Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com

Everywhere they look bad things are happening, and they don’t feel like they have any control over their own lives and their own futures.

According to Tara Parker-Pope of the The New York Times (May 2013), “suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade.” Here are the stats behind this trend:

“From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent.
“More Americans now die of suicide (38,364) than car accidents (33,687). That’s 3,026 more people who die from suicide each year than in car crashes.

“The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicides jumped by nearly 50 percent.

“The suicide rate for middle-aged men was three times higher than for middle-aged women.

“Researchers claim that the reasons for suicide are often complex, but this article focused on two factors—the stress of the economic downturn and the widespread availability of prescription painkillers. But it also hinted that deeper issues like failed expectations and a loss of hope might be a root cause for the increase in suicides. Dr. Julie Phillips, a researcher from Rutgers University, says, ‘The boomers had great expectations for what their life would look like, but … it hasn’t turned out that way.’ Dr. Phillips warns that future generations will be facing the same conditions that lead to this sense of despair.”¹

How do you feel about your future? Do you ever feel hopeless? I think most of us do from time to time. What I find though, is that those hopeless feelings catch up with me when I start looking at my life here on earth and forget that Jesus has promised something better.

I often wonder how it would be to live without the hope of Jesus and Heaven. Have you ever thought about that? It’s hard for me to imagine because I don’t remember a time when I didn’t know Jesus. I am grateful for that blessing. But many have come to know Jesus later and have had to live without that hope.

I read a story about a man named Laureano and his wife, Consuelo. In 1966, they decided they had had enough of Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

They spent several months collecting bits and pieces of scrap metal that they could put together to make themselves a little boat … a very little boat. It was hardly big enough for the both of them – more of a kayak, really. It was powered by a little lawn mower engine.

They left Cuba in September, sitting back to back in their boat, just wearing their swimming suits. They could only fit enough food and water for one or two days.
It turned out that they floated out in the middle of the Straits of Florida for more than 70 hours before the U.S. Coast Guard finally rescued them somewhere in the Florida Keys.

Why would two people take such a risk? They could have starved to death, or drowned, or been eaten by sharks.

When someone asked Laureano that question many years later, this is what he said,

“When one has grown up in liberty, [you] realize it is important to have [freedom]. We lived in the enormous prison which is Cuba, where one’s life is not worth one crumb. Where one goes out into the street and does not know whether or not one will return to one’s home, because the political police can arrest you without any warning and put you in prison. Before this could happen to us, we thought that going into the ocean, and risking death or being eaten by sharks, is a million times better than to stay suffering under [political oppression].”²

Laureano and Consuelo had no hope of a future in Cuba; they had to get to a place where they could have hope.

You and I don’t have any hope of a future on this earth. We are living under the cruel and unreasonable government of Satan. Under his regime, there is no hope for anyone. Our only hope for any kind of future is through Jesus.
Zechariah paints a beautiful picture of our lives in the New Earth in Zechariah 8 (yes the whole chapter – it’s not that long, you can read it.)

Here are some of my favorite parts:

“Thus says the Lord: ‘I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain.’
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each one with his staff in his hand because of great age.
The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.’” Zechariah 8:3-5

Isn’t that a great picture? Jesus living with us in a new place where there is no sin. That is certainly something that I hope for.

When this world gets too much for us, there’s something we need to remember.

Sometimes it feels like I’m watching from the outside
Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing but am I alive
I won’t keep searching for answers that aren’t here to find
All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong
So when the walls come falling down on me
And when I’m lost in the current of a raging sea
I have this blessed assurance holding me.
All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong
When the earth shakes I wanna be found in You
When the lights fade I wanna be found in You
All I know is I’m not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong.”³

My hope is in Jesus. Is yours?

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While I became a literature evangelist in 1990, it just occurred to me, that it has now been 20 years since I first became a Bible Worker in the Owasso-Claremore district of the Oklahoma Seventh-day Adventist Conference in 1993. A lot of water has passed under the bridge and through the baptisteries since then, and over time I would like to share some of my experiences over the last twenty years. Tonight, I would like to begin with a list of twenty things I have learned in twenty years of Bible Work. Please enjoy.

Twenty Things I’ve Learned in Twenty Years

 1. Don’t take it personally when people love you. That’s right when they love you. After leaving a district in Oklahoma, I went to work in a three church district in the Fort Worth-West Texas area. Everyone loved and supported me so much I started thinking I was a good Bible Worker. Fact is I was very inexperienced and was making mistakes left and right. After a few years I finally woke up and realized, these people don’t love me because I am good Bible Worker, they love me because they are kindhearted loving people. They were so good they could love anybody. Even me.  Lesson learned: Just because people love you, it doesn’t mean you are good.

2. Ask people if they like to read out loud before you ask them to read a Bible verse. You would not believe how many adults can’t read well or at all. Don’t embarrass them.

3. Don’t assume people know where the books of the Bible are. You may know where to find Main Street in your hometown, but that’s because you grew up there.

4. Try to keep your Bible Studies just under an hour. Even less for kids and teens. Leave them wanting more, instead of just wanting you to leave. If they keep asking questions, that’s fine. You can stay longer.

5. Don’t send people on a guilt trip for missing or cancelling a Bible study. When they call and say “we are just too tired” tell them to get plenty of rest, have a good week and you will see them next week.

6. Be flexible. I am a Bible Worker. That means I teach the Bible and encourage my Bible students to search the Scriptures and do their lessons. At the same time I have learned that I also have to be prepared to not give a Bible study. A while back I was studying with a lady who would meet me after work and talk about her work problems, before I would finally stop her and begin the study. One week we met and I decided I was just going to listen and not say a word until she quit talking. About an hour later she stopped talking. I had a prayer and she went home happy. Another time I was studying with a married couple who had toddlers and a lot of stress. After several weeks of studies, I told them the next week when I came by, instead of having a Bible Study I would be taking them out to eat at the local Mexican Restaurant, nothing fancy. They got grandma to babysit and when I picked them up they were all dressed up like we were going someplace ritzy. I don’t know how long it had been since they had a night out, but it turned out to mean more to them than I imagined.

7. Ask your Bible students to do three or four lessons a week, so maybe they will do at least one.

8. Be very punctual and dependable with your appointments, but if you have an appointment tonight with someone who has already stood you up three times in a row, and someone else calls and says they have free tickets to tonight’s game, go to the game. Odds are your appointment was going to fall through anyway. Nothing I hate more than turning down an invite so I can keep an appointment with someone who is going to stand me up. Of course don’t stand them up. Call and reschedule.

9. In the past, a new Bible study student would call and talk my ear off while my dinner grew cold, about his theory of UFOs and Martian invasions. I don’t let that happen anymore. I finally realize the difference between people God has put in my path, and people Satan has put in my path just to distract me from the people God has put in my path.

10. If a woman calls you at 12:30 in the morning, and says, “I would not have called this late, but I just drove by your place, and saw your lights on,” be sure you keep your distance from this woman.

11. Don’t take money from a woman who takes you out to eat, and then tries to slip you $100.00 for gas for your car and ministry. Believe me.  It’s not really for gas or your ministry. I found that out when she called me at 12:30 in the morning when she “just happened to be passing by my place.”  Dodged that bullet. Thank you Jesus!

12. I know you are not going to believe me, but I am going to tell you anyway because it’s the truth. Whenever someone mails in a Bible Study request card, do not call them! Just show up at their house. You will never get an initial Bible study appointment from calling them first. Never. I have been doing this 20 years and I swear it never works! You can call and ask if they want Bible studies, and then just tell them you will drop them by sometime, but if you try to set up an initial visit over the phone it will never work! Never! Let me guess, you are still going to call aren’t you? Okay, don’t be surprised if 20 years later it has never worked.

