Following Jesus is not a solo act.
Following Jesus is a community activity.
America is a culture founded on individual effort, but the reality is that without people coming together for the common good, we would not exist as a nation.
If we are going to follow and serve Jesus effectively, we need each other.
In Ephesians 4:25-32 Paul give us guidelines on how we can do that in ways that honor God and reflect the character of Jesus.
In the latter part of Ephesians 4:25 it says, “for we are all members of one body.” Paul is not only writing to the church, but he is saying that these things need to take place in the context of the church.
Ephesians 4:25a
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor.
#1: We are to be people of truth and honesty.
We live in a world where deceit and falsehood prevail.
We see falsehood in advertising, sports, politics, and in almost every segment of our society.
We are not to see deceit or falsehood in the church among God’s people.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is speaking and living truth.
Ephesians 4:26
In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.
#2: We are not to be angry people
It is not our anger and condemnation that bring people to God. According to Romans 2:4 it is God’s kindness that leads people to repentance.
We are not to be characterized by anger.
We are not to hold on to our anger.
We are to be characterized by love.
We are to be longsuffering in our love for others.
Ephesians 4:27
And do not give the devil a foothold.
#3: We are not to allow Satan to have any influence in our lives.
In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Satan is referred to as the god of this age.
When we take on the thoughts, values or desires that characterized the world then we are allowing Satan to influence us because the thoughts, values, and desires of this world are the thoughts, values, and desires of Satan.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is characterizing the thoughts, values, and desires of God.
Ephesians 4:28
He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
#4: We are to allow our faith in God to make a difference in how we live.
In James 1:22 it says that we are not to merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourself . Do what it says.
Faith in Jesus is not intellectual or religious.
Faith in Jesus is reality.
It changes the way that we live or it is not real faith.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is our faith in Jesus being the determining factor in how we live.
Ephesians 4:29
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
#5: We are to build up, not tear down others.
In Romans 8:1 we are told that for those in Christ there is no condemnation. Jesus does not condemn us.
Jesus builds us up.
Jesus encourages us.
Jesus is honest with us.
Jesus speaks the truth in love to us.
We are to reflect Jesus and do the same thing.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is encouraging and building others up.
Ephesians 4:30
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
#6: We are to bring joy to God and not grieve the Holy Spirit.
We bring joy to God and thus not grieve the Holy Spirit by:
Being Truthful and Honest
Loving
Focusing Exclusively on Jesus
Our Faith Making a Difference in Our Lives
Building Up and Encouraging Others
Ephesians 4:31
Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
#7: We are to be people of peace.
In Matthew 5:9 Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
In Luke 2:14 the angels declared peace on those whom God’s grace rests.
God wants us to experience His peace. In Isaiah 9:6 Jesus is called, “The Prince of Peace.”
We experience peace and become people of peace through Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing and sharing God’s peace.
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
#8: We are to be a forgiving people.
We are to show kindness.
We are to show compassion.
We are to forgive.
We do all this just as God does it to us and for us in Jesus.
Jesus showed kindness when He reinstated Peter after Peter denied Him.
Jesus showed compassion to the widow of Nain when He raised her son from the dead.
Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who were crucifying Him.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is forgiving others as God forgives us.
The church is the body of Christ. We as the body of Christ:
Show the world who Jesus is
Display the Character of the Father to the world
Function as the temple of the Holy Spirit
As a Member of the One Body Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Transformed into Something New
What do 2+2=4, Water is H2O, George Washington was the first president of the United States, and Jesus is God have in common? They are true. These are truths that are always true.
In our culture today we seem to have trouble recognizing, accepting and communicating truth. We seem lost as a culture as to what truth is.
In Ephesians 4:20-21 Paul says, “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.”
Paul has just described people without Jesus as the Lord of their lives and he reminds the believers in Ephesus that they were to be different because they did have Jesus as Lord.
What these Ephesian believers had been taught was the truth. It was the truth found in Jesus.
