Monday: Becoming One Through His Love
“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else” (1 Thess. 3:12, NIV).
Jesus prayed to His Father that His followers would “be one as we are one” (John 17:22, NIV). Summarize what Jesus was saying here, focusing specifically on the role of love needed in order to achieve this oneness.
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Unity among His followers was on Jesus’ mind in this prayer. Experiencing agape love is essential to this unity. “Agape” is the Bible word for God’s love used in this prayer and in many other places in the New Testament. Such love is God’s very nature (1 John 4:8), and it identifies Jesus’ followers (John 13:35). God’s love is not natural to the sinful human heart. It comes into one’s life as Jesus dwells with the believer by His Spirit (Rom. 5:5; Rom. 8:9, Rom 8:11).
“Love each other as I have loved you” (John 15:12, NIV). The disciple John, who wrote these words, was once not lovable but proud, power-hungry, critical, and hottempered (Mark 3:17; Luke 9:54-55; see also The Desire of Ages, p. 295). Later in life he remembered how Jesus had kept on loving him in spite of these traits. Jesus’ love gradually changed John, enabling him to love others in Christian unity. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19, NKJV), he wrote, and “if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11, NKJV).
Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Try placing your name where the word “love” appears. How well does it fit? Ask Jesus to bring these qualities of love into your life by His Spirit. What changes might the Spirit prompt you to make in order to reach this Christian ideal?
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Today's lesson of "Becoming One Through His Love" includes some basic principles. However, principles without application don't really make a difference. It is up to us to apply the principles to real life, where it matters.
First of all, we need to think about what is meant by "family unity"? Can there be "family unity" without spending much time together?
It seems to me that a basic problem in our society is that the family is no longer a "unit." Instead it is fragmented - with various family members each doing their own thing. In fact, this fragmentation has invaded many of our churches, where children no longer sit with their parents during the worship service, but go to "children's church."
It is true that making Christ the center will draw us closer to each other. And it is true that love will unite us.
But for this to happen in our families, we need to ensure that we actually spend time together. Maybe we should brainstorm how to make "together" time.
I propose that each family needs to eat at least one meal (preferably more) physically together, making time to share the happenings of the day with each other. That means no electronic devices at the table. It may be awkward at first for families who have been used to living in the same house without actually being together, but it will get easier and better.
I propose that, as far as possible, the family get together for at least a brief morning and evening worship - perhaps a brief reading of Scripture or a page from a devotional book, a recitation of "thankfuls," prayer requests and prayer. The saying that the family who prays together stays together is true. Worship time can be combined with meal time. However, I love participating in my son's family's evening worship together with a lot of music and "thankfuls." I highly recommend including singing whenever feasible.
I also believe that the family who plays together stays together. It will take some thought and effort to plan for recreational time together. We can begin with nature walks and hikes on Sabbath, but family vacations can also play a part.
I'm going to stop here and ask for your input: How do you think the family can draw closer together?
I’m glad you brought up children’s church.
This past Sabbath, the sermon was on the investigative judgement and rather highbrow for the 4 to 12 year olds in the congregation.
Having been working on this topic I quickly opened my camera role on my iPad and began the hunt for pictures on the sanctuary and huddled up with a couple of the children and began showing them the beauty of the message in pictures. They were riveted and eager to learn more on the topic so after church, I called them together and answered questions and explained a little more as they asked and it was a wonderful experience indeed.
In all honesty, though your comments are very good, I respectfully beg to differ on the topic of children’s church.
We should not forget that Mary and Joseph lost track of Jesus while He too attended children’s church, a great thing for the youngsters indeed.
There is no greater punishment than to make little children sit quietly in church, bored stiff and in possible rebellion, while their parents are nourished and refreshed by the Word of God.
It upsets me every time I see parents insist on this terrible treatment of God’s children placed in their care, when the express instruction to parents is to be teaching the little ones constantly...
Deuteronomy 6:
4Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. a 5Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Why is this then not allowed when children go to church? A gross oversight indeed!
...while their parents may think they are doing a good thing... let it be understood that we must do as Jesus said and let the little children come to Him (in the comfort of their children’s church if that be the place they can be with Him) and forbid them not (by forcing them to sit quietly in the adult service) only to have them leave the church and not in turn bring their children to church because of the harm that we as parents have done to them when they were little ones.
Thank you for your reply, Annette.:)
My comment was specifically concerned with the effect of "children's church" on family togetherness versus family fragmentation. There are probably exceptions, but from my observations, "children's church" is often not a good thing.
Mary and Joseph lost sight of the 12-year-old Jesus because they were not attentive enough, but He certainly did not attend "children's church." Instead His exchanges with the rabbis was equivalent to visiting the seminary at Andrews University (or one elsewhere) and entering into a discussion with the seminar professors - quite the opposite experience from the usual "children's church."
Based on that and my own experience and observation, 12-year-olds should definitely be involved in the adult church service.
That said, I am very happy to hear what you did with the two children you mention. It appears that you actually interested them in the subject of the sermon - something that the speaker should really have done. But as parents we need to be resourceful and fill in where others lack.
