FOURTH QUARTER 2020
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #9
NOVEMBER 28, 2020
“THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION”

 

 

This week we examine the topic of the church and education. One of the ideas the lesson touched on was the importance of allowing for questions and dialogue.

Questions certainly do play a role in the pursuit of truth, however, not all questions lead to and foster truth. Questions can insinuate doubt, skepticism, and unbelief. Indeed, the first question posed in the bible was of this very nature. The serpent engages Eve with, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). The intent of his inquiry was to plant a seed of doubt as to the goodness of the Creator. “Why would God keep from you something beneficial?” “Why would God restrict your liberty?”

In the gospels we find the Savior asking questions and Himself frequently being interrogated. It is of great interest to examine the exchange of questions and responses between Jesus and the varied individuals He encountered from all walks of life. Jesus’ words were motivated by love. He desired to enlighten, educate, and elicit faith from His hearers. Yet the Teacher sent from Heaven was often confronted by questions motivated by unbelief, ridicule, and the desire to ensnare.

In Luke 10:29 we read of the motive behind the lawyer’s question. “But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replies by way of a story (an actual known occurrence) and concludes the Good Samaritan narrative with a question Himself. “So, which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” (Luke 10:36).

“He who showed mercy on him,” the lawyer responds, thus answering his own question.

To demonstrate God’s love, mercy, and compassion is what His church is called to do. This was Christ’s mission to the world. He came to seek, serve, and save the lost. The Samaritan treats the robbed man’s wounds, takes him to the inn, and places him in the care of the innkeeper. The church is the inn, and its members are to care for those entrusted to its keeping. The author of the lesson reminds us that “True education must cause us to see others as Christ sees them, beings for whom He died, beings whose sins He bore on the cross, beings for whom He paid an infinite price. If we uplift the cross, as we must then we will see the value and worth of every human being…”

In an illustration of the Good Samaritan story I have shared with children the inn is pictured on a hillside. I find this very fitting. Jesus says to His followers, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14). The disciples of Jesus are called to reflect Him for He is “the true Light, which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9).

“Jesus is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. His children are the children of light. They are renewed in His image and called out of darkness into His marvelous light. He is the light of the world, and they that follow Him are also the light of the world; for they do not walk in darkness but have the light of life. Every disciple of Christ should be a light in the world.” –Ellen G. White, The Watchman, Walk in the Light, September 8, 1908.

In Matthew 5 Jesus educates His followers as to the true nature of His kingdom. “Christ disappointed the hope of worldly greatness. In the Sermon on the Mount He sought to undo the work that had been wrought by false education, and to give His hearers a right conception of His kingdom and of His own character. –Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p 299.

The blessings the Savior opens His sermon with encapsulate the Gospel. Jesus left Heaven and became poor in order to reach lost humanity. The weight of our sins made Him a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Jesus epitomized meekness and lowliness (Matthew 11:29). He humbled Himself and clothed Himself in the garb of humanity that needed saving. Behold Him praying and seeking His Father, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, totally depending upon and submitting to His Father in all things. Christ’s life was filled with acts of mercy. No one could deny His purity and holiness. He is our peace and with His stripes we are healed. He was reviled, persecuted, and falsely charged. He bore our sins. To what end? He endured the cross for the joy set before Him, and He invites His church to enter into this joy, the joy of seeing souls won to His kingdom.

To recreate the image of God in man was Christ’s mission, and the Beatitudes are to be the church’s experience and testimony to the world. Since a creation story is contained in these eight blessings, it is not surprising that we find the same parallelism in The Beatitudes as we find in the Genesis creation account. Notice the relationship of the first four to the last four.

(1st and 5th) Realizing our own poverty of soul, our own need of grace, having received mercy of which we are so undeserving, we are prepared to extend mercy to others.

(2nd, 6th) True mourning and sorrowing for our sins that crucified Jesus prepares the way for us to receive His righteousness, His purity.

