a place where we consider one another, it's where we encourage and edify one another. We need to do this, and I'm gonna say that, and I know if you're like me, when you come to church, sometimes you're here, but you're not here. And it's so encouraging to get into the Word on Sunday, isn't it? Because when you get into it, it kind of just refreshes your heart, refreshes your soul. There's a part of you that loves the Word, loves Jesus, that loves God's people, that loves the gospel and wants to see people saved. And we have to sometimes remind ourselves of that. We're going to go into some things tonight that you already know, but I'm hoping that it'll help go beyond. I don't like to preach stuff just to preach it. Honestly, I'd rather cancel a service. I know that's probably a self-serving thing to say, but I just figure, sometimes we get a lot of stuff out of the Bible, and we're not just running it back just to run it back. We're having another service because the Word of God is that important. It's that important. By the way, listen, your flesh will have no problem watching 10 Hallmark movies. But when it comes to having two services, it's just something that says, well, I mean, you can take it too far. But we had leftovers, didn't we? And by God's grace, I'm not gonna give you leftovers tonight. I'll give you something from the Word of God, but I want you to think, and I want you to understand, as I'm preaching this, I'm fired up about what does God want this church to do? Because otherwise, let's just stay at the house. Let's go to work and go home. Yet God gives us another option Another option, the church. It's not the YMCA. It's not the Lions Club. It's not a gymnasium, a fitness club. It's not a social place. It's something that no other organization in this world can have. That is a relationship with the God of the universe. And he works through all of us. It is exciting. I gotta start talking about it. Okay, here we go. Well, last week we looked at how Christian liberty leads us to serve one another. God sets us free to serve. Freedom in Christ is not freedom from responsibility, it is freedom for ministry. Hospitality without grudging. That's part of God's plan. But today, we're gonna see that service is just the beginning. It's just the entry point. God calls us not just to serve, but to strengthen one another. Not just to help one another, which is good, which is important, but to build one another up. Not just to be present with one another, and that's important, we need to be present, but to be purposeful with one another when we are present with them. So it starts with something you're gonna love out of 1 Peter chapter 5. The foundation, mutual submission. First Peter 5.5, Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. This is where the church begins. Real church starts here. Mutual submission. Notice that he says, The younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, and then he says, yea, all of you be subject. You know, there's something I remember very clearly from my childhood, and I passed it on to my kids, and that is this. When your sibling tells you something to do, you are allowed, you're commanded to tell them, you are not the boss of me. You can't tell me what to do, because you're not my boss. And as Nate said in that video I showed you several years ago in the boat, my three boys in the boat, and they were dressed up for Kids' Candy Night. They were Peter, James, and John in a sailboat. But there was no fellowship in that boat, I can tell you. There was a lot of arguing. And at one, Johnny wanted to go faster, Nate wanted to go slower, and finally, Nate says to Johnny, you're not in charge of this boat. And that's an important phrase when you're a sibling. But when it comes to the church, it's not about who's in charge. If it becomes about who's in charge, you will end up with division. Because it's no different than a home. Who decides? Well, who decides that the man is in charge of the home? Well, if you're not following God, nobody does this aside that you can do whatever you want. And that's what people do. And that's why there is divorce. Because at some point, it just is not fun. It's not something that is natural to us. If I'm going to sacrifice, you best believe you're going to sacrifice. This is not going to be me doing everything and you sitting there doing nothing. I'm going to make sure you're doing your part. Why? Because I don't mind contributing as long as you're contributing too. But did you notice the difference here? He says all of you be subject one to another. There's a structure in church. We'll see that in Ephesians chapter four. But you know what he's saying? The Lord's in charge, but until he gets here, you are in charge of me. Well, that's not what he said. I don't know what you get from the term subject, but if you're a subject, there's someone that is in charge, and you're the subject. Now, as Brother Ron Garris used to say, I don't expect you to say amen, just nod your pointed head. This is not fun preaching. This is where the road meets the road, baby. Okay, that's a friend of mine used to say. This is where the road meets the road right here. This is not easy. He said, y'all will be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. You will find it easier to subject yourself if that's what you're wearing. You ever wear something that clashes? You ever meet someone that dresses much, much younger than their age? They're still living in the 80s? But you could tell it's a spray tan, it's like way longer since they've been good looking. But they're still going with it, right? There's something that doesn't jive between what they wear and their