Series: Jesus Manifesto
Message: Getting Free from the World to Make a Difference
Preacher: Dany Hernandez
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Lydia Svoboda
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Colossians 2:16-3:4 in the New Living Translation (NLT). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: I hope that after reading my reflection yesterday you did not think I was knocking Sabbath School. Far from it. I really do love it. In fact, when I am in Roseville, California, I attend GracePoint Adventist Church and join their discipleship groups. Then when I am back home in Colorado, I go to Boulder Adventist Church and participate in their connect groups.
A few weeks ago (and you can watch this online), Alan, one of the lay pastors at GracePoint made an appeal for people to consider staying on for a discipleship group after the worship service. He said that currently only 41% of church attendees participate and he would like to see that raised to 100%. I am with Alan on that. We have seen a cultural shift in our tribe in the last 10-20 years. There was a time when the majority of the 20 million or so Seventh-day Adventists around the world went to Sabbath School and fewer attended worship services. Since the growth of small groups, house groups, and intentional worship redesign and direction, those numbers have reversed dramatically. Parents often bring their children to the kids’ division programs as they are amazing, but they don’t participate in connect groups themselves. It does not matter if Sabbath School is the first item (before worship) or the second (after worship) as at GracePoint and Boulder Church respectively. There are fewer people participating regardless of timing.
Paul is not trying to close down the people’s “Sabbath School.” He is seeking a deeper transformation of the experience. He believes that it is incumbent on those who have not yet given up on study and discussion to transform the space. That is why Paul calls us to be grounded or rooted in Jesus. It is not enough to come up with a better name for Sabbath School. It is not enough to think of three to six different principles to use as a focus. It is about who we are as Christians in that space. That is the game changer. Paul’s experience with the Gospel can be disruptive to our lives if we allow it to be.
Recalibrate: What areas of your world need disruption?
Respond: Pray for the peace of Jesus in your life.
Research: Read John 2:13–22 and compare it with Mark 11:15-18. What do these two stories teach you?
Remember: “Think only about the things in heaven, not the things on earth” (Colossians 3:3, ICB).
Japhet De Oliveira is administrative director for the Center for Mission and Culture at Adventist Health in Roseville, California.
Play a game of Because I Love You with your little one. Because I love you, I’m preparing your breakfast. Because I love you, let’s gently put you in your seat belt. Because I love you, I’ll patiently wait while you twirl in circles when I need to be somewhere else. Read the Live Wonder book Because I Love You with your child and know that this is what Jesus promises us today and forever.
Today we are going to play with water or, if you like, wash up the dishes. Fill the sink with warm water to half full. Squirt dishwashing detergent into the water. The dishwashing detergent I have at home is green and when I squirt it into the water I can see it like a green snake wiggling in the water. Does yours do the same? To mix the soap with the water, I put my hand or a dishwashing brush into the water and shake it around. This is the only way to get the water soapy and ready to wash the dishes. If you have dirty dishes to wash, put them in the sink, wash them up, and let the water drain off them. Sometimes we need to mix things up. Just like the soap and water. Sometimes we need to go play with people who aren’t like us. Sometimes we need to do something different. Can you think of something you can mix up today that will be better because you mixed it? (I always mix my ice-cream and chocolate sauce together; that’s always better!)
I am a human. You, who are reading this, are also a human. (Unless you taught your dog to read and they’ve got this Daily Walk in front of them. If so, just let me say, “You’re such a good boy!”) Seeing that we are all humans, it’s super hard for me to read Paul’s words in Colossians 2:18, when he says the people of Colossae should stop listening to the teachings of the prophets because they are given as a “human way of thinking.”
Isn’t Paul a human too?
So should we stop listening to Paul for the same reason?
The problem that Paul was addressing isn’t due to the fact that anyone is human, but it’s about how we use our humanity. Paul was saying that the false teachers of the time weren’t being very nice to the humans around them. Instead, they were forcing people to starve themselves to the point of sickness because that’s what pleased the gods and would cause them to be saved when they eventually died. Yikes!
Paul says that anything we hear needs to be filtered through a cause better than ourselves: in this case, the cause of Christ. Jesus says that we are to live abundantly free from ways of this world and instead focus on Him. In doing so, we won’t find ourselves starving, but full from the Bread of Truth. Never thirsty, but quenched by the Water of Life. Never alone, but in the company of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you ever hear anything else, disqualify it before you let it disqualify you.
“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules? . . . These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings” (Colossians 2:20,23). The world is too caught up in rules. We make everything about ourselves and what we can do. We think we can be good enough and measure our standards by rule-keeping. But rules are empty alone, and are never enough to convict or make real, lasting good—only more order. God is concerned with real, lasting conviction of the heart which comes through grace and love, and He will enable us to do what He knows is best for us.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Lydia Svoboda is a junior theology major at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.