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
