Edifying & Equipping the Church

As we continue to explore things beyond the “Basics” class that are still foundational to Hickory Corners Bible Church all the same, I want to remind you of what we’ve looked at so far in this study.

First, we considered the ultimate purpose of each and every individual Christian and the church collectively – to bring glory to God. The Reformers, not far removed from the Roman Catholic church and well-versed in Latin as a means to speak to churchmen, called this “Soli Deo Gloria” – everything for the glory of God alone, it was the greatest and most-encapsulating, or penultimate of the 5 Solas of the Reformation.

And we believe that there are 5 basic mandates that God gives to the church that work toward this goal: to worship, to edify its people, to equip its people, to evangelize the world, and to guard that which it is entrusted with.

So last week, we began our look at these mandates with the call to worship God. I trust you now understand that worship of God is far more than simply a life lived in service to Him, but that we are to recognize God for who and what He is, and to respond accordingly in reverential fear and awe, in a manner that exalts God above our own selves, or even us together corporately. This is not precisely a call to thank God for what He did for us, although that certainly can be a component of worship in spirit and in truth, but that worship goes far beyond such a self-centered frame of mind, over to a frame of mind that is overcome by the greatness and the holiness of God in and of and for Himself, aside from anything else. That just because we label something as worship, doesn’t mean that worship in spirit and in truth actually occurs.

And so today, as we move forward in our study of the mandates to the Church, I would like us to consider the charge by God to the church to edify and to equip its members, again speaking of the philosophy behind every ministry here at Hickory Corners Bible Church that you will find in Article II, Section II of our bylaws that lay out who we are and what we’re about as an organization.

So let’s pray before we begin:

O Lord our God, creator who made the world and all things in it, Lord of heaven and Lord of earth, how unsearchable are Your judgements, how unfathomable are Your ways! You chose us in Christ our Lord before the foundation of the world, that in Him we would be holy and blameless. We praise and glorify You for the grace You have graciously bestowed on us through Jesus our Redeemer, for from You we have received the spirit of adoption as sons, being fellow heirs with Christ Jesus, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him. Fit us for every scene and circumstance, fix our minds and affections upon Yourself, that our every response to affliction may bring glory and honor to Jesus’ blessed name. Amen!

To Edify Our Members

Now, I would like to call your attention to 2 portions of scripture as we begin considering the mandate God gives to the church to edify its people.

The first is the answer to the age-old question, “what is God’s will for my life?” God’s will generally for all people everywhere is that we turn from our wicked ways, repent, and be saved through faith in Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3:9 declaring “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” He desires everyone to repent, to turn to Christ in faith, and by doing so to not perish. Those who fail to do so have already rebelled against His will for their life.

But of those who do turn to Christ in repentance sometimes ask the question “what is God’s will for my life?” It’s a fair question! The good news, is that God has already given the answer in His word, we see it pretty clearly in Romans 8:29-30,

Romans 8:29–30 LSB

Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.

The Father wants Jesus to have many brothers (and we should be clear, this is a brotherhood of unity and origination, as opposed to a brotherhood of gender), and all of those who are to be His brothers are predestined, called, justified, and ultimately glorified. Verses 17 through 21 of that chapter help us understand that this glorification is to be revealed as fellow heirs with Christ Jesus set free from slavery to corruption – another way to say it is that we would ourselves be holy, just as God is holy.

So that’s the end-goal of God for all who are true Christians. , as opposed to those who do not repent and so even if they take the name Christian, really do not belong to Christ Jesus.

And there are 2 primary means that He uses to do that, first and foremost we see in Hebrews 4:12, that God uses scripture to do this:

Hebrews 4:12–13 LSB

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.

We are more than capable of wrongly judging ourselves. I remind you of John Owen’s observation regarding the state of the world immediately prior to the flood, in that God had provided the world an experiment, if you will, in order to demonstrate just how good man was at keeping traditions without the written, sure, authoritative word. For in that space of just a handful of generations following the Fall, we read in Genesis 6:5 “Then Yahweh saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

But with the word of God revealed in Scripture, it does “pierce as far as the division of soul and spirit”, it is “able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart”. Nothing can succeed at hiding from Him, not one person can remain unaffected by His word.

