PUMP YOU UP!
1 CORINTHIANS 14:26 NKJV
26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
That phrase is the famous line from the two pseudo-bodybuilders Hans and Franz. It's a phrase used in bodybuilding to describe the look gained from a hard workout with weights. So, by now, you are asking what does that have to do with the scripture for today?
Great question. Paul does not use the phrase pump you up, but he does use the word edification. That is a more sophisticated way of saying build you up. Paul was saying in verse 26 that all things were to be done for building each other up.
This entire chapter was dealing with disorder in the church services. Particularly the use of tongues in the services. Paul kept admonishing the church to make sure that what they were doing was building up the people, not confusing them.
So here is an important question. If Paul wrote the church and told them to make sure they were building each other up, then why do we spend so much time today tearing each other down?
People who don't speak in tongues go as far as to doubt the salvation of those who do. People who do speak in tongues disregard those who do not. And neither group can make a scriptural case for their disdain. Speaking with tongues has not passed away, but it should not be the dividing line between family members. We should be building each other up.
APPLICATION:
So how should this building up take place? Chapter 14 outlines that in a church service, all things should be done to build up, not confuse. Therefore, in the Church, the Body of Christ, we should apply the same principle.
Let's look for places where we agree, not disagree. I do not agree with many doctrinal positions in the Body of Christ today, but if we agree on Jesus as Lord, we have a place to connect. In verse 20 of this same chapter, Paul encourages the church to be babes when it comes to malice. Little ones are without malice, and they don't scheme, slander or manipulate
And there is a bigger picture here. As the Church, our objective is to reach a lost and dying world. When we are attacking each other, we take our eyes off the goal and we send the wrong message to the world.
There should be a difference in the people of God and the world. In a world that cancels out those who dare to have a contrasting perspective as God's children, we should operate in a different, better spirit.
PRAYER:
Lord, help me look for places to build up my family in Christ. I want to be one that builds Your Body, not one who tears it down.