Ministering One to Another

Recounting Calvin's Return to Geneva and Martin's Hiatus

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, December 3rd, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. It was an Easter Sunday, April 21st, 1538 to be exact. The place was Geneva, Switzerland.

0:25 On that day, a pastor named John Calvin, looking into the face of an obviously agitated congregation, publicly declared that he would not compromise the rule of Jesus Christ over his church by conforming to certain human traditions and requirements imposed on that church by the town council of Geneva. And as a result of that public declaration of refusal to have Christ's rule rivaled by human will, two days later, John Calvin, William Farrell, and the blind preacher with the last name Coraud were ordered to leave the city of Geneva within three days. They were literally banished from the city. And that occurred, as I say, in April of 1538. However, in the amazing unfolding, in the unfolding of the sovereignly directed affairs of Geneva, that same exiled John Calvin was welcomed back to Geneva and to his place of spiritual leadership in the church

1:50 some three-plus years later, in September of 1541. Exiled in April of 1538, welcomed back in 1541. And do you know what he did? On the first occasion of re-entering the pulpit from which he had been banished three years earlier, he opened his Bible to the very book, to the very chapter, and the very verse where he had last preached before his exile.

2:26 And from then on until his death in 1556, this was the heart of Calvin's ministry, consecutively expounding the scripture of the gospel. And if any of you have seen a bookshelf laden with Calvin's commentaries of the Old and the New Testament, all but two of those were shorthand accounts of his preaching, not only on the Lord's Day, but many times throughout the week over the course of those many years. Now, why have I taken precious time to recount this incident to you? I timed it in my preparation.

3:08 It took approximately three minutes. Why have I taken such precious time?

3:15 My name is not John Calvin. It's not worthy to be spoken of in the same sentence with his. This building is not located in Geneva. And thankfully, I've never been banished from this place and welcomed back.

3:31 Yet it is a fact that by a combination of God's providential dealings, I've not preached from this pulpit for the past six Lord's Days. The last time I preached from this pulpit was the...

3:43 beginning of our pastor's conference on October the 15th. And like Calvin, I'm going to do what he did after a three-year hiatus. We're going right back to where I left off six weeks ago, as we considered the third in a series of studies that I have entitled, Living Together in the Father's House. Convinced as we are that God's people need to be nurtured by the consecutive exposition of books or large portions of the Word, or consecutive thematic or topical studies on vital issues within the Word of God, we stand resolute in our determination not to cave in to the concept of preaching sermons that take their clue Lord's Day by Lord's Day from Time magazine, the New York Times, or some current event, and then seek to address relational issues. We are committed to feeding God's people by substantial blocks of Holy Scripture, whether they are opened up verse by verse, as in our expositions of 1 Peter, or by consecutive thematic and topical studies, such as we are undergoing in the adult class and presently here, Lord's Day morning. Now, I plead with you to

The 'Why' and 'What' of the Sermon Series

5:10 gird up the loins of your mind as I make an honest effort to condense into 10 to 12 minutes the substance of three plus hours of exposition. And you who have a facility for math can figure out we're working with an 18 to 1 ratio. But I'm determined to make that effort. I will stick very closely to my notes. I don't like to disengage you with my eyes, but I do feel the responsibility to make that effort. And I'm determined to make that effort. I will stick very closely to my notes. And I'm determined to make that effort. I will stick very closely to my notes. And I will stick very closely to my notes. And I'm determined to make that effort. I will stick very closely to my notes. I began the series with the question, why are we embarking on a series of studies dealing with our internal life as the people of God? A series entitled, Living Together in the Father's House,

6:04 that is, the Church. And I answered by saying that as an office bearer in this church, I am subject to the same agreed standards of church life that you are. They're embodied in our Constitution. And under the matter of what is expected of church members, there is a paragraph that says it is expected that we will be committed to our corporate standards.

6:28 And it reads as follows. It is the responsibility of every member to contribute to the maintenance of the doctrinal purity and unity of the congregation. In pursuit of these goals, all regular and temporary members are strongly urged to read the Confession of Faith and Constitution of the Church at least once a year in order to maintain sensitivity to our commonly held standards of doctrine and practice. In addition, the elders shall be responsible every five years beginning from the adoption of this Constitution to plan the public ministries of the Word so that no fewer, than 15 messages in the Lord's Day morning services be given to the proclamation of those biblical doctrines central to and contained in our Confession of Faith, and no fewer than 15 concurrent adult classes will be given to teaching the major biblical principles embodied in this Constitution. And you as a congregation approved a reversal of the time slots since we've been studying our Confession for a year and a half, and I...

7:38 I am expounding biblical truths embodied in our Constitution with reference to our living together in the Father's house. Now having answered the question, why take up the subject in the first message, I address this question, what does God think about the subject of living together in His house? And we went to 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15, and I sought to expound that passage, in its context, and we saw that the heart of God's concern for behavior in His house rests down upon two issues that are set forth in that text. First, because of the glorious identity of the church, it is called God's house and the living God's church, and because of the unique function of the church, it is called the pillar and the ground of the truth. Now I'm not expounding, I'm simply giving the highlights. If you were not here, the tapes are available, I commend them to you. In the second message, we address the crucial issue of the purpose of the church.

