Participants: Pr John Lomacang (Host), Jill Morikone, Molly Steenson, Pr. Tom Ferguson, Shelley Quinn
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000016A
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00:01 The Bible tells us
00:32 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Sabbath School Panel 00:35 I'm John Lomacang one of the 5 panelists. I'll be discussing 00:39 this wonderful lesson on Social Relationships. So we invite you 00:43 to join us as we walk through these five important days from 00:47 Sunday to Thursday. We have some distinguished panelists that you 00:51 may have met before. To my right is Jill Morikone, Molly Steenson 00:55 Pr. Tom Ferguson, good to have you here Tom. And Shelley Quinn 00:58 and yours truly. And so we want to get you together if you have 01:03 your hearts and minds where they should be. We also encourage you 01:06 to get your Bibles and if you have your Sabbath School Lesson 01:09 we are on Lesson No. 4, April 15-21 on Social Relationships. 01:15 If you don't have one you can go to the following website and 01:18 download a copy of it. absg.adventist.org 01:23 That's absg, adult bible Sabbath school 01:26 Adult Bible Study Guide. Thank you so much 01:32 absg.adventist.org And download the lesson to 01:35 follow us on social issues. You know I think before we go into 01:38 the lesson it would be good to begin with prayer. Jill would 01:40 you do the favor for us? Sure Father we come before You in 01:44 the name of Jesus and we thank You for the gift of Your Word 01:47 And right now as we open up Your Word, as we study with our 01:50 brothers and sisters we ask for the anointing of Your Holy 01:53 Spirit. That You would anoint our lips and that You would give 01:57 each one of us ears to hear what You have for us. 02:00 And we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. 02:04 Thank you so much. Social relationships. And I know that 02:07 all of us agree that social relationships are vitally 02:10 important. But this lesson doesn't just cover social 02:14 relationships. It covers it in a number of areas like church 02:17 and state, masters and slaves, a word that we don't really use 02:21 a whole lot today. But it does have an application for our 02:24 contemporary society. Wives and husbands. Social relationships 02:28 in a broader sense. And then Christianity and the social 02:32 order. And as we walk through this today, as I gleaned through 02:36 the lesson I could share with you, I was amazed that it had 02:39 some issues in it that were contemporary already and I know 02:43 the lesson is put together long before many of the things in 02:47 our society began to develop. But I thought how amazing it was 02:49 that it brought out issues. And the three main questions I'd 02:52 like to address are on the, to kinda throw out there as it were 02:57 were vitally important and stated in the very beginning 03:01 on the introduction page, on Sabbath afternoon 03:03 which were very important. How should Christians live with an 03:08 oppressive and corrupt government. Now do we have 03:11 corrupt governments? We don't want to say it, but in America 03:16 as well as other parts of the world, the government works in 03:19 ways that sometimes are not in favor of, and other times in 03:23 favor of the citizenry, depends on what side of the coin 03:26 in America what kinda parties do we have? We have Democrats 03:29 we have Democrat, Republican and Independent. 03:31 And then we have the Green Party, the Tea Party, you know 03:35 all those different types of phrases that are used in America 03:38 And there are two things most people always don't agree on 03:42 It's religion and politics. And this lesson, how amazing it is 03:48 starts me out by dealing with one of the most significant 03:52 parts of the lesson, the issues of church and state. 03:56 And church and state is a vitally important issue. 03:59 Matter of fact, what I'd like us to do, if you have your lesson 04:01 we could look at our memory text together. It is in 1 Peter 4:8 04:06 And we're gonna read it in it's totality although the lesson 04:09 uses the word Above all, we're gonna start with the whole 04:11 phrase. Let's read it together. It says, "And above all things 04:15 have fervent love for one another for love will cover 04:20 a multitude of sins." You know when I was looking at the lesson 04:25 I'm covering church and state, I began to look at the large 04:28 spectrum of church and state. I mean as far back as I can think 04:31 and one the greatest dynasties we know of is the Egyptian 04:36 dynasty, the Babylonian dynasty, the Medo-Persian dynasty 04:39 the Roman empire and even still today the Roman empire is very 04:45 influential in issues of church and state. When you also go down 04:50 Let's go to Revelation 13, I want to begin by giving you 04:53 a forecast. Because those of us who are Bible students know 04:58 that prophecy gives us a forecast. What I like about 05:04 forecast, it's not like the weather that tells you, well 05:07 today it will be partly cloudy, partly sunny. 10% chance of 05:10 rain, 90% chance of sunshine. It lets us know well in advance 05:15 As Isaiah 46: verse 9, 10 says, declaring the end from the 05:19 beginning. So the people of God, whether the New Testament church 05:24 or the Old Testament people of Israel always existed and there 05:28 was always this conflict between church and state. Because the 05:33 state in many cases were pagan. The state was almost, always 05:38 pagan. But they had their own kind or religion which in fact 05:42 was a spin off, worshipping gods that did not honor the God of 05:45 heaven. But the Bible gives us a forecast and I wanna say this 05:48 as I lead into this, it gives us a forecast of where America is 05:52 headed. And this is not a political statement. This is 05:55 in fact a forecast Revelation 13 talks about two particular 05:59 powers. The resurgent power of Rome, the coalesced powers 06:05 how Rome comes down to the end, it has all the symbols 06:09 of the powers that were before it. Let's look at Revelation 13. 06:15 And I want to show you first this compiled beast, let's see 06:20 Revelation 13, start with verse 1. 