A Love Relationship

When asked what was the most important of all commandments, Jesus responded: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment” (Matt. 22:37, 38). What does that text mean? How are we to do what Jesus commands here? Notes

Think of the incredible implications of these words. According to Jesus, the most important of all commandments wasn’t to keep the Sabbath, nor was it any of the prohibitions against killing, stealing, and adultery. On the contrary, the most important of all the commandments dealt with what was in our hearts, in our souls; it dealt with what is inside of us and not with our outward actions, however important they might be.

Indeed, if the most important commandment deals with our love to God, then the foundation of all the commandments deals with a relationship. After all, what is love if not a relationship—one in which we love God above and beyond everyone and everything else?

Why would love for God be the most important of all relationships? Why would that be so fundamental? What spiritual dangers arise if we love something, anything, more than God? Notes

God, in fact, had purposed from the start that humanity would be capable of enjoying a special relationship with Him. It was His purpose to provide a higher plane of experience for humans than the rest of the creatures He had made on earth. This truth is reflected in Genesis 1:26—“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” None of the other creatures was made in His image; none of the other creatures was given the responsibility given to humanity. Hence, humans are not just highly developed apes; there’s a vast qualitative gap between humanity and the rest of God’s creation on earth. We are special, and part of that specialness is revealed in the love relationship that we are called to have with God, something that the animals and plants are not capable of experiencing.

What is your own experience in loving God? How do you know that you love God? Write out a paragraph expressing what that means and how that love has changed your life. Bring it to class on Sabbath.

Perseverance in Faith

Yesterday’s discussion question brought up the question of how well we are doing in cultivating the fruit that is our privilege to bear for the honor and glory of God. No doubt, as one looks at all these qualities of character and then compares oneself to them, it would be easy to get discouraged. After all, shouldn’t we be bearing more fruit than we are?

That’s a fair question, one that we should all seriously think about. “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (2 Cor. 13:5). We need to take stock of ourselves; of how we are living and of what kind of witness we present to the world.

At the same time, too, we can face a danger. As Christians, we have the example of Jesus, the only sinless human being who ever lived. As we compare ourselves to Him, how easy it could be to get discouraged. How easy to see His sinlessness and perfection in contrast to our sinfulness and weaknesses. We do have a perfect standard to follow, a perfect law to obey, and a perfect Savior to emulate. As we all know, we often fall so far short of that standard, of that law, and of that Savior. How easy it can be, too, after falling and falling, after not seeing the kind of growth we would like, to get discouraged, even to the point of giving up, thinking, Why bother, I just can’t do it?

Here, though, is where we need to understand fully what salvation by faith is about. Here is where we need to understand where our salvation lies, and here is where we need to understand what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross.

Read Romans 3:20–26. What message is there for us about salvation? Why is this truth so important to cling to, especially when we feel discouraged about the state of our own fruit?

The Spirit and Truth

“ ‘However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth’ ” (John 16:13, NJKV).

In view of what we learned yesterday, it is obvious that the work of the Holy Spirit is to point us to Christ and to help us abide in Him. “ ‘But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me’ " (John 15:26, NKJV).

Look at this powerful insight: “The preaching of the word will be of no avail without the continual presence and aid of the Holy Spirit. This is the only effectual teacher of divine truth. Only when the truth is accompanied to the heart by the Spirit will it quicken the conscience or transform the life. One might be able to present the letter of the word of God, he might be familiar with all its commands and promises; but unless the Holy Spirit sets home the truth, no souls will fall on the Rock and be broken.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 671, 672.

What emphasis is Ellen G. White placing on the work of the Holy Spirit here?

What we see in the work of the Holy Spirit is both the objective and subjective aspect of Truth. The Spirit comes, and He testifies of Jesus and reproves “ ‘the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment’ ” (John 16:8). These are hard facts about the world, about God, about reality.

At the same time, the work of the Holy Spirit doesn’t end simply with teaching us these truths. Our lives need to be changed by our understanding of them. These objective and eternal truths will do us no good unless our lives are transformed by them, and part of that process (perhaps even the most important part) is for us, as she wrote, to be broken on the Rock (see Ps. 51:17).

How were you broken (or were you ever)? What happened? What changes came? What did you learn about life, about suffering, about God from that experience? What other lessons might you still need to learn?

The Righteous Life

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:1–3).

How does John tie in the love of God with the love other fellow believers have and with keeping the commandments? Why would he link all these together?

“The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God from a sense of obligation merely—because he is required to do so—will never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right—because right doing is pleasing to God.”—Ellen G. White,Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 97, 98, emphasis provided.
And what better way to inspire a desire to be loyal to God than through contemplation of His incredible sacrifice in our behalf on the cross? There’s no power in telling people that they have to keep the law. The power comes in pointing people to Jesus and to His substitutionary death in our behalf. The power comes from letting sinners know that their sins can be forgiven through Jesus, and they can stand perfect before God in the robe of Christ’s righteousness.
Love of God, and not the fear of hell and condemnation, should be the power that motivates our lives, and nothing will cause us to love God more than focusing on the Cross and the riches and promises that are ours through it.

Do you really love God? If so, how do you know? (Might you be deceiving yourself?) What do you do or say that reveals the reality of this love? In other words, what evidence is there that this love is real?

