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Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 8:20-23; John 3:16-17; Matt. 9:36; Eph. 2:8-10; 1 John 3:16-17; Rev. 14:6-7.

Memory Text: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10, NKJV).

As soon as we talk about God’s commands, requirements or instructions, we run the risk—or even face the temptation—of thinking that somehow what we do can earn or contribute to our salvation or otherwise gain favor with God. But the Bible tells us repeatedly that we are sinners saved by God’s grace through Jesus and His substitutionary death for us on the cross. What could we possibly add to this in any way? Or, as Ellen G. White has written: “If you would gather together everything that is good and holy and noble and lovely in man and then present the subject to the angels of God as acting a part in the salvation of the human soul or in merit, the proposition would be rejected as treason”. – Faith and Works, p. 24.

Thus, too, even our works of mercy and compassion toward those in need should not be seen as legalistic. On the contrary, as we grow in our understanding and appreciation of salvation, the link between God’s love and His concern for the poor and oppressed will be passed on to us, recipients of His love. We have received, so we will give. When we see how God so loved us, we also see how much He loves others and calls us to love them, as well.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 7.

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Three weeks ago I was writing about how our community service centers provide practical ways for us to worship God, and serve the community. Currently, I have a group Bible study with several of our friends in the Homosassa Florida community, while they wait to get their food at the Homosassa Seventh-day Adventist Church’s food pantry on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Not everyone who comes for food chooses to join my Bible study, and that is totally okay. But you know what? They all get a Bible study anyway. When they meet our community service volunteers, who are full of Jesus’ grace they are seeing God’s Word in action in the flesh. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NKJV

Every place where Jesus spread grace and truth He was spreading the Word of God. He was the Word of God in action in the flesh. I believe I can say, that when people meet our community service volunteers it is like meeting Jesus. Paul says that by having the love of Christ, we too can be filled with all the fulness of God. 

to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19 NKJV 

Satan wanted to have God’s power but he did not want to have God’s self-sacrificing love and character. Of course we cannot be God. That is not what Paul is saying. Paul is saying that we can be filled with God’s love and self-sacrificing character. When we are emptied of self, and filled with the grace and truth of Jesus, our works themselves will be the Word of God in action in the flesh. 

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12 NKJV

Jesus says,

Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33 NLJV

Of course Jesus is talking about being empty of self in this life so we can have eternal life. I believe Dorcas is the perfect illustration of Jesus’ teaching on this point. Keep in mind, In the New Testament no mention is every made of a priest or elder be raised back to life, but we do see a selfless community service leader who was totally empty of self raised back to life.

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At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.  But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.  And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them.  Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them.  But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up.  Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. Acts 9:36-41 NKJV

I remember when I was a child, Seventh-day Adventist Churches named their community services centers after Dorcas, and they were called Dorcas buildings. Like Dorcas (Dorcas means gazelle in English), community services volunteers demonstrate to the community the love and compassion of Jesus today. Through community services centers we see a practical demonstration of the very essence God’s Word. By feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and providing practical services for the community, this is the one branch of the church the community would most obviously miss if the church were to disappear. More than that, our community service programs may very well be the most accurate picture the church portrays of God and His Word. 

I know we are not saved by works. I realize many a hard worker has died at an early age. Still, I wonder if Dorcas was such a wise steward of her time and blessed so many people in the community, demonstrating God’s Word in action in the flesh, that God felt it necessary to extend her life? High priests, apostles, pastors and head elders have never been raised from the dead yet, but God raised a humble community services center worker back to life. That tells me community services workers have a very special place in God’s heart! Thank you to all of you who minister to the community at your local Seventh-day Adventist Community Service Centers!

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Finnish Father’s Forgiveness

By Sakari Vehkavuori

Finland was mired in a bloody civil war in 1918. The Reds, mainly comprised of the working class, were locked in conflict with the Whites, mostly from the middle and upper classes.

Image © Pacific Press

My great-grandfather Viktor Ståhlberg pleaded with his son, my great-uncle Väinö Ståhlberg, not to join the White troops. Viktor, who had joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church three years earlier, quoted the words of Jesus in Matthew 26:52, “For all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (NKJV).

“Please, my son, do not take off with your friends to join the army”, he said.

But Väinö felt a strong urge to fight for what he believed, and he left home under the darkness of night. He met friends on the ice-covered Gulf of Finland early one Sunday morning.

