Lesson 4: "Relationships"
This week we're sharing with you an article by Ellet J. Waggoner, one of the 1888 "messengers," that presents the beautiful truth about "fellowship" with our Lord and Savior, and with one another. One writer has said that the word "relationship" "so often used today to define a Christian's connection with God, is not adequate to express a person's functional Christian experience." We feel that Waggoner's deep understanding of this idea is worthy of our thought and study.
Sincerely,
The "Sabbath School Today" Staff
"Fellowship with God"
The association of Jesus and His disciples was very intimate. They brought all their troubles to Him, receiving His sympathy and help; and He also shared their joys. He ate with them, directed and assisted them in their work, and healed their diseases. He was their companion at feasts and also in the solitude of the desert. He rejoiced with them at the wedding, and wept with them at the grave. No human companion could ever be more close, and on terms of greater intimacy than was the companionship of the disciples and the Son of God on earth.
But while they were thus associating with the Son, they were also having fellowship with the Father, as well. "God was in Christ" (2 Cor. 5:19). Jesus said, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me" (John 14:9, 11). Those who fail to recognize the fact that God the Father is in every respect just what Jesus was when here on earth, lose the whole object of the ministry of Christ.
Jesus was the genial companion of His disciples. But while they associated together as fellows, His lowly position did not obscure His greatness, nor lead them to lightly esteem Him. When He washed His disciples' feet, it was with the full knowledge that He was their Master and Lord, and that the Father had given all things into His hand, and that He came from God and went to God (see John 13:3-5).
Thus they had fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And the companionship which they had--which the beloved disciple had when he reclined on the bosom of Jesus,--is the same companionship which we are privileged to have. It was for the purpose of letting us know this, that John wrote his epistle.
Who may have this companionship? Is it only the wealthy, and those whom the world calls "noble"? Listen: "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" (Isa. 57:15).
In the world there are "classes," and so there will be till the end of time. No device nor organization of men, no vows nor pledges will break down the barriers between the "classes" and the "masses." Socialism is powerless, even though it bear the prefix "Christian." In Christ Jesus, "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11). In the true Church of Christ there is but one standard,--love to God and love to man,--and nothing can bring men to this but the love of God shed abroad in the heart, by His Holy Spirit.
The life of Christ on earth shows that in His church there can be none of the false standards that exist in society. He came as a servant, showing that none who follow Him must think themselves above serving. "By love serve one another" (Gal. 5:13) is the exhortation of the apostle, and the Master says, "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister" (Matt. 20:27, 28). He was a carpenter on earth, in order that none of His followers might think it beneath their dignity to work. "The servant is not greater than his Lord" (John 15:20).
Companionship with God involves humility, for Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matt. 11:29). "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble thyself to walk with thy God" (Micah 6:8, margin). "Before honor is humility," for "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." And what greater exaltation could created beings have, than to associate on terms of loving familiarity with the Creator of the universe? to be esteemed by Him as a friend, and to have God reveal His secrets to him? (See John 15:15; Psalm 25:14). Let us then give good heed to the message of the beloved disciple, which he has written unto us that our joy may be full.
--E. J. WaggonerThe Present Truth, Oct. 26, 1893, pp. 466, 467
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