Making Friends for God – Introduction
The Joy of Sharing in His Mission
There are times when grasping a single thought makes a profound difference in our lives. A number of years ago, I sat in a ministerial meeting with some of my colleagues. The discussion turned to sharing our faith, witnessing, and evangelism. One of my friends expressed this thought, “Mission is primarily the work of God. He is employing all of the resources of heaven to save our planet.
Our work is to cooperate joyfully with Him in His work of saving lost people”. It seemed as if a heavy burden was lifted off my shoulders. It was not my job to save a lost world. It was God’s. My responsibility was to cooperate with Him in what He was already doing.
The idea that mission is God’s work is clarified throughout Scripture. Solomon states it this way, “He [God] has put eternity in their hearts” (Eccles. 3:11, NKJV). When an individual is born into this world, God places a desire for eternity deep within the fabric of that person’s being. As Augustine once said, “Lord, we were made for thee, and our hearts will never find rest until they find rest in thee”. According to John’s Gospel, Jesus is the light that lights every person born into this world (John 1:9). Not only has God placed within each one of us a longing for Himself, He sends His Holy Spirit to draw us to Himself.
Every desire to do right, every conviction of sin, is prompted by the Holy Spirit. Every desire for goodness and inclination toward kindness and unselfishness is motivated first by the Holy Spirit. Even though we may not fully understand or realize it, the Holy Spirit is working in our lives to draw us to Jesus (John 16:7-15). But Jesus Himself is the greatest gift of all.
When the human race was hopelessly lost in sin, condemned to eternal death, the love of God took the initiative. Luke writes, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10, NKJV). The apostle Paul adds, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NKJV). God took the initiative in our salvation. Christ left the glory and splendor of heaven and came to this sin-darkened world on a redemptive mission.
Before we ever took one baby step toward Him, He took a giant leap toward us. Before we ever gave Him our life, He provided salvation to us through His death. We were His enemies, but He was our friend. We turned our backs on Him, but He turned His face toward us. We cared little for Him, but He cared immensely for us.
In Luke 15, He is pictured as the good shepherd relentlessly looking for His lost sheep, a woman frantically looking for her lost silver coin from her dowry, and an old father recklessly running to meet His lost boy. Ellen G. White makes this marvelous statement worth contemplating: “The great plan of redemption was laid before the foundation of the world. Christ did not stand alone in this wondrous undertaking for the ransom of man. In the councils of heaven, before the world was created, the Father and the Son covenanted together that if man proved disloyal to God, Christ, one with the Father, would take the place of the transgressor, and suffer the penalty of justice that must fall upon him”. — Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, November 15, 1898.
Contemplate it for a moment. We have the incredible privilege and the awesome responsibility, as well as the eternal joy of participating with Christ and cooperating with Him in His mission. That’s what these lessons are all about this quarter.
A native of Connecticut, USA, Mark Finley, an internationally known evangelist, was a vice president at the General Conference from 2005-2010. After retiring from full-time employment, he became an assistant to the president of the General Conference. Pastor Finley and his wife, Ernestine, have three children and five grandchildren.
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“The great plan of redemption was laid before the foundation of the world. Christ did not stand alone in this wondrous undertaking for the ransom of man. In the councils of heaven, before the world was created, the Father and the Son covenanted together that if man proved disloyal to God, Christ, one with the Father, would take the place of the transgressor, and suffer the penalty of justice that must fall upon him”. — Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, November 15, 1898.
"if man proved disloyal". Please explain the "If" in the passage above. It seems to suggest that the Godhead did not really know whether or not man would be disloyal.
Georgia, I wondered the same thing.
Georgia - it is a marvelous thing to know that we as a creature, being part of the Creation made by the powers of our God, the Son and Holy Spirit, have the ability of a personal fellowship with our Creator God.
All have part in the creation of the worlds and their maintenance. Just the thought that our worlds are being administered, looked out for, watched over by the heavenly administration, is mind-changing and heart-warming!
Please, permit me to share my thoughts about the 'if' in Ellen White's quote. I am sure that Mark Finley would do a much better job in explaining, but then - let's give it a try.
As you know, God gave man and angels a free will. As the first man and woman, Adam and Eve enjoyed a position of great importance and consequence to future generations. Their unfaithfulness/disloyalty to God and His established Law which governs fairly all things in the created worlds, caused great harm to all future mankind.
