Hey Church!
I hope to see you all in person this Sunday morning! Pastor Tom will begin a new sermon series on the profoundly beautiful book, Isaiah, so you won’t want to miss it. While the online alternative is great when you are physically unable to attend live, there is at least one essential aspect of worship that it cannot deliver: mutual edification.
“Edification” may feel like a churchy word for some but we are, after all, talking about what we do when we go to church! The scriptures are far from silent on this concept. In fact, I was curious and did a quick web search of “scriptures on edification” and the first result came back with 90 (NINETY!) biblical passages that teach how fundamentally important it is that we, as members of the body of Christ, seek to build one another up (i.e. edify one another) in everything we say and do.
Here’s the link, if you want check it out: https://www.openbible.info/topics/edification
Personally, whenever this subject comes up, my go-to passage of scripture is 1 Corinthians 14. We will read a portion of that chapter together in a moment. But before we do, let me try to demystify the spiritual gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues, which are central to the problem Paul will address in these verses.
Praying in tongues is a gift of the Spirit that harkens back to those first days at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit enabled a person to pray in a language that was perfectly intelligible to God but foreign to the speaker. The highly mysterious and intimate nature of this gift came to be viewed, by many, as superior to all others. It is apparent that some members of the church in Corinth became envious of those who possessed this seemingly “more spiritual” gift. Paul’s instruction to them is to desire the gift of prophecy instead since it is the interpretation of God’s Word for the building-up instruction of the Church, unlike tongues which cannot be understood by the congregation.
And so, Paul instructs them, saying,
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church…
Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say “Amen” to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
(1 Corinthians 14:1-4, 13-19)
The most fundamental problem that Paul addresses in this chapter is not envy. It is the outworking of the kind of love he described in the previous chapter (1 Cor. 13, the famous “love chapter”). Love seeks to build others up, not hoard the Spirit for one’s own private benefit.
There is a time for personal worship. It’s what we do most other days of the week and it is essential to a healthy, growing relationship with Jesus. But there is, also, a time to gather and worship God together. Sundays are our opportunity to worship in a way that loves and builds one another up. To put it quite simply: you can’t do that from the couch at home.
We need to see and heard one another sing this Sunday. Our souls will be fed by the Word that is preached in the hearing of the whole congregation and nourished by the responses of faith we will see each other perform. We come to church not to be served but to serve—first God and second our fellow journeymen.
Keep your eyes and ears open this Sunday and behold the work of the Lord in our midst!
Your brother,
Ryan