Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “Children of the Promise”. As always, our quarterly has submitted for our consideration a lesson to probe. If we think any lesson or any sermon or any Sabbath School class has tapped the complete understanding of any topic, then we are likely quite content with an incomplete understanding. The things of God are limitless. We are the ones who are the limiter.
Our reluctance to dig is often due to the work it takes to probe. The digging it takes. It is hard work… this “understanding”. In many ways, it is easier to do heavy manual labor. The issue is also in our assumptions. Assumptions that we may have developed over the years. Assumptions that seem to fit with our “picture” that we’ve developed over time. But assumptions, nevertheless. Assumptions that are difficult to unearth and that may be part of our upbringing from early childhood. So to go beyond those basic assumptions into “undiscovered territory” is a little daunting. But go beyond we must. As EGW states so well, “Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ” (Desire of Ages pg. 331). So if we stop probing here on this earth, if we stop striving to see more and still “more of thee”, are we really being “fitted for heaven”? It will take much effort “to attain perfect submission to God's will, but we can never stop short of it and be fitted for heaven. True religion will lead its possessor on to perfection. Your thoughts, your words, and your actions, as well as your appetites and passions, must be brought into subjection to the will of God. You must bear fruit unto holiness. Then you will be led to defend the poor, the fatherless, the motherless, and the afflicted. You will do justice to the widow and will relieve the needy. You will deal justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God” (3 Testimonies pg. 538).
And this, once again, is an issue I have with the quarterly. Off and on over the days, week, months and years, the quarterly holds-out “hope of reward” as the ultimate motivator of God’s children (see Monday’s lesson). But the quote above holds out to us a higher motivation than the attainment of eternal life. That motivation is loving service to mankind. Actually, the quote at the bottom of Monday’s lesson (in the pink box) is a direct appeal to our sinful, selfishness that is the essence of our problem. The quarterly asks, “Could it be that we long for (eternal life) because that is what we were originally created for and that by longing for it we are longing for something that is basic to our nature”? In reality, the longing for eternal life is part of our basic SINFUL nature. Not the unfallen “image of God” in which we were originally created. Truthfully, it dismays me that our quarterly can be so misleading… appealing to our basic fallen, sinful nature. I can only hope that such spurious contentions are in print to prompt us to dig deeper than that contention. As EGW tells us, “To engage in his service merely from the hope of reward or the fear of punishment, would avail nothing. Open apostasy would not be more offensive to God…” (Youth Instructor, June 20, 1901).
To be motivated by “hope of reward” is more offensive than open apostasy??!! Yikes! I know my objection to “hope of reward” has been a recurring theme of these weekly “thoughts”. But in this quote is the reason… and the fact that those two motivators have been used by Christianity for centuries. No wonder that our Lord waits... and waits… and waits. We who claim to be part of His family are largely NOT motivated by love for our Father, nor love for our brothers and sisters. We are motivated by self, seen in the motivation of “hope of reward” and “fear of punishment”. Therefore, I must decry this motivation again and again, especially when it shows-up in our Adventist promoted literature.
My fondest hope for these weekly “thoughts” are for you, each of you, to dig (as stated in the “disclaimer” above). Truly, for the love of God and for the love of our brothers and sisters, we must look ever higher into the stratosphere of love that will sacrifice eternal life for just one sinner. And be motivated the same. It is our true “basic nature”.
With brotherly love, Jim