Adult Sabbath School September 4 2004

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Adult Sabbath School Lesson

September 4-10

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Adult Sabbath School

September 4, 2004

Lesson for this week: http://www.ssnet.org/qrtrly/eng/04c/less11.html

Study to lead the class.

Begin with prayer for the Holy Spirit to guide us to understand how to serve Jesus better. Thank in advance for the insights.

Outline

• Relationships with other church members

• Introduction:
  • Brothers and Sisters
    • A good picture?

• Sunday: One In Christ
  • The Parts of the Body
    • What about the functions?
    • All are indispensible
  • Unity of the Early Church Acts 1:14, 2:1, 4:32
    • "One Accord"
    • Determined to stay together

• Monday: The Beauty of Diversity
  • Diversity vs. Conformity or Sameness
  • Does unity require sameness?
  • Does Christ ask us to give up who we are?
  • Could ethnic or political issues divide us?

• Tuesday: The Ugliness of Division
  • How Did Moses Deal With Division?

• Wednesday: Servanthood versus Power Play
  • How can we be of service to the others in the church?

• Thursday: Dealing with Difficult People
  • What will your witness be to a difficult person in the church?

• Friday: Disciples United Through Christ
  • United with Christ how?
    • Thought, Feeling, Action
  • Our Witness
    • How Can We Be A Witness For Jesus In The Church?
      • ...Room to fill in several items...

Summary

Details

Introduction: Brothers and Sisters

• In Malaysia - Anyone older than you is an auntie or an uncle, whether or not they are your blood relative.
• How will you treat someone you don't know, if you approach them with the mindset that they are an uncle or an aunt, or a brother or a sister?
• Bad aspects of brothers and sisters: Sibling rivalry? Black sheep of the family?
• Good aspects of brothers and sisters, of family: "Blood is thicker than water"
• Could this idea of our associates at church being our relatives be something that is hard for some people to understand? What about those people who have come to church, but where the black sheep of their family, and never had a good brother or sister? How can we show them what is meant by brother and sister?

• Sunday: One In Christ
  • Metaphor: Parts of the body. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27
    • Have someone read 1 Corinthians 12:12-15
      • 12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
    • This is a great picture. The lesson points out that this picture was common in writings even before Paul. This passage tells us how every part of the body is important. I like how recently we've discovered that "vestigial organs" like the appendix actually have a use in the body.

• This picture can be expanded. Not only does the body have parts, it also has functions. For some functions, the entire body participates in the function. And some of these functions have been thought of as being vestigial. For example, the function of sleep: Prior to 1951, doctors knew very little about sleep. They never really thought to study what happens when their patients sleep. It was left to the philosophers who thought about dreams, and who came up with ideas like we sleep because of blood going to the head and making pressure on the brain, or that we sleep because of a lack of mental stimulation.

• Sometimes children have problems sleeping, and the effects can be drammatic. I read the story of a little boy named Adam who was a year old, but wasn't learning to walk, wasn't learning to talk, was way under weight. Despite his parents taking him to doctors, they gave the diagnosis "failure to thrive". This is a cop-out, a non-diagnosis. Finally, after a small army of pediatricians failed to diagnose his problem, one of the little boy's aunts who knew about sleep disorders noticed that the boy was having trouble breathing while asleep. He'd fall asleep and be unable to breath. Then his oxygen starved brain will struggle to wake him up, he'd gasp, and then the cycle would repeat. Despite pointing this out to the pediatrician they doctor refused to do anything. Another better informed doctor performed an operation, and restored the boys ability to breath while sleeping....
• Now we know that the brain actually puts itself to sleep. Sleep has been found in almost every animal. Fruit flies seem to sleep. Dolphins sleep with only half their brain at a time.
• When a function of the body doesn't work right, it can affect the rest of the functions. Sometimes dramatically. Recent survey found that 23 percent of people admit to falling asleep while driving just in the last year. 24,000 people die each year from accidents related to falling asleep at the wheel.

• 1 Corinthians 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
  • Isn't wonderful to serve a God who not only gives us free choice, but also delights in giving us different skills and talents? Isn't great that we don't all have to come from the same mold?

• The passage goes on to tell us to be careful to understand that not only we can't all be the same part of the body, we can't cast off any part of the body. We are all indispensable, whether seen in front of the whole congregation, or working quietly and supporting behind the scenes.
  • Have you ever thought about someone: "That is someone I could do without...."
  • What would you do if they came to church?