13. When you get a request for Bible studies 100 miles away, just mail the request to a church in that area. However, if they are 15 miles or so away, go see them yourself, even if it is just outside your area. Don’t mail the card to the church in that area. I hate to say it, but odds are nothing is going to happen with it. Do it yourself so you know it’s been done. If the people are interested and you get a study going, and decide it’s too far away for you to drive, invite someone from that church in the actual area to come with you a couple times, and then they take over the study.

14. Don’t let people send you on guilt trips for not doing tasks they should be doing. You don’t have to do everything that the church needs done. I bet other people go to your church besides just you, so why are you doing all the work? Because no one else will do it? That doesn’t make it your problem. You are not the Savior of the world, so don’t let people lay that responsibility on you.

15. Jesus is your pastor. The first thing I noticed working in a three church district was, I was always where the Lead pastor was not. I felt like I did not have a pastor, until an elderly mentor pointed out to me that psalms 23:1 says the Lord is my pastor. (Shepherd in English, Pastor in Spanish. Same thing.) When Samuel died in the middle of David’s crisis with Saul, David wondered who was going to help him now. In psalms 121 he declared God would be His helper.

16. Write down where you preach each sermon. It’s so embarrassing to preach the same sermon twice in the same church.

17. Be leery of the church member who keeps boasting all the time about being vegan. Like the car salesman who keeps talking about the nice stereo, hoping you will like the stereo so much, that you won’t notice the car has no tires, so the member boasting about their diet is hoping to divert your attention so you won’t notice their porn addiction.

18. Don’t waste so much time trying to make other people interested in the Bible, that you neglect the people who already are interested.

19. Whenever you enter a home, unless you are sure the entire family knows you are there, try to sit with your back to the hallway. Just trust me on this.

20. A good night’s sleep will solve most of your problems. A lot of the things that worry you are not even worth worrying about. They are just little distractions trying to get your mind off the big picture and greater purpose of your ministry. Instead of obsessing over things, keep busy and play a little golf to keep things balanced. The more balanced your routine the less you will find yourself obsessing over things.

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“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” John 10:14, NIV

The Bible was written at a time when society was primarily agrarian. Prophets spoke in terms the people could relate to. Images of farm and field were easily understood, because these were snapshots of daily life. The seasons of the year revolved around planting and the gestation cycles of livestock, and daily activities often focused on the feeding and care of animals. The shepherd played a vital role in those activities. Sheep left to themselves face all manner of dangers. They face predation and more passive, natural hazards, like swift flowing streams and toxic plants. They might even simply wander off and become separated from the flock. The shepherd needed to keep a keen eye for all of these dangers.

A poor shepherd might become irritated with the sheep and their propensity to get into trouble. He might even feel the need to punish the sheep he felt were errant. The sheep would sense his hostility and might follow him out of fear but would probably not be drawn to such a person. The sheep would fear him, and his job would be harder because instead of following his guidance, they would be afraid and watching for his rod. He could never earn their trust by making sure they got the punishment they deserved. He could only earn their outward obedience, but not their hearts.

A good shepherd will have empathy and compassion for the sheep. Instead of being bothered by the constant needs of the sheep, he would anticipate those needs and make sure they are met. He might even try to think like a sheep in order to better understand why they do what they do. When faced with predators, he would protect the flock as he would his family. Each loss would be more than just a financial tally. It would be a heart wound, as he would know each sheep by name and would remember them as distinct individuals and not simply a homogenous flock. The good shepherd would make sure they got the best food and water, just as he would desire for his own needs. If a sheep became injured, he would not see it as the next candidate for the cooking pot, but would instead tenderly nurse it back to health. It may be easy to see why Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd.¹ His care for us easily exceeds that standard.

Perhaps we could better understand the level of his compassion if we consider whether even a good shepherd would continue to care for and nurture the sheep if they were continually trying to kill him. Yet this is what Jesus did and continues to do. Under those circumstances, we might find it easy to understand the poor shepherd in his desire to punish the sheep for their behavior. Our natural desire might be to exact vengeance against such hostile sheep. This somehow seems right to us, even biblical,² and maybe that is why we so often portray God in this way. Maybe we want a God who is just like us. But Jesus revealed that this God we have created in our image is not how God really is. He made it clear that instead of creating God in our image, we should reflect His.³

Many in Christendom look forward with hope to the Parousia. Like sheep who long for their faithful shepherd, we look forward to His arrival to lead us to green pastures and still waters.⁴ And like sheep we also seem helpless to improve our lot now. But should we be? If God gives us His Spirit⁵ and that Spirit gives us compassion and love toward others⁶ is that not a beachhead for the Second Coming? Is His presence not already manifested through the Holy Spirit and that Spirit’s machinations in our hearts?

In World War II when General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines, the message quickly spread that He had returned. The return had been promised when he left and that promise was continually reasserted by message while he waited in Australia for the right moment. When he did return, the war did not end right away, and the Philippines were not declared liberated for another eight months, in May of 1945.⁷ Before he returned, the Filipinos themselves resisted Japanese occupation and did what they could to assist with keeping communications open between MacArthur in Australia and those still resisting.⁸ In a sense they were the embodiment of the expected return in the anticipation of the reality. For those fighting in the jungles of Luzon and elsewhere, they lived that reality. Their commitment to it and their willingness to die for that commitment may have been no less than the commitment Jesus demonstrated on the cross. Their sacrifice is diminished only in the respect that while they died to benefit the good, patriotic people who they felt would follow them, Jesus died to benefit His enemies.⁹ In so doing, some of those enemies came to also look forward to the Parousia.

The re-characterization of God manifest in the life of Jesus, not only redefined the relationship between God and man, through this beachhead the Kingdom of God burst into our world. This was no external kingdom, but a kingdom of the heart.¹⁰ There is no lasting external, physical change without first there being a change of the heart. As mankind misunderstood God’s character, so they also misunderstood the nature of the kingdom. Looking for outward signs that conformed to utopian ideals they had regarding the Kingdom of God and the Messiah, they were unable to discern the blossoming of the Spirit in people’s hearts as the subjects of the kingdom were made manifest. Instead of rejoicing at the presence and the power of this spiritual kingdom, they bristled at the threat it posed to their misconceptions. Truth was shining a light into their darkened hearts and what was discovered there frightened them. They determined it was better to extinguish that light and keep things hidden.

Little has changed since that time. Light and dark continue to be in opposition. Wherever there is obfuscation and hidden agendas, we can be sure there is also darkness. The Kingdom of God is all light. There is nothing about the Spirit that needs to be hidden away or kept secret. We might be tempted to think that most would want to walk in that light where truth rules and lies have no place, but sadly, such is not the case. The Bible tells us that mankind for the most part actually could not recognize the Light and chose not to receive it.¹¹ Nonetheless, a few did turn toward that Light. They responded to the Spirit and became citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and as the Light dawned in their hearts, they in turn became lights revealing the true character of God and His kingdom. As the image of God’s character multiplied, the kingdom grew and spread over the face of the earth.

Just as MacArthur’s return to the Philippines was mostly seen in the person of those under his command, so Jesus return is most evident in the person of the citizens of His kingdom. If his followers truly are alight with His compassion and love, then His coming is very real as well. In the comfort delivered to every sorrowing soul who has lost a loved one, the Parousia is revealed. For every hungry child that finally receives enough to eat, the Parousia is revealed. For every homeless vagrant who finds shelter and warmth, Jesus has truly come.

When Jesus and his disciples came preaching the Kingdom of God, they did not intend that we should ignore the needs around us and simply hunker down and wait for some future deliverance. We have no right to toss away this earth that we have been given, because we know He will give us another. Perhaps a danger in doing that is that we will cease to care about people as well. The Kingdom of God is not some type of private club where certain ones have a key to the door and “Oh, well, too bad,” about the rest. We also are not expected to guard the door to keep the riff raff out but rather to open the door so that all may enter. It is for the Master of the feast to determine who belongs, not us.¹² Our work is simply to take the light out into the world, into the streets and gather in all the people we can find, both the bad and the good.¹³ As can be seen, there is no need for us to be discerning judges when it does not matter whether those we call into the kingdom are good or bad.