8:49 What is the purpose of this church? Any church that claims to be a biblical church. The answer of our Constitution is clear, the purpose of this church is to glorify the God of the Scriptures. And having asserted that, we then turn to what I call the primary text, which teaches this in unmistakable clarity, and then several secondary texts, which buttress the affirmations of the primary text.

9:23 The primary text is the one etched in stone as you enter this building. Unto Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto the ages of the ages. Amen. And then the secondary text, 1 Peter 4, 10 and 11, Philippians 1, 9 to 11, Romans 15, 5 to 7, and just a passing reference to Philippians 4, 20.

9:50 And in the application, I press this issue, that no other purpose must ever rival why this church exists. No other purpose must ever rival, let alone replace, that all-embracing, all-encompassing purpose of bringing glory to the God of Scripture. And furthermore, I asserted that that will not be your passion with respect to the life of the church, unless it is your passion with respect to your own life. You cannot bring into the life of the church what is not the life of your own soul and of your own existence.

10:35 And thirdly, we said that's why we must have a regenerate church membership. Because the bottom line of every unconverted person is, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You live for some other end than God's glory. And whatever that end is, is your God and your idol.

Biblically Mandated Activities for Glorifying God: An Overview

10:56 And until God revealed in Christ becomes your God, you will never, never want to be part of a church which has as its intelligent, conscious, supreme, and all-encompassing purpose to glorify the God of the Scriptures. Then in the third sermon, we began to consider together the biblically mandated activities by which we are to pursue that purpose. If the purpose is to glorify the God of the Scriptures, what does the Bible say are the means, the activities by which we are to pursue that goal and that all-encompassing purpose? And I read them in our Constitution. They are listed in six different participles. And I said I could expound the matters as a shopping list. But I thought it would be helpful for our memories to think of them in terms of this visual image.

11:54 A large circle, and I can't make it very large with this hand, so I'll have to make it symmetrical, alright? Just imagine a circle a lot bigger, alright? A large circle. And that circle has an arrow pointing upward.

12:05 The upward activities by which we glorify God. Within that circle are arrows pointing inward from all directions. That's the activity or those are the activities by which we minister one to another. And then picture arrows going out this direction, this direction, this direction, that direction.

12:27 Those are the activities by which we propagate and seek to convey to others the message of life and salvation in the proclamation of the law and the gospel, the planting and establishing and strengthening of churches. Well then, we had time to just take up that first arrow, the upward activity by which we are to glorify God as a church. And we saw from the scriptures that that activity is engagement in biblical worship. And we looked at three pivotal texts, John 4, 23 and 4, Philippians 3, 3.

13:08 1 Peter 2 and verse 5. And then passing reference to the centrality of worship in the book of the Revelation. If you want to know what will be one of your major activities in the age to come and forever and ever turn to those passages in the book of the Revelation where God pulls back the veil and we see the inhabitants of the immediate presence of God prostrate before the throne, surrounding the throne, speaking forth their praise, singing and pouring out their fully sanctified redeemed souls by means of glorified bodies, their worship and their praise to the one true and living God. And in that sense you see, in the overlapping of the ages, the now and the not yet, every time we gather, heaven is to break in among us and something of that eternal activity is to be our joyful activity here as we make our way to the celestial city. And if man is not central in heaven, if man's words and thoughts and needs are not central to heaven, they are not to be central here in his church. When God changes the order of the age to come, then we may be free

Inward Activities: Edifying the Saints and Benevolence

14:35 to consider changing the order of the age that is now. Now so much for that review. So we come this morning to look at the arrows that, from the circle, are pointing inward. Picture the circle now, and all around the circle, arrows that point in toward the center, toward one another.

14:56 The inward activities by which we promote the glory of God in the church. In our constitution, they are stated this way. The purpose of this church is to glorify the God of scriptures in promoting His worship. That's the upward arrow.

15:14 Evangelizing sinners, that will be an outward arrow. Edifying saints, planting and strengthening churches, that will be the outward arrow. And showing benevolence to the needy. And here in our constitution, the inward activities by which we are to glorify God are described as the edification of the people of God and the manifestation of practical response to the temporal needs of the people of God.

Edification Through Pastoral and Teaching Ministry

15:47 Edification and manifestation. Now let's go to the scriptures and see why these activities are highlighted in our constitution. The first is that of edifying the saints. In other words, edify, edifying, oikodome, oikodomeo in the Greek.

16:09 These are most frequently translated in our English versions as edify or building up. And I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4, a passage in which this issue of edifying and building up is central to the thought of the Apostle Paul. Now many of you are familiar with the overall structure of the book of Ephesians. The first three chapters are richly didactic, doctrinal, setting forth the glory of our salvation as the new humanity in Christ comprised of Jew and Gentile.

16:48 And beginning in chapter 4, we have a dense, concentrated appeal for conduct commensurate with such a high calling. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called. And then he focuses in upon the graces necessary for the maintenance of unity among God's people. He demonstrates the basis of that unity which they are to seek to guard and to preserve and then shows that though we are to have the graces productive of unity, within that unity there is great diversity, and that that diversity is rooted in the activity of Christ, who has called us to Himself. That's the general drift of the thought of this fourth chapter. Now, in opening up those concerns, the apostle having given the call to unity, identifying the graces essential to the promotion of unity, the foundation of that unity, verses 4 and 5, one body, one spirit, called in one hope, one Lord, one faith, one God, one Father. Then he says there is diversity of giftedness, diversity of giftedness within that body, verse 7, but unto each one of us was the grace given according to the gift of Christ.

