Monthly Archives: October 2014

IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 1173

ON LOVE; PART DCCLXII

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “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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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? 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.

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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US 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 the last essay we were diverted away from our primary focus on the words from the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John and the apostles words in the fourth chapter of his epistle by the thought of the Master’s words regarding those “rivers of living water” which we have come to see as the very expression of the man in the world who keeps His words. While this idea IS NOT offered directly in the exchange between the Samaritan woman at the well and the Master in the Gospel of John, the idea of her asking for such grace IS given to us and, in this story which has little other purpose, we should see the link between her asking for this “living water” and the reality of her thirst for it. In our view here that there IS little other purpose, we should understand that perhaps there IS much that we have not yet been able to see. Today we DO see this reality of thirst as our desire for the Truth that IS sparked by the prompting of one’s own Soul and her asking which IS her own way of Repentance, her own way of coming to God and the realization of His grace as that “living water“. It IS as this same theme of “living water” is brought up again by the Master in His words to the assembled people which we read again as:

If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drinkHe that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)” (John 7:39)

Here IS the link between “He that believeth on me” and the grace of God in the parabolic idea of “out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water“, and here we must see the Truth of keeping His words as this IS the reality behind the idea of “believeth on which, according to Vincent means: to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. It has been easy to use Mr. Vincent’s words on this idea that is written in the Greek as to believe upon, and rendered by translations believe in and believe on, as John’s expression of the Master’s meaning and intent which IS that we keep His words. It can only help here to repeat a part of Mr. Vincent’s ideas as they pertain to this most misunderstood idea of believing; we read: To believe in, or on, is more than mere acceptance of a statement. It is so to accept a statement or a person as to rest upon them, to trust them practically; to draw upon and avail one’s self of all that is offered to him in them. Hence to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely to believe the facts of His historic life or of His saving energy as facts, but to accept Him as Savior, Teacher, Sympathizer, Judge; to rest the soul upon Him for present and future salvation, and to accept and adopt His precepts and example as binding upon the life 4. In the last post we had taken this idea that IS based upon the Greek words and the underlying idea of upon and we expanded this to reflect the greater Truth of believing as we find this in other sayings across the New Testament and most specifically in these words from the Apostle John’s Gospel. 

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we now that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (1 John 5:1-5).

Here, while we may have a different dynamic, we have the same promise of grace and the same responsibility of the man who seeks such grace….that he keep His words. While we have always been able to tie these ideas of keeping His words and believing Him to be God together, this dynamic has been largely ignored by those who have taken authority in the church and who have dictated its doctrines. It has been ignored in the idea, the straightforward idea, that the Master offers us saying “If a man love me, he will keep my words” and the connection of this Love with DOING, as He says and as He instructs, has also been ignored in the simplicity of the story that He tells near the end of the Apostle Matthew’s Gospel where He places Himself into to the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Here, while the doctrinal church has deemed this to be eschatological in nature, that IS that this IS offered in regard to the end times, the greater Truth is found in the way that men can show their Love for the Master; that if one has offered Love, expressed as mercy, “unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me“. This IS the greater Truth of Love for God and the importance here IS so great that Jesus offers us the converse of this idea as He repeats His words and says: “Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment….” (Matthew 25:40, 45-46). These ideas go unseen by many yet today who purport to Love God and who DO NOT Love their fellow man as we read in John’s words above and in his other sayings that we have been discussing below. In the idea of “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ” we should see these things that ARE offered in other contexts and understand that the resulting idea that this man “is born of God” IS the man who keeps His words; this IS essentially the meaning that the apostle shows us saying “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments“. The clarity here should be deafening.

And we should not forget the common sense part of this idea as this relates to the wording that the apostle uses. If we “believeth that Jesus is the Christ” then we believe Him to be the Messiah and we believe him to be the Son of God and, based in His own words and the doctrinal ideas developed from them, we believe Him to be God. In the reality of this idea, that the Master IS the Christ and that He IS God, we should ALL be subservient to Him and we should ALL keep His words. It IS in this vein that we should understand the Master’s rhetorical question saying: “why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Can we understand this dynamic and DO we understand that this IS a timeless question that IS continually in the asking? In these ideas we should be able to see how that most every instance of believing IS the same, that to believe on Him or that He IS the Christ or that He IS God MUST result in the reality of keeping His words and that it IS in the efforts of men to DO so that the Truth of grace flows. And this grace IS His presence as we find in His words from the fourteenth chapter which we read as:

  • He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
  • If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:23-24).

And this grace IS the operation of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men in the world as the very idea of His Presence in the Life of the man in the world, the Presence of the Father and the Son, IS the Presence of the Spirit of God….the Spirit that IS God. And, while the ideas presented DO speak about the culmination of these ideas, the end point of DOING in the completeness that IS intended, the greater reality is that this ALL works out in the lives of men by measure. This sense of measure IS the same regardless of the spiritual subject; it IS by measure that we have His grace, by measure that we become disciples and it IS by measure that we are accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God. It IS by measure that we ARE “born of God” which IS the reality of being “born again” and it IS only in keeping His words and striving to DO so that we can Truly realize the Truth of His words saying: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). ALL of these ideas must work together in our hearts as we come to see the synergy of ALL things spiritual. It IS the same idea of keeping His words that shows forth our Love for God and Christ and which make us “born of God” as it IS for the reality of discipleship which we read as “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31); and it IS the same reality of being accounted worthy of the Kingdom that we read in Jesus words saying: “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). When we can realize the connection between this saying and the Master’s rhetorical question above, we can Truly see His reality and His Truth and understand the price that we must pay for His grace and His Presence in our lives. And, when we can understand the dynamic link between this idea of keeping His words and Love we can Truly proceed toward the promise that He offers us.

