Living in the Image of God M04S10
Christ teaching regarding final judgment conveys a message of God’s purpose for human interactions in continuous living. He assigns responsibilities to every person as his representative among others and calls each person to seek to perform the responsibilities through their living and human interactions. He will accept into his kingdom those he judges as “performs their individual responsibilities” but will not accept those he judges as “declines their individual responsibilities.” He will judge a person based on how he sees their living and will not reveal the day or time of final judgment. Therefore, individual relationship with God requires a person to be committed to God’s purpose and seek to fulfill the purpose in continuous living and interactions with others.
We discuss Christ teaching regarding God’s expectation of every person in everyday living and interactions with others. First, in the Sermon on the Mount, his teaching conveys a message regarding commitment to God’s purpose—that seeking to fulfill God’s purpose should be the only motivation for a person’s living and human interactions: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” [Matthew 5:8]. Second, his teaching on final judgment conveys a message of God’s purpose for human interactions in continuous living. God assigns individual responsibilities to every person, to represent him in human interactions with others, and will judge each person based on how he sees their living as they perform or decline to perform the responsibilities.
He calls every person to seek to perform the responsibilities as the only motivation for their living and human interactions. He will accept into his kingdom those he judges as people that perform their individual responsibilities in human interactions but not those he judges as people that decline theirs. Christ teaching regarding final judgment (Matthew 24:36–51) conveys a two-part message: first, that God will not reveal the day and time of final judgment and, second, he will judge every person based on their performing or declining their individual responsibilities in human interactions, as he sees their living. Therefore, individual relationship with God requires a person to be committed to God’s purpose and seek to fulfill the purpose in continuous living and human interactions.
We provide a two-part bible study to understand Christ teaching regarding continuous living and human interactions, under the title of Individual Responsibility for Positive Human Interaction. The first (current) study discusses his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount regarding commitment to God’s purpose and his teaching regarding the day and time of final judgment, to understand his message of continuous living and human interactions through individual responsibilities. In the second study, we summarize our understanding of the individual responsibilities based on previous studies in this program.
Continue reading “Individual Responsibility for Positive Human Interaction: Continuous Living”
In this bible study we examine interactions at the call-up of the first disciples of Jesus (based on the account in Luke 5:1–11) to understand God’s expectations and designs for human partnerships. The interactions illustrate that God expects people to work together, in collaboration, to accomplish objectives that he places in our path. For each assignment, he chooses a leader and provides opportunity for other potential participants to join the leader in an alliance to accomplish the task. The chosen leader is expected to recognize the assignment—an opportunity that God has placed in his/her path, start work as needed while leaving doors open for others to contribute. The other potential participants are expected to recognize the opportunity and make themselves available to contribute, by staying close enough to offer needed assistance but far enough to avoid getting in the way of accomplishing the objective. We learn through the interactions that God will reward all participants in a successful alliance. Leading or following, the size of your harvest will be determined by your capacity.