Friday: Further Study: A Matter of Live and Death
Further Study: Satan offers to men the kingdoms of the world if they will yield to him the supremacy. Many do this and sacrifice heaven. It is better to die than to sin; better to want than to defraud; better to hunger than to lie.
— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 495.
— Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 147.
Choose poverty, reproach, separation from friends, or any suffering rather than to defile the soul with sin. Death before dishonor or the transgression of God’s law should be the motto of every Christian. As a people professing to be reformers, treasuring the most solemn, purifying truths of God’s word, we must elevate the standard far higher than it is at the present time.
Discussion Questions:
- How can we be serious about the gravity of sin without falling into the trap of fanaticism? At the same time, how can we be obedient to the law of God without falling into legalism?
- Read Exodus 20:1–17. How are all the Ten Commandments related to each other? Why, if we openly violate one commandment, are we likely to transgress other commandments as well? (See James 2:11.) What examples can you find in which transgression of one commandment has led to the transgression of others?
- Dwell more on the idea of how people might use religion in order to justify wrong actions. It’s not that hard to do, especially if you tend to hold up
love
as the ultimate standard of right and wrong. After all, think about all the bad things done under the pretext oflove.
How, then, does the law continue to act as a way of protecting people, either from themselves or others, who might otherwise be led into sin? - Look again at the question at the end of Sunday’s lesson, which deals with mistaking symbols for reality. How might we do that? For example, how might idolatry be one way of doing this? What traditions, which are symbols of spiritual truths, could be mistaken for those truths themselves?
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The question is asked....How can we be serious about the gravity of sin without falling into the trap of fanaticism? At the same time, how can we be obedient to the law of God without falling into legalism?
I do believe Jesus gave us the answer to these challenges in His sermon on the mount.
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matt. 5:6
Ellen White's quote, "Death before dishonor or the transgression of God’s law should be the motto of every Christian," is a serious call to us to do what is right, though everything else seems to fall.
Even the Marine Corps uses the phrase, "Death before dishonor," as a rallying cry.
Should the Christian do less?
A noble character is earned by individual effort through the merits and grace of Christ. God gives the talents, the powers of the mind; we form the character. It is formed by hard, stern battles with self. Christ's Object Lessons, p. 331.
"Do what is right, because it is right, and leave the Consequences up to God"
It has been touted that the solution to pollution is dilution. That is not the case here though, the solution to pollution is no pollution. Practically how do we do that? Now it is not of our own righteousness. No, we get on our knees and desire the Truth, give of ourselves entirely to Christ, seek salvation diligently, surrender our bad habits to Christ, visualize Christ, let the Holy Spirit guide and instruct, than go out and tell the world what Christ has done for us. What wisdom can we get from the Word? Two text come to mind, there are many more. 1 Corinthians 6:17
But the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Verse. 18 is something we have to do, through the power given us by Christ. SHUN immortality.
Another is in Isaiah 26:3,4. Key thoughts: Keep your mind on Him. Trust in Him, commit to Him, lean on Him, hope in Him forever.