FIRST QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #7
MAY 13, 2023
“WORSHIPING THE CREATOR”

 

Our lesson this week is extremely important because it is dealing with the critical topic of worshiping our God, who created all things including me, you, and the entire human race.

 

The initial question that may come to mind is why? If He has already created us, then why should it make a difference to Him that we worship Him?

 

When we look at Revelation 14:7, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water,” we see worship as our response of awe and having an attitude of gratitude to the One who created us.

1 John 4:8-10 tells us that “God is love” and “in this was manifested the love of God toward us because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

 

Thus, our desire is to worship Him as not only our Creator, but as a response to His infinite unselfish agape love and His infinite sacrifice for us as reflected in our redemption through Christ’s death on the cross for the entire human race. How do we as finite human beings comprehend His infinite love and sacrifice? The good news is that He wants to us to enjoy an infinite time in heaven with Him to learn and understand and appreciate more and more!

 

Satan, of course, is doing his best to undermine God’s role as our Creator and Redeemer. One aspect of this is the theory of evolution which began in the mid 1800’s just as God’s last day church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church came into being. As Pastor Finley notes in the lesson, “God has raised up a church, a people whose very name itself is a witness against the idea of evolution—a people who are to proclaim the foundational truth of God as our Creator and Redeemer.”

 

You may enjoy the following from Sister White:

 

“God is constantly at work in nature. She is His servant, directed as He pleases. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all His works according to His will. It is not by an original power inherent in nature that year by year the earth produces its bounties and the world keeps up its continual march around the sun. The hand of infinite power is perpetually at work guiding this planet.  It is God’s power momentarily exercised that keeps its position in its rotations.  The God of heaven is constantly at work.  It is by His power that vegetation is caused to flourish, that every leaf appears and every flower blooms.  It is not as the result of a mechanism, that, once set in motion, continues its work, that the pulse beats and breath follows breath.  In God, we live and move and have our being.  Every breath, every throb of the heart, is the continual evidence of the power of an ever-present God.  It is God that maketh the sun to rise in the heavens.  He openeth the windows of heaven and giveth rain.  He maketh the grass to grow upon the mountains. ‘He giveth snow like wool: and scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.’ ‘When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, …He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind  out of His treasures.’

 

Although the Lord has ceased His work in creating, He is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things which He has made.  Said Christ, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”—Ellen G. White, Manuscript 4, 1882.

 

The following quotes will give us further insight as to why it is an honour and a privilege for us to worship our Creator and Redeemer who has freely given us all He could possibly give.

 

“Nature testifies that One infinite in power, great in goodness, mercy, and love, created the earth, and filled it with life and gladness.  Even in their blighted state, all things reveal the handiwork of the great Master Artist.  Wherever we turn, we may hear the voice of God and see evidences of His goodness….

 

He who placed the pearls in the ocean and the amethyst and chrysolite among the rocks, is a lover of the beautiful.  The sun rising in the heavens is a representative of Him who is the life and light of all that He has made.  All the brightness and beauty that adorn the earth and light up the heavens, speak of God…All things tell of His tender, fatherly care and of His desire to make His children happy.”—Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, pp. 411-412, emphases supplied here and onward.

 

“All created beings live by the will and power of God.  They are recipients of the life of the Son of God.  However able and talented, however large their capacities, they are replenished with life from the Source of all life.  He is the spring, the fountain of life.  The life which He had laid down in humanity, He again took up   and gave to humanity. ‘I am come,’ He says, ‘that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’

 

Christ became one with humanity, that humanity might become one in Spirit and life with Him.   By virtue of this union in obedience to the Word of God, His life becomes their life.  He says to the penitent, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life.’”—Ellen G. White, Sons and Daughters of God, p. 237.

 

“It was at the cross that mercy and truth met together, that righteousness and truth kissed each other.  Let every student and every worker study this again and again, that they, setting forth the Lord crucified among us, may make it a fresh subject to the people.  Show that the life of Christ reveals an infinitely perfect character.  Teach that ‘as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.’ John 1:12. Tell it over and over again.  We may become the sons of God, members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King.  Let it be known that all who accept Jesus Christ and hold the beginning of their confidence firm to the end will be heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” —Ellen G. White, Testimonies Vol. 6, p 59.

 

“Jesus has said, ‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.’ John 12:32.  Christ must be revealed to the sinner as the Saviour dying for the sins of the world; and as we behold the Lamb of God upon the cross of Calvary, the mystery of redemption begins to unfold to our minds and the goodness of God leads us to repentance.  In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible; and as the sinner beholds this love, it softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition in the soul…

 

The sinner may resist this love, may refuse to be drawn to Christ; but if he does not resist he will be drawn to Jesus; a knowledge of the plan of salvation will lead him to the foot of the cross in repentance for his sins, which have caused the sufferings of God’s dear Son.”—Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, pp. 26-27.

