Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Special Insights No. 9; Second Quarter 2007 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

The Bible and Health

The much talked about observational study funded in part by the U. S. National Institute on Aging looked at several regions where people live significantly longer than average, in fact 4 to 10 years longer. Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa; and Adventists in Loma Linda, California, were three groups that have been a focus of much of the reporting. What I found particularly interesting was not what these three groups have in common, but what they did not have in common. The diet across all three groups utilized lots of fruits and vegetables, however the Adventists were the only group in which observation of the Sabbath and “have faith” were felt to be significant contributors to longevity. Recently there was a review of this data by CNN’s health analyst, a neurosurgeon who remarked that “the Adventists don’t smoke, don’t drink and observe the Sabbath day.” As if to emphasize this point he exclaimed, “yes, they actually observe the Sabbath and rest for 24 hours.”



The authors of the Sabbath School quarterly, who did an outstanding job covering the comprehensive concept of health, state that “Scripture shows that God cares also about our physical being and that our spiritual side is linked with the physical.” In Genesis 2 we are told that on the seventh day God ended His work and rested. Then He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Sabbath became to Adam symbolic of rest with God, of perfect communion, of oneness with God. It was the one commandment that God chose to honor by inviting man to join Him in its observance.



In Deuteronomy 5, as Moses recounts the ten commandments to Israel, he connects the fourth commandment with God’s relentless pursuit of mankind, His deliverance from bondage, and redemption of the human race. Verse15 says, “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” The last verse of Genesis 1 and the first verse of Genesis 2 bear the signature of our covenant keeping God YHWH. The Sabbath is the sign of the Everlasting Covenant, which is such powerful good news that Adventists, says the study, live longer. The Everlasting Covenant tells us of a God in pursuit of mankind.



The good news of the gospel, God in pursuit of mankind, came to us very profoundly in 1888, and the Quarterly authors, recognizing the connection between the gospel and health, give us several texts to contemplate. Rom. 6:4, Rom. 9-11, and Col. 3:8-10 are just a few. Let us look at some and let Scripture speak. Col. 1:19-21: “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself ... and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind, by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.” 2 Cor. 5:18, 19: “Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” This good news is for every person on planet earth. However, the good news of God’s agape taking the initiative demands a response. 2 Cor. 5:14, 15: “For the love of Christ constrains us because we judge thus; that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all that those who live should live no longer for themselves but for Him who died for them and rose again.” The following texts make sense in the light of this good news. Rom. 12:1: “ I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.” 1 Cor 6:19, 20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body…”1 John 3:3: “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure.” This is part of the New Covenant concept. Gal. 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ, It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”



E. J. Waggoner commenting on this says in The Glad Tidings, p. 47: “It is not we that live but Christ that lives in us and uses His own faith to deliver us from the power of Satan. What have we to do? Let Him live in us in His own way. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ.”



We cannot close this Insight without reflecting on how Jesus viewed health. His earthly ministry was consumed with teaching, preaching, and healing. He was the heavenly physician, but His healing model differed from ours today. The healing model of modern day medicine focuses on disease and cure, but Jesus demonstrated a superior model. In Luke chapter 8 we have the incredible story of a woman “having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any.” Not only did this disease cause her tremendous physical discomfort, but worst of all it made her an outcast of society. One day when Jesus was in town she, by some miracle, managed to “touch the border of His garment,” and “immediately the flow of blood stopped.” Jesus with His unparalleled heart for broken humanity said, “Who touched Me?” The disciples being just like us thought, and said essentially, what does it matter? But Jesus, moved with compassion, insisted and said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” The woman came forward and for the first time in 12 years she was ushered back into society by the Savior Himself. He said to her, “daughter your faith has made you well ...”



The word for “made you well” is an interesting one in the Greek. It is, soterion. In Jesus’ other miracles He generally uses the Greek word therapeuo from which we get the medical word “therapy.” But Jesus uses the word soterion, thus announcing that this is a complete healing, salvation, restoration of everything that was lost mentally, spiritually, physically, emotionally, and socially. Christ’s healing model is not disease to cure but alienation to restoration.



In 1888 God gave us a “most precious message” embodying Christ’s healing model: “But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). “And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and irreproachable in His sight” (Col. 1:21, 22). “The Bible and Health” has more to it than what we eat and drink, etc. It has a lot to do with how the good news changes our response to God and to our fellow man. The good news allows us to love one another with agape, serve one another, bear with one another be kind to one another, admonish one another, be tenderhearted and forgiving to one another, comfort one another, show compassion to one another, be hospitable to one another, and to pray for one another. These commands are outlined in Scripture and are the fruit of receiving the gospel. May God give us grace to live according to our holy calling because the world is watching. The U.S. National Institute on Aging reminds us of this fact.

