One Anothers #7: "Edify One Another” Series

Every K.I.D.S. CHURCH teacher and every MIDDLE SCHOOL CLASS teacher and every HOMEGROUP leader should study and prepare and pray and seek God’s face so that he or she can teach or carry out his or her ministry so that everything is done decently and in order to build up the saints.

IIIl. THE THIRD WAY THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT EDIFYING ONE ANOTHER IS BY MAKING SURE THAT OUR EVERY ACTION IS EDIFYING IN ITS EFFECT SO THAT IT WILL BUILD UP OTHERS – 2 Corinthians 12:19 – “Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.”

Paul said that he did everything for the Corinthians with one idea in mind—to edify them, to build them up, to strengthen and help them.

Sometimes carnal Christians want to do the opposite, though— If they’re jealous against someone, they’ll try to tear that person down. If they’re envious, they’ll try to diminish them—put them in their place. If they’re a gossip, they’ll delight in telling that tender morsel of wicked untruth, or partial truth, or truth that ought not be told that hurts and harms another. If they’re proud and vainglorious, then in order to lift themselves up, they must of necessity tear down other brothers or sisters in Christ.

Shame on you if you do those things! God help you to live life with the goal to edify and build up other believers. God help you to go to work with the single-minded desire to edify and build up your co-workers. At home, God help you to not tear away at your wife’s or your husband’s self-image, but to edify your spouse; to build your spouse up. Same thing with your children.

How I wish that every one of us evaluated every single action we ever did as to whether it edified our brethren.

IV. LASTLY, THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT EDIFICATION WITH REGARD TO OUR SPEECH – Ephesians 4:29 – “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but only such as is good for edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.” – We need to unpack this verse to really get the most out of it:

First, what does Paul mean by “corrupt communication”? The Greek word translated “corrupt” means “worthless, bad, or rotten.” That covers any kind of bad speech, from cursing and profanity, to gossip and slander, to off-color and dirty jokes, to complaining and murmuring.

Second, Paul says to let NO corrupt communication come out of your mouth. We make excuses for our corrupt communication. We make allowances for ourselves so that if we’re really, really ticked off, we feel justified to use corrupt communication. Or we use bad language to fit in with the crowd. But Paul does not equivocate here in the least: He says, “Let NO corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth”—No exceptions; no excuses; no allowances; none; nada; ZERO tolerance!

After telling us what kind of communication should NOT proceed out of our mouths, Paul tells us what kind of speech we SHOULD speak – “…that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers.”