18:12 And now he's going to describe how the ascended Christ has given gifts to His church, the church that is His body, the church that is bound together by common life in relationship to Christ. Then he enumerates some of those gifts in verse 11, particularly gifts of what we would call official leadership and of authoritative utterance within the church. He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Now, as he identifies these who have both gift and office within the church, why has he given them?

18:57 If Christ is the head and all of the life and direction derives from Him, any body united to so glorious a head, why does it need anything other than Christ? For its nurture, for its development, for its edification. Well, the apostle is going to tell us that Christ in His wisdom, who gives this diversity of gifts, does so for this purpose, verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of service, unto the building up of the body of Christ. And there's our word, edifying.

19:41 Now, I'm not going to go into the debated issue. I've restudied it and I'm unsettled in my own mind what should be the precise grammar of verse 12, but this much is clear. Christ gives these gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and there's no question that His ongoing gift is that of pastors and teachers. He gives us apostles in their writings.

20:07 He gives us prophets in their writings. Who the evangelists are is a moot issue. I'm not prepared to go into discussing that, but it is evident that Christ continues to give pastors and teachers to what end? For the perfecting, for the mending would be a literal and a helpful rendering, for making up of the lack of the saints unto the work of service.

20:35 Now, is that referring to these gifted ones? That they are instrumental in perfecting the saints? They are given unto the work of service and unto the building up of the body of Christ? Or is it that these are given for the mending, the perfecting, the maturation of the ordinary people of God, that they may do the work of service, to the added end, that the body may be edified, built up?

21:04 Well, however you take it, this much is clear. If the church is to be built up, the presence of spirit-empowered pastoral and teaching ministries by biblically qualified, Christ-given men is necessary. That's the obvious teaching of the passage. And as I reworked the exegesis of it, everything in me wanted to say, well, let me divert and spend the whole time unpacking the grammar and the syntax.

21:39 No. This much is clear to an English reader, however it is punctuated, that it is the risen Christ who, thinking of his body, that he wants to be nourished and cherished in the language of Ephesians 1, Ephesians 5, and built up and grow up into the very fullness of the God of God. That Christ gives to his church spirit-empowered pastoral and teaching ministries by biblically qualified, Christ-given men. And this is to the end of their edification.

22:19 So as we think of our life together and the will of Christ with respect to how do we pursue that all-encompassing goal of glorifying the God of the Scriptures, the answer of this passage is we do so by recognizing that edification comes by means of spirit-empowered pastoral and teaching ministry by biblically qualified, Christ-given men. Now I've added those descriptive words and phrases in order to import from parallel passages that when Christ gives pastors and teachers, He gives those who bear the marks of 1 Timothy 3, Titus chapter 1, an elder must be. They are men who are equipped in gift and grace. They are empowered by the Spirit. Those are the ones whom Christ gives unto edification.

23:29 He does not give men whose lives negate their message. He does not give men whose lives embody the message but have no ability to articulate the message. He gives men who are graced and gifted according to His standard found specifically in other portions of the Word of God. And if the church can be edified simply by every believer united to Christ the head, indwelt by the Spirit, with His Bible, with the promise of the Spirit to teach Him, by simply sitting around and sharing together, why does Christ give pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints?

24:14 So you see, any despising of the pastor-teacher office and function is ultimately not spiritual, it's an insult to Jesus Christ. It's an insult to Jesus Christ. You say, Pastor, you're telling me that you're preaching to the choir, we already believe that. Ah yes, but some of us are going the way of all flesh in a few years and the pressure will increase to despise the pastoral office and function.

24:43 And some of you sitting here need to know your Bibles well enough that when the spiritual suggestion comes well, we all have the Holy Spirit. Didn't John say you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things? You need not have any man to teach you. That's what it says in 1 John.

25:04 Ah yes, but who was saying that? An apostle who was a gift of Christ was writing to those people. Have the wisdom and discernment to rear back on your high legs and say no. If I would be built up into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ, I need what Christ provides to that end.

25:29 Pastors and teachers they can turn this work into a blessing for a lot of them. They can learn to follow the Spirit of Jesus and the Spirit of Christ through the work of ministry and the edifying and building up the body of Christ. Alvin's comments on this passage are very perceptive. This was in his appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ. And at the present day, ministers do not rashly thrust themselves forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord. In short, the government of the church by the ministry of the word is not a contrivance of men, but an appointment made by the Son of God. As his own unalterable law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ its author. It is himself who gave them,

26:41 for if he does not raise them up, there will be none. To Christ we owe it that we have ministers of the gospel, that they abound in necessary qualifications, that they execute the trust committed to them. All, all is his gift. Our true completeness and perfection, consists in our being united in the one body of Christ. No language that more highly commends the ministry of the word could have been employed than to ascribe to it this effect. What is more excellent than to produce the true and complete perfection of the church? And yet this work so admirable and divine is here declared to be accomplished by the external ministry of the word, that those who neglect the ministry of the word will not be able to do it. To neglect this instrument should hope to become perfect in Christ is sheer madness. Blunt

