Excuses to Avoid Mission
FOURTH QUARTER 2023
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #5
NOVEMBER 4, 2023
“EXCUSES TO AVOID MISSION”
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me’” (Isaiah 6:8, NKJV throughout).
“As His representatives among men, Christ does not choose angels who have near fallen, but human beings, men of like passions with those they seek to save. Christ took upon Himself humanity, that He might reach humanity. Divinity needed humanity; for it required both the divine and the human to bring salvation to the world. Divinity needed humanity, that humanity might afford a channel of communication between God and man. So with the servants and messengers of Christ. Man needs a power outside of and beyond himself, to restore him to the likeness of God, and enable him to do the work of God; but this does not make the human agency unessential. Humanity lays hold upon divine power, Christ dwells in the heart by faith; and through co-operation with the divine, the power of man becomes efficient for good.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p 296, 297.
“In His wisdom the Lord brings those who are seeking for truth into touch with fellow beings who know the truth. It is the plan of Heaven that those who have received light shall impart it to those in darkness, Humanity, drawing its efficiency from the great Source of wisdom, is made the instrumentality, the working agency, through which the gospel exercises its transforming power on mind and heart.”–Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 134.
What holds us back from fulfilling the great commission, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…” (Matthew 28:19, 20)? As the lesson notes, our excuses may be driven by fear, false views, inconvenience, and/or uncomfortable confrontations. The truth is that any excuse reveals a lack of faith and love, but there is a remedy. The bridegroom has immeasurable stores of the golden currency which He longs to impart to His church so she can share with others. “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8).
The Old Testament prophet, Jonah, stood in need of the golden currency. Let us revisit his story.
As with all the biblical narratives Jonah is rich in literary beauty. The overall structure of the book can be divided into seven units:
- Jonah’s commission and flight (1:1-3)
- Jonah and the pagan sailors (1:4-16)
- Jonah’s grateful prayer (1:17-2:10)
- Jonah’s recommission and obedience (3:1-3)
- Jonah and the pagan Ninevites (3:4-10)
- Jonah’s unhappy prayer (4:1-4)
- God’s lesson for Jonah about compassion (4:5-11)
The book’s structure calls our attention to the creation account found in Genesis 1:1 - 2:3. We see a parallel structure of the first three units with the three units that follow. The seventh and last unit emphasizes God’s character of love and compassion for all His creatures.
Throughout the book God is portrayed as the sovereign Creator. He is master of sea and land. The LORD sends out a great wind on the sea (1:4). The LORD makes the sea to cease its raging (1:15). The LORD prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah (1:17). The LORD speaks to the fish and the fish vomits Jonah onto dry land (2:10). The LORD prepares a plant that provides shade for Jonah. God then prepares a worm that destroys the plant (4:6, 7).
God speaks reminding us, “By the word of the LORD the heavens were made…For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast” (Psalm 33:6-9). “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah” (1:1). “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time” (3:1). “But the LORD said…” (4:10).
Besides strong allusions to creation, the gospel is a key theme in Jonah. “Salvation is of the LORD” (2:9). Jesus referred to the story of Jonah in referencing His own sufferings. In Matthew 12:40 we read, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Just as Jonah felt imprisoned forever in the depths of the sea, our Savior felt the agonizing separation from His Father in the garden, throughout His trial, during the crucifixion, and while hanging on the cross. Hope deserted the sin bearer. Yet though He could not see beyond the portals of the tomb Christ never relinquished faith. He clung to a faith anchored in God’s word, and Jonah’s prayer expresses that faith. “I went down to the moorings of the mountains; The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; Yet You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD, my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple” (2:6,7).
Jonah is a type of Christ when it comes to his experience of being swallowed by the fish. However, his running away at the beginning of the story, and his bitter complaint at the end of the story, reveal the prophet’s failure to exercise total faith in his Creator. Commentators have observed that the non-Israelites in the narrative come across as more pious than Jonah.
Jonah, who worships the God of land and sea, attempts to flee from the presence of the LORD! When the storm is raging Jonah sleeps, while the sailors are praying to their gods and doing all they can do to save the ship. Though Jonah confesses he is the cause of the storm, the pagan sailors are unwilling to throw him overboard. When they do cast him into the sea, they ask God to forgive them for shedding innocent blood. And when the sea then ceases its raging, they sacrifice and make vows to the LORD.
In response to the preaching of Jonah the whole city of Nineveh, from the king to his lowliest subjects, put on sackcloth and fast. With great humility of heart, they repent and turn from their evil ways. God relents from destroying the Ninevites, but Jonah, instead of appreciating the truth that God is “gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, One Who relents from doing harm” (4:2), is selfishly concerned for his own reputation.
“When Jonah learned of God's purpose to spare the city that, notwithstanding its wickedness, had been led to repent in sackcloth and ashes, he should have been the first to rejoice because of God's amazing grace; but instead he allowed his mind to dwell upon the possibility of his being regarded as a false prophet. Jealous of his reputation, he lost sight of the infinitely greater value of the souls in that wretched city. The compassion shown by God toward the repentant Ninevites ‘displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.’ ‘Was not this what I said’ he inquired of the Lord, ‘when I was still in my country? Therefore, I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, One Who relents from doing harm.’ Jonah 4:1, 2.