Are we troubled by a kingdom that allows “that sort” into its ranks? If we feel that way, is it possible that we ourselves are “that sort?” We might do well to review the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector.¹⁴

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An oft-recurring theme with the Minor Prophets and echoed again with Zechariah is the plight of the oppressed. Strangely, it is not the foreigners that Zechariah is accusing of this crime. It is God’s chosen people, the Jews. Today’s parallel might be the Christian church. If it is, we must ask ourselves if we are failing to show mercy and compassion. Do we show proper care for the widow, the orphan, the foreigner and the poor? Or are we more likely to feel threatened by them. Do we suppress feelings of compassion because we worry that their lifestyle choices might compromise our faith or that of our families? Does schadenfreude cause us to feel that their mistakes in judgment have brought about their current circumstances, and we should not interfere with the working of their “karma?”

Is it possible for a Christian to have responses like these to the suffering around them? Perhaps to understand the answer to that, we must understand what a Christian is. There are many organizations and individuals who call themselves Christian. They put the name of Christ on their buildings and sport Christian symbols on their persons and vehicles. They listen to Christian music and read Christian novels. The Christian jargon rolls from their lips with a natural grace that bears witness to their relationship to Jesus. Or does it?

In spite of the outward appearance of such affectations, the life tells the story. This was reflected in the popular phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” If we apply that we can ask ourselves some pretty clear questions about what it means to be a Christian. For instance, would Jesus be more likely to shell out fifty dollars for a ticket to a Michael W. Smith concert, or contribute that same amount to a clinic providing medical care to the homeless? Would Jesus spend thousands of dollars to jet one person to a foreign country to help build a church building for the native people who may be too poor to even have the means to maintain the building, or would He contribute those thousands to hire ministers who are native to that country and will spread the gospel more effectively? In addition, they will be able to feed and educate their families while they do so. A church with Jesus’ name on it may be an impressive memorial in a country with few such buildings, but it does little to fill the empty bellies of the children of that country.

Why do we so often identify Christianity with things, like buildings, instead of with people’s needs? This causes us to come across like a plutocrat who gives a Rolls Royce to a shoeless man he sees walking down the street. Even if he includes a full tank of gas, eventually the poor man will be doing his shoeless shuffle down the dusty street again, because the gas will run out, and he does not have the means to buy more. Instead of things that do not help, Jesus gave people hope and a future.¹

When a person receives an education, he has hope for the future, and when he has a job that can sustain him and his family, he can work to realize those dreams. Instead of working to make that possible, our efforts to “spread the gospel” can become little more than thinly veiled neo-colonialism. Too easily we in the West forget that our blessings are the result of our good fortune to be born where we were. We take for granted that we can go to school and one day pursue a career that will allow us a higher living standard than most of the rest of the world. However, Eighty percent of the world’s population lives on less than $10.00 per day.² They are not so fortunate, due to their accident of birth.

Such low incomes cannot sustain the style of living enjoyed by Western Christians. Is it reasonable then to expect them to be able to maintain Western sponsored structures and institutions once the money stops flowing? Yet we continue with this colonial approach to evangelism.

No doubt, some of those who are working in this way are sincere in their desire to introduce the poor natives to Jesus, and the baptisms can be plentiful. But are the native converts attracted to Jesus as much as to the obvious wealth of someone who can fly across the globe with expensive technology in tow. Many of these natives have lived their whole lives in one tiny village, with walking or a small bike or moped as their primary means of transportation. Then someone shows up in their village speaking a strange language and wearing clothes that are nicer than anything they have been able to afford. They talk of places the natives have never been and have not even heard of. A whole new world of possibilities has opened up. They are drawn to this friendly person and the Western world they represent. Then the missionary tells them that he loves Jesus, and they should, too. Putting two and two together based on their primitive understanding of religion, the natives may associate the wealth of the visitor with the power of his or her God. They naturally want to belong to such a powerful god that can send people half way around the world in a jet airplane. What is collecting coconuts from a tree and living in a grass hut compared to that?

Perhaps this is why Jesus was not born in a king’s palace and had nowhere to lay His head.³ This is not to say that people were not drawn to Him for the wrong reasons. They even wanted to make Him king when he miraculously fed thousands from a few loaves of bread and some fish.⁴ His experience shows that even when we are merely relieving suffering, we may be misunderstood. However, even those who misunderstood Him did not go away with empty stomachs. Even after His resurrection, he was ever thoughtful of others material needs. Calling to his disciples, who had been fishing all night, He prepared breakfast so they could visit together without hunger.⁵

If we define being a Christian in terms of being Christ like, maybe we will find ourselves more in line with the Savior who ministered to people’s needs as opposed to racking up baptism statistics.⁶  If people’s needs are met from love rather than to simply get them into the water for baptism, they will be drawn to that love more than to the material blessings provided.  As one author wrote, “If we follow Christ’s example in doing good, hearts will open to us as they did to Him.”⁷

What does it accomplish if a person comes to a nice church once a week, but his Christian brothers and sisters allow him to spend the other six days in a hovel with not enough to eat and rags to wear? Have we shown mercy and compassion to such a one? Some might say it is impossible to make a difference for the entire world, but if we can make a difference for one, the world is still a better place for it.

We do not even need to travel to other countries to make a difference. We have opportunities to show compassion wherever we live. There are people who attend our churches each week and the only human touch they have all week is the greeter’s handshake when they come to church. Sadly, some churches do not even have greeters, but even if they do, is it enough, or would Jesus go to their homes and share his healing compassionate touch where they live?

For others, the occasional potluck meal at church is the only regular meal they receive because they do not have the means to have such a meal at home. Would Jesus seek these people out and make sure they were eating properly? Or would He grumble about the amount they were eating at potluck?

Others may show up every week for church in a suit or a dress so we assume they are doing fine. We overlook that the suit or dress is the same one they have worn for fifteen to twenty years. Would Jesus make comments about their clothing being out of style or threadbare?  Or would He tactfully share with them without shaming them so they could be better clothed?

Jesus modeled compassion that came from the heart. Without that compassion, we are little different from the ancient Jews whose lack of love for one another destroyed their country and sent them into exile. Can we afford to follow the same path they did? Perhaps it is not too late to change. _____________________________________________________

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Daytona Beach sunrise.

In the late fall of 2006 I bought a brand new car. A few days later, or nights actually, I lay in my bed wide awake. I glanced at the clock as it read 4 AM. Then the idea hit me. If I jump in my brand-new car right now, I can travel across Florida to the east coast in time to watch the sun rise. I had seen several sunsets on the west coast where I live, so wouldn’t it be novel to say I have seen the sun rise on one coast and then watch it set on the other?

Ah the joys of bachelor life! Moments later I was in my car headed down I-4 towards Daytona Beach. For my devotional and prayer time I popped a CD of the book of Revelation in my brand new car’s CD player. It was 2006 and finally I had a car that played CDs. So there I was in the middle of Florida in the middle of the night,  listening to the letters to the seven churches. Finally John got to the letter to Laodicea. Jesus had nothing good at all to say about this last day church. He started out with compliments to all the other churches, and then would gradually work around to a few things they could work on. However when He got to the last day church there were no compliments to be handed out. Jesus quickly got to the crux of His message when He said,

“And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Revelation 3:17 NLT

Not exactly a “way to go!” good ole boy pat on the back. Maybe Jesus was not passing out any compliments to this church because it had already become delusional by complimenting itself over nothing?

I remember playing on a soccer team in an intramural league at Southern Adventist University. I loved soccer and this was the first time I got to play in an organized league. For years I had watched professionals put the ball in the back of the net and then heard the crowd go wild with excitement. My dream was to do the same. In my first game, we were down 5-0 and finally that moment came. I put the ball in the back of the net, and I was ready to celebrate! My celebration quickly ended when the team captain reminded me that we were still down 4 goals and I needed to get my head back in the game and stop celebrating!

