The Missionary Nature of God

Overview of Lesson 1: The Missionary Nature of God

(Following this link will allow you to view the lesson in more detail: Sabbath School Org. Lesson 1)

Karakia Timatanga | Opening Prayer

He hōnore, he korōria ki te atua
All honour and glory to our maker

He maungārongo ki te whenua
Let there be peace and tranquillity on earth

He whakaaro pai ki ngā tangata katoa
Goodwill to mankind
Āmine.                                  
Amen

Saturday | Sabbath | Hātarei

This week's lesson lays the foundation for why we need to have missionaries and how it relates to the nature of God. The opening two sentences begin by portraying what the world is like and what humanity is like. The Christian world view is fundamentally different from others and concludes that people are evil. Most of us can see this in our own lives if we care to admit it. We can definitely see it in others and in the systems, organisations and politics we work with. One thing that we need also to keep in mind is that although we are sinners, people who miss the mark, we are also Gods' children through creation and redemption. Sabbath's lesson reminds us that one day all things will be made new. This is a great hope for us all as we see the effects of man's economically driven destruction of the planet. However as Christians let us not fall into the trap of not acting in redemptive ways towards our fellow man including actions which protect the home God has given us now. Ps 24:1 describes the earth as the Lord's. If we can't look after this one what makes us think that we will look after the next one?

Sunday | Rātapu

God created man and woman

The discourse in today's world is increasingly hostile to the concept of a literal creation yet Jesus believed it (Mt 19:4). Now it seems to me that if we believe in the claims that He makes we also ought to believe the things he believed. Gen 1:26-28 from a Christian perspective places a value on life that puts man above the other elements of nature. It also requires him to take care of the other life forms and the habitat.

Monday | Rāhina 

Free Will

Adventists believe in free will and this is hugely important if we also believe in right and wrong, good and evil, the ability to choose and the exercise of the mind to make judgments. The lesson makes some very good points about religion, ethics and science in relationship to morality. Religion and ethics should be closely connected, they should influence each other but they don't always. Jesus religion and his ethics matched. There was a huge gulf between what some of the pharisees believed and the fact that they were plotting to kill Jesus. It is not unusual to find unethical people and leaders in churches, including Adventist ones. Sometimes the unethical behaviour is simply ignorant; on other occasions it is more calculating. The three things that God requires of us (Mic 6:8): justice, mercy and humility towards God all need us to exercise free will. These things are core to good relationships with our fellow man. This is the basis of God's judgment.

Tuesday | Rātū 
The Fall

Genesis three is critical to the faith of Christians who believe in Jesus as Saviour. If these early parts of Genesis are mythology the logical nature of Christianity falls down. The fall is the biblical explanation for sin in the world. Sin is the reason we need a Saviour. No fall - no such thing as sin - no need for Jesus. Many non-believers connect the dots but a believer who dismisses the fall has a very difficult theological problem to overcome.

Wanting stuff when its not ours to have is still a problem today. The recent court case here in Auckland illustrates this well. Alex Swney (Meadows, 2015) deliberately avoided paying tax and made false invoices, effectively stealing millions of dollars. He was on $285,000 a year and didn't think he was being paid enough. He took what wasn't rightfully his - same story.

Wednesday  | Rāapa
God's Initiative to Save Us

I think this is the highlight of the weeks lesson. After Adam and Eve sinned, God came looking for them. It is really nice to know that when things are really bad, God still comes looking for us. Jesus was sent looking for us as well. "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." (Luke 19:10). At some stage we are all lost (Luke 15): lost unknowingly, lost helplessly and lost deliberately. The course Adam and Eve took was at first deliberate. They then became helpless, fearful and then tried to justify their actions. I like the response of Bartimaeus. He knows, his condition and he cries out. He takes the opposite approach to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve go into hide and go seek mode whereas Bartimaeus cries at the top of his lungs "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" (Mk 10:47).

Thursday | Rāpare
Metaphors of Mission

Jesus talks about Christians as being salt and light. Our influence as Schantz and Thompson (2015) write curbs the world's corruption. Why do so many Adventists choose willingly to shelter in Adventist communities?

Points for Christians to consider and practise

1. How do you see yourself and loved ones - evil or children of God?
2. What value do you place on caring for the creation?
3. What is most important your religion or your ethical practise?
4. Did the fall happen? If it didn't do you need Jesus?
5. In relation to God where are you?

Closing Prayer - Karakia Whakamutunga

2 Corinthians 13:14 (NIV)

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Kia tau ki a tātou katoa te atawhai o tō tātou Ariki, a Ihu Karaiti me te aroha o te Atua, me te whiwhingatahitanga ki te wairua tapu, ake, ake, ake, āmine.

References

Meadows, R. (2015, June 24). 

Heart of the City founder Alex Swney sentenced to 5 years' jail. Stuff. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/69645518/heart-of-the-city-founder-alex-swney-sentenced-to-5-years-jail.

Schantz, B. & Thompson, S. (2015). Biblical Missionaries. Adult Sabbath School Quarterly 3Q. 2015. Silver Spring: MD: Pacific Press.