personality or who they really are. See, once God inside, once I've submitted myself inside, I need to put that on the outside. I need to say, it's not about what I want, it's about what God wants. Be clothed with humility. Because, why? Here's the reason. because God's gonna resist you if you don't. You know the thing about God is God does not yell and scream when he resists. God does not pound his fist. You will just find yourself struggling against something that you can't name, that you can't ascertain, you can't discern. You have no idea what's going on. I'll tell you what it is. God is holding his hand against you because you're proud. just like a child may get mad and want to fight his uncle. And what does the uncle do? He holds his head to make sure that those little fists can't come anywhere close to hurting him. He puts his hand out. That's what God's doing to you when you're proud. God is resisting you. You say, oh, I'm not mad at God. I'm mad at my boss. God works through your boss. I'm not mad at God. I don't understand this, you know, my husband. God works through your husband. We don't like authority, let's just face it. We love authority as long as they do what we want, which means I'm the authority. But we don't like authority when they act like an authority, which is, I'm gonna tell you something regardless of whether you like it or not. You may have trouble with your boss and you think, my boss just, you know, they don't do this, they don't do that. Could it be that you're proud? Or are you, watch for sarcasm here, are you the only human that never gets proud? Of course we get proud. We know what we have to do. We have to do like Mr. Rogers. And we got to go into the closet and we got to put on humility. And it's not going to feel like it fits you. It's not going to make you feel awesome. It's going to make you feel weird putting humility on. It's going to humble you. It's like going to the Goodwill, closing your eyes, going through the rack, and grabbing something. You go into the changing room, you put it on, and you're going, wow. I don't know what that is, but I'm wearing it today. Here I go. That's what humility feels like. You go in, you on purpose put it on. This is what God wants to do with the members of this church, to be subject one to another. Well, who's in charge around here? Jesus is in charge. Jesus is in charge. And that means that I can be humble. I've talked with people about this. I've got friends that struggle with deacon boards. And I'm so grateful for our deacons here at Hope Baptist Church. They are deacons in the Bible sense of the word. What is that? Assistant to the pastor. But a lot of churches, deacons are people who hold the reins on the pastor because the pastor is gonna start doing stuff that we don't wanna do. I got a good friend of mine talking to me about how he needs some help and there's some things he wanna do in the church, but the deacons who've been there before him don't want him doing nothing. And so they hold the reins. You know what that is? It's rebellion. It's rebellion. It's saying, I'm gonna put myself in a place to tell someone else what to do. And God didn't give you that role. But that's what happens when there's no humility. We assume roles that are above our pay grade. And before we know it, we've got God's hand pushing against us and we don't even realize it. How long has it been since you've sensed the grace of God in your life? You've known that God has been gracious to you. If it's been a long time, might I suggest, based on this passage, that God is resisting you because of your pride. You see, once you humble yourself like Ahab, who was the most wicked king, he sold himself to serve evil in his kingdom, but he humbled himself and God lengthened his reign. Even the most wicked king got extra time on the clock because he humbled himself. Notice he says, humble yourselves therefore. Humble yourselves. You know what God's gonna do? He's gonna keep pushing against you and resisting you until you humble yourself. God is not gonna shove you into the ground. That's not how God does it. God simply resists you. He's gonna wait until you humble yourself. Why? Because why would it, it wouldn't mean anything to God if he humbled you. He's waiting for you to humble yourself. This is where church starts. Not with asserting our rights, but with submitting ourselves. Not with demanding our way, but deferring to other people. Not protecting my interests, but trying to pursue your interests, your growth. So that's the foundation, mutual submission. Now let's talk about the framework. Take your Bibles to Hebrews chapter three, and let me show you something. I've got one short term we see in scripture, and one long term, mutual building up. We're talking about from building walls to building up tonight. Look at Hebrews chapter 3, look at verse 12. This is mutual encouragement. He says in verse 12, take heed therefore, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily. So here's the thing, you either are going to have this evil heart of unbelief and depart from the living God, but somebody might come along and exhort you and help you. He said, exhort one another daily. This is encouragement. Exhortation, to exhort someone, is to encourage them. Like the word horticulture. Exhort. That's what exhort, we say exhort, but it's made up of that word, which is like a garden. Something that is encouraged out of the ground. You are exhorting it. So that's what exhortation is. It is an encouragement. It's a short-term thing. He said, exhort one another daily. Do it daily, just like you need to eat daily. Many of you, you say, I love you to your spouse daily. And if