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Commentary on "Mission"
Day 2: Sunday, June 21, 2009
Overview
“What is your own role in the church’s mission? How seriously do you take the call to reach others with the gospel? What more could you do?”
Problems
Only an SDA writer could find a way to turn some of the most powerful verses in the Bible, verses that tell of Jesus’ total sufficiency and the believer’s complete assurance of salvation, into a legalistic fire bomb. This is so sad and completely unnecessary.
One would think the verses chosen would answer the ellipsis, but that’s not how they’re used. Instead they are turned into questions about what I do, whether I take what I do seriously enough, and when I am going to wake up and do more.
In effect the unstated ellipsis at the beginning of this section becomes: unless “you step up to the plate. How will you feel if your Mom, Dad or one of your kids is lost because you didn’t share the Adventist message with them? How can you expect to be saved yourself if you were unwilling to make the effort to reach the people you love the most?! Their blood will be on your hands.”
Why am I so passionate against the seemingly innocent questions asked by the author? The teacher’s comments provide further explanation. Please excuse the long quotation, but it must be included in its entirety to make visible the twisted logic that is Adventist theology. This is a direct quotation. Nothing has been left out and no emphasis has been added.
STEP 2—Explore
Bible Commentary
1. People Will Be Lost, Unless… (Review with your class John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 John 5:11, 12.)
The Bible establishes an unambiguous route to salvation. “ ‘No one comes to the Father,’ ” but through Christ (John 14:6, NIV); salvation is found in “ ‘no other name’ ” (Acts 4:12, NIV); and we can know whether or not we have eternal life, because it is “in his Son” and “he who has the Son has life” (1 John 5:11-12, NIV).
Notice in 1 John 5:11-12 that God does not ask us to earn eternal life. God has given it to all who have placed their trust in Jesus as their personal Savior. God has one Way to eternal life, and He has not only given it to us, He has provided the means to get there. Hence, the choice to accept Jesus as Savior and Lord is the most important decision we make in life.
Consider This: Other faiths also claim to be the chosen route to God. How would you defend your faith as the only true route to salvation?
Adult Teachers Sabbath School Bible Study Guide, April-May-June 2009, page 153-4
How can an author make two completely irreconcilable statements?
- Statement #1: “The Bible establishes an unambiguous route to salvation… Christ.”
- Statement #2: “Other faiths also claim to be the chosen route to God. How would you defend your faith as the only true route to salvation?” (In this context, “faith” can only be another word for denomination.)
Either Jesus is the unambiguous route to salvation, or the SDA church is the unambiguous route to salvation. Both statements cannot be correct, but the author blithely equates them and asks the teacher to do the same.
Further, what does the rabbit trail at the beginning of this section have to do with mission? Why raise the question of universalism? Nowhere does the Bible teach it. I guess a church that goes so far afield to explain their own beliefs feels it necessary to point out beliefs that are even farther afield in order to justify themselves.
Why can’t SDAs use John 14:6, Acts 4:12 and 1 John 5:11-12 and John 3:16 just the way they were written? Because SDAs have no assurance of salvation. There is no assurance in a law-based belief system. There is only fear – fear that I didn’t do enough; fear that I didn’t get all my sins confessed and forgiven; fear that I’m not as perfect as my Father in heaven.
Here is 1 John 5:13 (NASB) – “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life” (emphasis supplied). There is nothing about keeping the Law in that statement, so an Adventist can’t quote it.
Jesus is everything, or He is nothing. The real answer to the ellipsis at the beginning is: unless they accept Jesus. The verses referenced in this section remove any possibility of universalism. They provide the entire message of salvation. Nothing needs to be added and nothing needs to be taken away. This focus on Jesus removes all the fear from mission. I witness because He is my life. He has forgiven me completely. He has saved me completely. That’s a message that I can’t wait to share with others. Anything else is a waste of time.
Summary
- What a way to start a week’s worth of lessons on mission! The lesson quotes some verses about Jesus’ sufficiency, but those verses are turned into a club and miss the point entirely.
- Jesus is the reason for mission.
- Jesus is the answer to any question about mission.
- Jesus is our salvation and He removes all fear, because fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18).
- Therefore, Jesus is the motive for mission.
Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised June 1, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
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