Tuesday: The Deeper Needs
Jesus, as the Lord, knew more about the people than they knew about themselves. There are many accounts in the Gospels where Jesus showed that He not only knew what people were thinking at the present (see Mark 2:8)-He knew their histories as well (John 4:18).
Read Psalm 139:1-13. What is the Word of God telling us here?
Image © Jack Pardue from GoodSalt.com
As we saw yesterday, Jesus knew the needs of the people, and it was to those needs that He ministered. In fact, He knew even needs that went below the surface. This reality is seen in the story of the paralytic. Though it was obvious, on the surface, that he needed physical healing, there was something deeper there, which is why even before telling him to take up his bed and walk, Jesus said, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5).
Read Mark 2:1-12. What was going on below the surface in regard to this man? In what ways might this deeper need be a problem for all whom we seek to minister to?
Jesus knew the issue here was more than physical. “Yet it was not physical restoration he desired so much as relief from the burden of sin. If he could see Jesus, and receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven, he would be content to live or die, according to God’s will.” – Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 267.
Of course we are not going to be able to get below the surface as Jesus did. Yet we can be sure that whomever we are ministering to, they are sin-damaged creatures. That is, whatever the other surface needs, they are also in need of grace, of assurance, of the knowledge that there is a God who loves them, who died for them, and who wants only the best for them.
| Think about how much you crave the assurance of salvation and of the knowledge that God loves you. How can you help others experience that same assurance and love? |
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Jesus knows our surface and deeper needs. May God help us to surrender all our deeper needs to Him, get the assurance of forgiveness of heaven, and the peace that surpasses all understanding. As we do this we shall be enabled to provide for the deeper needs of others as well as the visible emotional and physical needs.
Interestingly that those deeper needs typically include, forgiveness, acceptance, assurance, and the mending of broken relationships. We know that these deeper needs can be fulfilled by a relationship with Jesus. But communicating that relationship in a post-modern world is tricky. Too many people associate Jesus and Christianity with bad experiences and finding ways to be Christian without being religious is a seriously difficult task for us.
In a forum such as this we resort to talking to one another using Christian language that we all understand and love. But what we really need is to have a serious discussion about reaching out with spiritual values to our secular and unchurched friends. Our commission is to preach the Gospel to all the world (including the unchurched) so I am going to suggest that as a practical exercise we should discuss more how we are going to accomplish this.
Hi Maurice,
Very thought provoking comments there. My humble view is that relationship building is a key step forward. Proverbs does say, A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly (Proverbs 18:24).. I think we do need to find a way to break down prejudices and find common ground on which to build. Being loving and caring is no doubt the most powerful weapon we have at our disposal. The effort to get to know someone and try to help them at the point of need involves risk and effort. To start of with, we need to pray for God to open our eyes to needy cases around us. These are numerous! However I think we need to work in a qualitative manner - i.e. a case by case basis in order to be successful soul winners. Jesus Himself had a great regard for the one soul audience - consider the night encounter with Nicodemus (John 3) and the encounter with the woman at the well (John 4) as examples.
I must say that I really appreciate what you are asking for here and hope more will share their thoughts on this. Above all may God help us to practically and prayerfully reach out to souls around us.
I humbly request for prayers as I am set to embark on a Medical Missionary Training course for the next about two months which I think will help equip me in reaching out to souls in more direct ways that will break down prejudices. May God help us all find such ways forward.
Remain richly blessed!
Dear father in heaven help us all to minister both to the physical and spiritual needs of those we contact. Help us to remember that beneath every physical problem is the need for an encounter with Jesus . Lord give me a ministry . Amen .
Praise the Lord
He loves us and cares for us in all aspects of our lives
He knows us internally and externally
You help others by your lifestyles and testimony you give them. The early church love and care for each other help to attract others to the kingdom! Our love and care for each other and the community will definitely have an influence in helping others to be saved!
Sharing the Word of God with others is something my wife and I are attempting to do in a couple of ways. I have a friend with Huntington's disease, a wasting of the body and mind unto death, who is in an institution here in my town. He can hear me as I read from the Bible and he will utter a few words, indicating that he knows and loves Jesus as we hear the "blessed assurance" message.