Could Jesus’ message be just that? Could He be telling us, it’s not time celebrate just yet? We still have more victories to gain, and we need to keep our head in the game? (I understand this is real life and not a game at all!)

Just because we may consider ourselves the remnant church, it in no way means we have arrived or are perfect in any way. Remnant simply means “like the original.” The original church was never perfect. As Seventh-day Adventists we pride ourselves that we are the remnant church coming out of the dark ages of the Roman church. Wait a minute! While the Romans crucified Jesus, they only did it at the insistence and demands of God’s commandment-keeping people! Just because they were God’s people and had the truth did not mean they were perfect or had arrived, and much less should be patting each other on the back like good ole boys!

But I digress. So there I was gliding down the highway in my brand new car listening to Jesus telling His church how wretched they were, when suddenly He surprised me! In Revelation 3:21 NLT just after telling the church how wretched it was, He said,

Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.”

There in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere I began to grasp what was going on. Jesus was not kicking this self-righteous wretched group of people to the curb! He totally intends for this self-righteous, miserable, poor blind and spiritually naked people to be victorious just as He was victorious over sin! Jesus is not giving up! There is hope! More than giving us hope, while Jesus is telling us our current condition He is also telling us what He intends for the end result to be. Victory! And not just any victory but the same victory He experienced.

As a man He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity. Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world. His experience is to be ours.  –Ellen White, Desire of Ages, Page 363 (Emphasis mine.)

While Jesus asked every church to overcome and be victorious, He asks the last day church, the one experiencing the cleansing of the sanctuary and investigative judgment, to do something He asked of no other church, to be victorious just as He was victorious. Jesus knew the church could never accomplish this in its legalistic state, so He tells the church:

I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. Revelation 3:19 NLT

Why is Jesus telling us to buy white garments when salvation is free? Jesus must be talking about the bartering system. If we trade in our filthy self-righteous robes and delusional pride, He will give us in return His white garments. If we stop trying to win over sin in our own power and for our own pride and glory, He will let us overcome in His own power and for His own glory!

There in the car I realized that the same Jesus who told us how miserable we are is also telling us what we can become and will become according to His plan.

I have been studying with a large family here in Florida for several years. When we first began studying together, the youngest was about six, and she had a children’s picture Bible, as she could not read yet. When we would look up verses, of course, all she had was pictures, but we would help her find the right picture and humor her by telling her that was the correct “verse.” Well that was several years ago, and I had pretty much forgotten about those days. That is until a few weeks ago, while we were studying, she volunteered to read a verse, which was nothing new to her now, but as she was reading a particular passage as fluently as anyone, she seemed to bring alive the rich poetic beauty  of the classical King James Version. As she finished reading, my mind flashed back for a moment to the days when she brought her picture Bible to the studies because she could not read. Those days are long gone! So far gone I had almost completely forgotten about them.

Whatever your condition is now it does not always have to be that way. Just as Jesus changed my young friend’s reading experience, Jesus is ready to change your spiritual experience and give you the same victorious experience He has!

There are those who have known the pardoning love of Christ and who really desire to be children of God, yet they realize that their character is imperfect, their life faulty, and they are ready to doubt whether their hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit. To such I would say, Do not draw back in despair. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes, but we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken and rejected of God. No; Christ is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Said the beloved John, “These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1. And do not forget the words of Christ, “The Father Himself loveth you.” John 16:27. He desires to restore you to Himself, to see His own purity and holiness reflected in you. And if you will but yield yourself to Him, He that hath begun a good work in you will carry it forward to the day of Jesus Christ. Pray more fervently; believe more fully. As we come to distrust our own power, let us trust the power of our Redeemer, and we shall praise Him who is the health of our countenance.  –Ellen White, Steps to Christ, Page 64.  

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If you don’t understand this cultural reference, it’s from the movie, The Karate Kid. The main character in the movie is a teenage boy, Daniel who has just moved to town and is getting bullied. In order to stop it, he wants to learn karate. He meets up with the manager of his apartment building, Mr. Miyage, who agrees to teach him. One requirement of this agreement is that Daniel must obey Mr. Miyage’s instructions, even if they don’t seem to have anything to do with learning karate. Daniel agrees, and the first thing Mr. Miyage does is hand Daniel a sponge and tells him to wash and wax his collection of classic cars. Mr. Miyago gives very specific instructions – one hand he’s to make wide circles to the right to put the wax on and with the other make wide circles to the left to take it off. He is also to breathe deeply, in through his nose and out through his mouth. Mr. Miyage watches him carefully, and when Daniel forgets the instructions, Mr. Miyage calls out to him, “Wax on – Wax off,” while making the required motions.

“In the weeks that follow, Miyagi gives Daniel further chores to complete with similar instructions on technique: sanding a walkway that leads around Miyagi’s backyard (landscaped to be a Japanese garden), staining the fence that surrounds his property and painting his house. With each new chore, Daniel’s frustration grows at the seeming lack of any karate training and Miyagi’s minimal praise of his work. One night, after finishing the painting of Miyagi’s house, Daniel expresses his frustration to his teacher. Miyagi tells Daniel to show him how he washed and polished the cars. … and orders Daniel to show him the motions he’d been using to do the chores. Daniel quickly realizes that the chores … were also practice for defensive moves, exercises to build muscle tone and build his reflexes. After a few minutes of practice, Miyagi suddenly yells and throws several punches and kicks at Daniel, all of which Daniel blocks easily.”¹

It turns out that what Daniel had been doing for all those weeks was building muscle and stamina, yes, but also creating muscle memory. You may have heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect,” but really practice just builds muscle memory. Muscle memory is what helps us be able to ride a bike, even if we haven’t been on one in years, for example, or to play the piano or type – excuse me, keyboard without looking at your hands.

Most of us count on muscle memory to be able to perform specific actions without having to think about it. I remember when we used to go ingathering (If you don’t know what that is, ask an Adventist older than 45.) Some of us would walk from door to door while some would ride in the back of a pick-up truck that drove slowly down the streets. The folks in the truck would be singing Christmas carols. I was always amazed that one of the carolers would bring along either her knitting or crocheting (I don’t remember which), and while she sang, her hands would be busy doing her needlework – in the dark! This same person could play the piano for church and carry on a conversation with someone at the same time … still boggles my mind!

Those are all the good things about doing something over and over until you don’t have to think about it any more. But there’s also a downside about not having to think about it any more. When that happens in our worship experience, we have a problem.

At the beginning of Zechariah 7, a delegation come to Jerusalem to ask the priests a question.

“Now in the fourth year of King Darius it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, when the people sent Sherezer, with Regem-Melech and his men, to the house of God, to pray before the Lord, and to ask the priests who were in the house of the Lord of hosts, and the prophets, saying, ‘Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years?’

Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, ‘Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?”’” Zechariah 7:1-5

During all the time they had been in exile in Babylon, God’s people had fasted in the fourth month to remember when the walls of Jerusalem had been breached, in the fifth month to remember the destruction of the temple, in the seventh month for the Day of Atonement, and in the tenth month to mourn the siege against Jerusalem. The Day of Atonement was the only fast commanded by God through Moses.

Through Zechariah, God points the delegation to the purpose of their fasting. Were they just going through the motions? Were they thinking about the things the fasting was to commemorate? Or was it just one more thing to check off their To Do lists?

“According to the [New York] Times, people are paying as much as $3,484 a week to visit health spas where they go without food. One spa in Desert Hot Springs, California, is booked through October with a clientele that includes celebrities Ben Affleck and Courtney Love. Fashion designers and mortgage brokers have joined the fasting trend. Instead of stuffing themselves with steak and lobster, they subsist on apple-celery cocktails, herbal teas, laxatives, bee pollen, blended soups, and water mixed with squeezed lemons, Celtic Sea salt, and honey.

