One of the questions we seem to stop asking as we grow up is, “Why?” It is important to know why we do what we do, why we live how we live, and why we believe what we believe. This message probes our underlying motives in seeking to discover why we are Christians.

<p>One of the questions we seem to stop asking as we grow up is, “Why?” It is important to know why we do what we do, why we live how we live, and why we believe what we believe. This message probes our underlying motives in seeking to discover why we are Christians.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alistair Huong: Examining Our Motives

Alistair Huong

Why Am I A Christian?

Father in heaven, we're so thankful for your word.

We're thankful that you have given us the instruction we need to know what it means to be a follower of Christ.

And now tonight and this weekend, this Sabbath day, as we undertake and exercise in really digging deep inside to ask those hard questions of ourselves.

I pray that your spirit might touch us and that we might come to know ourselves a little better as we seek to learn about you better.

Guide us this evening by your Holy Spirit we ask in Jesus' name.

So you know the Bible says that you must become as little children if you are to see the kingdom of God.

So what is 1 of the characteristics of children?

You've ever had that experience where you are bombarded with the endless series of why, right?

Well, because, and why, why, why, why, why, why?

You know, I think we, 1 of the evidences that we have sort of grown beyond childhood is we stop asking why.

And I think we would be wise to stop sometimes to ask that question.

And you know there's that study of the monkeys.

Whenever a monkey climbs the pole to try to get the banana, the researchers would spray them with water and knock them down.

And as each monkey tries to go up the pole, it happens again and again.

They get knocked down with a spray of water.

And before long, as monkeys try to climb up the pole, the other monkeys would keep them from going up.

And the researcher would slowly, 1 by 1, replace those monkeys who have been sprayed with monkeys who haven't been sprayed and 1 by 1 as the new monkey comes in obviously the monkey sees bananas he's going to climb up and then all of the other monkeys would yank him down and say no no no don't climb up the pole.

And eventually, they would replace every single monkey in that group until none of them ever had that experience of getting sprayed by the water.

And what do you suppose they did whenever someone tried to climb the pole?

And so tonight, the title of the message is actually that question, why?

And I think it's important for us to reflect on this every so often.

It's a useful exercise to sort of help us be in touch with our roots, and to really gain a clearer perspective.

So I'm going to throw a few questions out there a few leading questions, and you think about it Don't answer me you don't have to raise your hands or anything But Suppose that there will be no heaven.

Suppose that there's no heaven and there's no hell.

Would you still choose to be a Christian?

Would you still choose to live the same way?

If there was no hope after the grave, would you still choose to be a follower of Jesus Christ?

That's a tough question, I think, because we know from the Bible, and the Bible is true, it's an infallible word of God, that there is a heaven.

There is a heaven to win and a hell to shun.

We know those things, but suppose there wasn't, would we still make the same choices that we have made in our lives?

As I've presented this message in different places, sometimes I've just opened the floor and I've just said, so tell me, why are you a Christian?

What are your reasons or your motivations of why you became a Christian?

Some of the things that have been stated have been, Christianity and maybe Adventism in particular, answered my questions.

Why would a good God allow bad things to happen?

Other people would say, It gave me the strength to meet the challenges of life.

It gives me peace when I've lived my whole life in worry and stress and fretfulness.

I'm sure you resonate with some of these things.

Some people say because the Lord delivered me.

I'm a Christian because he saved me from addiction or a sinful life or from death row or whatever.

And of course, there are, and generally these are the younger ones in the audience, they say, I'm a Christian because I want to go to heaven, yay!

I want to fly and go to the other worlds.

And I mean, we say that, the children say that, but come on, we all want that, don't we?

So, And maybe not the Adventists so much, but there are some whose motivation is so that I won't burn.

There are many Christians who use that as their lever, right?

He loves you, but boy, you're still gonna burn and it's gonna be painful.

All of these things, are they legitimate reasons to be Christians?

And it's not, I'm not trying to ask a trick question.

Meaning, are they appropriate things for us to look for according to the Word of God and the Spirit of Prophecy?

