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 Guide” is titled “Christ’s Victory Over Death”. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:14-15). I am quoting this verse to make it very obvious that death is a consequence of sin. “It is sin which gives death its power” (1 Corinthians 15:56). In order for Christ to have victory over death, He must first have victory over sin. “Sin made its entry into the world through one man, and through sin, death” (Romans 5:12”). This is not just semantics or philosophy. This is a fact. “Sin, (is) producing death in me” (Romans 7:13).
Christ was victorious over the grave because He was victorious over sin. To put it another way, Christ never yielded to the temptation to place Himself above another. Never yielded His Divine image to the baser claims of self. Never stopped loving you and me. Never sacrificed the tenet of all Heaven… which is other-centered love. Therefore, eternal life was always His. Always. Because He loved.
If this is true for Christ, then it is also true for each of us. “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 John 3: 14-15). Amazing, is it not? The one pre-requisite for eternal life is…. Love. Love conquers sin… Sin… which is the cause of death. As EGW so accurately states, “selfishness is death” (Desire of Ages 417).
“Sin used to be the master of men and in the end handed them over to death: now grace is the ruling factor, with righteousness as its purpose and its end the bringing of men to the eternal life of God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:21). It is apparent, then, that we need a Divine intervention (a “new birth”). Of ourselves, we do not love. We only “love” ourselves… which is not love at all. So, praise be to God. For “Christ lifts me out of the old vicious circle of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). And lifts me up to the heavenly realm of Love.
No wonder that eternal life for its own sake held no attraction for the faithful throughout time. Love was the motivator. Love that “seeks not its own” (1 Corinthians 13:5). Love that would sacrifice its own eternal life for another (not strive for eternal life at all costs).
Morris Venden tells a story regarding SDA Academy students. The story goes like this…
“I often tell Academy students a parable. Image you are at the “Pearly Gates” of Heaven. Saint Peter meets you there. He tells you that he is glad you are here. And that everything you ever heard about Heaven is true. Streets of God, the Tree of Life, the mansions. Yup, it is all here. Oh, except for one thing. Jesus is not here. He is in the desert hanging on a cross. I then ask the students what they would do. Honestly. Would they go into Heaven? And their overwhelming answer is ‘Yes’.”
Have we missed the point? All of us? Eternal life for its own sake is… nothing. And to use eternal life as a motivator is a spurious motivator. Each of us must answer the question posed by Pastor Venden. Honestly, would we choose eternal life over a cross with Christ? If not, then we really don’t know God… and we really don’t love. But if we really know God, know Him as He is, then there is little stopping us from loving Him. Loving Him enough to sacrifice everything to be with Him wherever He is. Even to sacrificing our own eternal security. This is the power of love.
With brotherly love,
Jim