The Goal of Gathering
7/22/25 Bible Thought (1 Corinthians 14)
The goal of the Christian gathering is the glorifying of God and the edifying or building up of the body of believers.
In 1 Corinthians 14, the apostle Paul revisits the topic of spiritual gifts and their proper function within the church. Now, remember, in the last chapter, we saw that the more excellent way was love. It is no accident that love takes center stage between two chapters focusing on gifts.
Apparently, the Christians in Corinth believed they were spiritual while they were lacking in love.
While they were eager for manifestations of the Spirit, the apostle concluded that they ought to, “strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Cor. 14:12). Again, the goal of spiritual gifts was the “common good” (1 Cor. 12:7).
In chapter 14, the apostle focuses primarily on two gifts: speaking in tongues, and prophesying.
The one who spoke in an unknown tongue was unintelligible to those around him. Apart from some interpretation, everyone would be left in the dark. That person might feel really good about themselves and be built up in their own faith, but the goal of Christian worship isn’t to feel good about yourself but to build up the body (1 Cor. 14:5).
On the other hand, the one who would prophesy, that is, “to speak under the influence of divine inspiration”[1] would share messages from God intended to reveal things and would do so in their native tongue.
The obvious difference that the apostle is seeking to bring out is that one gift was for personal benefit, while the other was for corporate benefit. With prophecy, the church would be edified because they could actually understand what was being said—it was in their language.
As a result, Paul admonished them to strive after that which builds up the whole church and not just the individual believer! He concluded,
“What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26, emphasis added).
The goal of our gathering ought to never be for personal benefit as the chief aim, but what excels in the building up of the whole church.
In the modern era, if we aren’t careful, we can gather with the saints with our eyes focused on ourselves and what we get out of it and what we want. Will the right song be played? Will I enjoy the message? Will things go the way that I want?
We can quickly lose sight of the fact that the goal of the gathering is for all the believers to be built up and as such we shouldn’t put ourselves first.
When I preach, I don’t try and use theological terms that people don’t understand so that people might think I’m smart. The goal of my ministry isn’t to make me feel good and build myself up, but to build up the body.
The same could be said of the church’s singing. I’ve heard worship leaders who weren’t incredible singers, but they actually led the church in worship. The attention wasn’t really on them.
On the other hand, I’ve heard some worship leaders who were very gifted singers and could do all manner of things with their voice that the average congregant couldn’t come close to doing. They probably felt good about themselves, but if the goal is to lead others in worship and suddenly no one can follow, then perhaps the mark was missed. Corporate worship quickly becomes a spectator sport or concert.
The goal, all in all, is for the whole of the church to be built up.
Yes, the Christian faith is a personal thing. I have a personal relationship with God, and you should too. However, when we gather corporately it’s not about me and what’s best for me and my personal time with God. I have personal time with God from Monday-Saturday.
The corporate gathering is different as we gather together for the glorification of God and the edification of all the saints.
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[1] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996) 439.