Sabbath: The Experience of Unity in the Early Church
Image © Pacific Press from GoodSalt.com
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 1:12-14, Acts 2:5-13, Rev. 14:12, Acts 2:42-47, Acts 4:32-37, Acts 5:1-11, 2 Cor. 9:8-15.
Memory Text: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42, NKJV).
Church unity is the result of a shared spiritual experience in Jesus, who is the truth. “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). Solid bonds of fellowship are forged in a common spiritual journey and experience. Early Adventists had such an experience in the Millerite movement. Their common experience in 1844 tied their hearts together as they sought to find an explanation for their disappointment. This experience gave birth to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the truth about the pre-Advent judgment and all that it entails.
The experience of Jesus’ disciples after His ascension to heaven is a testimony to the power of God’s Word, prayer, and common fellowship in creating unity and harmony among believers of widely different backgrounds. That same experience still is possible today.
“I would insist that fellowship is a particularly important element in corporate worship. … There is no substitute to the Christian for the realization of the spiritual bond which unites him with other believers and with the Lord Jesus Christ. … Jesus Christ first brings a soul to Himself, but then He always unites that soul to other believers in His body, the church.” – Robert G. Rayburn, O Come, Let Us Worship (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1980), p. 91.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 3.
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Why are we not talking about selling our extra Land's and houses and distribute the proceeds to the poor families in the church as the first century church. did
Anil, I suspect that may happen again, under persecution some time in the future - perhaps sooner than we think.
In the meantime, let's examine the biblical context. As we do this, I believe it will become clear that what the believers did immediately after the resurrection was a response to a crisis situation in which many believers were cut off from a source of livelihood. Those with possessions, such as Nicodemus, used up all they had to support the infant church. But this also meant that for years after, the church in Jerusalem struggled financially. That's why Paul collected funds from the Gentiles to support members in Jerusalem.
The biblical context, as well as secular experience, tells us that such communal living is not sustainable in the long run on this planet. The reason probably lies in humanity's inherent selfishness. People will take advantage of the arrangements and not put forth any effort to earn a living for themselves, for instance. And when a significant portion of members fails to bring in funds, everyone suffers, and the system breaks down. Consider also that when God ruled the Hebrew nation directly (without a king), he did not prescribe communal living, but He gave them laws that allowed all families to make a living for themselves while also supporting the poor. And Jesus said we would always have the poor among us. (Matt 26:11)
Does that make sense to you?
The memory verse tells us they continued in the Apostles doctrine, this why I fellowship with my church and why I find it so disturbing when there are major differences of Biblical interpretation. I presume that future lessons will study how to resolve them.
Hi Shirley, from my understanding of Adventist history, there have been major differences in biblical interpretation from our very beginning. Our movement began when persons from various denominations got together and studied the Bible until they could come together on what we now call "pillars" of our faith. As long as we agreed on those pillars, we could be and can be united. If we will be humble and recognize that the Holy Spirit is leading others as well as ourselves, we can be understanding of differences in color and trim of the building standing on the pillars.
It does take wisdom to make a difference between what is truly important and what is not. But God has promised to give wisdom to all who ask.
I do think we need to remember that forcing compliance with our view of truth is a tool of the devil, not of Christ. In Christ, there is always perfect freedom. Through His Word, He has given us instructions regarding how to deal with blatant error - such as moral offenses and promoting ideas contrary to the pillars of our faith. The discipline is to be done by the body of believers. Beyond that, I think we need to remember to be "subject one to another" and give each other freedom to see some things differently.
I'm thinking that if we truly focus on the mission Christ gave us, our differences on other matters will shrink into oblivion.
Inge; this is well said and it speaks to the action of the general conference committee on October 14… Our church and its leader ship desperately needs our prayers. Thank you, Royce
What are our pillars of faith?
I believe there are seven pillars of the Seventh-day-Adventist faith. 1. The nature of Christ; righteousness by faith; victory over sin.
2. The Sanctuary, atonement, and the Investigative Judgment.
3. The Spirit of Prophecy. 4. The Three Angels' Messages (exposing the papacy, Babylon, apostate Protestantism, ecumenism, spiritualism, and the Sabbath-Sunday question; exalting the law of God, the health message, etc.). 5. The true state of the dead. 6. 1000 years in heaven. Last but not least. 7. The Seventh-day-Sabbath. I invision, to hold up the church, 1-6 is a rectangle, with 7th in the center.
Hi John,
exposing ecumenism?
The term "ecumenism" refers to efforts by Christians of different Church traditions to develop closer relationships and better understandings.
What about unity with Christians of other denominations?
There are limits if unity means giving into our 7 pillars or the rest of our 28 beliefs then no unity with other denominations does not work. I do believe EGW cautions us about that. Even if we are grounded in our own faith, we must not let our guard down. We though are to be Christian like to other denominations.
