IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 297

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part LXXXI

 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 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 4:1-21).

We spent some time yesterday back on our rather primary topic of illusion, glamour and deception as it relates to the idea of being a devout this or that in the world of religion. We noted that the Truly devout person would be devoted to the precepts of his religion and would strictly adhere to them and that if at the same time he were following the Master and keeping His words that he would qualify also as a disciple of the Lord. We should understand here that it matters not if the devout person has ever even heard of the Master, he could be from any religious background and strictly practice that religion in the simplest terms of its doctrines and may believe any and all of the teachings. The second part here of practicing the religion and following its precepts makes one a devout member of whatsoever it may be but it is in the following of the precepts of the Master, which are the same throughout all True religions, that we become disciples; that is the practice of universal Love and the desire to forsake ALL that is of the Earth for the Life of the disciple here and now. There is a natural division here because most all organized religions that are practiced are practiced on doctrine and not on their originating reality; they are practiced according to the interpretations of men. It is here that we find much illusion, glamour and deception insofar as the man who is following his religion believes that he is a disciple of the Lord, believes that he is accounted worthy and likely believes that he will spend eternity in some heavenly place. We KNOW however the words of the Master on discipleship and on being accounted worthy and about attaining to the Kingdom of God; we KNOW of the difficulty and we KNOW of the sacrifice although when we view this from the perspective of the Soul there is not real sacrifice at all. The point here is that a man can be devout and this is good and brings one closer to God but unless one sees past the doctrines and dogma and actually keeps His words there is no discipleship and no Kingdom.

Let us take some time here to again discuss the Master’s requirements for discipleship, for being accounted worthy and for attaining the Kingdom. We can never over emphasize the Truth and the Reality of our journey to God as this is the best and the surest way to overcome the illusion, glamour and deception that has over the years become the mindset of so many.

On discipleship:

• “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. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot bemy disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33). We have chosen to see the idea of hate as ‘to love less’ and this is in conformity with the way these ideas are stated in Matthew’s Gospel; whether this is right we cannot be sure but we can be sure that the translation of the Greek word miseo into the English word hate represents one of those places where language and translations fail us. The verses from the Gospel of Matthew are stated under the heading of accounted worthy below.
• “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). We KNOW of course that the idea of “believed on him” should be seen as to follow Him and to keep His words and that we have adopted these ideas from Vincents treatment of believeth on and believeth in which we state briefly as: 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. Do we see and understand here the high calling of the simple words believe on Him and believe in Him? There should be no doubt that this is the correct understanding as it is supported by so much of the Master’s overall teachings and the loss of this understanding is again to be found in the illusion, glamour and deception that has over the years become the mindset of so many.
• “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). Although the Master here is speaking to His disciples alone, we should understand the universality of His message based on His other messages throughout the New Testament which we will list again under the heading of keeping His words below.
• “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). Here is a saying that is simple and to the point and which should be seen in the idea that if we bear fruit, that is spiritual fruit, then we shall be His disciples. Within this idea of much fruit is all that we say above and especially the idea of keeping His words which will result in our expression of what Paul calls the fruits of the Spirit and then likely even more. Paul tells us “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22) and then elsewhere “the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:22-23). Can we see the message of the Master in these words?
• “The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master” (Luke 6:40). The understanding here should be that in the way of discipleship is perfection and in the way of discipleship is the fulfillment of the Masters words saying: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

On accounted worthy of the Kingdom:

• “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” (Matthew 10:37-38). This is the same idea as above on discipleship but is related to being worthy and in this combination of verses we should see the same things apply to being a disciple and being worthy of Him and His Kingdom and that there likely cannot be one of these without the other.
• “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:35-36). It is from these verses that we adopted our use of the phrase accounted worthy. Can we see the intent here of the Master and the beautiful parable that He built from this Saduccee’s question. Can we see the high state of one who is accounted worthy of the Kingdom, that he is beyond Earth’s arena of birth and death, is equal to the angels is a True Son of God? We cover this saying in some detail in In the Words of Jesus parts 110 and 113.
• “That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). What does this say to us as we know that it is not only meant to apply to the Jew and how he sees the Pharisee? Can we see the continuation of the idea that a man today must be more righteous that those that claim to be righteous as did the Pharisee? There is an Old Testament Proverb that can give us the reality of this idea; it says: “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6) which is to say that many men will declare their righteousness but who of them is Truly so. From the Master’s perspective in other verses we should also get the idea that the Truly righteous will not proclaim it at all.
• “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). Can we see this requirement with the clarity that it is offered? Is there any doubt as to what the Master is saying here?
• “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). Can we see that in so many of these precepts there is no half way there is only the idea of to do this or not. Here is is to become as a child and what do we see in this? In his song Rhymes and Reasons John Denver gives us these words about children: In their innocence and trusting They will teach us to be free which can help us to understand the Master’s point to us; can we see innocence and trusting and humility and all those virtuous things that man loses as he grows older in the world? Jesus helps us to understand also by adding this later: “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew19:14). What are the heavenly qualities of a little child?
• “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23-25). Here is yet another saying that for all its clarity is so sorely misunderstood in the world today. This idea of money and of worldly abundance is one of the greatest aspects to be found in the fog of illusion and  the surreal nature of glamour which together create the reign of deception in the world today.
• “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). What can we say here about this except that when the Christ Within calls and the man heeds that call, he cannot go back as it is akin to seeing Truth and reality and then opting again for the deception. Somehow I can see that we all have done this in our walk on this Path toward the strait gate and the narrow way but perhaps the Master is meaning the arrival at the gate as that point from which we cannot look or go back.
• “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:3-5). Of course this is referring to the Truth of being born again,  the Light of the Soul and the Power and Love of the Christ Within flowing through the personality consciousness. Most of all this is following the Master and keeping His words and all else that is above regarding the Kingdom and discipleship. This is not merely an affirmative statement nor any kind of ritual, it is one’s dedication to the precepts of the Master…..ALL of them.

The final point for all of this is the idea of keeping His words. His words are His commandments and there is one that is of overriding importance in the Master’s teaching and for which we have put together a few lines that we repeat rather often and which we will repeat here again:

Keeping His words:

“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 12:30-31)

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.

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)

Note on the Quote of the Day

• ¹     Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
• **  CARM; Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry (http://carm.org/christianity/christian-doctrine/substitutionary-atonement-jesus-christ)