1. “You shall not take vengeance.” The opening words of this week’s lesson include a command to love our neighbors, even the ones who don’t agree with us. What would life be like if everybody who followed Jesus was eager to share God’s love with others? Was that the purpose God had in mind when He raised up a holy nation several thousand years ago? What has gone wrong? Can all that is wrong be corrected?
2. The God who hears.  Four hundred years living in slavery. Four hundred years with an unfulfilled promise of freedom. And then…a bush burns in the wilderness. What is God saying to His people through the burning bush?  Looking back, who had benefited from four centuries of slavery and harsh treatment? Why didn’t God pay attention to His people suffering as they did generation after generation? Or did He? Did He offer the Israelite nation peace and wealth and comfort in the years to come? As we wait with baited breath for the final fulfillment of God’s promise of redemption, how can we know that God hears us even as He heard His children in their days of suffering? 
3. The Ten Commandments. How often do you study the ten commandments in depth? Or do you simply glance at commandments like the one that says “thou shalt not murder” and assure yourself that  yes, you surely keep that one because you’ve never murdered anyone? What else should be involved in the fulfillment of that commandment? What about the commands that warn us not to steal, not to bow down to carved images, not to take God’s name in vain and the others? How can our thoughts of  revenge or anger show we are not keeping God’s commandments to the extent that He longs for us to follow? What can we as Christians do to seal our commitment to God’s law and keep every commandment as God intends?
4. Slaves, widows, fatherless, foreigners. What do the Ten Commandments have to do with the multitudes of people who are excluded from the benefits we can enjoy from carefully following all of them? “Detailed instructions” followed the giving of the Ten Commandments. Why do you think these commands and rituals were initiated and preserved for God’s people? Talk about some of these commands with the aim of connecting them to daily life. How does God want us to deal with unfortunate people around us? Why is our treatment of the less fortunate so important in our Christian life? What can you do to support the sharing of food, clothing, comfort and safety with those around us who are in great need?  
5. Second tithing.  Do all persons who belong to the church you attend return an honest tithe to God’s storehouse, the church? Do you need to know this before you plan your own tithing and church support? What about giving a “second tithe”? Is there a special blessing in store for those who double their tithing to provide more support to the church?  The principle of giving to help others in need has been established through the centuries. Can even the member who has very little income still return tithe to God’s church?  A second tithe? How does God show His  approval of generous giving by His people?
6. The year of jubilee.  Even a fast read of the Old Testament tells of the value land ownership has had to God’s people. What do you think of the plan in the nation of a “year of jubilee” every seventh year? What happened to debts and mortgages in that year? What difference would such a policy make in our financial living today? How carefully were the requirements for a year of jubilee carried out by the Israelite people?  Since we don’t follow the principle of the year of jubilee in this time, should we remove from our spending plan all consideration for those who  are in financial distress? What can we do to help people suffering from financial hardship? What is our reward for generosity and caring? 

Amen!(0)

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Key Thought: Jesus has shown a liberal, tender, and hospitable spirit toward the poor. He still calls His people to exercise their sympathy, tenderness, and benevolence.

July 13, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Exodus 3:16,17.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why was it important to begin outlining His plan for Israel by describing the end result first?
3. Personal Application: How important is it to you that God is a God who sees the suffering and hears their cries for help? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Why does God wait so long to relieve suffering and oppression? It sounds like it takes forever and He doesn’t do enough to help the needy.” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Exodus 22:21-23.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why did the Israelites get reminded of their own slavery in instructions on how they should treat the less fortunate in their new society?
3. Personal Application: What memory in your experience makes you more compassionate about the suffering of injustice to others? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Too many people are crying about injustice and suffering when much of what they are going through is the result of their own bad choices and lifestyle. How can we help them without enabling them in their poor lifestyle choices and lack of initiative and motivation?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Deuteronomy 14:22-29.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What is the primary purpose of tithing?
3. Personal Application: How do you feel about giving extra over the tithe in order to help the poor or those in need? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “What do we need to do to make sure we have a reliable and accurate understanding of the needs and desperate situations around us? How does having this knowledge help us be more efficient and effective in serving others?” How would you reply to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Leviticus 25:8-23..

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. How do we keep from oppressing one another?
3. Personal Application: Have you ever been oppressed? In what way? What solutions do you see to address this? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

Amen!(3)

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Read Matthew 22:37-40, then Exodus 20:1-17. How does Jesus’ summary of the commandments help your understanding as you read each of the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments read like a constitution. After a brief preamble that sets out the basis on which these statements are made—in this case, the fact of God’s deliverance of His people—the document lists the core principles on which the nation is founded.

The Ten Commandments

In this case, there were specific commands about how human beings could best live out their love for God and love for each other. It is little wonder that many nations with a Christian heritage have drawn the basis of their laws from these guiding principles.

While many of these statements are brief, we should not underestimate the breadth of their impact and the comprehensiveness of the Ten Commandments as the law of life. For example, the sixth commandment—”You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13, NIV)—summarizes and includes “all acts of injustice that tend to shorten life” as well as “a selfish neglect of caring for the needy or suffering”. – Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 308. Similarly, the prohibition against stealing (see Exod. 20:15) condemns “slave dealing, and forbids wars of conquest”. It “requires the payment of just debts or wages”, as well as prohibiting “every attempt to advantage oneself by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another”. – Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 309.

