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