you don't, there's a sign on your bedroom that says, tell me you love me, right? There's all these rules. And you know, I have this pet peeve. I won't go into all these rules. Tell me what to do. When I go to people's houses, they're always, live, love, stop telling me what to do. Just want to enjoy my life. But Hobby Lobby is making some bank off of Baptists, I can tell you that. They are really, they put it all in their Bible Museum in D.C. So you ought to go there just because you've been paying for it. That's a side note. I don't know where it came from. Let's stay focused here. Exhortation. Okay, so think about this. When you're trying to encourage someone, you're trying to bring them out of where they were to where they want to go, where God wants them to go. Just like a plant. You're trying to bring that plant out of the soil. Exhortation. There's different plants. Now all plants need, what do they need? They need light. They need water. And they need, they do need air. And so, because of that, sometimes we go, well, I know what they need, water. And you pour a bunch of water. How many ever killed a plant with too much water? Amen. How many ever killed a plant with too much sun? Right? That's just the way it goes. Like, different plants have different needs. Now, if you, if you, listen, Rex, this is not the time to fight with Joanne about, I don't know what you're talking about down there. Hey, listen, I know this. If you want to kill a plant, we've got a great place to bring it. Bring it to our house, amen? I'm just teasing. My wife, she does a good job with it. But there are some plants that just die off. Why? Different plants have different needs. And not all of us are nerds, OK? So we don't all know things about exact amount of water, moisture, air, and light, and everything else. Some of you are, and you're very good at it. But the thing about exhortation is not everybody needs the same amount of encouragement and the same kind of encouragement. But I'm telling you, just like every plant needs encouragement, every believer needs encouragement. Every believer does. And God expects us to do that. Notice, He says in verse 13, exhort one another daily. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, look at verse 23. Verse 23, He said, Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful to promise. Then let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, is to see the day approaching." You notice, it's interesting, all of my life I've heard people use this verse, talk about how you should go to church, especially since the day is approaching. We won't talk about the end times of tribulation context of this passage, but I will remind you that for most of my life, people just skipped right over exhorting one another. You see, it's not go to church more often that he's saying, well, of course we should, but go to church so that you can exhort one another more. Did you see that? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more. You know, there's a reason why we come to church, not to hear my nasal voice. That's part of it. The part of it that I bring is the preaching and the leadership and the care. I do my best, but I'm one man, and I'm a fallible man. I'm not a perfect, I'm not the excellent example of the perfect Christian that you should, I'm not at all. But I have the perfect book, and so I'm gonna give that to you. But you have a ministry when you come to church as well. Did you see your ministry? Right there. And let us, verse 24, now I know there's me, myself, and I. Okay, so I take that into consideration. But that's not what he's talking about here. He's saying, and let us. These are the believers. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love, not to provoke unto anger, to provoke unto love and to good works. So when I hear someone say, you know, praise God, God did this for me, it provokes me to love. When I hear someone say, I went and did this, it provokes me to good works. That's why regular testimonies are a part of what we do at Hope Baptist Church. It's so important for you to hear what God's doing. Now, if you're the kind of person that wants to give a testimony because you want to tell everybody how wonderful of a Christian you are, you're doing it wrong. It's not what it's about. People talk about, well, I want to share something that God gave me and me alone. And every time you talk to him, that's what it is. It's like, no, you're looking for some notoriety. But there are people who share what God has done through them. Some of you here have had financial victories. Some of you here have had witnessing opportunities and victories. You've had relational breakthroughs. God wants you to share that, to share that. Well, not me. I don't say anything. Guys, here's the thought. My job is not just to speak for everyone. It is to train a whole church full of people who will speak for Christ. That's what it is. Not just to unsaved people, but to saved people. Did you see what he said? Let us consider one another, so you gotta have intentional consideration, to provoke unto love and to good works. And in verse 25, exhorting one another and so much the more. What does encouragement look like to you? What does encouragement look like to another person? You ought to think about it and pray about it. You ought to say, Holy Spirit, would you put someone on my heart that I can encourage the next time I go to church? The next time I see them, Lord, I want to encourage them. That's what he's talking about, exhortation. Now, let's look at some long-term edification. Romans chapter 14. Romans 14, this is, I would say the short-term has to do more with the, hey, good up and go, brother. You can do it, you can hang in there. God's still on the throne. It's gonna be okay, and we need that. Just a word in due season. But there's the long-term edification. Romans chapter 14, he says in verse 10, but why dost thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, sayeth the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not, therefore, judge one another any more. Okay, here's the one another in the negative. