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 “Living the Gospel”. This is a good lesson on this aspect of the “Gospel”. The “Good News” is often depicted as primarily about us and our salvation. But the “Good News” is really about our God. That He is not as his enemies have made Him out to be. And when we see God as He is (just like Jesus… especially on the cross), then all our reasons for staying away from Him are gone. We see that our reluctance is not His fault, but is our own doing. We feel the responsibility for ourselves and our sin. And we cry out like the Philippian Jailer, “What must I do to be saved?” and the response comes to our minds, “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (see Acts 16).
This belief is no mere mental assent. It is complete reliance. Relying on God with our whole being. Following Him in all things. Complete trust on Him and on His methods. As the teacher’s quarterly states, “Revival and salvation of ourselves is not enough. We are saved ‘to do good works’” (Ephesians 2: 9-10). This is what salvation is about. Restoring in us the divine image of our original creation. Restoring in us the unity with God we had at the beginning. A unity that makes our reformation possible. And it all begins with seeing God aright. Seeing Him as He is. And once we see Him, we are never the same. We see ourselves aright. We see sin aright. We see God aright. We see everyone as our brother/ sister. And we see our responsibility aright, too. We start living the “Gospel”. Motivated by love. A love that has its foundation in the love with which God loves us all and which we have seen and experienced ourselves. We love the sovereignty-of-love having rule in our lives. And we will want no other. Nothing but love to rule in our lives. Just as love rules all of heaven and is the ruler-ship of our God of Love. This is “Living the Gospel”. As simple as love.
Let us not minimize the “Gospel” to merely saving ourselves. In fact, the Gospel call is not merely about saving ourselves at all. It is about you and me sacrificing ourselves for the good of others. Being an instrument in God’s hands to save others, at any expense to ourselves. If we see the Gospel as God’s plan to only save “us sinners saved by God’s grace through Jesus and His substitutionary death” (quarterly for Sabbath, August 31), then we will act for the good of others up-to the point where our own salvation cannot be jeopardized. Beyond that point, we cease to live the gospel. Our understanding and commitment will hinge on my own eternal life and eternal security. But living the true gospel takes us to a place of love that is exponentially greater than this. Love that will sacrifice all for the other. Even our own eternal security. This is love. This is the gospel. This is what we were created for.
With brotherly love,
Jim