Friday November 6
Further Thought: Read Ellen G. White, “The Test of Discipleship,” pp. 57-65, in Steps to Christ.
Ellen White tells us (among other things) that when we truly respond to the Master Teacher, “we long to bear His image, breathe His spirit, do His will, and please Him in all things” (Steps to Christ, p. 58). In the company of Jesus Christ, duty, she says, “becomes a delight” (Steps to Christ, p. 59).
I was impressed to reveal the truth about these thoughts, to put them in a proper manner that deals with the foundation of our faith. Judas was in the company of Jesus, but was not converted. The prophet is speaking of those who are truly converted. There is a radical transformation in character when one is truly converted. Not in the presence of Jesus, but that Christ is in the heart, it has been given to Him, the whole heart.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.......
That regenerating power, which no human eye can see, begets a new life in the soul; it creates a new being in the image of God. While the work of the Spirit is silent and imperceptible, its effects are manifest. If the heart has been renewed by the Spirit of God, the life will bear witness to the fact....
f we are Christ’s, our thoughts are with Him, and our sweetest thoughts are of Him. All we have and are is consecrated to Him. We long to bear His image, breathe His spirit, do His will, and please Him in all things. { SC 58.2}
Those who become new creatures in Christ Jesus will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Galatians 5:22, 23. They will no longer fashion themselves according to the former lusts, but by the faith of the Son of God they will follow in His steps, reflect His character, and purify themselves even as He is pure. The things they once hated they now love, and the things they once loved they hate. The proud and self-assertive become meek and lowly in heart. The vain and supercilious become serious and unobtrusive. The drunken become sober, and the profligate pure."
Now, from the Bible, consult Matthew 5-7. Here is the Sermon on the Mount, one of the great summaries of what the Master Teacher wanted His students to know, and the keynote of the kingdom He came to establish.
Yes, Jesus had to correct the Jews who were in a Laodicean condition thinking things were good and they were in need of nothing in regards to spiritual things. But, Jesus told them they would not inherit the kingdom if they were angry with a neighbor without a cause, or if they looked upon a woman with lust in the heart. Do we understand this, as the foundation of the gospel? Many don't, and think they are saved in their sin.
Discussion Questions:
As God addressed Adam and Eve, and also Jacob, so Jesus addresses us. He connects with our deep longings, and He startles us (as He did Bartimaeus) into reconsidering who we are and where we are going. In this light, think about how we teach the Bible to our children and to one another. What is the difference between mediocre Bible teaching and the compelling kind that really makes a difference in people’s lives?
Speaking the gospel truth and living it is what makes a difference. I left the church when I was 13 because I saw hypocrisy in the church. I had not been taught the gospel nor its power to transform sinners into saints.
Is the question of where you are on life’s journey purely personal, or might it be helpful to discuss this with people you trust? How does the idea of the church as the “body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:27) suggest that conversation with others can be one way of getting in touch with what Christ wants you to know?
God sends teachers, but unlike many who are ministers in the church, they point people to Jesus and His Word rather than to others to find out what the Bible says.
We learned on Thursday that as soon as Bartimaeus could see – as soon as he was rescued from his physical (and spiritual) blindness – he followed Jesus on the road to Jerusalem. On this road he heard, every day, the Master Teacher’s wisdom. Now, we may assume, he wanted to bear Jesus’ image, breathe His spirit, do His will. Why would someone take “delight,” as Steps to Christ puts it, in following a standard as high as the one Jesus upheld in the Sermon on the Mount?
Again, I am impressed to point you to read for yourselves what is written in Steps to Christ before and after what has been quoted. The deception that reigns in the church must be understood that the sinner might be set from from captivity. Here is a short statement in context that ought to open closed eyes.
All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that can make us holy. { SC 59.4}
The opposite and no less dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption. { SC 60.1}
But notice here that obedience is not a mere outward compliance, but the service of love. The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new-covenant promise is fulfilled, “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.” Hebrews 10:16. And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? Obedience—the service and allegiance of love—is the true sign of discipleship. Thus the Scripture says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 5:3; 2:4. Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience. { SC 60.2}
Dwell more on the question at the end of Thursday’s study. How do we learn to discern between good and evil? How do we define what is good and what is evil? And why is what we do with that knowledge perhaps even more important than having that knowledge itself?
When Adam sinned, he did not lose his ability to know right from wrong. We all have a conscience. What did happen to Adam is that he no longer had the power to do right, he was at enmity with God and aligned with Satan and sin. It is only through a full heart surrender that man can obey God or do any good thing for the right reason. How do we define what is good and what is evil? The Bible tells us. In the United States we have an organization that tells us that there is to be a separation between church and state. But, their interpretation of this is very wrong. The domain of morality is that of the church. When the Bible is forsaken then there is no understanding of morality. Thus, the ACLU has no authority to say where the line is to be drawn in regards to separation of church and state. They say that no religious laws ought to be in effect, for this would be a violation of the separation between church and state. How very ignorant and a display of common sense.
Thou shalt not kill is a religious law, shall we do away with it? Thou shalt not steal. Will the ACLU want to do away with this? The courts are making a move in that direction. How about thou shalt not commit adultery? They have done away with this already. It is through the Holy Spirit that we come to understand truth. He opens our minds to see the truth. But, many today reject the still small voice of God speaking to humanity.
For those who want to know where the dividing line is, since there is to be a separation between church and state in the United States, it has to do with our relationship with others and our relationship with God. The state has no business in mandating how we worship God or when we worship Him. But, the church being the domain of morality, there is no morality without following the morality of the Bible. And, thus we see the great immorality in America and the world.
And, because the world has been allowed into God's church, there are just as many divorces in the church as in the world. Revival and reformation is promised.