Relevant Verses: Isaiah 5; John 3, 1 John 3; Matthew 21; 1 Corinthians 4

Theme: “What More Could I Have Done?”

Leading Question: Does God always do everything he can to save his people?

Our lesson for this week is entitled, “What more could I have done?” echoing the question Isaiah asks in the parable of the vineyard:

Isaiah 5:3-4: “And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield rotten grapes?”

Question: What would be the implications for our understanding of the character of God if the answer to that question were: “Yes, God could have done more.”

The plan of salvation is based on the assumption that God had pulled out all the stops in order to win us back. One of my favorite quotes comes from Hugh Williams, an SDA pastor, now deceased: “Don’t believe anything about God that would make you think less of Him for it could not be true. You cannot believe Him to be better than He really is.”

John 3:16 is one of the best passages in the Bible to affirm that great truth: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Christ Overcomes All. According to 1 John, Jesus came to destroy the works of Satan:

1 John 3:8 “The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: to destroy the works of the devil.”

Question: As far as the human family is concerned, which aspect of Christ’s work is the most powerful? Or would that vary from person to person?

1. To live as the perfect example
2. To provide the perfect sacrifice
3. To somehow satisfy both goals?

A significant Ellen White quote notes the remarkable variety in human experience:

Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance, and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, education, that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same. There are no two whose experience is alike in every particular. The trials of one are not the trials of another. The duties that one finds light are to another most difficult and perplexing.


So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that each should be careful in the estimate he places upon another. We little know the bearing of our acts upon the experience of others. What we do or say may seem to us of little moment, when, could our eyes be opened, we should see that upon it depended the most important results for good or for evil. – MH 483

Question: On a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you think Adventists affirm that variety? As Individuals? As a community?

Another Vineyard Story. The Old Testament vineyard story in Isaiah 5 is at best ambivalent when it is judging the hope for humanity. The New Testament story from the lips of Jesus is much more somber:

Matthew 21:33-41 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went away. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they treated them in the same way. 37 Then he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”

Carrot or Stick? The vineyard stories raise the question of which is typically more effective in leading God’s people to the kingdom: positive or negative motivation. Jesus was clearly not shy about using negative motivation, especially in his parables – in his personal ministry he tended to be much more positive.

Question: Is it possible to be an effective witness if one uses exclusively positive motivation. Or are there occasions when the negative motivation becomes necessary?

Paul’s example. When Paul was dealing with the Corinthian church (perhaps his most difficult church), he gave an ambivalent suggestion in 1 Corinthians 4:

1 Cor. 4:17: 21 “What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick or with love in a spirit of gentleness?”

Ellen White’s mature perspective. Given the heavy-hitting example of early Adventists, especially when dealing the Roman Catholics, this is an intriguing quotation:

The Lord wants His people to follow other methods than that of condemning wrong, even though the condemnation be just. He wants us to do something more than to hurl at our adversaries charges that only drive them further from the truth. The work which Christ came to do in our world was not to erect barriers and constantly thrust upon the people the fact that they were wrong.


He who expects to enlighten a deceived people must come near to them and labor for them in love. He must become a center of holy influence. – Testimonies 6:121-122 (1901)

Question: How does one determine whether to use the carrot or the stick? Do Adventists tend to use one more than the other? Is it possible to get the balance just right when dealing with people?

God’s Ultimate Vindication. In the end, God’s goal is to vindicate his name and his character. In that respect, Romans 3:21-31 is to the point:

Romans 3:21-31: 21 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ[a] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26 it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus.

27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. Through what kind of law? That of works? No, rather through the law of faith. 28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of gentiles also? Yes, of gentiles also, 30 since God is one, and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law through this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

In short, we affirm that it is the work of Christ that assures the success of the “cosmic conflict.”