God's Building

1 Cor 3:9;  For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, laborers together) with and for God; you are God's jgarden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God's building.  [Isa 61:3.] AMP

I think it's great!" David beamed.
"You think it's great that no one is willing to volunteer to work in the nursery?" I asked in amazement.

"That's right," David explained. "I think it's great because it means that everyone would rather be edified."

Most of us would tend to agree with David, and with good reason. Edification is important in the Christian life. God has designed the church so that its members build one another up in the faith (Eph 4:12). In the Bible, the word edify means "to build up or restore." It is related to the third metaphor used by Paul to describe the church in this verse. He says, "You are . . . God's building." The apostle saw himself as one of those given the task of building a house for God. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, known as the Septuagint, the verbal form of this word is used to speak of God's effort to build up His people, Israel (Jer 24:6). In the New Testament, it refers to the process of building up the church.

Those who work on God's building edify the church. As a result of their ministry, God's people are strengthened and more firmly established in their spiritual lives. When you have been edified, you have been spiritually nourished.

In the natural realm, we strive for a balance between nourishment and exercise. To emphasize one element and exclude the other is clearly detrimental to our physical bodies. Some time ago, I visited a doctor because I was suffering from symptoms of exhaustion and depression. After a thorough examination, the doctor asked me two simple questions: "Are you eating regularly?" and "Are you getting enough exercise?" With a few basic changes in my lifestyle, the problem was easily solved.

We also need to seek that kind of balance in the spiritual realm. The temptation we face in the spiritual realm is the danger of becoming addicted to edification. Of course, as God's house, we need to be built up. But the ministry of edification is also meant to equip us to serve others. The goal of edification, according to Eph 4:12, is "to prepare God's people for works of service." What is most striking about the concept of edification in the New Testament is that it invariably focuses upon our obligation to edify someone else.

This means that when we come together as a congregation, it is both to be edified and to edify. In this respect, God's building is unlike any other that we have seen, because it actually builds itself. This work of edification is an obligation shared by every believer: "Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up" (Rom 15:2). We are not to look out for our own personal interests exclusively, but we are also to focus on the interests of others (Phil 2:3-4).

This principle is especially important when applied to the problem of sin in the believer's life. Spiritual decline, on both an individual and congregational level, proceeds along terrifyingly ordinary terrain. The spiritual degenerate does not suddenly undergo a metamorphosis that leaves him an idolater or sexual pervert. This condition is arrived at by way of more mundane acts of disobedience, such as greed, malice, envy, and rebellion (Rom 1:29-30).

We tend to regard spiritual growth as a purely private matter. However, spiritual life also has a corporate dimension. The apostle Paul compared the effect of sin to that of yeast, implying that the sin of one person can have an impact on many others (1 Cor 5:6).

If my spiritual state has the potential to affect yours, mutual accountability is important. However, if you have the capacity to restore me to health, it is essential. The beauty of God's building is that, like the human body, it has the capacity to repair itself. Our accountability is not only to one another, but also to God. He evaluates both the kind of materials that we use and the quality of our workmanship in building His house: "By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds" (1 Cor 3:10).

One summer, a storm that roared through our community damaged the roof of our house. As soon as the men came to repair it, my wife, Jane, stopped what she was doing to watch. She sat in a folding chair in our driveway and looked on while they worked. When the foreman saw her, he nervously asked, "You're not going to sit there and watch are you?" "Of course I am," she replied. "It's my roof and I want to make sure that you do it right!"

In the same way, God carefully scrutinizes our efforts to build His house. We might be daunted by such an audience, if it weren't for the fact that the same God who evaluates our work has also equipped us for the task. The expectations that those who work on God's house use only the best materials is not unreasonable. Those who build are empowered by God's Spirit and draw from His unlimited resources.

In the Old Testament, God equipped individuals to build for Him. During the construction of the Tabernacle, God chose Bezalel and Oholiab and filled them with the Spirit in a way that gave them unique abilities to work with gold, silver, and bronze. These two men did not work alone, however. They were supported by a team of divinely skilled craftsmen to make the tent and all its furnishings (Ex 31:1-11). When Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, God sent him Huram-Abi of Tyre, a man skilled in working with bronze

(2 Chron 2:13-14). When the wall around Jerusalem was being rebuilt after the exile, God gave Nehemiah special leadership abilities and provided many willing workers to complete a task that on the surface seemed to be hopeless (Neh 3).

God continues to provide skilled workers to contribute to His building project, and we are those workers. Like those God used in the Old Testament, each one of us brings unique skills to the work. Because every believer possesses the Holy Spirit, every believer has a contribution to make.

Holy Spirit, equip me to edify others as we work together on God's house. Amen.

Thanks to John Koessler for allowing us to publish his material.www.johnkosessler.com

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John Koessler serves as chair and professor of pastoral studies at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He is married to Jane and has two sons, Drew and Jarred. John is the author of ten books and numerous articles. He also serves as a contributing editor for the Moody Bible Institute publication Today in the Word, where you can read his monthly “Theology Matters” column. You can contact John via email at John.Koessler@moody.edu or by phone at (312) 329-4077