06:26 Then I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising 06:30 up out of the sea having 7 heads and 10 horns. And on its heads 06:36 a blasphemous name. Now what you'll notice in Revelation 06:40 is it starts out with an A, singular, blasphemous name 06:44 By the time you get to Revelation 17, it's full of 06:47 names of blasphemy. So it talks about a growing decline in 06:52 spirituality. Starts with a name that's blasphemous, but then 06:56 it goes by the full formation of Babylon, full of names of 07:00 full of blasphemous names. But it also talks about, and this is 07:05 a composite beast while it represents Rome in particular 07:08 it's composite. It talks about the powers of all the nations 07:11 that went before it. Notice verse 2. Now the beast which 07:14 I saw was like a leopard. His feet were like the feet of a 07:18 bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion and the dragon 07:22 gave him his power, his throne and great authority. So you have 07:27 the beast was like a leopard which was what nation? 07:31 The Grecian empire, the nation of Greece. Then the bear which 07:35 was Medo-Persia. And then the lion. And so what John is giving 07:40 us here, if you go to the book of Daniel, we're not gonna go 07:41 there but I'll just give you a forecast. If you go to Daniel 07:44 7, Daniel talks about this is the Lion, the Bear and the 07:49 Leopard. He sees it forward. But John now existing in the time of 07:53 the fourth beast, looks back and says, I'm in the fourth 07:57 non-descript beast with iron teeth, Rome. So I'm looking back 08:01 to the Leopard, the Bear and the Lion. So these both meet 08:05 and it says to us unequivocally, both of them say the last beast 08:09 is the iron beast or the non descript beast or the beast as 08:14 the Bible describes as the one that has iron teeth and stamps 08:18 the residue, that's the entire world taken under its authority 08:22 But noting something, the reason why social relationships are 08:26 impacted is because it says at the end of verse 2, the dragon 08:29 gave him his power, his throne and his great authority. 08:33 Now Revelation 12:9, let's all say who is the dragon? 08:36 Somebody tell me. Satan is. The devil, Revelation 12:9 08:41 then Revelation 12:17 says this dragon is angry with the people 08:44 of God. So with the dragon power included there in this 08:49 system of politics and religion merging together, it'll bring in 08:53 adverse relationship to the people of God. So let's look at 08:56 three examples very quickly. Let's first go to Acts 5:29 09:02 What do you do when the system you exist in is contrary to God? 09:08 What do you do when the system you exist in is telling you to 09:11 do something other than what God's word is telling you to do. 09:15 This by the way is very interesting here, Acts 5:29 09:21 Do you have that Jill? Read that for us. 09:26 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to 09:29 obey God rather than men. Ok. Very important. Now that's easy 09:33 to say. We ought to obey God rather than men. But when you 09:36 get to the Revelation 13 setting where you can't buy, you cannot 09:40 sell, you're facing religious oppression and let me put the 09:44 context back, in a nation that offers religious liberty. 09:49 And right now if you're listening to this lesson from 09:52 America you know right now there's issues in America 09:55 where we've had laws passed, where we've had bills written 09:59 where there's a great fear of Islam and rightfully so because 10:04 lots of the terrorist activity comes from not those who are 10:08 Islamic but those who are Islamic terrorists. May have 10:11 that, may use that religion as a cloak. But not the religion 10:14 itself. And then you have on one side a push to favor 10:18 Christianity in America where in fact as one writer said, or one 10:22 news pundit said, America is a inter denominational country 10:28 that offers freedom for everyone and so when you get to the place 10:32 where the government says you've gotta go one way and the Bible 10:34 says you gotta go the other, you have to take the stand like 10:37 Peter who says we ought to obey God rather than men. 10:41 Now in order to get to that place you've gotta make that 10:43 decision every day. You can't wait till, let's go to another 10:47 one. Daniel 6. You cannot wait until laws are put in place 10:53 to decide, well now I think I'll go that way. You gotta make 10:56 that decision every day. Look at the Hebrews and how they made 10:59 this decision. Daniel chapter 6. 11:03 I told you to turn there, why am I not turning there? 11:05 Here we are, Daniel 6. And we're gonna look together quickly at 11:10 verse 8 and 9. Amazing how this works. Daniel 6:8-9. 11:16 And I'll read that, it says 11:20 Now O King establish the decree and sign the writing so that it 11:26 cannot be changed according to the law of the Medes and the 11:30 Persians which do not alter. Now this law was to trap Daniel 11:34 because Daniel was a man that did not care about what the 11:36 government said. He's gonna pray with his windows open 11:39 facing Jerusalem. But I like verse 9 which says, Therefore 11:44 King Darius signed the writing, signed the written decree. 11:48 But how did Daniel respond? Now when Daniel knew that the 11:54 writing was signed he went home and in his upper room with his 11:59 windows opened towards Jerusalem he knelt down on his knees 12:04 three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before His God 12:08 as was his custom since early days. So as we transition 12:13 to the lesson about, from the lesson church and state 12:16 to the lesson about masters and slaves, keep this in mind 12:20 here's the point. As you practice from before the signing 12:25 of the writing, before the signing of the law 12:27 before the push of the government, if you have a 12:29 relationship with God before that you'll be so accustomed to 12:33 being loyal that when the writing is signed you'll 12:36 maintain your loyalty to God. Amen. Masters and slaves Jill 12:41 Oh that's powerful Pr. John. Masters and slaves is Monday 12:45 that's what I have. Let's turn to 1 Peter 2 and we'll read what 12:50 Peter had to say in his epistle. But before we actually read 12:54 that I want to talk about slavery in ancient Rome. 12:57 Slavery in ancient Rome was not based on race. We know in 13:01 America we had slavery based on race. In other countries 13:04 you've had slavery based on race but in ancient Rome it was not 13:08 based on race. Slaves came from prisoners of war, they came 13:13 from sailors who were pirates captured them and sold them 13:16 as slaves. They came from children who were born to 13:20 slaves, children born into slavery. They also came from 13:24 someone who couldn't pay their debt. And they sold, this gets 13:29 me, they sold their children as slaves. Now Greg and I don't 13:34 have children but I can't even imagine. You know someone 13:37 from your womb, someone you love with all your heart and thinking 13:41 I can't pay my debts I'm going to sell my children as slaves. 