• Have someone read 1 Corinthians 12:25-27
  • 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular

• We should have unity in our suffering and in our honor. I like how it makes it clear that we are the body.

• Unity of the Early Church Acts 1:14,2:1,4:32
  • How Did the Early Church Show Unity?
    • The common thread in all these: One Accord
      • with one accord in prayer and supplications
      • At pentecost, one accord in one place
      • The believers were of one heart and of one soul
    • Have you ever had someone you were in "One Accord" with?

• Monday: The Beauty of Diversity

• McDonalds : Has anyone been to a fast food restaurant in a foreign country? What is the one thing that is different? The prices! In Turkey the prices have lots and lots of zeros since it was about 1,250,000 lyra to a single dollar. Popular products are all the same too. People want our fast foods, our tobacco brands. The one thing that is different is the prices. They spend $2 billion a year to project their uniform image to the world.
  • I love to try different things when I am in other places, but occassionally, when I want to find something familiar, these product icons are a big comfort.

• How do other churches and religions deal with diversity?
  • Budhist shrines: Every country has given a unique flavor to the buddhist shrines, unique styles to the architecture, and the look of the Buddhas. With some study, I am sure I could learn to recognize what country I was in just by the style of the Buddhist temples.
  • Eastern orthodox churches in Russia, and their churches here, remarkably conformed. The services sound very similar, and it turns out they all use 400 year old version of Russian called Slavonic.

• Question: To get unity in the church, does Christ call us to give up who we are?
  • Who are you? Ask each person who they are.... Get different answers....
  • Are we all Christians? Sure, but we are not all the same....
  • Why aren't we all the same? Different gifts. Different experiences. Different insights from our studies of His Word.
  • So how do we find unity despite being very different? Answer: Unity in Jesus. Unity in fellowship!

• Does the world like diversity? Or does it confuse conformity with diversity?
• Is conformity a counterfeit for unity?
• How is diversity different from conformity?

            Conformity                Diversity
          rote acceptance
       addherence to a standard     thinking acceptance
            exact copies            faith founded on study
              replica
              robotic?

           What happens if diversity goes to far?
                         CHAOS

• If we allow diversity in our church, how do we keep it from degrading into chaos?
  • Our Unity in Jesus
  • "One Fold and One Shepherd" - John 10:16
  • His example of being one with the Father should be our goal to be one with Him.
  • "having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." - Philippians 2:2

• Unity creates peace: Ephesians 4:3 KJV 3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

• Have someone read: Ephesians 4:13 KJV
  • 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
  • What gives us unity?
    • Our faith in Jesus
    • Unity in our knowledge of Jesus

• Question: What is most important?
  • Overcoming difficulties
  • Conformity with doctrines
  • Unity with Jesus
  • Effective organization
  • Managment of our resources

Ellen G. White: The Adventist Home, P. 179: "The secret of true unity in the church and in the family is not diplomacy, not management, not a superhuman effort to overcome difficulties, though there will be much to do - but union with Christ."

• Many other lands have watched the church torn apart due to ehtnic or political differences. Soemtimes these things are the root of persecution of the church.

• I wonder about this when reading this lesson: Would someone from a foreign church coming here recognize us as Christians? When visiting all the strange and different places out in our area, would they come to our church and feel great relief and say "Ah! This is like home. This is the love of Jesus I remember from home."

• Tuesday: The Ugliness of Division

• I had to read a little more of some of these Bible verses to really figure out what was going on.
• One of the stories about division was the story of the Israelites challenging Moses.
• What happened fairly soon after the Israelites were lead out of captivity. The people started complaining, why did you make us leave where we were comfortable.
• Have someone read Numbers 16:1-3
  • 1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: 2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: 3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

• Notice what kind of people did this: 250 princes, famous men, men of renown
• The gathered against who? Their God appointed leaders, Moses and Aaron
• Moses "fell upon his face" when he answered them "Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him."
  • Can you imagine falling on your face when confronted with an accusation like this?
  • Moses response was to leave it to the Lord to decide about this issue. He promised the Lord would give them an answer.
• Later it says the men complained to Moses, and refused to light incense and wait for the answer of the Lord. This really angered Moses. Moses commanded them again.

• In Numbers 16:20 -22, we find God's answer: (Have someone read it)
  • 16:20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
  • 16:21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
    • Can you imagine this? Should we be glad that God doesn't offer to solve our problems in this way today? Look at their reaction!

