Excelling in Edifying

Excellence in Edification 1 Corinthians 14

Friday, August 24, 2018

1:35 AM

Read: 1 Corinthians 14:1-17

TEXT: 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

The Corinthian church had its many struggles. One of those struggles was their zeal for spiritual gifts. Now I think that people today, and in fact I have even struggled with this issue. Paul never condemns them for wanting to have spiritual gifts. In fact he tells them to "desire spiritual gifts" in the first verse.

But Paul recognizes the dangers of people letting their "spiritual gifts" running away with them.

He gives us some principles to guide the use of those spiritual gifts in their use in public and corporate worship.

Now he gives more liberty and freedom to an individual's use of their spiritual gifts during their private devotions, but in public settings there are some dangers to watch for and Apostle Paul explains those in the verses I read.

It is better to prophesy - He starts out by commanding the church first of all to "Follow after charity." You can read the previous chapter to know a little more about what he is referring to. Simply put "charity" is divine love. And it seems it is something you have to be given by God but also pursue or follow after to align yourself with. Paul contrast the gift of tongues - and no one in the Bible disputes that tongues are a gift of the Spirit. But from what I can understand the tongues mentioned in the Bible are languages perhaps not understood even by the speaker but known by someone. But the speaker is empowered or given supernaturally the ability to speak or be heard in an unlearned or learned language. With several words I want us to identify this morning before we get into the principle and purpose for the gifts of the Spirit in public worship. Lets look for a moment at verse 6

1 Corinthians 14:6 (KJV)

6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?

Notice he contrasts the gift of speaking in tongues with these four things. According to 2 Corinthians 12:7- "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;"

These would fit under the "WORD OF KNOWLEDGE" Gift

Revelation - an expression of the mind of God for the instruction of the church, 1 Cor. 14:6, 26, for the instruction of the Apostle Paul, 2 Cor. 12:1, 7; Gal. 1:12, and for his guidance, Gal. 2:2; Knowledge - meaning the faculty of unfolding and expounding theoretically the deeper knowledge or fundamental principles of the Christian religion, equivalent to what in Luke 11:52

Luke 11:52 (KJV)

52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered. is called the "key of knowledge"; 1 Cor. 13:2, 8; 14:6; 2 Cor. 8:7).

Complete Word Study Dictionary, The - The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament.

Prophesying

The Greek word for “prophecy,” prophēteia, denotes two ideas: that of “forth-telling,” or speaking for God, and that of “foretelling,” or predicting future events. Both aspects of the word are found in the New Testament.

Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained.

According to Paul, the primary purpose of prophecy is to build up the church. In 1 Corinthians 14:3 he says, “… one who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them.” Again, in 1 Corinthians 14:4, Paul states that the “… one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.” Paul discussed the subject of spiritual gifts, particularly tongues-speaking and prophecy, because the Corinthians had placed an excessive emphasis on speaking in tongues. Prophecy, which consisted of comprehensible speech inspired by the Spirit,

[ COMPARED TO TONGUES WHICH CONSISTED OF INCOMPREHENSIBLE SPEECH, SUPPOSEDLY INSPIRED BY THE SPIRIT. ]

contributed to the mutual edification and encouragement of all present (1 Cor. 14:20-25, 39).

Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained.

Doctrine - Teaching

All of these things were better than speaking in tongues according to Paul because he said they could edify -

Being zealous of Spiritual Gifts is alright according to Paul but the guiding principal in using them in public worship is for the edification of others - not yourself.

Look at our text verse 12 -

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

Edifying - 19435 οἰκοδομή, ῆς, ἡ (1) as an action; (a) literally building, construction; (b) figuratively, of spiritual encouragement making more able, edifying, building up (1C 14.12; 2C 13.10), Friberg Lexicon

Paul says we need to in whatever our spiritual gift is to use that to "edify or build up or lift up the church service."

I pray that each one of us who belong to God and house some spiritual gift that we would take this seriously . We not only have a responsibility, but an opportunity.

Those testimonies that seem so insignificant to you, that seem so hard to give, that seem unimportant to you - could be so helpful to other people. Seek God during the week for a prophecy, a revelation, a word of knowledge, a doctrine that He would like for you to talk about next week. Something that will build up lift up the church. I don't mean that will make everyone cry, or shout, or anything like that - although if that is what it does that is ok,

I mean something that will edify the church. Sometimes we say, "That is the preacher's job" And yes that is part of my role - but this passage wasn't written to the pastor of Corinth it was read to the entire congregation - to be used by everyone.

Let's excel be excellent - master the art - of edifying speech. - Edifying isn't just feel good, or motivational as we understand it today

Perhaps I can define it better with an illustration -

When geese migrate they can be seen flying in a V-shaped formation. While to us on the ground it is a thing of beauty, to the geese it is an essential for survival. If you watch them, you will observe that at certain intervals, relative to the strength of the headwind, the lead bird—who was doing the most work by breaking the force of wind—will drop off and fly at the end of the formation.

The reason for this is that the V-formation is much more efficient than flying close; up to 60 percent less work is required!

It has been discovered that the flapping wings create an uplift of air, an effect that is greater at the rear of the formation.

So the geese take turns "uplifting" one another. By cooperating—working together—the geese can achieve long migrations that would otherwise be exceedingly difficult for the strongest and deadly for the others.

In a similar manner, when believers in Christ actively uplift one another through prayer, sharing material means, and heart-to-heart friendship and caring, they can go further into godliness than if they attempt their pilgrimage alone.372

Michael P. Green, ed., “Edification,” in Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1989), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 114.

I want for me and for you to excel in edification. TO be experts in lifting up. It doesn't take education, it doesn't take a vast vocabulary, it doesn't even take eloquence.

It just takes a mind and heart filled with love and the Holy Spirit.