(3rd, 7th) It is the humble, the meek, whom God uses to be peacemakers, to impart the gospel of peace to others.

(4th, 8th) The heart cry to be drawn to Christ, the heart hungering and thirsting after Christ’s righteousness, is heard and answered. We are brought into fellowship with Christ through suffering. True believers embrace the cross and find themselves at odds with the world. “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). The eighth beatitude is a double blessing (Matthew 5:10-12).

“The Godhead was stirred with pity for the race, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit gave Themselves to the working out of the plan of redemption. In order fully to carry out this plan, it was decided that Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, should give Himself an offering for sin. What line can measure the depth of this love? God would make it impossible for man to say that He could have done more. With Christ He gave all the resources of Heaven, that nothing might be wanting in the plan for man's uplifting. Here is love--the contemplation of which should fill the soul with inexpressible gratitude! Oh, what love, what matchless love! The contemplation of this love will cleanse the soul from all selfishness. It will lead the disciple to deny self, take up the cross, and follow the Redeemer. –Ellen G. White, Counsels on Health, p 222.

Do we really take to heart what it means to be a disciple of Jesus? Do we appreciate the matchless love of God and the price our redemption cost Heaven? Do we grasp what Christ is to us? Surely as we begin to do so the motivation to share the Savior of the world with others will in no wise be lacking.

“What is truth?” Pilate inquired, asking the all-important question. Of course, standing before Him was the Truth. Just hours earlier Jesus had told His disciples that He was, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).

The Truth as it is in Jesus is revealed in God’s Word (John 5:39). The Church has been entrusted with the most wonderful textbook, a book that contains and beautifully elaborates on the Truth. We live in a world in which we have access to an unprecedented and overwhelming amount of information. What do we believe to be factual? What do we discard as fiction? The Bible exposes the Lie and protects us from it. The following statement is applicable and timely for God’s church today.

“Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His Word; they can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance with them. None but those who have fortified the mind with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To every soul will come the searching test, Shall I obey God rather than men? The decisive hour is even now at hand. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's immutable Word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? –Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p 593.

Jesus promised His disciples, on the eve of His departure from this world, that He was not leaving them as orphans. “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

It is our privilege to know, worship, and serve our most wonderful Lord and Savior! He has and will continue to direct and guide His Church. What wonderful promises are hers! What a glorious future is hers! Consider the following profound statements.

“From the beginning it has been God's plan that through His church shall be reflected to the world His fullness and His sufficiency. The members of the church, those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light, are to show forth His glory. The church is the repository of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to "the principalities and powers in heavenly places," the final and full display of the love of God.  (Ephesians 3:10). – Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 9. 

“During ages of spiritual darkness, the church of God has been as a city set on a hill. From age to age, through successive generations, the pure doctrines of heaven have been unfolding within its borders. Enfeebled and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object upon which God bestows in a special sense His supreme regard. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts.”  – Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p. 12.

There is no need to doubt, to be fearful that the work will not succeed. God is at the head of the work, and he will set everything in order. If matters need adjusting at the head of the work, God will attend to that, and work to right every wrong. Let us have faith that God is going to carry the noble ship which bears the people of God safely into port. –Ellen G. White, Review and Herald, September 20, 1892.

The darkest hour of the church's struggle with the powers of evil is that which immediately precedes the day of her final deliverance. But none who trust in God need fear; for "when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall," God will be to His church "a refuge from the storm." Isaiah 25:4.” –Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p 725.

He (Christ) knew that the gospel of the kingdom would be preached to all nations for a witness; He knew that truth armed with the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the battle with evil, and that the bloodstained banner would one day wave triumphantly over His followers. –Ellen G. White, Acts of the Apostles, p 21.  

 “Clad in the armor of Christ's righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (Song of Solomon 6:10), she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer.  –Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p 725.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”  (Romans 8:31-32).

~Martha Ruggles