Thought for Thursday
Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 1 Corinthians 14:12
Nearly every morning, the principal of a local high school would leave his office for an hour or more and go outside with a trash bag. He would go all over the school grounds and pick up all of the litter that had accumulated since the previous day. He felt it was important to keep the school grounds tidy. And he also felt it was important to show an example to the students of picking up after themselves. Whether the students learned to pick up litter we don’t know, but the students mocked the principal for taking the time for such a trivial matter while ignoring problems going on inside the school. We also need to make sure that we don’t spend all of our time and effort in the Assembly on minor matters while ignoring the most important.
Small things need to be looked after. The cleaning of the Hall, the arranging of the chairs, the greeting of people at the door, these all must be looked after. But they should never take precedence over the most important matter of gathering in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The appreciation of His presence is always foremost. We remember Him in the Breaking of Bread, we proclaim Him in the Gospel meetings, we entreat Him and study about Him in the prayer meeting and Bible studies. And when it comes to spiritual gifts, our text makes it clear that our priority is for the edifying of the Lord’s people.
Paul had some issues to address in Corinth that we do not have in our day. Some of the sign-gifts were still in evidence at that time, including those of languages and prophesying. And Paul needed to point out that some of those, languages especially, were less profitable to the Assembly than others, such as prophesying. Paul points out the need to assess our activities on the basis of whether they are edifying. Those who give a word of ministry, for example, should have as their goal the building up of the Lord’s people, not the display of their own knowledge and abilities. Such a message should teach the Word, should encourage, should exhort, should give the saints something to build upon. The Bible study should always be about learning more of God’s Word, and should never be about pushing our favourite agendas or ideas. Expounding the Scriptures should always take precedence over telling stories. We need to be edified, and that need must always be front and centre in our Assembly activities.
Edifying the Assembly was important to Paul and is important to the Holy Spirit. Is it important to us? -Jim MacIntosh