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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Randy Roberts

Why I Am an Adventist

I wonder if we could start with a word of prayer.

Gracious God, we're just so thankful that even in a time of physical distancing, a time when some among us are quite concerned about their health, a time when we want to practice neighborliness and neighborly love by being respectful of those who are concerned about staying well, that even during a time like this, we can gather.

We don't want to get used to this because we want to be back physically together.

But in the interim, this has truly been a blessing.

So we pray that you would lead and guide and in this presentation, and might your spirit shine through above all things is my prayer in Jesus name, amen.

And I've chosen to, let me see here, make sure I get this right.

So I've chosen to talk with you today about Adventism.

Ryan asked me to talk about some specific aspects of Adventism.

And as I mulled that over, thought about it, prayed about it, whoops, get this back to where it's supposed to be.

I am, I decided to do it from a very personal perspective.

In a way, it's a bit autobiographical, but it's very deeply meaningful to me.

Now, I have to say out of the starting gate that I realized I have way too much material.

And I've had to move some things, cut some things, and only present a few of the realities that I've been thinking about in this topic, in this area of content.

So I've been thinking about why I'm an Adventist for quite a while.

I've been thinking about it deeply in probably the last year to year and a half.

I've been considering how I would answer that question.

I think there are people who if asked, people who are Adventist, people who maybe have grown up Adventist, who couldn't answer that question with a compelling reason.

So I wanna talk with you a little bit about why I'm an Adventist.

I begin by saying I'm an Adventist by birth.

My parents were Seventh-day Adventist before me and they blazed a trail that I have been honored to follow.

Now, I was talking to my sister, my older sister in Texas, when I was there a couple of weeks ago about our heritage as Adventists, And we believe that we are third or fourth and possibly fifth generation.

However, my father, as soon as he was old enough to do so, he wanted nothing to do with church and left it and lived a very different kind of lifestyle until the Spirit of God, doing what the Spirit of God does so well, reached out and gripped his heart, drew him back to himself and placed his feet in the pathway of ministry.

So dad became a pastor, a professor, a church administrator, an evangelist for over 50 years of his life, and made a profound difference in my own life, the lives of my siblings, and the lives of thousands, probably tens of thousands of people who heard about the love of Jesus and his plan for our lives throughout that 50-plus year ministry.

So my life and my world has been very deeply and clearly influenced by Adventism.

Now on my mother's side of the family, it's a different reality.

My mom was a Southern Belle, she was a Southern Baptist.

Both of my parents were born and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and mom's family was and remains staunch Southern Baptist folk to this day.

Some of the greatest and best people you could hope to meet.

They're very committed to Jesus, very committed to scripture.

And they struggled some when mom left the Southern Baptist Convention to become a part of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

But those things were dealt with, and over the years, they maintained a very close connection.

My mom came from a family of 3 sisters, no boys, just 3 sisters.

But Both of my parents, after those early decisions that maybe would have led them in different directions, after they made those and then made a decision to be Seventh-day Adventists, faithfully maintained that commitment to Jesus and that commitment to Adventism throughout their lives.

So I grew up in that context, but there does come a time, it came in my life, it comes in every life, when you have to decide, is it enough to be Adventist by birth or Christian by birth?

Or is there something more that has to enter into the picture?

I became Adventist by belief, by conviction, by commitment.

A lot of this happened during my college and seminary years, but in honesty, as I have continued in the trajectory of both life and ministry, as I have continued to read and study.

My appreciation for, my respect for, and my gratitude for my Seventh-day Adventist roots just continue to deepen.

So I want to share with you a few of the reasons.

There's there'd be a much longer list than this.

And I realized I'm going to have to cull this down and just choose a few pieces.

If we're going to have any hope of getting through some of this.

I want to share with you a few pieces why Adventism is so important.

I'm an Adventist because Adventism understands that the story is bigger than you and me.

In fact, Adventism has a unique focus on this.

Now, as I talk about these different reasons for my commitment to Adventism, you'll recognize that some of these are shared by other Christian faiths as well.

But even though we do have some that are uniquely our own.

For me, it's more than just 1 individual piece, it's a larger picture and it's how all of these commitments come together.

Adventism captures this in what we call the great controversy theme.

This great controversy between God and Satan.

And At the core of that is the character of God.

Can God be trusted not just by us as human beings, but can God be trusted by the universe?

The character of God is the central reality of this great conflict, and we as Adventists have long understood that and have long affirmed that even though we're integral to the story, the story is actually much bigger than you and me.

So the key issue has to do with the character of God.

This is 1 of, I think, her most timeless quotes.

She says, "'It is the darkness of misapprehension of God that is enshrouding the world.

Men are losing their knowledge of his character.

It has been misunderstood and misinterpreted.

At this time, a message from God is to be proclaimed, a message illuminating in its influence and saving in its power.

Into the darkness of the world is to be shed the light of his glory, the light of his goodness, mercy, and truth.

Those who wait for the bridegroom's coming are to say to the people, Behold your God.

The last rays of merciful light, the last message of mercy to be given to the world, is a revelation of his character of love.

I think Ellen White captures there in vivid terms and in poignant terminology, the reality that God is at the center of this conflict, we call the great controversy.

Adventism has always recognized that, continues to recognize that, that it's a bigger picture than just us.

We're swept up into this conflict, but really the key issue is the character of God.

I'll give you 1 simple way that this affects us.

I'm going to stop sharing here for a moment so I can look at you maybe a little bit more clearly.

1 of the ways it affects us is what we believe happens at the end of time.

For many of our Christian brothers and sisters, there's a belief, and for some it's a very strong belief, that those who are not saved, those who have spurned God's grace and mercy will burn forever as a punishment.

I simply cannot bend my mind around that reality and believe that a God of love and grace would do that.

Truthfully, that's a doctrine that has probably driven more people to reject God than maybe most other doctrines.

And it highlights the fact that God's character is at the center of this controversy.

And the fact that we believe we serve a God of love who will not do that is key in its importance to me.

I'm an Adventist because the story is bigger than you and me.

I'm an Adventist, secondly, because of how Adventism understands the Bible.

Now you can imagine that if you look at the sweep of Christian history, There is a significant spectrum in terms of how people have related to Scripture.

Adventists have always been known to be people of the book.

We are people who have committed ourselves to studying and understanding God's Word, believing that it speaks to us today in timeless ways.

But there are differences in terms of how we, as part of the Christian confession in a larger sense, believe Scripture came to be.

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Why I Am an Adventist

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