Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from the “Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide”, is titled “Motivation and Preparation for Mission”. in this lesson we look particularly at what prepared the apostles for mission. What had happened that turned them into bold presenters of the truth. It was something monumental. Something that they could not keep quiet about. Was it that there was “forgiveness of sins” (quarterly for Wednesday, November 8)? In my opinion that was not the main reason for the motivation. It was something much bigger than this. Bigger than their own salvation. As big as God Himself.
If you read the Acts account of Peter’s discourse at Pentecost carefully, you will see Peter’s theme. The theme was that Jesus, the crucified-One, is in fact the Christ, the Messiah. Peter uses scripture to prove this fact. And the “Messiah” or the “Christ” was “Messiah the Prince” (Daniel 9:25). Prince, meaning a Son of God. A Son who represents the Father… perfectly representing the Father. This was the concept, the revelation that turned the people on their ear, a paradigm shift that opened their eyes. The man Jesus was God! God is the One we crucified! God, as exemplified by the life and death of Jesus is the One we hated! The One we couldn’t wait to have die on the cross… so we could hurry home and keep the Sabbath and prove we are God’s faithful children! Yikes! How we misunderstood! Woe is us!
The great unifying concept for them and us is not that we have remission of sin (deliverance from sin). Despite the importance of our own deliverance from sin, this is not what motivated the early church and unified them. It was the astounding realization of who God really is. And the most astounding realization was that it was our God, our Creator God, who allowed Himself to be judged by His creatures, to be treated as a criminal, and to be put to death by us. And with this understanding, the Scriptures were thrown open to their understanding. They saw all of Scripture as a revelation of this kind of God, a God just like Jesus. They saw the love of this God. They saw God as our extremely patient, protective, nurturing and loving Father. And in the light of who He really is, the supremacy of self was broken in their hearts/ minds and seen for the sin it really is. And the early believers longed to be “one” with this kind of selfless love, “one” with the Father who loved so selflessly, “one” with Him and His self-less-ness. A one-ness so complete that “crucifixion” of self was an apt and appropriate symbol of this love for others that would sacrifice everything. This is what unified them… and unifies us today, too. A realization of our true calling and a desire to love like our God loves. A desire to be “crucified” daily with Him.
The motivation we Christians seek has largely eluded us, because we tend to focus on ourselves and our own salvation. This focus keeps us blind. Blind to the truth Christ came to show us. On the road to Emmaus, the two disciples (followers) were dismayed over the loss of Jesus. This loss, and their misunderstanding of God and His selfless ways, had blinded them to the truths Christ came to demonstrate; “their eyes were restrained so they did not know Him” (Luke 24:16). So when the time was right, Christ came alongside them, “and beginning at Moses and all the Prophets He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 16: 27). When He did this, their “heart burned within (them)” (verse 32). The same burning “fire” that descended upon the Apostles at Pentecost. The same burning fire the Apostles felt just before Christ’s resurrection when “He opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (verse 45). The truth about God is what motivated them… and motivates us. They could not wait (and we cannot wait) to tell others (like the two on the road to Emmaus who immediately ran back to Jerusalem).
This was the mission of Christ. To portray the matchless love of God to us. “Christ exalted the character of God, attributing to him the praise, and giving to him the credit, of the whole purpose of his own mission on earth, -- to set men right through the revelation of God” (Signs of the Times 1/20/1890). This is what united the early church and will unite us too… demonstrating the truth about our loving Father. And this is our mission. To proclaim by our very lives the sovereignty of love of God, “for it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). He has been so maligned by so many for so long. May we who know Him, reflect His love and truth in words and deeds… like the Apostles.
With brotherly love,
Jim
