BUILDING TOGETHER IN LOVE

Ephesians 4:16

“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love.”

ILLUSTRATION:

 "I am going to paint the house," said a big can of paint, waiting,
already mixed, in the workroom.
 "No, I am going to paint it!" the paintbrush asserted, bristling with
indignation.
 "You are, are you?" sneered the ladder lying against the wall.
"How far will you get without me?"
 Just then the painter, who overheard these self-confident
remarks, ventured to put in a word. "Perhaps I'd better take a
holiday," he said quietly. "I wonder if the house would be painted
by the time I got back.”

 Each one of us contributes to the building of the church.

 Each of us has a talent to be used for the glory of God.
 The moral of this story is that we must work together for the
enrichment of Christ's kingdom.
 Each one of us contributes to the building of this kingdom.
 Each one of us is needed.
 Every contribution counts.
 The task may be large or small: it doesn't matter.
 Each task is important.
 Each of us has a talent to be used for the glory of God.

CHURCH: CH___CH

 What is missing? If U R missing there is no church at all. So, we

ought to be building the church together in love.

Quotation:

 “The church is not complete without U”

  Likewise, a Christian’s life can never be complete apart from a
healthy, Bible believing, Spirit filled church.
 It goes hand in hand.

WHAT EXACTLY DO WE BUILD?

 We have a lot where the building stood.

 We meet in this place.
 We even have our own building.
 But having a building is not our primary concern.
 What we are concerned about is the church.

WHAT IS A CHURCH?

 The Greek word for church is "ekklesia“ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑ meaning "called

out ones".
 That is a very special thing, to be one whom God has called out of
the world, to be part of His Family!
 “Ekklesia" also means "assembly" or "congregation".
 This is how God has organized His family in the earth, through local
congregations which are to be earthly representations of His
Heavenly Kingdom.

 Jesus Himself was the one who ordained and commissioned the
church

Matthew 16:18

 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.”

 One of the Biblical names for the church is the Body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:27

 “Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

CAN SOMEONE BE A CHRISTIAN WITHOUT GOING TO CHURCH?

 As Augustine once said, "He cannot have God for his Father who does
not have the church for his mother."
EMPHASIS

 So in the Church…We ARE

Building Together in Love…

The Apostle Paul said,

Ephesians 4:16

 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and

compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase
of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

BUT WHAT DOES BUILDING TOGETHER IN LOVE MEANS?

 Building together in Love Suggests # 4CS: 1st is:

l. CONNECTION

 For how can we work together if we are not connected with each
other?

 Scripture clearly teaches that we were created for connections.

 God recognized this when He said,

Genesis 2:18

 “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

 I want you to look at the four metaphors from the Bible that describe
being spiritually connected.
 These are word pictures that describe the church.
 It is possible to attend church but never be truly connected to a spiritual
family.

a) It’s like being built into a building.

b) It’s like being joined into a body.
c) It’s like being attached to a vine.
d) It’s like being born into a family.
a) Metaphor of a Building

Ephesians 2:22

 “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of

God through the Spirit.”

 Occasionally an electrician may install some wiring, but fail to connect

it.
 An electric wire can be in a building and not be connected to it.

 This is a metaphor for life.

 There are people who may come to our church but that are not
really connected to the church family.
 If you are not connected in a building, you are a disconnected
frame with no support.
 That is true in any area of life.
 Unless you’re connected strong winds may blow you over and the
emotional and financial earthquakes of life will undermine you.
 The rains are going to beat down on your roof.
 You need to be connected.

Ephesians 2:19

 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,

but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of
God;”

Ephesians 2:20

 “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and

prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner
stone;”

Ephesians 2:21

 “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth

unto an holy temple in the Lord:”

 You’ve heard before that your body is a temple, but as a church, we

are all a temple together.
 God is building a spiritual temple and for it to make a difference in your
life, you have to get connected.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SPIRITUALLY CONNECTED?

 It’s like being built into a building where we lean on each other, help
each other, and support each other when things are going wrong.
 If you’re not connected or framed in or welded or attached, you’re going
to fall over.

b) Metaphor of a Body

 The most common description of the Church in the Bible is the

body of Christ.

 We are the body of Christ. What Jesus did when He was on the
earth - He wants us to continue doing today?

 We are different parts of one body.

 God designed it that way.
 Some are hands, others are ears, while some are feet and some
are the heart.
 God doesn’t expect us all to be alike.

 You can have unity without uniformity.

 We’re many parts and we’re different.
 But the verse tells us that we’re all needed.

 We’re like a jigsaw puzzle.

 If there is a missing piece you will notice the piece that is missing.
 We’re all important
 Everyone is needed
 In the body of Christ everyone matters.

c) Metaphor of a Vine

 Another metaphor is the metaphor of the vine and the branches.

 It is like being attached to the vine.
 John 15:4

 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit

of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in me.”

 A disconnected branch cannot bear fruit.

 Is there any fruit in your life? Are you connected to the vine?
 What kind of fruit God wants us to bear?
 Love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control.
 How I pray that the fruit of the Holy Spirit could be found in our
lives.

ILLUSTRATION:

 This old hillbilly farmer had a wife who nagged him all the time.
From morning till night, she was complaining.
 His only retreat was when he was out plowing with his old mule.
He tried to plow a lot. He left his mule & began to eat his lunch
under the shade.
 His wife brought him lunch in the field. One day, when he was out
plowing, immediately his wife began to nag & nag, it just went on
& on.
 The old mule got angry & kicked her on the head. Killed her on
the spot.
 At the funeral several days later, the minister noticed something
odd. After the funeral the pastor asked the widower about it.
 He said, “Well, the women would come up & say something
about how nice my wife looked or how pretty her dress was & I
would nod in agreement.” “But what about the men?” the pastor
asked. “They wanted to know if the mule was for sale.” I said,
“NO.”

d) Metaphor of a Family

 Let us now study the fourth metaphor.