—Lyndi Schwartz

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(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Special Insights No. 8, Second Quarter 2007 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

Revelation of Hope

This week’s lesson is about hope. In what do we place our hope? For what do we hope; why do we hope for it; what makes it worth hoping for?

Working in the medical field I have had occasion to care for people who had no hope. Their bodies were ravaged with disease for which there was no cure; or they were psychological wrecks as a result of emotional pressures that exhausted their coping mechanisms. It seemed that there was no help for them from any source.

Some facing death who claimed to “know God” but were unsure of their standing before Him were perhaps the most miserable. Often I have listened to an individual, feeling the burden of personal guilt for sins committed, lament that even though he had “done his best” he had no assurance that God accepted him. He hoped to attain heaven, but was never certain that he’d done enough to secure eternal life. Such “hope” brought no consolation for him. Why?


E. J. Waggoner spoke of the same situation. “How often we hear someone say, ‘I am so sinful that I am afraid the Lord will not accept me!’ Even some who have long professed to be Christians often mournfully wish that they could be sure of their acceptance with God” (The Glad Tidings, p. 12).

Perhaps these individuals were troubled because they depended upon their own righteousness instead of the true righteousness found only in Christ. Or perhaps their focus was not in the right place, being centered upon what they thought they should have accomplished, instead of focusing on what Christ has already accomplished for them. Whatever the reason, these persons needed some good news.

The 1888 message supplies the good news: “But the Lord has given no reason for any such doubts. Our acceptance is forever settled. Christ has bought us and has paid the price” (ibid.).

Our lesson for May 20 states: “At the cross, Jesus, the One through whom all things were made (Col. 1:16), bore in Himself the penalty for our sins. Jesus died in our place, suffered in our stead, all for us.”

Scripture tells us that Jesus didn’t just die instead of us, but that as the “Last Adam” He died corporately as us. “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead” (2 Cor. 5:14). Acknowledging this fact motivates us to serve Him in love.

The loss the first Adam caused for all humanity through his rebellion against God, the Last Adam redeemed for all humanity (see Rom. 5:17-18). The debt already has been paid, once for all humanity, in the life and death of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is astonishing good news, and is what the hopeless in the world are yearning to hear. God already loves them and has already forgiven them.

Monday’s lesson comment tells us that “through Jesus we have forgiveness.” Our loving Father has “blotted [our sins] out or swept them away” and “will remember them no more.” Isaiah 44:22 says: “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto Me; I have redeemed thee” (past tense). God’s forgiveness is so complete and extensive that it removed our guilt as far as east is from west. This, too, is powerful good news.

However, after giving us such good news, Monday’s lesson goes on to state that “your sins can be forgiven by God if you just claim His promises of forgiveness for yourself,” thus turning hope into uncertainty. Has God actually forgiven you, or not? Are your sins “blotted out,” or not? Are you sure? Is His forgiveness waiting upon some action on your part?

By inserting an element of uncertainty, one of the most powerful aspects of the Gospel to motivate change in people’s hearts is thus diminished in strength. If God’s forgiveness is waiting on me to do something first, then the focus is shifted from the promise of God to my own dubious action.

The “blessed hope” is founded on the promise of God to redeem His people from their sin (Matt. 1:21). “It was the oath of God that ratified the covenant made to Abraham. That promise and that oath to Abraham become our ground of hope, our strong consolation. They are ‘sure and steadfast,’ because the oath sets forth Christ as the pledge, the surety, and ‘He always lives.’ He upholds all things by the word of His power. Heb. 1:3. ‘In Him all things hold together.’ Col. 1:17. Therefore, ‘when God ... interposed [Himself] with an oath’ (Heb. 6:17), [which] is our consolation and hope in fleeing for refuge from sin, He pledged His own existence, and with it the entire universe, for our salvation. Surely a firm foundation for our hope is laid in His excellent Word” (p. 72).

“The blessing has come upon all men. For ‘as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.’ Rom. 5:18, KJV. God, who is no respecter of persons, ‘has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.’ Eph. 1:3. The gift is ours to keep. If anyone has not this blessing, it is because he has not recognized the gift, or has deliberately thrown it away” (p. 66).

“‘Do you mean to teach universal salvation?’ someone may ask. We mean to teach just what the Word of God teaches—that ‘the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.’ Titus 2:11, RV. God has wrought out salvation for every man, and has given it to him; but the majority spurn it and throw it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full salvation was given to every man and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their birthright possession” (pp. 13-14).

