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.
Lesson 7: “Unto the Least of These”
COLLEEN TINKER
Problems with this lesson:
- This lesson teaches giving to the poor as a moral requirement for demonstrating one’s commitment to being saved.
- The lesson develops as a “social work plan” for a religious group instead of explaining generosity as a function of a body of born again believers.
- This lesson emphasizes the Adventist view of Jesus as our Great Example.
No one would criticize the lesson’s emphasis on caring for the poor. In fact one of Paul’s repeated instructions was to take up collections for the brothers in other churches who were in need. Significantly, though, Paul’s commands to give were never attached to salvation. Instead, they were always reminders to people he called “brothers”—those who were already born again through trust and faith in the Lord Jesus’ finished work—to care for those in need, especially in the household of God.
Adventism, though, cannot see the Bible’s commands to give generously through the lens of the new covenant because it does not teach the new covenant. Instead, it teaches caring for the poor as part of a three-pronged giving pattern designed to ensure that one is not idolizing money instead of following Jesus. It is part of a formula for those desiring salvation to practice as evidence of their sincerity.
All of this is hollow. Giving as a good moral or even business practice is not a reflection of spiritual life. It is merely a reflection of one’s dedication to a system. This emphasis on how to organize one’s giving to the poor reveals Adventism’s belief that “following Jesus” is equated with “obeying His commands”. Significantly, this lesson does not deal with BELIEF, with trusting Jesus or with spiritual life.
The lesson for Saturday ends with this statement:
As we will see this week, because we are managers of God’s business, helping the poor is not just an option. It is following the example of Jesus and obeying His commands.
There it is in their own words: helping the poor is not seen as an internal overflow of the forgiveness and spiritual life from the Lord that flows to other fellow humans in need—especially those in the body of Christ—but as a moral mandate to follow an example and obey some commands. One does not have to be born again or a believer in Jesus’ atonement to follow an example or obey a command. Will power alone can drive behavior!
Furthermore, this statement—like the whole lesson—ignores Jesus as our SUBSTITUTE, the One whom we trust because He literally took our sin and paid for it. He is not our Example for how to be saved. His commands are not steps to Christ. Salvation is only through Jesus our Substitute.
Ministry of Jesus
Sunday’s lesson recounts Jesus reading Isaiah 61:1, 2 in the temple. Interestingly, the lesson never quotes the passage but refers to it and then summarizes the moment this way:
Because the religious leaders apparently had overlooked the prophecies that spoke of a suffering Messiah and had misapplied those that pointed to the glory of His second coming (which should serve as a reminder to us of how important understanding prophecy really is), most of the people believed the false idea that the Messiah’s mission was to free Israel from its conquerors and oppressors, the Romans. To think that the Messiah’s mission statement came from Isaiah 61:1, 2 must have been a real shock.
The poor usually were looked down upon by unscrupulous officials such as tax collectors, those in business, and even their own neighbors. It commonly was thought that poverty was the curse of God and that their unfortunate condition must have been their own fault. With this mindset, few people had any concern for the poor and their unhappy plight.
Several things go wrong in this lesson. First, Jesus’ mission statement did not come from Isaiah 61:1, 2. In fact, the author missed the opportunity to point out that when Jesus read this passage in the temple, he stopped reading in mid-sentence and said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4:21).
We need to read the Isaiah 61 passage in context to see what Jesus was teaching that day:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations (Isaiah 61:1–4).
Jesus read only PART of the prophecy that describes Him and His work. His first coming was for the purpose of bringing good news to the poor, of binding up the brokenhearted and of proclaiming liberty to the captives. Significantly, the point of this prophecy or of Jesus’ teaching it as it applied to Himself was not the general care of the poor. He was speaking of salvation for the poor in heart, the reconciliation of the brokenhearted to God through His ministry of substitution and death for their sin.