Edification Through Body Ministry: 'One Another' Attitudes and Actions

27:39 language. The church is the common mother of all the godly, bearing, nourishing, and bringing up children of God, kings and peasants alike. And this is done by the ministry. Are we pursuing the glory of God, the edification of his church? By what activity, inwardly? First and foremost, edification, by means of spirit-empowered, pastoral and teaching ministry, by biblically qualified, Christ-given men. But then secondly, it is edification, and we're going to stay right in the Ephesians 4 passage, it is edification by means of Bible-based, love-constrained, spirit-wrought attitudes and actions toward all the members of the church. The body. That's a big mouthful, isn't it? I'll give it back to you. Edification by means of

28:44 Bible-based, not emotion-based, consensus-based, societal opinion-based, current religious fads and trends-based. No, edification by means of Bible-based, love-constrained. Not constrained by hypocrisy and Phariseeism. Edification by means of Bible-based, love-constrained, spirit-wrought attitudes and actions. The fruit of the Spirit is love and the actions it produces. Joy, peace, long-suffering. You don't need long-suffering. You're living on an island just with yourself.

29:39 But put one other person on there and you need long-suffering. One other impartially sanctified child of God. Long-suffering, gentleness, interpersonal relationships, goodness, faith, meekness. The presence or absence will show itself in interpersonal relationships. These are attitudes and actions that are Bible-based, love-constrained, spirit-wrought towards one another. Now, go back to the Ephesians 4 passage. Now, go back to the Ephesians 4 passage. And it's beautiful how there is a symmetry found in the passage. He begins by saying that the risen Christ, to whom we are united as our head, from whom we derive all our life, within the unity of the body, has instituted a diversity of giftedness, and the giftedness is essential to the building up, the edifying, the growth and maturation of the body. Yet, when we come to verses 15 and 16, this is the essence of the Holy Spirit and the true verse. But speaking truth in love, and the Greek word there could be rendered dealing truly, and both lexicographers and exegetes discuss, visit this, visit that. It's found only one other time in the New Testament, in secular usage, and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The weight would seem to be in favor of translating it speaking the truth,

31:03 but it's not one of the standard words for speaking. So, whether it's speaking the truth in love or dealing with the truth in love, this is the answer. So, whether it's speaking the truth in love or dealing with the truth in love, it's found truly, notice, in love, the context of what he's now going to direct us to is love, may grow up in all things unto him who is the head, even Christ, now notice, from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working and due measure of each several part makes the increase of the body, and here's our word again, unto the edifying, unto the building up of itself, now notice the other bookend, in love, dealing truly or speaking the truth in love, the building up of itself in love, the bookends of what is stated here is love. Attitudes and actions, and what is envisioned here, it is not those with special endowments for special giftedness in ministry and leadership, Paul dealt with that in verses 11 and 12,

32:24 now he's speaking of that which every joint or ligament supplies, and that which each several part supplies. Now do you see? Do you see that with your own eyes in your own Bible? The very passage that underscores the inviolability and the legitimacy of pastoral ministry underscores the necessity of body ministry, and it's not one or the other, it's both together in the will and under the blessing of the Lord Jesus.

33:03 The emphasis then in this latter part... The entire part of this body passage and this growing up into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ shows how crucial it is to understand that the edification of this body is not only related to the function of spirit-empowered, biblically qualified, Christ-given men functioning as pastors and teachers among you.

33:36 But you are one of the ligaments, you are one of the joints, each of you has his or her part to the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love. And in that sense, every member of the church is a minister. Every member of the church has a ministry. And it is vital.

34:05 The most adequate spirit-empowered ministry is the one that is the most important to the spirit-empowered pastoral teaching, ministry, to secure optimum edification. Every sinew, every joint, every member, indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, united to Christ the living head, and verse 7 of this chapter says, unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. The passage begins and ends with each one of us, each several part. Now I'm beating it too thin at the edges.

34:47 Do you see it with your own eyes in your own Bible? I hope you do, dear people, because it's there. You don't need to know a word of Greek. Just come to the Scriptures and let them speak their message to you.

35:03 But then you may ask, well, what are those attitudes and what are those actions that God says? The answer to this will be unto mutual edification. Pastor, you've described it, edification by means of Bible-based, love-constrained, spirit-wrought attitudes and actions toward all the members of the body. Well, if you want a very interesting and edifying exercise, do what I did.

35:32 If you've got an Englishman's Greek concordance, use it and look up Alleluia, the one and other passages. Please turn this cassette over to continue the message. If you've got an Englishman's Greek concordance, use it and look up Alleluia, the one and other passages. Or take a Strong's or a Young's concordance and look up one another.

35:59 And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another. And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another. And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another. And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another.

36:18 And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another. And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another. And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in the New Testament epistles that focus upon what we are to do one another. And if you look through, there are no fewer than over two dozen explicit directives in to whet your appetite.

Specific 'One Another' Directives

36:26 I'm not going to expound them. I'm just going to quote them. You want to know what your ministry is? Every single one of you in this body, you want to know what your ministry is?