13:46 Often they were treated harshly in the early Roman empire, not 13:50 all the time. There's some news or statistics you could say 13:55 if you research it, sometimes that they were treated well, but 13:57 often they were treated harshly they were whipped, they were 14:01 branded, they were cruelly mistreated. 14:03 And Peter gives counsel to the people who were especially 14:07 enslaved during this time. There were slaves who were slaves 14:11 in private households. There were slaves who worked in mines 14:14 and factories, on farms, in city governments. Building roads 14:20 aqueducts and buildings. Some times they even worked as 14:23 accountants or even physicians. In fact the Roman senate looked 14:28 at passing a law because there were so many slaves and the 14:31 slaves looked similar and some times they had similar 14:34 occupations and they thought we want to know who is a Roman 14:37 citizen and who's a slave and they looked at passing a law 14:41 about that. But they decided they were not gonna pass the 14:45 law, they were gonna have the slaves dressed differently so 14:47 instantly you would know that's a slave, that person's free. 14:51 This one's a slave, this one's free. But they did not pass that 14:54 law because they thought if the slaves knew how many there were 14:57 they would up and rebel. Wow, there's a great deal of us 15:01 and we're gonna rebel against our masters. The slaves could 15:05 in Roman society, they could purchase their freedom. 15:07 And sometimes the master chose chose to set the slaves free. 15:12 The slave was then described, now I like this, as redeemed. 15:18 Yes! In the writings of Paul, in the writings of Peter, they 15:22 often used the same language to describe what the Lord Jesus 15:25 Christ did to you and to me, redeemed us, set us free from 15:30 the bondage, the slavery of sin and set us free in Christ Jesus 15:35 I love that verse. Peter 1, I know we're gonna read chapter 2 15:39 1 Peter 1:18, 19. Knowing that you were not redeemed with 15:43 corruptible things like silver or gold. He's saying you were 15:48 not bought with silver and gold. Here's that word redeemed 15:52 instead you were purchased verse 19, with the precious 15:56 blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish or without spot 16:01 So as we look at what Peter's counsel is to the enslaved 16:05 Christians at that time, we're in 1 Peter 2, we're gonna look 16:09 at verse 18 and I found the 3 principles, 3 principles of how 16:14 the early Christians who were in this unjust bondage, how 16:18 they were to react, how they were to handle this cruel or 16:22 unjust treatment. So let's look at that and whether we are 16:26 now of course there's the analogy that we were each sold 16:29 under sin and the Lord Jesus Christ came to set us free, but 16:33 maybe you're struggling in a difficult situation. Some people 16:37 are in slavery today and we know that that happens. And then some 16:41 people maybe have a difficult boss or difficult working 16:44 relationship or difficult person that you deal with and this 16:48 counsel is applicable to us today. So let's read, Molly you 16:52 wanna read verse 18. We're in 1 Peter 2:18. 16:55 Servants be subject to your masters with all fear, not only 17:00 to the good and gentle but also to the forward. 17:04 Okay so the word for servants in Greek, Okiase, means actually 17:09 a domestic slave or a household servant. Now Paul had similar 17:13 counsel to his, to slaves. And he uses a different word 17:17 Dolos, but it means slave. So, similar whether you're a 17:21 domestic servant or a slave, he's addressing those who are 17:24 in servitude. He says, be submissive to your masters 17:28 with all fear. Not only to the good and gentle, not only when 17:31 they treat you good. Now Molly is my boss and Molly treats me 17:34 really well but even if Molly did not treat me well what am I 17:39 supposed to do? We're gonna look at that. Be submissive to them 17:42 with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the 17:45 harsh. Now the word in Greek for harsh is scolios. Like we 17:51 would get our English word scoliosis, it means curved 17:56 winding, crooked, unfair, perverse. Now that's fascinating 18:04 to me. This is maybe a boss who is not always upright 18:08 does not possess integrity, is not straight as a needle to the 18:12 pole as we would say but someone who's a little crooked. So, the 18:16 three principles how are you supposed to endure? Verse 19 18:20 Pr. Tom you have that? 2:19. For this is commendable 18:26 if because of conscious toward God one endures grief suffering 18:30 wrongly. 20. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for 18:36 your faults you take it patiently but when you do good 18:39 and suffer if you take it patiently this is commendable 18:43 before God. So Peter is saying hey listen if you messed up 18:47 you know if I mess up I need to take the just punishment 18:50 right? So if I make a mistake there's consequences when you 18:55 make a mistake. But what happens if you don't make a mistake? 18:58 If it's not your fault and they unjustly accuse you of something 19:04 maybe you didn't even do, what happens? What does he say? 19:07 When you do good and suffer if you take it patiently it is 19:12 commendable before God. So to me the first principle 19:16 is patience. Endure with patience. Literally that word 19:22 means remaining under the load bearing up or enduring, 19:27 remaining under that difficulty, staying underneath that. 19:30 The real spirit of Jesus is revealed when we suffer unjustly 19:35 and take it patiently. No. 2 Verse 21. For to this you were 19:43 called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an 19:48 example that you should follow His steps. He's giving the 19:50 example now, this is how Christ suffered patiently, 19:53 who committed no sin nor was deceit found in His mouth 19:56 verse 23. When He was reviled did not revile in return 20:02 when He suffered He did not threaten but committed Himself 20:07 to Him who judges righteously. So Jesus as our perfect example 20:13 did not talk back, did not revile. When someone said 20:17 something to Him, He did not act back. To me that's the law 20:21 of kindness. Reaching out not only underneath wrong, suffering 20:25 unjustly, suffering with patience or endurance 20:28 bearing up under the load, but also reaching out with kindness 20:32 Ok Molly does something to me so I just want to act back. 20:36 No, restraining myself from that reaching out in kindness 20:40 But Jill that comes with practice, I mean you just don't 20:43 it's out of character, you just don't do that unless your 20:46 character has been developed. Because naturally it is 20:50 it's natural, it's human to want to, okay they did that to me 20:54 watch what I'm gonna do back. How do you deal with