Added Value

Meditations in First Corinthians

May 24, 2022

Added Value 

Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!

I Corinthians 9:16

Read: 1 Corinthians 9:12b-18

When I read verse 16, quoted above, I immediately thought of the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah. His autobiographical statement in Jeremiah 20:9 has been the compelling scripture for me throughout my ministry.

But if I say I’ll never mention the Lord

    or speak in his name,

his word burns in my heart like a fire.

    It’s like a fire in my bones!

I am worn out trying to hold it in!

    I can’t do it!

My good friend Dan Beeman was a management expert. He taught at seminars for our church district gatherings on how to conduct effective meetings. Once, he was doing a three-day workshop for a large organization on working as teams, and he made arrangements for me to attend, even though I was not part of the organization. For the second half of my pastoral ministry, I implemented the skills I learned from Dan on almost a daily basis. One of his favorite phrases was ‘Value-Added.’

For Dan, valued-added referred to what value will you be adding to someone’s life for the time they invest in attending your meeting or event. Paul would have embraced this phrase because whenever he spoke, or wrote, he always communicated the Gospel, and thus, there was always the potential for those receiving his words to receive Jesus. In today’s passage, Paul alludes both to the added value he is offering people, and to his right as an apostle to expect the people to add value to his life in the form of compensation. Paul’s response to this right was to affirm he was fulfilling God’s call on his life, and thus the only compensation he needed was the opportunity to speak (or write).

My Takeaway: We live in a valued-added society. People want to know what they are going to get out the time, attention, or money they give to something. Even in our churches, people will assert they are not being fed and move to another church. Paul’s word to us today is to first ask, “What has the Lord called me to do or say in this setting?” Maybe the Lord isn’t finished with you in your present setting. Or, maybe He is, and it is time to move on. But first, last, and always, we are led by the Lord!

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.