36:35 Say, I'd like to know. Well, here it is. Listen to it. Romans 12, 10.

36:39 Be tenderly affectioned one toward another. There is no time, no place, no set of circumstances in which you are to have anything other toward all of the members of this body but tender affection. Are you ministering this morning? Listen, I'd like to ask you all to just stand up where you are and look around the whole congregation and ask yourself, do I have, to the best of my knowledge, tender affection to all of the other members of the body?

37:12 That's what God calls you to. Then in Romans 12, 16, be of the same mind one toward another. Be of oneness of mind in the matters of biblical truth, in the matters of biblical perspectives and goals. Be of the same mind.

37:28 Be of the same mind one toward another. Romans 15, 7. Receive one another as Christ received you to the glory of God. Did Christ receive you with open, welcoming arms when you came in penitence and faith to him?

37:43 Does he continue to receive you warmly, unfeignedly with all of his heart? That's what we're to do to one another.

37:53 That's clear. Receive one another as Christ received you. That's part of the way the body is edified. Galatians 5, 13.

38:02 Through love be slaves one to another. Be servants. Do loss. Be slaves one to another.

38:11 Recognize that my brother's concerns and needs, my sister's concerns and needs are to be of concern to me. They don't exist for me. I exist for them. And it's a wonderful thing when you find a body of God's people falling over one another to out-serve one another.

38:27 It's a beautiful thing. Galatians 6, 2. Bear one another. Bear one another's burdens.

38:33 That's as clear as thou shalt not steal. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Bear one another's burdens. What's the assumption?

38:41 That our interaction is more than formal and occasional. It's real. It's so self-assuring that I know my brothers and sisters will welcome my burdens becoming theirs.

39:00 Comfort one another. 1 Thessalonians 4, 18. Here were people at Thessalonica confused about what happened to their loved ones who died. Somebody had been teaching them there'll be second-class citizens in the day of the Lord's return.

39:13 Paul gives them instructions and said, no way. They're going to get first-class treatment. The Lord shall descend from heaven. When He comes, the dead in Christ shall rise first.

39:24 They have priority. Then we who are alive and remain. When He's all done that, what does He say? Now you preachers, you take this passage and preach it at funerals and memorial services.

39:34 No. He tells all the members of the church, comfort one another with these words. He assumes that every Thessalonian would be armed with those words and they didn't have it in print like you did. They only heard it when the pastor, elder, or an appointed reader would have read it.

39:50 He assumed that they'd absorb it and every time they saw a fellow believer grieving when a loved one was lost and a loved one died, that they'd draw alongside and say, do you remember the words of the apostle? Comfort one another with these words.

40:07 You don't need to preach. You don't need to be a reverend in front of your name to do that. You don't need to be in Christ for ten years to do that. That's your responsibility.

40:15 That's your privilege. That's just six. Seven. Exhort one another day by day.

40:21 Hebrews 3.12 Lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Exhort one another. Their exhortation can be encouragement.

40:29 It can have the connotation of seeking to help a brother or sister see his or her sin. Lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Further on in Hebrews 24.10 We are to provoke one another unto love and to good works.

40:46 When's the last time you provoked a brother or sister?

40:50 Not to be angry and irritated, but unto love and to good works.

40:57 Using hospitality one to another. 1 Peter 4.9 Confess your sins one to another and pray one for another. James 5.16 It doesn't say confess all your sins one to another. It doesn't say confess your sins to a priest, but it does say there are certain sins we are to confess one to another. That's as plain as any verse in the Bible. When's the last time you confessed your sins to another?

41:20 With a view to praying for them and with them and having them pray for you in dealing with some specific sin. Now, I haven't even touched the oft-repeated commands throughout 1 John. Love one another. The great commandment given by Christ.

41:37 A new commandment I give unto you that you will be loved. You love one another as I have loved you. And I haven't even touched on the five imperatives to make sure our love gets out of the physical realm. Four times, greet one another with the holy kiss.

41:52 Peter's command. Greet one another with the kiss of love. Folks, that's in our Bibles.

41:58 I don't know what to do. Just start reading your Bible. Haven't touched on any of those other things. This is how the body is edified.

42:08 Through that which what? Every joint. Supplies. And in the due measure of each, several.

Call to Conscience: Praying for 'One Another' Ministry

42:18 How then is edification to be secured? It's to be secured by the ministry of Christ given, biblically qualified, spirit-empowered pastors and teachers, and by means of Bible-based love-constrained, spirit-wrought attitudes and actions one toward another. Now, let me ask you. I believe many of you will be able to say an inward yes when I ask this question.

42:53 As the Lord's Day approaches, not with perfection, but as a general pattern, do you pray for yourself? Do you pray with your family that God will prepare your hearts to worship? That you'll be given grace to concentrate, even if you got home late listening to Messiah? I prayed for all of you listening to Messiah last night that God would bless you, but I told my granddaughter in between Sunday school and church, I'm going to exhort some of you.

43:22 If you're fighting sleep and you're cheating me of following what I'm trying to give you because you were listening to the Messiah, shame on you. What we do here this morning is more important than the Messiah. Now remember, I didn't speak against the Messiah. I love it.