“… Fasters claim that a 4- to 30-day regimen not only helps them lose weight but has spiritual benefits, as well. ‘It used to be that people who came in to fast talked about weight loss,’ said Stephanie Paradise, owner of the New Age Health Spa in Neversink, N.Y. Now, she says, it’s about ‘detoxing the mind, body and spirit.’

“Not all of the fasters are doing it for spiritual reasons, however. Natalia Rose, a nutritional consultant, appeals to their vanity. She organizes four-day fasting weekends for women that include motivational trips to a fashionable department store, to ‘remind them what it’s all for.’”²

For the Jews, fasting wasn’t the point – remembering how God had led and taken care of them was.

Going to church every week, in and of itself, isn’t the point. Especially not if we’re just going through the motions or if we’re just going to see our friends and have social time.

Turning off the TV on Sabbath doesn’t make God happy if we sleep the day away or spend that time anxiously waiting for sundown so we can do what we really want to do.

Calling ourselves Christians doesn’t make God happy, especially if we’ve become just “cultural Christians,” who look and act like Christians, but have no real relationship with Jesus Christ. Cultural Christians are just going through the motions because that’s what their parents and friends do.

We need to make our relationship with Jesus a daily conscious choice and stop just going through the motions.

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To me, the biggest lie out of the Dark Ages is not that Sabbath was changed to Sunday, or that when you die you go straight to heaven. To me, no lie distorts the character of my loving heavenly father like the lie that sinners will be tormented throughout the endless ages of eternity. Fact is:

It is no arbitrary decree on the part of God that excludes the wicked from heaven; they are shut out by their own unfitness for its companionship. The glory of God would be to them a consuming fire. They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them.  –Ellen White, Steps to Christ, page 17

Did you ever notice that Jesus did not tell the demons He could not be around them? The demons told Jesus they could not around Him! (For example, see Matthew 8:29.) So to the unconverted heart, the glory of God is hell, while to the converted heart God’s glory is paradise!

When the fire in Revelation 20:9 comes down out of heaven and consumes the wicked, that fire is the actual presence of God. God’s presence will be hell to those who hate Him, while it will be paradise to those who love Him. I believe this is why the Bible refers to an eternal fire. God is the eternal fire. But God’s love is not going to torture the wicked throughout eternity. God’s love will burn for eternity, but it will put sinners out of their misery instead of torturing them for eternity.

A skewed understanding of hell skews our understanding of God’s love and character, which is exactly what Satan wants. To properly understand the punishment of the wicked, like all other Bible teachings, we must look at it in the light of the cross. Please allow me to share a lesson from my series of In Light of the Cross Bible Study Guides:

The Punishment of the Wicked

Overview

The wicked will be destroyed by fire. The punishment will be everlasting, but the punishing will not. The wicked will die instead of being tormented for all eternity. See John 3:16, Romans 6:23, Obadiah 1:16, Matthew 10:28, Ezekiel 18:4, 20.

Importance of knowing the truth about the punishment of the wicked

The teaching of people being tortured throughout all eternity is the most satanic false doctrine of all! It totally misrepresents the love and character of God, making it impossible to love and know Him the way He loves and knows us.

Many churches use hell and fear as a motivation for doing good because they do not properly understand the love motivation. They do not understand the depths of Christ’s sacrifice in dying the second death. They seem to understand the cross to be a mere pain endurance marathon instead of seeing a Savior who was actually willing to say good-bye to life and heaven forever in order to save the world.

When the early church saw the depths of Jesus’ love and sacrifice it turned the whole world upside down! It changed everything. God’s love constrained, empowered and motivated the believers. And this love is the only motivation that will actually succeed today in transforming people. In Galatians 6, Paul writes of a faith that works by love, not a fear of punishment. In John 14, Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments,” not “if you don’t want to go to hell you better keep my commandments.” Followers of Jesus must uplift the cross and the truth about the cross at all times.

I have a friend who is involved in a prison ministry that visits a juvenile detention center. He told me that they had recently shared the truth about hell with the young men there and that the chaplain at the jail got very upset with him for letting the young men know that the punishment of the wicked is not an eternity spent in hell but rather death just like the Bible says in John 3:16 and Romans 6:23. The chaplain did not want the offenders to know the truth about the punishment of the wicked because he wanted the fear of being tormented for all eternity to motivate them to behave.

Young men in juvenile centers and people everywhere else need to know that there is a God who did way more than suffer for six hours on a cross. He faced the second death for them. He loved them more than He loved his own life. He loved them so much that when tempted to come down from the cross and go back to heaven He chose to die instead. Jesus stayed on that cross for the young men in the juvenile detention center because the thought of heaven without them was hell to Jesus!

When the love motivation receives its proper emphasis, it will accomplish so much more than fear motivation. Some people quote John 3:16 while preaching of an eternal torment of sinners, but that verse clearly says those who do not believe will perish instead of being tortured throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity.

Further study on the punishment of the wicked

What is the opposite of eternal life?

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 NLT

Those who don’t believe perish. They are not tortured for all eternity.

God did not kick Eve out of paradise just because she took a piece of fruit she was told not to. The serpent told lies about God’s love and interest in Eve’s welfare, that Eve and all mankind bought into. When Eve stopped believing in God’s love she stopped believing in her only Source of life. At the cross Jesus died for our sin of unbelief, and when we believe again in His love, we gain back the life we lost when stopped believing in His love. This is the message of john 3:16.

What is the wages of sin?

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23 NLT

Note that the wages of sin is not eternal torment in hell.

What becomes of the soul or person that sins?

For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die. Ezekiel 18:4 NLT

KJV says soul, NLT says person. Both the KJV and NLT make it clear that the entire soul or person dies in hell and will not be tormented throughout eternity.

How long does the devil have?

Therefore, rejoice, O heavens!
And you who live in the heavens, rejoice!
But terror will come on the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you in great anger,
knowing that he has little time.” Revelation 12:12 NLT

The devil does not have eternity in hell or anywhere else. He has but a little time left to exist.

What will happen to the devil or Satan?

You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade.

So I brought fire out from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. All who knew you are appalled at your fate.You have come to a terrible end, and you will exist no more.” Ezekiel 28:18-19 NLT

Satan, like all sinners, will be annihilated and exist no more.

What happens to both body and soul in hell?

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 NLT

Neither soul nor body are tortured throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity. Both are destroyed.

What is the final end of the wicked?

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, “The day of judgment is coming, burning like a furnace. On that day the arrogant and the wicked will be burned up like straw. They will be consumed—roots, branches, and all.

“But for you who fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings. And you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture. On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Malachi 4:1-3 NLT

There will be nothing left of the wicked – nothing but ashes.

 What does the lake of fire stand for?

Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. Revelation 20:14 NLT

What is God’s promise?

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”Revelation 21:3- 4 NLT

Sinners cannot be eternally tormented in light of the promise that there will be no more pain. The promise is unconditional.

Can we trust that promise?

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”  Revelation 21:5 NLT

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While that sounds like a really great idea, in actual practice what has happened is that people who work with children (guilty) have promoted self-esteem based on pretty much nothing – in sports, everybody gets a trophy, just for showing up; in the classroom, teachers aren’t to use red pens to grade papers because that might cause a student to feel bad, etc.

Over the years, we’ve found that this artificial significance has often harmed rather than helped students because in the real world there are people who win and people who lose, and there are right answers and wrong answers. And when faced with those realities, many who have grown up during the self-esteem experiment find the world an extremely harsh place and become frustrated and disillusioned.

On the other hand, students of generations before the self-esteem movement were taught that their significance lay completely in their abilities and achievements – getting good grades, going to the right schools, or getting the best jobs. Many of these folks also ended up frustrated and disillusioned.