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that it steameth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean." What is he talking about? He's talking about things that are iffy in the Christian life. Are you allowed to do that? Well, I think, I don't think you should. Well, I've heard people used to preach on it, but I don't believe, and you have this back and forth. The question is, is it right or is it wrong? We're not really sure. But he says this, let us not judge one and one another anymore. And he said, there's nothing unclean of itself. And we won't, we're not gonna go into a full exposition of this passage, but notice verse 15, but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. You know what most Christians do, and not just most Christians, most people, they do what they wanna do. You know how they live? They live like they wanna live. They choose, they make their preferences. But being a Christian is different. It's different, guys. Here's how it's different. You're trying to impress a different friend group. See, normally people dress according to the person that they want to be, the person that they don't want to be. They do certain actions, whatever they might choose, their preferences in their life, based on what group they want to be accepted by. The difference in the Christian life is this. It's all going to burn anyhow. It doesn't matter what I wear, what I watch. That's not what defines me. What defines me is my spirit that's eternal. So I'm not going to be held down to these physical things that I'm putting on, or these physical things that I'm putting into my body, or the physical things that I'm watching. I'm not going to be defined by that. So if it bothers somebody else, I'm going to set that to the side. Why? Because this independent, autonomous, I can do whatever I want, I don't have to listen to anybody, is satanic. It's not Christ-like. Christ-like says, I'm on the throne. Sorry for your luck. You guys sinned. You shouldn't have sinned. You're dead. You're going to hell. What did Christ do? He laid aside His robes, His preference for majesty and authority. He came down to you and I and He walked charitably. He concerned Himself with our needs. Well, who gives Him the right? I can tell you this, nobody made Jesus do it. He chose to do it. So let me ask you this, the areas in your life where you get to make a choice, do you get defensive? Do you put your dukes up and say, well, at my church, what we do is this. Who cares what your church does? Who cares what this church does in the sense that what our traditions are and our preferences and where we stand and our foundations and our rules, who cares about that stuff? I'm not suggesting we throw them all out. I'm saying charity is the queen of Christian virtues. And if you really cared more about what you do affects other people, you wouldn't have to have any rules at all. It would be Holy Spirit, how can I best show the love of Christ to my brothers and sisters here at this church? Amen? And that's easier said than done. Because you know what? I like this tie. I don't care if it bothers you. But you know, at the end of the day, I'm going to choose this tie over my relationship with you? I don't think so. Why? This tie is not eternal. You could destroy it. You are eternal. And I'm going to be with you forever. Most Christians line up according to what they do and what other people don't do. And I just don't understand how people can do that. And I don't think they should do that. I just think they're full of themselves and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The problem is your heart's full of yourself. You're not humble, you're proud, and you're demanding your right. What God wants is mutual edification. And where does that start? It starts with submission, and it moves into charity, which is being concerned about the other believer more than myself. Now, this is easier said than done. But what happens when you don't have charity? Verse 15, destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died. Now, when he says destroy, Does that mean send them to hell? No. It means to ruin his ability to walk in peace with his God. It means to destroy his perspective on God, his love for the Word, his love for church. You can destroy his life. What? Wait a second. Look what he says. Look what he says there in the next work, the next verse. For meat, where am I here? Verse 19, verse 19. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace in things wherewith one may edify another. Look at verse 21 for a second. