Author Topic: SDA Sabbath School Lesson 7--First Quarter 2014--Jesus and the Social Outcasts  (Read 14897 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Mimi

  • Regular Member
  • Posts: 27796
  • www.remnant-online.org
    • The Remnant Online
Quote
and the teacher agreed with me.
:) Yes, he would.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Al

  • Full Member
  • Posts: 372
Thanks for reminding me, Al.  Grace is everything to us. My example was "when George comes over to my house and chops wood for me, I am willing to do for George something he cannot do for himself. Is this grace? No, it is not. What other condition must apply for me to extend grace to another?"  I was ready to reward George for something he did for me. It is true that I did something George could not for himself, but that is not grace. Grace is when we extend an unmerited favor. This is what engenders love. And that love begets love.  It is when we see this great Sacrifice that God has made for us that our evil hearts are subdued and we allow Christ to cleanse them. We are saved by the revelation of this grace (Ephesians 2:8 ). Grace is the power that transforms the life.

When our heavenly Father agreed to allow Jesus to come to this Earth to suffer and die in the place of sinners, was there any good thing in us to recommend this great Sacrifice? In other words, did we deserve this kind of treatment? The Bible says "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8.

I appreciated what George did for me and I wanted to reward him for it.  "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them." Luke 6:32.

Jesus calls us to be a reflection of Him extending grace to others. Sinners love those who love them, we are called to do as God has done, to love those who do not deserve that love. This is grace.
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Matt. 5:43,44.


Evidence of true conversion is seen when we have power to love the unlovable. That kind of love comes from an indwelling Saviour.  Does this help, Al? If we would spend time getting to know our God, if we would behold His matchless unmerited love (grace), we would be changed into His image from glory to glory. We work for social outcasts not because we can expect something in return, but because we love them as Christ loves us.

Richard almost missed your reply.

I understand what you are saying but I want to push this topic to its limit. Because of sin none of us are no longer entitled to the air we breathe or the  warmth of the sun we enjoy. The human race should have been annihilated because of sin but God stepped and Christ  became man's surety and substitute. So by this wonderful grace man was given a second probation.

When George is chopping the firewood he may not realize it but the very air he breaths the muscles he uses comes to him as an act of God's grace. We live and have our being because of God's wonderful grace. George "enjoys the blessings of God in the gift of the sunshine and the gift of food, but there must be on the part of (George) man a bowing before God in thankful acknowledgment that all things come from God. Whatever is rendered back to Him is only His." Faith and Works p. 21

"Now not a soul can give God anything that is not already His. Bear this in mind: "All things come of Thee, and of Thine own have we given Thee" (1 Chronicles 29:14). This must be kept before the people wherever we go--that we possess nothing, can offer nothing in value, in work, in faith, which we have not first received of God and upon which He can lay His hand any time and say, They are Mine--gifts and blessings and endowments I entrusted to you, not to enrich yourself, but for wise improvement to benefit the world." Faith and Works p. 22

This even applies to the person who is going to reward George for chopping the fire wood. Whatever the reward, it comes to him from God. We are only stewards of that which God has lent us. When George realizes that he can chop fire wood because he lives and has his being because of Christ it should awaking thankfulness in his heart. And when the person who rewards George for chopping the fire wood realizes that he to lives and breathes because of God's love he too should praise God. It is all of grace.

Steven Haskell makes this comment "Humanity takes all its physical life, all its power and energy from God; for "in Him we live, and move, and have our being;" and yet while every pulse beat is under the direct control of the God of life, and He knows about and makes possible, every breath that is drawn, men will deny His very existence; or, while feebly acknowledging that there is a Supreme Power, they claim that they are wholly independent of that Power, and have the right to follow the dictates of a perverted intellect. Time will be given for these philosophers to prove their theory. When grace and mercy cease to reach earthward, the prince of this world will have full control of the wicked." The Story of the Seer of Patmos page 274

