“Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ; but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying” (2 Corinthians 12: 19 KJV).
“Let all things be done unto edifying” (1 Corinthians 14: 26 KJV).
It would be good to ask ourselves if we went to church to be edified or to be entertained. For in most churches, we see more entertainment than edification.
Edification literally means a building up to advancing, improving, instructing, adorning, or improving the mind and spiritual nature. Christians are edified that they might grow “into a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 13).
Entertainment, however, is something that is done to divert one’s attention from their problems in the form of amusement, fun, play, and/or pleasure.
According to Scripture, everything done in the church should be done for the purpose of edifying the believers. And, again, this edifying is done with the purpose in mind of making Christians more Christ like.
But today, there is little if any edifying being carried out in the church. In order to get crowds into the church, the church has turned to using the methods of the world. And the world entertains to get crowds. The church would be better off on judgment day if she had only a small crowd that wanted to be like Christ and edified them rather than entertaining a large crowd that had no desire to be like Christ.
The church has gone from developing the Christians’ holiness and morals to addressing their happiness and morale. The church has become more interested in the felt needs of its people than the real needs of its people. The felt needs of the people can be met through entertainment without it ever touching the real needs such as repentance of the people and therefore is no help at changing hearts and lives.
A Christian should ask themselves if they are improving spiritually and becoming more like Christ through attending their church. Do they attend their church because they are entertained or because they are edified? Do they go to their church for a pep rally or for a revival?
If the church, through such means as entertainment, has improved your morale while leaving you enslaved to low morals, then the church has deceived and misled you. Martin Lloyd Jones said, “Any agency that makes me feel satisfied when my relationship with God is not right, is of the devil, and is my greatest enemy.” The church needs a real revival, not another worthless pep rally.