My wife and I also have a small gathering on Friday evenings in our home to watch a Morris Venden series on Righteousness by Faith in our living room. I have invited people who are unchurched to come and see the beauty of Christ's promises and after the 30 minutes of video, we talk about what we hear. It is helping us more than I realize, just to do this, and hopefully ministering to others, too.
The person that has to Believe will, we don't have to really care about who's going to believe or not. All we have to do it is to tell the truth from the Bible, and the Bible only.
That sounds very like predestination to me Ola - I am not sure that is really what you meant though. our commission is to preach the Gospel and yes I do care whether people believe or not. They are my friends.
Telling the truth from the Bible and the Bible only is more than just reading Bible texts. We are the living translation of those Bible truths that many people are going to read. Un-churched people are not going to pick up a Bible or even listen to anyone doing the "Jesus talk" thing, but they will respond to the big issues of forgiveness, healing broken relationships and so on that are fundamental to Christianity. This is where we have to seriously think about how we preach the Gospel. People with un-churched minds are part of the "all the world" that we are a witness to.
Yes not just reading the Bible texts, we are not capable to help any person to understand even a word from the bible, it's all about the Holy Spirit.
No matter in what language you are reading, a lot of Jewish are waiting for the first coming of Jesus, Do you think they do not have access to the original version of the Bible? When Jesus was preaching everyone believed? There is not only the "Un-Churched" people so called, what about those who are going to church every day, or now and then and preaching the 10 commandments are abolished?.
Yes we just have to tell the truth from the Bible and the Bible only. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ Rev 12:17 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those[g] who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Rev 14:12 . Jesus is coming back, keep his commandments Holy. May Jesus bless you.
Olaf, I agree that we need to teach Bible truth and we definitely need the Holy Spirit to work through us. However, we, like Jesus need to understand the needs of the people who are our every day contacts. Most of the people I meet now-a-days are un-churched. They are in fact hostile to the Bible for a variety of reasons and in that state of mind are not every going to listen to what the Bible says. If I start telling them that Jesus is coming back, or that Sabbath-keeping is important, they would either ridicule or ignore me.
However, my un-churched friends have the deep needs of forgiveness and mending of broken relationships. They need to experience peace and rest from everyday care. And I can give those messages to them in non-biblical language to meet their need. They understand that language.
Look at the one-on-one conversations Jesus had with people like Nicodemus. These conversations were about life's focus. He met their needs. These sort of topics are meaningful to un-churched people.
Elsewhere I mentioned an un-churched academic colleague of mine who had relationship problems. No amount of telling him Bible texts would have helped him. But listening to him and offering him encouragement to forgive those who he perceived as doing him wrong; encouraging him to be patient and understanding; these deep Biblical truths gave him the peace of mind he so desperately needed. This is how I think Jesus would work today. Meet their needs first; belief in Him needs time to grow.
Dear, my fellow Christian, Olaf, I do get the meaning of what you are saying, that only the Holy Spirit have the power to convict and convert hearts to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
However, there are many ways that we can help the Holy Spirit in His quest to convert hearts. One of the main ways we can help is to always have an open mind to be used by the Holy Spirit. He will bring many ways and opportunities to our minds, ways to effectively outreach to God's lost sheep, and in the process, we will make new friends.
It's all about relationships; our relationship with God will blossom into new relationships with our fellow man. God could have allowed the rocks to talk and tell people about Jesus, and the people would have believed out of fear. But that is not God's way. It has always been His desire that we witness, love, share, and build relationships with our fellow human beings, to be there for them while the Holy Spirit is doing His work of converting their hearts (which is what Maurice is saying). We have to find ways to connect with our fellow man, then share the Plan of Salvation with him.
Personally, one of the ways I am trying to build relationships with my neighbors is that I give them gifts of fruit and vegetables, the leftover fresh fruit and vegetables from our church's food bank (which would go bad very quickly). In this way, I'm opening up the door to form new relationships, and then hopefully new friendships will blossom into the Holy Spirit showing them the light in me, that I am a person that not only talk the talk, but walk the walk as well.
