Sabbath School Today With the 1888 Message Dynamic The Book of Job Lesson 1. The End
Why must the Jobs of this world suffer a virtual (or real) death before someone comes to "console and comfort" them? Why must the Jobs of this world live and die as persons who are abandoned and ignored? Why must they cry out for comfort to "friends" who remain so oblivious to their pain? Why must their stand for justice and redemption be a post-mortem victory? Is this what God desires? Sally and her husband took a vacation Europe. They visited a village where they happened upon a fresco of the resurrected Christ. Sally's husband stopped casually to look at the painting and then moved on to the next picture. Sally lingers behind, staring at the face of Christ. Despite the golden halo over Christ's head and the flag of victory in his hand, she sees that his eyes are staring into the foreground with a look that seems to be remembering the pain of crucifixion, as if to suggest that "if resurrection had taken place, it had not yet been comprehended." Sally's husband sees her staring at the painting, but he cannot at first figure out what has so captured her interest and imagination. He looks at her intently. She is standing there, propped up on the crutches she has needed to walk since a childhood bout with polio crippled her with a lasting lesson about what pain and loss means. His eyes return to the painting and gradually, but with increasing clarity, he sees what Sally sees in the eyes of this One who until moments ago had been horribly dead. The truth and the promise of resurrection, he now understands, is that "those who have been dead understand things that will never be understood by those who have only lived." I do not know of any statement that provides more profound explication of the last words in the biblical text of Job. The final words concerning Job amount to an epitaph: "So Job died, being old and full of days" (Job 42:17). In Job, the expression "full of days" becomes an invitation to a larger understanding of what it means to live in fellowship with God. It is fitting that the end of the book of Job effectively returns us once more to the beginnings of his story. When considering who belongs among the models of faith that best exemplify God's hopes and expectations, the journey begins with the question that God poses at the outset of this book: "Have you considered my servant Job?" (Job 1:8). The epilogue clearly invites us to return to the prologue of this story in order to find its conclusion. "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil" (Job 1:1). "So Job died, being old and full of days." Job's restoration holds the promise that there is life on the other side of the ash heap. For that, we give thanks, even though we do not fully understand why he has been required to make this journey. Despite the promise of this all's-well-that-ends-well ending, we must wonder if Job or we can ever find the way back to that faraway place where life was once untroubled and God's blessings were unquestioned. Perhaps such wonderment is part of the journey with God that faith requires. Perhaps those who find themselves sitting with Job on the ash heap of suffering "for no reason" should know more about life in relation to God than they did before. Suffering like Job's changes everything in heaven and on earth. What might have changed in heaven and on earth after Job prayed and the Lord accepted Job's prayer? Central to the 1888 message is that "things"--houses, lands, cars, furniture, clothes--lose their appeal when we see the glory of the cross of Christ. So do sensual pleasure and love of ease. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal. 6:14). When you see His cross, you grasp the reality of life. You sense that nothing is yours by right: "If one died for all, then were all dead" (2 Cor. 5:14). A new purpose for living took over: if you believed this self-propagating gospel, you just had to live "for Him who died" for you, and it wasn't fear or hope-of-reward that moved you. Materialism, sensuality, all self-centered motivations, were transcended by this phenomenal new reason for living. You saw yourself eternally in debt to the Son of God. What you see is yourself crucified instead of Christ. He died in place of you. Had He not died, you would be dead. It follows that your life is not your own; "And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him" (vs. 15). Understanding this, no one can live selfishly if he believes Christ died in place of him. Henceforth, he is "crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). In this way "the love of Christ constraineth us" (2 Cor. 5:14), and living for Him becomes a joy. "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5, 6). "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). "Look to Me, and be saved," is what God asks us to do (Isa. 45:22). Looking is a favorite pastime. News magazines capitalize on this desire to "look" at something new. Millions spend their idle hours just watching the parade of humanity passing by their doors or their TV screens, or poring through picture magazines. If there is an accident on the freeway or anything unusual, we have an urge to "behold." All have this built-in yearning to feast our eyes on some sight yet unseen. There is an unsatisfied longing to see something ultimate. Upon that cross of Jesus my eye at times can see I take O cross your shadow for my abiding place! What we long to see is that cross of Jesus. No other sight can satisfy. And once we have seen it, like Paul, we will "glory" in nothing else. It will become our passion. If we "behold the Lamb of God," we will see a sight that has power to dissolve all idolatry into the nothingness that it is. Money, possessions, careers, fame, sensual pleasure, all lose their charm for the person who has seen what Calvary means. Life begins. --Paul E. Penno Note: "Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org RR |
Friday, September 30, 2016
Lesson 1. The End
Friday, September 23, 2016
Lesson 13. How Shall We Wait?