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak. Would you give up your movie preferences for someone in this church? Well, I think there is a line that... I understand. I'm just telling you the standard that God gave. Would you stop drinking eggnog if you knew it offended somebody? Somebody, I would never drink eggnog in any house, that's no problem. Let's talk about the thing that you like, that you demand, I ought to be able to have this. Now, there is a balance here, we understand. But we're talking about when you genuinely know that what you do is bothering someone else. But number one, you gotta care. And number two, you gotta have a humble heart that's willing to give it up. Man, you put a church full like that, a church full of people like that, and it will turn a town upside down. There's no question about it. Why? Because that's a church full of people who are Christ-like. And Jesus Christ can't miss. Anybody that comes back from the dead under his own power can't miss. You're walking in the power of Jesus Christ when you are submitted to your brothers, when you are concerned about building them up, thinking about their best interest. So he says in verse 19, he said, let us follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another. So here is one of those edify one another types of things. To edify is to build up, to structurize, to, forgive me for this one, to building eyes. It's a terrible phrase. It's to help someone become a building. That's what an edified means, to build them up. To build them up into what? Not a wall. We've got enough walls in this world. Talking about Jesus Christ, as we'll see in Ephesians chapter four. But I want you to see here, edification is not just about imparting knowledge. It's not just about asserting rights. It's about creating an environment where believers can grow stronger in their faith. They can grow stronger. True edification flows out of love. Just like a building will need a stable foundation. You can't have an earthquake and have a solid foundation. You've got to have peace. You can't have rain when you pour your concrete. You've got to have peace, stillness. You can't have a bunch of punks in the neighborhood come running through your wet cement. You've got to have peace. Once you have that, what ends up happening? You have an environment that is peaceful and the building can grow. How does that environment, how is it established? Here's how it's established. No matter what you do, I'm not going to lose my mind and get mad at you and stop being your friend. It's a peaceful environment. When you come to church and you don't know who's mad at you and why, and you don't know who's not with you, it's really stressful, isn't it? You don't know if somebody's about to leave the church and they're upset and they won't talk about it and you don't know. That's a stressful environment. You can't grow in that. You know sometimes people struggle having children and doctors will tell you they struggle because they're so focused and worried about it, nervous and their bodies can't relax. What comes naturally is to have children. By the way, don't be afraid of having children. It's a natural thing. It's not a cancer that needs to be removed. It's God-ordained for you to have a child. He built it into you. And many of you say, man, we struggled, or I know someone that struggled, some of you have struggled, it's very difficult. But sometimes it just comes down to a peaceful environment. By the way, that works for your soul winning as well. When you're trying to see someone saved and you're so focused on it and so nervous, and anytime you talk to a lost person, Jesus Christ died for your sins. Relax. You need to tell them the gospel, but the power is not of you. It's the treasure inside. The excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. You know what you need to be ready to do? You need to be ready to give an answer to any man that asks you the reason, and you need to try to get people to ask you questions. But relax. You don't have to worry about getting someone saved. You can't save someone anyhow. But what you can do is you can help to create an environment in which people will begin to get thirsty for the gospel. You can seek the lost. So he says, let us follow. Verse 20, he said, for meat destroy not the work of God. What's the work of God? It's the church. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak. There's three things right there to stumble. Cause a person, they're walking good and all of a sudden they see you do something or allow something in your life and they go, oh, I didn't know we could do that. And now their flesh says, I can do what I want. You say, well, they shouldn't be watching me. It's between them and the Lord. You're going to have to do a lot of explaining about this passage right here. What you do affects other people in this church according to the Word of God, whether you like it or whether you don't like it. I don't think it's fair. Talk to God about it. I think sometimes as Americans, we're so independent and we get this thing of, I don't talk to anybody, nobody sees me, it doesn't matter, I can do whatever I want. There are no victimless crimes when it comes to God. There are no independent Lone Rangers when it comes to church. I'll just take my King James Bible and go walk... No, you can walk away if you want, but you're not a church and you're not right with God. You need to go somewhere where you can be held accountable to other brothers and sisters in Christ that can hold your feet to the fire. Well, I don't think they need to be above my business. Why are you worried about somebody in your business? You're crucified with Christ. The life that you live is not yours. He's living in you. It's not about getting yours in this world. It's about him getting his. And if you can relax and say, Lord, I don't know about this, and I'm not sure my conscience is kind of bothering me, and I'm going to fight for it, but I shouldn't fight for it. I'll tell you what, Lord. I'll take a rain check. If this stuff is OK and it really doesn't bother you and I should be able to do it, I'm asking you now to give it to me in bucket loads when we get to the millennium. Let me just go crazy with it. I want to swim in it when we get to the millennium. You know, the Lord is not slothful. The Lord is very concerned, and