Hi Inge, I agree we should all study and pray for guidance by the Holy Spirit until we all agree on God's principles of life. You mentioned they came to agree on the pillars of our faith, please remind us which they are.
Shirley, I think you can remind us quite as well as I can.:) (I'm at an extremely busy time in my life.)
I look forward to your reminder.
Hi Inge, As I understand it "the pillars of our faith" also called "the landmarks" are doctrines that were agreed early on and that are distinctive to SDA's in addition to the standard Protestant beliefs. I understand them to be the following but am open to amend them:
1. Sanctuary & Investigative Judgement
2. 3 Angels Message
3. Second Coming of Jesus
4. State of the Dead & Millennium
5. Spirit of Prophecy
6. Seventh day Sabbath as a sign of Creation & Salvation
7. God's Principles of Life & Love embodied in the 10 Commandments and the life of Jesus Christ
"In Common With Conservative Christians and the Historic Protestant Creeds, We Believe—
1. That God is the Sovereign Creator, upholder, and ruler of the universe, and that He is eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
2. That the Godhead, the Trinity, comprises God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3. That the Scriptures are the inspired revelation of God to men; and that the Bible is the sole rule of faith and practice.
4. That Jesus Christ is very God, and that He has existed with the Father from all eternity.
5. That the Holy Spirit is a personal being, sharing the attributes of deity with the Father and the Son.
6. That Christ, the Word of God, became incarnate through the miraculous conception and the virgin birth; and that He lived an absolutely sinless life here on earth.
7. That the vicarious, atoning death of Jesus Christ, once for all, is all-sufficient for the redemption of a lost race.
8. That Jesus Christ arose literally and bodily from the grave.
9. That He ascended literally and bodily into heaven.
10. That He now serves as our advocate in priestly ministry and mediation before the Father.
11. That He will return in a premillennial, personal, imminent second advent.
12. That man was created sinless, but by his subsequent fall entered a state of alienation and depravity.
13. That salvation through Christ is by grace alone, through faith in His blood.
14. That entrance upon the new life in Christ is by regeneration, or the new birth.
15. That man is justified by faith.
16. That man is sanctified by the indwelling Christ through the Holy Spirit.
17. That man will be glorified at the resurrection or translation of the saints, when the Lord returns.
18. That there will be a judgment of all men.
19. That the gospel is to be preached as a witness to all the world."
Also a complete outline of what we believe with relevant texts can be found in our 28 Fundamental Beliefs.
God Bless you for this vivid explanation
I hope after studying this lesson wives, husbands church families will try harder to be humble and longsuffering and show that Spirit of submission, love and unity.
There are different levels at which 'unity' can occur. Today's lesson is talking about a unity that is a 'subset' of the broadest possible unity. The subset is the unity that a group of people experience who share the same/common spiritual journey and experience.
Then there is a broader unity that exists between all who are 'children of God' because they are responding to the drawing of the Holy Spirit and have a heart of self-renouncing love being re-created within them (a new heart and right Spirit Ps 51:10; Eze 36:26). This is the broadest possible unity - which I believe Jesus was referring to in Jn 17:6. This level of unity is not limited to a particular denomination or even to Christianity and even includes people that are not 'religious' because of what Paul talks about in Rom 2:15.
There is a broader meaning to the verse "there is no other name by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12) than is typically understood. "Name" refers to character, not merely the label 'Jesus'. Hence, it is only those whose characters are in harmony with that of Jesus that are part of the Kingdom of God - whether they are aware of these labels or not (again, as per Rom 2:15).
Hi Phil,
I think you have brought out a very important point in our discussion in respect of unity, namely that there are different levels at which unity can occur. Accordingly before we discuss the details we need to clarify to which level we are referring, you many be referring to "all who are responding to the drawing of the Holy Spirit" while I am referring to "all who follow the Apostle's doctrine" in which case while both of us may be correct about our respective level but off the mark in regard to the other.
Hi Shirley
"...before we discuss the details we need to clarify to which level (of unity) we are referring..."
I am absolutely united with you about the need for this!
I find it amazing that no one has picked up what the alleged "unity" of the early Adventist church was based upon in this lesson. It is the SAME basis for the Ecumenical movement, an experience! MANY broke away AFTER October because what they were expecting to experience didn't happen! Our faith is not solidly upon the Rock IF it is based upon an experience!!
The early SDA Church, that movement was unified because they ALL believed Christ was coming soon!! They were unified on the understanding of what is found in the book of Daniel! They believed something HAD to happen in October of 1844! They certainly had the TRUTH re 1844 just not what that event would really be about!
The first paragraph in this lesson mentions the Great Disappointment as giving birth to the SDA movement and the truth about the "Pre-Advent Judgment," etc.