Does the Bible promise that those who are faithful will actually have a reward in heaven?

Does the Bible actually promise that if you are faithful and you accept Christ as your Savior, that you will not be burned.

And of course, we're not talking about an eternal burning hell, right?

We're talking about an everlasting destruction that has an end.

So these are not bad things, That's my point.

These are still legitimate motives for being Christians.

In fact, the Bible actually uses many of these things.

Christ even, He extends the invitation, right?

The Bible really does offer these things to entice might sound like too sensual of a word, but you understand what I'm saying, incentives, things to awaken the desire of the human heart, to yearn for the things of God.

So this is, I'm not trying to lead us down a path where you're like, where is he taking us?

So here's, here's where I start thinking a little bit more.

Is it possible that sometimes we can treat Christianity as a business transaction?

When Men Have Labor Pains

Father in heaven, we are so thankful for your word, the word that you have promised never returns into your void.

As you have demonstrated through even the ministry of Advent Hope and AudioVerse, souls are being changed because the word accomplishes what you please.

So this morning as we spend some moments in your Word, we claim that promise, that you will work what you please in our hearts.

And may we not just have a surface understanding of some words on a page, but may we come to a relationship with that living Word, Jesus Christ.

And may His Spirit be here to lead and guide us now, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Turn your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 32.

Genesis chapter 32, and while you're turning there, here's the stage, the context.

Jacob had been in exile from his father's home now for many years, but God had now called him to come home to the land that has been promised to him and his posterity.

But he's coming back a very different man than when he left.

He's returning now heavy laden with goods, with wives and children and servants and flocks.

He comes back a wealthy man, but he comes back unarmed for any hostile encounter.

Messengers go on ahead, they come back, Esau is coming, Esau is coming with 400 men of war.

He doesn't send back a message, no peaceful greeting, nothing.

And so as any sensible father would do, he tries to protect the innocent.

He sends 1 on ahead, another a different direction, so hopefully if 1 gets captured, the other 1 can escape.

But he himself remains behind because there's something left for himself to do.

Genesis chapter 32 will begin in verse 23.

Genesis 32, verse 23, and he, Jacob, took them and sent them over the brook and sent over that he had.

In the literal sense, we can imagine in our mind's eye, the sun has set, the desert breeze whips up some of the dust clouds as you see Jacob by himself in the middle of the wilderness.

But there, I believe, is more to it than that.

Jacob was really alone because, look, he has no home.

The land that God has promised to him is before him.

He just left under, let's just say, not very good terms with his father-in-law Laban.

His mother, who loved him so much, was of no help to him now.

All of the wealth that he has, what can that do to save him now?

Even his beloved Rachel for whom he worked for so long, what could she do to help him?

Jacob had always had a plan to get himself out of a tight spot.

But more than any of this, I think in 1 special sense Jacob was alone in more than any other sense and that is he recognized that he alone was responsible for the circumstances that he was in.

He alone was responsible for the lives now of innocent women and children.

And how I just, I imagine that he's just reliving that whole experience with Esau, that pot of lentils, the deception of Isaac, and the conniving with his mother, and then the rapid haste that he had to flee his home in.

All of these things present themselves to his mind, but I think there was something else that Jacob remembered, and that was a special night not unlike the 1 that he's experiencing now, alone out in the wilderness, with nothing to sleep on except a stone as a pillow.

And not only did he see the ladder, he heard the voice of God.

He heard the voice speak the words of promise and acceptance to him in that moment when he thought all was lost.

So I imagine that this night Jacob was looking for that same experience.

You're going through a difficult time and you reflect, oh, if only I could rekindle that connection I had with God back then when I had this experience.

And you go back to that, you remember that, and you long for that, and I believe this is where Jacob was this night he's looking for that angel ladder he's listening for the voice of God the reassurance that he is accepted in the Beloved because look at him he is at the point where he's got nowhere else to go I mean he couldn't turn to the left or the right he couldn't go forward he couldn't go back there's nothing he could do there's no 1 to help him he was alone and usually this is the part of the story when we read in the Bible this is the part of the story when we read in the Bible, this is the part of the story when God's people are in straight situations where they have nowhere left to turn, this is where we expect some divine intervention, right?