Sabbath School Today With the 1888 Message Dynamic The Role of the Church in the Community Lesson 13. How Shall We Wait?
After studying about the role of the church in our communities, we might be left with the impression that we are the ones who must revive ourselves. If we were just more consecrated, we would be reformed. If we will really get more serious and creatively witness our faith, then God can bless us. Most importantly, if we were more obedient to God's will, then we would experience the blessings of the Spirit. We tend to think that our revival will produce the reformation of thought and life that is so desperately needed. Rather than speculate on what we will do with the church, let us inquire what the Lord says He will do. He is the Head of the church. Not all the demons in hell can stop what He purposes to do. He will send revival and reformation. As surely as His character is love, He will visit His people: "The times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). [1] He will accomplish this objective through a special message. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come" (Matt. 24:14). [2] As surely as day follows night, such a message will come. Repentance for the 1888-era rejection of such a message will bring a whole-hearted acceptance of its renewal. This message will be the outpouring of the latter rain. It will bring spiritual refreshment and prepare the church for the final issue of the mark of the beast: "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain. ... And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:23-25). [3] The latter rain will be a clearer revelation of the gospel of righteousness by faith than we have yet discerned. The meaning of the Hebrew phrase in Joel 2:23 is "a teacher of righteousness," linking the latter rain to the message of righteousness by faith. [4] Here is the key truth that is almost totally overlooked today--the initial showers of the latter rain were manifested in the "most precious message" of righteousness by faith which the Lord sent to this people in 1888. [5] Further showers of the latter rain must include a recovery of that message, because Heaven's intent can never be defeated. It's obvious that after a century or more of evangelism calling for individual repentance that this has not hastened the coming of Christ, but delayed it. We have misunderstood the nature of repentance that Christ gives to Laodicea. Christ's remedy for "lukewarmness" is both an individual and a corporate repentance. Herein lies the secret to lasting revival and reformation. Sin is a corporate disease of the human race. "In Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). "All have sinned" following the footsteps of our father Adam (Rom. 5:12). Instinctively we recoil against this, for we feel that surely we have something good in us. But Scripture reminds us: "In me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). This means that the sin that another human has committed, I could commit if Christ had not saved me from it. We need the imputed and imparted righteousness of Christ 100 percent. This was the stumblingblock in 1888 and still scandalizes many today. Apart from the grace of a Saviour, the sins of the whole world could be mine if I had the "opportunity" to be in the shoes of other people, to be tempted as they in their circumstances. This idea is impressively stated by Ellen White: "God knows every thought, every purpose, every plan, every motive. The books of heaven record the sins that would have been committed had there been opportunity." [6] There is indeed abundant forgiveness and heart-cleansing with Jesus, but He cannot "cleanse us from all unrighteousness" unless we "confess" it with understanding; and we cannot confess it unless we realize it. We have something yet to learn. How can we be guilty of sin as a church or corporate body? "There is a terrible amount of guilt for which the church is responsible." [7] The great gospel commission could have been completed before the horrors of the wars in the 20th and 21st centuries were unleashed on the world. [8] The reason is that the 1888 message was the "beginning" of the latter rain and the loud cry; she says it was "to a large degree" rejected by the leadership of the church. Thus those who fervently believed in the doctrine of the second advent actually delayed it for generations. The sorrow of "what might have been" filled Ellen White's soul with anguish. [9] If we were to have another 1888 Session where the Holy Spirit manifested Himself as the latter rain, would we again insult Him? Unless there is repentance for doing it the first time, the answer has to be yes. What is denominational repentance? It is a "body" of believers individually experiencing corporate repentance. As surely as the Seventh-day Adventist denomination is the "remnant church" of prophecy, the Laodicea of Revelation, so surely will such repentance permeate that "body" in the time of the "final atonement." This is Christ's gift to His church. "Unto two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed" (Dan. 8:14). The books of heaven cannot be cleansed of the record of our sins until our hearts are cleansed. The righteousness by faith issue thus comes into focus: justification by faith is more than a mere legal declaration; it makes the at-enmity soul to be at-one-with God. Is such a repentance possible? Will God ever have a people who have so learned contrition that they feel that all the sins of the human race could be theirs but for the grace of a Saviour, and who thus stand before the throne "cleansed"? Will He have a people who recognize their 100 percent need of the imputed righteousness of Christ, who fully realize what they would be without it? Some sadly say no; ancient Israel failed, and so must modern Israel. But the bottom line of Bible prophecy says: "Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." Zechariah foretells an experience of corporate denominational repentance, followed by a glorious experience of cleansing (Zech. 12:7-14; 13:1). Such an experience permeating the church is denominational repentance. Christ calls for it in His message to Laodicea. Isn't it time for us to respond? --Paul E. Penno Endnotes (From Ellen G. White's writings, unless cited otherwise): Notes: "Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org |
