Thankyou

“I will build…”

By Andy Zoppelt

Matthew 16:18-19, “On this rock I will build [Greek oikodomeo (oy-kod-om-eh-o)] My called out assembly [ekklesia], and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it [this assembly of believers that are built together by Jesus]."

True Christianity or discipleship as it was called then, is an assembly of saints that are built together as one builds a building, they were built and held together in love. Let us not mix this love with some casual form of love or some feeling, it was a love higher and beyond anything that could be found on this earth. Being a disciple of Jesus is defined by this kind of love. A love that is willing to lose its life for Jesus’ sake, a love that lays its life down for the sake of others, a love that builds the body of Christ together. It is a cohesive love that binds us together, something that I have longed for since the day I came to Him in July of 1964. Discipleship demands love on a scale that does not have self-centered boundaries; it reaches to the individual and to the whole of the body of Christ in absolute unity.  If we don’t understand that kind of unity presented by Jesus, it is because we never understood that kind of love.

The Greek word used for assembly or church in many bibles is ekklesia. Ekklesia, from a biblical view represent a special group of people who have been called out of this world by the Holy Spirit and who have made Jesus their Lord. They meet as an assembly gathered together to deal with issues concerning the establishment of the kingdom of God and issues dealing with their personal walks with the Lord and one another. This assembly gathered in small groups so that they could encourage one another, exhort one another, support one another and pray for one another. Though they met in homes in the city, they were one assembly in the city The meeting in homes made a perfect environment to develop and grow these relationships. They meet together to be built together and grow together as a family and to know one another. 

Ekklesia comes from ek meaning “out” and kaleo meaning “to call”. In the secular world it represented a special group of people that were called out or selected out of the population of people within the city to represent issues dealing with their city. Everyone had a say so in the assembly, someone could moderate it, but no one had the right to dominate it.

Jesus would pass down His anointing and power to this unique group who loved Him and one another.  In the “Lord’s prayer” Jesus’ laid down for His disciples a clear call of their relationship with Him and the Father. “Our Father [family relationship] hallowed [pure and holy] be your name, Your kingdom come [Jesus’ rule over His body], Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven [what we do on this earth should be a mirror reflection of what is in heaven.].”

There are many forms of Christianity today, but only those who have the mark of doing His will on earth as it is in heaven will actually be His. We can know beyond any reason of doubt that His will is being fully executed in heaven and thus if He is our Lord also, it will be fully executed here on this earth. There should never be a difference between what we read in scriptures and what we do as His assembly. What is in heaven is full of Love, full of obedience to Him; He is fully honored as the Lord.  Jesus’ coming and intentions were to set up His kingdom on this earth and for Him to personally function through this called out assembly of disciples through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Lord ’s Prayer ends demonstrating our relation with Him, “For Yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory.”

“To build” is the key word in what Jesus intends to do. The word used to build in the Greek is oikodomeo (oy-kod-dom-eh-o). Oikos means “house” and domeo means “to build”, in other words to build the house. In the kingdom of God the construction material are the saints and among those saints everyone has a function within the called out assembly. It is a tightly knitted people whose purpose is to emulate the life of Christ, their being knitted together is demonstrated in their loyalty to one another, in their preference for one another and in the stand they take for one another and the mercy and forgiveness that binds them together. This kind of people are unique from that of the world and it is that building that draws the people of the world to His kingdom..

Each member functions to reveal Jesus in a unique way within His body, they are to be built together as one with Jesus and the Father. This is not some doctrine or some mystical union, it is a practical witness of our salvation and one that demonstrates our honor of Jesus and the Father.

We don’t find many who know how to build today, the tendency is for ministries to build the saints around themselves, dividing the body of Christ, which within their ministries they create a subtle form of competition within each city and that clearly is not the kingdom of God on earth reflecting heaven and could never represent Jesus’ intentions and will.

“For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, YOU ARE God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ…Do you not know that you [the believers] are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If ANYONE defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. [Why?] For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” 1 Corinthians 3:9-12; 16, 17

We cannot build anything outside of the unity of the body of Christ and the love for God and one another; otherwise we will be guilty of defiling His temple which is holy. It is meant to be a place where we all, as one body, follow Jesus and obey Him as our only Lord.

Abraham had a vision of God’s building of saints within His kingdom. “For he [Abraham] waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Hebrews 11:10

I must say, it breaks my heart and grieves me to see what we have done with His body, His kingdom and His assembly. We have divided it, put names on it, created a clergy that dominates the ministry, we have spent billions of dollars on buildings, we gather to hear teachings from one man, men have taken His body and in Jesus’ name created something totally in opposition to Him. My cry is “Where are the builders?” 

“We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies [oikdomeo=builds up]. And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is [clearly and absolutely] known by Him.”1 Corinthians 8:1 NKJV

We will never find unity and true body ministry until we have Love. Jealousy, pride, competition, envy, betrayal, division and indifference are fruits that expose the roots of a false ministry that is not building His temple on His foundation. Much good works are being done in Jesus’ name, often with good results, all of that often gives us a false security that somehow God accepts us and understands, Jesus understands one thing: He must be Lord, He must be the builder and maker, everything must be built on Him and we must all love one another…if not, all is iniquity. Jesus said, “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”  

“Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” Matthew 7:24-25

“You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, [purpose] to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:5, NKJV

All servant, bondslaves of Jesus are functionally to take us to the place, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we [they are not to take us hereà] should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of teaching, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, [take us here à] but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ —  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying [oikodomeo to build the house] of itself in love.” NKJV

We come together for one reason, to be built on Him and to allow Jesus to build us together, that will happen if we all obey Him as one body. We are all brothers and sisters, there is no one with titles, Jesus is the embodiment of everything we have and everything we are.