And so, when we read the immediate purpose of the gifts given by Christ to the church in Ephesians 4:11, “And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,” it is critical that we comprehend the immediate purpose of these gifts of men in Ephesians 4:12,

Ephesians 4:12 LSB

for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ,

It’s this last phrase that is our point right now – “to the building up of the body of Christ”, verse 13 continues that line of thought,

Ephesians 4:13 LSB

until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,

The point is, that the act of our salvation is not the end of the spiritual development for the believer. It’s the beginning of spiritual life, we are babes who need to be nurtured and matured, “built up” in the language of Ephesians 4:12 and Acts 9:31, edified in the language of 1 Corinthians 14. It all comes down to one clear and certain point:

Biblical edification of the church is the building up and development of spiritually mature believers to be Christlike in the actions, attitudes, and motives. (Hebrews 4:12; Romans 8:29)

And God uses His word, through the means of the church, to build up and conform the many members of the body of Christ, those He has predestined over to the image of His beloved Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. But He doesn’t just save us and leave us.

That, of course, is the fallacy of those Jude writes as being marked out for condemnation long beforehand, the ungodly who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness, those who view “salvation” as some decision once made, and then go on living their lives just as they had before, viewing “salvation” as some sort of eternity-insurance so they don’t have to pay for the sins they continue to enjoy.

No, God doesn’t want us to be reborn spiritually and then remain babies. Paul made this clear in 1 Corinthians 3:1–3“And I, brothers, was not able to speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to fleshly men, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are still not able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?”

No, we must “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ”, to reference Ephesians 4 once again. And the mandate to the church is to edify its members, to build them up that they would not remain spiritual babies, but rather to become mature, to become ever more Christ-like in their actions, yes – but even more so in the attitudes and motives which drive their actions. This is no mere band-aid or “show face”, but a heart-attitude that we are to develop!

To Equip Our People

And we should be absolutely clear here: a principle way in which we edify the people of the church is through the equipping of the people by their church. We already saw the genesis of this idea in Ephesians 4:11-12, but but let’s look at them again so we don’t miss this:

Ephesians 4:11–12 LSB

And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ,

For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. If this were a study in Ephesians, these phrases would most certainly have called back to our mind what Paul had written just a few chapters prior in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Even 2 Timothy 3:16-17 leads us in this same path, in saying that

2 Timothy 3:16–17 LSB

All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Beloved, we are not to sit back, relax, and enjoy the good life now – God is clear, He has work for those who are His to do. He edifies us to build us up and conform us to the image of Christ not for our own ease and comfort now, but that we would be about His business in the manner that He desires His business to be done – the right thing done in the right way. This is our “spiritual service of worship” – “λατρεία”, that Paul speaks of in Romans 12:1, saying “Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

And the tool for this equipping is the accurately handled word of truth, 2 Peter 1:3 declaring “...that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness…”

This equipping and edifying we’re talking about, to be done in the right way with the right result, must be based upon none other than the word of God. If attempted without the authority of truth from God’s word, there is no true substance to any activity, it can only be based upon the vain superstitions and imaginations of man’s wicked and corrupted heart, his penchant for experience. And so the result then is the opposite of maturity full of the knowledge of the Son of God, they will not be in the stature of Christ Jesus, conformed to His image; they will instead be as “children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.”

Believers are equipped by being given the tools of the truths of God’s Word, for personal growth and building each other up by using those same tools interrelatedly and encouraging other believers to do the same. (Ephesians 4:11-16, Romans 15:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)

And let’s be absolutely clear here – it’s not just the evangelists, pastors, and teachers doing this, but everyone in the church. Romans 15:2 declares, “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his building up”, Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds”. These surely say the same thing!

These charges, to equip and to edify, are given to all of us, and so as we consider how we should approach our ministries, how we organize ourselves, how we conduct our services, everything ought to help us edify and build each other up, to equip us for the work which our Lord has set before each of us individually to do.