Series: The Reformation and the Remnant
Message: Why Listen to the Reformers?
Preacher: Nicholas Miller
Daily Walk: Elia King

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 74:18-23.

Read: Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV). As you re-read the text for the final time this week in the English Standard Version, what new insights did you discover about God’s character?

Reflect: In the final chapters of The Reformation and the Remnant, Nicholas Miller offers a brief but effective explanation of the importance and centrality of the return of Jesus (also called the Second Coming or the Second Advent—from which "Adventists" get part of our name) to our understanding of theology. Citing Ellen White, he unpacks an interesting statement from The Great Controversy: “When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”

That statement has caused a great deal of controversy—and, according to Miller, confusion about our identity—within Adventism as we have tried to understand what it means for the character of Christ to be "perfectly" reproduced in His people. Miller suggests that a clearer understanding of how White understood perfection, with roots in the holiness movement, might help us to better put our faith into practice. Three points are regarding her understanding are important:

1. White understood perfection as primarily concerned with advancing God’s honor and glory rather than with meeting requirements for salvation and/or providing assurance of salvation.
2. For White, the central feature and characteristic of perfection is love—not apart from law but as the central feature and motive behind acts of obedience.
3. White was equally clear about the external, social focus of a perfected love.

Miller concludes that, “Only a rediscovery of our holiness heritage will enable us to resolve the identity crisis that has plagued various sectors of Adventism for the past several decades and give us the balance that we need to move beyond being just another evangelical denomination.”

Recalibrate: ​ 

1.  How do character perfection, perfection of love, and sinless perfection differ? What does the fact that all of us will retain our sinful natures until Christ returns imply about these three types of perfection?
2. Whose job is it to bring us to perfection—ours or God’s? How does this influence our Christian experience and sense of assurance?
3. How can we maximize the benefits we receive from holy living, happiness, and joy?”

Respond: Pray for the joy that comes from worshiping in Spirit and Truth.

Research:  Read Chapter 11 and the Conclusion of The Reformation and the Remnant.