Articles
The Consistent Need of Edification
There was once a man who wrote a letter to the editor of a Christian newspaper. He wrote about how he didn’t understand why he had to go to church every week. He cer-tainly was missing the point in multiple are-as, but this was his reasoning on why he felt it was unnecessary: “I've gone for 30 years now, and in that time, I have heard some-thing like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time." Another man wrote back in response to this state-ment by saying “I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals, But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritu-ally dead today!"
Certainly, we know that we are to gather together on the first day of the week to par-take of the Lord Supper, as we follow the example of the Christians in Acts 20:7. We also are to give as we have been given by God on the first day of the week, as seen in 1st Corinthians 16:2. The man who wrote the original post certainly missed the mark on those two points, and he missed the mark on the point that was made in response. We are going to look at this point for the remainder of this article. There is a great importance on coming together to worship God. First and foremost, you are worshipping God. You are praising the One who created everything and saw it was good. The God Who sent His Son, who also is God, to die for His creation in order to give us the opportunity to have eter-nal life with Him if we want it. To praise Him is an honor and a privi-lege and that’s important.
Secondly, the benefit it is for you. I like how the man who wrote of his wife’s cooking wrote about having eaten many meals. I could tell you where I’ve eaten before, but I couldn’t tell you the drink, the side dishes, the main entrée for every meal on a specific day and time. Likewise, we may not be able to remember what songs we sang at church on January 26th, 2025, but I know I did sing songs in praise to God. I may not be able to tell you what the sermon(s) was/were about on June 16th, 2013 (Yes that was a Sunday), But what I can tell you is that I was edified. First and foremost, those teaching need to make sure what they teach is truth. Secondly, for those who are not giving the sermon, you have the responsibility to listen. To make sure what is being taught is true and taking that truth and putting into practice. If truth is taught in a sermon application and growth can be made. If we walk away from a sermon saying that we got nothing out of it, in most cases that’s the fault of the listener and not the fault of the one who gave the lesson. Again, If truth is taught in a sermon, application and growth can be made. God’s word is applicable always, and regardless of how the speaker may have presented God’s word, you and I are capable of making it ap-ply to our situations. 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correc-tion, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.” All means all!
When we open God’s word there is benefit to be found and benefit to be found every time! If we are looking to find nutrition for our souls, if we are looking for more knowledge and wisdom to be able to serve God and His people better, we need to be going to God’s word and that certainly happens at church services! Jesus says in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteous-ness, for they will be satisfied.” Satisfaction every single time and that includes coming together with the brothers and sisters.
We all are also in need of edification and reminders of God’s word. In recording one of the episodes for the podcast this past week, I got the needed reminder of what is said in Proverbs 3:5-6. I was familiar with those verses but that didn’t’ change my need for a reminder! If you turn your Bible over to 2nd Peter 1, you’ll find this idea also pre-sented by the apostle Peter. Peter has talked about how through God’s divine power, He has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness. That God has granted to us precious and magnificent promises so that we can become partakers of the divine nature! Be-cause of that, we are to apply to ourselves what is listed in verse 5-7. Peter writes in verses 8-9 that by having these qualities and focusing on growing in them, we will not be useless or unproductive in our service to God! In verses 10-11, Peter writes about being diligent to make certain about the calling and choice that God has made about us. That by doing the things that were written, the entrance into the kingdom of Jesus will be abundantly supplied to us. If we didn’t have a sense of urgency to apply the traits, we saw in v5-7, we better now! This brings me to verse 12, where Peter says “Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you.” They already knew the things that Peter was writing to them, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t use the reminder! We always need edification from God’s word, even if it’s from a text we have read hundreds of times!