My last advice to all of us, is to have an open mind, be willing to continually learn from each other and from the Holy Spirit, "He will lead you and guide you into all truth". Let's pray without ceasing that we are willing to listen to the Holy Spirit, who has many plans to use Us as He goes about His work of convicting and converting the hearts of all people: the churched people (Sabbath and Sunday worshipers), the unchurched people, and (believe it or not) many of the atheists will be converted as well.
I just want to be so filled up with God's Word, and used by the Holy Spirit, that if anyone around me have a question that I'm ready to answer it. Sorry for the long reply!
Maurice, in both your submissions, and Chris responding to you, you sincerely captured a very marvelous insight that the Sabbath School writer observed about the ministry of Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ reached beyond what a person presents or currently lives to assist them into rediscovering the 2nd or 3rd or even deeper layers of need; then He met those needs.
In the light of your observation "that those deeper needs typically include forgiveness, acceptance, assurance, and the mending of broken relationships", you called for a necessary discussion about preaching the Gospel. I think you are precisely on track.
Do you think that truly seeking to understand the method of Jesus Christ in ministry, as He was guided by the Holy Spirit, might be a great starting place? This is not a new thought. The writings of EGW is remarkable in quality and quantity in discussing the methods of Jesus Christ. So many examples.
Yet the starting place is in the highest quality and quantity in the Word of God: The Samaritan woman at the well, The Syro-phonecian woman with a demon possessed child, A member of the Sanhedrin named Nicodemus, A thief on a cross, A Lawyer who became compelled to ask a good question, A mother who came with a sick child to be blessed, A paralytic who never asked to be healed and never confessed his sin or bothered to say 'thank you'.
In the story of the conversion of the Samaritan woman, Jesus Christ takes her from cultural, gender/sexist, moral, religious, psychological blocks that accounted for her midday presence at the well and questioning His request for a drink of water, to:
1. Reconnecting with meaningful heritage roots
2. Owing a sin problem that was painfully rooted in rejection
3. Struggles with being shut out/rejected from the Priesthood God ordained
4. The glorious hope of Messiah to bring real healing and restoration
Gospel: Demonstrating the love and acceptance of God through a step by step revelation of Jesus Christ as 1- , 2- , 3- , then 4- The Messiah. She must have ran all the way back to the village, proclaiming: "Come see a Man who ..." 'set me free. I just met the Messiah'.
Her hiding changed to complete openness, and bold evangelism. The entire village was baptized in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are blessed with the revelation of our Father in Heaven through Jesus Christ: "I am the Light of the world." "You are the Light of the world"
Psalm 139, referred to in the lesson-page, opens with the phrase, "O Lord, you have searched me, and known me."
Sometimes, when an individual is poorly and frail, they do not know what they are in need of until they are diagnosed by somebody who is competent to make such a call. The church of Laodicea, representing us [in general terms,] has been examined (as in Ps 139:1) and diagnosed with various conditions, and these conditions require specific "remedies".
As a people, I suggest that our deepest needs are summed up in 3 things.
Gold tried in the fire. (So that we don't remain poverty stricken, surviving on scraps, and living in miserable slums, spiritually speaking.) White garments. (So that we don't remain unclothed.) And eye-salve. (So that we may see.)
Stewart, you have suggested that Christ's counsel in Rev 3:18 is correct.
So what does this counsel mean in practical terms today?
I might take a shot at that!
Purified gold came from being beaten down to powder then burned up to remove the chaff. We do service to see our weakness can only be remedied by A new creation. The actions upon the gold represents our service, but we receive it as a gift, not earned. Earning that gold would be akin to having to die the second death, which we have been privileged to escape. White garments show those who have received (not earned) the righteousness of Christ. Freely given, those wearing the robes have humility at having received such a great gift, for it belongs to Christ and cannot be taken away by anyone but Him. It represents that we are clean when we stand before the judge. Finally eye salve allows us to walk in this world with the Holy Spirit as our guide, we see as He does, the true needs of our community.
Now unto him who is able to keep you from falling... Go forth and be a conqueror. God calls us individually to our acts of service, it is He who prospers us to the end.
Michael, Stewart, others, why are we buying gold if we are the gold to be tried in service? Buying gold embedded in impurities does not seem to be what God is offering at a price. Why would God be selling gold if it is not already purified?
