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This morning to begin my talk, I want to
paraphrase a dream that Ellen White had. She actually
had several dreams centered on the same topic, and
that is appropriate for all of her life she was concerned
with being ready to meet Jesus in joy when he
returned.
I have chosen one which I have read in one way
ever since I first read it. After the events of the last
two weeks, my understanding has taken a new
direction.
Sr. White had this dream in August of 1868 at
Battle Creek. In August 1868 she had published the
first part of a document on dress reform.
During this time temperance reform was gaining
prominence in the Adventist church as well as the
nation.
In 1868, the first of many great camp meetings
took place. In Groveland, Mass, 20,000 people
attended camp meeting and August the 27th, over
15,000 people listened to Ellen White speak.
The year before James White had suffered a
stroke, and Ellen was near exhaustion from caring for
him.
It was in these circumstances that she had the
dream.
In her dream she and a number of people were
moving out for a journey. Their wagons were heavily
loaded. The road was continually ascended. On one
side was a high wall, on the other a deep precipice.
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As they continued their journey, the road
became narrower. They had to unhitch the horses and
take some of the baggage with them to continue the
journey.
The path grew more and more narrow. They
had to stay close to the wall to keep from falling and
the luggage was scraping the wall, so they cut it loose
and let it fall into the abyss.
They continued on horseback until the path
became even more narrow, and then they left the
horses behind and went on single file.
At this point slender cords appeared from the
top of the cliff and each one grasped one to keep their
balance on the ever narrowing path.
The cords moved with the travelers. Soon they
removed their shoes the better to grip the disappearing
path. They noticed that there was blood on the white
cliff, and pondered that others must have passed this
way before.
As they moved on they removed their socks so
that they would not slip. They became more and more
dependent upon the cord, which was becoming
stronger and larger.
She wrote: “At length we came to a large
chasm, at which our path ended. There was nothing
now to guide the feet, nothing upon which to rest
them. Our whole reliance must be upon the cords,
which had increased in size, until they were as large as
our bodies. Here we were for a time thrown into
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perplexity and distress. We inquired in fearful
whispers, "To what is the cord attached?" My husband
was just before me. Large drops of sweat were falling
from his brow, the veins in his neck and temples were
increased to double their usual size, and suppressed,
agonizing groans came from his lips. The sweat was
dropping from my face, and I felt such anguish as I
had never felt before. A fearful struggle was before us.
Should we fail here, all the difficulties of our journey
had been experienced for naught.
Before us, on the other side of the chasm, was a
beautiful field of green grass, about six inches high. I
could not see the sun, but bright soft beams of light,
resembling fine gold and silver, were resting upon this
field. Nothing I had seen upon earth could compare in
beauty and glory with this field. But could we succeed
in reaching it? was the anxious inquiry. Should the
cord break, we must perish. Again, in whispered
anguish, the words were breathed, "What holds the
cord?"
For a moment we hesitated to venture. Then we
exclaimed: "Our only hope is to trust wholly to the
cord. It has been our dependence all the difficult way.
It will not fail us now." Still we were hesitating and
distressed. The words were then spoken: "God holds
the cord. We need not fear." These words were then
repeated by those behind us, accompanied with: "He
will not fail us now. He has brought us thus far in
safety."
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My husband then swung himself over the fearful
abyss into the beautiful field beyond. I immediately
followed. And oh, what a sense of relief and gratitude
to God we felt! I heard voices raised in triumphant
praise to God. I was happy, perfectly happy.
I awoke, and found that from the anxiety I had
experienced in passing over the difficult route, every
nerve in my body seemed to be in a tremor. This
dream needs no comment. It made such an impression
upon my mind that probably every item in it will be
vivid before me while my memory shall continue.”
It seems clear that in the context of the dream
was of the physical things of life, and faith to leave
them behind. That is the way that I have always
understood it.
Last week as I considered the direction that
apparently our country has taken, I had a hard time
with my thoughts. I have studied the path that nations
have taken to their fall before, and the parallels
frighten me.
I was struck in the presidential campaign about
several things. The one thing that really bothered me
was that there was no discussion of how we can be
more free as a people. I do not remember hearing the
word liberty uttered by anyone.
Then this dream came to my mind. And several
Bible texts.
Psalm 118:9 It is better to trust in the LORD
Than to put confidence in princes.
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Psalm 146:3 Do not put your trust in princes,
Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help.
Isaiah 40: 23 He brings the princes to nothing;
He makes the judges of the earth useless.
Daniel 2:21 And He changes the times and the
seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He
gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who
have understanding.
I have been pondering Ellen White’s dream now
for almost 2 weeks. I must confess that I am not as
strong in faith as I would like to be. And the only way
to have increased faith is to have it exercised. I knew I
needed to prepare a sermon for today, and I did not
want to. I could not think of the words to say. I asked
the Lord, “What can I say that will be relevant to times
and situations that we find our selves in.