He is a just judge. He will take care of you. Anything that He asks you to give up, He will reward you evenly above and beyond. How many have found that to be true in their life? What you've given up for God, God has given you back in spades. I mean, it's just over an abundance. Why? Because God is a good God, but He is going to be God in your life. And if you won't let Him be God, He will resist you. You're still saved, but you can't get close to the Father, because He's holding you at arm's length. You say, well, not my God. My God is loving. Yes, God is loving, but He's also just. And He is going to chastise you because He loves you. He is gonna discipline you because He wants to be close to you, but He doesn't love sin and He doesn't like your attitude, so He's gonna hold you at arm's length until you humble yourself. When you humble yourself, you can get close to God. And there is no friend, there is no preference in your mind that is better than walking close with your God. There's nothing that compares to it, no matter how hard you fight for it. So edifying one another is simply saying, I care about my fellow believers. I'm willing to forego my liberty. Edification often involves self-limitation. Self-limitation. It's not just about rule following, it's about contributing to another spiritual growth. Parents, let me ask you, in your home, are there things that you know are not helpful to spiritual growth for your children? Remember back before you were calloused and back before you were so cynical? Remember when you used to be affected by things? You know you have young believers in your home? You ought to limit yourself for the sake of your children. There are things that you want to do, but they bother your spouse. You know what you should do? Limit yourself for the growth of your spouse. No, I can do whatever I want, because I'm the... God's going to resist you. You're going to be fighting windmills. You are going to be swinging your fists, wondering, what's going on with my life? I can tell you what it is. It's pride, because you won't give it up. because you're going to define for yourself what the Christian life is. You're not going to yield to the Bible. You're not going to yield to preaching. You're not going to listen. Now, I'm thankful that I don't pastor people like this. People here, I know, are humble and they love the Lord, but we all have an Adamic nature. There's a part of us that resists against God, and we think we're holding God back. No, God's holding us back. He's pushing us away because of that pride. But when we limit ourself, when we humble ourself, you know what humbling yourself means? It means I normally am five, 10 and a half, which is a very, half is very important, but I voluntarily make myself much smaller and shorter than I could. I limit myself. Now what am I, three, four foot high? And I could go even lower if I needed to. You say, what does that mean? I can be five foot ten and a half, but I'm not going to be. Why? Because maybe I need to get down and help somebody. Maybe I need to lower myself and think more about you than I think about myself. Instead of pretending to be the tallest person and always looking for a fight everywhere I go, I can lower myself down. And you know what? The Bible says that God will exalt you in due time. You know what God can do? He can take you higher than you think you could ever get through His power and His strength. Take your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. Are you staying with me tonight? Okay. Ephesians chapter 4. I want you to see just one more passage here tonight. In Ephesians 4, look at verse number 11. God himself here establishes this framework for edification. And he does so by giving gifts. He gave some, verse 11, apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. What's the goal of this edification? Till we all come in the unity of the faith. and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." So it's not about my height I'm concerned about, it should be about the height of Jesus Christ. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Notice, The goal of the edification is maturity, and the maturity happens through several things. Unity of the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, and look what he says in verse 15, speaking the truth in love. We're talking about edification. Me building you up. Now, it's not truth or love, it's truth in love. It's both. Truth without love damages people. It hardens people. You say, hey, your breath stinks. Well, that's just the way I was raised. Well, maybe you were raised wrong. You ever think about that? Well, people ought to toughen up. Maybe you ought to soften up. You know, it's interesting how I'm the judge, I'm the center of the universe, and all of y'all need to adjust to me, to my reality, because I'm really the grand poobah of the universe. Well, I just think people are weak. Yeah, the Lord told you that there's people that are weak. You know what he told the strong people to do? To humble themselves and be concerned about the weak people. He didn't tell the strong people to leave the weak people in the dust. He said to humble yourself. Well, I just tell it like it is. Yeah, but you're not doing it to Christ like way. Cause he didn't just say, tell it like it is. He said, tell it like it is with love. Maybe you got to learn more. Hey, listen, I'm a truth teller. I was raised man. I was raised by two soul scanners, two deep soul scanners. Have you met my parents? Do you ever talk with them? They're scanning your soul as they talk with you, looking for any aberrations, any unusual lesions, spiritual cancers that might be there. And I