{"id":9399,"date":"2014-04-04T18:30:38","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T22:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/?p=9399"},"modified":"2014-04-04T18:49:11","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T22:49:11","slug":"in-the-words-of-jesus-part-997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newagedevelopments.org\/blog\/2014\/04\/04\/in-the-words-of-jesus-part-997\/","title":{"rendered":"IN THE WORDS OF JESUS\u2013Part 997"},"content":{"rendered":"

ON LOVE; PART\u00a0DLXXXVI<\/span><\/h2>\n
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GoodWill\u00a0IS Love in Action<\/span><\/h2>\n
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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<\/em>” (Mark 12:29-31).<\/span><\/p>\n

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

“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<\/em>” (Matthew 22:36-40).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

We spent considerable time on James’ words on faith<\/em> and works as these are an important part of doctrinal Christianity which ARE NOT properly understood from the perspective that the Apostle Paul writes on them but which have become foundational stones for many doctrines that have taken words like “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God<\/em>” (Ephesian 2:8) out of their context and made them to mean that the works of a man are unimportant as regards salvation. While there are some doctrinal ideas that do have the better idea and which lean toward James’ teaching that “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also<\/em>” (James 2:26), this is not the general teaching of most as much Christian doctrine leans toward atonement, confession and the nebulous idea of faith.<\/em>\u00a0The reality, which IS glimpsed by some doctrine but not understood from our perspective, IS that it IS ONLY in True faith, that KNOWING that comes to a man’s consciousness from his own Soul, that the True works will come. The doctrinal idea of faith<\/em> is the more carnal approach which functions in the mind and the emotions of the man as an assent and an affirmation of belief in Deity, while the True faith<\/em> IS a greater conviction, a KNOWING by degree, of the Truth of spiritual Life and spiritual living. It IS in this latter form of faith<\/em> that the reality of works will flow and they will flow effortlessly as the normal action of the man in the world; these works ARE the fruit<\/em> produced by the man in the world. In this we should remember the Master’s words “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples<\/em>” (John 15:8).\u00a0And this idea of fruit<\/em> should not be seen only in relation to this parable of the Vines and Branches but as a general teaching of the Master who accounts the good works of men as their fruit<\/em> which we can read in His sayings:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • In the end of His explanation of the Parable of the Sower we read of the man who IS the good ground; here the Master says: “he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty<\/em>” (Matthew 13:23).<\/span><\/li>\n
  • In His words about the false teacher, Jesus uses the idea of trees and fruit<\/em> to establish the True from the false and we should see this in ALL respects and NOT ONLY in relation to false teachers; we read “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them<\/em>” (Matthew 7:17-20). We should note that in Luke’s Gospel this same idea IS presented without reference to teachers; a point we missed as we discussed this part of the Sermon on the Mount.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Our point here IS again that it IS the fruit<\/em> produced in a man’s Life that IS his works and these will be in righteousness, as good fruits,<\/em> for the man with True faith;<\/em> this IS the works that come with faith.<\/em> And James’ perspective in this IS that unless one produces this fruit<\/em> or does these righteous works, then his faith<\/em> is NOT true….it IS carnal ONLY. Paul DOES NOT disagree with these ideas presented by James and this IS easily seen when his words are viewed in context and with the greater idea of the spiritual impact of ALL that the apostle writes in his many epistles. This we tried to highlight in our discussion a few posts back regarding Paul’s words to the Galatians; there he reveals his list of the works of the flesh<\/em> which would be the corrupt fruit<\/em> of the Master’s saying and then his list of the fruit<\/em> of the Spirit which IS the good fruit<\/em> as the Master tells us and which we should understand comes to a man in True faith<\/em> by degree. This idea of degree is seen in the Master’s speaking of the fruit<\/em> of the good ground as He says: “some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty<\/em>“, and in the reality of the disciple of whom He says “that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples<\/em>“. This IS the greater reality of works based in True faith and we should understand James’ words that “I will shew thee my faith by my works<\/em>” (James 2:18) in this light.<\/span><\/p>\n

    As has become our habit in our look at these separate chapters of the Sermon on the Mount and not James Epistle, we change our Quote of the Day as the chapter changes and discuss briefly the ideas found in the previous Quote of the Day. Today we look at Paul’s words to the Colossians and we should remember here that the apostle is reinforcing the ways of the aspirants and the disciples at Colosse with deeper instruction regarding their Love and their forgiveness; we read:<\/span><\/p>\n