Paul then outlines three things that the truth found in Jesus teaches us about our life before our surrender to Jesus’ authority.
Ephesians 4:22b
To put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.
We are first to put off our old self, the self before our surrender to Jesus.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that we become a whole new creation in Jesus. Everything in our lives becomes new. Surrendering our lives brings a total transformation.
Why is a transformation needed?
It is because the old self, the self before Jesus, is being corrupted by our deceitful desires.
In Romans 3:10-12 it says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Before Jesus there is nothing good about us. That means our thoughts and desires are not good; they are corrupted.
They need to be changed so that they can be desires and thoughts centered in truth and goodness. If we don’t have Jesus as Lord then they can’t be.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is be transformed by the truth in Jesus.
Ephesians 4:23
To be made new in the attitude of your minds.
In Romans 12:2 we are told not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by renewing of our minds. Only then can we know to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
If our minds are not made new by Jesus, then we cannot know God’s will. If we cannot know God’s will, then we cannot live as God wants us to live.
In Isaiah 42:9 says God will declare new things.
In Isaiah 43:19 God says He is doing a new thing.
If we are going to experience and be a part of the new things God is declaring and doing, we have to allow Him to make us new in Jesus.
The new is:
Different
Fresh
Alive
Wholeness.
Being made new is being transformed into the people God created us to be.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being made new by the truth in Jesus.
Ephesians 4:24
And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We are to put on the new self.
It is not enough to put off the old self, doing away with the negative. We have to put on the new self, the positive.
The new self is the image of Jesus.
We were created according to Genesis 1:27 in the image of God. Jesus came in the form of a human to show us what real humanity is. Jesus came to show us the perfect image of God in a human.
When we surrender our wills to Jesus’ will we put on the new self that reflects the image of God reestablished in us by the presence of Jesus.
The new self will reflect the righteousness of God.
The new self will reflect the holiness of God.
God wants the world to see His righteousness and His holiness and He has chosen to do it through us.
The old self reflects us before Jesus.
The new self reflects us after Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to form the image of Jesus in us.
The truth is we need Jesus.
The truth is that without Jesus we have no hope.
The truth is that God’s Word is truth.
The truth is that we have to build our lives on these three truths.
Remember that truth is not a concept; truth is a person - Jesus.
In the Truth of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
In our culture today we seem to have trouble recognizing, accepting and communicating truth. We seem lost as a culture as to what truth is.
In Ephesians 4:20-21 Paul says, “You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of Him and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.”
Paul has just described people without Jesus as the Lord of their lives and he reminds the believers in Ephesus that they were to be different because they did have Jesus as Lord.
What these Ephesian believers had been taught was the truth. It was the truth found in Jesus.
Paul then outlines three things that the truth found in Jesus teaches us about our life before our surrender to Jesus’ authority.
Ephesians 4:22b
To put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.
We are first to put off our old self, the self before our surrender to Jesus.
In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that we become a whole new creation in Jesus. Everything in our lives becomes new. Surrendering our lives brings a total transformation.
Why is a transformation needed?
It is because the old self, the self before Jesus, is being corrupted by our deceitful desires.
In Romans 3:10-12 it says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
Before Jesus there is nothing good about us. That means our thoughts and desires are not good; they are corrupted.
They need to be changed so that they can be desires and thoughts centered in truth and goodness. If we don’t have Jesus as Lord then they can’t be.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is be transformed by the truth in Jesus.
Ephesians 4:23
To be made new in the attitude of your minds.
In Romans 12:2 we are told not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by renewing of our minds. Only then can we know to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will.
If our minds are not made new by Jesus, then we cannot know God’s will. If we cannot know God’s will, then we cannot live as God wants us to live.
In Isaiah 42:9 says God will declare new things.
In Isaiah 43:19 God says He is doing a new thing.
If we are going to experience and be a part of the new things God is declaring and doing, we have to allow Him to make us new in Jesus.