thank God for it. But you know what I also had to learn? I had to learn compassion. They had to teach me compassion for people. Not just, well, look at that guy. Look at him. He's overweight. Needs to lose weight. You ever realize that there's more than one reason why people gain weight? Well, look at how that woman's dressed. Well, you ever consider that there's other things that are important about the woman besides how she's dressed? Right? These are things you have to understand. So speaking the truth in love, shooting from the hip, saying whatever comes out of your mouth, doesn't mean that it's from God. Just because you're not afraid and you have courage to speak the truth, you're missing the other part of the admonition, which is to speak the truth in love. Now some people, they pride themselves on having love for everyone. I would never say anything. You're missing it too. God gets you coming or going. This is what he said, moderation in all things. The quality of moderating two separate truths at one time through the Spirit of God's power. You are moderating the truth and love, and you're speaking the truth in love. And what happens? Look what he says. The church can grow up into him. Romans 14 talks about freedom and restraint. Freedom, there's nothing unclean of itself. And restraint, I'm not going to cause anybody to stumble. Well, which is it? I want to go to a church where they can do whatever I want. No, you don't. Well, I want to go to a church where they tell you what to do. No, you don't. You know what you want to go to a church? A church where there's freedom and restraint. A church where there's truth and love. And who's responsible for that? Well, I carry a big weight of responsibility personally, but you are just as responsible because if you notice in this passage, he's talking to the body of Christ. There's not one single one of us here that's the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ. I'm not the church. You're not the church. We are the church. And what God does with this is he causes us to learn to love one another as he loves us. You say, well, these people are disgusting. They're not like the good people that I know. I like those people out there. I only come to church to hear the Bible preached. Relax. Get off your high horse. Don't you understand how far Jesus had to condescend to work with you? So it shouldn't be that big of a deal for one filthy human in his old nature to deal with another filthy human in his old nature. Jesus had no filthy human nature, and yet he condescended to serve us. So you follow what I'm saying? Now look what he says, verse number 16. Those are a bunch of words. A bunch of words. Yeah, and he means every one of them. The effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Who is supposed to build and edify? We are. Who are we supposed to edify? Ourselves. The body edifies itself. Well, not me. I just come to church and I just, I don't know what to say. I don't say anything to anybody. I just come and I, you, listen, I'm not saying it's easy. I'm saying if you're going to believe the Bible, this is what he said. The Bible says that you and I edify ourselves and that's how the church grows. Hey, listen, if you think I don't see the empty patches in the church and I see pictures of what the church used to have, and I think, oh man, I wish we had more people. I'll tell you this, if God wants more people to come, you know how he's gonna get them here? He's gonna get them here through you and I. He really is. What do you mean? I just think, you know, God will bring him out of the thin air, and sometimes He does bring him out of the thin air. But do you realize what He said? The increase of the body happens because you and I are edifying ourselves in love. He said, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one to another. So as we edify one another, as I'm encouraging you and you're encouraging me, as you're exhorting me, then God says, that's the kind of place that people are going to be attracted to. Christ said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. So God provides the structure here, the gifts in verse number 11, but the actual work of edification involves every member. Notice the phrase, every joint and every part. It shows that edification is not just the pastor. Now, I need to be working and studying and doing my job, but that's not what he says. You guys following me? You're thinking, I know you're thinking through this. It's a different way of thinking about church. Because for so long, we've had the attractional model in church, ever since probably the 50s, when we had the boom, the baby boom, and then we had these monstrous edifices built, and just tons of people coming to church, and somebody's setting themselves on fire in the pulpit, and people are pouring in. You know why? Because it was in the culture. You go to church. Everybody knows you're supposed to go to church. Even the people that don't go to church know you're supposed to go to church. And we were living on love for a long time. And it works. All you have to do is have the best choir. All you have to do is have the nicest church building. Have lots of nice, paid parking lot. Have a nursery. You know, it was the Baptist that came up with that, as far as I know. And that was why, to help people come to church. So we have a nursery. All these things are helpful, but you know what that means? We're gonna put on the show and all we have to do is make sure we're here. And the Lord's vision for the church is much more personal. It's much more personal. It's you and it's me. And if I could say every single one of your names here, members of Hope Baptist, I