Hello, Friends!  Welcome to another issue of the Growing Steady newsletter!  

We hope you benefit by reading and thinking about our reflections.  And, please feel free to share your thoughts with us on these matters.

Also, if you missed our latest podcast conversation on “Volunteerism in the Church,” you’ can listen here.  We are looking to produce at least one more episode in this series.

Speaking of volunteerism in the church, I had something happen to me at church last Sunday that I’d like to share with you.  An elder walked up to where Becky and I were standing, threw an arm around my shoulder and said: “We have heard so many good things about your class.  (I’m teaching a Sunday morning Bible class on Paul’s letter to Titus.)  I just want to thank you for using your gift!"

I share this, not to boast—I’m reminded of a passage in 1 Corinthians 4: “What do you have that you did not receive?  And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?”—but to remind us 1) of the value of thanking people for what they do in service to the Lord.  His words meant a lot to me; 2) of the need to urge one another to use the gifts that the Lord has given to them; and 3) to help people in our church families identify their gifts.  Often, I feel like church leaders only look for volunteers to fill a need, rather than trying to match gifts with opportunities to serve.  Anyway, I appreciated that elder’s words of affirmation.

Alright.  On to this week’s GS content. (And thank you for your patience as we test new email platforms!)

—Kerry and Becky

(From Kerry 👨👋🏻)

Well, guess what.  I’m still thinking about that alarming statement my friend made. 

Here is that statement again, in case you’ve forgotten it:  “There are some things in the Bible I don’t have time for.”

You might recall that I was thinking about that line while reading about Abishag the Shunammite who was brought to the royal palace to keep King David warm (1 Kings 1:1-4) and the list of Solomon’s high officials and his administrative districts (1 Kings 4).  With my friend’s statement fresh on my mind, I asked myself: “What value is there in my knowing these stories in 1 Kings?”

Then, in the second post in what has become a series of posts on this topic, I acknowledged that there are indeed some things in the sacred writings which are of primary importance.  That’s what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 referring to the death and resurrection of Jesus.  To say that some matters are of “first importance” is to acknowledge that some matters are of secondary or even tertiary importance.

Jesus himself spoke of “the weightier matters of the law” (Matthew 23:23).  He identified justice, mercy, and faith as some of those weightier matters.  Of course, weightier matters implies the existence of less weighty matters.  Important matters, yes.  Not to be neglected matters, yes.  But, less weighty matters than weightier matters.

So, am I wrong to conclude from the above that there are some passages in the Bible that have greater importance, value, and possible benefit than other passages in the Bible?  I don’t how I can keep from reaching this conclusion.  What do you think?

Now, I’m not willing to claim that some passages in the Bible have no value.  Relative to other passages, they may have limited value.  The story of Abishag and the list of Solomon’s high officials may have less value to my life than the story of Jesus.  (Well, there’s no doubt about that!)  But, let’s not say those stories and texts have no value at all!

After all, we believe God preserved the sixty-six books that comprise our Bible for a reason, don’t we?  Is any one of us willing to say that God allowed some scripture into his inspired and revealed word that has no benefit at all?  I doubt it.

So, for example, what might be the value in reading the story of Abishag who was summoned to warm a king in his old age?  Consider something I read in a commentary on 1 Kings: “The use of a youth to restore vital warmth was an ancient medical practice” (1 and 2 Kings, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Donald J. Wiseman, p. 74).  You don’t say! I thought.  I didn’t know this!  To support his assertion, Wiseman referenced a couple of historians, one of whom was the Jewish historian, Josephus.

What does it matter, you say?  How about this?  The inclusion of the story of Abishag gives veracity to 1 Kings 1:1-4.  If summoning a youth to warm an older person was a practice of the day, it makes 1 Kings 1:1-4 a historically reliable text, placing it in a specific, historical place and time.  In other words, the inclusion of this story adds to the trustworthiness of the text.  It's just more evidence that the Bible, in general, and 1 Kings, in particular, is not myth or legend.

What the ancient chronicler of 1 Kings wrote must have actually happened.  That increases my faith that when I read the Old Testament, I can trust it to be historically accurate.

The same could be said of the list of Solomon’s high officials and administrative districts in 1 Kings 4.  Consider this: there are some seventy-two proper names and place names in the first nineteen verses of 1 Kings 4. What does that say to you?  To me, these proper names make it sound like the text is a legitimate historical record.  The passage may not tell me how to live; it may not tell me much about God and his will.  However, it does increase my faith that what I read there is an historically-accurate account.

At the very least, what we read in 1 Kings 4 makes it more likely that we are reading an historically-accurate account than an account that was fabricated out of thin air.  Again, this text speaks to the veracity of scripture.

That passage, then, has value, don’t you think?  It may not have as much value as the story of the historical event of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It may not have as much value as the scriptures that speak of the importance of justice, mercy, and faith.  But, it has value, nonetheless.

So, while I’m unwilling to say that there are passages in Holy Writ that have no value, I’m willing to say that some passages have more value to me than others.

So, what makes some scripture more valuable to me than others?  What qualifies in scripture as being “worth my time”?  This may be the subject of post number four in this series.  We’ll see.  Please stay tuned!
    

(Becky here 👩‍🦳👋🏻)

The church has always been a source of support and care for others.  However, I have a sense that very soon the church may need to step up and help more people in our communities as well as in our church families.  After all, this is part of why we exist as a body of believers.  But how do we help others without making them feel “less than” or judged because of their limited resources?  I believe this is a very important question for us to think about and reflect on.  How DO we help others in healthy ways?

Recently I was talking to a friend about this very subject.  She shared that near her church’s building is a neighborhood whose residents are on the lower end of the community’s social economic status.  She makes it a practice to frequently drop by this community and get to know some of the residents.  Recently she stopped by with some food items for a friend and also invited her, as well as her family, to come to church with her the next day and to stay for the noon meal.  Her friend was a bit taken aback, shocked with the invitation to be a part of a meal with the church family.  She did admit to my friend that another church had dropped off a turkey but that she was “just a project” for their Bible class.  

That was really sad for me to hear.  How in the world can we share Jesus with others if they perceive we don’t even want to be with them?  Or, that they are just a project?  Certainly the first rule of thumb in helping others is to genuinely love the souls of others and desire to serve them in the name of Jesus.  That is truly being about our Father’s business.  Anything short of that is probably just a check-the-box-project.

By the way, the woman, and her family, attended church with my friend and stayed for the meal.  She had a great time and relationships are being built!  I am praying that God will bless us all with many such opportunities to serve others in his name!