"So it is all of grace, and we have nothing to boast of in any respect, nor anything to claim on our own account, for all that we do is by strength imparted by him. Here we have a system which is all grace, and no license to sin; a gospel worthy of heaven - imparting mercy freely, and maintaining law and justice strictly. Here we see that without him we can do nothing; though we shall work out our salvation with fear and trembling, it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his good pleasure. We are justified by faith, yet so that we must add to our faith virtue; patiently continue in well-doing; keep the commandments of God; fulfill the righteousness of the law, etc." J. H. Waggoner Review and Herald October 6, 1863   

Jesus looked upon the distressed and heart burdened, those whose hopes were blighted, and who with earthly joys were seeking to quiet the longing of the soul, and He invited all to find rest in Him.  {DA 328.3}

Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44592
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Amen! "Grace is when we extend an unmerited favor" as God has done for us. God does not do for us what we cannot do for ourselves because of something we have done to deserve it. We deserve nothing even when we obey perfectly. One sin and we ought to have died.   Human nature is depraved, and is justly condemned. But provision is made for the repenting sinner, so that by faith in the atonement of Christ, he may receive forgiveness of sin, find justification in receiving salvation. Transformation of character is wrought through the operation of the Holy Spirit, which works upon the human agent, implanting in him, according to his desire and consent to have it done, a new nature. The image of God is restored to the soul, and day by day he is strengthened and renewed by grace, and is enabled more and more perfectly to reflect the character of Christ in righteousness and true holiness.

Thanks for sharing on this most important subject, Al.  Grace is not just a word, it is the transforming power that cleanses our hearts.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Mimi

  • Regular Member
  • Posts: 27796
  • www.remnant-online.org
    • The Remnant Online
Grace is not just a word, it is the transforming power that cleanses our hearts.

Grace is so often misunderstood. Your words describe the most important aspect of grace.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44592
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Yes, Mimi, it is indeed misunderstood. Al's desire to push this subject to its limit is warranted because of its importance and the misunderstanding. Too many make excuses for sin. There are no excuses. There are even "conservatives"  that make excuses. One is that the sin was not willful. That is excusing sin. Why is there no excuse for sin?
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

JimB

  • Servant
  • Assistant Administrator
  • Posts: 7446
  • Pro 12:28 in the pathway thereof there is no death
Why is there no excuse for sin?

I'm not Mimi but I will propose an answer to your question.

Heb 2:17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Heb 2:18  For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

1Co 10:13  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

By communion with God in nature, the mind is uplifted, and the heart finds rest.  {DA 291.1}

Richard Myers

  • Servant
  • Posts: 44592
  • Grace, more than a word, it is transforming power
    • The Remnant Online
Amen!   Nothing like the Word of God to set truth in the heart. Thank you, Jim. You answered the question and gave us the connection with grace. "Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest." This is grace. We did not deserve that the Son of God would stoop to become one of us, and become a helpless baby. For what? That we might have a chance to be re-created in His image (character).  It is by beholding this grace (unmerited favor) that we are changed into His image (2 Cor. 3:18). Think of the suffering and risk that was involved  in Jesus becoming one of us. I never tire of sharing this truth. This is the grace by which sinful man is saved:

The story of Bethlehem is an exhaustless theme. In it is hidden "the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Romans 11:33. We marvel at the Saviour's sacrifice in exchanging the throne of heaven for the manger, and the companionship of adoring angels for the beasts of the stall. Human pride and self-sufficiency stand rebuked in His presence. Yet this was but the beginning of His wonderful condescension. It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take man's nature, even when Adam stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give us the example of a sinless life.

Satan in heaven had hated Christ for His position in the courts of God. He hated Him the more when he himself was dethroned. He hated Him who pledged Himself to redeem a race of sinners. Yet into the world where Satan claimed dominion God permitted His Son to come, a helpless babe, subject to the weakness of humanity. He permitted Him to meet life's peril in common with every human soul, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it, at the risk of failure and eternal loss.

The heart of the human father yearns over his son. He looks into the face of his little child, and trembles at the thought of life's peril. He longs to shield his dear one from Satan's power, to hold him back from temptation and conflict. To meet a bitterer conflict and a more fearful risk, God gave His only-begotten Son, that the path of life might be made sure for our little ones. "Herein is love." Wonder, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth!  The Desire of Ages


Amen!
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.