What should you bring to church? A passion for edification.

Mark preached yesterday from 1 Corinthians 14:1-5, using a lesson about the technical differences between the spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy to make the overall point that any spiritual gift–tongues, prophecy or otherwise–is successful to the degree that it builds up the church. To help us understand this, Mark quoted Gordon Fee:

“The point of everything in corporate worship is not personal experience in the Spirit, but building up the church itself.” (Fee, 1 Corinthians, 667)

In fact, Mark explained, church is unique in that there are a million places someone could go to pamper their selfish desires, but church is the only place to go to–in love–be passionate about building others up. It’s one of the things that makes church unique.

So whether we are at caregroup, five15, a prayer meeting, or at a Sunday meeting, we need to make our job description to edify others. Mark mentioned at least four ways to do this: greeting people we don’t know (five15 Challenge, anyone?), encouraging others for how God is at work in their lives, thanking people for their service and participation in the church, and praying for others.

What do you bring to church? Is your passion to edify others? When was the last time you greeted encouraged, thanked, or prayed for someone on a Sunday morning or at a five15 meeting? Ask your parents for advice about how to make this a priority every time you gather with God’s people.

Categories: Monday Matters, five15 blog