The new is:
Different
Fresh
Alive
Wholeness.
Being made new is being transformed into the people God created us to be.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being made new by the truth in Jesus.
Ephesians 4:24
And to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
We are to put on the new self.
It is not enough to put off the old self, doing away with the negative. We have to put on the new self, the positive.
The new self is the image of Jesus.
We were created according to Genesis 1:27 in the image of God. Jesus came in the form of a human to show us what real humanity is. Jesus came to show us the perfect image of God in a human.
When we surrender our wills to Jesus’ will we put on the new self that reflects the image of God reestablished in us by the presence of Jesus.
The new self will reflect the righteousness of God.
The new self will reflect the holiness of God.
God wants the world to see His righteousness and His holiness and He has chosen to do it through us.
The old self reflects us before Jesus.
The new self reflects us after Jesus.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to form the image of Jesus in us.
The truth is we need Jesus.
The truth is that without Jesus we have no hope.
The truth is that God’s Word is truth.
The truth is that we have to build our lives on these three truths.
Remember that truth is not a concept; truth is a person - Jesus.
In the Truth of Jesus Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
Sunday, April 10, 2016
For Those Who Don't Believe
Sanctification is the process of God making us holy or separating us from the values of this fallen world.
Jesus tells us in John 17:17 that we as His followers are sanctified by truth, and God’s Word is truth.
We are thus sanctified by making God’s Word the authority and basis on which we as disciples of Jesus live.
In Ephesians 4:17-19 Paul draws us a picture of what unsanctified people live like.
Ephesians 4:17a
In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe.
We are not to do live our lives like those who do not believe. How do those who don’t believe live?
Ephesians 4:17b
In the futility of their thinking
Those who don’t believe are futile in their thinking.
We are not to be devoid of truth in our thinking.
We are not to be inappropriate in our thinking.
Since it is truth that sanctifies us, then if our thinking doesn’t have truth as its foundation, it cannot make us holy.
People who don’t believe are perverted in their thinking, meaning their thinking has been twisted. We as followers of Jesus are not be twisted in our thinking. We are to think with the truth of God which leads to true wisdom.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is thinking in truth, not perverseness.
Ephesians 4:18a
They are darkened in their understanding
Those that don’t believe have minds covered in darkness.
When it is dark we can’t see. Or if we can, the darkness makes what we see distorted.
When our thinking is darkened, then we have no real understanding or our understanding is distorted.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is The Light, Jesus, giving us a mind that is guided by truth and reality.
Ephesians 4:18b
And separated from the life of God
People who don’t believe have no real life; they only have existence.
The word for life is the Greek word zoe. It means full life, abundant like. It is the life of God.
People who don’t believe have physical existence, but they don’t have real life. Real only comes as we surrender our lives to Jesus.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting Jesus give us real life by living His resurrected life through us.
Ephesians 4:18c
Because of the ignorance that is in them
Those who don’t believe are ignorant.
They are not dumb or stupid or unlearned. Many people who don’t believe are intellectually very smart.
Those that don’t believe are ignorant of spiritual things.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Those who don’t believe are ignorant of the truth of God because the truth is only revealed by God’s Spirit.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is understanding the truth of God and living it.
Ephesians 4:18d
Due to the hardening of their hearts
Those who don’t believe are hard, inflexible, and mean.
They care only about themselves.
In Mark 12:31 Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Those who have hard hearts can’t do that. They are self-focused people.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving others as we love ourselves.
Ephesians 4:19a
Having lost all sensitivity
Those who don’t believe don’t feel pain or experience grief.
They can feel physically pain.
They can grieve over a loss that directly affects them.
They don’t feel pain for others or grieve when others grieve.
Many years ago I hear a great description of the church: “The church is when one part suffers hurt, we all taste the salt of their tears.”
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is entering into the hurt and pain with others.
Ephesians 4:19a
They have given themselves over to sensuality
Those that don’t believe are sensual.