43:35 I wish I could have been there. I prayed for you that God would bless you. But I have every right to tell you as a pastor, if the price you paid is dopiness when I'm pouring out my guts to help you, you've got, excuse me, skewed priorities. Okay?

43:48 Now, come back to my question. Many of you do pray, Lord, prepare my heart. Prepare the hearts of the family. And I bless God for that.

43:56 There's no way anyone who knows what it is to preach to a prepared people can't sense that many of you do that, Lord's Day by Lord's Day. And I bless God for that. I brag on you behind your back. But now let me ask you this.

44:09 Do you every Lord's Day, or when you come to prayer meeting, or when you're coming into contact with God's people in some other framework throughout the week, do you pray, Oh, Lord, help me to see some opportunity to minister to at least one other member of the body? Whether a word of comfort, a word of rebuke, in some way to provoke them to love the good works. In other words, what I'm asking is, is your conscience feeling the pressure of your duty to be a means of edification to the other members of the body? That's what I'm asking.

44:46 I'm not asking you, do you believe we need the Holy Spirit for me, for Pastor Lamar, Pastor Carlson, any other pastor, to fulfill his unique function to your edification? You do that, and we bless God for that. And I urge you to do it more and more. But do you pray that you will be filled with the Spirit, constrained by love to engage in your many one another ministries?

45:11 That's what I'm asking. And I've got a sneaking suspicion, not as many consciences will be able to answer an unhesitating yes to that question. And what are we doing here preaching? Helping to mend the saints, fill up an area of lack by the ministry of the word of God.

45:34 So I urge you, I found when I began to do this on a more regular basis, the Lord guide every contact at the door, every informal interaction, the ones that I come upon, I stand Lord direct me that in this area of just being a member of the body, not standing in the pulpit, leading in worship or preaching, but just as a member of the body Lord use me and use the other members to minister to me. I need what you have to give me as a member of the body. You have something as a joint and as one of the several parts to contribute to those of us, in leadership. We have something distinct to contribute to you in our distinct functions in office, but we are fundamentally members of the body. First of all, in primarily and when God helps us to live and labor together in that context, by God's grace, hopefully we'll see new dimensions of building up onto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. But now very quickly the edification according to our Constitution, and I believe biblically, is also to be pursued by seeking to glorify God in the manifestation of God like love in benevolence to the needy.

Edification Through Benevolence to the Needy

47:01 God like response to the practical needs of our brethren. You see God is a benevolent and a large-hearted God, and we his people are called upon to mirror God in the way. We relate not only to one another, but even to sinners, but I'm not going into that Ephesians of Matthew, chapter 5. God sends his rain on the just and the unjust in Jesus says you be like God.

47:26 Bless those that curse you do good to those that despitefully use you, but we're considering as our Constitution does benevolence to the needy within the circle of the family of God. We're considering our relationship and behavior within God's house. And I want you to look at several key text with me. Galatians 6 and verse 10.

47:51 This is one of the ways we build up one another for we are not disembodied spirits. We are psychosomatic entities with physical needs and necessities. And here the Apostle writes Galatians 6 and verse 10. So then as we have opportunity, let us work that which is good toward all men and especially to them that are of the household, of faith.

48:23 There is to be a priority of concern in working that which is good. And whatever the breadth of the scope of that directive may be, it brings within its compass. This response to the material, temporal, physical needs of our brethren and the watershed text in the New Testament is first. John chapter 3 turn there with me.

48:49 If you will, please first John chapter 3. Here the Apostle writes verse 13. Marvel not brethren if the world hates you. We know we've passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.

49:05 He that loves not abides in death. And in the context, it is not love generic, undefined, undirected, but it is love directed to the brethren. We know we've passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He that loves not, i.e., he who has no love to the brethren abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer. And you know no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. Hereby know we love.

49:33 What is our reference point for what love is and what love does? Hereby know we love because he sent us an armful of love poems from heaven. No, hereby know we love because he laid down his life for us. We know love in the voluntary, self-sacrifice of Jesus.

50:01 Hereby know we love because he laid down his life for us. And if we have something of that love in us, we ought, we are under solemn obligation to do what? Lay down our lives for the brethren, prepared to give our life's blood if the highest interest of our brethren demanded it. But something far less than giving your blood, whoso has the world's goods, he's got some stuff.

50:32 We move from blood and life to stuff and to things. He says if the love that we have seen and received and has issued in our redemption is life-giving love, then we ought to lay down our lives for one another. So here we're in the presence of one another, and the need is not for blood and life, but stuff, junk. Whoso hath the world's goods, stuff, beholds his brother in need, he sees this man has need.

51:12 It's not a need born out of a passionate desire to be one up from the Jones, to have a bigger and fancier car, to have a more impressive... No, no, it's real need.

51:23 Whatever that need may be, it's one that can be seen. It's not the unseen need. He needs more grace, to love Christ more, hate sin more, be more holy. No, this is tangible, unseen, observable need.

51:34 He sees his brother in need. And the moment we see our brethren in need, if the love that we know in the life-giving, self-giving sacrifice of Christ is in us, it's going to do what? It's going to move out toward that one who is united to Christ, who reflects Christ. And now he says, if you see your brother in need, and you shut up your compassion from him, you close the door of a commensurate, answerate response to the need.

