August 15–21

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 8: “Ministering Like Jesus”

This week’s lesson is fairly good as it discusses our responsibilities towards the people in the world around us. In order to reach people with the gospel, and in order for them to be willing to listen, we often need to attend to physical needs first. And it asks if we are unkind or uncaring towards others, why would they want to listen to what we say?

In this, the lesson has some valuable insights such as:

“The living witness of a Christlike life committed to ministering to others is a powerful testimony to the words we speak and gives credibility to our witness.”

And:

“The true wealth of the world is committed Christians who are making a difference for the kingdom of God.”

Since we live in a fallen, sinful, evil world, it isn’t always easy to be in the world without being “of the world”. As we live in the world, we have to use the things of the world—food, clothing, shelter—as well as things that are more luxury than necessity such as electricity, cars, phones, the internet, and a host of things that we could actually do without, as hard as it would seem at first.

These things of the world are not evil in themselves; the problem starts when they become things we “love” or crave because we want them. Remember, according to 1 Timothy 6:10, it is the love of money that is the root of evil, not the money itself.

So from that perspective, 1 Timothy 6 and James 4 both caution against greed for worldly things as that greed amounts to idolatry (Colossians 3:5).

Jesus promised in both Matthew 6:28 and Luke 12:24, 27 that our Heavenly Father knows our (true) needs—food, clothing and shelter—and will provide them. But His entire ministry and mission on earth was to provide for an even greater need, as stated in the lesson:

“An ultimate need, however, is what human beings need most—the need for a personal relationship with God and the realization that their life has eternal significance. Reconciliation with God in a broken world is our ultimate need.”

That is well said, but I would point out that reconciliation with God is more than just getting along with Him; it is a matter of life for our souls which were dead in sin (Eph 2) and the need to be made alive in Christ. The lesson tends to downplay the need for our spirits to be made alive in Christ by saying things such as:

And Jesus came to enable us to live lives of “super-abundance” now and forever.

Consider this—before we can live a life of “super-abundance” we have to be made alive first. One thing I would like to discuss is the way that the lesson deals with the end-times parables in Matthew 24 and 25. It is quite superficial and tends to reduce them down to just advice on how to live better and to be nicer to others in order to not miss out on heaven. 

One way the lesson minimizes these parables happens is that it is assumed that they are aimed at the church: live better, and you might get to go to heaven, while not doing enough might make you lose out. This threat is blatantly spelled out in this paragraph:

“To live self-centered lives and neglect the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs of others is to risk eternal loss. In the parable, those who give their lives for something more than themselves are commended by their Lord and welcomed into eternity, while those who selfishly pursue their own agenda and neglect the needs of others are condemned by their Lord.”

That is what can happen when you assume that all of the Bible is not only for you but is also directed at you, without considering the setting and the context. While all of the Bible is there to teach us about God and righteousness and the way to salvation, as well as history, not all of it is directed at us. As they say, context matters!

For an in-depth discussion of the context of the parables in Matthew 24 and 25, you might consider reading the article by Jack Kelley found here: https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-nature-of-post-church-salvation/

That last quote from the lesson about living for others or living selfishly is ignoring the central truth of salvation and how we obtain it. According to the lesson, it is how we live—selfishly or for others—that will determine our salvation. But that makes salvation our work, not a matter of faith. 

This skewed view of the way to salvation, partly because of a misunderstanding of the meaning of the parables of Matthew, comes from a profound lack of understanding of dead souls that need to be given life. And it is ignoring the reality that the reason some people helped others was because they had been made alive in Christ and were operating from His love; and the reason that others “selfishly pursued their own agenda” was because they lacked the renewing of the Holy Spirit that comes from being alive in Christ. So the outward behavior is assumed to be the cause of the outward behavior, rather than the natural outcome of the condition of the soul—living or dead.

Our problem is not bad behavior, as suggested by the lesson, but rather a matter of being dead in our sins and having a desperate need to be made alive (Eph. 2).

So, whatever your understanding of the setting and context of the parables of Matthew 24 and 25, the simple fact is that as long as people are dead in their sins, separated from God’s Spirit and therefore living in the flesh (Galatians 3:1-5), they can never measure up to God’s standard of perfection. Only when they are moved by the Holy Spirit to accept the gospel by faith are they made spiritually alive, sealed by the Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22; Eph. 4:30) and guaranteed eternal life.  After that, out of the abundance of love and gratitude for the matchless gift of life, we try to live out our lives as Jesus taught, helping others and telling them the good news. †