However, when I look at Daniel about the "Books being opened," there is only one place in Revelation that mentions "Books being opened," and that is in Revelation during the 1,000 year millennium. Then when I look at Revelation 14:6 and the THREE ANGELS there: The first angel mentions THE HOUR OF HIS JUDGEMENT, then the other two angels continue on to talk about that judgement as being THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES. Is it possible that we SDA'S have gone on to commit another error in prophetic interpretation to try to correct the first error when Jesus did not appear in 1844? Where do we find the words "Ivestigative" to apply to a "Pre-Advent judgement" in THE BIBLE and THE BIBLE ONLY? EGW says that it is "Dangerous Business," to talk about things that are "Not clearly stated," in THE BIBLE.
While it is true we do NOT find the word "investigative" within the confines of the written Word of God we certainly see over and over God "investigating" BEFORE passing judgment! Just a few examples:
1. The fall. God comes and "investigates" BEFORE passing judgment.
2. Cain and Able - same thing.
3. Sodom and Gomorrah.
I am sure we can find more but that is just a small sample of God investigating BEFORE passing judgment.
Hi Pete
I appreciate the point you are raising. I am exploring aspects of this topic myself.
So, one thing I am wondering: when you state "that judgement as being THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES", what concept of 'judgement' are you referring to?
Are you referring to a view of 'judgement' that begins and ends with assessing what is going on and revealing the results of that assessment?
Or are you referring to a view of 'judgement' that also incorporates sentencing and execution of punishment?
And if you could provide Bible verses that support the view you are talking about, that would be great (so I can look them up to compare with the view of judgement that I have).
Thanks Pete
We shouls not only believe Jesus Christ because he is coming soon but we should believe Him because one day he will come to take us home, even if he takes more 1000 years. Our faith should never be shaken, we should remain deeply rooted in Him.
All this unity is ecumenical nonsense ...
Download sabbath school quarterlies of the years 1940s, 1950s.. they speak of our times. Indeed, the church slept wilst the enemy plucked down ALL the pillars of our faith.
The word "ecumenical" pushes a lot of buttons for Seventh-day Adventists and sometimes clouds some of the big issues that we should to think about.
The idea of uniting churches together as suggested by the ecumenical movement is clearly fraught with problems. I had a conversation with an Australian Uniting Church member who was asking me about problems in the Adventist Church. In the course of the conversation, I asked him how the Uniting Church was going. He laughed and said that while they called themselves United, they were still separate Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists at heart and that was not going to change. Unity is something more than renaming.
Having said that, we must separate the idea of ecumenical unity from the ideas of cooperation, and understanding with other Christians. We share a lot in common and there is much we can do together without compromise. We need to be friendly because that is a key element of Christianity. I have worked with Catholic colleagues who I consider friends. Some of them have shown me new ways of being Christian. I remember particularly an ex-nun who was a lawyer. Her work among the poor and disadvantaged was a real example of Christianity applied in a professional setting. There is no need to talk to her about the evils of the papacy; her Christianity speaks for itself
We sometimes make walls where there is no need for walls. There is no call for us to be "arrogant" in the truth. I know that there are some Seventh-day Adventists who feel that if we are not offending others by pushing our doctrinal ideas, we are not preaching the full Gospel. The full Gospel is to live a Christ-like life as an open invitation. And to do that we must show ourselves as friends.
saying that we should not dwell in our differences while associating with other Christians makes me feel like its not really necessary to preach the sabbath . After all they are good christians and we need not burden them
I don't really think that is what I am saying at all. My non-SDA friends know that I keep the Sabbath and when they ask me why I keep the Sabbath, I explain it by telling them how special the Sabbath is to me. They do not want a church history lesson, and quite frankly, if the only reason we keep Sabbath is that the Papacy changed the day, we have lost the point of the Sabbath. The best sermon we can give on the Sabbath is to show that we love the Sabbath and are happy to share its blessing with others.
And I am not saying there is never a time to discuss the history of the Sabbath, but we need to get our priorities right.
I totally understand and agree we can be sociable with other Christians and other faiths without shoving doctrine down their throats, however we have been given a message, a warning to share with others and we will be held responsible for their blood if we don't warn them.
See the Word of the LORD to Ezekiel i.r.o. being the watchman, Eze 3:17-21 and Eze 33:2-9.
In addition the 3 Angels Message is about warning people.
The opening title, Sabbath...suggests that fellowshipping on Sabbath brought unity. This is true, but I would like to think that we can fellowship outside of Sabbath hours. And as the coming crisis deepens, I am sure that we will all come together in our local communities and our various relationships will be strengthened as we depend on one another for support and encouragement. But we need to start preparing for that now. Restricting ourselves to just Sabbath fellowship is akin to depriving ourselves of that much needed strength. Strands of a cord united are strong.
Brendan, you have misread the heading - it means - the lesson for 27 October (the day happens to be Sabbath) is about unity.
Just like the title: "Monday: Breaking down the wall" does not mean we can only break down the wall on Monday.
Haha, yes, I realised that after I posted it. I am now hiding my face in embarrassment.