52:05 He asked the rhetorical question, how dwells the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth. And hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. Again, you don't need to know a word of Greek, folks.

52:29 You see your brother in need. What's his need? Well, he's not one just going around whining and complaining. Such a man may need to have a loving exhortation and say, get yourself out of the center of the crosshairs of your preoccupation.

52:42 Every time you open your mouth, you're whining and complaining. That such a man needs a good rebuke. Now, we're not talking, you see, about people going around dropping hints. They need this, but there is observable, legitimate need.

52:56 And you're in a position where you've got some stuff. You've got some things that can meet that need, at least in part, and you don't do it. John says, how does God like love dwell in you? God like love saw our need, need for a divine human redeemer, one who could put his hand on the throne of God and put his hand on the head of sinful hell-deserving humanity and breach the gap by doing what?

53:27 Pouring out his life's blood. When you say, I have life by that blood shed by that person, then I am under solemn obligation to manifest that love. Even to the giving of my sinful life for another. And if I've got stuff and things, and I won't even part with things that don't come near touching life in blood, how does God's love dwell in me?

53:55 The logic is inescapable. It doesn't. It doesn't. When you say, what if you don't see it?

54:04 I answer and say, why don't you see it? Do you conveniently know how to close your eyes the minute you get near enough to see? We can develop a habit, you know, of seeing what we want to see. Same way we develop a habit of hearing what we want to hear.

54:20 How many of you parents say to your kids, I thought I didn't hear you, mom. I can remember my dad saying, well, we're going to help the connection between your ears and my words. Go in the bathroom and a few good swaps here. Did marvelous to help the connection between my ears and what my dad said.

Benevolence as the Glory of Christ

54:43 We can conveniently train our eyes and our ears not to hear the cry of our brethren, not to see the need, but you see, brethren, this is how we build up one another. And I want you to see something that I hope will just fill you with a sense of, of eagerness to see your brethren in their need. And as you are able to respond, I want you to turn to second Corinthians, chapter eight, these two chapters that are the benevolence chapters of the New Testament, the richest deposit of concentrated teaching on the matter of benevolence and giving notice. Second, Corinthians eight versus 18 and 19.

55:23 Here, the apostle says, we've sent together with him. The brother whose praise in the gospel is spread through all the churches and not only so, but who was appointed by the churches to travel with us in the matter of this grace. Now, notice which is ministered by us to the glory of the Lord. You see, Paul saw the ultimate end for which.

55:49 The church existed, the glory of God and a direct connection between this concerted benevolence endeavor for the poor saints of Jerusalem. And then he reaches an apex of perspective in chapter nine. When he says these astounding words, still speaking of the same subject of this offering, that's being collected and the team that has been brought together to efficiently and honorably administer it. Verse 12 of chapter nine for the ministration of.

56:19 This service not only fills up the measure of the lack or the wants of the saints, but abounds also through many thanks through many thanksgiving, doesn't say thanksgiving unto God, seeing through the proving of you by this ministration, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession unto the gospel of Christ and for the liberality, of your contribution unto them all. You see what he's saying? He is saying what you are doing in responding in a tangible way to the tangible material needs of your brethren. You are augmenting the glory of God by validating that your confession of the gospel is not a lot of hot air. You say you are gospel blessed people, Christ, death has liberated and forgiven and pardoned you. When you have an open hand impelled by a large heart, you validate your gospel faith and thereby you bring great glory to God. And then back to chapter eight for the capstone.

57:42 I puzzled over this verse for many years. Verse 23, where any inquire about Titus? He is my partner in my fellow worker. Titus had a unique place in this administration of this offering.

57:54 Now notice Titus is my partner, my fellow worker to you word or our brethren. They are the messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. What an amazing statement. He says, when you see these fellows come with Titus, remember they are literally the word apostles, but not apostles.

58:16 Capital a apostle means set one. They are the duly authorized one. They've been chosen by the churches. With my approval as an apostle, they are the messengers of the churches.

58:29 And in carrying this benevolence, they are the very glory of Christ. Think of it. What is the glory of Christ? The outshining of the perfections of Christ.

58:40 He says, when you see these fellows with their arms laden down with the things they're going to bring, they are rays of Christ's glory. The Christ who laid down his life. They represent that the spirit of the self-giving. Christ has taken hold of natively self-centered mind.

59:00 My own business. You mind yours and given these people compassion and a burden for people. They've never seen that. They might give not only up to their ability, but Paul opens the passage by singing beyond their ability.

59:15 They gave out of their poverty. What does that reflect? That reflects the outshining of the beauty and the loveliness of Jesus. So you, dear people, as you cry to God that you might be useful in edifying one another, that edification is to come not only by Bible based love, constrained spirit, empowered attitudes and actions as we interact, but by a practical response to the known material needs and concerns of our brethren, and thereby the body is built up.

Renewed Commitments for the Church

59:56 And thereby the great end of the church is realized. The glory of the God of the scriptures. Now, in closing, let me try to tie together what we've considered this morning with what we considered last Lord's Day. The church is to glorify God.

60:17 How? By promoting his worship by the edification of Christ, given spirit, empowered, biblically qualified pastors and teachers. By our Bible based love, constrained spirit, empowered attitudes and actions, one to another by our practical God like response to material needs. What should this produce in us?

