IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 921

ON LOVE; PART DX

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

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“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

In the last essay we spent some time relating the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus to our current theme on forsaking. What we see of course IS NOT what most see and this is True despite the many different interpretations of the meaning and whether it IS actually a parable at all. Some believe that this IS a depiction of the difference between heaven and hell and others go so far as to say that this is a picture of an actual event. For us this IS a parable and one that can be seen as about the Life of the men rather that the death or, better, the fate of the man who rich man versus the fate of the beggar as it is based in their Lifestyle. We have NO information from the Master regarding what this rich man may have done wrong nor what the beggar may have done right. And we should see that this idea of riches IS more than possessions and wealth and that the Master’s ideas of treasure ARE related and ARE a part of the fate of the rich man. At the same time there IS NO information that the beggar DID DO what is seen necessary to be accounted worthy of the Kingdom yet he is comforted by Father Abraham in this story. From our view these ideas clearly point to our vision of the afterlife which IS NOT heaven and hell….there IS NO hell as depicted by many and heaven is that state of being where a man realizes his ONENESS with God and in which he IS free from the illusion and the glamour of Life in the world; where he has overcome the world. We are left then with our own ideas of the afterlife which are rather sound in their view based upon the teaching of the Master and His apostles. The parable however IS NOT only about this result of being the rich man or the beggar, it IS more about the meaning of these ideas in Life, the meaning of forsaking which the beggar has accomplished and this whether intentionally or not; the beggar has nothing to keep his personality attached to the world and the things of the world after his death. The rich man on the other hand is immersed in his Lifestyle of luxury and pleasure and this IS most likely the total focus of his Life and this regardless that he may be religious or a leader or carry any other worldly accolade; he is rich and he lives so according to the story and in this idea of his Life and his fate we should see the totality of the Master’s words on the riches of the world and on the one who possesses them. And we should see Jesus words on forsaking to the rich young ruler and in His words about discipleship and being accounted worthy.

And this IS our subject; forsaking. Here in this parable we should be able to get a glimpse of the reality behind this from the perspective of rich and poor and at the same time realize that this IS NOT a black and white issue even while the picture shows this as such. The attraction and attachment to the world as well as the forsaking of these works out in Life by degree and here we should have that idea that while riches IS used to depict this in the Gospels, the greater idea IS found in the Master’s Truth on treasure; what IS the treasure of one’s heart. It is in this that we should find the reality of forsaking and in Jesus words we can see this in the answer to the Apostle Peter’s question to the Master on this subject; we read: “Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them,….every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:27-29). Here it should be clear that this idea of forsaking IS beyond riches and possessions and we should note that riches are not counted among these other things in this saying and this perhaps because it is already assumed. And the rest of this list should not be seen in concrete terms but rather as His example of those things that can become the focus of the man, those things which he may treasure.

We have spent the extra time on this parable because it IS not recognized by most in any way close to what we see and because this idea of forsaking is spread throughout the Master’s words on discipleship and by extension one’s being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God; in our view the criteria for each of these IS the same. When we tie to these idea on forsaking the Master’s teaching on the treasure of one’s heart, we come away with a more complete and accurate picture of what it IS that a man must forsake and in the entirety of these ideas we should be able to understand our view on focus. So long as the focus of the man in the world is on himself and the things of his self in the world; so long as the thoughts, attitudes and actions of the man in the world are about himself and the things of his self in the world, then he IS NOT a True disciple of the Master and IS NOT accounted worthy of that ultimate goal of ALL, the Kingdom of God. And it IS easy to come to this reality through His words and we offer but two here again today:

• “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). These words ARE clear and they are revealing as they tell us that is IS ONLY by doing the Will of God that one IS accounted worthy of the Kingdom and while doctrine can cut and slice this in any which way, the Truth remains that the Kingdom IS entered by “he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“. By contrast John Gill in his Exposition of the Bible offers us this which in our view contradicts much of what this verse says:”….thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these“. This IS the Will of the Father, the Will of God as given by Jehovah to Moses and repeated as the first Great Commandment by the Master. In these words we find the reality of forsaking, the reality that there can be NO THING more important, there can be NO OTHER focus and NO OTHER treasure in the heart, than God and the things of God. AND, one MUST Love his brother as himself and this IN ALL things; here there IS NO prejudice and there is no hatred; there is no sense of better or worse; there IS ONLY the idea of the ONE Human Family as a man’s expression to the world. Here again doctrine does not see this as the reality of Life, that this Love IS the core value of the disciple and the goal of the aspirant; that this Love IS the KEY to the Kingdom of God.
  • Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord; Not every one that calls Christ his Lord and Master, professes subjection to him, or that calls upon his name, or is called by his name; or makes use of it in his public ministrations. There are many who desire to be called, and accounted Christians, and who make mention of the name of Christ in their sermons, only to take away their reproach, to cover themselves, and gain credit with, and get into the affections and goodwill of the people; but have no hearty love to Christ, nor true faith in him: nor is it their concern to preach his Gospel, advance his glory, and promote his kingdom and interest; their chief view is to please men, aggrandize themselves, and set up the power of human nature in opposition to the grace of God, and the righteousness of Christ. Now not everyone of these, no, not any of them, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is to be understood not of the outward dispensation of the Gospel, or the Gospel church state, or the visible church of Christ on earth, in which sense this phrase is sometimes used; because such persons may, and often do, enter here; but of eternal glory, into which none shall enter, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. This, as it may regard private Christians, intends not merely outward obedience to the will of God, declared in his law, nor barely subjection to the ordinances of the Gospel; but more especially faith in Christ for life and salvation; which is the source of all true evangelical obedience, and without which nothing is acceptable to God. He that seeth the Son, looks unto him, ventures on him, commits himself to him, trusts in him, relies on him, and believes on him for righteousness, salvation, and eternal life, he it is that does the will of the Father, and he only ⁸.