The children of Israel come down to the shores of the Red Sea, mountains on either side, Pharaoh's army behind them, nothing they can do.

He intervenes and he delivers his people.

I mean over and over and over and over this is how the story plays out.

We see the disciples right there and they're on the storm-tossed sea.

He intervenes and He delivers His people.

We could go through story after story after story.

God seems to allow circumstances to come to a head to a point where there's no other way of escape except through him.

He does step into the story with Jacob, but maybe not in the way that we are thinking.

And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.

And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.

So we had already discussed the spiritual, the emotional angst that Jacob was under.

And I can imagine him prostrate on the desert floor, he's weeping out his prayer of supplication to the Lord, and a strong hand grabs him and pitches him.

And all of a sudden, there's a physical manifestation of the emotional struggle that's been going on.

And Jacob, of course, we know he thinks that this is 1 of Esau's men coming to seek his life.

So he's praying, he's wrestling in his mind, he's wrestling in his soul, he's wrestling in body now.

And we're told that they wrestle from midnight until the breaking of the day.

In that part of the world the Sun rises approximately 6 in the morning.

Wrestling not just like play wrestling you know what I'm saying this is like life-and-death wrestling for 6 hours approximately give or take.

Ellen White describes it as an almost supernatural effort from Jacob's part.

Just a couple weeks ago, I was visiting my brother-in-law, and they have a little boy, 2 years old.

5 or 6 hours of wrestling a grown man as for your life.

Jacob was exhausted at the end of this ordeal.

Adventist Prodigals

Glad you could join us this evening as we conclude the Sabbath together.

Okay, How many of you were here last night?

Okay, how many of you were here yesterday and this morning?

So maybe we'll begin with a quick review.

Last evening, we began by sharing a question together and sort of thinking together about the motives, the root objectives for why we choose to be Christians.

And we looked at Moses and we looked at Paul, both of whom states in scripture that they would rather lose eternal life for the sake of those who are actually seeking their life in some cases and those who are idolatrous in rebellion in another case.

And So we concluded that Christianity is far more than just to receive a reward.

It's not just to gain something, but it's to become like someone.

Because we looked at Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus Christ was willing to be separated from the Father eternally for the salvation of the lost.

And he didn't just say it, but he actually carried it out.

He actually died the second death and drank of the wrath of God.

And so we began to sort of get this clue.

It seemed as though that something about the likeness of Jesus, viewing ourselves in the light of the cross enables us to truly come to a better understanding of the proper foundations that we ought to have for our faith.

And also in case we we miss this point, I don't want us to get the wrong impression that it's wrong to desire the blessings of God, because the Bible makes it clear that there are mansions in heaven, there is going to be a wedding feast of the Lamb, there is going to be a joyous reunion with our loved ones who have been taken from us.

Those are all wonderful things that the Bible promises to us and they are incentives laid out before those who would be faithful that they will receive if they endure into the end.

So this is not to diminish some of those things, but if that's our only reason to be a Christian, then it may be that our roots aren't deep enough.

And that's where this morning's message comes in, where we looked at that time in the future, based on the illustration of the time of Jacob's trouble, where simply seeking a reward may actually not be reason enough to maintain the faith.

There will come a time, we are told, where it seems as though those promises of God may actually not come into reality.

And are we still going to be faithful during that time?

That's the lesson from the time of Jacob's trouble.

Are we going to be faithful despite the appearance that God himself has left us and has turned against us?

That's the challenge of the time of Jacob's trouble.

And that all goes back to the foundation of our faith.

It may have begun by, oh I want to find the answers, I want to find the peace, I want to have joy, I want to have salvation, but if that's the only thing, Perhaps we're missing the bigger lesson that God is seeking for us to learn as Christians on the road to maturity.

So that's sort of a review, and it sort of ties together some of the messages that we've had already.

And this afternoon, we'll be taking this maybe a little bit further.