    “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful<\/em>” (Colossians 3:12-15).<\/span><\/p>\n

    In these words we find the apostle addressing the “elect of God<\/em>” and in this word which IS alternately rendered as chosen<\/em> there is much confusion. Some link this to their doctrine of predestination which essentially\u00a0is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God*<\/em>. This then would include ALL persons in their relationship with God and there are many different denominational versions of this idea. John Gill tells us that:\u00a0as the elect of God, holy and beloved<\/strong>;\u00a0that is, “as becomes the elect of God”, as the Arabic version renders it; as such who were chosen in Christ from eternity, according to the sovereign will and pleasure of God, and his free grace unto salvation and eternal life; which carries in it a strong argument to enforce the performance of good works, since men are hereby chosen unto holiness, and good works are what God has foreordained that they should walk in<\/em> 8<\/sup>. This idea IS of course contrary to our view of Life and with the many different interpretations of this concept we should be able to see that there is some error to it. The greater reality, and one that IS stated by the apostles, is that “God is no respecter of persons<\/em>” (Acts 10:34) and this IS True from every perspective of Life; the differences observed here in this Earth ARE NOT the product of a Loving God, they are the product of the separately evolving Soul abilities as expressed<\/em><\/strong> in this world. There IS NOT any easy and clear way to explain this aspect of Life in form but the Calvinistic approach:\u00a0that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others*<\/em>, is clearly not among the Truths of Life. The Truth of these ideas are among those mysteries that can be found in the depths of the Master’s words and which ARE revealed ONLY to those Truly elect….those<\/em> who have elected<\/em> Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Master speaks in parables to the people so as to protect the mysteries that ARE revealed to His disciples and one of the errors of doctrine is to believe that average religious men ARE disciples thereby ignoring the reality of the criteria that the Master Himself places on this High Calling; this election<\/em> is ONLY accomplished in keeping His words<\/em> and these are the elect:<\/em> those who DO keep His words<\/em> and perhaps those who ardently strive<\/em> toward that goal. And in this one CAN NOT fool the Lord nor his own Soul as each man KNOWS his own heart<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0his own relationship to the Truth. The mysteries are revealed to the disciple and by degree to the man who ardently focuses<\/em> upon the Good, the Beautiful and the True as we read in the Master’s words to His disciples saying: “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand<\/em>” (Luke\u00a08:10). There IS a clarity here in His words that tells us that it IS the disciple who Truly receives the revelation;<\/strong><\/em> and it IS the disciple who IS the elect<\/em> and again, by degree, those who strive<\/em> but have NOT yet accomplished the criteria of discipleship which centers around keeping His words<\/em> and a total focus<\/em> upon the things of God. Many may believe that they are among the elect<\/em> based upon their individual doctrines and in this idea we should see the reality of James’ words on faith<\/em> and works; that it IS the man who expresses<\/em><\/strong> the Love and the Power of the Soul who IS showing forth the reality of those works and this idea IS the nature of the rest of this saying from Paul as he list things that ARE the works of the man who has the True faith,<\/em> that KNOWING of the things of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

