Bible Study Guides – Workers Together With Christ

January 31, 2016 – February 6, 2016

Key Text

“Let him that heareth say, Come.” Revelation 22:17.

Study Help: The Desire of Ages, 820–828.

Introduction

“When Christ went away, He gave to every man his work. This rests upon every one of us.” The Review and Herald, December 18, 1888.

1 OUR FIRST INTEREST

  • What should be the first interest of every Christian? Of what does evangelistic ministry consist? Revelation 22:17.

Note: “Whatever one’s calling in life, his first interest should be to win souls for Christ. He may not be able to speak to congregations, but he can work for individuals. … Nigh and afar off are souls weighed down by a sense of guilt. It is not hardship, toil, or poverty that degrades humanity. It is guilt, wrongdoing. This brings unrest and dissatisfaction. Christ would have His servants minister to sin-sick souls.

“The disciples were to begin their work where they were. The hardest and most unpromising field was not to be passed by. So every one of Christ’s workers is to begin where he is. In our own families may be souls hungry for sympathy, starving for the bread of life. There may be children to be trained for Christ. There are heathen at our very doors. Let us do faithfully the work that is nearest. Then let our efforts be extended as far as God’s hand may lead the way.” The Desire of Ages, 822.

  • In what sense should every Christian feel constrained by the love of Christ? 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, 19.

2 LEARNING IN THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST

  • Why and how are we to be workers together with Christ? 2 Corinthians 6:1.

Note: “We are to be workers together with God for the restoration of health to the body as well as to the soul.” The Desire of Ages, 824.

  • How may we be more efficient coworkers in the plan of salvation? Colossians 1:9, 10.

Note: “Mechanics, lawyers, merchants, men of all trades and professions, are educated for the line of business they hope to enter. It is their policy to make themselves as efficient as possible. Go to the milliner or the dressmaker, and she will tell you how long she toiled before she had a thorough knowledge of her business. The architect will tell you how long it took him to understand how to plan a tasteful, commodious building. And so it is in all the callings that men follow.

“Should the servants of Christ show less diligence in preparing for a work infinitely more important? Should they be ignorant of the ways and means to be employed in winning souls? …

“It is a lamentable fact that the advancement of the cause is hindered by the dearth of educated laborers. Many are wanting in moral and intellectual qualifications.” Gospel Workers, 92, 93.

  • How can we “go on unto perfection” in the school of Christ? Philippians 3:12–14; Hebrews 6:1.

Note: “The cause of God calls for all-round men, who can devise, plan, build up, and organize. And those who appreciate the probabilities and possibilities of the work for this time, will seek by earnest study to obtain all the knowledge they can from the Word, to use in ministering to needy, sin-sick souls.

“A minister should never think that he has learned enough, and may now relax his efforts.” Gospel Workers, 94.

3 SEARCHING FOR THE LOST SHEEP

  • What question did Jesus ask certain men who invested money in flocks and herds? Luke 15:4.

Note: “In the parable [of the lost sheep] the shepherd goes out to search for one sheep—the very least that can be numbered. So if there had been but one lost soul, Christ would have died for that one.

“The sheep that has strayed from the fold is the most helpless of all creatures. It must be sought for by the shepherd, for it cannot find its way back. So with the soul that has wandered away from God; he is as helpless as the lost sheep, and unless divine love had come to his rescue he could never find his way to God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 187.

  • How does a true co-laborer of Christ act and feel when one of his sheep is missing? Luke 15:5, 6.

Note: “The shepherd who discovers that one of his sheep is missing does not look carelessly upon the flock that is safely housed, and say, ‘I have ninety and nine, and it will cost me too much trouble to go in search of the straying one. Let him come back, and I will open the door of the sheepfold, and let him in.’ No; no sooner does the sheep go astray than the shepherd is filled with grief and anxiety. He counts and recounts the flock. When he is sure that one sheep is lost, he slumbers not. He leaves the ninety and nine within the fold, and goes in search of the straying sheep. The darker and more tempestuous the night and the more perilous the way, the greater is the shepherd’s anxiety and the more earnest his search. He makes every effort to find that one lost sheep.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 187, 188.

  • What is the meaning of I John 3:1; 4:19?

Note: “We do not repent in order that God may love us, but He reveals to us His love in order that we may repent.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 189.

4 THE LOST COIN AND THE PRODIGAL SON

  • What does the lost coin mentioned in the parable represent? Luke 15:8, 9.