 We don’t need a mule in solving family dispute.
 It is like being born into the family.
 There are only three ways to get into a family:
i. You are born into it.
 ii. You marry into it.
iii. You’re adopted into it.
iv. a & c Describes what we call “ Born Again.”

 Under Roman law in the New Testament times,

 you could disown a child that you birthed.
 But if you adopted a child, you were forbidden to ever disown
them.

 I have two children.

 They didn’t always do what I wanted for them to do.
 At times, they did the exact opposite.
 However, no matter what they did, they would still be my children.

 Folks, once you are born you cannot be unborn.

 Once you are born again, you cannot be unborn again.
 You can grieve our Heavenly Father, just like I probably did to my
parents when I was growing up.
 The fellowship was broken at times.
 But nothing I did could ever cause them to disown me.
 Once you become a child in the family of God, you are in.

Romans 12:5

 So in Christ we who are many form one body, and each

member belongs to all the others.

 Building together in Love Suggests # 4CS: 2nd is:

l. CONNECTION
II. COMMUNION

 Communion
 Is the Old English word for fellowship.

2 Corinthians 13:14

 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.
 Koinonia can be translated

1. Partnership: Partnership with one another, even

teamwork.
2. Fellowship: Fellowship with one another, excluding
no other believer in Jesus Christ.
3. Participation: Mutual participation in each others lives.
4. Sharing: Sharing with one another.

 Koinonia is the practical expression of self-giving love.

 With real Koinonia, you give in order to meet and support
somebody else in their need.

 Building together in Love Suggests # 4CS: 3nd is:

l. CONNECTION
II. COMMUNION
III. COORDINATION

 Find a place in the service of the Lord

Romans 12:5-8

 v5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and

every one members one of another.
 v6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace
that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith;
 v7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that
teacheth, on teaching;
 v8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth,
let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with
diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.

 NOTE:
 According to the survey, 15% of Christians are overworked
while 85% has no work

 INSIGHT:
 All of us have abilities
  CHALLENGE:
 Discover them and use them for the Lord

Romans 12:3-8

 v3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to

every man that is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think; but to think
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man
the measure of faith.
 v4 For as we have many members in one body, and
all members have not the same office:
 v5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and
every one members one of another.
 v6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace
that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us
prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
 v7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he
that teacheth, on teaching;
 v8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that
giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth,
with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with
cheerfulness.

ILLUSTRATION:

 A young pastor preached a sermon on the subject of Christian

stewardship. Starting with the parable of the talents, he urged
his people to place at God's disposal the gifts and abilities with
which God endowed them.
 After the service, a man came up to him and said, "Pastor, I
am not a particularly gifted man. I really don't feel capable of
teaching in the Sunday school or canvassing for money or
doing any of the other things that you talked about this
morning. But I do have one talent that might be of use to the
church."
 "And what is that?" asked the pastor.
 "Well," said the young man, "I have the talent of criticism. I can
criticize your sermons. I can criticize the choir. I can criticize
everything about the church. What should I do with my talent?"
  The pastor remained silent long enough to pray for wisdom;
then he replied, "Do you remember what the man of one talent
in the parable did? He buried his talent in the earth. I suggest
you would be well-advised to do the same."

 The talents with which God has endowed us are for the building
up of the kingdom.
 We Christians are called to teach and preach Jesus' message
to the world.
 As responsible followers of Christ we must not only do we
hear the Word, but we must preach it as well.

 Each of us is expected to perform our Christian duty according

to our individual abilities.
 Each disciple is graced with his or her own unique power and
capability of doing God's will.

 There are lots of works to be done!

 Teaching Friday School
 Witnessing to the lost that they experience eternal life with
God!
 Work in building up the Body of Christ.

 Whatever your vocation is, you are at the same time a full-time
minister of Jesus Christ out in the world.
 You and I, all of us, are involved in the corporate ministry of
the Church.
 No matter where you are, no matter what your secular
vocation, no matter what neighborhood you live in, while you
are here, you are the Lord's ministers.

 Let us not bury our talents as the lazy servant did.

 Rather, may we be industrious, reliable servants, using our
talents for the glory of God!

 There are the things that destroy unity in the family of God.
a. Fighting
b. Backbiting
c. Faultfinding
d. Criticizing
e. Arguing
  So let us do away with those things and let us build each other
up.

Hebrews 12:14

 “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without

which no man shall see the Lord:”

 Do you ever watch nature documentaries on TV?

 When a lion stalks a heard of gazelles, did you ever notice the
one he goes after?
 The one who strays from the herd.

 Building together in Love Suggests # 4CS: 4th is:

l. CONNECTION
II. COMMUNION
III. COORDINATION
IV. COMPASSION

 The phrase “In Love” suggest compassion.

WHY DID THE TOWER OF BABEL COLLAPSED?

 Because it was built in pride!

Genesis 11:3-4

 v3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick,

and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone,
and slime had they for morter.
 v4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower,
whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a
name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
whole earth.
CONCLUSION:

 So in order for our endeavor in building this church succeed,

we must continuously build it in love.

 Love for the Lord and love for the brethren.

 Remember, Love is the glue that cements relationship while

pride destroys it.

 I believe that God’s ministry here at Bangkas MBC which was

started 4 years ago will continue to flourish with many more
years and will culminate only till the Lord’s coming

 Through well-built CONNECTION, profound COMMUNION,

selfless COORDINATION and steadfast COMPASSION

 A church that builds together the Kingdom of God in love.

Happy 4th Anniversary to all of you Bangkas Missionary
Baptist Church.

BUILDING TOGETHER IN LOVE

Ephesians 4:16

“From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love.”