 

“The season of distress before God’s people will call for a faith that will not falter.   His children must make it manifest that He is the only object of their worship, and no consideration, not even that of life itself, can induce them to make the least concession to false worship.

At that time the gold will be separated from the dross.  Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness.  Those who have assumed the ornaments of the sanctuary, but are not clothed with Christ’s righteousness, will then appear in the shame of their own nakedness.”—Ellen G. White, Maranatha, p. 196.

 

Reading these quotes reaffirms that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have done, and continue to do, everything possible to help us understand more fully the infinite love and sacrifice that has been at the core of our creation and redemption, so that we will truly be drawn

to allow Him to create in us a new heart and spend eternity with Him.

 

An important part of this week’s lesson is mentioned in Sunday’s comments by Pastor Finley:

 

“We were created as worshiping beings. Every one of us worships something or someone.  True worship, the worship of the Creator, enables us to discover life’s purpose.  It gives us a reason for living.  It gives us not only something to die for but also, even more significantly, something to live for and, if need be, to endure tribulations for.”

 

With this in mind, I would like to look at some thoughts by Jones and Waggoner dealing with true worship:

 

“For true worship must be rendered in the Spirit which God alone gives. The word must be taken, not in our own spirit, but in the Spirit of God, and that must lead us into larger and larger ideas, and work in us that which we do not know ourselves. Men have secret faults of which they are utterly unconscious. Not only so, but no man knows the depth of any sin which is brought to his attention, or the fulness of any command which is enjoined upon him. It is plain, therefore, that no man can measure his own righteousness, nor his own sin. He can simply know that he is a sinner, and that the righteousness of God is given to him. The more of the Lord he knows, the greater sinner he will realise himself to be. ….. The Spirit of God must work its own life in every man. This takes the matter out of the realm of civil government entirely. No human authority whatever can impose the Spirit upon any man, or define the mind of the Spirit. The law of God, which is His righteousness, is the one thing which men are to seek. Christ said, ‘I know that His commandment is life everlasting.’ John 12:50. We also are to know the same thing. The law itself is spiritual; it is life everlasting.”—E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, March 1, 1894, p. 135.

 

“True worship of God. – ‘The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.’ John 4:23, 24. Mark, that spiritual worship is not a privilege merely, but a necessity. Jesus did not say that they that worship God may worship Him in Spirit, but that they must do so. There is no worship of God but spiritual worship. All professed worship of God, that is not in spirit, is but idolatry, and the taking of His name in vain. How can we worship Him in spirit? —By taking His Spirit, which He freely gives to all. Men cannot give it to us, they cannot compel us to have it; but God gives it as freely as the air, and we may have it as abundantly.”—E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, December 28, 1893, p. 624.

 

“God is Spirit, and is to be only spiritually discerned, and, therefore, can be worshipped only in spirit and in truth.

 

He can be worshipped only in truth as in spirit, because it is only by His word, which is the truth, that men can know what is true and acceptable worship. No man can know God except by revelation; and God must be worshipped strictly according to His own revelation: otherwise He is not worshipped at all.”—A. T. Jones, Present Truth UK, March 20, 1902, p 179.

 

“This is His word to men, His thought as to what He is. And true worship is to receive this thought as it is, in His word; and to worship Him for what is expressed in that thought alone. God has revealed Himself to men in character only, because this is that which most of all, and first of all, man needs. And in this lies perfect assurance of true worship, and perfect security against all image worship; for it is impossible ever even mentally to image character. In worship, man always becomes conformed to the character of that which he worships. Whosoever worships God according to the word and in the thought God has revealed, will worship Him for what He is, —merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. He who worships God as being that, will by his worship become conformed in holiness of life and character to the image of Him who created him; and when the man, in thus worshiping, shall have grown in mind and character unto that perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, then will be rent the dimming veil that is between, and we shall see Him “face to face,” and shall know even as we are known. We shall know Him then as He knows us now. Our knowledge then will be as full as God’s knowledge of us is now.”— A. T. Jones, Medical Missionary, March 1903, p. 64.

 

These quotes help us to see that true worship allows us to have a heart appreciation of God’s infinite love and sacrifice for all of us, so that we may have a desire to reflect His character in our lives. We may then become new creatures in Christ and desire to live our lives for others, ready to face whatever trials and tribulations may be ahead!

 

In closing, I recommend going over the Two Worshipers chapter in Christ Object Lessons with the valuable insights it provides. Also, below is a connection to a short 3-minute video which I hope you will enjoy.

 

~ Blessings, John Campbell

 

Copy and paste this link in YouTube:

https://youtu.be/FzXdeCf_I-k

The Bible (2013 TV Series) - Jesus Confronts the Pharisee and the Tax Collector