Leonard Woolf, an author, publisher and literary editor, said in an article in Wireless Age,

“I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. The world today and the history of the human anthill during the past five to seven years would be exactly the same if I had played Ping-Pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to make a rather ignominious confession that I have in a long life ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.”¹

So where does our significance, our worth come from? Society, as a whole, continues to struggle with that question. I think I might know at least a small part of the answer. I believe that when the theory of evolution became the primary explanation for our existence, there was no longer any particular reason for humans to be on this planet and so we had to start manufacturing grounds for significance. If we are just one more species of animal, why are we here, as opposed to any other species? Yet no other animal seems to feel the need of a purpose the way humans do.

On the other hand, if we were specifically created to be companions of God, then our search for significance is over! Manyh of us may have seen the movie, Toy Story. Pretty early in the movie, Buzz Lightyear, a toy astronaut, is convinced that he’s a real astronaut and space hero. Meanwhile, Woody, a toy cowboy, tries to convince him that he’s just a toy.

Buzz, trying to prove that he’s real, tries to fly. When he fails he dejectedly admits that he’s “just a stupid, little, insignificant toy.”

In an effort to cheer Buzz up, Woody says, “Look, over in that house, there’s a kid who thinks you’re the greatest, and it’s not because you’re a space ranger; it’s because you’re his.”

If our significance is based on who we are rather than whose we are, we will probably have, at some point, a crisis as to our place and purpose in this world. Mark Hall of the Christian group, Casting Crowns, has written a song called, “Who Am I,” that talks about where we can find our significance.

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name
Would care to feel my hurt
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wandering heart

Refrain
Not because of who I am
But because of what You’ve done
Not because of what I’ve done
But because of who You are
I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
Vapor in the wind
Still You hear me when I’m calling
Lord, You catch me when I’m falling
And You’ve told me who I am
I am Yours, I am Yours

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin
Would look on me with love and watch me rise again
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me

I am Yours
Whom shall I fear
Whom shall I fear
‘Cause I am Yours
I am Yours²

“Though you are one of the teeming millions in this world, and though the world would have you believe that you do not count and that you are but a speck in the mass, God says, ‘I know you.’”³

Isn’t that amazing? God knows me. God knows each of us, individually and personally. He knows our wants, our heartbreaks, what makes us laugh … He made each of us to fill a specific place in His kingdom, and if we’re not there, He will miss us.

We don’t need to struggle with our self-esteem, our purpose in life, or our significance in the grand scheme of things. We just need to remember that we are God’s children, His treasures. He wants to spend eternity with each and every one of us.

“For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life. For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.” John 3:16-17 AMP

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“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” Haggai 1:4, NIV

Very old ruins have held a romantic fascination for me. When I walk beside the ruined walls, I wonder what stories could they tell of lives lived long ago. What hopes and dreams did the people who built them have? What tragedies might they have witnessed? Were the lives of those ancient folk mundane with routine and boredom? Or was life a daily struggle simply to survive? Does the beauty of the ruin tell us anything of the beauty of their lives?

Today we pass on such things in books, pictures and media recordings. Very little of that existed in ancient times. Even today, in some parts of the world, these things are not common. However, we still try to piece together a story from what little there is to guide us, so we look at the ruins and try to imagine the lives that were lived in these places. In those places where we do have some written guide for our contemplation, we are grateful for the color it brings to our understanding. In the case of the temple of Jerusalem and the surrounding city, we have much written of its fall and destruction as well as its rebuilding. From those writings, we have not just a log of what took place, but also perspectives on the reasons why the temple became a ruin.

Several of the biblical prophets have addressed reasons such as injustice, oppression, idolatry, greed, and intolerance. However, Haggai cuts straight to the chase. From his perspective, the primary problem is selfishness. Each is taking care of his or her needs without regards to anything else.

Perhaps this is understandable even if it is not excusable. Those who passed through the Great Depression of the 1930s became a generation of scrimpers and savers. They learned to place a higher value on even simple things like bits of string or used rubber bands. In today’s throw-away society where we find it more economical to throw away even items costing hundreds of dollars rather than repair them, we may find it strange that someone would save rubber bands from the grocery store produce or paper and string from packages, but these things were hard to come buy at times during the depression because there was little cash to buy them. What cash there was would better be spent for food and shelter.

During the depression those who had it slightly better would sometimes ill-treat those who had nothing for fear that they might take what little they had from them. This was illustrated by John Steinbeck in his novel “The Grapes of Wrath” when he described how the “Okies” were treated when they attempted to relocate to California. Even though times may be better now, we still struggle with this fear when confronted by another’s need. Too often, just as the Californians in Steinbeck’s book, we defray our responsibility to our fellow man by questioning their worthiness to receive help. They may be commies, socialists, alcoholics, pedophiles, homosexuals, or any number of literally dozens of categories we place people in to justify not helping with their need.

In the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus puts forth the claim that what we do to these we do to Him.¹ Of course, no one sees himself or herself as being among the goats. We all tell ourselves that we are the “remnant church” of Revelation.² As such a church, we certainly would recognize Jesus and minister to Him. But would we?

The remnant church is often understood to be the remaining church when the Parousia takes place. Are the members of that church typified with generosity and self-sacrifice, or does the Bible give us a different picture. Some have held that the seven churches of Revelation represent different periods in the history of the Christian church.³ If this is so, then the seventh and final church, Laodicea, would probably be synonymous with the remnant church. So if one would expect to see generosity and self-sacrifice, Laodicea should exemplify it. Instead we find a different picture.

We find a wealthy church which is indifferent to its own spiritual condition.⁴Their wealth has blinded them to their needs. Perhaps, it has also blinded them to the needs of those around them and even to Jesus’ desire to enter into their lives.⁵ The paradox is that the same Jesus, who would vomit at the indifference of these individuals,⁶ nonetheless continues to reach out to them in love and compassion as He goes on requesting they invite Him into their lives.

In Haggai’s day, he also contrasted the desire to accumulate wealth and prosperity with neglect of God. As our verse above refers to, people were living in beautiful houses but neglecting to provide the same for the house of God. As a result, even the security they were stockpiling for themselves and their families was threatened. The returns on their work and investments fell short. Perhaps as they realized diminishing returns they were finding themselves on a treadmill. They would work hard to accumulate a secure future, but the returns were not as much as they expected, so they worked harder to make up the difference. They were always running but never arriving. As a consequence, God’s people can become so frantically busy that they no longer even find the time to consider the needs of others, the needs of the church included.

We are very familiar with that treadmill, today. We see churches in various states of disrepair or unable to easily move forward with appropriate improvements to the church plant due to lack of sufficient funds. Paradoxically, the offering basket may be filled with one dollar bills and small change, while outside the parking lot is filled with vehicles costing tens of thousands of dollars that have come from homes costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why is this so?

Perhaps we have come to believe that ultimate security lies in what we can accumulate as opposed to what God provides. This is reinforced by the advertising media in countless ways. If you do not have this expensive item, you are neglecting your children, your spouse, or even worse, yourself. Madison Avenue has a gift for turning indulgences into necessities. In order to have those “necessities,” easy credit expands our purchasing power to reach out and fill the “needs.” Sadly, once we have filled the needs with that easy credit, we are introduced to a whole new level of needs. Like sheep, we are driven by advertisers to seek more credit so we can arrive at these new, greener elysian fields of perfect living.

The longer we remain on this treadmill, the greater the chance that our ever-expanding borrowing will jeopardize even the fundamental needs for security that we first attempted to cover. Unfortunately, it also restricts our ability to provide for the necessity of advancing the work of the Lord as well. Perhaps the few dollars collected at church are so few because so many are going to service the debt we accumulate as we trust in what we can accumulate instead of what God provides for our security. Once ensnared in these spidery webs of debt and interest, it can be very hard to break free.

