| LESSON 4 | *July 16 - 22 |
| Lord of Our Desires |  |
| LESSON 4 | *July 16 - 22 |
| Lord of Our Desires | |
 |
|
| SABBATH AFTERNOON |
Read for This Week's Study:
| Genesis 1, 2; Rom. 1:3; 6:1-7; 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:17; Phil. 2:8; Col. 2:12, 13; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:13-16; 1 John 2:1. |
Memory Text:
| "For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Romans 8:3, NKJV). |
Key Thought:
| God created humans with powerful desires for our enjoyment. We, as
Christians, need to keep those desires, which we should still enjoy, under
divine control.
Submitting our desires to the will of God. The apostle Paul warned that in the last days people would be "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God" (2 Tim. 3:4, NKJV). Talk about a perfect description of this generation! The guiding principle for many today is: Satisfy your own desires. Christian values are discarded as old-fashioned, unreasonable, and hopelessly out-of-date. The basic sentiment is: As long as you desire to do something that doesn't hurt anyone else, then there's no reason why you shouldn't do it.
In contrast, those who live under the lordship of Christ are called to submit
all their desires to the will of God. Our Lord Himself declared, "'For I
have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who
sent Me'"
(John
6:38, NKJV). Jesus set the perfect example of submission to the will
of God when He prayed, " 'Not what I will, but what You will"
(Mark
14:36, NKJV). This is our mandate, as well. Our will, our desires,
must be surrendered to the Lord.
|
*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 23.
| SUNDAY | July 17 |
Flesh and Spirit
The Christian faith began and spread amid Greek culture and philosophy. Though the Greek Empire itself had fallen to the Romans (see Daniel 2), its influence remained long after its political and military dominance faded.
Sin influences the human body with disease, old age, and so forth. But the body cannot be evil, because Jesus put on a human body when He came to this earth. Greek culture also taught that the spirit is something within us that is always fighting the body. But in Romans 8:4, 5; Galatians 5:24, 25; and Galatians 6:8, the spirit is our attitude of surrender and obedience to Jesus. People who live "in the spirit" are people who have surrendered their sinful natures to the Holy Spirit.
What
the greatest example we have from the Bible that the
human body, in and of itself, isn't evil?
Rom.
1:3,
8:3,
Gal.
4:4,
Phil.
2:8,
1
Tim. 3:16.
The basic issue here is not that our body, our flesh, is of itself bad. Again, Christ's humanity proves this point. Paul's emphasis, instead, deals with control of our flesh, the keeping of its desires under the control of God. Ephesians 2:3 helps clarify this point: "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." Paul talks about not letting the things of the flesh, that is, the carnal nature of fallen beings, dominate the Christian, who has died to this carnal nature, where passion and lust rule, and who now lives in the "spirit," that is, in an attitude of faith and submission to Christ.
Part of the problem stems from the use of the word spirit, which, in Paul's writing, isn't this eternal holy entity that lives in constant tension or battle with the flesh. In the Bible, spirit can mean "mood," "attitude," or "feelings." Oftentimes in the New Testament, flesh is simply the word used to symbolize the fallen carnal nature, while spirit symbolizes the attitude of submission and obedience to Christ. Those who live in "the spirit" are those who have yielded themselves to the Holy Spirit, which brings the desires of the flesh under control.
| How can you know if you are walking after the "flesh" or after the
"spirit"?
|
| MONDAY | July 18 |
The Creation
Review
the Genesis Creation account of humanity
(Genesis
1 and 2). What evidences do you find there that God intended for
human beings to enjoy the physical creation He had made?
There's no question: God created us as physical beings, and He gave us physical desires, which, in and of themselves, can't be bad precisely because God gave them to us. The problem is not our basic desires but rather how we as fallen beings use them, how we keep them under control in order that we don't allow them to take us where God never intended us to go. We can do this only through knowing what God's will is for us and then surrendering our sinful selves to Him so we can have the power to keep our desires within that will and not enter into the paths of self-destruction.
| Despite the ravages of sin, in what ways can you see, even now,
indications of how wonderful the original creation was? What are some of
the things we have been given that we should enjoy, and how do these reveal
to us the Creator's love?
|
| TUESDAY | July 19 |
The Fall
The Lord placed our parents in a paradise, a garden filled with things that delighted their senses, things that they, in their physical bodies, could enjoy. Unfortunately, some of these same things were used against them by Satan in order to cause the Fall.
Read
Genesis
3:1-6. How did the devil use the physical senses to deceive the woman
and get her to flagrantly disobey God?
Read
1
John 2:16. How do you see the principles here reflected in the story
of the Fall? Notice, is it saying the eyes and the flesh themselves are bad,
or is it saying something else? If so, what?
| Try to imagine a world where our God-given senses are in perfect harmony
with the world around them (kind of sounds like heaven, does it not?). What
do you think it would be like? And though you can't have that world now,
what changes do you need to make in order to bring your desires and senses
into closer harmony with the world as God originally meant them to be? Why
would doing that make your life better now?
|
| WEDNESDAY | July 20 |
Times of Solitude
Read
Matthew
4:1, 2 (see also
Mark
1:12 and
Luke
4:1, 2). Why do you think Jesus fasted for so long? What's the
message here for
us?