Note: “The lost coin represents those who … have no sense of their condition. … Their souls are in peril, but they are unconscious and unconcerned. … even those who are indifferent to the claims of God are the objects of His pitying love. They are to be sought for that they may be brought back to God. …

“This parable has a lesson to families. In the household there is often great carelessness concerning the souls of its members. Among their number may be one who is estranged from God; but how little anxiety is felt lest in the family relationship there be lost one of God’s entrusted gifts.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 193, 194.

  • In the parable, what two tasks were required of the housewife in order to find the lost coin? Luke 15:8, second part.

Note: “The woman in the parable searches diligently for her lost coin. … she will not cease her efforts until that piece is found. So in the family if one member is lost to God every means should be used for his recovery. … let there be diligent, careful self-examination. … See if there is not some mistake, some error in management, by which that soul is confirmed in impenitence.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 194.

  • How does the Lord deal with modern prodigal sons and daughters? Luke 15:11–32. What lesson should we learn from the attitude of the elder brother?

Note: “When you see yourselves as sinners saved only by the love of your heavenly Father, you will have tender pity for others who are suffering in sin. … When the ice of selfishness is melted from your hearts, you will be in sympathy with God, and will share His joy in the saving of the lost. …

“He [your brother] is bound to you by the closest ties; for God recognizes him as a son. Deny your relationship to him, and you show that you are but a hireling in the household, not a child in the family of God.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 210, 211.

5 THE WORK OF GOSPEL MINISTERS

  • Define the main work of a gospel minister. 2 Corinthians 12:10; 2 Timothy 3:10, 11; 4:5.

Note: “The work of the gospel minister is ‘to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God’ (Ephesians 3:9). If one entering upon this work chooses the least self-sacrificing part, contenting himself with preaching, and leaving the work of personal ministry for someone else, his labors will not be acceptable to God. Souls for whom Christ died are perishing for want of well-directed, personal labor; and he has mistaken his calling who, entering upon the ministry, is unwilling to do the personal work that the care of the flock demands.

“The spirit of the true shepherd is one of self-forgetfulness. … By the preaching of the word and by personal ministry in the homes of the people, he learns their needs, their sorrows, their trials; and, co-operating with the great Burden Bearer, he shares their afflictions, comforts their distresses, relieves their soul hunger, and wins their hearts to God.” The Acts of the Apostles, 527.

  • What other qualities are essential in ministry? James 3:1, 2, 13–18.

Note: “There is tactful work for the undershepherd to do as he is called to meet alienation, bitterness, envy, and jealousy in the church, and he will need to labor in the spirit of Christ to set things in order.” The Acts of the Apostles, 526.

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

1 What does it mean to be constrained by the love of Christ?

2 What type of education does the gospel minister need and why?

3 How does a true co-laborer of Christ act and feel when a sheep is missing from the flock?

4 Which qualities are often forgotten as requirements in the gospel ministry?

5 How essential are tact and wisdom in the gospel ministry?

Copyright © 2014 Reformation Herald Publishing Association, 5240 Hollins Road, Roanoke, Virginia. Reprinted by permission.

Fellow Workers with God

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). This was a favorite text of Ellen White. To her way of thinking, it was an incomprehensible privilege to think that we could be fellow workers with God. To be considered a fellow worker with the President of the United States would be considered a high privilege, but here we are told that we are called to be fellow workers—not with some human dignitary, but with God!

Some people think the minister is paid to do this, but we are all called to be fellow workers with God. We all have to make a living, but our primary work is to be fellow workers with God in His work. “Christ has given to the church a sacred charge. Every member should be a channel through which God can communicate to the world the treasures of His grace.” The Acts of the Apostles, 600. We must realize that every day we are meeting people whom we may never meet again, and we have a saving gospel that must be presented to them.

No one is converted without a burden for souls. Part of the gospel is that we are called to be missionaries for the Lord. Jesus told the demoniac when he was healed, “Go home to your friends, and tell them the great things the Lord has done for you” (Mark 5:19). And that is what we must do.

To Grow Spiritually, We Must Be Witnessing

It is absolutely necessary for spiritual growth to spend time witnessing. If we are feeding only ourselves, we are going to grow fat, sluggish, and critical. “The great outpouring of the Spirit of God, which lightens the whole earth with His glory, will not come until we have an enlightened people, that know by experience what it means to be laborers together with God.” Christian Service, 253.