The “birthright possession” is part and parcel of the everlasting covenant promise. To Abraham God promised land and the righteousness to possess it. “This gift of eternal life is included in the promise of the inheritance, for God promised the land to Abraham and to his seed for ‘an everlasting possession.’ Gen.17:7, 8. It is an inheritance of righteousness, because the promise that Abraham should be heir of the world was through the righteousness of faith. Righteousness, eternal life, and a place in which to live eternally—these are all in the promise, and they are all that could possibly be desired or given” (pp. 70-71).

Scripture tells us that even though God promised Abraham this wonderful possession, Abraham had “not so much as to set his foot upon” in this earthly life (Acts 7:5). Did the promise of God fail? By no means. It is an eternal promise with eternal fulfillment. God cannot lie. The everlasting covenant promise assures to us that “by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:18).

Our hope is based on nothing less than the promise of God to redeem us through the work of Christ, our Saviour, High Priest, and soon coming King. God knows that our promises “are as ropes of sand.” All He asks is that we believe His promises to us, then respond appropriately.

A true heart appreciation of the cost of salvation will transform the most vile sinner into a faithful commandment-keeper (see p. 56 and Rom. 6:16-23). This is the powerful good news that the world is hungering for—the 1888 message of Christ and His righteousness. It is learning that through the gift of Christ you have been forgiven of your sin even before you know enough to ask, that brings hope and consolation to the hopeless. May we endeavor to spread this good news far and wide. (For further study, review the parables in Luke 15.)

—Ann Walper

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Special Insights No. 7, Second Quarter 2007

The Word in Our Lives

Without a humble spirit from God, all the theological study we can do will not change our lives. This explains why some people who know their Bibles inside and out can have lives that are most un-Christ-like.

Even humble people who believe that the second coming of Christ is many hundreds of years away understand the need for a changed life much differently. It is nice to have a “Christian character.” You generally get along with people better. If you’re not careful, you might even believe God blesses you because of that character. It is possible that your focus for having that Christian character is really about yourself, not Christ.

One of the many blessings which result from knowing and understanding the 1888 message is the role believers are given at the end of time. Throughout history, God has always had a believing remnant, but none of those groups have been asked to take up the Cross like those who will see Him come.

At the General Conference of 1893, Elder A. T. Jones presented a lengthy report of hearings in the U.S. Senate. Legislation had been introduced which recognized Sunday as the nation’s official religious day of rest, and observance thereof would be required by the government.

It is fascinating to read those reports and imagine living in that time. “It” really was starting to happen. The urgency was as real as the headlines. Think of the soul searching that many of us would do if this were happening today.

Jones emphasized that those who determine to:

“... stand in our allegiance to the commandments of God, we have to do it in the face of all the power that this earth knows, with Satan using that power. ... in order to stand at all, in order to stand a minute, we need a power that is greater than all the power of this world put together. And the blessedness of it is, there He stands and says, ‘I am with you.’ Thank the Lord” (1893 General Conference Bulletin, p. 72; The Third Angel’s Message, p. 26).

Later, Jones refers to “The Crisis Imminent.” This Ellen White quotation describes her contemporaneous understanding of the urgency, even though she is in Australia.

“In the night seasons I am addressing the people in a very solemn manner, beseeching them to ask their own consciences; What am I? Am I a Christian, or am I not? Is my heart renewed? Has the transforming grace of God moulded my character? Are my sins repented of? Are they confessed? Are they forgiven? Am I one with Christ as he is one with the Father? Do I hate what I once loved? Do I now love what I once hated?

“We are standing upon the threshold of great and solemn events. The whole earth is to be lightened with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the channels of the great deep. Prophecies are being fulfilled, and stormy times are before us” (Special Testimonies, Series A, pp. 37, 38).

Jones goes on to describe that we cannot expect any protection, mercy, or justice from the world during these “stormy” times. He makes a distinction between character and reputation, noting that during the end times, Christians who stand by their principles will have their reputations destroyed by the world’s standards. Standing true requires character not reputation.

What does this mean? How do we allow the transforming grace of God to mold our characters? If we think that living the Christ-like life is good because it enhances our standing within our church or community, we are worried about our reputation, not our character. There will be times when we must go against popular programs and ideas even within the church. If we are called to do that, a Christ-like character will always suffer at disagreeing with the brethren. Our manner must always be in humility after much soul searching.

But, agape is not people-pleasing, warm fuzzy hearts and flowers. We bring to the concept of agape a mistaken understanding of “love” when we think this. Elijah loved his nation and remained loyal to it even though God used Him to bring direct criticism to the king and the religious leadership. Elijah’s message was God-pleasing, not people-pleasing. Did he lose his reputation over it? Yes, Ahab told him he was the trouble-maker of Israel. But he is a giant in character because He allowed the word of God to remove him from the world completely.