that? 20:58 That's a great point because that's natural, that's human 21:01 you think the sermon on the mount, Jesus said what? 21:04 Turn the other cheek and some times if someone says something 21:07 what do I wanna do? I remember one time someone lied about me 21:13 Ooh that hurts. So what are you supposed to do with that? 21:16 To me, you're right, of ourself the natural human response 21:20 is to get mad, to act out, to strike back, to speak back 21:26 to vindicate. Jesus says vengeance is mine, I'll repay 21:30 It's difficult to trust that to the Lord Jesus Christ, so 21:34 in my own experience it's a case of going before God 21:37 God you know my heart is full of self. You know what I'm 21:40 dealing with right now. I'm asking you to change me 21:43 I'm asking you to take that sin out of my heart and enable 21:48 me to respond the way you want me to. And I think as we endure 21:52 these trials, as we go through this what happens? God works 21:56 on our character and God works to develop in us His character 22:00 Point No.3 I just got one minute, is to trust in God 22:05 as the Righteous Judge, as Redeemer as Healer. Romans 12:19 22:10 Vengeance is mine, I will repay. So if I truly trust in God I say 22:14 Ok even though Pr. Tom did this to me, which he didn't, Pr. Tom 22:18 did this to me and I don't know what I'm going to do with it 22:22 but I'm going to trust Jesus, that He sees what's been done 22:25 He knows what's happened and in the end He is going to 22:30 make things right again. 22:33 Wow. I mean the word slave is a huge word. Because people 22:37 don't really like to be lorded over. People don't like to be 22:40 bullied, as it were, and so when we think about employment today 22:45 somebody might be in an employment situation where they 22:47 continually having to contend with their supervisor or their 22:49 manager. It's saying in that case if you haven't done 22:53 anything wrong you may suffer but not as an evil doer. Because 22:58 the Bible talks about suffering but not as an evil doer when 23:01 some of those challenges come in and now Molly I mean we talk 23:04 about social relationships now you've been married for a long 23:07 time and so you have the privilege of talking about 23:11 relationships with husbands and wives. 23:13 Husbands and wives, wives and husbands. When I first saw 23:17 the, what was assigned to me to teach I was a bit hesitant 23:22 because this is very sensitive, this is very sensitive Scripture 23:25 Hal and I pastored for many years and Pr. Lomacang, Pr. Tom 23:32 I'm sure you've seen where these Scriptures have been 23:35 abused. And so I thought before we go into these Scriptures, 23:42 for one thing I want to establish the difference 23:46 between submission and surrender and also, although we've all 23:54 heard the sad stories, I wanted to say that's the exception and 24:00 it's not the rule. But when you hear the sad stories you seem 24:05 to think that there's more of those than the good stories 24:10 but there are more positive stories than there are the 24:16 negative. And these Scriptures, see if they're taken, and we're 24:20 about to read them, if they're taken in an abusive sense 24:24 then you are going to have those that will overpower 24:30 or abuse, abuse is the right word. But when you take them in 24:35 their context and read them for what Peter is saying, this is 24:39 a beautiful teaching. And so, I just want to give balance 24:43 here. What Peter is addressing is Christian wives who are 24:50 married to non-believers. And so, the definition of submission 24:56 is to yield to another's authority. Now that is all 25:03 through Christianity, because we yield. What do we pray Shelley, 25:07 Jill most every morning when we do worship. Oh Father we submit 25:12 ourselves to You today. Your will for my life not my will, so 25:17 submission is just part and parcel of the Christian 25:21 relationship with the Lord, it's not a foreign word. Submission 25:25 to another's wishes is an attitude of the heart done 25:30 willingly. Submission is done willingly. Surrender, that's 25:36 when you're just beaten down and you just finally surrender 25:40 That is something that's being forced on you to do. 25:44 So I want you to know the difference between submission 25:47 and surrender. What Peter is talking about is that sweet 25:52 submissive spirit. So let's read now in 1 Peter 3:1-7 25:57 It says, Wives, again we're addressing wives that are 26:02 married to non-believers. Likewise be submissive to your 26:06 own husbands that even if some do not obey the Word 26:12 they, without a word, maybe won by the conduct of their wives. 26:17 Who when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by 26:23 fear, and that word fear is not being afraid, it is just 26:28 reverence. Reverence to God, reverence to His word. 26:31 Do not let your adornment be merely outward, arranging the 26:35 hair, wearing gold or putting on fine apparel. Rather let it be 26:39 what? The hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible 26:43 beauty of a gentle and a quiet spirit which is not just 26:48 precious, but very precious, in the sight of God for in this 26:54 manner in former times the holy women who trusted in God also 26:59 adorned themselves being submissive to their own husbands 27:03 as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters you are 27:09 I did a teaching one time, years ago, on whose daughter are you? 27:13 and it comes down to that heart of submission. Whose daughters 27:19 you are if you do good and are not afraid with terror. 27:24 Now again, Peter is addressing women that are married to 27:29 non-believers. Now there's a Scripture that says we're not to 27:34 be unequally yoked. So if a Christian young lady, and we've 27:39 seen this, we've all seen this where a Christian young lady 27:43 is just dazzled by this handsome young man who has started going 27:47 to church with her because she's let him know, I won't have 27:51 anything to do with you if you're not a Christian. 27:53 Right? We've seen those situations. So he starts going 27:57 to church with her just long enough to convince her that 28:00 she's got a chance of changing him. And so they wind up 28:07 falling in love and getting married. And then we've got a 28:11 Christian young lady that should've known better 28:14 because young ladies you'll never change a man. Only God 28:20 by the power of His Spirit, can change anybody's heart and so 28:25 we have this situation, then she wakes up rudely to find out 28:29 that she can't change him and she's in this situation where 28:33 Peter is addressing that, he's telling her how to conduct her 28:37 life and the way she conducts her life then is, she is quiet 28:43 and submissive to him and by her conduct she has the 28:47 opportunity to win him to the Lord. Now again, talking about 28:52 a sad situation, but also we have situations where Christian 28:58 women are married to non-Christian men because 29:01 they two non-Christians get married then she comes into 29:05 the knowledge of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 29:08 she comes out of darkness and into light. Where's her husband? 