Friday: Further Thought – Teaching Disciples: Part II
Daily Lesson for Friday 23rd of August 2024
Read Ellen G. White, “Blessing the Children,” Pages 511–517; “ ‘One Thing Thou Lackest,’ ” Pages 518–523, in The Desire of Ages.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“Jesus was ever a lover of children. He accepted their childish sympathy and their open, unaffected love. The grateful praise from their pure lips was music in His ears, and refreshed His spirit when oppressed by contact with crafty and hypocritical men. Wherever the Saviour went, the benignity of His countenance, and His gentle, kindly manner won the love and confidence of children.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 511.
“To those who, like the young ruler, are in high positions of trust and have great possessions, it may seem too great a sacrifice to give up all in order to follow Christ. But this is the rule of conduct for all who would become His disciples. Nothing short of obedience can be accepted. Self-surrender is the substance of the teachings of Christ. Often it is presented and enjoined in language that seems authoritative, because there is no other way to save man than to cut away those things which, if entertained, will demoralize the whole being.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 523.
Discussion Questions
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I'm responding to the first and last discussion questions with this post
The best way that I know to help children stay connected to Jesus and the church is to model it first yourself. Especially as a parent, your children will often follow your example. Not always, but often. Therefore stack the odds in your favor by setting a positive example for them to follow. Don't have "roast pastor", for Sabbath lunch, criticizing everything that you didn't like about the sermon, or even your time at the church. Be, and set a positive example. Go regularly to church and don't make simple excuses not too. But most importantly I believe, is to have a real relationship with Jesus yourself.
For church members, much the same. Children are wiser than we often give them credit for. They can spot hypocrisy, often before adults can. Be their friend, shake their hand, make them feel welcome and wanted. Enter into their world. Don't talk down to them. Catch them doing good and make a big deal about it. Positive reinforcement goes a long way in a young person's life. Downplay their mistakes, everyone makes them, even yourself. Praise them for making positive choices, and encourage them when they make negative ones.
In short, be like Jesus to them. You might never know the benefits that you will cause the younger ones, yes, but also yourself to experience.
Be like Jesus is my song, in the home and in the throng. Be like Jesus all day long. I would be like Jesus.
I spent the first half of this week in hospital after serious colon surgery. I don't want to go into too many details but some things don't work well after such surgery. You wish that your body would work properly but it doesn't, and things are quite unpleasant. I have to say that the nursing staff were magnificent. Their compassionate care for me when I was in need at any time of the day or night was heart-warming, and healing. They did what they had to do for me with a smile and accepted me in my helpless state. (I was proud that one of the placement nurses was wearing the Avondale University Logo.)
This week we have been studying Mark 10, and one of the hot topics has been divorce and remarriage. Much of the discussion has concerned the law and who is at fault. Like my hospital situation, marriage breakups get messy and some mess sticks to the walls. Do we have spiritual nurses willing to attend to the patients and care for their needs?
Irrespective of what Jesus said concerning divorce and remarriage, it is happening and will continue to happen. All the quoting of scripture won't change that one bit. Are we sitting on the sidelines with the smug satisfaction of knowing who is at fault, or are we compassionate nurses?
I hesitate to tell this story because though it happened over 40 years ago, older Australian Adventists and family will recognise who was involved. A big-shot Seventh-day Adventist ran off with a married woman, and ended up in our town. And they came to our church. There were those in the church that wanted to shun them. Circumstances threw us together and we ended up becoming good friends. They did not need Bible quotes or moral object lessons. Their respective marriages were not going to be repaired. They needed friends in a city far from home. So that is what we did.
Two things characterise Jesus' ministry. His criticism of religious hypocrisy manipulating the law for their benefit, and his compassionate healing of those in trouble or need. If Jesus' was here today would you be a religious hypocrite or a compassionate healer?
Sir Maurice if I get you very well, are you insinuating that we should turn deaf ears and blind eyes to the fallen? based on your example of the runaway couple who found friends rather than criticism of their actions. Please shed some light on this.
God perfect his healing on you and all that are sick. Amen.
Not at all Sarah. We should use our ears and eyes but keep control of our mouths. John puts the mission of Jesus into perspective:
If we are following Jesus' example we would replace condemnation with compassion.
Hi Maurice, thank you for your comments on today's lesson. When the topic of compassion/rebuke comes up, it often leaves me confused. When we read the bible, we see that Jesus exercised both characteristics. He rebuked the church leaders of the day, the disciples and the common people on certain occasions. For example, his rebuke of the church leaders boarded on him being insulting. He called them hypocrites, etc. He rebuked the disciples for their slowness in understanding his mission and for fighting over who wanted to be greatest in his kingdom. Jesus also told the disciples to "shake the dust off their feet" and move to another city if the people were unresponsive to their teaching. Jesus also said that some people were only following him for the loaves and fish, and because some felt that he would be an excellent leader to overthrow the Romans.