Sensual means to focus on the senses. They are focused on those things that bring pleasure to the senses.
Their motto is, “If it feels good, do it.”
Philippians 3:19
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
Their physical desires control and direct their lives.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is setting our minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Philippians 419b
So as to indulge in every kind of impurity
Those who don’t believe live by giving themselves over to things that make their thinking corrupted and thus their living morally compromised.
They may not live what would be seen as totally immoral lives, but they live with no constant moral uprightness.
At the beginning of Ephesians 4, Paul says that we are to live lives worthy of the calling we have in Jesus. This certainly means that our sense of right and wrong is to be determined by what God’s Word says.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living a life not corrupted by impure thoughts, motives, or actions.
Ephesians 4:19c
With a continual lust for more
Those who don’t believe are obsessed with getting and having more and more and more and more.
Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:15 that we are to be on our guard against all kinds of greed because life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is focusing on being spiritually wealthy.
We are to live in a way that is different than those who don’t believe.
Jesus’ plan is for His followers to be so weird, so different from the world, that the world comes to check out why we are so different, and they find Jesus.
Living Differently by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
Jesus tells us in John 17:17 that we as His followers are sanctified by truth, and God’s Word is truth.
We are thus sanctified by making God’s Word the authority and basis on which we as disciples of Jesus live.
In Ephesians 4:17-19 Paul draws us a picture of what unsanctified people live like.
Ephesians 4:17a
In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. Do not continue living like those who do not believe.
We are not to do live our lives like those who do not believe. How do those who don’t believe live?
Ephesians 4:17b
In the futility of their thinking
Those who don’t believe are futile in their thinking.
We are not to be devoid of truth in our thinking.
We are not to be inappropriate in our thinking.
Since it is truth that sanctifies us, then if our thinking doesn’t have truth as its foundation, it cannot make us holy.
People who don’t believe are perverted in their thinking, meaning their thinking has been twisted. We as followers of Jesus are not be twisted in our thinking. We are to think with the truth of God which leads to true wisdom.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is thinking in truth, not perverseness.
Ephesians 4:18a
They are darkened in their understanding
Those that don’t believe have minds covered in darkness.
When it is dark we can’t see. Or if we can, the darkness makes what we see distorted.
When our thinking is darkened, then we have no real understanding or our understanding is distorted.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is The Light, Jesus, giving us a mind that is guided by truth and reality.
Ephesians 4:18b
And separated from the life of God
People who don’t believe have no real life; they only have existence.
The word for life is the Greek word zoe. It means full life, abundant like. It is the life of God.
People who don’t believe have physical existence, but they don’t have real life. Real only comes as we surrender our lives to Jesus.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting Jesus give us real life by living His resurrected life through us.
Ephesians 4:18c
Because of the ignorance that is in them
Those who don’t believe are ignorant.
They are not dumb or stupid or unlearned. Many people who don’t believe are intellectually very smart.
Those that don’t believe are ignorant of spiritual things.
1 Corinthians 2:14
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Those who don’t believe are ignorant of the truth of God because the truth is only revealed by God’s Spirit.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is understanding the truth of God and living it.
Ephesians 4:18d
Due to the hardening of their hearts
Those who don’t believe are hard, inflexible, and mean.
They care only about themselves.
In Mark 12:31 Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
Those who have hard hearts can’t do that. They are self-focused people.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is loving others as we love ourselves.
Ephesians 4:19a
Having lost all sensitivity
Those who don’t believe don’t feel pain or experience grief.
They can feel physically pain.
They can grieve over a loss that directly affects them.
They don’t feel pain for others or grieve when others grieve.
Many years ago I hear a great description of the church: “The church is when one part suffers hurt, we all taste the salt of their tears.”
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is entering into the hurt and pain with others.
Ephesians 4:19a
They have given themselves over to sensuality
Those that don’t believe are sensual.