“The Lord desires that His word of grace shall be brought home to every soul.

“To a great degree this must be accomplished by personal labor. This was Christ’s method. His work was largely made up of personal interviews. He had a faithful regard for the one-soul audience.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 229. We might think that most of Jesus’ work was public teaching and healing, but most of His work was one-to-one. Much of what Jesus did is not recorded, but we know by Inspiration that He was in people’s homes and spent time teaching the disciples how to reach individuals.

Teaching Others How to Witness

We are told that the greatest help which can be given to church members is to teach them to work for God, not for the church or pastor. “Just as soon as a church is organized, let the minister set the members at work. They will need to be taught how to labor successfully. Let the minister devote more of his time to educating than to preaching. Let him teach the people how to give to others the knowledge they have received.” Testimonies, vol. 7, 20. When I read this statement, our church met together and began to plan teaching weekends. We began to try to make the church a learning center instead of just a preaching center. In the process of studying, we found that the Holy Spirit will never be poured out unless we are working to win souls, so we said, “We better start doing this.” Then we began to study how to win souls, and the Lord blessed. “Every Christian should be a missionary, working for the salvation of souls.” The Review and Herald, November 29, 1906.

Our young people in school need to learn the science of soul winning also. To do this, they must learn about true psychology, how the mind works, how to meet people, and how to reach them. They ought to know the Bible and the prophecies. If, in first grade, they had simply begun learning one verse a day, then by the time they finished academy, they would have the whole New Testament memorized!

To be effective in our witnessing, we need to be storing our minds with the truths of God’s word. We may say, “I wish I had started when I was five years old, but now I am 45.” We are never going to be younger than we are today. If we are ever going to do it, we must start right now. If we cannot memorize the whole Bible, we can memorize a whole chapter such as Romans 8 or 1 John 3.

“Our work has been marked out for us by our heavenly Father. We are to take our Bibles and go forth to warn the world. We are to be God’s helping hands in saving souls.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 150. “A great work can be done by presenting to the people the Bible just as it reads. Carry the word of God to every man’s door.” Ibid., vol. 5, 388.

God established this church on a firm basis. That firm basis was made because of a great shaking within the early movement. In the early Advent movement, the number of believers went from approximately 100,000 down to just a few hundred people, but at least these few hundred people were solid. They had given their souls and their lives and all that they had to the Lord. They went out and spread the message and preached. The Lord blessed, and the church began to grow.

N. Haskell’s Camp Meeting

In the State of California, S. N. Haskell held a camp meeting at which Ellen White and her son Willie helped. His concerns were centered on the winning of souls, so for their camp meeting, they invited non-Adventists to the evening meetings. During the daytime the people were taught how to win souls and other things that were more specifically for Adventists, but the evening meeting was always geared for non-Adventists, as well as Adventists, and was evangelistic in nature. During the day, many of the Adventists would hand out fliers in the community inviting people to come to the evening meeting. The result was that several hundred non-Adventists were in attendance at the evening meetings.

On one occasion, S. N. Haskell was ready to preach, and there were a number of non-Adventists present to hear the message. It began to rain and thunder, and since there were no microphones, people could not hear. It was a terrible catastrophe in any evangelist’s mind. He did not want to send people away; they might never come again. But our extremities are God’s opportunities! S. N. Haskell prayed earnestly, and an idea came to him to write texts on slips of paper and distribute them to the people. Then he went out into the middle of the auditorium, stood up on a table, and had everyone gather around him as close as they could—very unconventional. He would call out a question and then have the answer read from the Bible. The people might miss a few words that were read when the thunder cracked, but they could follow the text in the Bible. So it was question, answer, question, answer—all Elder Haskell was doing was reading the questions, and the people were reading the Bible.

Willie White was very impressed. He could see the people being moved as they found the answers to questions from the Bible. He later told his mother about this meeting. Shortly after this event, the Lord gave Ellen White a vision and showed her that this storm was from the Lord. He was trying to teach people how to give Bible studies, and this was His method. Up to that point, no one in the church had ever, as far as we know, given a real Bible study; rather, truth had been presented in sermon form.