What are we looking for when we study the Bible? Life style changes which give us a few more years to live? Honorable lives so we are respected pillars in our communities? Nothing wrong with either, but character is something different. It is a gift from God that by beholding the life of Jesus Christ, we become changed. It is only thus that we join the work of the fourth angel which lightens the earth with glory.

—Arlene Hill

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(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded by this Robert J. Wieland is available from the office of the 1888 Message Study Committee: 269-473-1888.) Listen to the audio recording for Lesson 7 now in MP3 format.

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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Sabbath School Insights No. 6, Qtr 2-07

Special Insights No. 6

Second Quarter 2007 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“The Bible for Today”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

The Bible and Science

 

 

It is no coincidence that Darwin’s theory of evolution was first published in 1859. Look at what was going on in the religious world at the same time. God was attempting to bring to a close the longest time prophecy in the Bible—Daniel 8:14: “then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” Recount the events taking place in the years surrounding this date.

 

1831—William Miller began preaching the message of the second coming of Christ.

1844—The “Great Disappointment” over the misunderstanding of the meaning of the sanctuary.

1863—The founding (organization) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

1888—The beginning of the Loud Cry message of Christ and His righteousness as humanity’s only means of salvation.

1890s—“Social Darwinism” is having an effect teaching that man can remedy sin’s problems by trying harder and moving up the “good behavior” ladder.

 

Satan always works to counterfeit the work of God. As God was bringing the truth of the closing messages of Revelation 14:6-12 to the world, Satan was working to counterfeit and block that very truth that would destroy him. Satan provided skeptics with what they needed to turn away from the light of truth.

 

“The philosopher turns aside from the light of salvation, because it puts his proud theories to shame; the worldling refuses to receive it, because it would separate him from his earthly idols. Paul saw that the character of Christ must be understood before men could love Him or view the cross with the eye of faith. Here must begin that study which shall be the science and the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In the light of the cross alone can the true value of the human soul be estimated” (Acts of the Apostles, p. 273).

 

Sadly, science is often seen as opposing the Bible. In actuality, the study of science reveals the character of God. It naturally follows that when one approaches science without acknowledging God there will be significant results. Usually Christians see those results in the form of autonomy, man takes the authority of God and reorders life as he sees fit. Such an act can cause real problems. I recently was reading E. J. Waggoner’s The Everlasting Covenant, and found a most interesting issue that puts this struggle in a new light.

 

Exodus 33:14: “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

 

Waggoner wrote, “ Rest was promised, and could be found only in God’s presence, which was to go with His people. ... The rest that was offered to the children of Israel in the desert, is the very same rest that Christ offers to all mankind, rest in God. ...

 

“God always was and is everywhere present; why then do not all people have rest?—For the simple reason that as a general thing men do not recognize His presence, nor even His existence. Instead of taking God into account in all the affairs of life, most people live as though He did not exist” (The Everlasting Covenant, pp. 283, 284, Glad Tidings ed.).

 

The problem with science, as it has been studied too often, is that it does not recognize God’s presence or existence. The result of such a course is to cut one’s self off from the rest of God. That rest is what the world is desperately seeking but never finds. Instead, its failure to find God’s rest reveals itself in forms of sleeplessness, stress, addictions, and the spending of money and other resources to the detriment of the majority of the world’s population. How can we laud ourselves as being so successful with all our inventions and achievements when so many in the world have so little?

 

It is clear that man cannot produce rest or peace on his own. Without recognizing the presence of God, man is left to his own abilities to order for life to produce justice, equity, and fairness. This he has not been able to do. But this truth is not without rebuke to the church. Christianity is no less accountable for recognizing the presence of God. History has too many examples of professed believers that exhibit “Laodicea” (cf. Rev 3:14-21) characteristics that have discouraged many from the gospel.

 

The challenge facing us today is to seek first the kingdom of God, to learn to recognize His presence. Only knowing Him will bring the peace and rest we all crave. Then science will be seen as one avenue God has given us to understand His creative design and care. Without the self-absorbed approach that seems to plague its study, science will be the witness to God’s marvelous love it was intended to be for each one of us.

 

“O whom then will you compare Me to, or who is My equal? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: He calls them all by names by the greatness of His might, for He is strong in power, not one fails” (Isa. 40:25, 26).