Sensual means to focus on the senses. They are focused on those things that bring pleasure to the senses.
Their motto is, “If it feels good, do it.”
Philippians 3:19
Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
Their physical desires control and direct their lives.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is setting our minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Philippians 419b
So as to indulge in every kind of impurity
Those who don’t believe live by giving themselves over to things that make their thinking corrupted and thus their living morally compromised.
They may not live what would be seen as totally immoral lives, but they live with no constant moral uprightness.
At the beginning of Ephesians 4, Paul says that we are to live lives worthy of the calling we have in Jesus. This certainly means that our sense of right and wrong is to be determined by what God’s Word says.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living a life not corrupted by impure thoughts, motives, or actions.
Ephesians 4:19c
With a continual lust for more
Those who don’t believe are obsessed with getting and having more and more and more and more.
Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:15 that we are to be on our guard against all kinds of greed because life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is focusing on being spiritually wealthy.
We are to live in a way that is different than those who don’t believe.
Jesus’ plan is for His followers to be so weird, so different from the world, that the world comes to check out why we are so different, and they find Jesus.
Living Differently by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
Sunday, April 3, 2016
The Community of Jesus
Today in America, being a Christian is seen as a personal thing and, by many, even a private thing. So I know it is weird to see being a Christian as a communal thing.
I believe that the Bible shows that following God is done best and most effectively in community.
In Ephesians 4:14-16 Paul writes to the church. He shares with us, as the church, how to be the community that God calls us to be.
Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Jesus does not want us as His people to be unstable.
Jesus does not want us as His people to chase every new trend in the culture or in theology.
Jesus does not want us as His people to be deceived by human thinking.
Jesus wants us as His people to be standing firm in truth.
Jesus wants us as His people to be centered in Him.
Jesus wants us as His people to be living based on God’s Word.
Paul shares with us five things that need to be true of Jesus’ church so that we are really Jesus’ church.
Ephesians 4:15a
Instead, speaking the truth in love
#1: Speak the truth in love
If we speak truth but don’t do it with love, it is harsh and mean.
If we speak love by don’t couple it with truth, it is weak and wimpy.
We need to speak in both truth and love.
The church has been given the Biblical mandate to speak out the truth of God to the culture.
We are not to speak out God’s truth in :
Hate
Condemnation
Arrogance
We are to speak out God’s truth in LOVE!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is the church sharing the truth of God with the love of God to the culture.
Ephesians 4:15b
We will grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ.
#2: We, the church, are to grow up to be like Jesus.
Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
The Father wants us to be like Jesus.
He wants us to look like Jesus.
He wants us to think like Jesus.
He wants to value what Jesus valued.
He wants us to act like Jesus.
He wants us to love like Jesus.
We as individuals are to grow up to be like Jesus.
Churches are also to grow up to be like Jesus. We need to remember that we, the church, are the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is to grow up to be like the Head, Christ.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is the church growing to be the authentic Body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:16a
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament.
#3: We are to be in unity with Jesus and each other.
Jesus commands in Mark 12:30 to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and with all your strength.
We are to love and be in unity with God.
Jesus also commands us in Mark 12:31 that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
We are to love each other and be in unity with each other as followers of Jesus.
When God’s people are in unity with Him and each other, it displays God to the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is God’s church being in unity with Him and each other.
Ephesians 4:16b
Grows and Builds itself up in love
#4: We are to grow and build ourselves up
All living things grow. The church is a living thing. The church should grow.
The church grows in number.
The church grows in maturity.
The church builds itself up in knowledge.
The church builds itself up in wisdom.
The purpose of the church growing and building itself up is so that the Kingdom of God will grow..
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is building the Kingdom of God by growing and building up the church.
Ephesians 4:16c
As each part does it works
#5: Each member of the body fulfills its part in the body.
Spiritual gifts are given to each follower of Jesus so that the church can function in the way God created it to function. Spiritual gifts are given so the church can grow and build itself up.