60:45 Well, surely, brethren, if we sit here this morning filled with a fresh sense of wonder, I'm United to Christ, the living head. I who was a stick, a dry stick, ready to be cast into hell. I'm United to Christ. His life indwells me.

61:06 And being United to him, I'm United to his body. And I have these privileges to both receive and give to the ongoing glory of God as the church is edified. Surely, it ought to bring us all to a renewed commitment to be engaged more faithfully in all of the biblically mandated activities by which Christ, the Son of God, is glorified. You see, faithful attendance at the church is not a legalistic requirement so that the leaders can save face.

61:41 My friends, it's vital to your edification. You need, as frequently as possible, the ministry of the word, the ministry one to another. I'm reading that marvelous biography of Daniel Baker. He made many glad.

61:58 And how I envy the days in which he ministered, when in many a town and city in the south, they'd shut down all businesses for a week or two while this man preached two and three times a day. And there were mighty visitations of the Spirit of God and the providence of God. That's impossible in our society. But brethren, how we should cherish a whole Lord's day, cherish that midweek gathering, cherish every contact by phone on these premises in conjunction with school activities, in one another's halls.

62:33 Brethren, we need one another. God help us to believe it. Christ has ordered it, that we need one another. And as much as I can't get to heaven without the blood and intercession of Jesus and the empowering of the Spirit, under ordinary circumstances, I can't get to heaven without the other members of the body.

62:56 Surely, we need nothing more to intensify and buttress and reinforce our commitments to the life of the church. When that precious did our praise service Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the note that came through, dominant above all others, many of you discovered in this past year, what a pool of love was in this place waiting to be tapped when you faced a particular need during the past year. I sat there saying, thank you, Lord. So I'm not here to scold you, but in the language of Paul, I'm exhorting you to abound more and more.

63:32 I'm going to read something in my introduction most likely next week. I've, wrestled whether I should read it today from the current. I have a magazine called Current Thoughts put out by the Navigators, where they distill lead articles, cutting-edge articles and books on church life, family life, etc. I'm going to read some things that I hope will shock you in a book that many will receive as, as being the very Oracle of God.

63:55 And it will underscore that what we are committed to in this place is going to be more and more marginalized, not by the world, but by the professing Evangelical Church, and even reform, formed people. You better be sure that your convictions are rooted in the Bible and that your commitments, your commitments are unswerving. Secondly, it should be a renewed commitment to guard with a passionate jealousy, the simplicity and purity and power of the biblically mandated activities by which God is glorified. And we are edified.

64:32 I'm going to read to you next week how the experts say we can't make it. We've got no multimedia equipment in here. We have our long sermons. We have no foot tapping.

64:44 Hit music. You can't make it. Well, the day that can't make it, I'll go out and find some people that want to be obedient to their Bibles. Folk, I'm not just getting old and crotchety, and I'm not speaking out of ignorance.

65:03 The hours I spend reading this stuff is for your sake and your good, for the time will come. The time will come. And these commitments, I say to you, the rising generation, they better be something more that you've inherited from mom and dad by a kind of external osmosis. They better be things planted in your heart by the Holy Ghost in the secret place alone with God.

The Spirit's Power and the Coming Day

65:33 We don't need to tinker with God's way and experiment with replacements. But then my third exhortation is we need a renewed commitment to cry mightily to God for greater. Measures of the presence and power of the Spirit upon the activities. He has mandated by which to edify his body.

65:53 You see my point. We begin with the renewed commitment to those activities, a renewed determination to guard them, but a renewed commitment to cry mightily to God that he would own the edification. He has ordained to accomplish through the ministry. History of pastors and teachers that he would so fill us with his spirit that all of the ministry of edification.

66:21 He has ordained as the body ministers to itself in love that the Spirit of God will come upon his own institutions. And then I'm willing to play profit when the Spirit of God fills his own institutions and means with his presence and power. So that we know a felt Christ and the precious Savior, experientially. And we know what it is to be lifted from earth to heaven as we worship and as the word is preached.

66:52 We'll have no stomach for trinkets. Let a man sit down to a well-cured, well-marbled, cholesterol-defying 12 ounce Omaha steak, and you ain't going to interest him in McDonald's. God help us. Did we ever go to McDonald's to be edified?

67:19 And for some of you sit here say, well, all very interesting. See how that man gets all worked up about what he says. My friend, there's a day coming when you'll get all worked up about these things. And that very Christ whom we've tried to set before his people burst through the clouds, accompanied by the Trump of God and the voice of the Archangel, will summon you to stand before him.

67:47 God have mercy. If he does not plead your cause in that day, flee to him, cry to him. He's a willing, he's an able, and a precious Savior. Let's pray.

68:05 Our Father, we thank you for hearing and answering our prayer that we would know something of the presence and ministry of your grace and of your Spirit as we addressed these crucial issues. We pray now that the same Spirit who gave the word through the Apostles would attend that word preached in all of our hearts. We look to you to seal that word to the benefit of your people, and to, your blessing upon this place, now, and until the coming of our Lord Jesus. Thank you.

68:40 Thank you for being with us this day. Dismiss us with your grace and blessing resting upon us. We ask in Jesus name. Amen.