So where do we draw the line? When, where and how does God expect us to use the spiritual gift of "discerning of spirits." Is it "UnChristlike" to rebuke? Or is it never to be used by us Christians? When, where and how should 1 Tim 5:20 be applied, "Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear."
Please help. These are honest questions that plague me.
It is not always easy to know where that line is, but there are a couple of principles to keep in mind. In my teaching days I found that if I was frequently disciplining my students, the fault was often mine and not theirs. I had to take time to rethink what I was doing to cause the discipline problem. Likewise, in our church communities we need to seriously think about causes before reproving.
There is an old saying in farming communites; "You do not beat a sick dog to make it better!" In other words, find out the root cause of the problem before taking action. In the Christian context we should always try compassion before condemnation.
I admit that I do not know the answer for every situation. Jesus knew that when he admonished:
"Are we sitting on the sidelines with the smug satisfaction of knowing who is at fault, or are we compassionate nurses?"
I would hope we are compationate to our brothers and sisters. In my daily bread notebook, the text for my notes today is apropos and a commandment. I like it in the ESV. 1 John 4:21 ESV
[21] And this commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
In your healing process, Maurice, here is a verse for you.
Matthew 6:34 ESV
[34] “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
A good verse for us all.
Before you know it you will be back in your love of ornithology.
Good morning John Herscher, thanks for this comment where I've known the meaning of the word Ornithology-[The scientific study of birds], today.
Have a blessed preparation Friday 🙏🏿
Being the end of the week I thought I would deviate a little off the specific topic of this week.
A jewel I ran across the day this week I received the 'Cost of Discipleship' book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I happened to open to page 178-179. It seemed to imply to me that we should not live for a certain day or hour of Christ coming so as to be anxious for tomorrow. Rather, we should live one day at a time without being anxious.
Happy Sabbath.
To me, the secret to keep up with Church is to be involved in some ministry. And that's a practical example for the younger generations. Stewardship has to deal with all of the talents we receive, time and money included. But the key point for a fruitfull Christian life is definetly the result of a personal and daily relationship with the Master: the search for wisdom from above has to be a continuous and eager attitude.
Here again: Why did Jesus not tell Zaccheaus to "Sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and follow me (Jesus,) like he did to the "Rich Young Ruler,"? Zaccheaus was not a "Rich Young Ruler," but he was a "Wealthy Tax Collector," to be sure!
The two men were at different stages in thei spiritual journey. As a parent, I had two very differnt children. We never had to tell our son to make his bed. We had to tell our daughter, often several times, to make her bed!
Hi Maurice,
There is a key point that should be emphasized as we discuss the lesson for this quarter. In the bible, the first recorded dialogue between God with Adam and Eve was a rebuke. In Rev 22:18,19, the bible ends with a rebuke. It is tempting to conclude that rebuke is bad and compassion is good. The bible confirms this when it says that no punishment is pleasant. So what is God's intent in using it on us. God has one goal in dealing with us. That goal is to save us from our sins, Matt 1:21. Jesus harshly criticized the Pharisees but he came to save them also. If on my own I am deciding that I should or should not exercise compassion and or rebuke, then where is the Holy Spirit in my decision making. What is the relevance of Prov 3:5,6 ..lean not to my own understanding.... acknowledge him and he will direct my path." In my own strength, the devil will always trip me up. However, when my life is turned over to the Holy Spirit, he will direct me into parts of righteousness for his name sake. So the Holy Spirit should be the one to decide when compassion or rebuke is warranted. Our part in this is to commit our lives to God so that we would be lead by him as he chooses, not as we choose. This should be our daily prayer.
Melvin may I add Proverbs 3:7?
Leaning on one’s own understanding is more than failing to pray about decisions. It is more like being wise in one’s own eyes, that is, believing that one can determine what is right and wrong without guidance from God and his gift of wisdom.
Great riches and great power are most likely the biggest obstacles to living one's life by faith. I do not think that Jesus condemned wealth as such, as He usually was housed by those who had possessions and where able to host Him and His disciples in comfortable surroundings.
Applying the advise given in Heb.12:1 to: … lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us …”, in order to be able to ”run with endurance the race that is set before us”, is so very important. We are admonished to focus on building our new life in Him, to nurture it, not to become entangled and distracted by all the ‘cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choking the word, that it becomes unfruitful’ - Mark4:19.
Are we still seeking to have our eyesight restored by faith to make us whole? We are a living soul in need to see the spiritual side of life in all we encounter, think, or do! My prayer is that our relationship with our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will never become stagnant. He called us to live our life by His heavenly Light through faith. The closer we come to Them through His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit in our life, the brighter their Light becomes that leads us into their marvelous, living Truth.
I lov all your comments.
Have a blessed happy Sabbath.