{"id":12427,"date":"2016-06-02T18:48:17","date_gmt":"2016-06-03T00:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=12427"},"modified":"2016-06-02T18:48:17","modified_gmt":"2016-06-03T00:48:17","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/02\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1382\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 1382"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART MXXI<\/span><\/h2>\n
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\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391<\/span><\/h6>\n

GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
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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<\/em>” (Mark 12:29-31).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/span><\/p>\n

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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape<\/em> which IS generally rendered as Love,\u00a0we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude\u00a0of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our\u00a0One God<\/span><\/p>\n

\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9\u2022\u0391\u03a9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/em>” (Matthew 7:12).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We ended the last essay with some words about the Apostle Paul and how that he was ‘called’ to his time of service<\/em><\/strong> to the Lord. Our point IS NOT that he is ‘called’ which IS his own revelation<\/em><\/strong> of Truth that was able to penetrate the barriers of illusion<\/strong> and glamour<\/strong> that he had set up in his psyche, but rather about the need to see past doctrine and to be able to step out of one’s nurturing, indoctrination and experience to find the Truth. It IS in the revelation<\/em><\/strong> of Truth that comes to him in that flash of Light that he comes to realize the Truth and, while this seems to be an instant of glory, we should understand that this IS but his beginning and that by measure he achieves the True glory. <\/span><\/p>\n

This IS of course NOT physical or visible Light per se\u00a0that we read of in this story; he tells us that “suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me<\/em>” (Acts 22:6) as he relates his story to the Jews and that “I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me<\/em>” (Acts 26:13) as he tells it to King Agrippa. While these stories\u00a0seem to reveal the hand of God in Paul’s revelation<\/em><\/strong> and while there likely IS some degree of Divine intervention, we should try to see how that this Light IS furnished by the apostle’s own Soul, it IS his own unction<\/em> or anointing<\/em><\/strong> which reveals the Truth to any man who will take the opportunity to see it, any man who will look past his own sense of Truth by which he has heretofore lived. <\/span><\/p>\n

Paul comes to see in this flash\u00a0the reality that the “anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie<\/em>” (1 John 2:27) and it IS in this that he comes to KNOW ALL that he teaches and writes, ALL that he KNOWS without ever sitting before\u00a0the Teacher. This IS the reality of faith<\/em>, the Truth of pistis<\/em> and of pisteuo<\/em> which ARE our subject matter as we continue to see how that faith<\/em> becomes a “fruit of the spirit<\/em>“; we read again in the apostles words to the Galatians:<\/span><\/p>\n

“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.\u00a0But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.\u00a0Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,\u00a0Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,\u00a0Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.\u00a0But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,\u00a0Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.\u00a0And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts<\/em>” (Galatians \u00a05:17-24).<\/span><\/p>\n

Again we must go back to Jesus’ own words that show us the True meaning of pistis<\/em> and of pisteuo<\/em>, words that show us that there IS NO doubt<\/em> and we should try to see here that it IS this ability to “doubt<\/span> not<\/em>” that IS the way that faith<\/em> comes by measure in “the fruit of the Spirit<\/em>“\u00a0<\/em>to the man who strives<\/em> to keep His words.<\/em>\u00a0It IS this man who can\u00a0receive it and can understand it and can keep His words, as the gospel writers show us IS the man who IS the “good ground<\/em>“. It IS this man who has such fruit<\/em> and the ability to\u00a0“doubt<\/span> not<\/em>“….”some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred<\/em>” (Mark 4:20). We should try to see how that Paul IS our New Testament example of the awakening<\/em><\/strong> of a man to the Truth that comes in the prompting of one’s Soul much as the Apostle Peter IS our example of the Life of a disciple with its ups and downs and eventual triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter’s awakening<\/strong><\/em> came in the Presence of the Master and we ARE able to watch his progress as he goes from a seemingly reluctant aspirant to an apostle who IS\u00a0breaking chains, opening doors and healing by an act of will. Paul’s awakening<\/strong><\/em> comes in a flash, in an instant moment of Light and for him there IS a conversion from his doctrinal faith<\/em> to the True faith<\/em> of KNOWING. While their Paths to the Lord ARE different, the result IS the same as both come to “have faith, and doubt not<\/em>“….both come to be among the few who CAN “say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done<\/em>” (Matthew 21:21). This IS the fullness of faith<\/em> which comes to each of them by measure as they Truly strive<\/em> to keep His words<\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And we should try to remember and to see how that it IS NO accident that these particular men are chosen for these roles and as examples and teachers of Truth; NO thing of this importance can be left to happenstance. Neither ARE these men picked out from the masses because of some special attraction that they may have had in the eyes of God or of the Master; one IS a fisherman and a worldly man by his own admission and the other IS trapped in his own doctrines for which he had become an enforcer and a radical. If we ARE to believe that “God is no respecter of persons<\/em>” (Acts 10:34) as Peter tells us and that “there is no respect of persons with God<\/em>” (Romans 2:11) as Paul shows us, then we must also be able to see how that the Divine intervention that brings these men to the Lord IS a part of the Plan of God in which they, as\u00a0Souls, took their active role.<\/span><\/p>\n

