I wanted to take a few minutes and share my thoughts on a passage from the Bible that’s been on my radar lately:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. — Ephesians 4:29, ESV

Y’know, I think there’s a world of difference between what Paul was thinking when he said this, and what people today tend to think when they read it.

This verse marks the last of four times in this epistle where Paul uses the same word (Gr. oikodome, but your translation probably says something like “good for building up,” or “edifying”). Even so, when I’ve heard pastors preach on this topic they’ve typically focused in on an understanding of the word that’s informed solely by the verse itself, and divorced from other passages where Paul’s usage could shed light on what he means by it. This sort of thing always bugs me: if pastors are trying to build a true understanding of what Paul’s telling us to do here, then at the very least they ought to point us to those previous instances of the word. Right?

Because let me tell ya… it certainly helps it all make sense!

Here’s all four appearances of oikodome as they’re translated in the ESV. I’ve bolded (emboldened?) the word we’re talking about, and pointed out what I see as the key takeaway point from each (well, the key for understanding what Paul’s getting at with this “edification” stuff, at least):

1. Ephesians 2:19-22
   So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

   What’s the goal? In Jesus, we are being “edified” into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

2. Ephesians 4:11-14
   And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

   The purpose of “the 5-fold ministry” is to get the rest of us to a place where we’re equipped/trained/able to “edify” each other until we all reach the point of mature, Christ-like unity.

3. Ephesians 4:15-16
   Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

   Here Paul starts connecting our words with this concept of “edification.” He describes something like a circuit, where loving words of truth lead to our growing up into Christ, which feeds back into our expressed love leading to more growth, etc.

4. Ephesians 4:25-32
   Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

   Now that we have the previous passages as context, we can see that when Paul talks about “building up,” he’s referring to talk that leads to increased spiritual growth and purity. (In a nutshell, “edifying speech” could also be called “sanctifying speech.”)

What concerns me is that, in the sermons I’ve heard addressing the topic of “edifying speech,” most pastors seem to have taken a cue from pop psychology, and changed this word’s meaning away from “sanctifying” and toward something akin to “affirming.” No longer is “edifying speech” about growing the body into greater Christ-likeness, but now it’s a tool we use to make ourselves feel better about ourselves, and avoid any unpleasantness we’d rather not deal with.

When we do this, priorities shift. Jesus being glorified by our increasingly pure reflection of Him? That’s no longer as important as making sure we only ever say things that give out brothers and sisters (and pastors) warm fuzzies.

That’s just messed up.

Now of course, we’re supposed to speak in love! And we’re to stash the bitterness and malice. But according to 4:25, Paul doesn’t think truth should be sacrificed on the altar of flattery.

So this passage doesn’t seem to say anything definitive against “sharing a bad report” (as I’ve heard some pastors seem to have recently implied). If you’re sharing such things it out of bitterness or malice, then it would be wrong to do so… for other reasons.

But if you’re sharing that “bad report” so that Jesus’ Bride can see it, be alarmed, and focus on those blemishes being cleaned… then in fact Paul encourages the behavior!

So in summary: Paul’s goal is for us to leave each other a little more like Jesus. Sometimes, that means we need to “share a bad report,” to staunch the flow of disease and call attention to some behavior that’s damaging the Body.

Even—no, especially—when that behavior is coming from those who presume to lead and teach. The Body of Christ is not built up when wolves are praised as wonderful leaders.

“For God so loved the [universe], that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the [universe] to condemn the [universe], but in order that the [universe] might be saved through him.” — John 3:16-17 (ESV)

And no, I’m not talking about universalism–that’s a whole different beast. What I’m talking about is this idea that’s grabbed me—that maybe John 3:16 has less to do with God loving “each individual person” and more with loving his entire creation and seeking its redemption. Like Paul told the believers in Corinth:

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. — 1 Corinthians 8:19-24 (ESV)

The entire universe was “subjected to futility,” “its bondage to corruption”–that is, entropy–along with us, so that it will also be restored along with us! It is an unbiblical notion that God only sent Jesus to redeem people. When man sinned, the universe cracked under the weight of our guilt. Jesus has come, and is coming again to make all things new!

And he said to them, “Go into all the [universe] and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” — Mark 16:15 (ESV)

And what has NASA done with the Hubble telescope? And what of all the many television and radio signals shooting off into the ether? Whether they intended to or not is beside the point; the gospel is being proclaimed by the whole creation and to the whole creation.

“And then the end will come.” The end where he says,

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.“

Just think about that for a minute: a day is coming when living a life apart from God… and tears… and death… and mourning… and crying… and pain will all be “former things.”

That’s a Sabbath rest worth getting excited about!

None of this is to say we shouldn’t test what we’ve been taught, talk it out, use the community as the context for “field testing” theology, work at iron sharpening iron, hold our teachers accountable, etc. It is only to say that the worship gathering is not the right forum for the discussion. — Jared Wilson, Further Thoughts on Sermon-centric Worship

“When you come together… Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. [...] If there is anything [the women] desire to learn, let them ask their [men] at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.” — The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 14:26,29,35 (ESV)

I wish Jared would go the whole way and require the non-preaching men of his church to wear dresses!