29:11 He's still in darkness. So again Peter's instruction 29:16 is beautiful instruction, a beautiful teaching. 29:19 Now I want to use my parents as an example. 29:23 And this is a good example. My mother was, I mean she was a 29:29 good, godly woman. I can't speak highly enough of her 29:32 and the example that she set for us, I just wish myself and 29:36 my sisters followed our mother's example more closely than what 29:40 we do. She was a beautiful lady You are a woman of God and a 29:44 wonderful example. Well my mother put a lot of good in 29:47 all of us but my father wasn't a Christian, he didn't proclaim 29:52 to be a Christian. But you know what my father did. He honored 29:55 my mother. He made sure every Sunday, we were Sunday keepers 30:00 then. She had a way, she had transportation to make sure that 30:04 we could get to church. And Sometimes it was an old farm 30:08 truck that just a day before we were using to haul hay 30:11 but Daddy made sure there was gas in it and mother could take 30:15 her children to church. Daddy wanted his children to be in 30:19 church. And so there is an example of a woman that lived 30:26 the example that Peter is talking about here and how it 30:29 affected my father who was a gambling, raw man, Southern 30:36 farmer. And but you know in the end, in his later years, he'd 30:40 accompany mother to church and my father, before he passed, 30:45 he came out of darkness and into light. He gave his life to 30:49 the Lord Jesus Christ. So there is an example of somebody that 30:53 followed this example and so although he was an ungodly man 30:59 she lived the example before him and the Scriptures came to 31:03 pass. Now I wanted us also, I wanted you to go to 31:10 1 Corinthians. We're going to look in verse 7. And this is 31:14 good counsel that we get here, this is from Paul and it's 31:18 talking about the same subject. 1 Corinthians 7 verses 12-16. 31:27 The Scripture says, but to the rest speak I, not the Lord, 31:33 if any brother hath a wife that believeth not, look at this 31:37 This is coming from another direction than what Peter did. 31:42 And she is pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her 31:46 away. And the woman which hath a husband that believeth not 31:50 and if he be pleased to dwell with her let her not leave him 31:55 for the unbelieving husband is, I like this word, sanctified by 32:00 the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the 32:04 husband. Else were your children unclean and now are they holy 32:09 So this is looking at the whole family, looking at the children 32:12 as well. But if the unbelieving depart let him depart. A brother 32:17 or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has 32:22 called us to peace. And I like that Scripture. God has called 32:25 us to peace. Now I have seen situations again, Hal and I 32:29 pastored for many years and in that we would see situations 32:34 and I just thought I would use one here. I used my parents as 32:37 the good example, sometimes there are bad examples, now 32:40 there just are. And I had a situation where this lady 32:45 married a man and she had a daughter and the daughter was 32:48 maybe 13 or 14 and the man was behaving inappropriately. 32:54 So what does the Scripture say here, he says God has called us 32:59 to peace. Well the lady came and said, do I have to stay with 33:02 this man because of this danger that is and you know we said 33:07 God is calling us to peace, protect your child. So there 33:11 are situations where the protection of your family is 33:16 foremost. Let me finish with this one point. Submission to 33:22 a husband does not mean a woman is to be a slave 33:26 in bondage to that man, but rather it is to be mutual 33:31 submission and love in the Lord where there is peace. 33:34 So beautiful teaching here. You know Molly you talked about how 33:37 how the wife's life, or the saved spouse sanctifies the one 33:42 that's not saved. That means they become a blessing to them 33:45 rather than atoning for that person's life, they become a 33:49 blessing to that individual. Paul in 1 Timothy 4:16 says 33:52 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them 33:55 for in doing this you will both save yourself and those who 34:00 hear you. So that's why your dad I believe later on gave his 34:03 life to the Lord by your mom's constant example. 34:05 Well thank you so much for that. Pr. Tom, good to have you 34:08 here today. You're dealing with social relationships. That is 34:12 our lesson for Wednesday. And I'm so glad you had that topic 34:17 instead of my having to cover that. 34:22 I want to begin with, let's begin with 1 Peter 2 verse11 34:32 When it comes to social relationships or as we see here 34:35 in this day's lesson it says Beloved I beg you as sojourners 34:40 and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against 34:43 us all. One of the things as Christians that we have to 34:47 remember is that this is not our home, we're just passing 34:52 through. And to actually be someone who is a sojourner 34:58 someone who is representing the kingdom of heaven, one of the 35:01 things that this text brings out is the very fact that we need to 35:04 abstain from fleshly lusts and you know I thought about what 35:09 does that really mean? What kind of things constitute this? 35:14 As a Christian we're living in a society today where anything 35:17 goes, right? Socially anything goes. Relationships, anything 35:22 goes. It's the cart before the horse. And I'm very concerned 35:27 for the next generation because this is all they see, 35:30 this being modeled for them, it's being taught in the media 35:34 and their peers are also practicing these things. 