“Once more he yielded to his inclination to question and doubt, and once more he was overwhelmed with discouragement. Losing sight of the interests of others, and feeling as if he would rather die than live to see the city spared, in his dissatisfaction he exclaimed, ‘Now, O Lord, take, I beseech You, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.’"—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p 271.
The story of Jonah in many ways is our story. The Seventh-day Adventist church was raised up to proclaim the everlasting gospel to the world. It is of significant interest that the wording and content in Revelation’s central message is very much like that found in the book of Jonah. The first angel’s message calls us to worship the Creator God. “Worship Him Who made heaven, and earth, and sea, and springs of water” (Revelation 14:7b). In Jonah’s brief sermon to the sailors he testifies, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, Who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9).
Both the remnant and Jonah are commissioned to preach judgment hour messages. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). “Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come” (Revelation 14:7a).
The everlasting gospel is foundational in both Jonah’s experience and the fourteenth chapter of Revelation. “Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). At the heart of both Bible passages is God’s love and divine initiative for sinners.
The Advent believers were given a time-based message to preach to the world. They were bitterly disappointed when their expectation of the time-based message’s fulfillment was not realized. Jonah was bitterly disappointed when he did not witness the destruction of Nineveh in 40 days.
Nevertheless, God’s protective hand was over His remnant people as it was over Jonah. The divine Shepherd guided and blessed them in the days and years following the Great Disappointment despite a Laodicean condition to which they succumbed not long after 1844.
Just a generation later in 1888 God sent a most precious message to His people that was to lighten the world with His glory. While this message brought increased light, gladness, and joy to some who heard it, the message of Christ our righteousness was rejected by most of the leadership. Ever since, the church has been wandering in the wilderness, largely asleep to her calling.
“In the charge given him, Jonah had been entrusted with a heavy responsibility; yet He who had bidden him go was able to sustain His servant and grant him success. Had the prophet obeyed unquestioningly, he would have been spared many bitter experiences, and would have been blessed abundantly. Yet in the hour of Jonah's despair the Lord did not desert him. Through a series of trials and strange providences, the prophet's confidence in God and in His infinite power to save was to be revived.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 266, 267.
God’s compassion for all His children is great. He who was merciful to Nineveh showered Jonah, His prophet, with that same mercy! And He has bestowed great mercy upon wretched, poor, and blind Laodicea.
“In a special sense Seventh-day Adventists have been set in the world as watchmen and light bearers. To them has been entrusted the last warning for a perishing world. On them is shining wonderful light from the word of God. They have been given a work of the most solemn import—the proclamation of the first, second, and third angels’ messages. There is no other work of so great importance. They are to allow nothing else to absorb their attention.
“The most solemn truths ever entrusted to mortals have been given us to proclaim to the world. The proclamation of these truths is to be our work. The world is to be warned, and God’s people are to be true to the trust committed to them.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies to the Church, Vol. 9, p. 19.
So how do we as the body of Christ move forward and fulfill our God-given commission? Certainly, our own strength and plans will NOT see the earth lightened with God’s glory. “’Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).
We need an Isaiah chapter six experience. We need to behold the matchless charms of Jesus, acknowledge our great need, and cast our helpless souls, individually and corporately, upon the rock. The God of all mercy is exceedingly gracious.
“As Isaiah beheld this revelation of the glory and majesty of his Lord, he was overwhelmed with a sense of the purity and holiness of God. How sharp the contrast between the matchless perfection of his Creator, and the sinful course of those who, with himself, had long been numbered among the chosen people of Israel and Judah! ‘Woe is me!’ he cried; ‘for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.’ Verse 5. Standing, as it were, in the full light of the divine presence within the inner sanctuary, he realized that if left to his own imperfection and inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which he had been called. But a seraph was sent to relieve him of his distress and to fit him for his great mission. A living coal from the altar was laid upon his lips, with the words, ‘Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.’ Then the voice of God was heard saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ and Isaiah responded, ‘Here am I; send me.’ Verses 7, 8.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 307, 308.
“Before the final visitation of God’s judgments upon the earth there will be among the people of the Lord such a revival of primitive godliness that has not been witnessed since Apostolic times. The Spirit and the power of God will be poured out upon His children.” —Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 464.
“It is the privilege of every soul to be a living channel through which God can communicate to the world the treasures of His grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ. There is nothing that Christ desires so much as agents who will represent to the world His Spirit and character. There is nothing that the world needs so much as the manifestation through humanity of the Savior’s love. All heaven is waiting for channels -- through which can be poured the holy oil to be a joy and blessing to human hearts.”—Ellen G. White, Christ Object Lessons, p. 419.
“The revelation of His own glory in the form of humanity will bring heaven so near to men that the beauty adorning the inner temple will be seen in every soul in whom the Savior dwells. Men will be captivated by the glory of an abiding Christ. And in currents of praise and thanksgiving from the many souls thus won to God, glory will flow back to the great Giver.”—Ellen G. White, Christ Object Lessons, p. 420
~Martha Ruggles