We can easily tell ourselves that we are not bad people. For example, if we are not directly involved in murder or obvious stealing, it might seem we are doing OK. But when Jesus talked about the commandments, He made it clear that the commandments are not fulfilled simply by not doing a few specific acts. Rather, our thoughts, motivations, and even failure to do things we know we should can break the law of God (see Matt. 5:21-30).

So, imagine a society in which each of the Ten Commandments were taken seriously and lived out fully. It would be an active, vibrant society in which everyone enthusiastically acted on their love for God by loving and caring for each other.

Amen!(0)

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“I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering” (Exod. 3:7, NIV).

Four hundred years is a long time to wait, especially when waiting in conditions of increasingly harsh slavery.

Slaves in Egypt

God had promised that He would return to His people and bring them out of Egypt, but for generation after generation they were left to build the wealth and prestige of their idolatrous oppressors, and all the while God seemed silent.

Then God manifested Himself in a unique way. He appeared in a burning bush out in the remote desert to an unlikely leader, a fugitive prince and humble shepherd named Moses. He gave the reluctant Moses a job to do, and the first part of that job was to go back to the Israelites in Egypt with the message that God had heard and seen their oppression—and, yes, He did care. In fact, He was about to do something to change their situation dramatically.

Read Exodus 3:16-17. Why was it important for God to begin outlining His plan for these people with this specific message? What catches your attention about this statement from God?

But God does not stop there. Not only does He have a plan for a better land, He does not intend for the people to escape from Egypt destitute. For hundreds of years, they had contributed to the wealth of the Egyptian Empire. God foresaw the initial resistance from Pharaoh, but He assured Moses that the Israelites would be compensated for their years of hard labor: “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed” (Exod. 3:21, NIV).

After their years of oppression, God took the opportunity to establish a new kind of society with these former slaves. He wanted them to live in a different way and to establish a society that would continue to be sustainable and viable. His plan was that this new kind of society would be a model for the surrounding nations and, like Abraham, that the blessings they received from God would also bless the whole world.

Amen!(0)

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About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:1-4 NLT

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

Do we live our lives like this is a practical teaching, or just something cute Jesus said?  I mean seriously, how could a little child really represent  the greatest person in heaven?

I am afraid that even in the church, we have a man-made hierarchical system that defies the teachings of Jesus. We just can’t seem to swallow the fact that someone like a humble primary Sabbath School student could be greater than the General Conference President. Surely Jesus didn’t actually mean what He said in Matthew 18:1-4! Surely He was just trying to say something cute, right? Or did Jesus really mean it?

In the medical field I have heard of doctors looking down on Registered Nurses, and RN’s looking down on Licensed Practical Nurses..This may come as a surprise for some of you in the medical field, but many of us outside of the medical field have great respect and appreciation for everyone taking care of our health. We appreciate caring and compassionate LPNs just as much as doctors. We respect LPNs and RNs just as much and sometimes even more so than we do doctors. Fran, a friend of mine in Texas, was a nurse who was studying to become a nurse practitioner. She was driven to use all of her time studying hard to become a nurse practitioner, because her third-grade teacher in a parochial school told her she would never be smart enough to be a nurse. She was determined to prove the teacher wrong. The thing is, though, that the teacher had already died and would never know. Meanwhile, the patients that came to see Fran knew nothing about her struggle to prove her self-worth. All they knew was that they needed her help. So long as Fran could help them, they didn’t really care about any rivalry with a teacher who was not even in the picture any more. Fran was already loved, respected and appreciated by those who needed her. Any condescension from a former teacher was totally irrelevant to Fran’s medical ministry. 

Likewise, as I do gospel work in the community, I find that many people in the community do not see a distinction between pastors, lay pastors or Bible workers. To them a gospel worker is a gospel worker. Period. 

Consider this,

Then Moses told the people of Israel, “The Lord has specifically chosen Bezalel son of Uri, grandson of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. The Lord has filled Bezalel with the Spirit of God, giving him great wisdom, ability, and expertise in all kinds of crafts. He is a master craftsman, expert in working with gold, silver, and bronze.  He is skilled in engraving and mounting gemstones and in carving wood. He is a master at every craft. Exodus 35:30-33 NLT 

God not only knows kings, prophets and priests. He also knows construction workers, and He fills them with His Spirit and wisdom just like prophets and kings! This has me thinking Jesus was not just being cute when He said that being like a humble child was to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. He really meant it, for real! 

About 35 years ago, my friend was flying on the company jet. She had an entry-level position but was invited on the trip since there was an empty seat, and the the plane was going to where she had family. Having never flown on the jet before, she got on and just took the first available seat. As the flight was nearing its destination, it was pointed out to her that she had taken the company vice-president’s seat. Horrified that she had done so, she asked where the vice-president was sitting. She was informed that he was sitting in the back of the plane. She looked back and found him sitting alone in the back just as happy as could be. Either the vice-president did not think too highly of himself, or he realized whatever seat he was sitting in was the vice-president’s seat. Maybe both. But he never said anything to my friend. Maybe he did not look down on my friend, because he realized he was no greater than his employees. 

Even though Eli had his problems, I have to hand it to him. When He realized God was talking to little Samuel, he told him next time he heard the voice to say, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.” Eli could have thought to himself, That couldn’t be God talking, because if it was God, He would be talking to me and not a little boy.  Praise God, Eli was humble enough to realize that God may just want to talk to a little boy instead of the high priest. See 1 Samuel 3:1-21.

Six verses after telling us a humble child-like person is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven Jesus also said,

“Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father. Matthew 18:10 NLT

That confirmed to me that  Jesus really meant it, when  He said that anyone as humble as a little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Amen!(2)

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