35:38 So as a Christian we really are, as we mentioned in another 35:41 lesson, we are peculiar people when it comes to the world 35:45 and how we relate to it. But it says, having your conduct 35:50 honorable among the Gentiles that when they speak against you 35:54 as evil doers they may by your good works, they see, they 35:59 observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 36:02 See oftentimes Christians are misunderstood 36:06 because there are things a Christian would not do 36:09 there are things a Christian will not say and from our 36:13 childhood on we have that peer pressure to give in to the lusts 36:18 of the world and to socially get caught up in that. 36:21 And I think that never leaves us, it's constantly we're being 36:24 bombarded by it. And, but God is calling us to something 36:28 much higher. And what is says here, when they speak evil 36:32 against you they can glorify God in the day of His visitation 36:37 The reason why they speak evil is because you're not buying 36:42 into their rhetoric. As a matter of fact when I think of Jesus 36:48 He was an indictment, His character was an indictment 36:50 to all of those that were living by the lusts of the flesh, 36:54 that were socially caught up into this, as I mentioned before 36:58 another time, this Babylonian thinking, anything that's not 37:01 of God. I invite you to turn, well first before I turn there 37:05 just want to reference Ezekiel 28:16. This really began in 37:10 heaven where backbiting takes place. It's the abundance of 37:15 trading that Lucifer the highest of all angels, entrusted by 37:21 God, he was the light bearer which is what his name 37:25 represents and he was defaming God. He was actually attacking 37:29 His reputation; can't touch His character but he was attacking 37:33 His reputation because he was living in the lusts, the very 37:37 very things that are going on in society that a Christian 37:39 has to withstand. So the God we serve has been through this 37:43 first. And as a matter of fact as we go on, let's go to John 8 37:49 because one of the things that's sad is we're often times looking 37:54 at church leadership when we see Jesus interacting in this way. 37:58 John 8 verse 44. 38:04 And I want to set this up a little bit. They're having a 38:07 little bit of a dialogue here and the church leaders are 38:11 saying pretty much, verse 41 They said to Him, we were not 38:17 born of fornication. We have one father, God. In other words 38:21 the illegitimacy of Jesus was what they were accusing Him of. 38:25 They obviously did not believe in His divine inception but 38:32 instead they're accusing Him of not having, to be illegitimate. 38:36 OK? And Jesus comes back with this in verse 42. 38:42 He said to them, if God were your Father you would love me 38:46 for I proceeded forth and came forth from God, nor have I come 38:50 of myself but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? 38:56 Because you are not able to listen to my word. 39:00 You are of your father the devil There's where it all started 39:04 again. And the desires of our father you want to do. 39:08 He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand 39:12 in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks 39:16 a lie he speaks from his own resources for he is a liar 39:20 and the father of it. So what Jesus is pointing out here 39:26 is that anyone is not in the kingdom of heaven under the 39:31 control of the Holy Spirit is really preaching and teaching 39:35 and acting out of the lusts of the flesh. We live in a society 39:39 today where we're having social interactions and we are to 39:42 represent Christ in all of these settings. And as we 39:47 continue in the chapter in 1 Peter 39:54 um I'm not going to get into Galatians 5 at this point 39:57 I'll do that at another lesson but that really spells out the 40:02 different things that really beset us. So it says, submit 40:07 yourself to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether 40:12 the king as supreme or to governors. 40:15 I was thinking about what you were saying Pr. Lomacang 40:19 about society today submitting to the governing forces that 40:25 are in place. That is something we have not seen at all. 40:29 There has been a total, some thing that I haven't witnessed 40:32 in my lifetime, rebellion against the way things stand 40:37 today. And I'm watching this tension and I'm watching this 40:41 social interaction going into places I have never seen before 40:45 when it comes to the political realm. And I often think 40:52 this is really revealing the heart of man. This is revealing 40:56 how corrupt that heart really is when we see some of the things 41:00 that are happening in society today. 41:07 You know one of the things about Jesus, cause we think about 41:12 ourselves as Christians, how are we to respond to all of this 41:16 Because I think Jesus surrounded Himself, He had people that were 41:20 admiring Him but some of them were activists. 41:23 Does He want us to be activists with our positions? What does he 41:28 really want us to focus on. We have to again I go back to the 41:31 original idea and that is we are sojourners, we are pilgrims 41:35 And this battle that's going on right now, that's waging 41:40 the enemy is really playing one side against the other 41:43 He has done it throughout my lifetime but he's doing it in a 41:47 very fierce way right now. If you look at verse 17 of 1 Peter 41:51 chapter 2, it says honor all people, love the brotherhood 41:55 fear God, honor the King. 41:59 So you know think about it, if there's no law what do we have? 42:06 Anarchy. That's right. Wherever we see places where the power 42:10 goes out and you see what starts to happen in streets, without 42:14 law there is anarchy. So God has systems in place which will 42:19 enable, in this great controversy that we're in, 42:21 for Him to accomplish His good in spite of the forces that are 42:26 working against that. Um, also it's been brought up before 42:35 but I think about what is not only spoken of by Peter but also 42:38 in other places to submit to the authorities that your work for. 42:44 You know often times I tell a Christian that if you are going 42:50 to ask your employer for the Sabbath off, 42:53 are you a hard worker? Do you respect the foreman, do you 42:57 respect the administration? Are you the type of person that 43:01 they respect? So have you earned the right to ask for something 43:07 that honors God? So at all times we as Christians in this social 43:12 network that we're involved in are being observed, many times 43:15 criticized, many times persecuted but at the same time 43:19 is exactly what the world is needing and it has a 43:22 transforming effect and that's what God wants us to be 43:26 in the community in which we live. Amen. 43:29 You brought out something that was very interesting about 43:31 the unrest that's existing in society today. If you go back 43:34 to the 60s you go back to Berkeley, you know the protest 43:37 in Berkeley, CA. It seemed as though in America where we 43:40 boast religious freedom we also have this thing called freedom 43:42 of speech but it's becoming intense as we go on. I think 43:47 that's what you're pointing out it's intensity. And Jesus made 43:50 the point, the reason why Christians should not be 43:52 involved in that He says, my kingdom is not of this world 43:55 if my kingdom were of this world my servants would fight 43:59 and so we have our minds focused as sojourners on 44:02 another kingdom. Thank you Pastor Tom. Shelley, you have 44:05 Christianity and the social order. What a topic for today. 