15. Sabbath

[Pastor Ralph]

Please share your thoughts on one or more of the questions in this lesson. 

[Christa]

Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?

I have seen people in my life trying to use this excuse for their own sake. I have done it a time or two in my life as well, but we need to remember to seek God's word on whatever topic it is.  

We must also keep in mind: Does it help or hurt others? Pray about it and ask God to help you, does it feel right in your heart? Or do you have conflicts with this decision? If you have conflicts with this decision, and if you feel it is not morally right then that is a big red flag that it is not right. 

We need to remember to stay in God's word, study it and also pray and speak with God on a daily basis. When we stay close to Him, He will be there to help us in any situation that may arise. 

[haar]

1.    List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ? I am trying to recall such but cannot for now.

2.    Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it? By making sure that whatever we are trying to teach does lead to enhancing love for God that flows to mankind and bring more people to the kingdom of God and not to lead rebellion to GOD

3.    Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you? Yes, I get annoyed when my son refuses to attend my own church or refuse to join our family alter or insist in doing things his own way even when they do not make sense to me. This is dangerous because it seems to be a mere legalism by wanting him to attend church with the rest of the family. This study has helped me to re examine and avoid legalistic tendencies that add no spiritual value

[AdventIlliniRx]

"By this all will know that you are My (LORD Jesus Christ) Disciples, that you love one another."

1.    List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission?....from what i observed the tradition of Worship ( music, order of service, etc.) Which seem to impede the work of Christ? any judgement from a human being on another behavior impedes the work of Christ

2.    Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?....Live life according to God's will.  dont judge others.

3.    Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you?

[Andre Lap]

List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?

One obvious tradition is that church should always be conducted on Sundays, and that the Sabbath is on the same day. This does not aid Christian mission because it’s not biblically correct.  As we understand in the lesson, Jesus corrected the Pharisees that “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”.  In western civilization today, Saturday’s are given to everything but resting with Sunday’s set aside for church(worship).  IMO what can aid the work of Christ regarding the Sabbath is to better understand that we need physical and mental rest for our souls, we’re not built to operate 24x7.  Allow Christ to become more and more of our Lord in every part of our lives, he knows better than we do. 

[Irmela]

1. List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible.       Church was attended on Sundays not on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is taken as a day like the rest of the week only extra is done there as usually "work hrs" are from Monday to Friday. Now all the added things that could not be attended to during the week get done on Saturday and added to that come the sports or visiting etc.... all gets bundled into Saturday. Alltogether it is an exhausting day. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?   Sunday was set aside as the Sabbath.

 

1. Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?

I guess if one would follow God's rules to the letter one would not find that they are put aside at all. Look at the whole picture and you will find that you are not putting any aside but are following another to fulfill the need. Forget about following the trimmings. There are just so many of them that through the entanglement it is easy to think you are or are not following God's rules. 

 

 

 

1. Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you?            
2. It is so easy to look at the next person who does not do the same as you do and to find fault with that. You look eg at the clothes that are worn   .... sometimes it is such 'revealing' stuff and that person thinks nothing of it..... Where is that, that we are not the same as the world...... 'painting' their faces (I had to watch out and not think of Jezebel). Also consuming alcohol.... I also had to lay that all aside and not stumble because so many do drink (maybe not excessively but......) So I had to learn not to look at the outside. I have to live, act, dress as I feel God would expect of me and let the next one do the same. Looking at someone else all the time robs one of blessings. 

[hanks]

1. List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?

I’m too old to worry about traditions, rules, regulations, ceremonies, and whatever. More important is to worship our heavenly Father, to adore Him, to enjoy Him, to have a personal relationship with Him, to study His Word, and to live in obedience to Him.

2. Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?

There is only one absolute truth and that is the Word of God. This cannot be manipulated in any way to serve our needs.

3. Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you?

See above.

[Nandita]

Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?

Jesus gave us two rules which he said summed up every other rule: 1. Love God with all your heart, all your strength and all your might, and 2. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. The second rule is a direct command to tend to the need of humans. And there is no circumstance under which pure and simple love and loyalty for God will prevent you from feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, caring for the sick, comforting the sad, or helping the helpless.

 

It's only when you choose to express your love and loyalty to God in legalistic ways that you may feel like you're setting aside God's rules when you tend to human need. For example, take time and money. Too many people think we honour God with our money through tithes and honour him with our time by attending church events. They're falling into the legalistic trap of the Pharisees. We're forgetting that we can honour God by buying food, medicine, and clothes for the helpless. We can honour God by spending time with the aged and abandoned. 'Tithes' and çhurch events' in these instances are legal shortcuts that make us feel we're putting our love for God first and therefore pleasing him. If you take a little trouble to think about what Jesus would want and your own motives, you would realise that you should be thinking "how can I honour God with my time and money in this situation?". 

 

In short: There are no rules of Jesus that contravene human need unless your motive is 'establishing personal holiness' and not 'reflecting God's love and compassion.'

[kreilly]

On 2/28/2021 at 11:27 PM, Irmela said:

1. Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you?            

1. It is so easy to look at the next person who does not do the same as you do and to find fault with that. 

I like your answer here.  I think we do this in our churches, too.  If we meet someone who holds slightly different doctrinal beliefs, but still holds to the gospel of Christ, sometimes we tend to argue or look for that reason to accuse.  We need to look for areas that we have in common rather than accusing each other, working towards unity.  

[kreilly]

List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?

I think some of the traditions we hold to are how we worship.  When someone comes in and talks about changing up the worship service, people get all upset.  They are holding to human traditions of doing things in a certain manner, order, way.  The Bible doesn't lay out what our worship should look like, but it should all be unified and bring glory to Him.  I've seen churches fuss about songs that are sung, order of service, the way the preacher preaches.  Fussing about these things impedes the work of Christ and takes our eyes off of what is truly important--worshiping God.  