WEDNESDAY - Righteousness and Obedience (1 John 2:29)

Though we are covered by the righteousness of Christ, that righteousness must be revealed in our lives. Righteousness isn’t just a legal declaration. It also becomes a reality in the life of the person who has it.

How carefully we should heed John’s words: “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous” (1 John 3:7).

What might we be deceived about in regard to what it means to be righteous?

Righteousness is the fruit of the Spirit that is connected to obedience. To some people, obedience is inconsistent with salvation by faith. On occasion one might hear, “Now that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, won’t you accept Him as the Lord of your life?” The implication seems to be that our obedience to the will of God and our salvation are separate issues. That’s a radical misinterpretation of what salvation is. John wrote that living a righteous life is a verifiable indicator of those who have salvation.

Read 1 John 2:3–6. What’s John’s point there?

When the subject of obedience is raised, it is not unusual for someone to point out that we are not saved by works. While there can be no doubt that Lucifer’s obedience to the will of God did not put him into heaven, we must bear in mind that it was his disobedience that caused him to be expelled. The same can be said for Adam and Eve. Their obedience did not put them into the Garden of Eden, but it was their disobedience to the will of God that resulted in their being put out of the garden.
“Righteousness is right doing, and it is by their deeds that all will be judged. Our characters are revealed by what we do. The works show whether the faith is genuine.”—Ellen G. White,Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 312.

How well do you manifest the fruit of righteousness in your life? What practices might you need to give up that are hindering the fruit of righteousness in your life? (Be careful not to try to rationalize them away!)

Christ Our Righteousness (Rom. 5:17)
Read Romans 5:17–19 and summarize in your own words what Paul is saying here. How are we condemned, and how do we become righteous?

If the righteousness of Jesus is a gift, how do we obtain it? Gal. 3:6, James 2:23.?

In Romans 5:19, notice the emphasis on disobedience and on obedience. One man’s disobedience, Adam’s, led to all of us becoming sinners. This is basic biblical teaching. Adam’s sin brought the downfall of the human race. We’re all, each of us, every day of our lives, living with the results. No one is immune.
The same verse, however, also talks about obedience. Whose obedience? Of course, the obedience of Christ, who alone has the righteousness needed for salvation, the righteousness given to all those who will “receive the abundance of grace” Indeed in that same verse Paul says that those who receive this grace get “the gift of righteousness.” Notice, it is a gift. As a gift it must be unearned and be undeserved. The moment it’s earned, or deserved, it’s no longer grace (Rom. 4:4).
Yet, it’s not a blanket gift. The righteousness of Christ is’nt automatically bestowed on everyone (Rom. 5:17, NASB). Paul is clear, it comes to those who will receive it; that is, it is given to those who claim it by faith—such as Abraham, who believed God, and it was “accounted to him for righteousness”(Gal. 3:6).
Do you really understand what it means to be saved by faith? How well do you grasp the idea that it’s only the righteousness of Jesus, credited to you by faith, that allows you to stand righteous and justified before God? What can you do to better grasp this wonderful provision, the foundation of the gospel?

MONDAY March 8

Do-It-Yourself Righteousness

“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God”(Rom. 10:3, NKJV). What do you think Paul was talking about here? About whom is he talking, and how might these folk have tried to establish their “own righteousness”? Given human nature, why is that impossible anyway?

A “do-it-yourself” activity is one in which a person does or makes something (as in woodworking or home repair) without professional training or assistance. In its broadest sense it is an activity in which one does something oneself or on one’s own initiative. We sometimes refer to a particularly successful person as a self-made man or woman. According to the Bible, however, a “do-it-yourself” approach to true righteousness is impossible. There is nothing that we can do of ourselves, no matter how hard we try, to be righteous before God. Our righteousness is as “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). In fact, seeking to make yourself righteous often leads to the opposite result.

Read Matthew 5:20 and 23:25–28. How does Jesus here pinpoint the problem that comes from those who seek to make themselves righteous?

The crucial thing for Christians to understand is how utterly dependent they are upon Christ for their righteousness. What makes them holy before God is what Christ has done for them, not what they do. The moment someone loses sight of that truth, it’s so easy for self-righteousness to rise up, along with pride and inner corruption. The scribes and Pharisees were prime examples of how that happens. So concerned with their outward deeds of piety, they lost sight of what really matters.

In what ways might you be guilty of the same sin as the scribes and Pharisees? How might this trap be more subtle than we think?

THURSDAY March 4

How to Grow in Self-control

"Thereforee we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us" (Heb. 12:1, NKJV). Paul here again uses the race analogy that we saw earlier. What are some of the "weights" that you find are holding you back?

Read Colossians 3:1-10. These verses give us rules for holy living as new persons in Christ. From these verses we learn several important things we must do to grow self-control in our lives. What do you find listed there, and how can you apply them to your own life and in a way that they will help get victory over the sin that so easily encumbers us?

Every skill has to be practiced. Self-control doesn't come in a day. It comes in hits and misses, in successes and failures, as we try to practice it day after day. "Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Tim. 6:12, NKJV); "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me" (Phil. 3:12, NKJV).

Don't constantly put yourself in places where your weaknesses will be tested, where your most-difficult-to-control drives will be out on the firing line of temptation. We must avoid even the appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22). "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (Rom. 13:14).

What are some areas of your life where self-control is definitely lacking? Why is it sometimes easier to get "victory" over dessert than to get victory over a spirit of bitterness and resentment? What changes can you make that will help you have more self-control?