44:08 Yes, really. In this kind of, you all have led up to this 44:12 swell, there's been a bit of overlap but when you think what 44:15 happened in Acts chapter 4, we see Peter and John who were 44:20 out, the early church had so many successes that the Jewish 44:26 elders and the hierarchy were very upset by this. So they 44:31 arrested them and when they arrested them they questioned 44:35 them and then they released them with a stern warning 44:38 don't preach about this Jesus anymore. We don't want you 44:42 preaching about Jesus anymore. What happened? Paul and John 44:48 go out, or Peter and John I mean, go out and they start 44:52 preaching straightaway about Jesus. They were compelled 44:55 to preach, it was like fire in their bones. So let's look 44:58 turn to Acts chapter 5 and we're going to look at what happened 45:04 because here they go straight away out preaching and they come 45:09 and they're arrested again. So Acts 5, we'll read through 45:13 verses 27-32. So it says, when they had brought them they sat 45:19 them before the council and the High Priest asked them saying 45:22 Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name 45:27 and look you've filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to 45:30 bring this man's blood on us. But Peter and the other apostles 45:34 answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. 45:38 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered 45:42 by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand 45:46 to be Prince and Savior and to give repentance to Israel 45:49 and forgiveness of sins and we are witnesses to these things 45:53 So I mean they couldn't not preach. And so also is the Holy 45:57 Spirit whom God has given to those who obey. So as we said 46:02 earlier when human law conflicts with God's law, our duties as 46:08 as Christians, our duty is to make certain that we obey God 46:13 rather than men, because you know God has sovereignty over 46:17 human affairs and God is the one who instituted civil government 46:21 and He did it for the benefit of man. And in most cases, it 46:26 it's desirable that we follow the law of the land. I mean 46:30 there's generally quite a lot of benefit for that. But now 46:33 let's look at what he said in 1 Peter 2, verses 13-17 46:41 because when we consider what he's saying here, we've just 46:46 I want to read Acts 5 first because he's got a line drawn 46:51 in the sand saying we'll go this far and no further. We will 46:55 we will obey the law without disobeying, I mean as long 47:00 as we don't have to compromise God's commandments. 47:06 Peter says, therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance 47:10 of man for the Lord's sake whether to the king as supreme 47:13 or to governors or to those who are sent by him for the 47:16 punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good 47:19 for this is the will of God that by doing good you may put to 47:24 silence the ignorance of foolish men. He's talking about the 47:28 foolish Gentiles here, as free, Peter's saying to them, you're 47:33 free yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice but as bond 47:38 servants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood 47:42 fear God, honor the king. As we pointed out, sometimes 47:47 man, because man's imperfect sometimes we've got a flawed 47:52 and sinful things that are happening in the government 47:56 That's all there is to it. But responsible Christians should be 48:01 responsible citizens unless what they're passing is saying 48:07 going over the line, if you will You know when Israel was under 48:13 bondage to the Roman yoke Jesus said these words found in 48:17 Matthew 22:21, here is this ungodly Roman government 48:25 but what does Jesus say? Give back to Caesar the things that 48:29 are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. 48:32 So we see that Jesus is even saying, follow the government 48:38 You know you've got to pay your taxes. Both Peter and Paul urged 48:43 the Christians to be good citizens. Now isn't it 48:48 interesting, who was the governing authority during this 48:52 time that Peter's writing? Nero. And he was tyrannical, he was 49:00 evil, he was notoriously cruel and a repressive government 49:05 he, it is his government that ended up killing both Paul 49:10 and Peter. But Paul taught, as I think someone already read it 49:15 Let's turn to 1 Timothy 2 and we'll look at verse 1. 49:21 1 Tim 2 verse 1 and 2 is what we want to read. Jill do you have 49:29 that? Would you read that for us please? 49:33 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, 49:38 intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men 49:42 for kings and all who are in authority that we may lead a 49:46 quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 49:50 So how do we then, if we are to honor and respect the government 49:55 how is Paul saying first to honor and respect the government 49:57 Do you know I had, I shouldn't even maybe tell this but I had 50:00 a lady call me who said I cannot honor and respect this 50:04 government. She's very upset with some things that are going 50:09 on. And she said, just can't do it. And I told her, pray for 50:13 them. We are told that we are to intercede and pray for them 50:19 and that's how we honor, we pay our taxes, we pray for those who 50:25 are in government. So let's look at, well actually I don't 50:30 have another scripture right here. Here's the things that 50:33 I just want to point out. Paul and Peter commanded our 50:37 cooperation as far as our consciences would allow, why? 50:42 So that God's people would be respected and the message of the 50:47 Gospel would be respected. That's the main point here. 50:51 Our freedom, he says in the scripture, you know as free 50:57 but our freedom is not so that we can indulge our own motives 51:03 or indulge selfish pleasures. God's government operates on 51:08 two fundamental principles of love. Love the Lord your God 51:13 with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul 51:16 and love your neighbor as yourself. So we're obligated 51:21 as His covenant people to love others. Love fulfills the law 51:26 he tell us. So we live in subordination to the country's 51:29 government unless the government laws violate our religious 51:33 convictions in situations where you cannot obey both God and 51:39 the government, obey God. That was clear. And we have to be 51:44 encouraged. Let's turn to Luke 6:22 because I find great 51:47 encouragement in this when we are persecuted. 