THIRD QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #8
AUGUST 19, 2023
“CHRIST-SHAPED LIVES AND SPIRIT-INSPIRED SPEECH”

 

 

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was a blessing to them, providing inspired guidance from God as they struggled with the challenges of being new Christians in a non-Christian (secular) world.

 

In today’s world, as we look at the trials and temptations that we all face, it is clear we have that same need. We certainly cannot live Christ-shaped lives or have Spirit-inspired speech in our own strength!

 

Compound this with the rapidly changing world events happening right in front of us, making it clear that Christ’s return is getting closer and closer, and our lesson this week tells me that we need that same inspired guidance from God that the Ephesians did!

 

An unexpected and important lesson that I got from this week’s study with respect to Spirit-inspired speech has to do with politicians. I had been telling my dear wife about my disdain for politicians in general, of either party—that they are all looking for the same things: power, prestige, fame and money, even those that started out with good intentions.

 

She gently reminded me that I had that same sinful selfish nature as they did and asked me if I had prayed for them, as it sounded like they needed prayers. That was a humbling but true thought that really hit home for me and brought a deeper meaning to my own study this week!

 

In the first part of our lesson, we are looking at Christ-shaped lives, and as Ephesians 4:21 says, we need “the truth as in Jesus” as was taught by Him.

 

A.T. Jones had some pertinent comments relating to this in the following article:

 

Ah, there is a perverse spirit which works independently of all restraints of science and civilization, a spirit which runs riots in the blazing light of the nineteenth century as freely as it did in the ages before it. And that perverse spirit is the spirit of opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the spirit of selfishness and of the prince of evil, which sets at nought [sic.] the counsel of the Most High. This is an age of Bibles, yet the Word of God is not in the hearts of the people. The power and wisdom of God find no place for operation in their lives.

 

There is but one antidote and preventive of this perverse spirit which drives the people to such displays of credulity and superstition; and that is, truth; and not “truth” merely, but “the truth as it is in Jesus.” Ah, this is the education for the need of which the world is dying, — the knowledge of ‘the truth as it is in Jesus.’ There can be no true education without the knowledge of Christ.

 

When the people know the “power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,” they will have no desire to follow after other manifestations of power claiming to be divine. When they know the voice of the Good Shepherd, they will not be ready to heed the voice of a stranger.

 

No one, however capable or qualified by nature and education, need expect to escape the “perverse spirit” of this age and the delusions to which it leads, unless his education shall include an acquaintance with Him who is the Author and embodiment of truth. And that acquaintance can be secured by any and every person by receiving His word into the heart by faith. —A. T. Jones, The American Sentinel, May 13, 1897, p. 292.

 

A.T. Jones had another quote along similar lines as follows:

 

JESUS said to the Jews (and the words apply equally to all people), “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

 

In this, as in everything else that Jesus said and did, he was revealing the mind of God, his Father; for he came to manifest his Father to the world. It was the Father who spoke through Christ, in all that Christ said.…

 

If we would be free we must know “the truth.” But what is this? The answer is found in the words of Jesus, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” We must know ‘the truth as it is in Jesus’. Is this a narrow view of truth? No, indeed; it is the broadest view of truth, the only complete view of truth that can be had….

 

God wants all persons to serve him; not for his good, but for their good—in order that they may realize all the good and the happiness that life can contain. And to serve him they must be free; no forced service can be acceptable to him. No plan to force men to serve him can for a moment have his approval.

 

And to be free, men must know the truth, —which is to know him who is “the truth” — “Christ, the wisdom of God, and the power of God.” In the spiritual life—which is the true life—knowledge is not power, save as it is the knowledge of Christ as the power of God unto salvation. He who holds this knowledge, and only he, has truth and freedom. —A.T. Jones, The American Sentinel, September 16, 1897, p. 564, emphasis supplied, here and onward.