Robert Van Ornam

 
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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Sabbath School Insights No. 5, Qtr 2-07

Special Insights No. 5

Second Quarter 2007 Adult Sabbath School Lessons

“The Bible for Today”

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

When the Rocks Cry Out

It must be painful for intelligent people to endure staying in a church which has suffered public exposure of its early history as fraudulent. It would be painful likewise for us Seventh-day Adventists to be happy if our emphasis on the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation were proven false by proof that Daniel was written in the second century B.C. instead of the 5th as the book claims. We attach great importance to Daniel and the Revelation; but if historical and archaeological evidence seriously compromised the historicity of Daniel, for example, that would be embarrassing for us!

But thank God for the numerous archeological discoveries that have continuously upheld the historicity of the Bible in general. The stories are fascinating.

Many Sunday-keeping Evangelical Christians also treasure historical and archaeological evidence that upholds the Bible. An example is the popular work of Josh McDowell in several volumes, Evidence That Demands a Verdict—invaluable support, and we Seventh-day Adventists rejoice to share the benefits of such prodigious research. Many college and university students are Christians as the result.

But there are archaeological discoveries that in particular rejoice the hearts of Seventh-day Adventists. Therefore we take special interest in discoveries that relate to Daniel. Many even of Christian people regard the stories of Daniel as pious myths (the lions’ den, the fiery furnace, etc.; they are just too miraculous!), and at the same time of course they tend to disparage the prophetic chapters of Daniel.

Let’s note an example of how God has quietly stayed in the background and permitted the critics to have their day ridiculing the “simple-minded” who believe Daniel’s stories.

For example, consider King Belshazzar in Daniel 5:

(a) Unbelievers ridiculed us, saying that the ancient Greek historians recorded no Babylonian king with that name. Therefore “Daniel 5 is a myth.”

(b) Then in 1861 H. F. Talbot published a prayer in cuneiform inscriptions he had found of Nabonidus praying for Bel-shar-user, his eldest son. But it didn’t say he was king. But it did prove that the ancient Greek historians had missed something!

(c) Then in 1882 G. Pinches published a text from the Nabonidus Chronicle that listed Belshazzar as “commander-in-chief of the army,” and he was “regarded as king.” But it still didn’t say he was actually king. God, who inspired the book of Daniel, kept quiet; He let the critics rave on.

(d) Finally, in 1924 Sidney Smith published the clear cuneiform statement that Nabonidus had “entrusted the kingship” to his eldest son, Belshazzar.

(e) But did the critics admit they had been wrong? R. H. Pfeifer of Harvard said, “We shall presumably never know how our unknown [second century] author learned ... that Belshazzar, [mentioned only in Babylonian record] ... was functioning as king when Cyrus took Babylon.” Dr. Pfieffer: Daniel was there, that’s why!

There is also a tiny detail that supports our Seventh-day Adventist pioneers in their study of Daniel that is little understood today. The 1844 leaders (Loughborough, Smith, Andrews, James and Ellen White, for example) believed that William Miller was right in seeing the prophet’s “the daily” of 8:11-13, 11:31, and 12:11 as an Exilic idiom that referred to paganism. Could that have been a term coined during the Babylonian 70-year captivity? Now, a discovery in the cuneiform inscription on the Cyrus Cylinder (line 7) uses a similar expression in describing paganism. This is not yet complete proof, but it is interesting.

Another fairly recent discovery finds that the Hebrew verb rum translated in the KJV as “take away” instead literally means “lift up,” “exalt.” This is a meaning consistent with the exaltation of paganism into “the little horn” which Ellen White describes as “incorporated” into Romanism (The Great Controversy, p. 50).

The Hittites are mentioned in the Bible (for example, Gen. 15:20) but were never found in secular history; hence, said the critics—“they must be a myth.” The Hittites finally were unearthed as a vast, widely scattered political people.

In comparatively recent times (the 1970’s) the Ebla Tablets were found—25,000 that contain much information that abundantly supports Biblical data. The confirmatory tales are so overwhelming that it seems God lets us be tempted to become triumphalists!

And therein lies a danger: that we Christians become proud of the certainties of our faith. Then we shut some sensitive hearts against the real truth: they hear us proclaim our faith with argumentative “amazing facts” that convince the head but miss the heart appeal.

It’s the meek and lowly in heart who “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matt. 5:5). The stories may interest people for a time, as Paul’s preaching in the Agora in Athens interested the crowds there. His evangelistic campaign there had apparently limped with meager results as our campaigns so often do (Acts 17:33, 34).

But the presentation of “Christ and Him crucified” does move hearts, and when Paul came to Corinth he told the people he had learned that truth while he was in Athens (1 Cor. 2:1, 2).

Robert J. Wieland

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