"Many who profess godliness do not inquire into the reason of Christ's long period of fasting and suffering in the wilderness. His anguish was not so much from the pangs of hunger as from His sense of the fearful result of the indulgence of appetite and passion upon the race. He knew that appetite would be man's idol and would lead him to forget God and would stand directly in the way of his salvation."—Ellen G. White, Confrontation, p. 51.
How fascinating that though Satan caused our first parents to sin on the issue of appetite, Jesus—in His first major conflict after His baptism—would go over the same ground and succeed where Adam and Eve failed. What a message His self-denial should have for us, we who are often enslaved to our appetites and passions.
Read
prayerfully and carefully
1
Peter 1:13-16. What is the essential message to us regarding our desires
and lusts? How do his words "gird up the loins of your mind" focus us on
last week's study, and why is this crucial to keeping our desires under
control?
| How much self-denial do you allow yourself to go through? In other
words, when your desires are leading you where you know you shouldn't go,
how do you respond? What does your answer tell you about how well you're
following what the Lord tells us about the control of these desires?
|
| THURSDAY | July 21 |
Yield
It's one thing, of course, to read the Bible admonitions to keep our desires under control; it's another to do it. Though we want to do what is right, sometimes it's so easy to surrender, not to the will of God but to our lusts and passions. Perhaps this problem was best expressed by Augustine, who once prayed, "God give me power over my passions—but just not yet!" Who, to some degree, can't relate?
Nevertheless, there is great hope for us as Christians. We can have victory over the things that can, otherwise, destroy us, but we can have that victory only through the power and Spirit of God working in a soul that yields to that power. In the end, we all yield: The question is-to what? To our passions, which bring death, or to God, who brings life? There are no other options.
Read
prayerfully and carefully the following texts: What's
the basic message in them all? What personal experience are they all talking
about?
Rom.
6:1-7;
2
Cor 5:17;
Col.
2:12,
13.
This new existence, however, is a day-by-day existence. Though we sometimes hear stories of those who, having surrendered to Christ, suddenly have their lifelong habit of smoking, drinking, or whatever just simply vanish, for most Christians that's not the case. Plus, too, character doesn't change in an instant. There's a day-by-day battle with sin, with self, with the carnal nature, which, though subdued through the power of God, is always there trying to break through. In and of ourselves, we can't win against our fallen flesh; all we can do is, moment by moment, surrender our wills to Christ and claim His power over our sinful desires. This takes self-denial, vigilance, a struggle, and lots of prayer, but victory is promised. Otherwise, defeat is certain.
How, in your own life, have you experienced what these texts listed today
have talked about? Why is knowledge of the Cross so important for you to
understand when, at times, you fail?
|
| FRIDAY | July 22 |
Further Study:
Consider the stories of various Bible characters who failed to yield
their desires to the will of God. Note the consequences of their actions.
Some of these individuals repented of their sin and trusted in God's grace
for forgiveness and salvation. Others continued in their sin and will be
eternally lost.
"You may live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and bear the fruits of the
Spirit; you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Then you will be
living channels of light, having your life hid with Christ in God."—Ellen
G. White, Manuscript Releases, vol. 4,
p. 49.
|
Discussion Questions:
 As a class, talk about what it means to die to self and live
a new life in Christ. Share your own experiences and how some person may
have changed your life. What advice would you give to someone who, wanting
to be a Christian, admits that he or she never had such experiences with
God before?
|
| I N S I D E Story | ||
| The Locked Bookcase
J. H. Zachary From the time he was a child, Juan wanted to know God. While still a teenager, he enrolled in a seminary to become a priest. He read the Bible carefully and began noticing differences between what it said and what his teachers taught. He discovered that the Ten Commandments in the Bible differed from those he studied in class. These discrepancies drove Juan to study the Scriptures even more. Juan spent many hours in the seminary library. One day he noticed some books locked within a case. A note taped to the case stated that no one was to read the books locked inside. Juan became curious. What could those books contain that would be harmful to a seminary student? he wondered. And who is this E. G. White who had written those forbidden books? Juan wanted to read those books and decided to make friends with the librarian. For several weeks he built up trust with the librarian. Finally he asked, "Is it possible for me to read one of the books locked in that case over there? I'm curious about them." The librarian smiled, opened a drawer, and pulled out a key. Together the two walked to the locked case. The librarian unlocked the case, and Juan selected one book, The Great Controversy. He took it home and began reading it. As he read, he began to understand why these books were forbidden. The book spoke about his church, and the accusations were as heresy to him. But every chapter of the book contained scriptural references to back it up. Juan looked up the verses and realized that the Bible supported what this book was saying. Juan borrowed and read several other books by Ellen G. White. As he read them, he felt the Holy Spirit urging him to draw closer to the Bible and to Jesus. Juan's questions in class brought hostility from some of his teachers. In time he left the seminary and moved to a distant island in the Philippines. There he met some people who clearly followed the Bible's teachings. After studying the Bible with them for several months, he was baptized. He praises God for showing him the path of life through those "forbidden books." Juan is sharing his faith with animist people living in the Philippines.
J. H. Zachary was retired from the Ministerial Association of the General Conference. |
||
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In
our struggle to keep our desires under control, why is understanding the
good news of Christ's substitutionary death so important, especially after
we make a mistake and yield to our sinful desires?
In
your own community, where do you see businesses exploiting our fallen condition?
Though there are limits, of course, to what you could or even should do,
is there anything that, as a class or a church, you could do to help limit
the damage these businesses are doing to your community? If so, what?