{"id":12445,"date":"2016-06-05T16:59:19","date_gmt":"2016-06-05T22:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=12445"},"modified":"2016-06-09T16:58:21","modified_gmt":"2016-06-09T22:58:21","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1383","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/05\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-1383\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 1383"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART MXXII<\/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 of the Apostle Paul’s words on being, or rather becoming, awake<\/em><\/strong>. His words ARE NOT offered to us in regard to sleep<\/em> as we normally understand this idea but these ARE in regard to being asleep<\/em> spiritually\u00a0and, as the New Testament shows us, this sleep IS equivalent to being dead.<\/em>\u00a0While Paul’s words on this death<\/em>\u00a0such as these: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light<\/em>” (Ephesians 5:14) may seem cryptic, there IS a rather clear reality to them when we can see how that this death<\/em> IS of the same nature as IS Jesus references to Life that we discussed a few posts back; we read:\u00a0\u201cWhosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.\u00a0For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel\u2019s, the same shall save it.\u00a0For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul<\/em>?\u201d (Mark 8:34-36). <\/span><\/p>\n

Here we have that duality of Life and of living; on the one hand there IS the Life that one shall keep or save<\/em>, that Life that comes through loosing one’s own hold upon his carnal focus<\/em>; in DOING this\u00a0we DO NOT die as in the death of the body but we die to the world of things which, as we read in our selection, IS\u00a0to “have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts<\/em>“. If we can put these ideas together we can see how that to Truly follow Him IS to die, to “lose his life for my sake<\/em>” as Jesus tells us; this IS the reality of His words “let him deny himself, and take up his cross<\/em>” and this IS the essence of having “crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts<\/em>“. That doctrines DO NOT see this as Truth IS based in men’s fears and especially that fear of leaving off of one’s focus<\/em> upon his carnal Life, his Earthly thoughts and attitudes and his sense of doctrines which provide an alternative to the seemingly difficult Truth. We read our selection from Galatians again:<\/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