Are we also buying these clothes? What are we offering in payment that offers value for what we are receiving?
Hello Inge, yes I do believe that Christ's counsel in Rev 3:18 is correct, and that it is most applicable to Seventh day Adventists 'today'.
In 1Peter 1:7 faith is paralleled with gold, and I believe that the same picture-reality is employed in Revelation 3:18. Gold represents Christian faith.
But "faith" must undergo testing, in order for us to know whether we have the genuine article. Physically, when gold is subjected to fire, the fire needs to be quite intense (1064 C, or 1947 F) in order to release any impurities. Those impurities will then come to the surface so that they can be scraped off, or removed. (The parallel in our own lives can be quite striking/profound!)
Unfortunately, a common counterfeit to faith was introduced very early on, and it flooded the churches, especially after the falling away mentioned in 2Thess 2:3.
But the counterfeit cannot endure the testing. It will fail. "Presumption" is the counterfeit faith. (There is such a thing as "fools gold", and there is such a thing as "fools faith" - quite useless and without any real value.)
So I would say that the "trial" of our faith is important - vitally important - in the Christian life, partly because there is so much false faith around. It needs to be tested. Faith is not given to us "pre-tested".
So if we "buy" the gold (and it won't come cheap... it will "cost" us something), we are to effectively ask for the refining/testing process as well. Obviously we should not invite temptation or trouble, but we should let God know that we are willing to be subjected to "fiery trials"... simply because we really do need those things. Eventually we will count it all joy!
Inge, I think this is about as close as I can come to speaking about buying Gold tried in the fire, in practical terms.
Inge, God's assessment of our Church and our individual condition is that we are "wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked"; but we think of ourselves as "rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing". Obviously we are in no condition for preaching the Gospel, since we aren't even capable of allowing Him to address our needs.
Do you really believe that we are Laodicea; and if so, how are we blind and naked, while deceiving ourselves? What do you see as necessary, and how, for our eyes to be opened to see; which may or may not lead to a willing surrender?
It appears that this is necessary before we even talk about what we will purchase.
I'm not sure that we can parse out everything in chronological order.
The bottom line, as I see it, is that as members of God's last church, we are generally self-deceived regarding our spiritual condition, and the remedy is offered by Christ.
It seems to me that the first step would be to acknowledge our wretched spiritual condition, even if we don't feel it. Just one true glimpse of Christ and His righteousness will make our own spiritual condition painfully clear. Thus I believe that spending more time with Christ - studying His life and character through the Bible, communicating with Him through prayer, and working with Him - will remedy our condition. All three are necessary to see Christ clearly. By joining Him in reaching out to others, our own needs become clearer, and we will be motivated to spend more time with Him in study and prayer, which will motivate us to spend more time working with Him. Too often when we think of spending time with Christ we stop at Bible study and prayer and fail to recognize the third step that HMS Richards Sr always included in his preaching.
I think what holds most of us back is our own comfort zone, our own convenience. Spending time with Christ costs us something, beginning with time we cannot spend on our own pleasure and convenience.
Inge, you wrote:
"I believe that spending more time with Christ - studying His life and character through the Bible, communicating with Him through prayer, and working with Him".
I believe that you are completely on target, capturing the experience of Isaiah and others, who in beholding God were transformed.
Bible study is only transforming when we see God and have faith in the Lord Christ. Isaiah's surrendered response to the revelation of the Father was: "Lord send me", which you additionally emphasized.
Let us pray to see Jesus.
Thank you.
Thank you, Hurford, for pointing us to Isaiah's experience. Yes, it is a good illustration, and the response, "Lord, send me" is significant.
I understand that everybody born into the Kingdom of God (second birth) is born as a missionary. 🙂
Inge, we still have a problem, no matter the theological chronological determination: A blind person cannot see to recognize and acknowledge a problem not seen? A blind person cannot see the face of Jesus Christ. Are you suggesting they can use hands to feel it? What perspective is available to the person who cannot see that may be available in feel?
Nakedness can respond to temperature, and therefore identify need; but blind and naked means that there is really no appreciation for clothes and how others dress, since there is no perspective other than cold and hot, and probably dry or wet.
Hurford, before I attempt a reply, I'd like to read your perspective. 🙂