I believe that the preacher should keep the children in mind during the sermon and present his sermon in a way that they can grasp. Stories and visuals help a lot. In our church, speakers have occasionally passed out "work sheets" for the children with age-appropriate material for several levels, all related to the children.
I'd like to hear from people who have actually observed "children's church" in their congregation. I would like them to share whether the service serves to challenge the children to a deeper spiritual commitment or whether it leans more in the entertainment direction. Either is possible, and I'm certainly not saying that "children's church" is always a bad thing. Parents have to use their judgment regarding what is best for their children, and that requires being acquainted with what is actually going on in children's church.
So, let's hear it from you!
Very small children are not too young to learn to be quiet and reverent in church, but the back of the church is not a good place to train children in reverence. When our children were little (we had 5 boys), we sat very close to the front of the church. It makes them feel like they are more a part of what's going on, and they are less likely to get restless. We didn't do things perfectly either, but we did have felt books and similar activities for the children when they were very little. But I see that my grand-nephews are doing very well in church without such activities from about 6 years old up. They attend a very small church, and they have participated in such things as leading out in singing and reading Scripture or the mission story from an early age.
It's probably obvious that I disagree with your statement that "There is no greater punishment than to make little children sit quietly in church." 😉 Children being "bored stiff" is a result of inadequate preparation and/or modeling by speakers and parents. Or it may just be that the children are used to being constantly and unnaturally stimulated. (Something for parents to deal with.) Even non-church-goers recognize that the discipline of sitting quietly and listening is good for children.
It is up to each local church to make worship services interesting. Then it is up to the parents to model a positive attitude towards the services. If speakers don't hand out work sheets, parents can give children note paper and ask them to listen for certain phrases. I gave my grand-son (now 11) a sketch book and asked him to illustrate what he was hearing in the sermon. I was rather pleasantly surprised by the results.
Again, I appreciate your sharing of how you got children interested in the subject of the sermon. It's a good example for others to follow.
I am not a member of your church. My husband and I do share the belief in the Sabbath and we worship via programs giving Sabbath school lesson on Sabbath morning. We have visited services locally but are only frustrated when we attend. The very little ones talk and cry and the parents ignore them for awhile I guess thinking they'll make them louder if they discipline them. The grade school age children (whom I'm sure can't do this in school) get up and down leaving the sanctuary I'm assuming to go to the bathroom. It's so distracting we leave after the service frustrated instead of feeling like we were in the Lord's house.
Inge, I like your ideas, I've always believed that shared experiences draw people together. I would also suggest for a church to draw closer together, perhaps potlucks, Church socials, other activities where people can interact and get to know each other on a deeper level other than just greeting each other in church. For families, anything that involves spending time together draws them closer
Beautiful comment! Play and most importantly PRAY together. I believe the glue that binds us together is divine and spiritual. Children play together in school, I am part of a soccer club, but sometimes I am away for months. But if we PRAYED together as a family, then we will indeed stay together through adversities the evil one may throw at us.
One of the deepest needs of our hearts is to be loved by others. Not only do we want to be loved, but we want also for others to make that love known to us. We want to see a demonstration of their love. We want to hear others say something or do something that lets us know they love us. We need for others to be concerned about us, to act in our interest, and to surround us with understanding.
Many people recognize this need for love and readily give and accept love at its various levels. However, sometimes people despair of ever being loved. Moreover, they find it difficult to love others. You may be among the people who have this difficulty. Perhaps you have grown up in a loveless environment. Neither home nor community has shown you much love. As a result, you have lost hope. Your hopelessness may even lead you to deny that you need love....
God's is the most perfect💪
Good morning
I do not have a comment just a concern.
I notice we have not heard from Maurice Ashton for this lesson. Is there a special reason?.
I have always found his comments very helpful
Thank you, Emma, that was my concern, as well.
Emma: Maurice posted this last Friday. " I am going to leave you for about 4 weeks. I am going to spend some time with Carmel, my wife of 50 years, and we are going on a trip of a lifetime to Norway and Iceland to celebrate. She deserves a bit of attention from me."
Spirit-inspired Agape love (each person looking out for and advancing the best interests of all others), by it's very nature, inherently results in genuine unity: cause and effect.
I'd like to thank Annette and Inge for sharing their views on the presence of "children church". Your comments were quite insightful, however, please permit me to point out that placing oneself physically at a close range with someone else or being around another person does not wholly depict the theme "togetherness". It goes beyond that. It has to do with connection, deeper connection, having time to listen, communicate effectively and understand the next person because those practices lead to the formation of a strong bond with the next person. So, the issue here should not be the impact of children church on family "togetherness" rather it should be a question of how much time we carve out for the family, to understand our children, to understand what is happening to them and around them. After all, you can only effectively communicate or teach children when there is understanding, that way, they can easily learn and allow themselves to taught by you.
Therefore, the presence or absence of children church has little or no effect on the relationship between the parents and children or family relationship as a whole when there is an already established bond between parents and children.
In the same way, as a church, getting to know, understand, love, care and respect each other help to create a strong bond within us and with Christ in the center, we will be in perfect unity.