Friday: Further Study: Love and the Law
Further Study: Ellen G. White, Facing Life’s Record,
The Great Controversy, p. 479-491.
-Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p. 107.
God has acknowledged you before men and angels as His child; pray that you may do no dishonor to theworthy name by which ye are called.
James 2:7. God sends you into the world as His representative. In every act of life you are to make manifest the name of God. . . . This you can do only through the acceptance of the grace and righteousness of Christ.
Through Christ, Justice is enabled to forgive without sacrificing one jot of its exalted holiness.
-Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 936.
Discussion Questions:
- Gandhi summed up the thinking of many when he said,
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Why, unfortunately, is it not hard to understand why he said that? And though, of course, it’s so easy to look at what others have done in the name of Christ, why must we instead look at ourselves and at what we have done in the name of Jesus? How well do we reveal Him to the world around us? - Is your local church a place where people feel valued and respected regardless of their background, social standing, idiosyncrasies, et cetera? If not, what can you do to make a difference?
- What are some of the traditions and social norms in your country that are contrary to the principles of the biblical faith? What are some overt ones, and what are some of the more subtle ones? After identifying what they are, how can you learn to transcend them so that you are able to live out and reveal the principles of the gospel in a way that could show others that Jesus offers us all a better way of life?
- It’s one thing to love your neighbor, but what does it mean to love God? In class, discuss what it means to love God, why we love Him, and how we express that love.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
What does that mean on a practical level, such as when we have to deal with those who do wrong? What kind of balance is needed there?
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Ghandi probably never met a true Christian. The problem with the non-North American/Western European natives is that they think everyone who lives in the West is a Christian. They therefore judge actual Christians by the behavior of the Western unconverted natives. More than a few times I have had to tell people that there is a difference. I have met good and true Christian people all over the places that I have gone to.
I have to agree with Ghandi judging myself only, Christ was without sin, and as hard as we might try we will never be sinless. I have long since stop calling myself a Christian, because others are quick to judge us and say you proclaim to be a Christian but you are doing this or that, it may have been something as small as debating human rights, but the bible tells us we are not to answer fools least we become one.
So when asked whether I am a Christian, I simply tell them I am a believer of Christ. I can understand Ghandi, I myself have felt the same way, we all fall short. My belief is that Christianity is a lifelong process, as we read and study His word different mysteries are reveled to us, this is how we grow as believers/Christians and as we mature in His word a light will illuminate from us where others will know we belong to Christ.
What a resonating lesson & as a SS teacher we study this quite often. It is such an important message we sometimes seem to forget.
I must confess our discussions in class leave me worried & well, vexed.
It deeply troubles me when certain views defend the Pharisees, or make excuses for the wealthy. These lessons become watered down at best, lost & meaningless at worst.
James & (the Bible) is clear we should not have preferences, & it was & is the poor who have the faith of our Lord. The wealthy forget God & often become blasphemous. Not all but many and it is true the poor are often exploited by the rich.
It isn't a sin to be wealthy or poor, but is the weakest among us who need to be defended & protected.
We are to be lights to the whole world. I implore us as keepers of the faith to have humility in our daily walk with our Creator & with our fellow man. As well as compassion, kindness and love. That's the beauty of the lesson.
The Law is about Jesus' divinity, yes. But I want to talk about His humanity & that is Love. We must daily ask ourselves: how did He live His life here on Earth. His tolerance & kindness. Our goodness should not be measured by what we deny ourselves, or who we exclude. Goodness should be measured by what we embrace, what we create & this is important--- who we include.
Hi Jennifer, I can empathize with your sentiments quite literally. It would be good if we could all understand that when JESUS - and likely James - were talking about the rich, that neither of them were instructing us to hate rich people. They were simply stating the facts. For absolutely sure hatred was and could never be the sentiment that JESUS would have expressed.
I believe that it is us who have not learned to say our piece in love. Like the rest of society we are very angry for example at a man who has gotten angry at his wife, or vice versa. If the law allowed we would likely kill him or her for daring to get angry.
And we would have done this in ANGER. The same ANGER that we are killing for.
JESUS wants us to be kind both to the wronged and the wrong-doer. He has the same love for both and His ministry is for both. Ours should be also. However, our proclivity is quite the opposite.
There will be a lot more poor people lost than rich people because first of all there are more poor people in the world than rich people. I have met poor people who were as hateful of JESUS as any rich people. But the real difference in the attitude toward GOD is that the rich mostly trust in their riches - not in GOD. The "conscientious toward GOD" poor people are more likely to trust in GOD because they have no one or nothing else to trust in.
I was not in your class today so I can't comment on the discussion that took place. But I would say that we cannot bash the rich just because they are rich. We also may not be able to judge who is a "Pharisee" of not> JESUS could because He knew their hearts
James indicated why we should not pay special honor to someone just because of their money - those who took advantage of the poor and oppressed them. In truth we should have a heart so pure that we love everyone, and not value a person because of material endowments.
I am learning a very interesting thing. I have often wondered why GOD did not kill Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, and other butchers like them. The truth - He loved them also and was as unwilling to see them eternally lost just like He is unwilling to see any of us eternally lost.
The same for the rich. He is very unwilling to see them eternally lost.