[TruthTalk] Towards edification

[Bill Taylor]

Hi all. Bill Taylor here, back from hiatus.   I have been lurking off and on for some time now (as Lance and John and some others know). I have anticipated posting again but have been reluctant to do so. The reason for this has first to do with me and my responsibilities to you. I think it was Slade -- although I am not sure, as it was several weeks ago -- who in passing raised a question about whether or not what we at TT are doing is "edifying" to each other. That question has stuck in my craw ever since.   This word, edify, is an interesting study. Often when it is used in religious language, it seems to connote a wimpiness about the way we as Christians may choose to fellowship. It's like either we are doing the heavy work of teaching, rebuking, correcting, and instructing each other in ways of righteousness -- you know, like we do here at TT --, or we lighten things up to edify. My friends, the connotations are wrong. In all actuality this is not a wimpy word -- not at all. It means to buttress or make strong, to strengthen and build up. And when it is used in the New Testament, it involves the entire vocation of the church. Over these last weeks I have come to realize that edification is not just one of the things we do, as if we stop with the heavy to edify; instead, it is why we do these other things. Consider Paul's words to the Ephesians: "And [Christ] Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 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 should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 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 of itself in love" (4.11-16).   It was this statement that caused me pause. It forced me to ask myself if in my contribution I was actually doing what it meant to edify. Were the words I was using making Christians stronger or were they producing the negative effect of tearing people down? Christ indeed is a master builder. I fear, some how, that I caused him more work than I should.   I will participate again with you now. But I want no part in weakening you. If it turns out that the contribution my "joint supplies" does not cause growth for the edifying of TT in love, I will cut it out. After all, it is not first your responsibility to see that I am strengthening you.   Greetings,   Bill