And the Bible Says
A few weeks ago, something happened where I worship that I will remember for as long as I have a memory. A man taught an adult Bible class on a Wednesday evening.
Before you think that I’ve lost what little mind I have, let me explain. It is true that it is not unusual to have Wednesday evening Bible classes. It is not unusual for a man to teach a class like that. In fact, a lot of things were not unusual about that particular class that evening.
What was unusual, though, and what made this particular class memorable was the teacher. It was one of the first times he had ever taught Bible class. The elders where I worship had set aside a portion of our “church calendar” to give different men an opportunity to teach one or more classes from a book in the New Testament.
For the one of the first times ever, this brother stepped up and volunteered to teach one of the classes. In fact, he volunteered to be the very first teacher in the series. He has been a Christian for some time, but this was still new for him to volunteer to do anything like this.
As I sat in his class, it was very apparent that my brother had put a lot of time and effort into this class. He was very well prepared and presented his material in a clear and well-organized way. I was probably more nervous for him than he appeared to be. He did a wonderful job.
As I listened to him, I began to notice a thread that ran throughout the entire class. This thread became apparent very early and, with very rare exceptions, continued until the class ended. Our teacher would invite the class to turn to a particular passage and give the class members enough time to find the passage. Then, before he began to read, he would say,
“and the Bible says…”
In my opinion, my brother in the Lord was teaching us some very important things when he used those four words. First, he was reminding us that this was a Bible class. It was not a current events class, a class devoted to sharing theories or speculations, a time to “just hang out,” or any number of other things that are substituted for a period of time which is supposed to be set aside to study the most valuable and important book in existence.
Another thing that those four words communicated is very closely associated with that first observation. The Bible was held up as the final authority in the class. There was at least a “hint” that our opinions, preferences, ideas, etc. pale when compared with the will of God.
My brother also gave us the opportunity to, in effect, “hear from God.” For those of us who understand (correctly) that the words of the Bible are inspired by Deity, our ears were hearing the voice of a man, but that man was speaking the words of God. Something very similar to that happens when we read those words, but there seems to be an added dimension when we actually hear those words.
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God
(Romans 10:17, KJV, emphasis added)
I suppose that a lot more could be said, but maybe I’ve said enough to try to communicate my appreciation for this brother and what he did. Even more important than that, I appreciate the fact that he reminded me and all who were in his class about the importance of the word of God and of making it the actual focus of any time set aside to study it.
Thank you, Sam, for the job very well done and for the much-needed reminder.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn