Many of the writings of the New Testament were directed to specific groups with strengths and challenges, with hopes and frustrations, with issues and needs unique to themselves. In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul writes to one of these specific groups – people who, like us, who blended their voices in praise, who gathered around the Lord’s table, who raised up prayers – about how each member of that group serves to build up, strengthen, and perfect the body of Christ. It is reminiscent of Christ’s words to Peter, in Luke 22:31-32, where he calls upon the apostle to strengthen his brothers. We can do this same thing today; we can serve to strengthen and perfect each other as we strive to live like Christ.
Strengthening and Equipping One Another
Acts 18 tells the story of Apollos, a zealous and eloquent preacher of the word, and of Aquila and Priscilla, who take him aside to explain God's word more accurately. Here is a preacher who is strong in the word and in faith, but this couple help perfect him through a better understanding of God’s word. We have no better tool in building one another up than God’s word, and Aquila and Priscilla’s encouragement helped more than Apollos. They helped all who he touched in his ministry. Hebrews 5:12-6:1 calls on us to press on toward perfection, building each other up through God’s word on a daily basis. Each day we do not feed on His word, we grow weaker, and Ephesians 3:14-19 calls on Christ to dwell in us, strengthened in faith, filled with God’s fullness. We accomplish this in study.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls on us to be a city set upon a hill, to let our lights shine, unhidden to those around us. He is talking about our example; He is talking about what others see in us. Paul exhorts a young preacher, in I Timothy 4:12, to be an example of love, faith, speech, conduct, and purity. Likewise, Titus 2 calls on older Christians to set, by their examples, the standard for the younger generation. Romans 12:1-2 encourages to be living sacrifices, examples to one another, transformed from the conduct of this world and conformed to the conduct of Christ. What do my brothers and sisters see in me? What does the world see in me? Our examples can serve to strengthen and perfect one another in Christ’s faith.
Finally, we need to help each other with our armor. We need help when we first learn to clothe ourselves, and so we must help each other with our spiritual raiment. Ephesians 6:10-13 speaks of wearing the armor of God so we may stand against the trials and obstacles of this world, and, if we are spiritually undressed, we need to help clothe each other in hope, in love, in faith, in truth. We need to help prepare each other in the armor of the Lord each and every day.
The Confidence of Perfected Hope
In Hebrews 6:18-20, we read:
We are strongest when we lift each other up. We are better when we work together. We lead best by example, and we root all of this in the hope we find in God’s word. We are obligated to one another, as were those saints two thousand years ago, to build each other up, to keep each other focused on the hope ahead of us. May God help us all to strengthen and equip each other so we may enter His gates together one day.
lesson by Tim Smelser
Strengthening and Equipping One Another
Acts 18 tells the story of Apollos, a zealous and eloquent preacher of the word, and of Aquila and Priscilla, who take him aside to explain God's word more accurately. Here is a preacher who is strong in the word and in faith, but this couple help perfect him through a better understanding of God’s word. We have no better tool in building one another up than God’s word, and Aquila and Priscilla’s encouragement helped more than Apollos. They helped all who he touched in his ministry. Hebrews 5:12-6:1 calls on us to press on toward perfection, building each other up through God’s word on a daily basis. Each day we do not feed on His word, we grow weaker, and Ephesians 3:14-19 calls on Christ to dwell in us, strengthened in faith, filled with God’s fullness. We accomplish this in study.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls on us to be a city set upon a hill, to let our lights shine, unhidden to those around us. He is talking about our example; He is talking about what others see in us. Paul exhorts a young preacher, in I Timothy 4:12, to be an example of love, faith, speech, conduct, and purity. Likewise, Titus 2 calls on older Christians to set, by their examples, the standard for the younger generation. Romans 12:1-2 encourages to be living sacrifices, examples to one another, transformed from the conduct of this world and conformed to the conduct of Christ. What do my brothers and sisters see in me? What does the world see in me? Our examples can serve to strengthen and perfect one another in Christ’s faith.
Finally, we need to help each other with our armor. We need help when we first learn to clothe ourselves, and so we must help each other with our spiritual raiment. Ephesians 6:10-13 speaks of wearing the armor of God so we may stand against the trials and obstacles of this world, and, if we are spiritually undressed, we need to help clothe each other in hope, in love, in faith, in truth. We need to help prepare each other in the armor of the Lord each and every day.
The Confidence of Perfected Hope
In Hebrews 6:18-20, we read:
…so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
We are strongest when we lift each other up. We are better when we work together. We lead best by example, and we root all of this in the hope we find in God’s word. We are obligated to one another, as were those saints two thousand years ago, to build each other up, to keep each other focused on the hope ahead of us. May God help us all to strengthen and equip each other so we may enter His gates together one day.
lesson by Tim Smelser
