{"id":4337,"date":"2012-08-26T22:37:25","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T02:37:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=4337"},"modified":"2012-08-26T22:37:25","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T02:37:25","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-423","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/26\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-423\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 423"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law<\/span><\/h2>\n

ON LOVE; PART XV<\/span><\/h2>\n
\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
\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

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.\u00a0So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath , he cannot be my disciple<\/em>” (Luke 14:26-27, 33).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the allied saying from Matthew’s Gospel we read:<\/span><\/p>\n

“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it<\/em>” (Matthew 10:37-39).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Apostle John tells us this of the Masters words on\u00a0discipleship:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed<\/em>” (John 8:31).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“Herein is my Father glorified , that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples<\/em>” (John 15:8).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While we see our verses above as rather clear and to the point regarding the reality of True discipleship, there are many in the world who do not. Some disregard these saying entirely in their pronouncements and doctrines, others skirt the issues of forsaking and bearing one’s own cross and yet others change the meaning and the intent to fit the need of the time or of their own particular view of the Christian experience. I remember listening to a multi part sermon on ‘Becoming a Disciple of Jesus’ that spanned more than ten hours and these ideas of the Master as we read them above were not the highlight and, indeed, some of them were not mentioned at all except perhaps in passing. Now this was a worthwhile series of sermons and much good Christian information is departed but the tone of the teaching is that ALL can become disciples of the Master and may do so without adherence to the ideas that we have read above now for many days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is our intent to try to bring the Master’s ideas closer to the reality that we all face in the world today and to be able to understand what it is that He means by His words of forsaking and bearing and hating which, even in the understanding of loving less, is a difficult thing for the man in form to\u00a0comprehend. We do KNOW however that at the least, the Masters words tell us that we must keep His words<\/em> and that we must “bear much fruit<\/em>” and, while the idea of bearing fruit may be\u00a0interpretable, the idea of keeping His words<\/em> IS NOT, and in this is the ultimate\u00a0fallacy\u00a0of doctrines that promote discipleship which do not start from the universal Love for ALL that the Master teaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last post we looked at the teachings of the Master on the Kingdom of God as they relate to our understanding of discipleship. Our understanding is of course that these are essentially the same thing, that being His disciple is that High Calling that makes one accounted worthy<\/em> of His Kingdom and it is in this area as well that doctrines do not support the reality of the teachings of the Master. In a strange and convoluted combination of Old and New Testament teachings, the various doctrines of the churches have created a place that in reality does not exist and many call the afterlife of the human family the Kingdom of God to which one goes if he is a ‘good’ Christian when he dies. This is despite the FACT that the Master tells us clearly, albeit as a difficult concept to understand, that\u00a0“the kingdom of God is within you<\/em>” (Luke 17:21). Jesus also sets forth rather easy to understand rules as we discussed in some detail in the last post and, as we noted, the foremost of these is that a man do the “will of my Father which is in heaven<\/em>” as the Master states it. In fact, Jesus makes the extra point that a man should not rely solely on Him as Lord or belief in Him; He tells us clearly that “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven<\/em>” and we should KNOW that this is not in reference to the simple verbal saying but is rather the intent behind those words. From here He makes it clear that there are none who shall enter “but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven<\/em>” (Matthew 7:21).<\/span><\/p>\n

So then we look upon these ideas of the Kingdom of God and of discipleship as the same in essence and while the the criteria for discipleship may on the surface seem to be more demanding, both do require the ultimate which is keeping His words<\/em>. In regard to discipleship this is clearly stated above and in regard to the Kingdom we find it stated as doing “the will of my Father<\/em>\u00a0which is in heaven<\/em>” and we KNOW that these too are the same thing. Two sayings by the Master can relate the Will of the Father to the words of the Master although we should not need to review these in Light of the Master’s pronouncement that <\/span>“I and my Father are one<\/em>” (John 10:30). Nonetheless, here are the Master’s words:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak<\/em>” (John 12:49). Here we should see that the commandment of the Father to the Son is much like the prompting of the Soul which we speak of and this we say remembering the Christ and the Father are ONE and,\u00a0just as this is True, so the Soul and His expression on the Earth are ONE as well.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • “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<\/em>” (John 14:24). While this is a negatively oriented saying we should take from it the reality that the words of the Son are the words of the Father and in this we understand that there IS NO difference and, expanding on this, we should see that the Will of the Father and the Will of the Son are ONE as well if for no other reason than Jesus pronouncement that “I and my Father are one<\/em>“.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Our purpose here is to draw all of these sayings together and to not allow the variation of words that the Master uses to create for us a difference in His intent. The Will of the Father has some very specific meanings in the words of Jesus but these should not be seen as limiting factors in the expression of that Will; the Master tells us that “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing , but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day<\/em>” (John 6:38-40). We should see nothing here that detracts from what we are saying but should realize that these things of the Will of God are but part of that overall Will which is, in accordance with our chart of the Constitution of Man and of God, in essence God Himself. Can we see that embedded in the words that God IS, as we take them from His pronouncement to Moses in the Old Testament that “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you<\/em>” (Exodus 3:14), is the idea that this is the result of His Will to BE? God IS is not a matter of happenstance, it is a matter of the Dynamic Will which He IS. For clarity and because we have not used it in some time, below is our Chart of Life and of the Constitution of Man:<\/span><\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n
    \n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    \n