51:54 If we're gonna be persecuted Peter says now this is, 1 Peter 51:58 is all about, I mean these people were being persecuted 52:01 by the Romans, by the Jews, by their families but he's saying 52:06 if you're gonna be persecuted what you should be persecuted 52:09 for is for obeying God not for breaking God's rules 52:15 or moral or civil laws. So he says in Luke 6:22 52:20 Why don't you read that Tom. Blessed are you when me hate you 52:24 and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your 52:28 name as evil for the Son of Man's sake. 52:30 So says Jesus. These are words to encourage us. You know 52:34 you don't feel like you're being blessed when you're 52:37 being persecuted but there are Christians who've been tortured 52:40 and beaten and jailed. There's even Christians who are losing 52:42 their lives around the world. We live in a developed country 52:48 that has laws that protect us, at least for this time we do. 52:52 But there's so many Christians who don't have. But what they're 52:57 doing is even though when their convictions cause them to obey 53:02 God rather than men, what happened is Jesus says, you've 53:07 got a blessing. This isn't your home you've got an incorruptible 53:11 inheritance that is in heaven. The lesson pointed out one thing 53:14 that I want to, I thought this was interesting. It said that 53:18 Christians should seek to improve society. 53:21 With moral issues here at stake we should fight and be highly 53:27 involved in legally promoting the kind of social changes 53:31 that reflect the values and teachings of Jesus. 53:35 But I read on Friday and I wanna read this because this is 53:38 really interesting, Friday's further thought in the Sabbath 53:42 School Lesson. It said, Ellen G. White advocated that SDAs 53:47 be good citizens and obey the law of the land. She even told 53:50 people not to openly and flagrantly disobey local Sunday 53:56 laws. Ha. She said don't disobey those local Sunday laws. That is 54:01 they must keep the 7th day Sabbath holy as God has 54:05 commanded but that they don't need to deliberately violate 54:09 laws that forbid Sunday labor. In one case in particular 54:13 however, she was clear that Adventists should not obey the 54:15 law. If a slave had escaped his or her master the law required 54:20 that the slave be returned to that master. She railed against 54:23 that law and told Adventists not to obey despite the 54:27 consequences. And here is a quote. When the laws of men 54:31 conflict with the word and law of God we are to obey the latter 54:34 the law of God, whatever the consequences maybe. 54:37 The law of our land requiring us to deliver the slave to his 54:40 master we are not to obey and we must abide the consequences 54:45 of violating this law. The slave is not the property of any man 54:48 God is his rightful master and man has no right to take God's 54:51 workmanship into his hands and claim him as his own 54:56 and that's from Testimonies for the Church, Volume 1, 54:58 pages 201 and 202. I just thought that was fascinating 55:02 And you know we talk about these social issues that cover 55:05 everything from church and state to relationships to 55:08 marriage, to social relationships and then 55:10 what Shelley just talked about, the Christian in a social 55:14 setting and it all comes down to reality that and we summarize 55:19 this by saying when the laws are not out of harmony with 55:22 God's law then the Christian should abide by it, but there's 55:27 a point you don't just become anarchist because you see that 55:30 this is something you disagree with. Now I think that's the 55:33 kinda the tender part of it, the fulcrum point if I use that 55:35 phrase or that word because there's a delicate balance 55:39 between where we are in a place as a people in a society like 55:43 in America use that with all the political you know fodder that's 55:47 going on right now, all the discontent and all the things 55:50 you talked about, supporting or not supporting the present 55:52 administration, we should not be the kind of individuals that are 55:55 sitting at the cusp of what can we do to show our displeasure 55:58 But we should exist in a peaceable spirit knowing, 56:02 and I think that this text, look at it very quickly in Hebrews 56:05 11 one of the reasons why, you know you think about the life of 56:08 Abraham. Abraham was a pilgrim for sure and not only is Hebrews 56:13 chapter 11 a chapter of faith but it's said that all the 56:17 things endured by the, I could call these the people of faith 56:21 all the things endured by the people of faith were for one 56:24 particular reason. They all had their minds fixed on a different 56:27 country. Verse 16, who has that? 56:32 But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country 56:35 therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for He 56:39 has prepared a city for them. Amen. So when you know that 56:43 this is just your temporary home Molly, when this is your 56:46 temporary home you endure as a soldier. You endure hardship 56:51 as a good soldier and you recognize there's one other 56:55 thing because it's gonna transition one day to the point 56:57 where John 16 says the time will come when they will kill you 57:01 and they will think they offer God service. We've seen this 57:05 in different places in history. Millions, millions, millions 57:08 in various governments. But when it comes to the delicate 57:11 balance, we are told to be a people who recognize that the 57:15 kingdom of God is not of this world. We are not to try to 57:18 design the world to be heaven because then we wouldn't want 57:21 to desire to leave here. This world is not gonna be the place 57:24 where we find everything in favor of those who are looking 57:27 for a better city. For a better country. But is it gonna be a 57:32 better country Pr. Tom? Amen Is it gonna be a better city 57:34 Molly? Absolutely. Is there a heaven being prepared for us 57:36 Jill? Is your home that's not here Shelley? And we all look 57:40 for that, so as a social Christian I'll use that phrase 57:44 as a social Christian may the graces of our relationship with 57:48 God and man permeate everything we do so people, as Peter says 57:53 when they look at you, they'll say at least they were good 57:57 people. May that be your desire and may God accomplish that 58:00 in your life for His glory. Amen. |
Revised 2024-05-30