Second Quarter
2003 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"The Forgiven"
Insights
to Lesson 8: "Loyalties"
May 17-23,
2003
(Produced
by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
This
lesson about "Loyalties" pricks our conscience deeply. Is there
anyone reading this that does not (in his/her heart) love nice things, ease,
pleasure? Normal, healthy people think it's that much more difficult to
"love God supremely," as the Lesson tells us we must do.
They have more temptations not to.
The
more honest and perceptive we are, the closer we come to Martin Luther when
he was being counseled by Staupitz, his old pastor. Luther was in deep
turmoil of soul, wallowing under Old Covenant darkness. "Brother
Martin, all you need to do is to love God!" said his
"father-confessor," hoping to encourage him. "That's my
problem," acknowledged Luther honestly; "I hate Him!"
Says
Paul, "The carnal mind is enmity against God" (Romans 8:7), which
all us were born with as our standard equipment. No one is "born"
loving God (only exception, Jesus). We go to church and sing hymns, "My
Jesus, I love Thee!" when the Lord knows what we really love—our TV,
our sports, our new car or boat, or new house, or wardrobe, etc. Which is
why He says (in modern English), "You make Me so sick at My stomach, I
feel like throwing up!" (Revelation 3:14-16 truthfully says that!).
Does
the Lord solve the problem by warning us, "You must put Me
first, turn your back on everything else (and everybody else), and love Me
with all your heart! Or else … !"? It's 100 percent true, we
should! But how do we do it?
People
can be easily discouraged if something missing is not supplied. We can't
love the Lord simply by being commanded to. Or being told how
wonderful the results would be if we did, or how terrible if
we don't.
Can
a father command his confused child, "You must love me more than
anyone else, or … I will punish you!" The poor child will be
discouraged. Is that what Jesus means in Matthew 22:37 when He says (in our
Lesson), "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind"? It's so true, we should!
But how can we, if we are as honest as Luther was, or as perceptive?
Is it possible that when Jesus said that, He was quoting a promise?
Take
that first commandment as an example (it's in our Lesson): "Thou shalt
have no other gods before Me." We easily understand it as what Jesus
said, the same idea. We think God says, You must put Me first, or
else … the curses of Deuteronomy 28:15ff. will come.
Does
a fear response work? Yes, … for a time. And yes, the Old Covenant works,
… for a time. When Israel promised, "All that the Lord hath spoken,
we will do" in Exodus 19:8, their promise kept them from worshipping
idols … for a week or so. But in days they were worshipping a golden calf
that their revered leader, Aaron, had made for them (a little lesson here—we
mustn't follow our "leaders" instead of Christ!). After a stirring
sermon on Sabbath or at camp meeting, we do fine for a few weeks. But unless
we can find the essential ingredient in "Loyalties," we are soon
back to the old discouragement again.
What's
missing is seeing the Ten Commandments in the light of the New
Covenant-the promises of God. So often we give little attention to
the Preamble to the ten; we just skip over it. But there's where the gospel
as Good News is revealed: "I am the Lord thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage"
(Exodus 20:2). There the Lord tells us His one-sided Good News, what He
has done, not what He would like to do IF, IF. He enlarged on it
in 19:4, speaking to His people: "Ye have seen what I did (not
would like to do IF, IF] unto the Egyptians [your cruel jailers], and how I
bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself, period. [I did
it! I'm not waiting to do it after you take the initiative!]" The
Preamble to the ten is the gospel itself. When the people are willing to
believe, then the ten are transformed into ten grand promises coming from
the Lord. And the problem of "Loyalties" is solved forever!
-
Satan
may dangle the most alluring false "god" before us, but with
Paul we respond, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of
Christ Jesus, my Lord, … and do count them as so much garbage, that I
may win Christ" (Philippians 3:8).
-
Believe
that Preamble, and "you will not have anything before Me," the
Lord promises. Not because of fear or hope of reward, but because
"the love of Christ constraineth us … henceforth" (2
Corinthians 5:14, 15). Self is crucified with Christ—it's all New
Covenant obedience to the ten!
-
Satan
may tempt us with the most enticing offers of theft, deceit,
fornication, or adultery, but the Giver of the ten will keep His
promise, "I the Lord thy God [who brought you out of Egypt on
eagles' wings] will hold thy right hand" (Isaiah 41:13). You are
not trying to hold on to Him with your puny spiritual muscles; He is
holding onto you, and now you believe it and you thank Him. That's
the New Covenant promise. "I will walk at liberty, for I seek
Thy precepts" (Psalm 119:45). My heart has been won!
-
And
what about those really terrible temptations deep inside, "thou
shalt not covet," "thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine
heart" (Leviticus 19:17), the sins that "so easily beset
us"—the deep-down, buried ones (maybe the lust for pornography)?
The Ten Commandments as ten promises step onstage with the assurance:
"We love [our brother, our sister, our enemy, yes, the law] because
He first loved us [with agape]" (1 John 4:19). It all begins
again with that blessed Preamble to the ten: "We have known and
believed the love [agape] that God hath to us" (16). The
Beatitude-Speaker says: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God" (Matthew 5:8).
"Comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and
… know the love [agape] of Christ" and you will know the One
who "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think" (Ephesians 3:18-20). When the ten become promises, we come to
know Christ as our Savior, not as the One who only wants to be. We know Him
as the One who has given us, not only offered us, the gift
of salvation from sin.
And
what about "loyalties"? (a) Knowing and (b) believing what He has
already done for you,1 you
would be the biggest fool in the universe to be disloyal to Him!
P. S. Some more Good
News: the Lord does save fools, as well as common, ordinary
sinners. That's encouraging for some of us.
-
What
has He done for you already? Redeemed you (Galatians 3:13); chosen
you, predestinated you to be saved; made you accepted, forgiven you
(Ephesians 1:3-7); acquitted you (Romans 5:15-18); died your second
death (Heb. 2:9); endured your curse (Galatians 3:13); become your
Savior (John 4:42; 1 Timothy 4:10); abolished your second death
|