Disloyalty was also found in the Angel Lucifer, the one given responsibility to govern this world. He attempted to establish his own authority, going against the authority of God. Lucifer outright rebelled against the scope of his assigned duty, Adam and Eve were too weak to resist his temptations and lost trust in their Heavenly Father's perfect will for them.
God's creation and the laws that govern it are perfect from the beginning dealing with all circumstances, also taking into account the 'if'! Within the foundational laws of all things created, 'God, Christ, one with the Father', established a 'way' to re-establish harmony should 'free will' proof disloyal to the created order.
God created His universe with the ability of everything to relate in perfect harmony with each other. Nature is a testament to this perfect harmony!
The creature's use of free will choice - should it go against the law of harmony - required the ability of the law to respond to this, at the beginning, still hypothetical 'if'.
God's laws require to respond to all things at all time to maintain order and balance.
A response would balance out the infraction with the appropriate 'remedy'. Applying this 'remedy' restores balance and harmony.
The motivation behind the establishment of the perfect fabric of His Law is based on the perfect Love of our creator Father and Son for their creation. Nothing is insignificant in their eyes, all creation is covered by the Wings of their Love.
Yes, the 'if' implies that God did not 'know' (but He for-knew the possibility), and like man's saying: " plan for the worst and hope for the best", God and Son provided within their creation a way to deal effectively with disloyalty. Lucifer is awaiting his sentence and mankind rejoices about the hope of their Salvation.
I hope this will help bring a better understanding to your question regarding the little but powerful preposition 'if'.
Brigette, I don't believe that Lucifer was given the responsibility to govern the world by God, Adam and Eve were given dominion but when they listened to Satan's lie they surrendered their dominion. They were created perfect not weak, they were able to resist the Devil, they chose to rebel against God.
If the order of 2 phrases is reversed, perhaps it is a clearer picture of what took place. Adam and Eve lost trust in their Heavenly Father's perfect will for them, thereby becoming too weak to resist the enemy's temptation....
Just a thought
On what basis would Adam and Eve lose trust? Were they lacking in fresh water to drink? Was fruit not readily available to satisfy their hunger? Did Jesus forget to visit them the previous evening? No! There is no logical reason for an all-loving, all-powerful God to have not provided for their every need. The one thing they did choose to ignore (per EGW), was to wander far from one another. They had been told by angels about an enemy on the planet, and to stay close together. So, as Eve wandered away, she spoke her thoughts aloud, wondering about the forbidden fruit. "Why would God deny us anything?" Approaching the tree, she was then a ready victim for Satanic manipulation in her thinking. We don't know what thoughts crossed Adam's mind, but he must have dismissed any notion that Eve might run into any harm. Let's keep in mind that God's counsels and instructions are an infallible basis upon which we are to exercise the intelligent power of choice He gave us.
Georgia, actually the Godhead knew that man would be disloyal hence they devised the plan to save him before they created man. man's fall was not a surprise to God, He loved man Jeremiah 31:3 so dearly, everlastingly that even his disloyalty would not change God's mind of creating man but rather makes another plan to save him hence Rev 13:8 talks of Jesus as the lamb that was slain at the foundation of the world.
now the question can be, couldnt God create man without power of sinning?
the answer rests in Love, and freedom of choice.
so in a nutshell, because God loved us, He wanted us to love Him freely back and so risked all heavens to save man by giving us His only son at the risk of eternal loss
The calling of us to His ministry is to make sure that the commission that He commended in the book of Matthew 28 we must do regardless of the place or tribe.
Georgia- Perhaps the "if" alludes to God's infinate power. When God created this world, He spoke it into existance. But, was the 'speaking' necessary? Is God capable, in His infinate power, to think things into existance?
If it is possible, then God must excersize the most strict control over His thoughts so as not to be the unintended cause of events.
God knew the future rebellion of Adam and Eve. But, He could not be the cause of it by thinking it into existance.
To preserve their freedom of choice, He must keep His mind on all possible outcomes. Thus, He protects their freedom by keeping His mind open to the possibilities and speaking in terms of 'if'.
Of course, this in my humble opinion, for no one knows the mind of God.
What is the purpose of this quarter's study guides?
I believe it is to encourage every individual to become personally involved in revealing the truth of the character of the Creator and Redeemer of the world to give them hope for a future free from the troubles of this world.
It is not a guide on how to give Bible Studies nor is it about how to do public evangelism.
Warning: these lessons could change your life!