Even more, Jesus stopped reading before the words “and the day of vengeance of our God”. Jesus did not come the first time to judge the world (Jn. 3:17) but to judge SIN and to pay for it. He will come, though, to judge the world. His vengeance will be poured out on unrepentant sin when He returns. But the time of His wrath and judgment had not yet come. During His first coming, Jesus had lived out the first part of this prophecy.
Also significantly, Jesus left out the millennial promises implicit in the next two verses. The restoration and rebuilding of Jerusalem will happen in the future.
This lesson, however, turned this moment when Jesus pointed to Himself as the One whom the Jews had been expecting and made it about the poor. Yet this passage is NOT about a social plan to care for the poor or a moral lesson to the religious ones to love the poor.
The author of this lesson misinterprets Jesus’ words about bringing good news to the poor and makes it about incorporating the poor into society. While this goal is not a bad goal, it is not the point of the passage used to make this point.
Rich Ruler and Zacchaeus
The lesson takes liberties with the accounts of the rich young ruler and the tax collector Zacchaeus. The author makes the point that Zacchaeus’ desire to follow Jesus was demonstrated by his offer to pay back all the money he had extorted in his collections. Conversely, the author states that the rich young ruler walked away from salvation by refusing to sell his goods and give to the poor. Thus, the author says, the rich young ruler had made a god of his money, and he wasn’t willing to give it up to follow Jesus, whereas the tax collector WAS willing to give it up and follow.
These two stories are not told in parallel or as contrasts to each other. The author has artificially placed them together. Interestingly, this is an indication of the way Adventists use Scripture for whatever point they want to make.
Usually they use the story of the rich young ruler to teach that the Ten Commandments are what are needed for salvation because he led by asking Jesus what the most important commandment was, and he told Jesus he had kept all the commandments from his youth up. Then when Jesus told him to sell his goods and give to the poor, the young man went away sorrowful.
This story, Adventists claim, teaches that one must keep the commandments in order to be saved. Yet this story demonstrates that keeping the commandments is NOT what is necessary to be saved. Rather, giving up what one loves for the sake of Jesus is what is necessary.
Interestingly, in this lesson the author re-appropriates the story and makes it teach that making a god of money is the mark of not being saved.
What about Job?
The week’s last lesson is from Job 29 where the beleaguered man declares all he has done for the poor, including his searching out the causes of people in need whom he did not know. The lesson, following the lead of prophetess EGW, makes the point that Job is an apt example for us to look out for the needs of the poor before they ask for what they need.
In context, this isn’t the point of the passage nor of the book. Here Job is giving what he believes are his qualifications for God’s blessings. He is stating what he understood God’s relationship is to people who do good and care for the poor and look out for others. Yet at the end of the book of Job, the righteous man realizes that he had no idea how God REALLY functions. He thought he understood his responsibilities before God, but he really had no idea of God’s sovereignty. The righteous Job repents:
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2–6).
Job admits that he did not know how God operated, and he repented of thinking that he understood how God honors those who do good. God took Job through unspeakable suffering in order to reveal Himself—His sovereignty and power, His un-manipulatable purposes, His eternal plan—and Job repented. Job’s care for the poor did not recommend Him to God. His good deeds meant nothing.
It was Job’s trust in God that God honored. Good deeds that flow from a righteous, born-again heart are the fruit of the Spirit. Good deeds are not the cause or the foundation or the proof of salvation.
Rich sociopaths can give untold amounts of money to the poor, but they do not please God.
This lesson hides the fact that its premise is secular and works-driven. Caring for the poor is a biblical command, but a plan to care for the poor does not recommend an organization or a person as a God-honoring entity.
We honor God only when we respond to Jesus as our Savior, not as our example. We honor God only when we believe in the Son, in the One whom He has sent (Jn. 6:29).
The call to each of us is to trust Jesus, to stop thinking we can please Him with good works and law-keeping. We cannot.
We can only trust Him, giving up all our hold on our will-power and ability to please God and to throw ourselves at the foot of His cross, admitting our sin and receiving His blood payment for us. Then we will be born again with the resurrection life of Jesus Himself! †
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