Principles or Principals

Pastor Robert Quillin

Midland SDA Church

August 31, 2013

2 School Boys

“It’s not that I don’t like school, it’s just the principle /principal of the thing!”

You decide what he meant!

Main Point

People who choose to govern themselves by acceptable spiritual and social principles, do not require someone to govern them.  The goal of the Christian home, school, and church is to help guide souls to learn self-government, which will fit them for this life and the life to come.  The greatest principle of all is “love for God and love for men.”

Text

1 John 5:2, 3. K.J.V.

2: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

3: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Definitions

Principle

An underlying basic truth upon which rules of society and spirituality are based.

Principal

One who guides, corrects, or teaches a person to observe accepted rules and principles.

Principals

· Parents

· Teachers

· Administrators

· Employers

· Pastors

· Policemen

· Judges

· Wardens

Rules Are Fixed in Time

Obsolete Laws in Effect

· In Florida, it is considered an offense to shower naked.

· In New York, the penalty for jumping off a building is death.

· In Indiana, you can get out of paying for a dependent’s medical care by praying for him/her.

· In Georgia, no one may carry an ice cream cone in their back pocket if it is Sunday.

· In Knoxville, Tennessee it’s illegal to lasso a fish.

· In Vermont and West Virginia, it is illegal to whistle underwater.

· In Morrisville, Vermont, the law requires that anyone desirous of taking a bath must first secure a permit from the Board of Selectmen.

Are These Rules Obsolete?

· Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

· Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

· Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

· And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

· Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

· Thou shalt not kill.

· Thou shalt not commit adultery.

· Thou shalt not steal.

· Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

· Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

The Principle

John 14:15

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Hebrews 12:6, 7

 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

“It is our duty to preach faith, to present the love of Christ in connection with the claims of the law; for neither can be rightly understood without the other.”

Liberty or Delusions

Law – Love = Legalism

Love – Law = Sentimentality

Love + Law = Liberty

1 Timothy 1:5

 “Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:”

Summary

The object of Christian education is to teach maturing minds to be followers of the divine principles and example of Jesus Christ so they may live and function successfully in this life and in the life to come.

Do you want to have an abundant and joyful life of service for Christ and humanity?

Lift your eyes to the high standard God has presented in His principles for abundant life, and you will find that his character will become your character.

The Principle

John 14:15 NIV

“If ye love me, you will obey what I command.”

This is the principal that will guide us into a fuller and happier life.

Sermon Information

Speaker:                      Robert C. Quillin

Sermon Title:             “Principles or Principals”

Call to Worship:        #850, Ps. 52:8,9 (NIV)

Text:                                              1 John 5:2,3 (KJV)

Opening Hymn:        #457, “I Love to Tell the Story”

Special Music:            “The Love of God”

Closing Hymn:           #321, “My Jesus I Love Thee”

Benediction:                              #910, Ps. 19:14 (NKJV)

Children’s Story:       By Robert C. Quillin