would say it. I'm talking to you, not more than me. God is talking to you. And yet, what do we do? Well, I don't know. I can't come for that. I don't think I can be involved. I don't want to promise. I don't want to be a part of that. Then why even come to church if it's all about getting out, getting behind things, getting away? I'm not really here. My family has things we're doing. I'm not sure what's happening at that. There's always something going on. And listen, I care. I've got a family, too. I'm not trying to fill up everybody's schedules 24-7. Let everybody be at the church. You know what? Just live here. We're all going to live here. I get my office. No. But if you excuse yourself from everything, you're excusing yourself from the Bible, the clear word of God. What does the clear word of God say? He says, I want you together. I want you edifying. So we have things that fill our time. And what happens is good things fill our time. And then we try to visit God on the weekends. We try to get there. Some people, they're always other places, they're always here, they're always there. And listen, there are vacations, there is family, there are trips that we take, there's all kinds of stuff that happens. But our heart should be here. Our heart should be here. Why? Not so we can fill up our church and prove that we're the best church in town. Who cares about that? If I had my way, we would get rid of half the section and we would all just meet here in this middle thing. I'm not saying we're going to do that. I'm saying it's not about the building. It's about Jesus Christ. It's about His glory. It's about magnifying Him. Some of you sit there and you go, I remember back when I used to go to a church, had 1,500 people, had blah, blah, blah, blah. Who cares? Who literally cares? The most important thing about that church was, did they exalt Jesus Christ? Were they out evangelizing lost people? That's what matters, not how many people we pack in here. Because I can just tell you, a lot of people come to church, don't have one desire or one intention of ever doing anything for God. Now, I'm thankful that they're here. They come to get God off their back, and they go back and do their own thing. But I'm talking to people here who are committed, who are self-sacrificing, who are faithful, who love God. These are the people that God's gonna use to build this church. And it's not about how many more people we get in here. It's like this, man, I love my kids, but man, I wish I had more kids. Well, how about the kids you got right in front of you? Well, I love you too, but I'm looking, listen, we need to stop worrying about all the rest of the people. And we need to start worrying about the people that God has sent here. Looking around, who's here? Who can I connect with? Well, I don't want to connect with anybody. Then you can't be a godly. You cannot be Christ-like if you don't like people. I'm not trying to preach some heretical doctrine. That is the truth. If you don't want to be around people, it's probably because you've been around some, and they've hurt you. and they've cut you down, and they've criticized you, and they've marginalized you, and they've name-called you. And I get it. That's not fun. But God sends us into the middle of people. That's what Ephesians 4 is all about. The phrase, every joint and every part there, it's not just me. It's not just the staff members. It's all believers. building each other up. Now, we've got to close tonight. You've been gracious and kind. Let me give you just some very practical statements here, okay? If you're going to speak the truth in love, it might sound like this. Brother, I noticed how patiently you handled that difficult situation last week. That really showed Christ's character. Sister, the way you teach the children shows such care for their spiritual understanding. You are really helping to build their foundation in Christ. This is the very practical way that we edify one another with our words. It shows how someone is contributing to the growth of believers. When we sing songs, he says we're supposed to admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. When a member is going through a trial, another person might say to them, you know, this verse right here in this hymn has really strengthened me during my difficult time. Can I share it with you? That's building up one another in love. During conversations, you might say, hey, you know that song we sang on Sunday? That's been helping me all week. It's been on my heart. Well, I don't want to share anything with anybody about anything God's done. Why not? Just say it. How about this? Sister, I know you've been busy caring for your parents. Could I bring you a meal this week? Member Care does a great job with this. I've been praying specifically about that challenge that I heard you mention last week. How's it going with that? Again, this is things that are already happening here. Your perspective on this, I heard you say something that really encouraged me and I want to just thank you for saying that. I see how God has gifted you in that area and your ministry has been a real blessing. I just want to encourage you, keep doing what you're doing. Now, again, as the Apostle Paul said, even so, as you also do, you are doing this. But I wanna encourage you, these are the little tiny sinews, the membranes that connect every joint and every part. This is what God uses. You say, well, I don't have anything important that I do. Oh, don't say that. If you're a member here, it's because God considers you important. and what you do and what you say is going to be used to edify one another in love. Let's bow our heads in prayer.