Almost immediately, Red soldiers seized Väinö and the others. It later emerged that a housemaid who had fallen in love with Väinö had revealed his plans to a Red sympathizer, who, in turn, had tipped off the Red army.

That night, the young men were put on a horse-drawn sleigh, and two armed Red soldiers drove them back onto the frozen Gulf of Finland. The soldiers cut a hole in the ice and ordered the prisoners to stand in a row. Väinö refused and was shot dead on the spot. Then three more young men were killed. Two tried to escape and were shot dead.

After that, a second group of prisoners fled. As the two soldiers chased them, one of the prisoners, who had pretended to be dead near the ice hole, fled to freedom. He told others what had happened.

Back in the gulf, the Reds threw the bodies of the dead into the ice hole.

Väinö’s father, Viktor, and the rest of the family mourned for days.

After some time, the Whites gained the upper hand as the 1918-20 Civil War wound down. They captured 10 Red prisoners and decided to execute them in revenge for the death of Väinö and his friends.

Viktor grabbed his Bible and hurried to the hilltop execution site.

“Now this slaughtering is enough”, he declared. “You cannot kill any Reds for my son’s lost life, not one”.

As he preached on the hill, the cycle of revenge was broken, and the lives of the Red prisoners were spared. Among those 10 Reds were the two sons of a local blacksmith. Seeing his sons saved, the joyful blacksmith started to read the Bible and joined the Adventist Church.

God also has blessed the family of Viktor, pictured left. Eight family members have served as Adventist pastors, including me and Väinö’s brother Toivo Seljavaara, a public evangelist who baptized more than 1,500 people.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

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Further Thought: 

Read Ellen G. White, “Dorcas—Her Ministry and Its Influence”, pages 66, 67, in Welfare Ministry; “A Liberal Church”, pages 335-345, in The Acts of the Apostles; “This Is Pure Religion”, pages 35-41, in Welfare Ministry.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“The Saviour has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of caring for sorrowful, tempted souls. A company of believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown; yet in Christ they may do a work in the home, the neighborhood, the church, and even in ‘the regions beyond,’ whose results shall be as far-reaching as eternity”. – Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 640.

“Unselfish liberality threw the early church into a transport of joy; for the believers knew that their efforts were helping to send the gospel message to those in darkness. Their benevolence testified that they had not received the grace of God in vain. What could produce such liberality but the sanctification of the Spirit? In the eyes of believers and unbelievers it was a miracle of grace”. – Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 344.

Discussion Questions:

Summary: 

Spurred by Jesus’ commission and the power of the Holy Spirit, the disciples and the early believers set out to share the message and mission of Jesus as widely as possible. Drawing from the teachings of Jesus and the Hebrew Scriptures, the early church was a new kind of community, sharing what they had with those in need, both within and beyond their community. By their example and their teaching recorded in their letters to these churches, the first Christian leaders urged the believers to lives of faithfulness and service, particularly to those in need.

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Christian tradition suggests that James, the brother or stepbrother of Jesus, became a leader of the early church in Jerusalem and was the James who acted as chairman for the Jerusalem council (see Acts chapter 15, as well as Galatians chapters 1 and 2). If so, it is likely that he was the author of the letter preserved in the Bible as the book of James.

James

James was a common name at the time, but if these were the same person, he may also have been the church leader known as James “the Just”, which suggests a wise leader who properly prioritized his treatment of others and cared for those often forgotten or downtrodden. The book that bears his name has been described as “the New Testament’s book of Proverbs”, focused on practical godliness and living wisely as followers of God.

The author of James was anxious to remind his Christian readers to “not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22, NIV), and that the religion that matters—that is pure and lasting in God’s sight—is focused on caring for the needy and the oppressed and resisting the corrupting influences of the society around them (see James 1:27).

Read James 2:1-9 and James 5:1-5. How is James’s attitude to those who are rich different from that commonly held in most societies? What are his particular instructions regarding how rich and poor are to be treated within the church community?

James argues that wishing someone well—even wishing them God’s blessing—will be of little comfort if they are suffering from cold and hunger. The provision of real food and clothing will be far more useful in expressing and demonstrating our concern for them than all the noble sentiments and good wishes (see James 2:14-16). James uses this as an example of the interaction between faith and works in the context of our relationship with God. He also repeats (James 2:8) what Jesus taught about loving your neighbor as yourself, showing how this commandment is to be obeyed in daily life. It is lived out in service to God and to others, not to earn salvation but because it is the manifestation of true faith.

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