Are Ellen White’s Statements on agricuture culturally dated or are they relevant today?     

Are Ellen White’s Statements on agricuture culturally dated or are they relevant today?

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Benson SDA Church

David Obermiller

A Very Serious Problem

Well, this morning I want to talk to you about a very serious problem.

And you'll have some thoughts going through your mind based on the scripture reading.

But I want to promise you that I'm not going in the direction that you might think.

So don't spend too much time trying to figure it out.

I'd like to start actually, instead of seeing what the problem is, I'd like to start with 2 very, very fundamental principles of biblical interpretation, biblical understanding.

And there are perhaps many principles, but I will throw the 2 up there on the screen.

That the scripture, the first principle, increases in relevance every day.

There is a large segment of society, There is a large segment of society, there is a large segment of academia, which says that the scripture is decreasing in relevance.

It's very true, most of society would believe that.

The Bible was a book that was composed over a period of many centuries.

And the further removed we are from that time period of its writing, the more culturally and historically dated it is.

We have moved beyond the culture of that day and time.

Therefore, scripture is simply not as relevant, especially certain portions of it.

I believe that the Bible disagrees with that.

It teaches the opposite, that with every passing day, every word, every story, every event recorded in the scripture becomes more relevant to you and I.

The second principle here is that in the act of salvation at large and the minor acts of God's intervention in specific, that there is consistently an interaction, a cooperation between the human and the divine.

That salvation is and never will be the result of human effort, human power, human thinking, period.

But it will also never be the result of divine intervention alone.

I'd like you to turn to a scripture, Romans chapter 15.

The idea that scripture becomes increasingly relevant with every passing day.

Romans chapter 15, the Apostle Paul of the Roman Church.

And I'm going to read the first 4 verses.

And we are specifically after the fourth verse.

Paul says, We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Let every 1 of us please his neighbor for his good edification.

He gives an example here in verse 3, because even Christ, please not himself, but as it is written in the Old Testament, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.

And then Paul says in verse 4, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Paul is saying don't be selfish, disinterestedly serve someone else.

Just as your example, Jesus Christ, came not to please himself, but came to please and to serve other people.

And then he quotes the Old Testament scripture.

The reproaches of them that reproached you fell on me.

And after quoting that Old Testament passage, he highlights the importance of that historical portion by saying those things that were written before were written for our learning, present sense, our, not for theirs, were written for our learning that ultimately we might have hope.

Paul's whole rationale is what happened back then was not just for them, but for us.

Let's look at another passage of scripture.

I'm going to summarize this as we move on.

Simply stated, that which was written in the past was written so that those living in the present may learn and have hope.

The hope is the result of their learning.

When a person stops learning, they have no hope.

Next passage, here we'll go to 1 Peter 1.

Peter here in the passage is going to essentially echo what we just read in Romans.

Not talking about a specific idea, As the previous passage talked specifically about serving others as Christ came to serve others.

Peter says, Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.

Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.

Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

And here's a thought all by itself, which things the angels desire to look into.

I'd love to spend a whole sermon on why the angels are captivated by the theme of salvation.

But the passage is more interesting, well I don't know if I say it that way, but the passage is interesting for us today in that the thing that the angels were desirous of was not revealed to them.

That thing which the angels were desirous of was given unto the prophets.

And through the prophets, some of it through vision, some of it through dreams, and some of it through angelic communication, through those prophets God revealed the plan of salvation to the world.

But the passage says again in verse 12 that it was not revealed for them, it was revealed to them for us.

The English Standard Version, I'll put it on the screen there, I like the way that it says this, it says, it was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, in the things that now have been announced to you.

Peter is echoing the same thought, that the prophets were aware that the things that they were told were not told to them for their exclusive benefit, but were told to them for the benefit of those that would come later.

The plan of salvation would not be something that they would personally witness, they would not see Jesus die on the cross.

They were to be aware of it, but their writings were for future generations.

We're going to another passage, back to Paul, 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

Paul's going to say it again, the same thing, but he's going to be more specific.

He's going to identify more specifically a class of people that the inspired writings were to be addressed to.

I'll summarize the first 10 verses or so.

Paul is recounting the history of the Israelites in the wilderness.

He starts with verse 1 by saying that you should not be ignorant simply of what things happened to them.

How they were baptized in the sea, how they followed that spiritual rock, namely Christ.

They didn't eat of spiritual food, they drank of spiritual drink, and all of those things were symbols of the Messiah.

Verse 5 says that they were displeasing to God.

And the next few verses states why they were displeasing.

Because they followed after evil things, they lusted, they were idolaters, they were fornicators it says at the end of verse 7 and verse 8.

They were provocative, insulting the Lord.

And then they murmured and they complained and they reaped the just reward of their complaining.

Then verse 11 says, Now all these things happened unto them to serve as examples, And they are written for our admonition specifically now, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Here it is again, the idea is being highlighted that everything that happened in the past, that generation, happened as a benefit to us, yes, but most specifically it happened to benefit who?

It's the passage saying, those that live at the very end.

All of those things recorded and written down, the stories of Moses, the stories of Abraham, the stories of Joseph, the stories of Elijah and Elisha and Hezekiah and Solomon and David and Daniel in Babylon and the 3 worthies.

All of those things and the others that we could spend all day mentioning, all of those things were written for the benefit of everybody that was to follow, every generation, but most specifically the last generation.

The whole idea being expressed simply that with every passing day, every day that we come closer to the coming of Christ, the words and stories of scripture become more relevant, more potent, more valuable to those of us living in that time.

I can summarize it in the words of, well I'll summarize this here, these are my words.

The experiences of ancient Israel are most specifically for the benefit of those living at the end of Earth's history.

The Bible teaches, to me it's clear, that the scripture is not becoming less relevant, but it is becoming more relevant, more valuable, and therefore more important for us to read and to heed.

To summarize here with a statement, a letter to Stephen Haskell written in I believe the late 1800s, 1 pioneer of our church to another, each of the ancient prophets spoke less for their own time than for ours, so that their prophesying is enforced for us.

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A Very Serious Problem

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