 

As we continue our study into Christ-shaped lives, we find that E.J. Waggoner shares his thoughts along similar lines in the following passages:

 

It is utterly impossible that a man should long possess the truth while pursuing an unrighteous course. Indeed, we may say that it is impossible that he should have the truth at all, while living in the commission of deliberate sin. For Christ is the truth, and the whole truth; whosoever has not Christ, has not the truth; and the man who lives an ungodly life has not Christ. It may be said that an ungodly man may possess a correct theory of truth. That is so, but a theory will not save him, neither will a mere theory advance the cause of truth. The truth which makes free is “the truth as it is in Jesus.” —E. J. Waggoner, Signs of the Times, April 8, 1889, p. 201.

 

Christ is the Word; He is the truth; and He sanctifies all who believe Him. The Bible is also the Word of God, because the Spirit of Christ was in the men who wrote, testifying through them, and because the Scriptures testify of Christ. It is the truth, and it sanctifies, because Christ is in the Word, and believers find Him there….Truth itself must be loved and received. It is not our ideas of truth that will save us, but “the truth as it is in Jesus.” Not our thoughts but God’s thoughts are the truth. We have no business to think anything different from what God’s Word says. It is to direct our thoughts. And since Christ cannot be divided, and partly believed and partly rejected, but must be accepted as a whole, so we must not expect to find sanctification in accepting some things that are true, and rejecting others. He who is satisfied with anything less than the whole truth, will at last find himself with no truth at all. —E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK, May 9, 1895, p. 290.

 

As we continue this week’s study of God’s word, I believe we will find there is a strong connection between Christ-shaped lives and Spirit-inspired speech. On Tuesday’s lesson, the phrase “grace-filled speech” is used in conjunction with Ephesians 4:29-30. The following quote from E. J. Waggoner gives us some valuable insight into the Holy Spirit as our source of grace:

 

This spirit is not something that can be put on. It is put into the life when “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.... And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.” Ephesians 4:31,32. “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:15. —E. J. Waggoner, Present Truth UK,  July 22, 1897, p. 450.

 

Notice that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and while God resists the proud, He gives grace to the humble.

 

Recognizing that God is our source of grace and inspired by His word bringing us the “truth as it is in Jesus,” we can see more clearly how it is indeed both desirable and necessary for His people to live Christ-shaped lives and have Spirit-inspired speech.

 

With this in mind, let us now look together at some thoughts and counsel from Sister White to guide us in our walk with the Lord:

 

The religion of Jesus softens whatever is hard and rough in the temper, and smooths whatever is rugged and sharp in the manners. It makes the words gentle and the demeanor winning. Let us learn from Christ how to combine a high sense of purity and integrity with sunniness of disposition. A kind, courteous Christian is the most powerful argument that can be produced in favor of Christianity.

 

Kind words are as dew and gentle showers to the soul. The Scripture says of Christ, that grace was poured into His lips, that He might “know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary”(Isaiah 50.4). And the Lord bids us, “Let your speech be always with grace” (Colossian 4:6), “that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29). —Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, p. 122.

 

Cultivate a prayerful frame of mind and educate the tongue to speak right words, that will bless in the place of discouraging. Talk of the goodness, the mercy, and the love of God. Put away all unbelieving words and all that is cheap and common. Let the words be sound words, that cannot be condemned, and the peace of God will surely come to the soul. —Ellen G. White, In Heavenly Places, p.175.

 

Remember that your brethren are fallible creatures like yourself, and regard their mistakes and errors with the same mercy and forbearance that you wish them to exercise toward you. They should not be watched and their defects paraded to the front for the world to exult over. Those who dare to do this have climbed upon the judgment seat and made themselves judges, while they have neglected the garden of their own hearts and have allowed poisonous weeds to obtain a rank growth…. All dissension, all differences and faultfinding, should be put away, with all evil speaking and bitterness; kindness, love and compassion should be cherished, that the prayer of Christ that His disciples might be one as He is one with the Father may be answered. The harmony and unity of the church are the credentials that they present to the world that Jesus is the Son of God. Genuine conversion will ever lead to genuine love for Jesus and for all those for whom He died. —Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, pp. 278-279.

 

As we close, may we each have a desire to uplift Christ with Christ-shaped lives and Spirit-inspired speech made possible only through His love, mercy and grace so that individually and corporately as His last day church we may represent Him to the world as a loving Savior Who died for us and wants to take us home!

 

Blessings,

 

~John Campbell