Korean East Coast Camp Meeting 2019

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Korean East Coast Camp Meeting

Andy Im

Connecting the Dots of Adventism

And Heavenly Father, we thank You so much once again.

It's Friday, it's Preparation Day, and we thank You so much.

And what a blessing it's been to reunite with friends, some friends I haven't seen for years and years and years.

And what a blessing it is to be reunited, to make, reacquaint ourselves with old friends, and to make new ones, and also to meet with family and so forth.

We just pray for your blessing today as we share some concepts, as we specifically delve into the understanding of the Adventist worldview.

And we ask all this in the name of Jesus.

So 1 of the things we covered last time was this the importance of loving God with not just all our heart, that must be done of course in all of our soul, and with all of our strength and might, but also with all of our mind.

It's very important that we also have an intellectual understanding and basis for why we believe what we believe.

And ultimately, where do we go to to strengthen that understanding?

Of course, it's the Word of God and Scripture.

And so here we have this Jesus then joining us to love with, love him with our entire being.

The importance of having an Adventist worldview.

Let's talk a little bit about worldview in review.

There are a lot like belly buttons or they're often described like like belly buttons.

Everyone has 1 but we don't talk about them very often.

Often they're assumed, they're presuppositional, and so it's not something we often think about.

Another way to view a worldview is they're very much like reading glasses.

They're the lens by which we view all reality and how we interpret reality and circumstances and events that take place in the world.

We as Christians and as Seventh-day Adventists have a certain way of viewing and seeing society and that type of thing.

It also can be a framework or a set of fundamental beliefs through which we view the world and our calling and future in it.

The worldview or your worldview becomes your ultimate explainer.

And we kind of touched upon that already.

And 1 of the things that a worldview can do is provide a sense of meaning, a sense of direction, and a sense of destiny to your life.

And we're going to explore how that happens in a few moments.

The Adventist worldview is best expressed really through narrative.

And history and dates are very important to Adventists.

As you know, 1844 is around that time that our church began as a movement, or some years prior, but 1844 is very meaningful to us.

We also have prophecies that describe a whole variety of events that have taken place in our world.

And we ended last time with the understanding that our chronology begins, or our starting point, our point of emphasis, as far as when sin entered the world and destruction and that type of thing begins really with the fall of Lucifer.

And that's not to say that our evangelical brothers and sisters don't have that understanding per se, but certainly we as Seventh-day Adventists emphasize that in our understanding in the chronology of Scripture.

So here you have creation, The fall, redemption, and restoration.

This is something that we share with our evangelical brothers and sisters.

Creation, for example, helps us to understand why we're here today, how we got here.

It explains our purpose, why God created us.

You can find all of that in the Genesis account.

And that gives us a sense of identity, gives us a sense of meaning and purpose in our lives.

And the fall of man and women, if you will, the fall of man describes why or really explains why there's sin and suffering in the world.

And then you have redemption, the cross, and this is really God's plan to restore what was lost at the fall.

So God, this is, redemption is Jesus's plan to make things better once the fall came into place.

And of course, restoration deals with what God has for our future, what he intends for our future.

So restore everything to make it brand new again, and pure and holy, and eradicate death and those types of things.

So the great controversy meta-narrative, or the great controversy, the notion of the great controversy.

By the way, how many of you have read the book, Great Controversy?

So you know exactly, should know exactly what we're talking about when we talk about the great controversy meta-narrative.

It's, as 1 Adventist theologian puts it, a worldview featuring a great cosmic controversy between God and Satan.

It's a hallmark of Adventist thought and understanding.

The Great Controversy contains the story of the past, the present, and the future.

It gives us our place in this world and it gives us a broader understanding of this struggle going on between God and Satan.

So here are some elements of the Great Controversy, right?

It was initiated with the fall of Lucifer.

It concludes after the millennium when Satan and his angels and the wicked are ultimately destroyed.

The great controversy concerns Satan's allegations against God's character, his law, and his government.

So all these accusations are being leveled against God's government, his character, who he is fundamentally.

And of course, the great controversy also includes God's plan to make things right, not just in this world, but the universe at large, because his character came under attack.

A battle is now being waged for the allegiance of all sentient beings, both in this world and the worlds beyond.

And of course, the controversy culminates at the end of time over loyalty to God's law.

And of course, the Sabbath question becomes very important at this time.

The warfare against God's law, these are of ages page, I don't have the page there, but the chapter 8 is finished.

Begun in heaven will be continued to the end of time.

Obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world.

All will be called to choose between the law of God and the laws of men.

There will be but 2 classes at the end." So, another key component or key element in the great controversy theme is this notion of the vindication of God.

So the assumption here is that Satan has attacked God's character, his name, And so part of the great controversy is to restore God's name before not just this world, but the universe.

And how is His name ultimately vindicated?

Well, number 1, through the life of Jesus.

Number 2, the cross, the plan of redemption, had a broader and deeper purpose than the salvation or the mere salvation of man.

It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth.

It was not merely that the inhabitants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded, but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe.

So in the context of the cross and the plan of redemption, God's purpose was larger than just this earth.

To this result of his great sacrifice, its influence upon the intelligences of other worlds as well as upon man, it would justify God and his son in their dealings with the rebellion of Satan.

It would establish the perpetuity of the law of God and would reveal the nature and the results of sin.

So God let sin, permitted sin to run its course so that people could see for themselves the end result of sin.

So God is ultimately vindicated by the life of Jesus, the cross, his just dealings in cosmic history.

God's wisdom, his justice, and his goodness will stand fully vindicated.

It will be seen that all his dealings in the great controversy have been conducted with respect to the eternal good of his people and the good of all the worlds that he created.

That God is in the business of doing things in justice, in all honesty, and before all the world so that they can see who He truly is.

Vindication also happens on the basis of Satan being exposed for who he is.

Can you imagine the angels and the unfallen world witnessing the cross and the extent to which Lucifer was willing to murder and kill the Son of God.

And so that was a huge revelation, not just to us, but to the world.

And he was certainly exposed in the life of Christ and at the cross.

But God is ultimately vindicated also by the means of his just judgment.

How many of you believe that justice is important?

Yesterday we talked a little bit about little kids who are getting raped and mistreated on all levels.

And we read a quote where the author is stating, you know, I could not believe in a God that would just sit idly by and say, oh, that's not a big deal.

No, love itself motivates and it becomes the impetus for justice that takes place.

So his just judgment also serves as a means of vindicating the character of God.

So, just to explore this a little bit more, and how critical it is to vindication, N.T.

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Connecting the Dots of Adventism

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