And we should ever understand that the journey of each of these apostles IS a journey of faith.<\/em>\u00a0A journey were their faith<\/em>, their KNOWING of the Truth, IS ever increasing in measure as IS the fullness of the Kingdom of God which grows from the seed<\/em> of His words to the fullness of the tree as Jesus shows us in His own parable. Paul’s journey IS one that he himself gives\u00a0us in his Epistle to the Philippians which, if we read it without the bounds of doctrine, shows us his reality in a very intimate way; we read:<\/span><\/p>\n

“we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.\u00a0Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:\u00a0Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;\u00a0Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law*, blameless.\u00a0But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.\u00a0Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,\u00a0And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:\u00a0That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death<\/em>” (Philippians 3:3-10).<\/span><\/p>\n

Here we can see Paul’s actions as a man who IS DOING the “the works of the flesh<\/em>” and NO where in his words DO we see the ideas that ARE commonly attributed to his list. Here we see the apostle following the code of his doctrine and the ways that he was nurtured; here we also see how that this culminates in a rather high doctrinal office….that of the Pharisee. While he was blameless<\/em> according to his doctrine, he IS NOT blameless<\/em> according to the Truth albeit this Truth was hidden from his view behind the illusion<\/strong> and the glamour<\/strong> in which he lived until his awakening.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0His adultery<\/em> was NOT involving a woman nor was his\u00a0fornication<\/em>, uncleanness\u00a0<\/em>or\u00a0lasciviousness<\/em> of a sexual nature; all of these\u00a0“works of the flesh<\/em>” in his Life involved his infidelity towards God; an infidelity that IS clearly against the Truth of\u00a0the Great Commandments which were part of the law that his own doctrines diluted and changed.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what IS\u00a0the apostle’s idolatry<\/em> but his focus<\/em> upon and allegiance to the precepts of his doctrine rather that his\u00a0focus<\/em> upon\u00a0the Truth of the precepts of God. And his witchcraft<\/em> and sorcery<\/em>\u00a0ARE the products of these same doctrines and the ritualistic practice that these involved in his religious approach to the Godhead, an approach in which he sees himself as blameless<\/em> and as righteous.<\/em> It IS easier to see the next group of “the works of the flesh<\/em>” in Paul’s Life; it IS easy to see the hatred<\/em> and the wrath<\/em> against those who DID NOT believe as he did as he went about\u00a0“persecuting the church<\/em>“. In this we can also see how that he participates in the idea of murder<\/em> which we read in his own words saying “I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women<\/em>” (Acts 22:4). It IS Paul’s own thoughts and attitudes that ARE the\u00a0divisions<\/em> and factions<\/em> as he came against ALL that DID NOT agree with his sense of Truth; it IS these divisions<\/em> and factions<\/em> which ARE the Truth behind the words that ARE rendered as\u00a0variance, emulations, strife, seditions, heresies <\/em>and e<\/em>nvyings.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Can we see here how that Paul IS affirming his own guilt according to his own list of\u00a0“the works of the flesh<\/em>” and how most of the words in his list\u00a0CAN NOT be seen in their common understanding in regard to him\u00a0and how that they ARE rather easily seen in our view of their\u00a0being against the precepts of the Great Commandments? And can we see how that the ideas of drunkenness<\/em> and revelling<\/em> from the Greek words methe<\/em> and komos<\/em>\u00a0ARE the apostle’s state of mind and emotions, the state of his flesh,<\/em> as he goes about drunk<\/em> in his own sense of “trust in the flesh<\/em>” while revelling<\/em> in his own accomplishments while seeing himself both blameless<\/em> and righteous<\/em>? Can we better see here his warning to those in Galatia who might take on these same thoughts and attitudes in relation to their own sense of religion in the fledgling era of Christianity? And can we see how that these same cautions come through the centuries and even to today where doctrines rule and overrule the Truths that the Master gives us and the central point of them in our trifecta <\/em><\/strong>which we repeat here again:<\/span><\/p>\n