• 16:22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?

• 16:28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.
  • God supported Moses. Yet, did Moses brag about this? How did he deal with those who were rebuked by the Lord?

• The lesson quotes an article where George Knight talks about how Satan could destroy the church by having the church think tribally, nationally, and racially.
  • What about patriotism? Does it have a place in the church?
    • Can the devil use postive concepts like this to create problems in the church?
    • From the lesson: "We need to behave as born-again sisters and brothers, able to discuss these things without losing sight of the mission of the church, which makes the issues meaningful in the first place."

• How do we get victory over doctrinal differences, power struggles, ethnic tensions, cliques?
  • Unity with Jesus
  • At the foot of the cross.

• Wednesday: Servanthood versus Power Play
  • How many parents here have encouraged their children to grow up someday to be a servant? What are some of the things you've encouraged your children to be?
    • My wife is always telling our 4 year old that someday he can be president. He doesn't quite know what that means. One day after my wife asked him if he wanted to be president, I asked him if he wanted to be a fire truck, and I got a really enthusiastic answer. He took that ball from me though, and really ran with it, and told us how his dream was to be a vacuum cleaner! We tell our oldest son to be a great entertainer since this seems to be his dream, and lots of family members are already lining with requests for houses and cars. Poor kid is already despairing how he will ever have time to buy a house for himself.
  • We want our children to be successful, we want them to have a good life, we tell them to be doctors, to be lawyers. Many of these jobs have a service component, but we're not telling our kids to be this things just because we want them to be servants.

• We read the story of the mother of James and John asking which of her sons could sit at Jesus right hand and left hand.
  • What does this mean? We're pioneers in this country, it's every man for himself, the lone ranger, the pioneer wagon leading the family to stake out their claim. Here, no one tells their children to grow up to be at the right or left hand of the president. We tell our kids to be the president!
  • This woman had enough faith to know that Jesus was Lord, even if she didn't really understand the difference between His kingdom and an earthly kingdom. But we still have the phrase "Right hand man", and she wanted this important position for her sons.

• Lets read Jesus answer to people who want the great positions: Matthew 20:26-27
  • 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
  • 27 And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

• Jesus focus is on the service to others. Only in service can we be great. There doesn't seem to be any room in Jesus church for people to sit there just to be taken care of by others.

• But look at how much further he takes it.
  • Matthew 20:28 "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

• How many of us would tell our children to grow up to aspire to give their lives for others? That's an incredible level of sacrifice and service.

• How can we apply this aspect of service in the church? Are there things in the church we can do to immitate Christ, and be of service to each other?

• Thursday: Dealing with Difficult People

• The importance of our witness to others, including the difficult people.

• Friday: Further study: "Who is the Greatest" Ellen G. White, Desire of Ages
• The disciples were a varied group. Many different personalities, ways of dealing with the world. Christ spent a lot of time helping them find unity of thought, feeling, and action. He wanted them to have unity with Himself.

Jesus prayer in John 17:21,23 was "That they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me."

Jesus commission to the disciples was that they be a witness of Him to all the world.

Ellen White ends with some military metaphors. Militaries, if nothing else, are generally very organized. Chains of command, supply lines, fronts, logistics, missions. "Onward Christian Soldiers, marching into war..." Some of the pictures terms she uses:

• armed with omnipetence of the Holy Spirit
• Conquer evil
• Triumphant
• blood stained banner waving over head.

Flags are very important. What does a flag symbolize?

• Unity
• Sameness of purpose
• Pride in a common origin

We need to be united under the banner of Jesus sacrifice. It is a battle. A battle against evil. A battle to reach the whole world with the good news of Jesus.

Our Witness

Will the world come to know Jesus through us, and how we relate to other church members? We are called to witness, not only to the unsaved world, but also to each other.

We spend a lot of time talking about evangelism and how to reach out and fullfill the great commission. How to go out into the communities, how to talk to the unsaved, how to invite them to the church.

But once they come in the door, it doesn't end there does it. We've learned a lot lately about the care and feeding of the people who come in to our church.

So what are some of the reasons why is our witness within the church is important?

• What about new members? Some people in the church are very new and need to learn about Jesus from us.
• What about older members going through difficult times? Those who are waivering in their faith may need our witness. Will our unity give them strength in their faith?

How can we be a witness for Jesus in the church?

• Truth
• Love
• Patience
• Understanding
• Humbleness
• Encouragement to study His word

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