Slide 1:“Godly Edification”

Slide 2:Edification According to God. Many religious groups speak of edification, yet not according to God. Examples: “Sunday morning coffee and doughnuts”, banquets, “potluck” dinners, pizza parties; “Edifying Entertainment” - Concerts, plays, movies, comedians; “The Ministry of Recreation” (exercise, sports, yoga) camping, etc.

Slide 3:Only the edification that God gives by faith will truly edify us: 1 Timothy 1:3-4 (NKJV)3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia — remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.

Slide 4:“The means” are just as important to God as “the ends” in attaining the desired outcome in the work of edification. “Godly edification” not man-centered edification is critical to obtaining spiritual results.

Slide 5:What does it mean to Edify? “To build up” “Edify” (OIKODOMEO):“to build a house” and “usually signifies ‘to build,’ whether literally or figuratively” (cf. Vine, Thayer Greek Lexicon) To build up Christians spiritually is the goal of edification (Eph. 4:15-16).

Slide 6:What does it mean to Edify? “To build up” Christians are commanded to “build up” (edify) one another.

Slide 7:1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NKJV) Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Slide 8:Ephesians 4:29 (NKJV) Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Slide 9:Romans 14:19 (NKJV) Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Slide 10:Romans 15:1-2 (NKJV) 1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.

Slide 11:Our efforts will either have the effect of building up (edification) or tearing down (destruction).

Slide 12:2 Corinthians 10:8 (NKJV) For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed —

Slide 13:2 Corinthians 13:10 (NKJV) Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction.

Slide 14:How we go about the work of edification is very important!

Slide 15:The Spiritual Process of Edification. God’s people are built up (edified) by the word of God.

Slide 16:Acts 20:32 (NKJV) So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up (edify - OIKODOMEO) and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Slide 17:No other teaching than the doctrine of Christ will edify God’s people. 1 Timothy 1:3-4 (NKJV)3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia — remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, 4 nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith.

Slide 18:Only our most holy faith as given by the Holy Spirit can edify us. Jude 20 (NKJV)But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.

Slide 19:Many equate “feel good preaching” as edification when in fact edification is accomplished by the reproof, rebuke, and exhortation of God’s word.

Slide 20:2 Timothy 4:1-2 (NASB) 1 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

Slide 21:2 Timothy 4:3-4 (NASB) 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.

Slide 22:God’s pattern needs to be followed, His authority respected in order to obtain the right results of edification.

Slide 23:Colossians 3:17 (NKJV) And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Slide 24:Godly edification will lead to godly results when done in love (1 Timothy 1:4-5; Ephesians 4:16b; 1 Corinthians 8:1)

Slide 25:The Spiritual Process of Edification. God’s people are built up (edified) by the word of God. Edification is not the end goal, but the process of building us up into something.

Slide 26:1 Corinthians 14:26 (NASB) What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

Slide 27:We often speak of the great value of edification, yet sometimes lose sight of the end goal. Into what are we built or edified?

Slide 28:The word “edify” (OIKODOMEO) sometimes refers to the building of something that is physical.

Slide 29:Mark 12:1 (NASB) And He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard, and put a wall around it, and dug a vat under the wine press, and built (OIKODOMEO) a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.

Slide 30:John 2:19-21 (NASB) 19 Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews therefore said, "It took forty-six years to build (OIKODOMEO) this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

Slide 31:Into what do you want to be edified (built up) into? Or into what do you want the church to be built up into?

Slide 32:Acts 9:31 (NKJV) Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied.

Slide 33:Built Up (Edified) into the House of God. The goal of edification is to be built-up into the spiritual house of God. “Edify” (OIKODOMEO) literally means “to build a house”

Slide 34:1 Peter 2:4-5 (NASB) 4 And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Slide 35:To build God’s house, the right foundation must be laid (Christ), building (edification) according to His word.

Slide 36:Luke 6:46-47 (NASB) 46 "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47 "Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like:

Slide 37:Luke 6:48 (NASB) he is like a man building (OIKODOMEO) a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Slide 38:Luke 6:49 (NASB) 49 But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built (OIKODOMEO) a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.

Slide 39:1 Corinthians 3:9-11 (NASB) 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. 11 For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Slide 40:A spiritual house is a “holy temple in the Lord” where God dwells.

Slide 41:Ephesians 2:19-22 (NKJV) 19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Slide 42:Built Up (Edified) into the House of God. The goal of edification is to be built-up into the spiritual house of God. The house of God is also the house of Christ.

Slide 43:Hebrews 3:4-6 (NASB) 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

Slide 44:Christ is the One whom we all want to be built up into, becoming more and more like Jesus as a result of godly edification.

Slide 45:Ephesians 4:11-12 (NKJV) 11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

Slide 46:Ephesians 4:13, 15 (NKJV) 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; … 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ —

Slide 47:Ephesians 4:16 (NKJV) 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

Slide 48:The number one goal of edification is to become more like Christ!

Slide 49:1 Peter 2:21 (NASB) For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps.

Slide 50:Only “Godly Edification” Will Bring a Godly Increase(1 Cor. 3:6-9)