Moses isn’t trying to remind his people of a timeless truth here (although it is a timeless truth). The people had just witnessed God’s miraculous handling of the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s armies. They had just been saved from certain destruction at an angry king’s hand. This is an adrenaline-pumped song of celebration!

When was the last time you had cause for celebration like this? When was the last time God pulled your backside out of the fire in a major way?

• Able to keep you from stumbling

  Do you–like me–need to be reminded of this? So many times, my dogged pursuit of the truth is (or later becomes) driven by my lack of faith in this area. I live a life that reflects Ben Franklin’s (unbiblical) adage, “God helps those who help themselves.” Instead of trusting God to keep me from stumbling, I rely on my own efforts and, ironically enough, this is itself a sort of stumbling.

• present you blameless… with great joy

  He’s speaking of God’s great joy, not ours. It’s easy to think of my own joy being great when I’m finally presented “blameless before the presence of his glory,” but I’ll admit that I usually see God as an exhausted parent who’s just barely tolerating me. It’s unnatural for me to think of him as being filled with “great joy” at my final blameless presentation; instead, my tendency is to think if him collapsing in his throne and thinking, “finally, that’s over!”

• the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord

  Isn’t is so easy to see God (the Father) as the big, mean disciplinarian and Jesus as the kind, forgiving one (like a cosmic “good cop/bad cop”)? But no, the Father himself is our Savior.

• to God… be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever

  This isn’t a request, it’s a declaration: all glory, majesty, dominion and authority have been, are, and will forever belong to God! He even has dominion over our souls, which is how he can “present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.” The ESV got it wrong; this should end with an exclamation mark!

And after playing around a bit, I came up with this one:

I think it fits the iPod better, for a few reasons:

1. The verse reference is based on the iTunes sidebar.
2. It’s easier to read in an iPod’s photo thumbnail screen.
3. The blue gradient is pretty snazzy.

So if you’re wondering why the new images look different, that’s why!

What I mock is exactly the same thing that we find mocked in the pages of the New Testament—ecclesiastical stuffed-shirt pretentiousness, and an inability to maintain a sense of godly proportion. You know, camels and gnats, gold and altars, and justice and mercy and tithing from the spice rack.

(Source: Douglas Wilson, Reformed Catholicity)

How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, the pastor hath a doctrine, and the minister of music hath psalms. Let all things be done unto edifying. If anyone besides the pastor hath a doctrine, let him not speak; let him hold his peace. Let him sit in the pew, and face the back of the neck of the person which sitteth ahead of him. Let the people keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith church tradition. But if they will learn anything, let them ask their pastor after the service, for it is a shame for a layman to speak in the church. For the pastor, he hath a seminary degree, and the layman, he hath not so lofty a degree. If any man desire to remain a church member in good standing, let him acknowledge that what I write to you is the command of the denominational headquarters. But if any man ignore this, he shall be promptly escorted out the door by the ushers. Wherefore brothers, covet not to speak in the church. Let all things be done decently and in the order in which it hath been written in the church bulletin.

How to Have a New Testament Church Meeting

Alright, ESV guys. I can understand a little bit of repeating, but with over 400 verses in the Daily Verse database, what’s with getting this one twice in the course of a week?

Yup, it’s a repeat. Hey, they said verses are randomly chosen!

So this weekend, let’s take a look at the race we’re running, and consider what may need to be laid aside so that we can run the race marked out for us. (Lay Aside Every Weight)

Of course, I said this before a weekend in which Nicole had two birthday parties and I got hit with hay fever of flu-like proportions. Benadryl didn’t work. Claritin didn’t work. Sudafed didn’t work.

After we got back from her Saturday party, I went to bed around Midnight. An itchy throat woke me up at 2:20am, and from that point until I gave up trying (around 8:30am) I could only doze off for 5-10 minutes every half-hour.

Then we assisted in the 3-year-olds’ Sunday School class.

Then there was the impromptu Care Group picnic/party that afternoon. (Not only were we treated to free meatball subs for lunch, but our CG leader’s wife got Nicole a cake and everything!)

I don’t know whether it was due to sheer exhaustion or liquid Benadryl actually soothing my throat better than caplets, but when I laid down on the couch at around 4pm on Sunday I was finally able to get some rest. Then I woke up for a late supper, and I couldn’t get back to sleep again until about 1:30am.

So I hope you don’t get the wrong idea from posts like Friday’s: just because I set lofty goals doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve actually met them. I wasn’t able to do much thinking at all over the weekend, let alone deep thinking over weighty spiritual matters. But you know what I was able to do? Ironically, I was able to run the race set before me—at least, the race set before in those moments. When I’m going on two hours’ sleep and I’ve got to corral ten preschoolers for ninety minutes, extraneous things fall by the wayside. When I’m desperate for any little bit of sleep I can grab, I’m not going to be puttering around on the internet. I’m far more likely to be praying desperately for some heavenly Unisom! (And shouldn’t I be praying when I’m sick anyway?)