[Old Jerry]

List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?

 

A. I have been in a church since I was a baby. I can’t think of traditions in the church that I attend now that are taken for granted. I know that there are probably some I just can’t see them. Maybe one is the pot-luck suppers that we have, but that is just to get to know others and to love them.

 

Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?

 

A. The Sabbath is a great example of setting aside God’s rule for the sake of human need. We do this when we need to but then we turns into something that we do all the time and we don’t even observe any day of rest.

 

Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you?

 

A. When I belong to a really legalistic church we would accuse others of not doing the things that we though was making us holy. We would not look at the other side of those things.

[Bailey]

Bailey Greetings 4/26/21 

List traditions that are tak,en for granted in your, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible.  Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?  Truthfully their have been many changes in my lifetime, to many to mention, be it in the Bible I really could not tell you, for the most part, no.  I have not seen much work to aid to the Christian mission, so sad.

2. Teaching that God's rules  can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous.  How can we observe this truth without abusing it?  I have not read that God's rules can be set aside, nor is He a God who should be tested, yet man does so every chance he gets.

[Nana Karlsson]

In the past i would look for reasons to accuse people, especially people who do not share my faith, but lately as i study the word of God daily i have learnt to see people from a different perspective, to love and understand them as they are and even help them when necessary. The danger in finding reasons to accuse people is that we tend to push them away and discourage them from knowing the love of the God that we serve. We can also be blind to our own misstakes and become prideful believing that we know best.

[Godswriter]

1.    List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ? I believe one of the biggest changes in the churches nowadays is that many churches no longer support missionaries anymore. My church still does, we still do communion believer's communion every other month. We still have believer's baptism. We still teach from the truth of Scripture. We don't try and twist it to our advantage. All of them do. I believe the one that impedes is churches choosing not supporting missionaries. 

2.    Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it? I believe the best way is to obey it and learn to how to do it as the Lord did it in His time. 

3.    Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you? I can think of people who would rather accuse me of going to hell for being an apostate just for going to a trinitarian church. However I have chosen not to get into spiritual discussions with them. It is dangerous because you are becoming like God & choosing judge people. You won't be able to tell people are hurting.

[pickledilly]

2. Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it?

I may be going in a different direction than intended by this question, but this is where my thoughts were immediately led. Jewish life was governed by specific laws and rules, and the principles of those laws are vitally important to us because they reveal God’s character and moral law. But the Christian life is not established on obeying rules and keeping laws. Jesus revealed that it is to be governed by only one law that supersedes all other laws, the Law of Love. Luke later records in his writings the heart of that law in an exchange between Jesus and a religious lawyer: “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And He said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."(10:25-28)  Matthew recorded Jesus’ answer to the lawyer in this way: “And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (22:37-40) 

When we're motivated by our complete love for God and humbly submitted to the Spirit's leading in sharing that love with others, I believe that demonstrating such love with assistance to someone in genuine need honors Him and the intent of His commandments, and displays obedience to the Law of Love.  The danger would be in acting on the 2nd great commandment Jesus gave without adhering to the 1st and greatest one.  Then we'd be stepping out in our own flawed and unreliable human wisdom or ability or feelings, etc.  That could truly lead us in the wrong direction that might actually create problems and doesn't rightly help the one in need or accomplish what God would have intended.

 

[Lottie]

1.List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ? Having quarterly business meetings. Having concerts in the summer and Christmas time. Having potlucks every few months. Setting up a table for canned and packaged goods for people who need extra help.  Baptisms and communions and adopting or having people join the church and give their testimony. The business meetings help determine which missionaries to pay and determine pastor's salary and how effective he has been. Concerts don't always work because we don't get that many people or get them to come back. Potlucks are okay but a lot of people don't stick around for them. The table for food helps people in the church who need it and we also gave to the food pantry or Salvation Army. Baptisms and communion help believers identify with Christ and bond with others and new memberships help churches grow.

2.Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it? We can look where someone needs help like Jesus did. Like we can choose to serve others on a Sunday by going to visit people in a nursing home. We can help out in soup kitchens in bigger cities or in homeless shelters or shelters for unwed mothers or those abused.

3.Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you? Not as far as I know. Because it stops the Lord from working in the church and blocks people from getting help. It can keep me from seeing people in need of Him. Instead, I look on their outward appearance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[George L]

1. List some of the traditions that are taken for granted in your church, but are not directly mentioned in the Bible. Which seem to aid Christian mission? Which seem to impede the work of Christ?   A hugely important thing this. The church began in the woods 40 plus years ago and has grown with God’s gifting into a growth ready larger building. Yet the  mindset and organization are small family church. Important ministry people are overloaded with detail work. The transition to the new mindset for operating a larger ministry, not only more people in the flock but multiple outreaches is beginning to dawn on us. So certain habits of small organizations must mature to encompass larger crews versus I’ll handle it. And over site must broaden to deal with the much marger span of control. 

2. Teaching that God's rules can sometimes be set aside for the sake of human need, can be dangerous. How can we observe this truth without abusing it? The Holy Spirit is the best guide. That still small voice, go, stop, left, right is so important as we walk through our day.

3. Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you? Are there any people who you are "looking for a reason to accuse"? (6:7) Why is this attitude dangerous? How can it blind you? Friends are in a church where the Pastor is having to deal with his board of deacons on these issues. The critical attitude is driving the flock away. It is blocking the ceearion of several ministries to specialized needs identified in the area.