Thursday, September 15, 2016
Lesson 12. Urban Ministry in the End Time
Sabbath School Today With the 1888 Message Dynamic The Role of the Church in the Community Lesson 12. Urban Ministry in the End Time
"If clearly understood and presented to the world, the accomplishments of Christ's sacrifice will move human hearts as no other truth can. Such truth, presented together with the fulfillments of prophecy and our major doctrines, will bring the phenomenal soul-winning power that prophecy indicates will be in the 'latter rain' and in the 'loud cry' of Revelation 18.* This evangelistic 'efficiency,' says Ellen White, 'might have been [ours] in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost.' But it has been 'in a great degree' lost to our work in consequence of the rejection 'in a great measure' of the 1888 message.** Is not the recovery of that 'most precious message' therefore priority for the world church?" † [1] Although this statement is not specifically dealing with outreach efforts in the cities, it highlights the genuine basis for all evangelism regardless of geography. One of the most compelling aspects of the 1888 message is the love it generates for others. "Wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men, it will flow out to others in love and blessing. ... That which selfish hearts would regard as humiliating service, ministering to those who are wretched and in every way inferior in character and rank, is the work of sinless angels. ... When the love of Christ is enshrined in the heart, like sweet fragrance it cannot be hidden. ... No sooner does one come to Christ than there is born in his heart a desire to make known to others what a precious friend he has found in Jesus; the saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in his heart." [2] Notice the sequence, "wherever the life of God is in the hearts of men, it will flow out to others." Programs are good and we should support them, but nothing motivates like gratitude for what God has done for us. This must be genuine gratitude, not out of fear of punishment, or hope of reward or recognition. The nation of Israel revealed the true condition of their hearts as they became more legalistic and exclusive. They claimed Abraham as the venerable father of their faith. Their idea was that before Abraham, humanity was simply an undifferentiated mass hardly noticed by God. By calling Abraham out of this mass, God distinguished him and this honor was perpetuated to his progeny by the rite of circumcision. Any legalistic religion can fall into this trap by selecting some outward sign of pious allegiance and using it as a division between those who are acceptable and those who are not. If the standard is, "When the love of Christ is enshrined in the heart, like sweet fragrance it cannot be hidden," if we have not enshrined that love in our hearts, we have nothing to share. A. T. Jones and E. J. Waggoner taught the idea of Christ having legally, objectively, saved the world, dying every man's second death, bearing the iniquity of all sinners, legally justifying all men. This is the evangelistic message in Revelation 14. It is "the everlasting gospel" because it alone can truly reconcile the alienated heart of sinful man to God and to His holy law. It is easy for the legalist to fall into the trap that evangelism must take the form of an organized church-sponsored activity, but that was not Christ's method. He relied on His Heavenly Father to create circumstances where He witnessed in most effective ways. We can believe that God is willing to use those who love Him in the same way. This kind of witnessing can be so subtle, that we humans can easily miss the opportunities. Statistics tell us that most of the world's population live in cities, and even those in rural areas must go into town for various things. If we consider even simple interactions as opportunities we will realize how frequently they occur. If we genuinely value everyone as someone Christ died for, we can be kind to anyone. Persons who serve us at stores or restaurants are entitled to be respected and treated kindly, even if we or they are having a bad day. People in jobs considered menial also deserve respect, and all people appreciate a word of kindness and thanks. If the Lord continues to keep you in a relationship with a person, your consistent kindness will impress them that there is something different about you. Doors can open in simple ways. When we allow God to do everything, we will never boast or take credit for our witnessing. We know that whatever we have done has flowed out of our hearts "like sweet fragrance," which is a gift from Him. We never have to force ourselves to do something "kind" out of a guilty sense of obligating God with our sacrifice. We can never obligate God to do anything, including feeling better about us. "But no man can put the Lord under obligation to him. ... If anyone could do something for the Lord for which the Lord would be under obligation to him, then all things would not be from him. That is to say, the idea of justification by works is opposed to the fact that God is the Creator of all things. And, conversely, the recognition of God as Creator is the acknowledgment that righteousness comes from him alone." [3] --Arlene Hill Endnotes: Notes: "Sabbath School Today" is on the Internet at: http://1888mpm.org |
Friday, September 9, 2016
Lesson 11. Jesus Bade Them "Follow Me"