And this IS the point that IS offered to us in the Great Commandments that ARE again at the top of our essay; here we have the unconditional and total Love for God which IS ONLY shown in keeping His words and we have the similarly unconditional Love for ALL men which IS shown in the reality of the idea of self Love and in the Truth of the Golden Rule. It IS this second form of Love that IS the showing of the first as we should be able to discern from the parable above and this form of Love IS NOT as the common understanding of Love perceives it to be. It IS in the reality of self Love, an idea that IS downplayed by some who purport to teach the Master’s Truths, that we find the greater Truth of according to ALL men what we would accord to ourselves. And this IS the reality of the Golden Rule as well: that we offer to ALL men what it IS that we would want for ourselves and this includes the freedoms and the equality of Life that IS NOT found in so much of today’s cultures and societies where the spread between the haves and the have-nots increases by the day. Who among the haves would ever desire to be among the have-nots? In this idea we should see that the reality of the Golden Rule cuts both ways and IS intended to be a dynamic attitude of the man who Truly seeks God. And John asks this very question saying in this same epistle: “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” (1 John 3:17). In ALL of this IS that sense of Love that we should become in this world; this IS NOT based in attraction and attachment; this Love IS grounded in the Truth of brotherhood and the realization that beneath it ALL, beneath the race and the culture, beneath the sex and the relationships, beneath the ancient and current animosities across this world, there IS the Soul of each man who IS identical in nature to ourselves and who IS equally a Son of God. And this brings us back again to keeping His words as we read in the apostle’s words saying: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments“.

It IS the merging of these two parts of our trilogy of Love that the apostle speaks on in the fourth chapter of his epistle which IS that place were we learn in most simple words that God IS Love. Here, in these words, there should be the prompt dismissal of the ideas of attraction and attachment as this applies to Love and in its place we should be able to understand the reality of His Presence and KNOW that this Presence IS His Love and IS His grace. While this idea is presented to us above in the Master’s own words saying that “my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him“, this connection IS not quickly made as few understand the dynamic effect of the Presence of God in one’s Life….that this IS reserved for and realized by the man who DOES keep His words. In John’s words we find the reality of Love for “one another” which must be seen as Love for ALL as this IS depicted in Jesus’ words and the reality of Love for God which IS evidenced by the Life of the man who DOES keep His words. Perhaps it IS the parabolic nature of the apostle’s words below that give us the sense of confusion on Love but the more likely reality IS that men choose to look at John’s words in the diluted vision of those doctrines that allow for men to be just that….men in the world.

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 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 4:7-21).

It IS the Love of God, the Love that IS God, that provides men with the reality of Truth as that universal force for change. It IS this Love that IS God that IS at the heart of the Life of the True man, the Soul, the Christ and the God Within, and this should be seen in the idea that this True man IS part and parcel of God and as such True men ARE “partakers of the divine nature“. It IS this that IS a part of the individual sense of grace that IS enjoyed by the man in the world who strives to keep His words; this IS his individual realization of the divine grace that IS His Love and IS the Truth of man. This IS His Presence in the Life of a man in the world, this IS His promise to the man who can keep His words as we read in Jesus’ words above, and in the reality of the Apostle Peter’s words saying: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter1:4). And this escape IS accomplished in keeping His words and this keeping His words IS accomplished in Love.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of God

Potency

Aspect of Man

In Relation to the Great Invocation

In relation to the Christ

GOD, The Father

Will or Power

Spirit or Life

Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN

Life

Son, The Christ

Love and Wisdom

Soul or Christ Within

Heart of God

Truth

Holy Spirit

Light or Activity

Life Within

Mind of God

Way

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.

We repeat here again a saying that is from the Bhagavad Gita, which goes well with our theme of the God Within, the Soul, which we see as the Christ Within and while this is good in the Christian world and is True based upon our understanding of the Christ as the manifestation of God, we should also see in these words below that it does not matter what these divine ideas are called; that it matters not what we call this Inner Man, that he is the same in ALL, he is the Soul.

Thou carriest within thee a sublime Friend whom thou knowest not. For God dwells in the inner part of every man, but few know how to find Him. The man who sacrifices his desires and his works to the Beings from whom the principles of everything stem, and by whom the Universe was formed, through this sacrifice attains perfection. For one who finds his happiness and joy within himself, and also his wisdom within himself is one with God. And, mark well, the soul which has found God is freed from rebirth and death, from old age and pain, and drinks the water of Immortality.—Bhagavad-Gita

It is difficult to tell just what verses of the Bhagavad Gita the above is from; whether it is a paraphrase or a combination. It is from the book “The Great Initiates” by Édouard Schuré which was originally published in French in 1889 and perhaps it is in the translation of the verses that they become hard to recognize. However, the sheer beauty of the presentation caught my attention and so I share it with you. The Path to the Kingdom is the same no matter what religion one professes.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!

  • 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888

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