Edification

[ElijahSK]

Rom 14:19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Rom 15:2 Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.

1Co 14:4 He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.

2Co 10:8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:

2Co 13:10 Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.

1Th 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

The power God gives authority to He gives it to so they be our servant. They are always given to the edification of us. What does it mean to edify? To instruct and improve the mind in knowledge generally,and particularly in moral and religious knowledge, in faith and holiness.

What are some ways we can edify each other?

[branchesofHim]

Great title!

But where's the post?

[InternalFlame]

Discussion, fellowship, prayer. Getting together with a group and studying the Bible can be very benificial. People often don't think about the importance of fellowship (expecially me) yet two minds are better than one, and several minds together can really get the learning juices flowing .

[ElijahSK]

Great title!

But where's the post?

abranchofHim,

Good question. Just wanted to see how anyone would respond to the question before I continued. Not to mention if you look at the time it was 4:27 AM and I just couldn't go through with another post. I knew I wanted to talk about it, and knew I wouldn't forget if I posted it and saw it later. Then I'd be able to make my point. Heh At any rate, at least now I know you're looking.

Discussion, fellowship, prayer. Getting together with a group and studying the Bible can be very benificial. People often don't think about the importance of fellowship (expecially me) yet two minds are better than one, and several minds together can really get the learning juices flowing .

As for you InternalFlame, great explain after great explain after great explain. As you can see by the topic of the post, edification is the purpose of the church. I don't know if you planned it or not, but when you talk about edifying each other all of the things on your list seem to deal with a smaller group of people interacting. I'd like to now add a verse to my original post.

1Co 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

This verse is talking about the church. I wouldn't have you take my word for it, read the context at your liesure. When they came together (ie. when you meet or as said today when you have a "church service"), everyone brought something. Now you might have brought a teaching, and once you got there never felt lead to share it. Hopefully this wasn't always the case because you are seeking to edify as well as be edified.

We must seek at every meeting to build each other up in the most holy of faiths. Because once you leave your brethren, the fights that you fight are on your own (with Christ of course). So this meeting is to give you strength of mind, of conscience, of faith to make it through the day.

You'll find you get a much better grasp of a topic and it will hold more weight in your mind, if you are able to interact with the teacher of that topic. If you can once it is taught, raise your questions. Thus was the church originally set up. So that all the men would teach and judge each others teachings. And hopefully by the end of the meeting understood what each other knew. Why do I say the men and not just say all? Because the early church considered it the man's job as head of the woman to teach his wife and they teach their kids. This was not to put the woman down. But it is divine order. One reason may be that for both the wife and the husband to speak would take too long for a gathering. But I would not put weight behind that argument although it may be valid to some extent. More likely it was to enphasize that as God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of every man, and man is the head of woman. Is Christ lower than God? No, but it is the place He took. Surely, man can't be compared to God. Is woman lower than man? No, but God did make them to be the helper of man, so it is the place God assigned them. That being said, the men had to go away understand each other because they'd have to answer the questions of their wife and children. And if they could not, well they always had tomorrow to ask it of their brothers.

I will stop there lest I get off into too many different issues. I am trying to let the topic progress with input, so feel free to post your thoughts and questions.

[ElijahSK]

Oops, posted twice.

Edited March 19, 2006 by ElijahSK

[Lasere]

Edification is when the purpose of our coming together is to bring blessing to God and we therefore will also be blessed through seeking him. This is of course very different than coming together to lift up a personal agenda or some ones ego that may look good on a superficial level.

We truely please the Lord when we Edify him in places and situations where it may be extremely uncomfortable to do so. We must defend his name at all times.

[ElijahSK]

Edification is when the purpose of our coming together is to bring blessing to God and we therefore will also be blessed through seeking him. This is of course very different than coming together to lift up a personal agenda or some ones ego that may look good on a superficial level.

We truely please the Lord when we Edify him in places and situations where it may be extremely uncomfortable to do so. We must defend his name at all times.

Just a quick note, throughout the New Testament the church edified itself. To strengthen itself. We aren't told to edify God with our meetings, but rather each other. It seek to bless God, sounds very spiritual, and has a sound of wisdom in will worship, but it is not the purpose of the church.

God is complete and needs no edification. Edification means literally to build up. He can't be built up in knowledge, in truth, physically, or spiritually. He has everything He ever needed in the communion of the godhead. He made us to share in that communion, and the church is setup so we will do that ourselves here. We are all, if we be believers, lead by the Spirit. So our personal agendas are not ego (latin for I) driven but Him driven. Since we are all Spirit lead, we should all bring to the table what the Spirit was lead us in. To say that our coming together is to bless God and is different from coming together each one bringing something, can only be attributed to modern apostacy. Forgive me if this sounds harsh, but to hear it said that this may look good on a superficial level, well that strikes a cord with me. Paul and the apostles set up the church and its practices. For some reason they thought is nessicary for all the churches to be set up the same way. They commanded us to follow the pattern which they started. That command was God breathed. To call anything that God set forth good on a superficial level burns me inside. The Pharisees would not listen to Jesus because He had no respect for them or their traditions. They twisted things so that what they would accuse Him of was their own practice. He gave them 8 woes (or if you are reading the NIV 7) for following the traditions of the elders (the Mishnah, the Talmud, the laws of the hedge). Because they kept the hedges laws like they were laws from God. There are godly traditions, and they are all rooted in the word of God. There are carnal traditions, and they are all rooted in the flesh.

I won't go much further with this because my main point is stated. I will make one more point though. We please God when we have faith in Him and what He says. That's not when we edify Him, that's when we do what He says and edify each other. To defend God's name without defending the things He commanded is hypocritical. How can you say His name is good and His commands are superficial?

1Co 11:2 Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.

Phi 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.

2Th 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

2Th 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

Basicly, did the word of God come to you first? Or to you only? Well, Paul received from Jesus Christ directly, and the way he set up the church was the way that the Spirit wants it. Not superficial like the churches of today, but the strongest church in history, one that God testified to with great miracles and signs. Which now cease in an apostate church.

I would state again, even as God allowed divorce and allowed Isreal to have a King in the old testament, He allows us to have the corporations that call themselves churches today. But what He is pleased with is those who do what He originally says, not those like Balaam who go to God and ask if they can go along once and He says no, so you go to God again and He says go.