GOD IS INCLUSIVE! God recognizes no distinctions based on nationality, race, caste, or physical characteristics. God’s love and redemption are inclusive. They are extended to all. All are part of His family. We are all members of the Family of God through creation, and we are united through the redemptive work of Christ. So, what happened to our family?
In the context of the three angels’ messages in Revelation 14, we look at why his Ten Commandments are still relevant today.
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Seeking God’s Help
Holy Father, thank you for allowing us to become a member of your family. Give us hearts to love each regardless of how different we may be from one another. In Jesus’ Name Amen
Jesus Christ is our Creator, according to Ephesians 3:9. He is the creator of everything.
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; (Ephesians 3:9).
As our creator, He loves us all. His love is all-encompassing and extends to even the most marginalized or cast out. In Christ, all divisions are erased because every individual is brought near to God through the reconciling power of His precious blood. Hence, in the eyes of God, in Christ, all distinctions are bridged.
As a matter of fact, God made each one of us unique, and he places value on all of us. So, every person has worth in the sight of God. This includes the baby inside the mother’s womb, the person in the wheelchair, the senior person with Alzheimer’s who can’t remember their own name, the person in the remotest part of the world, the child in the intercity, or the person living on the street: all these people have worth in God’s sight. God is their Father. They are His sons and daughters.
This is the point Paul makes in Acts 17:24-26. He insists that it does not matter our race or national origin, we are all made from one blood.
24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;
25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, (Acts 17:24, 26).
Therefore, every person on earth belongs to the same family. We are all members of one family. We are brothers and sisters created by God. We share the same heritage.
However, sin has waged a war between us. And because of the entrance of sin, Jesus came to break down the barriers that sin had created. It was his purpose to open access to God for every soul, regardless of their background or circumstances. The Genesis story (Genesis 1 and 2) shows us how much we are worth. What’s more, each one of us is special. There’s no one else who is an exact copy of you anywhere in the universe. God formed you in your mother’s womb, and He formed you with genes and chromosomes that form a biological structure that molded your unique personality. What’s more, you are worth so much to God that He took upon Himself our fleshly bodies and offered Himself as a sacrifice for you and your sins!
The fact that He loves us all and that he created us is a reminder that we were not randomly formed into human beings. Hence this notion takes us back to the importance of remembering the Sabbath. How?
Continue watching! Part 2: The Judgment, Creation, and Accountability
Genesis 1 and 2 let us know that we are not merely a collection of randomly formed cells. Contrary to what some may believe, we find that we are not a product of chance that advanced from ape to human.
Instead, the Genesis account of our origin offers hope. It gives us a reason for living. It tells us God made us and that he loves us; thus, we are accountable to Him for our behavior. He who created us holds us responsible for all that we say and do.
Because of his love and for our benefit, God established important guidelines that He expects us to follow. In our previous lessons, we learned from Revelation 14:7 that “ ‘the hour of His judgment has come’ ” We now understand that in this judgment, God is the one doing the judging. This leads us to ask how will He judge us.
The following scriptures let us know the standard by which we will be judged.
Romans 14:10
10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. (Romans 14:10)
James 2:8-13
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; (Split)
9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. (Split)
11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:8-13)
How will we be judged? By his law, the ten commands, his law of liberty.
You see, when God created us, he gave us the freedom to choose between good and evil. Hence, we are responsible for the decisions we make. (Split)
This speaks volume regarding our being merely a random collection of cells. It refutes the idea that our actions are merely a product of our heredity or our environment. Though our heredity and environment may have some effect on us, our actions are not primarily determined by forces over which we have no control. We have the power to choose.
This is evident in the judgment; the judgment implies that, as humans, we have a moral responsibility, a moral obligation to obey God. God calls us to make decisions about our everlasting life. We decide now whether we want to live eternally with him or whether we want to be permanently placed out of existence. This decision is based on who we worship. The one we worship is the one to whom we are loyal or the one we obey.
Therefore, the First Angel’s Message commands us to “ ‘worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of waters’ ” (Revelation 14:7).
This verse shows us that we worship God because He made us. In line with worshipping the God who created us, we also rest on the Sabbath because it points us back to creation and our creator.
God, in six days, created the heavens, earth, and humanity and rested on the seventh day. Because He created us, He is worthy of our worship. Our Sabbath-keeping shows God and everyone else that we accept God’s Ten Commandments, His guidelines, and His boundary for living. And it shows that we accept Jesus as our Creator and Redeemer.
What is the benefit of God’s law, the ten commandments?
The ten commandments are God’s divinely inspired principles that show us how to love God and how to love our human family. They show us how to live in the best way possible with one another. God’s law is the foundation of His government, and it reveals his character. In His commandments, we see God’s love. Because the commandments of God are the foundation of his government and a reflection of his character, they become the standard of judgment. That’s why God uses the law to judge us.
Though we have inherited tendencies and may be influenced by our environment, we have choices, and by God’s grace, we can overcome any character defects and flaws we have through the power of Jesus.
Our decision to live eternally is a choice to worship Jesus our Creator. Satan wants us to choose to worship him. It is thus his purpose to redirect our worship. How?
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Find out, Part 3: Sabbath and Creation
Hebron Seventh-day Adventist Church
7902 Wheatly Street
Houston, TX 77088
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