Chapter 4—Sermon at Loma Linda University
Preview
In this selection Ellen White is specifically addressing parents.
Notice this up-to-date comment she makes about daughters trying
to persuade their mothers to let them wear the latest exotic fashions:
“Will you [the parents] allow them to tease this thing out of you, letting
them mold you instead of molding them according to the principles
of the gospel?” Clearly, some issues haven’t changed in parent-child
relationships!
Adventists are sometimes perceived to be legalists. To support
this criticism individuals will point to our church’s dress standards.
Yet Ellen White’s comments on dress do not suggest legalism of any
kind. Instead, the basic elements of the gospel are vividly present:
humility, not drawing attention to oneself, concern for others’ feelings
and needs, quality, taste, natural elegance. The question of dress
reveals the foundation principles of Christianity
.
Two other challenging questions receive attention in this reading:
How should we discipline our children? And what is the relation of
what we do in this present life to our future living in heaven?
Sermon
These words [
2 Peter 1:1-13
] should mean a great deal to us; and
we should study this chapter diligently, that we may learn to practice
the virtues it presents before us. If we do these things, the apostle
says, we “shall never fall.” It is of great consequence to us in our
spiritual experience that we have the assurance that we are treading
[36]
securely and walking understandingly in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
I wish this afternoon to address particularly the parents and chil-
dren. These should understand that they have solemn obligations
resting upon them—the most solemn that ever rested upon mortals.
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