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).
A new “Adult Sabbath School Study Guide” lesson quarterly for our third quarter of 2023 titled “Ephesians”, and our first lesson titled “Paul and the Ephesians”. As the quarterly introduction so states, the book of “Ephesians, then, speaks especially to times like our own in which the allure of the world and passing of time threaten to dull Christian discipleship”. And the message to the Ephesians and now to us, is that we who follow Christ, “play a strategic role in fulfilling God’s grand plan to unite everything in Christ” (Quarterly for Sabbath, June 24). The method to “unite everything in Christ” is best understood by Christ’s words Himself. Actually, Jesus’ prayer just before Gethsemane for all who follow Him:
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
Amazing! We as His followers are not just to be united in love for each other in the church. We are not to just have a mission, message and ministry of love. But we are to be united in DEMONSTRATED love for the world, that the world may know that God loves them. This is an amazing revelation! If we only “love” the “brethren”, it can be construed that we in the church love each other because we share a common message, a common mission and a common ministry. If we only speak of love and preach of love and claim a mission of love, BUT HAVE NOT ACTUAL LOVE, than all is just “talk” and mission is useless… phony. But Christ is praying to the Father that all of us love each other in the church (be “one”… “made perfect in one”), so that the world may experience that love of oneness that we in the church share with God and each other. We are to share that love with the world! We are not to stand as cold implacable pillars of “love” (so-called) so the world will stand in awe of us. We are to be like Christ in love. Coming into the ditches and sewers of the world to love those of the world. We are to be inclusive, not exclusive. The church is not a country-club for saints. The church is a hospital and a school. A hospital to help heal you, and a school to prepare you for the message, mission and the true ministry… all of love for those in the world. Here in the church we learn how to love. And not just love each other in the church, but to really and truly love.
This is the essence of the cross, itself. What it means to be “under the cross”. It does not merely mean acceptance of Christ’s death in our behalf. This understanding barely gets people into church once per week. A “fire insurance” kind of understanding that grossly minimizes the meaning of being “under the cross” and maligns the character of our Father. As if the Father needed to have Christ die in our behalf. WE needed Christ to die in our behalf so that we could die to self with Christ and truly love others like Christ. So EGW tells us what being “under the cross” really means:
“Love for souls for whom Christ died means crucifixion of self. He who is a child of God should henceforth look upon himself as a link in the chain let down to save the world, one with Christ in His plan of mercy, going forth with Him to seek and save the lost. The Christian is ever to realize that he has consecrated himself to God, and that in character he is to reveal Christ to the world. The self-sacrifice, the sympathy, the love, manifested in the life of Christ are to reappear in the life of the worker for God (Desire of Ages pg. 417).
Being “under the cross” means to be full-of-love for those in the world. That those in the world take a higher precedence than you and your eternal salvation. That you would sacrifice your own place in heaven for those that are the vilest and worst in the world. That is what being “under the cross” means. To love as God loves… as shown on the cross. And this love is what unifies us in the “church” (those of us who claim to know Him). So, if we claim to know Him and love Him but have not love for others, we are “bearing false witness”. A serious breach of integrity and trust. We take His name (Christian) but care not for His character. We want His “merits” but want not Him. No wonder the world has little to do with popular Christianity!
The church is not a sanctuary to escape the world. It is a group of people who love the world as Christ loves it. So “that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:23; quoted above). This is its sole purpose. A people united in love for the world. May we be united in this love.
With brotherly love,
Jim