A New Type of Bible Studies

Here was something so simple and so different, but very effective. S. N. Haskell was not telling people the truth; he was asking them questions and simply telling them where to find the answers in the Bible. Elder Haskell began to train people right there at the camp meeting how to use this method. Very soon the church began to develop a missionary society in the General Conference to train people. A paper was made just for that purpose. People would write Bible studies and send them in to this paper, and they would publish these studies. A number of these were gathered together and published in what became known as Bible Readings for the Home Circle.

During the 1890s, this system became fully established in the church as the method of giving Bible studies, and the church grew the most it has ever grown—almost ten percent every single year—because the laymen were out witnessing.

Bible studies have gone through various developments over the years. About 1930, we developed the first filmstrip. Nine years later, a Bible study correspondence school was developed, and the Voice of Prophecy became the main headquarters for Bible study through correspondence. When I was growing up in the 1950s, my father, my brother, and I used the 20th Century Bible studies on filmstrip.

While pastoring in the Washington D.C. area, we were training people how to give Bible studies. We were using materials we had, but we found they were not working well. I discovered the materials were written for the purpose of leaving them in the home as a correspondence course, not for a Bible worker to use in giving a Bible study. Through a year of experimenting, writing, and testing, the Steps to Life Bible studies were developed.

We had some interesting experiences! I remember a young lady who had never given studies. She said, “I cannot give a Bible study.”

I replied, “Yes, you can. Let me give you a few principles. Next week I cannot be here to give studies to this lady.” I reviewed the principles of asking questions and letting people answer them from the Bible. We gave her the Bible studies we had written. I never went back. She gave all the rest of the studies to this lady, and the lady was baptized. That so excited her that she gave them to another and another and another. In a little over a year before I left, she had given Bible studies to four young ladies, and all of them were baptized.

This work is going to be finished with laymen who are witnessing to their neighbors, and the Lord expects us to qualify ourselves for this work. There is a human element involved. In Fundamentals of Christian Education, 217, Ellen White says, “The Lord does nothing for the salvation of the soul without the cooperation of man.” She goes on to say, in spite of this, how few have qualified themselves in the work of soul winning.

Personal Bible Study

I would like to encourage you to, first of all, have Bible study every day for your own spiritual growth. I may be one of the weakest Christians in the world, so I need a lot of special help. I find that I need at least an hour a day with the Word and on my knees in order to survive. Personal Bible study is essential for personal witnessing. We must realize that every one of us is God’s fellow worker, and we are called to be active witnesses for the Lord.

There are two things that are required in order to be successful workers for the Lord. One is personal effort, using all the intelligence God has given to us, learning how to do it, not stumbling and making the same mistakes time after time. If we learn that something does not work, let us do it differently. Let us learn from one another. Let us learn all the methods that we can learn to share our faith. Let us give out literature. Like Jesus with the woman at the well, let us learn to approach people without offending them, learn different ways to share the Sabbath and various other truths. Along with that, we must realize that not one of us will ever win a single soul in our own power or with our own strength.

The Holy Spirit

The other requirement is that we must have the Holy Spirit in our lives. To have the Holy Spirit in our lives requires that we be cleansed from sin.

“The latter rain will come, and the blessing of God will fill every soul that is purified from every defilement.” Evangelism, 702. “Without the presence of the Spirit of God, no heart will be touched, no sinner won to Christ.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 21. Now, you see, the work of gaining the victory over sin becomes important, not only so we can get to heaven, but so we can be used by God to help others to be in heaven. You will never be an effective soul winner as long as you are retaining known sins in your life. The greatest reason, the greatest purpose for a holy life is not just so you can be saved, but so you can be used to be an instrument to help others to be saved—your children, your family, your neighbors, and members of the church.

When I fly on the airlines, I always like to get a seat by myself so I can study. I tell the Lord, “If I cannot have that, put someone here to whom I can witness.” In every situation, we should be looking for someone, somewhere, to whom we can witness. There are many wonderful books that can be given away, such as the book Somebody Cares. [Available through Steps to Life, this book was written by Marshall J. Grosboll.] This and other books can be given everywhere as a witness.

“There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God.” The Ministry of Healing, 159. Starting today, would you like to dedicate yourself to become a fellow worker with God for the work of winning souls?

Pastor Marshall Grosboll, with his wife Lillian, founded Steps to Life. In July 1991, Pastor Marshall and his family met with tragedy as they were returning home from a camp meeting in Washington state, when the airplane he was piloting went down, killing all on board. This article was first published in the October 1995 LandMarks. It was the last sermon he preached just 24 hours before he died.