And even though I wasn’t able to put much effort into considering my race, I think God decided he didn’t need my help—that he was perfectly capable of revealing things to me on his own schedule. You see, Saturday evening we watched The Pursuit of Happyness with my family, and my heart was broken. Here was a man who was facing tough times. At one point he’s in a homeless shelter run by a church. Sounds great, a church helping the poor… but this man had a small boy to take care of, and nobody in that church offered anything more than a chance for a cot for the night. Where was the invitation for something a bit more accommodating—at least for the boy’s sake?*

And here I am, sitting almost in the middle of the Baltimore metro area. How many Chris Gardners are nearby? Are they even attending services at my local church, but I haven’t bothered to get involved in their lives?

poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me (Derek Webb, Rich Young Ruler)

The problem is that I’m just like the church folk in that movie: I may mean well, but I fall far short of what’s needed—even when it’s in my power. I may not have a lot, but I have enough for 1 John 3:16-18 to apply to me:

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

“We ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” Talk is cheap. Even prayers and blessings—when not accompanied by actions—are worthless (no, really, it’s in the Bible). Now is the time to act: to do anything else would be a denial of the Faith.

* As I was writing this post, I became aware of a number of differences between events as they were portrayed in the film and events as they actually happened. So in all honesty, I have no idea what the people at Glide actually did and didn’t do in regard to Mr. Gardner. Thus, this isn’t intended to be a slight on them, but I’m sadly certain there’s many congregations that fit the bill.

If not, the trouble could be some clingy sin that’s got you tangled up. But maybe not; maybe the problem is something that isn’t sin, but is still holding you back.

• What are you lugging around that’s slowing you down?
• What are you letting distract you from your life’s calling?
• Why won’t you let it go?

These are questions I’m asking myself. I can get so wrapped up in fun distractions that aren’t sin, or even in Godly endeavors that I haven’t been called to do, that I just don’t do what I’m here for. But you know what? There is a “great cloud of witnesses”—a stadium full of those who have gone before us—who surround us. They’ve accomplished what we’re being called to accomplish. It can be done.

So this weekend, let’s take a look at the race we’re running, and consider what may need to be laid aside so that we can run the race marked out for us. Not the race we’d prefer to run, because we’re to look to the Author and Perfecter of our faith—Jesus, who endured the pain and shame of his race, and did it for what he knew was coming when he crossed the finish line.

Let’s drop the distractions, and look at Christ instead. Let’s stop puttering around the track, and run with endurance.

• On the Highlighting of Many Books…
  If our possessions really belong to God, then why are we marking up “our” books? Do you mark up library books?
• The Cross Centered Life: Not Just for the Wealthy!
  Two in-print books are repackaged as if they were a single, new one… and who knows how many people were hoodwinked in the process?
• Cognitive Dissonance: Money and the Church
  The United States’ welfare system could be eliminated solely by Christians providing reasonable levels of financial assistance to those in need. But instead, let’s get some plasma TV screens for our church building’s lobby… we want to be relevant, don’tcha know!
• Silver and Gold ARE Money…
  The “dollar bill,” however, is not. It’s simply a promise to pay issued by an organization which is in the red by trillions. Think they’ll make good on that IOU anytime soon?
• 2007: Time To Circle The Wagons?
  Is that recession I smell? Possibly.
• What Does the Bible Say About the Tithe?
  Hint: It’s not what most pastors and radio teachers are telling you…

And now there’s this verse that says integrity and character are more important than a house, stock portfolio or retirement account. And that’s true. The lie would be if you said a poor man is better than a rich man, period. No, the point of this proverb is the same point Jesus made: namely, pursue holiness no matter the cost.

But are we really willing to do that?

I can relate to the Psalmist: there are times when I’m listening for the Lord’s counsel and just not hearing anything… and His silence is like death. I become numb, and echo that Ecclesiastical “meaningless!” more than I do at any other time.

Nothing else matters when He’s giving me the silent treatment. In those moments, the only thing in the world that I want is to know that He is not deaf to me.

Maybe that’s why He does it.

What does it mean to “always [carry] in the body the death of Jesus”? I wonder if perhaps those of us in “open” countries (that is, those nations where there are no legal repercussions for embracing Christianity) really have any idea what Paul’s talking about here. The things he’s talking about here (being afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down): is he speaking generally, or is he referring directly to results of living out the Christian life?

And if this is intended to be a snapshot of the “normal” Christian life, but we’re not experiencing what he experienced, should we wonder about “the life of Jesus [being] manifested in our bodies”?

I don’t have an answer in mind… I’m just wondering. I’d love to know what you think.

So the weekend may have been a little bumpy, but I was given a nice tip from Stephen Smith (Good News / Crossway’s webmaster) and figure it’s going to be smooth sailing from here on out.

Then again, I can’t say for sure; “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” — Proverbs 16:9 (ESV, of course.)

I feel better now that the weekend’s been covered.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to pass along the official instructions for syncing your iPod with a photo folder on your computer.