    ALL of this: “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another<\/em>” IS Love and ALL of this IS the fruit<\/em> that a man produces; ALL of this IS his works. Without these we are nothing as the apostle tells us in another place as he speaks again on Love; he says that if I “have not charity, I am nothing<\/em>“; if I “have not charity, it profiteth me nothing<\/em>” and insofar as his own words that if I “have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal<\/em>” (1 Corinthians 13:3, 2, 1). This IS the reality of Love and the reality of discipleship and, in his words to the Colossians, he admonishes them to have these several ideas firmly fixed in their thoughts, their attitudes and their actions. And he says that “above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness<\/em>“; in this we should clearly see the Godliness that is Truly invoked here and we ARE reminded of the Master’s own admonition as He tells us “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect<\/em>” (Matthew 5:48). This IS the Truth of the elect,<\/em> the reality if the disciple, the objective of the aspirant and the goal for every Soul and we should remember the same Greek word that is rendered here as Charity IS rendered elsewhere as Love.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In the final idea that we should “let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body<\/em>” there is much said that IS NOT understood. Here in this idea of heart<\/em><\/strong> we KNOW the consciousness of the man in the world and, in the case of the disciple and the aspirant, this consciousness IS focused<\/em> upon the things of God. It IS this very focus<\/em> that IS the “peace of God<\/em>” and we should see this focus<\/em> as a sort of two way street where the consciousness sees the Light of the Soul and the Light of the Soul permeates the consciousness. The Commentary Critical and Explanatory of the Whole Bible has some interesting thoughts regarding this “peace of God<\/em>” and if we can see this in our view of focus,<\/em> we can see this ALL more clearly; they say:\u00a0rule<\/strong>–literally, “sit as umpire”;….”Let the peace of Christ act as umpire when anger, envy, and such passions arise; and restrain them.” Let not those passions give the award, so that you should be swayed by them, but let Christ’s peace be the decider of everything<\/em> 8<\/sup>. Can we see the point here? Peace IS a complex English word that has many meanings and we find it in the New Testament used in many contexts. Here the context IS the\u00a0“peace of God<\/em>” and in this we should be able to rule out many of the more worldly meanings that this word presents. We should note that many scholars tell us that this should be rendered as “peace of Christ<\/em>“, as it appears in the older manuscripts. For us, whether Christ or God, this has the same effect and it IS in this focus<\/em> that we find ALL that this idea of Peace can mean in this context; that IS the free flowing Light of the Soul, the Love and the Power of the Christ Within, in which the disciple IS immersed.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In the final idea of being called<\/em> we should see the greater importance of the idea of one body<\/em>. In called<\/em> we have that same idea as being of the elect;<\/em> calling<\/em> and election<\/em> are both the same reality of the man heeding the call of his own Soul; it IS here that a man elects<\/em> Repentance<\/em><\/strong> and Transformation<\/strong><\/em> and can come into that High Calling of discipleship. Men in the world are forever called by the prompting of their own Souls but it IS the heeding of that call that results in this election<\/em> and the Truth of being called\u00a0<\/em>and in these ideas language again leaves us short. In “one body<\/em>” we have yet another word with multiple meanings based upon the context and here of course the physical body IS not the reference; this “one body<\/em>” IS the Unity of Life, the Oneness of ALL as a spiritual reality; the relationship of ALL men in the reality of our One God. Here in Paul’s use we can see this idea and the sense of unity that he is admonishing them to have among themselves as well; that they be a single expression<\/strong><\/em> of divinity working through many men and perhaps we can get the better understanding in Paul’s saying that: “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment<\/em>” (1 Corinthians 1:10).<\/span><\/p>\n

    In the next post we will begin our look at the next chapter of the Epistle of James and we will begin with these verses that we will see in the greater realtiy that IS intended by the apostle<\/span><\/p>\n

    “My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body<\/em>” (James 3:1-3).<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00a0We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Aspect\u00a0<\/del>of God<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n\n

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

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

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    In Relation to the Great Invocation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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    In relation to the Christ<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n

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    GOD, The Father<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

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    Spirit or Life<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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    Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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    Life<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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    Son, The Christ<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

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

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

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    Truth<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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

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

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    Life Within<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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

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    Way<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Note on the Quote of the Day<\/span><\/h2>\n

    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.<\/span><\/p>\n

    And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    This is called by some of the church the Great Commission and so it is. It is however hardly understood and at times grossly misapplied. Somewhere in the centuries that have passed since the Master left us we have come to think that the meaning of this is just to preach the word through any particular doctrine and baptize according to any particular belief. Vincent tells us that the word translated as teach<\/em> here should be seen as make disciples of\u00a0<\/em>4<\/sup><\/em> <\/em>and the lexicon bears this out. There is nowhere in scripture an actual defining understanding of the concept of baptism and we generally think of it as the immersion into or the pouring on of water and that somehow this clears us of sin. This is but an outward sign however of real spiritual undertaking by the conscious man and it is only when a man is ready to commit to the Master that a baptism can be considered real. We will leave this as the Quote of the Day for a few days and try to find in it some true meaning. Keeping in mind our four points, we should ponder on this.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The Master is speaking to disciples and not the multitudes and these are those that do believe on<\/em> Him and follow Him<\/em> and keep His words. <\/em>Hard sayings for man in the world but claimed by many nonetheless. There IS a reality in the idea that the disciple should be “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you<\/em>” which IS His words that ARE to be kept and in this light we add these ideas from the Buddha:\u00a0“Love yourself and watch \u2013 today, tomorrow, always. First establish yourself in the way, Then teach, and so defeat sorrow. To straighten the crooked you must first do a harder thing \u2013 straighten yourself<\/em>” (Dhammapada; on Yourself)5<\/sup>.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!<\/span><\/h2>\n