November 28–December 4

 

Lesson 10: “Education in Arts and Sciences”

There is not much in this week’s lesson that couldn’t be condensed down to a few sentences. 

Yes, God created all that exists. Yes, God’s creation, at least in its original form, was full of beauty. Yes, God’s creation, even marred by sin, still has much beauty and can teach us a lot about Him and our place in His plan.

And yes, this from the lesson is also true:

Even after 6,000 years of sin and thousands of years after the world-wide devastation of the Flood, overwhelmingly powerful evidence exists, not just for God as our Creator but for the power and love and benevolence of this God as our Creator. It’s so powerful, in fact, that Paul, in Romans 1:18–21, says that those who reject this God will be “without excuse” on Judgment Day because enough about Him can be learned from what He has made. In other words, they won’t be able to plead ignorance!

That statement also applies to those who have the written Word of God but who refuse to believe its truths.

In last week’s lesson we saw a list of several of Adventist’s cherished beliefs, none of which is in line with the simple truths taught in the Bible. Things like these which the author called “an abundance of doctrinal light and truth“:

[T]he state of the dead, the Sabbath, 1844 and the judgment, the great controversy, to name a few teachings…

The lesson claims to hold truth in high esteem and has some astute statements about the result of not holding on to it:

In the end, any ideologies and presuppositions that deny or exclude God can lead only to error.

That is, think about all the information, all the teaching, all the beliefs, not only now but also throughout human history, that were flat-out wrong. People can, indeed, be experts in error.

As discussed last week, those “cherished beliefs” do deny and exclude God, in addition to lowering God to the position of a weakened god who must bow to the freedom of choice of his created beings in the hope that they will choose him and thereby defeat his greatest enemy—an enemy with whom God has supposedly been fighting in order to defend Himself against the enemy’s spurious lies.

The lesson moves on to this statement:

Because we are a part of God’s own artwork and scientific phenomena, we also can learn more about our own identity in Christ.

So, what is our identity in Christ? And, is that identity fixed and firm, or is it put in jeopardy by our behavior and dependent on how good we are day-to-day? Is it just a hope, or is it a firm reality?

Any time we fall back on a list of rules to govern a relationship, there is always the possibility that the relationship will break apart if the rules are not followed adequately. It becomes a matter of boss and servant rather than of a relationship of love and trust. It becomes “do or else” rather than “being”.

Which would you rather have—do everything right or risk being lost, or just be in a relationship with Jesus and allow Him to guide your behavior through the Holy Spirit? This is what Paul calls being under Grace, not Law. See Romans 6.

Since the Bible is to be our authority, let’s see what it says about our identity in Christ. In the letter to the Romans, Paul starts in chapter 1 by identifying his audience in verse 6, 7:

among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are “the called”, those chosen by God (Ephesians 1:4; Romans 8:29), and we are beloved of God. We are also saints in God’s eyes. We see our own imperfections, but God sees us through the blood of Jesus and considers us to be perfect with the perfection of Jesus.

As sons of God, we are part of His family: “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).

In the Bible leaven is used as a symbol of sin. 1 Corinthians 5:7 says that we are in fact unleavened or, in God’s eyes at least, without sin:

Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

Galatians 3:28 tells us: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

In this world, while we differ in social status, gender, national identity, and many other ways, in Christ we are all one, and everyone is equally valuable in His eyes.

First Corinthians 3:23 says, “you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.”

We are His possession which He considered so valuable that He willingly died to redeem us.

Now that we see what the Bible tells us about who and what we are, what does Jesus say about how secure we are in Him?

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44).

In John 10:27-29 Jesus says: 

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Look at the eternal truths in those 3 verses: We are His sheep. He knows us. We have eternal life in Him. We will never perish. NO ONE can take us out of His hands.

Now that is security!

So, how did we come to have that position in Christ? Is it something we have to earn? In fact, is there anything we can do that makes us valuable enough to save?

The very fact that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners shows that it is not something we earned (Romans 5:6-10; John 3:16).

He did that because He loved us, and He did it all. We must accept it by faith and let Him keep us safe in Him. We still have a sin nature, and we know that we regularly fail; but He chose us and knew us before He even created the world.

That reality is so profound that many people say that it can’t be true. And since it is too good to be true, they believe that they have to add to it to make it a reality. But do we have anything good enough to make us right with God?

Isaiah 64:6 says no: “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”

John 10:10 says: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Not only do we have life, but we have abundant life here and now.

So why do so many people who are trusting in Jesus not find the reality of that promise? Could it be because they are looking at behavior as a necessary element of salvation rather than trusting Jesus? 

And why do they think that Jesus can lose us? (John 10:28 and 29.)

In Romans 8 Paul goes to great lengths to name everything he can think of that someone might fear could separate them from God:  

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing means nothing! “God said it, and I believe it” is a statement that many claim to believe—until it comes to salvation. 

Trust God to finish what He started in you from the moment you first trusted in Him (Philippians 1:6).

If the Bible is your source of truth, then trust that everything in it IS Truth. and trust it implicitly. †