Sabbath School Today With the 1888 Message Dynamic The Role of the Church in the Community Lesson 11. Jesus Bade Them "Follow Me"
In this week's lesson we find the New Covenant, the whole gospel, the everlasting covenant--the centerpiece of the 1888message. It's one sentence in Sunday's lesson: "They Know His Voice." The fourth paragraph says, "When we, His body, set selfishness aside and take on the nature of a servant, letting Him live out His life within us, others will be drawn to the call of the Christ in us." No truer statement could be made! The lesson points out the difference between the Old and New Covenants. Elder E. J. Waggoner, one of the 1888"messengers," writes about this: "The difference between the two covenants may be put briefly thus: ... In the one case it is what we can do; in the other case it is what the Spirit of God can do. ... Is it to be our own doing, so that the reward shall not be of grace but of debt? or is it to be God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure?" [1] To follow Christ is to take every word of scripture and believe those words as coming from the Creator and Redeemer of our race. The power that created us is also the power that redeemed us, therefore creation and redemption are the same thing. [2] The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that if "anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." Being "in Christ" is a given since before time began, but God Himself willed that we know that His mystery is Christ in us, the hope of glory. So much could be included in this essay, but space prohibits, so only a few gems from Scripture, Ellen G. White, and the 1888 "messengers," E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones, will be given to whet the appetite for more personal study. "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me'" (Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). To follow Christ as He bids us to involves: (1) a desire to come after Him; (2) a denial of self; (3) a taking up of His cross; and (4) following Him. Waggoner writes: "There is only one actual cross in the world, and that is the cross of Jesus Christ. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me." We have often thought we were denying self, when we were only building self up; we were putting ourselves in the place of Christ. ... The failure with many people is that they make a distinction between the cross of Christ and their own crosses. There is no cross that comes to any person on earth, except the cross of Christ. If we will always remember this, it will be life and joy to us. ... The Lord does not give us some crosses of our own,--little crosses adapted to different ones,--one having one cross and another another. We cannot separate Christ from His cross. Christ is crucified; He is the only crucified one; therefore whatever cross comes to us must be the cross of Christ; and that cross is with us continually. But in the cross of Christ we find Christ Himself." [3, condensed] The Apostle Paul writes: "Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began" (Rom. 16:25; emphasis added). This secret he refers to is: "The mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:26, 27). Note: this mystery is the Gospel and it is God's will that it be known. We are to pray asking for His will to be done. The lesson points out that we are His body and the denial of self is accomplished through the cross. We are crucified with Him, and Christ in us will draw others to follow Him. Scripture: "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified" (2 Cor. 13:5). "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God" (1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Cor. 6:19). Note: We know that the Holy Spirit was given to bring Christ to all men and here we see that it is gives it so: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; ... that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:17-19). Ellen G. White: "Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have been transformed into the image of God. The change is itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot understand it; we can only believe, that, as declared by the Scriptures, it is "Christ in you, the hope of glory." A knowledge of this mystery furnishes a key to every other. It opens to the soul the treasures of the universe, the possibilities of infinite development. [5] "The incarnation of Jesus Christ, the divine son of God, "Christ in you, the hope of glory," is the great theme of the gospel.[6] A. T. Jones: E. J. Waggoner: "By what life are we saved?--By the life of Christ, and He has but one. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13:8). It is by His present life that we are saved, that is, by His life in us from day to day. But the life which He now lives is the very same life that He lived in Judea eighteen hundred years ago. He took again the same life that He laid down. Think what was in the life of Christ, as we have the record in the New Testament, and we shall know what ought to be in our lives now. If we allow Him to dwell in us, He will live just as He did then. If there is that in our lives that was not in His then, we may be sure that He is not living it in us now. [9] The terms: "the nearness of Christ," "His closeness," and "His drawing near to us" all mean that Christ is in us--that is His nearness to us. In the Introduction to this quarter's lessons, the author uses an illustration of a pastor holding up his Bible before the congregation--he had cut out every passage dealing with justice, poverty, wealth, and oppression. This left the Bible in shambles. Let there be no further cutting of Bibles; let God's Word remain intact as He gave it; let Old Covenant teachings cease from our publications; and let Christ be in you, for He bade you to follow Him. --Daniel Peters Endnotes: |