Lesson 7 *August 9-15
Living Like Christ
Sabbath AfternoonRead for This Week’s Study: Matt. 9:36, Mark 10:21, Luke 10:30-37, Matt. 25:31-46, Luke 6:32-35, John 15:4-12.
Memory Text: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13:34, NKJV).
Contrary to what many think, the command to love our neighbor is not something newly taught by the New Testament. In the Old Testament, God already had commanded His people to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18, NKJV) and to "love [the stranger]" as yourself (Lev. 19:34, NKJV).
Why, then, did Jesus say, "A new commandment I give to you" (NKJV)? The newness of Jesus’ instruction was in that it had a new measure: "as I have loved you" (NKJV). Before the incarnation of Christ, men did not have a full manifestation of God’s love. Now, through His selfless life and death, Jesus demonstrated the real and deepest meaning of love.
"Love was the element in which Christ moved and walked and worked. He came to embrace the world in the arms of His love. . . . We are to follow the example set by Christ, and make Him our pattern, until we shall have the same love for others as He has manifested for us." — Ellen G. White, Our Father Cares, p. 27.
This week, as we consider Jesus’ tender, sympathetic, considerate, and compassionate life, let our hearts be touched and molded by His divine active principle of love, which is the watermark of true Christianity.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, August 16.
Sunday August 10
How Jesus Lived
In spite of being constantly under Satan’s fiercest attacks, Jesus lived an unselfish life of loving service. His priority was always centered on other people, not on Himself. From childhood to the cross, He showed a constant tender disposition to minister to others. His willing hands were ever ready to relieve every case of suffering He perceived. He lovingly cared for those who were considered by society to be of little value, such as children, women, foreigners, lepers, and tax collectors. He "did not come to be served, but to serve" (Matt. 20:28, NKJV). Therefore, He "went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil" (Acts 10:38, NKJV). His sympathy and merciful interest for the well-being of others were more important for Him than satisfying His own physical need for food or shelter. Indeed, even at the cross He cared more for His mother than He did about His own sufferings (John 19:25-27).
What do Matthew 9:36, 14:14, and 15:32 teach us about how Jesus looked at people?
Jesus was sensitive to the needs of people, and He truly cared about them. His heart reached out with compassion to great multitudes that were weary and scattered. He was moved with compassion toward helpless individuals, such as the two blind men near Jericho (Matt. 20:34), a pleading leper (Mark 1:40-41), and a widow who had just lost her only son (Luke 7:12-13).
What principle of action guided Jesus as He related to different people? See Mark 10:21 and John 11:5.
Every act of mercy, every miracle, every word of Jesus was motivated by His infinite love, an unwavering and permanent love. At the end of His life, He vividly showed His disciples that, having loved them from the beginning, "He loved them to the end" (John 13:1, NKJV). With His death on the cross, He demonstrated to the entire universe that selfless love triumphs over egoism. In the light of Calvary, it is clear that the principle of self-renouncing love is the only valid foundation of life for earth and heaven.
"Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13, NKJV). How do you understand what this means in daily, practical terms? How does one, day by day, do this?
Monday August 11
Love Your Neighbor
To live like Jesus means to show the same love He demonstrated. He illustrated this kind of love through the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37), which He told in dialogue with a lawyer. The lawyer summarized our duty to God and fellow human beings: ""You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind," and "your neighbor as yourself" " (Luke 10:27, NKJV). The lawyer knew His Bible well (he quoted by heart Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18), but he must have felt guilty for not demonstrating love to his neighbor. In an attempt to justify himself, he asked Jesus: "Who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29, NKJV).
How did Jesus explain who is our neighbor? What implications does the parable of the good Samaritan have for us? See Luke 10:30-37. How is the commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" related to the golden rule? Matt. 7:12.
To the question: "who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered, basically, that our neighbor is every person who needs our help. Thus, instead of asking: "what can my neighbor do for me?" we should ask: "what can I do for my neighbor?"
Jesus went far beyond the usual negative rendering of this rule at that time: "do not do to others what you yourself dislike." By presenting it in a positive way, He addressed not only what we need to avoid but especially what we have to do. We need especially to remember that this principle does not tell us to treat others as they treat us. After all, it’s easy to be kind to those who are kind to us or nasty to those who are nasty to us; most people can do that. Instead, our love toward our neighbor should always be independent of the way our neighbor treats us.
Think of someone who has treated you in a bad way. How have you treated them in return? What does Christ’s example, and how He treated those who mistreated Him, teach you about how you could better relate to those who don’t treat you kindly?