    Aspect of God<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Potency<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Expressed as Fire<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Aspect of Man<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n\u00a0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    \n

    Father<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Will or Power<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Electric Fire<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Spirit or Life<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

    \n

    Son<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Love and Wisdom<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Solar Fire<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Soul or Christ Within<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

    \n

    Holy Spirit<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Light or Activity<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Fire by Friction<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

    		\n

    Life Within the Form<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

    Remembering that ALL these things as expressed in the chart are essentially ONE, we should also remember that as the Apostle John tells us in the preamble of his gospel that the Christ, the Son, is the Word of God and, while we may see this as a much deeper thing originating in the understanding of the Logos, the simplicity of the translated word should help us to understand the relationships of ALL things.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Before we leave this topic and move forward and closer to our chosen topic which is the understanding of the requirements for discipleship and for being accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God, let us look at some of the ideas regarding this word Kingdom as it is used by the Master and as it is understood by the doctrines of the churches. We have spoken in the past about the common understandings and about the doctrinal attempts to differentiate between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven and we will not go through this again today except to say that there is no scriptural reference that can lead one to this conclusion that these are separate. Neither is rightly defined in the New Testament except by the Master’s parables of what the Kingdom is “likened unto<\/em>“; these are many and nary a one can be seen as relating to that state of the death of the physical body and the end of that part of one’s existence.<\/span><\/p>\n

    These ideas of what the Kingdom is likened to should carry much more weight than does the idea of kingdom itself and we should likely see that in this word is the state of understanding of the man in that day over 2000 years ago. There are many who to this day believe that God is a King sitting on a Throne in a place called Heaven and the Jesus, the Christ, is sitting in another Throne on the Father’s Right Side. We should understand that these ideas are but fanciful ways of understanding the incomprehensible and that there is a reality behind this that is divorced from the workings of the world of things and which finds its place in the realm of Spirit. Much of what is believed in the Christian Churches today is based upon the lore of the more ancient times before Christ and on the parabolic pronouncements of the Master regarding Kings and Kingdoms. The reality of this is not to be found in the fables of old and this Paul tells us and, while he may not be specific in documenting what the particular fables are, we should be able to see them whenever we find doctrine or teaching that is grounded in a ritualistic past or in a fanciful picture of Life on Earth transposed as Life in heaven. Paul tells us:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Writing to Timothy the apostle says: <\/span>“As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do<\/em>” \u00a0Of course we should see in this word doctrine not those things that we understand as such today but the True doctrines of the Apostles which Paul goes on to explain as: “<\/span>Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned: From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm<\/em>”\u00a0(1 Timothy 1:3-4, 5-7). In our understanding we KNOW that Charity is Love and the “<\/span>good conscience<\/em>” is the <\/span>heart<\/strong> <\/em>as spoken of by the Master and in Paul’s mention of “<\/span>faith unfeigned<\/em>” we should see that there was then as there is now a certain pretense as\u00a0regards\u00a0this matter of believing and KNOWING.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • In his second letter to Timothy the apostle says a similar thing: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables<\/em>” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Dare we say that there are some denominations and sects of the church that are a reflection of this very thing that Paul warns of.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • In his letter to Titus, Paul tells him much the same thing and, without getting into the offense which you can look up at will, we find: “Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth. Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate<\/em>” (Titus 1:13-16). Now this is a sharp indictment and one that in this world of illusion<\/strong> and of glamour<\/strong> is never realized as affecting oneself.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    • The Apostle Peter has something to say on this idea as well albeit from a perspective of, what we call above the\u00a0True doctrines of the Apostles. Peter tells us, speaking of the validity of the apostles own testimony, that: “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty<\/em>” (2 Peter 2:16).<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Our purpose here is not to defame any doctrine or any preacher of such but rather to cause the man who reads and hears to beware of what it is that he reads much as the Master tells us that we should do. Jesus own commentary on this should tell us that preaching and claims may abound and that we should ever be careful to KNOW that what we hear may be fables or the doctrines of men or that they may be the Truth. The Master tells us:<\/span><\/p>\n