Commentary on "Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow"

COLLEEN TINKER

 

Day 7: Friday, April 2, 2010

 

Overview

The lesson quote a passage from Patriarchs and Prophets in which Ellen White writes about David, “His opportunities of contemplation and meditation served to enrich him with that wisdom and piety that made him beloved of God and angels. As he contemplated the perfections of his Creator clearer conceptions of God opened before his soul. Obscure themes were illuminated, difficulties were made plain, perplexities were harmonized, and each ray of new light called forth fresh bursts of rapture, and sweeter anthems of devotion, to the glory of God and the Redeemer.”

The lesson ends with these two questions: “How do we understand the relationship between faith and works? How can we learn to praise God and reveal our love to Him through our works, while at the same time not get caught in the trap of believing that these works save us?”

 

Observations

It was not David’s contemplation of heavenly themes that caused him to have his rich spiritual insights. Rather, God revealed His truths to David. His Psalms are full of Messianic prophecies (read Psalm 22 for example), and David did not develop these insights as the consequence of taking opportunity for contemplation and meditation. He did worship God and meditate on His word, but it was not David’s mental discipline that yielded His amazing prophetic work.

2 Timothy 3:16 states that all Scripture is breathed by God and is useful for correction and instruction. David’s writing is God-breathed.

The question of works and salvation is confusing from an Adventist perspective. It is hard to explain how one is saved entirely by faith, yet one’s works are part of salvation.

When a person realizes that humans have spirits, however, and experiences being born of the Spirit and transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, the question of works completely resolves. Salvation is all of faith—but that is not theoretical. Salvation means being born again of the Spirit. When we have the literal life of the Lord Jesus in us, it is clear that works have nothing at all to do either with securing our salvation or with keeping us saved. God does not look at us to see if we are performing certain deeds as a way of deciding if we are saved. Rather, He looks at us to see if we are in Him—transferred from being in Adam to being in Christ with the indwelling Holy Spirit.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. Our response, when we are born again, is to love those around us for God. These works do not “prove” to us or to others that we are saved. Rather, they are the outflow of the power of God in us. They do not even flow from gratitude; rather, they flow from the life of God in us—sometimes without our being fully aware of the ways we are doing the work of God.

Our good works are works God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2:10), and this work is work He brings us, not work that we decide to do because we are looking for ways to please God. Rather, when we know Him, He brings His work to us, and it has nothing to do with ensuring we are saved. Instead, our salvation ensures that we will demonstrate the works of God.

 

Summary

1. David did not gain his insight from exercising his opportunities for contemplation.
2. God revealed to David the prophecies about the Messiah and the psalms of praise and imprecation that he wrote.
3. Our works are not part of salvation. Rather they are expressions of God that flow from a person who has been born again.
4. Unless a person is born of the Spirit, his good works mean nothing.
5. When a person is born again, God’s work will flow from him. They do not assure salvation; rather, salvation assures that good works will be present, whether or not the person is fully aware of their significance.

 

 

 

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