These sayings on their own are Great Truths that none can argue with and together they form an inextricable web. However doctrine and commentary DO NOT necessarily agree as we see in the ideas above on the Master’s saying that it IS ONLY those who keep His words that are accounted worthy and these other ideas that dilute the reality of Love for God and one’s neighbor which IS indelibly clear in our view. On this idea of Love we read this from Mr. Gill: thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; that is, with all the powers and faculties of the soul, the will, the understanding, and the affections; in the most sincere, upright, and perfect manner, without any dissimulation and hypocrisy, and above all objects whatever, for this the law requires; and which man, in his state of innocence, was capable of, though now fallen, he is utterly unable to perform; so far from it, that without the grace of God, he has no true love at all to God, in his heart, soul and mind, but all the reverse; his carnal mind is enmity against God, and everything that is divine and good, or that belongs unto him: and though this is now the case of man, yet his obligation to love the Lord in this manner is still the same; and when the Spirit of God does produce the grace and fruit of love in his soul, he does love the Lord sincerely; because of the perfections of his nature, and the works of his hands, and because of the blessings of grace bestowed ⁸. While this IS not the position of all, this is at the same time a circulated idea on this saying and the like sayings in the other gospels. Here the man in the world is given no credit to be able to accomplish this Love and in this and the end part of his words, we can see that Mr. Gill leans toward the doctrinal idea of saved by grace, saved by the Spirit of God. But this IS NOT what this saying by the Master indicated as His words ARE clearly that one must Love the Lord above ALL things as an integral part of keeping His words. And, unfortunately this idea of Love IS not understood in the right sense as most see this in the same way as that emotionally and mentally based Love for a spouse or a child.

And so few understand that the reality of this Love for God is shown by one’s Love for the neighbor which IS the second of the Great Commandments. Few see this Love in the Light of the Master’s words that tells us that what we do for our brethren, even the least of them, we do for the Lord and this IS the intended expression of Love. This Love IS GoodWill and Right Human Relations and in it IS in this Love for ALL that ALL of the law, ALL of His words, ARE fulfilled. The Truth of this Love is found in those ideas that we have left as our Quote of the Day and which we move today to the body of our essay; the Truth of this Love IS:

In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men’. To this we add the ever important High Ideal as taught by the Christ: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

In this Love we extend to ALL others every right and every privilege that we want for ourselves and those close to us and we do this willingly and from a perspective of understanding that we ARE ONE Human Family…One Humanity, One World and One God. And in this idea of supreme Love to God we should understand that we hold Him above ALL else and in so doing we see ALL of His parts, ALL of His children in the same Light in which we see God. In the other part of what we had as our Quote of the Day we find this reality; if we claim to Love God and we hate, or NOT Love, our brother, we ARE not being Truthful and while we can perhaps get away with this in the world or in our own minds, we CAN NOT get past our own God Within who KNOWS ALL and who in the depths of conscience tries to correct this if allowed. The Apostle John tells us:

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.  God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:16-21).

The link between the Kingdom of God and keeping His words is established in the sayings above and while this IS phrased as “he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven“, this IS the same thing. And keeping His words IS NOT a selective thing, we CAN NOT pick and choose what it is that we will comply with but we should understand this as presented in the Apostle James’ words that say “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). His word  IS that we see above Love; Love for God and Love for ALL men, and we should see here that without keeping this word, there IS NO Kingdom of God. And we can see this from another perspective as relates to Love for God from the Master’s words that tell us clearly: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and again “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 15:15, 23).

As we say above the link here between this Love, keeping His words and commandments, and the Kingdom of God IS inextricable. Regardless of how one can try to paint these ideas, the Truth IS clearly stated. While it may seem that we have journeyed away from our theme of forsaking, we have not and in this idea of Love IS the KEY to our victory over the world; here we must forsake ALL thoughts, attitudes and actions that pit us against another in ANY way; the totality of our expression MUST be Love. While it seems that we have separated man from the Kingdom by our words, we have done NO such thing; we ARE but interpreting the Master’s words in the Light of Day and we should KNOW that the way IS difficult as the Master says, however it IS NOT impossible for as the Master tells us: “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” and that “with God all things are possible” (Mark 9:23, 10:27)) which includes of course the God Within.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

The verses below are from Young’s Literal Translation of the bible as some of the wording is clearer than in the King James Version. What is the message here but the same as our message and the message of the Christ. We partake of the promises and the divine nature through the knowledge and understanding of God and when we leave the corruption of worldly life that exists in fulfilling our own desires and lusts. This IS forsaking and the reality of what it Truly is that we forsake.

through which to us the most great and precious promises have been given, that through these ye may become partakers of a divine nature, having escaped from the corruption in the world in desires. And this same also — all diligence having brought in besides, superadd in your faith the worthiness, and in the worthiness the knowledge, and in the knowledge the temperance, and in the temperance the endurance, and in the endurance the piety, and in the piety the brotherly kindness, and in the brotherly kindness the love; for these things being to you and abounding, do make [you] neither inert nor unfruitful in regard to the acknowledging of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4-8)

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

• ⁸ Bible commentaries on BibleStudyTools.com