Sabbath: Turning Hearts in the End Time
Image © Pacific Press
Read for this Week’s Study: Mal. 4:5-6; Matt. 11:14-15; Matt. 17:10; 1 Kings 16:29-17:24; 1 Kings 18:20-45; Matt. 3:2.
Memory Text: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6, NKJV).
Our lives are lived in stages. Sometimes those stages are going well; sometimes not. Sometimes families are intact and strong; sometimes they are fragile, or even shattered.
Whatever the phase, whatever the stage, whatever the condition of ourselves or our family at the moment, we can and must live in the light of God’s promises, clinging to them with all our heart and soul and might because, in the end, they are our only hope. But what a great hope they are. The Word of God exudes promises, promises that, whatever stage our life or our family is in—we can claim for ourselves, our loved ones, our family, and our church.
In this, the final week of the quarter, we are going to look at some Bible stories, promises, and experiences from a variety of contexts. As we do, we will seek to draw lessons for ourselves today, whatever our context happens to be. For, most likely, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever the phase of your life, you have struggles, fears, worries. Fortunately, we worship a God who not only knows what we face but who is, we can be sure, ahead of them all as well.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, June 29.
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I studied chemistry in the heady atmosphere of an academic institution. Books, libraries, well-organized laboratories, and hour-long lectures. I graduated with my nice clean BSc testamur and then I went to my first job as an assistant to a research chemist working on his PhD on Porphyrin chemistry. My task was to extract deuterohemin from horse blood. This was dirty smelly work. Horse blood was dripped into near-boiling acetic acid, to split the hemoglobin protein, giving us the deuterohemin. But it did not end there. The deuterohemin had to be purified using powerful organic solvents. I remember how difficult this was because at one stage I left a large purple stain on the ceiling of the lab where I was working. (it is probably still there 50 years later.) Furthermore all the glassware had to be washed and cleaned, ready for the next batch. Blood protein cooked in acetic acid does not wash off easily. Any vision I had of chemistry being largely an academic exercise was lost in the mess and smell of applying it seriously in research chemistry.
Likewise, Christianity is not a cerebral exercise of carefully defined doctrines and argued belief. It has to be lived in the mess of real life. Our studies this quarter have been largely about family relationships, and it is should not go unnoticed that the Bible does not record a lot of perfect happy families. Most of the family stories are pretty messy. Sibling rivalry, mixed marriages, adultery, murder, and parental failure are all recorded with a frankness that is raw and somewhat embarrassing. And that is the way it is. God does not promise us perfect relationships, but rather he is with us as we work through these issues. Christianity is not really about understanding the Trinity or defining the activities or timing of the Investigative Judgement. You do not have to be able to recite the 27 (28,29?) fundamentals. The real crucible for the chemistry of Christianity is our relationships with one another. When you have a problem with your teenage kids, how do you react? When your neighbor disputes with you about where your tree's roots are growing, what do you do about it? When the music the young people play in church rattles your hearing aids, do you rise up with righteous indignation and condemn them? The test of our Christianity is our reaction to the people and things we do not like!
Life is messy and being a Christian in a messy environment calls for special wisdom that does not come to us naturally. Christians sometimes spend a lot of effort arguing their support for the miracles and supernatural events recorded in the Bible, when their real need is praying for the supernatural wisdom needed for living Christianity in our family and community. That is the miracle that wins.
Thank you for painting such a begrimed picture of actual nuts and bolts chemistry and then applying it to our broken, fractured and, indeed, messy human relationships. You have accurately pointed out how the bible doesn't hold a lot back when it records the failings of God's people in their families. In light of the defective human condition there is God, the longsuffering, self-sacrificing One that loves us unconditionally. Our beholding His goodness that leads to repentance not needing to be repented of transforms us and our relationships towards the wholesome and abundant life we were created for.
Hi Brother Maurice,
Excellent blog, it's as if the Lord sent you a message to tell us. What can I say that you have not already said. Excellent!!
I especially enjoyed reading these two sentences of your: "Christianity is not a cerebral exercise of carefully defined doctrines and argued belief." and "Christianity is not really about understanding the Trinity or defining the activities or timing of the Investigative Judgement. You do not have to be able to recite the 27 (28,29?) fundamentals."
When Jesus comes back to take us home, to Heaven, to eternally live with Him in Heaven, and then in the Earth made new, He is not going to say "I saved you because you know the 27 fundamentals". The fundamental beliefs has their part in our belief system. However, we are redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, and the most important thing that matters to Him is "inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.", which is the subject of our next quarterly, I can't wait to read it, and teach it.
Thanks to all of you on this blog for helping me in teaching the Sabbath School lessons to God's people, continue in your good service to our Lord Jesus.
Be blessed everyone!!
The world as we know it, it's now dark n cold but amidst such darkness n coldness, you and l are being called to turn the hearts in this end time. Remember God's biddings are His enablings. Powerful quarter we have just had.
amen
I have two families; the family of my blood, and the family of the Spirit. Lately, the family in which I was born has been severely fractured due to a breach of trust! I'm praying for forgiveness, but only God knows whether there will be reconciliation! In the meantime, the family of the Spirit will stand in the gap for me and make up for the shortfall! Amen.
I really love the words the authors gave us. Whatever trials we maybe going through, “we can and must live in the light of God’s promises, clinging to them with all our heart and soul and might because, in the end, they are our only hope.” Yes and I have found indeed God’s promises get me through the rough times as well as are up lifting to my spirit, some found in:
Genesis 15:6. Psalms 16:7-11. Psalms 23:3. Psalms 103:11-13. Isaiah 26:3-4. Isaiah 40:29-31. Jeremiah 31:33-34. Malachi 4:5-6. John 14:1-6. There are may others, memorize your favorites, they are the substance of prayer.
There's hope in Christ that we will love one another again. Parents will once again love their children enough to point them to the source of love and peace. Children will be obedient enough to trust that their parents are pointing them in the right direction.
There's also hope that from learning to love one another again, God will teach us how to love Him once again and therefore live to fulfill his greatest commandment; Mat 22:36-40.
Isn't it one of the most beautiful feelings to sit down with one's spouse and reflect on the challenges that we've overcome and how they've made us strong and also form some resilience for any challenges we might (not might but will definitely) face in future. It also makes God happy when we take time to sit down with Him reflect on the challenges He's seen us through and to take him at His word that always promises us victory in all these challenges.
It has been beautiful to see love increasing on the part of one of my family members towards another. The younger one disappoints the older one again and again, but the older one has become more tolerant and forgiving. When Jesus said, "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48), it comes right after telling us to love our enemies. This includes imperfect family members.