The key to using spiritual gifts to help the church is - To Use Them!
Any gift that is never removed from the package or, when removed is never used, has no value.
We can discuss our spiritual gifts.
We can debate our spiritual gifts.
We can list our spiritual gifts.
But until we use our spiritual gifts, they are of no value.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is every member of the church using their gifts to grow the church.
God the Father envisioned the church.
God the Son established the church.
God the Spirit enables the church.
We are the church. And as the church, let us:
Speak the truth in love
Grow up to be like Jesus
Be in unity
Grow as a healthy organism
And do it together as the family of Jesus.
As the Church, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
I believe that the Bible shows that following God is done best and most effectively in community.
In Ephesians 4:14-16 Paul writes to the church. He shares with us, as the church, how to be the community that God calls us to be.
Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Jesus does not want us as His people to be unstable.
Jesus does not want us as His people to chase every new trend in the culture or in theology.
Jesus does not want us as His people to be deceived by human thinking.
Jesus wants us as His people to be standing firm in truth.
Jesus wants us as His people to be centered in Him.
Jesus wants us as His people to be living based on God’s Word.
Paul shares with us five things that need to be true of Jesus’ church so that we are really Jesus’ church.
Ephesians 4:15a
Instead, speaking the truth in love
#1: Speak the truth in love
If we speak truth but don’t do it with love, it is harsh and mean.
If we speak love by don’t couple it with truth, it is weak and wimpy.
We need to speak in both truth and love.
The church has been given the Biblical mandate to speak out the truth of God to the culture.
We are not to speak out God’s truth in :
Hate
Condemnation
Arrogance
We are to speak out God’s truth in LOVE!
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is the church sharing the truth of God with the love of God to the culture.
Ephesians 4:15b
We will grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ.
#2: We, the church, are to grow up to be like Jesus.
Romans 8:29 says, “For those whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
The Father wants us to be like Jesus.
He wants us to look like Jesus.
He wants us to think like Jesus.
He wants to value what Jesus valued.
He wants us to act like Jesus.
He wants us to love like Jesus.
We as individuals are to grow up to be like Jesus.
Churches are also to grow up to be like Jesus. We need to remember that we, the church, are the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is to grow up to be like the Head, Christ.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is the church growing to be the authentic Body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:16a
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament.
#3: We are to be in unity with Jesus and each other.
Jesus commands in Mark 12:30 to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and with all your strength.
We are to love and be in unity with God.
Jesus also commands us in Mark 12:31 that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.
We are to love each other and be in unity with each other as followers of Jesus.
When God’s people are in unity with Him and each other, it displays God to the world.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is God’s church being in unity with Him and each other.
Ephesians 4:16b
Grows and Builds itself up in love
#4: We are to grow and build ourselves up
All living things grow. The church is a living thing. The church should grow.
The church grows in number.
The church grows in maturity.
The church builds itself up in knowledge.
The church builds itself up in wisdom.
The purpose of the church growing and building itself up is so that the Kingdom of God will grow..
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is building the Kingdom of God by growing and building up the church.
Ephesians 4:16c
As each part does it works
#5: Each member of the body fulfills its part in the body.
Spiritual gifts are given to each follower of Jesus so that the church can function in the way God created it to function. Spiritual gifts are given so the church can grow and build itself up.
The key to using spiritual gifts to help the church is - To Use Them!
Any gift that is never removed from the package or, when removed is never used, has no value.
We can discuss our spiritual gifts.
We can debate our spiritual gifts.
We can list our spiritual gifts.
But until we use our spiritual gifts, they are of no value.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is every member of the church using their gifts to grow the church.
God the Father envisioned the church.
God the Son established the church.
God the Spirit enables the church.
We are the church. And as the church, let us:
Speak the truth in love
Grow up to be like Jesus
Be in unity
Grow as a healthy organism
And do it together as the family of Jesus.
As the Church, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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