Builders Of The Common Good

Hebrews 10:23-25

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

IN GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE, you would have been admired for building yourself up. Self-adulation, or at least self-promotion, was considered a virtue. By contrast, it was considered a virtue in the early church to build others up. Mutual strengthening, encouragement, and comfort supported the work God was doing and drew others into it (1 Corinthians 14:3). Like a massive construction project, God’s people were to be busy at reinforcing the building’s whole structure, not just themselves or their own corner of it.

Paul used this metaphor in Ephesians 2:19-22, where he emphasized the unity between Jews and Gentiles as a dwelling place for the Spirit. Peter did the same when he compared believers to living stones being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5). This construction of a flesh-and-blood temple was exemplified by hybrid congregations made up of different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. But it was also displayed through encouragers like Barnabas, who introduced Saul the persecutor to the apostles and changed history by helping integrate his ministry into the church (Acts 9:26-31). Relational construction is a vital activity among the people of God.

Why is this so important? Because Jesus both tore down and built up. God is on a mission to deconstruct anything in you that doesn’t fit his character and Kingdom, but he is also on a mission to reconstruct anything that does. The fellowship of believers is one of his primary tools for that. Christians who tear each other down are missing their mission, confusing “[speaking] the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) with biting, wounding words. Some who grew up in families or schools where people felt like it was their job to put you in your place will have to learn a new culture. We no longer bring people down to put them in their place; we lift them up to put them in their place. We are ministers of edification, and we have the power to change the world one life at a time.

{Holy Spirit, give me healing, encouraging, strengthening words to build up fellow believers and draw in those who seek to believe. Make me a builder of the common good. Amen.