My mind kept coming back to the dream.
Obviously among other things, the dream spoke to
Ellen of having to lighten up on the physical things of
life. But what is the story behind the story?
Is just dumping our worldly belongings going to
prepare us for the Kingdom? The rich young ruler was
told to give up everything that he had, and he could not
do it.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about
where we put our treasure. He clearly said that we
cannot serve both God and money. Then he said that
worrying is a useless proposition.
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So how do we NOT worry? Anyone ever tried
that before? If you have you know that to NOT worry
about something, you have to think of that something.
And the human mind cannot process a negative.
When you tell a kid not to put a marble in their ear,
notice I am substituting here, all they can think of is
putting a marble in their ear.
That’s the problem with the law. When the law
says do not steal, we have to imagine stealing to
process the “do not”.
Get the picture. So that describes the quandary
of human existence outside of Jesus Christ.
Romans 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let
us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race
that is set before us,
In words similar to the dream of Ellen White,
Paul encourages us to lay aside every weight, that is,
everything that can slow us down in our spiritual race
or journey, if you will, and run patiently the race of
salvation.
What might those weights be? Those of you
who have done any training for a race know what Paul
is talking about. You can go to any place that sells
sporting goods and buy weights that you can strap on
to make your body work harder.
The weight may be increased from time to time
until the day of the race. Then the weights are taken
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off, and the extra muscle developed put to use to help
run a stronger race.
In our Christian experience what are the
weights? Paul says it is the sin which so easily
ensnares us.
Have you ever contemplated what ensnares
you? Note that Paul does not say the sins which entrap
us. He says the sin, singular, that besets us.
That sin is the sin of letting anything come
between us and Jesus.
Now Satan has a particularly nasty trick that he
plays on each one of us. He tells us that if we do this
or that, or leave aside this or the other, that we will be
closer to winning the race. If I dress right, eat right,
live right, and think right, I must be winning the race.
But the enemy does not want us to lay aside the
two heavy weights that must be gone to enter the
kingdom of God, or if you like the analogy the quiet
green fields.
Those are the weights of pride and selfishness.
Proverbs 16: 18 Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.
I searched throughout my Bible, and did not find
one place where pride was commended.
Again, what can we be proud of? Our
righteousness?
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing,
and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we
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all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind,
have taken us away.
Note Isaiah does not say all of our righteousness, but all of our righteousnesses. All that we do
for our own salvation is useless. Every pretense that
we make of goodness is nothing. All of our
knowledge is stupidity.
Esther was on Facebook talking about an
incident that has happened to many of us. Your cat or
dog will bring some disgusting dead thing to you
apparently as a gift of some kind. That which they are
very proud to present is obnoxious to you.
Likewise, the best that we can bring to God
can’t begin to have any intrinsic value to God.
In Matthew 25, where the lost are protesting that
they have served the Lord with all kinds of good
works, the master is telling them that those works are
works of iniquity. By the way, the same works that
were done by the righteous.
What makes the difference?
When your cat drags up that mauled dead mouse
to the doorstep, are you angry, or do you take it as a
mark of honor or respect. To you take the “gift” as it’s
physical self, or do you take it in the spirit that it was
given?”
The sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 did the
same things. They fed the hungry, visited the sick and
imprisoned, clothed the stranger. One sinned, the other
did not.
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Matthew 25:40 "And the King will answer and
say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you
did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did
it to Me.'
The bottom line is this. The kingdom of God is
about relationships. Is your relationship selfish or not?
Do your “good” actions spring out of your pride of
knowledge, self satisfaction, etc, or do they come from
a deep seated love for your Savior? Have you washed
Jesus’ feet with your tears and anointed him with the
very best that you have?
Back to Paul
Romans 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such
contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be
wearied and faint in your minds.
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving
against sin.
Which brings us to the simple yet profound
statement that Paul shared in so many ways:
2 Cor 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face,
beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the same image from glory to
glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
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As we make the journey that was so graphically
described the dream of Ellen, what do we need to give
up? Merely things? That can be relatively easy.
Much harder is to give up a self-centered existence.
Anger when things do not go your way. A harsh word
when you are irritated. Haughtiness at those who do
not agree with your opinions. I could go on.
Again Paul.
Phil 3: 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss
for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
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righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is
through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is
from God by faith;
10 that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any means, I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am
already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of
that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have
apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind and reaching forward to those
things which are ahead,
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14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
You see, it is all about Jesus. He is that rope
that we cling to as life gets difficult. That cord that
can increase in holding power. In the end that is all
that there is. No physical thing that we cherish here
will make it to heaven. No pride of accomplishment
will pave the way into the kingdom.
When you come to the end, before the second
coming, or when Jesus appears, the only question will
be, “Who is my Savior?” “In whom have I put my
trust”.
Why not start that now?
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