August 3–9

This weekly feature is dedicated to Adventists who are looking for biblical insights into the topics discussed in the Sabbath School lesson quarterly. We post articles which address each lesson as presented in the Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, including biblical commentary on them. We hope you find this material helpful and that you will come to know Jesus and His revelation of Himself in His word in profound biblical ways.

 

Week 6: “Worship the Creator”

I found this whole lesson to be troubling and difficult to handle. There are few individual problem areas that I can address; in general, however, it’s just the whole tone and focus of the lesson that is perplexing.

 

Idolatry and Oppression

In recounting the story of how the people promised that they would do all that the Lord commanded—followed almost immediately by worshipping the golden calf—the author seems to have overlooked the fact that this was a clear example of how we fallen human beings are totally incapable of obeying the law. When the people insisted that they would do all that God commanded, it was quickly followed by disobeying what God had said. 

In fact, the whole purpose of the Law was not to show us the right way to live to gain eternal life, but rather to show our total inability to be right with God. This in turn shows us that we need a Savior and drives us to Christ. See Galatians.

The author also inserted three little words that make a very big difference:

“… giving them the Ten Commandments in written form,…”

Clearly this was to support the Adventist insistence that the 10 Commandments are God’s eternal Law that always existed, and at Mt Sinai, they were just written down for the first time.

All through this lesson, while discussing the Bible’s instructions to treat the poor and oppressed kindly and fairly, something seems to be lacking. All of the focus is on outward behavior and, as such, is more of a “works” centered religion than it is something that comes from a heart change.

There is more emphasis in this week’s lesson on the outward behavior towards the needy than there is on the actual purpose of true “religion” which is to give life to our dead spirits. It isn’t just to “to release men from their burdens of sin” as stated in the Bible Commentary quote in Wednesday’s lesson. 

For Israel, when they followed the commands in the Law, they were released from the burden of sin. Their sins weren’t yet forgiven, but their sacrifices did set aside the condemnation of sin. These sacrifices were symbolic of the True Sacrifice of Jesus which actually did remove the penalty and condemnation of sin which He took upon Himself.

When we experience the love of Christ, there will certainly be a change in our outward behavior, but most of the lesson seems to be focused on just changing our outward actions and nothing is said about the breath-taking change from death to life that comes from the Spirit. 

 

Mercy and Faithfulness

From the lesson:

“Perhaps Jesus’ most frightening sermon—particularly for religious people—is that found in Matthew 23. “

This sermon, in which Jesus condemns the Pharisees for their hypocritical behavior which clearly showed that they were not right with God, would certainly be frightening for “religious” people—if one uses the word religion to mean a man-made effort to make yourself right with God. 

There is nothing, other than faith in Jesus, that can possibly make one right with God — no “religion” or formal group of doctrines can make that change from the outside. Without the new birth, a mere form of religion is useless; we would be like the cup and platter that are clean on the outside, but still filthy on the inside (Matthew 23:25, 26).

On the other hand, someone who has faith in Jesus and has been made right with God by what Jesus did for us, has no fear. Romans 8 assures us that there is no condemnation—or judgment—for those in Christ. Jesus took that judgment on Himself and paid our price so there is no coming judgment for us that is a cause for fear.

Even when we fail in our outward behavior, there is no fear because we know we are safe in Jesus. The only fear is for one who is not right with God, who is not born again and who does not have the Spirit sealed within.

The thought question at the end I find to be a troubling one:

“How can we avoid the trap of thinking that having and knowing the truth is enough?”

It’s troubling in part because the whole belief system of Adventism is based on the certainty that they have and know “the truth”, topped off with the belief that they must “keep the Sabbath” to be saved. The whole system has fallen into that very trap, but there seems to be no way out without knowing that it is a trap. 

When you are snug and secure in thinking you have “the truth”, why would you even try to find your way out of that trap? How do you even know that you are in a trap? If you think you know it all, why would you even try to learn more? Or, for that matter, even know that you need to know more?

The problem is that the “truth” they hold so dear is based on an extra-Biblical authority and on very unbibilical distortions and interpretations of the Bible. How can it possibly be “truth” when it contradicts the real truths in God’s Word? The only real truth is found in the Bible, but you can’t find it if you don’t believe what it says and that it means what it says.

As I said at the start, this is a troubling lesson. It sounds so right on the surface, but if you look a little deeper, you can see the very subtle, and some not-so-subtle, distortions that make man-made religion the work of man to reach God, rather than the work of God in those who have come to Him by faith. †