As the world slowly turns on its axis day by day, something phenomenal happens every seventh day. All across the globe, millions of people gather to worship the Lord on His holy Sabbath day. They worship in various settings, comprising 97,811 Seventh-day Adventist churches and 73,886 companies around the world.1
Helping lead this flock of millions are not only the official ministers who often are responsible for multiple congregations, but you, dedicated elders of the local church. You, who give so generously of your time, energy, and finances, are an integral part of the Advent movement. You often carry many responsibilities, supporting the pastor in preaching, visiting, coordinating various aspects of church life, and most importantly being a spiritual leader in bringing people to Jesus and grounding them in the sure Word of God, leading them into a life of revival and reformation.
Recently I was in the city of Prague in central Europe, where the great Reformer Jan Hus (John Huss) stood faithfully for the Scriptures and was later burned at the stake for his fidelity to God’s Word. I was impressed again by how God uses humble, simple, dedicated people to bring His church back to a clear and forthright understanding of biblical truth; people who allow God to bring about a reformation in their own lives and then share it with the world; people who are so dedicated that even more important than their personal safety is the truth contained in the Word of God.
AN ESSENTIAL QUALITY
An essential quality for true reformation in our own lives and in the life of the church is humility. The early reformers were committed to lifting up Christ rather than self. Self and personal pride are some of the great challenges we face in our personal walk with God and in the church. We fight with it all the time. Self separates us from God and each other. It seems to strive for power and derails God’s plans for us and His church. It brings confusion and distortion. It turns us away from God and our heaven-borne mission of proclaiming the Three Angels’ Messages of Revelation 14.
Scripture is clear about how God views this subject. We read, “Only by pride cometh contention” (Prov 13:10, KJV). “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way” (Prov 8:13, KJV). Proverbs 16:18 explains, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (KJV).
Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we be reborn in Christ and have a change in our selfish, self-seeking, proud hearts. The Holy Spirit brings us new life and connection with Christ and heaven. He refocuses our lives and lifts up truth and eternal values. He reduces our pride. “To live for self is to perish,” writes Ellen G. White. “Covetousness, the desire of benefit for self’s sake, cuts the soul off from life.”2
THE MIND OF CHRIST
Our only hope for the plague of “self” is to take on the mind of Christ, allowing Him to fully control us and reform our thinking so we think and act like Him. The greatest pattern for submission and humility is Jesus, our Lord. Nothing explains it better than Paul’s marvelous recounting in Philippians 2 of our Lord’s willingness to humble Himself to become one of His own creatures created by Him. In verse 3 we read, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”3 What an example of humility. How can this happen? Paul explains in verse 5: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
As an elder, you can absolutely make a difference in your local church and beyond. We need revival and reformation in our own lives and in the hearts of our church members.
Our only hope for the plague of “self” is to take on the mind of Christ, allowing Him to fully control us and reform our thinking so we think and act like Him.
We are to allow the Lord to so fully control us that we have His mind instead of our own selfish ambitions and thoughts. Verse 6 confirms that Jesus is God and equal with the Father. In verse 7 Paul begins to explain the incredible condescension that took place on the part of Jesus in becoming our salvation. Notice the various levels of humility; verse 7 shows Jesus as God coming down by three steps of humility:
First, He “made Himself of no reputation.” He was God but did not allow that to keep Him from coming to us. Second, He took “the form of a bondservant.” Third, He came as God “in the likeness of men.”
Verse 8 shows Jesus as a human being again taking three steps of humility to save us. First, He found Himself “in appearance as a man” and “humbled Himself.” Second, He “became obedient to the point of death.” Third, He died “the death of the cross.”
A HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE
Christ condescended from being the King of the universe to dying on the cross, a most cruel instrument of torture and death, used by the Romans for the worst of criminals. It was a slow, painful death filled with public dishonor. Many times, the cross is portrayed as something lifted high up with beautiful gold and encrusted with jewels, but the reality was just the opposite—crucifixion was rough, stark, and terrible, a horrible way to die.
Often, the cross was erected at eye level with those who would pass by. During the dying hours of the condemned person, people could curse, spit upon, and mock him. All this happened while the person felt the excruciating pain of crucifixion. And the ultimate humiliation was that the crucified died naked. What humility and love our Saviour exhibited for us by dying for our sins and providing eternal life through His grace.
No wonder Paul exclaims in Philippians 2:9–11, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
PERSONAL REFORMATION
Jesus is our standard. He submitted Himself to the Father, and the Holy Spirit amplified His work. How much more should we submit and humble ourselves before Him. “We must have a greater nearness to God. Much less of self and much more of Jesus Christ and His grace must be brought into our everyday life.”4
In anticipation of the latter rain promised in Joel 2:23 and the outpouring of God’s Spirit recorded in Acts 2:17–21, we must be prepared to die to self and allow Christ’s mind to be in us. This will truly be the personal reformation needed to allow God’s work to progress in our local churches and throughout the world. It must start in our own lives. Through His strength, we are called to reflect Christ in purity of belief and lifestyle. His mind must pervade everything we are and do. His life must become ours so our lives are changed to reflect Jesus— lives that portray complete trust and belief in His Holy Word, lives committed in service to God and others.
We are standing at a great juncture in earth’s history. Jesus is coming soon. The prophecies of Matthew, Daniel, and Revelation are being fulfilled before our very eyes. God is calling His remnant church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, to continue the reformation—to proclaim the pure truths of the Bible. We are to proclaim the simple gospel truth, Christ’s righteousness, and the Three Angels’ Messages. Much light has been given to Seventh-day Adventists about the final proclamation of this precious prophetic, Advent message. We are to proclaim the pure, simple truth that is not filled with man’s ideas and interpretations as to what the Bible is.
We are to proclaim the simple gospel truth, Christ’s righteousness, and the Three Angels’ Messages. Much light has been given to Seventhday Adventists about the final proclamation of this precious prophetic, Advent message.
As an elder, you can absolutely make a difference in your local church and beyond. We need revival and reformation in our own lives and in the hearts of our church members.
A RENEWED REFORMATION
God is calling for a renewed reformation—not one imposed by the General Conference, or by the division, union, or conference where you reside, but imposed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Are you willing to stand for biblical truth? Are you willing to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you and I willing to let self and pride die and accept God’s plan for your life as a Seventh-day Adventist elder?
You may have complete faith in the precious Seventh-day Adventist biblical message and simply wish to commit yourself anew to its proclamation. You may have some doubts and wish to ask the Holy Spirit to fully convict you of truth and make you part of the continuation of the reformation. You may have some concerns which only the Lord can answer. I encourage you to pour your heart out to the Lord just now as you read this. As church elders, let us pray for humility and for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and to be used by God, pointing people to Christ, His righteousness, His biblical truth, and His soon Second Coming.
1 2023 Annual Statistical Report, new series, vol. 5, GC Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, https://bit. ly/2023ASTReport.
2 Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Battle Creek, MI: Review and Herald, 1900), 259.
3 Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical quotations are from the New King James Version.
4 Ellen G. White, Selected Messages (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1958), 2:376.
Ted N. C. Wilson is the president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Silver Spring, MD, USA.
