IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 303

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON GOD; Part LXXXVII

“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 ended yesterday with an new understanding of the idea presented to us by the word Savior which we took from Strong’s dictionary of Greek words. Strong’s says of soter, the Greek word that is translated as Savior: soter: Saviour, one who delivers from grave danger; note that in the NT this always refers to God the Father and Jesus Christ as Saviour of believers from righteous wrath to a  proper relationship with God³. We rather immediately put this definition to work for us as another word, like propitiation, that has its meaning in reconciling man to God. Most all other sources relate these two words to the doctrines that have attempted to explain them for centuries and of which there are many. However, with the idea of reconciliation we can see that the Christ is the Power and the Love of God who, from the earliest of His teaching days, tells us about the affiliated words by telling us that we should repent. In this repentance is the necessary change that brings a man into reconciliation with God and, as we have seen, this happens for each man through the Love and the Power of his own Christ Within. The reconciliation IS what brings man to the Kingdom of God and what makes of him a disciple; the reconciliation is placing one’s focus on the things of God and no longer on the things of the world which is what the Master tells us that we need to do. What are the requirements for discipleship? What are the requirements to be accounted worthy of God and His Kingdom? We have discussed these several times, most recently in In the Words of Jesus parts 283 and 297 and there should be no mystery as His words are clear as regards these things. For our example of these things today, let us look at the Parable of the Sower and let us remember that the people did not readily understand this parable in those days and that the disciples did not either. The part we look at here is the Master’s explanation to His disciples and while there is much mystery still in His words, what we wish to extract is said with much clarity.

• “The sower soweth the word”.
•  “And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts“.
• “And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended“.
• “And these are they which ares own among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in , choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful“.
• “And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit , some thirty fold, some sixty, and some an hundred“. (Mark 4:14-20)

Our concern today is with the last two points but we will address them all point by point:

• The word here is of course the word of God and the words of Christ and we should see this idea in this Light: “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 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” (John 14:23-24). So we have the word sown by the Master and by the Father and, as the Master tells us, these are both the same thing.
• So what is the way side but the man in the world attending to the things of the world; he may hear the word and may hear the call of his own Soul but he is so wrapped up in the illusion and the glamour that he is deceived by his own thoughts that this is all that there is.
• On stony ground is one who does hear the good news and sees the reality of it but who falters because of peer pressure or even family pressure. These mean well but do not have the strength to forebear in the face of ridicule or mistreatment of any kind. They value too much the opinion of others and become deluded by the illusion and the glamour that the tells them that the views of the world are more right than the faint cry of their own conscience and their own Christ Within.
• Among thorns is also the man who does hear the good news and sees the reality of it; he appreciates it and considers it and knows it to have some Truth but he can not pull himself away from the world and its great attractions whether they be family or fortune or fame or some combination of these three plus so many others. These are not necessarily bad or evil things nor bad or evil people but people who CHOOSE to remain focused on the things of the world. Through the effects of illusion and glamour these see the things of the world as more important and these are also those men that will build doctrines to cover their own choices; to build financial security into the Plan of God or to see fame as a Christian tool or even to find cover in their own sense of religious Life even though it may pale in comparison to the teachings of the Master.
• Finally there is the disciple and the aspirant, there is US who hear the word and the call and receive it and are reconciled to God. All of these others are just men in the world; we are Sons of God who have come to realize such and who have overcome the illusion, glamour and deception, we have overcome Satan, we have overcome the world or else we are in the process of doing so. It is important to remember here the Apostle Peter; we KNOW he is a disciple of the Master from the very time that he was called to follow Him and we know also of his trials and his tribulations in dealing properly with and for the things of the Kingdom. It is as though Peter is intentionally left as an example for us in whom we can see that even in his blessed moments of discipleship, he came up short in those things of God for which the Master corrected him…..even up until the cock crowing and the unbelieved by him Risen Master.

Can we see that every man that is not in the last point of these two groups is a man in need of repentance and a man in need of the reconciling Power of the Savior and the propitiation, the Christ and the Christ Within. Can we look back in our own lives and see in them some portion to which each of these bullet points apply and may still apply? It is ever so easy to pretend and it is to this type of attitude of pretense that the Apostle Paul speaks when he tells us of deception. In simple words and in straightforward language he clearly says that when a man pretends insofar as his spiritual Life is concerned that he fools no one but himself. The apostle’s words are clear saying “Be not deceived; God is not mocked” (Galatians 6:7) and under the example of the parable above we should be able to see this more clearly. On stony ground or among thorns we find man pretending in his own heart that he is doing right but at the same time he is doing things that profit him in the world of things. The reason may be “affliction or persecution” or it may be “deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things“, but the reason does not matter; what does matter is that the man succumbs to these world forces of illusion and glamour and is deceived and in this deception begins the pretense that he is doing right. We have covered these words by Paul before but not in this particular Light as we see today when we relate these words to the parable; today we find the straightforward understanding of pretending, that although we know of Paul’s caution, we do not see it or better yet, we do not want to see it.

The apostle’s word are “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:7-8). There is no mystery here and the warning is that we “Be not deceived“, that we are only fooling ourselves because “God is not mocked“. There is much strength in this saying if we will think about it; can we see that no matter what we may think about what we are doing, if it is not in accord with His word, we are but fooling ourselves, we are deceived and are suffering under the illusion and the glamourof the world. This is the caution and the warning to us, the rest is the cause of our deception. Paul is speaking to those who he considers to be disciples and aspirants as we are and he is saying that no matter what we think is happening for us spiritually, we are only fooling ourselves if we attend to the things of the world for in doing so we will only get things of the world. And for those of us who believe that we can do both, attend to the things of the world and the things of the Spirit, we need only to remember the words of the Master saying: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13). Look also at this in relation to that saying of the Master that we have posted for the last two days as an example of a straightforward saying by the Master that, for all its simplicity, we still fail to see:

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?“

(Luke 6:46)

Is He our Lord and Master? Who do we serve?

We did not get to our prescribed verses today; we will continue with our thoughts and our next saying from John’s Gospel in the next post.

Note on the Quote of the Day