Building God’s House Takes a Crew
The Following is the Script for this Video:
Leaving the office of your architect, you are carrying the plans for the house you’ve dreamed of. Those plans show room sizes, elevations, electrical layouts, kitchen and bathroom plumbing, floor joints, trusses, and so on.
Eager to begin house-building, you start hiring the building crew, those with the skills the project will require. An excavator. Cement workers. Carpenters. Electricians. Plumbers. Insulators. Drywall installers. Painters. Roofers.
But the project does not go well. So you investigate. To your dismay, you discover that everyone on your building crew had signed an additional contract. In it, they handed over their share of the work to a construction manager. He had tried to carry out their tasks himself. Although he understood construction in general, he lacked the special skills and experience it takes to do the actual work of framing, plumbing, wiring, roofing and so on.
The result resembles a house, but it is not even close to what you and the architect had in mind. As you look at the unwanted outcome, it strikes you: building your house takes a crew.
With that little story in mind, consider God’s house-building project. In II Sam. 7:12-14 , he tells David that his son will be “the one who will build a house for my Name.” That word “son” applied first to Solomon, the Jerusalem temple-builder, but ultimately to that future son of David, Jesus the Messiah, the builder of the spiritual temple. .
Centuries later, Jesus tells Peter and the other disciples, “I will build my church.” Matt. 16:18, NLT. And so Jesus began building his church with living stones of many sizes and shapes—people of all descriptions.
After returning to his Father, Jesus delegated to Paul the initial work of designing how the church should meet. Paul himself recognized his role: “Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful” (I Cor. 3:10, NLT)
As he laid the foundation, Paul knew that God had given each living stone one or more gifts. So the people of God would form the rest of the building crew. Paul knew the purpose of those gifts: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” And he frequently urged God’s construction crew to use their gifts for that reason: “Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.” In various places, Scripture identifies these Spirit-gifts.
These gifts are the power tools for God’s building crew: wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, interpretation, speaking, serving, teaching, exhorting, giving, leading, mercy, apostleship, shepherding, and evangelism.
Would this Church-building activity be carried out by a few religious professionals? No. It would be all hands on deck. The members of the body themselves would do the work. New Testament writers agree on this point:
“. . . build each other up.” Rom. 14:19, NLT
“. . . build each other up.” I Cor. 14:26, NLT
“. . . build each other up.” I Thess. 5:11, NLT
“. . . build each other up.” Jude 1:20, NLT
All these “each others” make it clear everyone is to participate, everyone is responsible.
Paul told the Corinthian Christians what should be happening in their meetings. “When you meet together, one will sing, another will teach, another will tell some special revelation God has given, one will speak in tongues, and another will interpret what is said. But everything that is done must strengthen all of you.” At least five voices are heard in the meeting Paul describes.
Those in the building crew need power as they use their gift tools. Electrical power from the generating source reaches our homes through wires. Power from the throne of God reaches us as we make the Kingdom of God our priority and seek to be filled and refilled by the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Electrical power makes it possible to use construction tools like drills, circular saws, and tablesaws. Power from the Holy Spirit enables members of Christ’s body to exercise their gifts in church meetings. For example, some can speak from the Spirit’s gift of knowledge. Others can bring wise words that help in applying that knowledge. As I Cor. 14:31 says, “You can all prophesy in turn,” speaking about specific situations as the Spirit enables.
Power from the electrical grid produces light. Streetlights, table lamps and spotlights drive back the darkness. Power from the Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts and minds as we—through what we say—build one another up when the church gathers. “May [God] give you [all of you] the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” That full presence of God’s Spirit provides revelation, understanding, and clarity in the things of God.
But if we open the door for anyone to speak, might not the meeting turn into an aimless meandering that goes nowhere? Or what would keep the gathering from sinking into a shouting match? What would protect the meeting from such disasters? The Holy Spirit filling all participants. We see a gathering like that in Acts 4:31—“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” Not one here and one there, but all of them were filled with the Spirit. And God’s Spirit is one of order . . . and of peace.
But wait! Very few in a typical church assembly have had seminary training. . . . What qualifies those without it to speak profitably to God’s people in a church meeting? God has addressed this. How? By giving the Church gifted leaders who are to equip members of the body for their body-building roles. Paul explains: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” God entrusts the leaders with the task of preparing his people to minister to each other in the assembly.
Part of the work of those leaders is to equip God’s people to test what is spoken in the assembly. As Paul puts it, “Let two or three people prophesy, and let the others evaluate what is said.” And again, “Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said.”
Meetings carry no weight if virtually empty of the Holy Spirit. Meetings don’t measure up if only half full of the Holy Spirit. But when meetings enjoy the full measure of the Holy Spirit, Christians experience the fullness of the Good News, the Gospel.
Lacking the full presence of the Holy Spirit, we must rely on traditions, well-worn patterns, and less demanding ways of meeting together. We fall back on humanly engineered, platform-centered. Pre-planned agendas end up largely mono-voiced. Behaving as an audience, we miss the fullness of the multi-voiced body of Christ. Paul explains that “the whole body . . . grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
What If the church body is not maturing in the ways that matter? Might the reason be that so few are pulling their weight in the church meetings? Far too many are just along for the ride. But as with building a regular house, building God’s house takes a crew. That crew includes all members of the body of Christ. When will we open up our meeting formats to allow them to participate?
Long ago, God told his people, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.” And so when it comes to building God’s house, his spiritual temple, we need to bring our thoughts into line with his thoughts. Jesus says it best: “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
From Chapter Four:
“What happens if a church-meeting environment does not extend freedom for the various parts to function? Think straitjacket. Even if just the arm parts of the body are encased and strapped, the body will not be able to carry out all the work it was designed to do.”