Some might say that the more they have, the more they can do for the Lord. This can be true if what they have is given them as a blessing from God. It is even an expectation in that case. However, if it is the result of ever increasing debt and entrapment, God has never endorsed such a plan for furthering His work. Search as we might, we will never find one word of scripture where we are told it is necessary to go into debt to carry forward God’s work. Instead, we are told that God will take care of our needs.⁷ This extends even to our work for Him. As one author has put it, “All His biddings are enablings.”⁸

Perhaps we should understand the importance of our example in this area. When we place our trust in easy credit to provide for our needs, others may think that we have what we do because we are blessed by God. When they try to accumulate a similar standard of living, not knowing the trap we have fallen into, they may also be led into the same snare and become lost to the needs of the gospel as well. Our example is the greatest witness we have. Whom does our lifestyle say we are depending on? Who will others end up depending on if they emulate us?

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When I was in sales, I led my district one year, but also went through a three-week drought with no sales at all. So what was my reality? Was I a good salesman who had a bad drought, or was I a bad salesman who just happened to get lucky?

Since the dynamics of a family are so different between first born, middle and youngest child, and, taking into account the gender difference, two siblings can grow up in the same family, but since their perceptions are different, it is like growing up in different families! Each child perceives and experiences the family differently to the extent that as far as perception goes, it’s not even the same family. You and I can watch the same football game, but if I am watching behind the goal, and you are sitting on the sideline near the center we are going to have a totally different experience and perception of the same game.

Satan well knows how perception affects our picture of reality. So he likes to play little mind games. A while back during a Bible study I mentioned that sometimes I am tempted to think that I care more about people than they care about me. My Bible student quickly responded, “Me too!” Then he paused, scratched his chin, and added, “I bet Satan tries to make everyone feel that way.” I agreed with my Bible student.

Let’s look at how Satan played mind games with the Israelites. Look at how they perceived themselves after spying out the Promised Land which had already been … well, promised to them!

All the people we saw were huge.  We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” Numbers 13:32-33 NLT.

Wait a minute? First of all, historians say the Canaanites may have been a few inches taller than the Israelites, but not so much taller as to be called giants. The grasshopper comparison was a drastic exaggeration. Furthermore, how did they know the Canaanites thought they were like grasshoppers? How would they know what they were thinking at all? They didn’t! They cast their perception on other people, and thought their perception was reality, when it was all in their minds! Satan was playing mind games with them!

Later, in Joshua 2:24 another group of Israeli spies visit Rahab in Jericho and there they found out what the reality was.

 “The Lord has given us the whole land,” they said, “for all the people in the land are terrified of us.” Joshua 2:24 NLT

So the grasshopper comparison was just a little mind game of Satan’s that the first spies bought into. It was not reality. Sure, God wants us to be humble, but that does not mean he wants us to think we are grasshoppers while everyone else is a giant. Those who walk humbly with God are a terror to those who stand in their own pride and arrogance. If you walk humbly with God you do not need to be intimidated by anyone, regardless of their title or letters behind their name.

Humble men, armed with the word of truth alone, withstood the attacks of men of learning, who, with surprise and anger, found their eloquent sophistry powerless against the simple, straightforward reasoning of men who were versed in the Scriptures rather than in the subtleties of the schools.  –Ellen White, Great Controversy, Page 455.

So it is today as in every age. The same can be said for you today, which was said of John the Baptist.

He could stand erect and fearless in the presence of earthly monarchs, because he had bowed low before the King of kings.  –Ellen White, Desire of Ages, page 103.

Wisdom and humility go beautifully together, while the common combination of arrogance and ignorance seems to be lacking in comeliness. While we do not want to be arrogant and ignorant, it is possible to be humble and confident. Our confidence should be in God and not in ourselves.

Are you facing a giant today? First humble yourself before God. Put your confidence in His love and power. Walk forward in humble faith and obedience, and your giants will turn into grasshoppers. The humble of the land can also be the confident of the land, and not cowards.

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“Shepherds say that sheep that have spent the summer in the high country and are on their way back to the shepherd’s fold anticipate their homecoming. Even though they have to go through difficult terrain and sudden storms that make them cold and wet, you can sense in the flock an excitement and enthusiasm as they come nearer and nearer to the shepherd’s fold.”¹

My first year out of college I got a job teaching at the junior academy in Indianapolis. I packed up all my worldly belongings and moved into an efficiency apartment in a tall apartment building all by myself. It was one of the loneliest years of my life! As the school year came to an end, I realized just how much I did not want to spend another year so far from my family, but I also felt like I was failing at the whole adult, living-on-my own thing. I hated to make the call to my folks to tell them that I wanted to come home. My mom had redone my bedroom so that it actually looked like a guest room and I was messing up all of her careful redecoration, not to mention not letting my parents enjoy the whole empty nest thing. Even so, as soon as I called, my mom was on a plane to Indianapolis to pack me up and move me back home. I still felt kind of guilty though – until about a month or so ago.

My older son moved to Loma Linda about a year and a half ago. Just about four months ago, we redecorated his room into a sewing room – filled his dresser with lengths of fabric, moved in my sewing machine and a table to cut patterns on, moved a couple of the things he’d left behind into the garage. Then he called and said he’d put in his two-week notice and he wanted to move back home.

I flew out to meet him, packed up his car and headed for Texas. I teased him a bit about changing my sewing room plans. My younger son suggested that I lay out a pattern on his bed, asking him not to disturb anything, and sleep on the couch, but I don’t want him to ever think that where my sewing machine sits is more important than he is.

I think sometimes when we think of going to Heaven, we think about how we will feel. But try to imagine for a minute how God will feel. He’s been separated from us since Adam and Eve sinned. We forget that God has been holding our rooms ready in Heaven all this time, just waiting for the moment when He can come to bring us Home.

“The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a Mighty One, a Savior [Who saves]! He will rejoice over you with joy; He will rest [in silent satisfaction] and in His love He will be silent and make no mention [of past sins, or even recall them]; He will exult over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 AMP

STOP! Go back and re-read that verse – try to let it sink in. Get a mental picture of God … GOD, Himself, rejoicing over you, singing with joy because of you. Can you wrap your mind around that? I’m not sure I can. It’s hard for me to imagine the enormity of God’s love for each of us, no matter what we’ve done.

I have to come back to the story of the Prodigal Son again. Remember the reaction of the father? He didn’t tell the son he could come home, but he’d better straighten up and fly right from now on. He didn’t tell the son he had to go take a bath before any of the neighbors saw him.

“Little did the … thoughtless youth, as he went out from his father’s gate, dream of the ache and longing left in that father’s heart. When he danced and feasted with his wild companions, little did he think of the shadow that had fallen on his home. And now as with weary and painful steps he pursues the homeward way, he knows not that one is watching for his return. But while he is yet ‘a great way off’ the father discerns his form. … He ‘had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck’ in a long, clinging, tender embrace.

“… In his restless youth the prodigal looked upon his father as stern and severe. How different his conception of him now! So those who are deceived by Satan look upon God as hard and exacting. They regard Him as watching to denounce and condemn, as unwilling to receive the sinner so long as there is a legal excuse for not helping him. His law they regard as a restriction upon men’s happiness, a burdensome yoke from which they are glad to escape. But he whose eyes have been opened by the love of Christ will behold God as full of compassion. He does not appear as a tyrannical, relentless being, but as a father longing to embrace his repenting son.

“Do not listen to the enemy’s suggestion to stay away from Christ until you have made yourself better; until you are good enough to come to God. If you wait until then, you will never come….
“He will bring you into His banqueting house, and His banner over you shall be love. (Song of Solomon 2:4) ‘If thou wilt walk in My ways,’ He declares, ‘I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by’ even among the holy angels that surround His throne. (Zechariah 3:7).

“‘As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.’ Isaiah 62:5. ‘He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over thee with singing.’ Zephaniah 3:17. And heaven and earth shall unite in the Father’s song of rejoicing: ‘For this My son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’”(E.G. White, A Call to Stand Apart, page 13)

Even though it’s hard to comprehend with our sinful, human minds, God is more anxious for us to be with Him than we are! He has been planning our “Welcome Home” celebration and making sure our mansions are just right. He’s ready for us. Are we ready to go home?

