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 “Sharing the Word”. A good lesson on the Written Word. Surely, in the Written Word we see the clearest revelation of God Himself in the person of His Son. Yet nature is a true revelation of God, too.
“Those whom Christ commends in the judgment may have known little of theology, but they have cherished His principles. Through the influence of the divine Spirit they have been a blessing to those about them. Even among the heathen are those who have cherished the spirit of kindness; before the words of life had fallen upon their ears, they have befriended the missionaries, even ministering to them at the peril of their own lives. Among the heathen are those who worship God ignorantly, those to whom the light is never brought by human instrumentality, yet they will not perish. Though ignorant of the written law of God, they have heard His voice speaking to them in nature, and have done the things that the law required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and they are recognized as the children of God” (Desire of Ages pg. 638).
Our quarterly makes a statement in Sabbath’s lesson (August 8), that I don’t believe is entirely true. “Although nature reveals the majesty and power of God, it doesn’t reveal the plan of salvation”. Hmmm? I may have a latent perverseness in my character or a hesitancy to accept dogmatic statements as fact without questioning. But I needed to ponder this for a bit. And I remembered Christ using a common natural occurrence to demonstrate the “plan of salvation”. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor” (John 12: 24-26). Here, Jesus uses this very natural event to demonstrate the very motivation behind His crucifixion. Nature, since the very beginning of creation, can lead us to see our God and His “plan of salvation”, after all. A “plan” that has been revealed to us all through nature since the beginning, “so (all of us) are without excuse” (Romans 1: 20).
Nature can reveal our God… but has spawned the heathen religions, as well. Witchcraft, sorcery, and the fertility cults to name just a few. Our God of love is also a God of power... power seen in all of nature and in our own bodies. And this power seen in all of nature has led many astray to worship that power in their own self-pursuing ways, instead of seeing the love principles thus displayed in nature. So the life of the Christ, the Living Word as displayed in the Written Word is the clearest demonstration of God that we have.
Yet, the revelation of Christ in the Written Word can be misunderstood, too. Look at the harm the so-called Christian religions have done over the centuries. Even the life of Christ as revealed in His Written Word can be misapplied by us self-focused sinners. We can “see” God in a very false light. And then portray Him to others in that false way. Then our “sharing” can become a means of fastening our hearers in a delusion even more deadly than the heathen religions. More deadly because they believe it is supported by the “Written Word”… a false picture of God supported by a certain reading of Scripture. What can be more deadly?!
This is what stands in the shadows behind our “sharing the Word”. Our sharing is related to our understanding of God Himself… our picture of God. Does your picture have a “god” who is harsh, vindictive and severe? Do you have a savior who is saving us from a divinely imposed punishment due to sin? If you don’t have a God just like Jesus, a God who is all loving and whose very actions are love, then any “sharing the Word” we do may be more destructive than helpful. I’ve often wondered if our “witness” is not as effective as it could be because of this.
In the Gospels, we often have Christ telling the one healed…”Don’t tell anyone about it”. I suspect Christ said that for several reasons. But one of those reasons is likely because the one healed would tell the wrong thing. They would misrepresent the healing to others. And thereby misrepresent the Healer, too. I wonder if Christ says that to us, too. “Don’t tell anyone about me… you will convey the wrong idea about me”. Yikes! Is this true about you… about me? Have we assumed we know what the gospel (“the good news”) really is? Have we misrepresented Him to our brothers and sisters because we have a false picture of God?
I write this because our quarterly encourages us this week to share the Word. So before we do this, we must make absolutely sure we know the “Word” we are sharing. We ourselves must know Him as He is… not as we think He is. Do you know our God? There He is, kissing the little children, and saying that He is just like them… and so is the Father. He is not like some earthly potentate sitting upon his throne, concerned with His own holiness. No! His greatest concern is His children. For which He will sacrifice everything to save and heal. And His love and trust is like that of a child. Do you know Him? He pours-out his life (like a grain of wheat cast into the ground which dies to promote more life). If you do not know Him this way, I suggest you follow Him for a while first, before any sharing. And get to know Him as He says He is. Know Him as He has demonstrated Himself to be. And once we do know Him this way, THEN we will have something to share. Remember, the “good news” is not about us and our salvation. The “good news” is about Him. He is not the way most of us think. Let us walk with Him (prayer, Bible study, obedience) and come to really know Him is my prayer for you and for me.
With brotherly love,
Jim