To\u00a0“have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts<\/em>” IS to\u00a0“lose his life for my sake and the gospel\u2019s<\/em>” as the Master tells us and, if we read Jesus’ context we can see how that this IS that a man will “deny himself, and take up his cross<\/em>“. And if we relate these words to those which He offers us on discipleship, we can see the greater Truth; Jesus tells us that “whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple<\/em>” and then, after giving His examples on the cost of discipleship, He tells us “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple<\/em>” (Luke 14:27, 33). Here we should see how that doctrines dilute and change His words by making the very idea of the disciple less that a shadow of the Master’s Truths. In the totality of these ideas we should be able to see and to understand who it IS that IS awake<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As we can see\u00a0the way that the ideas of death<\/em> and sleep<\/em> ARE used in the New Testament, we can also see the opposing ideas of Life, that IS spiritual Life, and being awake<\/em> <\/strong>or awakening<\/strong><\/em>. In Paul’s words saying that “knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep<\/em>” we should be able to see the timelessness of his words. It IS in the context of Love that\u00a0these words should be understood as the apostle admonishes men to fulfill the Truth of the Great Commandment as he tells us that “love is the fulfilling of the law<\/em>” and then he\u00a0continues to tell men to “let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light<\/em>”\u00a0and here we should NOT fall into the doctrinal view of what this darkness<\/em> and this Light IS. This darkness<\/em> and this Light that ARE the opposing ideas of the carnal and the spiritual; these ARE NOT the grossness of sin versus the Light of the believer ONLY\u00a0but rather\u00a0these ARE the Truth of Repentance<\/strong><\/em> and Transformation,<\/strong><\/em> the turning of one’s Life away from the ways of the world and onto the ways of True discipleship.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the apostle continues in his words to the Romans we should again understand that he IS writing to men who have overcome much of the the grossness of sin in their lives and, in this perspective, we should see his next words as we see his words in our selection above….that they ARE ideas that ARE against the precepts of the Great Commandments. As he tells us to\u00a0“Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.\u00a0But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof<\/em>” (Romans 13:11, 12, 13-14) we should try to see the True intent\u00a0behind the Greek words\u00a0komos\u00a0<\/em> and\u00a0methe,\u00a0<\/em>which ARE rendered here as rioting<\/em> and drunkenness<\/em>. As we have discussed; these words should be seen as being in regard to the attitudes of men toward their own achievements in relationship to the Godhead. Here Paul tells us to see oneself more honestly as a servant and NOT as a master. To NOT be drunk<\/em> on one’s own achievements nor revelling<\/em> in them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The next words ARE seen by most ALL doctrine in regard to sexual ideas and again we should see how that this view permeates much of the teachings of the Church over the centuries because of the strictly carnal focus<\/em> that has been used. While it IS difficult to understand the apostle’s use of the Greek word koite<\/em> which IS rendered here as chambering,<\/em> a\u00a0word which is otherwise rendered as bed<\/em> and as conceived<\/em>, the view that the intent here IS of a sexual nature IS but a doctrinal presumption based in a fixation upon sex. We can see the doctrinal idea in this from John Gill who says of koite<\/em> that this IS: unlawful copulations, fornication, adultery, and all the defilements of the bed<\/em>\u00a08<\/sup>. Even the next word which IS rendered as wantonness<\/em> IS seen in the context of sexual deviation by most and here Mr. Gill tells us that the Greek word\u00a0aselgeia <\/em>refers to:\u00a0lasciviousness, unnatural lusts, as sodomy\u00a0<\/em>8<\/sup>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This sexual view IS and has been the view of the church since the beginning and while from a harshly carnal perspective these ideas can be seen in Paul’s words, the greater Truth IS found when we look at the spiritual intent of the apostle as he writes to “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints<\/em>” (Romans 1:7). The apostle IS NOT speaking to the man whose thoughts and attitudes ARE still stuck in ideas of sexual deviation. In wantonness<\/em> we should try to see\u00a0the idea of ALL desires and lusts of the flesh<\/em> in the thoughts and attitudes of men; we should try to see how that this idea of wanton\u00a0desire for the things of this world IS NOT the Way of the man who will “deny himself, and take up his cross<\/em>” which IS the greater intent of ALL scripture. It IS in the reality that the idea of flesh<\/em> IS inclusive of the thoughts and the attitudes toward one’s Life in this world in their totality, that the intent of the words rendered as lust<\/em>, as lasciviousness<\/em> and as wantonness<\/em> can \u00a0be seen as so much more that sex; that they go to the ideas of everyman whose Life and concerns ARE upon the self in this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

It IS these ideas of the self in the world that ARE the ideas of the man who sleeps;<\/em>\u00a0it IS the totality of one’s focus<\/em> upon the things of the self that IS the reality of that darkness<\/em>.\u00a0In Paul’s use\u00a0neither sleeping<\/em> nor darkness<\/em> ARE\u00a0in regard to the common understanding of being\u00a0drunk<\/em> or riotous<\/em>\u00a0nor ARE they in regard to\u00a0sexual deviation. The apostle’s words ARE spiritual and here IS the rub: those doctrines that teach these things in carnal terms fail to see that dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual and fail to see themselves in the Master’s and the apostles’ many cautionary words including Paul’s\u00a0saying that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned<\/span><\/em>” (1 Corinthians 2:14).<\/span><\/p>\n

Again most ALL men defy the simple logic that IS embedded in the words of the Master and His apostles; speaking here of things which “are spiritually discerned<\/span><\/em>“,\u00a0Paul begins by saying “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him<\/em>“. It IS when we can see the Truth of this Love as Jesus shows us in our trifecta<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0and in the Great Commandments, that we can then come\u00a0to have such ability to KNOW “the things of the Spirit<\/em>”\u00a0and\u00a0to discern\u00a0“the things which God hath prepared<\/em>“. And while the idea of Love in the trifecta<\/em><\/strong> may elude some, we should note that Jesus also gives us a more straightforward version saying: “If ye love me, keep my commandments<\/em>” (John 14:15). We repeat again our trifecta<\/em><\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n