And I'll be sharing with you some study or some thoughts that stem from a question that I have that perhaps you've asked yourself.

So before we get into it any further, let's bow our heads together for prayer.

Father in heaven, this afternoon, this evening, as we conclude this Sabbath day, we thank you for the blessing of the sacred hours that you've given to us, for the blessing of your word, for the blessing of your spirit, and indeed for the blessings you promised to us if we remain faithful.

But Lord, today we want to drill deeper than that.

We want to be like Moses and Paul and Jacob and Jesus, who will be faithful even if there's no reward.

So Lord today our prayer is as we continue this hour to look at another story in the Bible that your spirit might lead us into a deeper understanding of ourselves, our motives, and your high calling for us.

Have you ever wondered what happened when you see 2 individuals, same home, same family, same school, same church, same food, same chores, same upbringing, same everything, and I'm saying this is in a wholesome, solid Christian home, But 1 ends up in the church and the other 1 ends up way outside.

I think all of us could probably name some names.

We're not going to do that today, of course, but you know individuals that you have a burden for and we wonder they had all of the privileges all of the light all of the advantages of Christianity of Knowing the truth growing up why did they end up the way they did?

And what's even more confusing is when some other person who went through the same or similar program or situation in life end up in a totally different place in life.

I was a Bible teacher for a number of years and we always had burdens for our students.

And it's always like we teach them the same thing, but some inevitably chooses to leave and others stay.

And as I've been saying all weekend, I'm not, I don't have all the answers.

I have a lot more questions than answers.

And in fact, I think by the end of our time together this afternoon, you'll probably have more questions than answers too.

But hopefully we have a few pointers from scripture to direct our thinking for further meditation and reflection on our own experience.

And in the course of my study, I ended up not exactly where I thought I was going to end up.

This is sort of a journey in progress in my study and my thinking.

So I'm going to share with you, And hopefully we can continue to learn together as we grow as Christians.

But a story came to mind as I pondered this dilemma.

So if you have your Bibles, we'll be spending most of our time there.

We'll be looking at the story of the prodigal son.

And of course in chapter 15 there are 3 stories back to back.

There's the story of the lost sheep, and then the lost coin, and then the lost son.

And of course Jesus was telling these stories, parables, to illustrate the work that heaven goes through for the salvation of the lost.

But it's also a description of various classes of lost individuals, if you will.

The sheep knows he's lost, but he doesn't know his way home.

He leaves a 99 in the fold and he goes all night searching for that last lost sheep.

And then there's the lost coin who doesn't even know he's lost.

And the woman lights the candle, sweeps the whole house to search for that 1 coin.

But the lost son, the father doesn't chase after the son.

But perhaps most important to me is that perhaps we focus a little too much on the prodigal son, but we have to remember that this is a story not just of 1 boy, but it's a story of 2.

And not necessarily, it's not necessarily telling us that 1 is better off than the other.

So the setting of this story is interesting because this is what really led me to investigate this story and that is This is exactly the scenario that we were discussing a little bit earlier.

2 sons, same father, same home, same upbringing, same culture, same religion, probably had the same Sabbath school teacher, same song, Same veggie meat, same chores at home, same everything, but 2 very different results, or so it seems.

And so this led me to really try to dig into this story to see if there's something to this.

If Christ himself has given us a clue to this question that we have.

We're not going to go through the story verse by verse.

I'm assuming that we know the story of the prodigal son.

So I'm not going to belabor setting up the whole context and going through all the stages of what happened.

I'm going to try, right off the bat, to try to identify the motives that fueled the actions of these 2 young men.

I want to peel off the layers, to look into the story to see if there are clues that tell us what motivated them, what were their objectives, what did they want, what was it that drove them?

Because perhaps when we unearth that lower layer of what motivated them, it can help us to better understand how we can relate today.

Series

Alistair Huong: Examining Our Motives

Why Am I A Christian?

Transcript

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Our Final Conflict Part 3

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The Word of God

The Flawed Word, Part 1

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Alistair Huong: Examining Our Motives

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Sound Doctrine