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.

Refrain:
Come home, come home,
You who are weary, come home;
Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
Calling, O sinner, come home!

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,
Pleading for you and for me?
Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,
Mercies for you and for me?

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing,
Passing from you and from me;
Shadows are gathering, deathbeds are coming,
Coming for you and for me.

Oh, for the wonderful love He has promised,
Promised for you and for me!
Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,
Pardon for you and for me.²

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In my 47 years of being an Adventist I have observed something ironic. I have met people who have told me, that if I don’t believe that we can live without sinning, that I am not a real Adventist. Others tell me that if I do believe we can live without sinning then I am a heretic! So, I have two opposing groups telling me their version is what Adventism is all about. I have heard people argue till they are blue in the face, telling me their opinion is gospel truth and if I don’t agree with them, then I must not be a real Adventist. I have listened to other people tell me, we can be almost perfect, but not totally perfect because …..well … well…..we just can’t!

I have an idea. Let’s just fall totally in love with Jesus and not worry about it! I mean, whether we can be almost perfect, or totally perfect, let’s just let Jesus work it out. We agree God can “accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:30 NLT, so arguing just how perfect we can be won’t get us anywhere, because once we decide just how perfect we can be, Paul comes along and tells us the possibilities are infinitely more than we think.

Now, as you’re reading this, I know you have an opinion, and you just can’t wait to get to the part where I say exactly what you want me to say, so you can send this link to your friends who don’t have their theology all together like you do. Maybe if I don’t say what you want me to say, you will label me a heretic and not read my posts any more. Chances are you either want to hear me say, “We can live without sinning” or, if you are on the other extreme, you want to hear me say, “Jesus will forgive you no matter how many times you fall.”

Well guess what? Everybody is right and everybody is wrong! Each extreme has partial truth, which means they are also partially wrong. So what is the truth? Put both partial truths together and you have a whole truth. We can live without sinning, but Jesus will forgive us no matter how many times we fall.

Now before you go straight to the comment section so you can warn me that probation will close and there is a limit to God’s forbearance, which I well know, and don’t disagree with, take a deep breath and take a look with me at the big picture and what I’m saying. I have heard people say that the great controversy is over whether or not God’s law can be perfectly obeyed or not. While I agree that with God’s sustaining and practical grace, we can perfectly obey God’s law, I still have never read anything in the Bible or even the writings of our pioneers telling me that perfection is what the great controversy is all about. (Please just stay with me for a moment, before you hop on your Ellen White program so you can find all those quotes you need to send me to prove that you are right and I am wrong.)

Fact: In the five-volume set of the Conflict of the Ages series, the very first line in the very first volume is “God is love.” And the very last sentence in the very last volume reads, “God is love.” That, my friend, is what the conflict of the ages or great controversy is all about! It is about the character of God – whether or not God is love! So the great controversy is not really about if I can go a whole week without eating cheese, or better yet, a whole week without taking a second glance at the perfectly proportioned lady I see at the bus stop every day. If I just fall in love with Jesus, all those things will just work themselves out perfectly, but they are still not the goal. The goal is to love Jesus and let Him love others through us!

Fact: Heaven will be filled with people who believed just about everything while they were on earth. Heaven won’t include any who argued their case till they were blue in the face and to the point of bullying others out of the church or social circles for not thinking the same way they did.

Fact: While some debate whether or not we can be “perfect,” they often have a different definition of the word “perfect” (no pun intended for all you computer geeks) than the person they are debating, which makes for a pointless debate. Regardless as to how perfect we think we can become, I think we all agree the Holy Spirit is capable of overcoming our addictions and helping us love our enemies.

Since we all have our own idea of what “perfect” means, we must also have our own ideas as to what “sin” means.  For years we as Adventists have used 1 John 3:4 as our primary definition of sin, which is “transgression of the law.” How would things change if John 16:9 was the primary definition of sin, which is unbelief?

With 1 John 3:4 as the primary definition we have God kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden and punishing them with death because they ate one piece of fruit they were told not to. That is not unbiblical but it is only half of the story and, more importantly, half the picture of God’s character. With John 16:9 as our primary definition of sin we have Adam and Eve placing their trust in Satan’s lies and not believing in God’s word. Thus they themselves turn their backs on God and forfeit their home through unbelief, thus breaking their relationship with God in favor of the really cool serpent and fancy lies.

With 1 John 3:4 as the primary definition of sin we struggle with John 3:16 and wonder where works come in. With John 16:9 as our primary definition we see that God gave His son to die for us and show us the truth about God’s love. Thus as we believe in Him, we now turn our backs on Satan’s lies, our relationship is restored and we have the eternal life that was originally granted in the Garden of Eden. We are now free to obey God, and the secondary definition of sin in 1 John 3:4 is fulfilled because we now trust God and therefore we trust that His commandments are always good and only good. This removes the incentive for disobedience.

Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews is about the sanctuary and even the cleansing of the sanctuary.  In Hebrews 10:26 Paul writes, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Now if we use 1 John 3:4 as the primary definition of sin we have people going to hell because they made one mistake after knowing the truth.

It is important to note that the entire book of Hebrews is explaining why Jesus has not returned yet and what He is doing in the sanctuary before His return. Paul admonishes the early believers not to give up their faith and stop assembling together – Christ will return. So it seems to me that the primary definition of sin in Hebrews 10:26 is the sin of unbelief. Paul is not saying that if you break the law after knowing the truth there is no more forgiveness. He is saying that if we sin in not believing in Jesus as the Son of God there will be no other sacrifice or Savior.

Now as we look at the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14, we see that while God can and does give complete victory over the sin defined in 1 John 3:4, that still is not the main focus or goal of the cleansing of the sanctuary. “Our characters are not to be weighed by smooth words and fair speeches manufactured for set times and occasions; but by the spirit and trend of the whole life.” (Review and Herald, August 16, 1892.) And “the character is revealed, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.”  (Steps to Christ, p. 57)

If we take John 16:9 as the primary definition of sin in the cleansing of the sanctuary it changes things. In the cleansing of the Sanctuary our minds and hearts are cleansed from the lies mankind started believing in the Garden of Eden. We see the true character of God revealed on the Cross, and we believe in Him. When our minds are cleansed of Satan’s lies we can make intelligent choices and choose the One who has already accepted and chosen us all along.

This changes how we look at a popular passage in the Christ’s Object Lessons,  “Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”  (Christ Object Lessons, p. 69)  Traditionally  we have taken this passage to mean that once we get our act together and show the world God’s Word can be perfectly be obeyed without making one single mistake, then God will come back to take us home. It is true that, by God’s grace, we can have complete victory over every single sin. However that is not what the great controversy is all about. The great question in the great controversy is whether God is love or not. When God’s church perfectly reflects the character of God’s love, then the world can make an intelligent decision as to if they will believe in God’s love and accept His salvation or not.  God does not want us to be perfect so we can go to heaven. He wants to perfect our love so that we give Him proper representation in the judgment, where His character is on trial. When the church perfectly appreciates God’s love, the chasm that we ourselves created, by believing Satan’s lies, will be healed.

I believe that if we keep 1 John 3:4 as our primary definition of sin, we will always be legalists and never be able to deal with the sin problem defined in John  16:9 or 1 John 3:4. I believe if we use John 16:9 as the primary definition of sin, we can bypass the legalism, grasp the big picture of what sin really is and what the great controversy is all about, and allow grace to do its work in healing the sin problem defined in both John 16:9 and 1 John 3:4.

I think I would like to add my own chapter to the story of “The Good Samaritan.” After the priest and the Levite passed by the poor man dying in the ditch, they met up with each other and started arguing and debating over the law and perfection. Meanwhile the Samaritan, who was totally clueless as to what they were even talking about “came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.” Luke 10:33-34 NLT.

We already know which one was being a neighbor, but now, you tell me, which one of the three really had their theology together?

Now, go and do thou likewise.

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