Monthly Archives: September 2012

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

ON LOVE; PART XLV

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:34-40).

While we intended to address the saying above in the last post we instead spent our time continuing our discussion of the ideas that are involved in the Master’s use of the word ask. In the places where we find this statement in the gospels, we should understand that it IS NOT intended to fulfill the Earthly wishes of mankind but rather to fulfill their spiritual objectives. When it comes to the Earthly things the Master tells us clearly that “your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him” (Matthew 6:8) and this is said to address “What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” (Matthew 6:31) which are but examples of the things of this world. In the asking that we have been discussing in the last two posts there is a very different perspective needed for proper understanding; when the Master uses asking together with seeking and knocking we should see the context by the very use and, if in the event we cannot, Jesus helps us by ending the saying as Luke tells us with “how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:9-13). There should be clarity here for any who Truly seek spiritual advancement; we must understand that there is no right interpretation of the Master’s words that conceives that material benefit is His intent.

• In our other verses on asking from the prior post we had two more ideas that have nothing to do with material benefit yet they are used by some doctrine to teach just that. The Master tells us:”And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22) which is a part of the Master’s teaching on the Most Special Ability of KNOWING without a doubt. The relevance here is in the idea of believing and this too is clearly stated in His just prior saying “If ye have faith, and doubt not” (Matthew 21:21) which we can see as our measure of degree. These verses speak of spiritual things and not carnal and are never intended, as we say above, to enrich the worldly lives of men and we should understand this from the sayings above where He tells us that the Father KNOWS what we need which words are spoken with the instruction that we should “Therefore take no thought” which continues into our words above  “saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”  (Matthew 6:31). Many in the churches teach that this “take no thought” is said in regard to worry and concern about these things and many interpretations and commentaries on these words agree. However, this is settled by the same saying in the Gospel of Luke where we read: “And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things” and, the ultimate clarification is found in the next saying, “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you“(Luke 12:29-31).
• “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). Here, as we said in the earlier post we have the idea of “in my name” and this is an important thing to understand. It is not intended to be as many profess which is that when they ask for a thing, and generally a thing of the world or rather in the world, they add the finale of ‘in Jesus’ name’. Remembering how the Master teaches even His disciples in parable and proverb, we should KNOW that this is not a thing to be understood literally. In fact, in the very next verse the Master tells us that “These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father” (John 16:25). This aside, let us look at the reality of “in my name“. Vincent gives us much help here and along with his ideas on believing on and believing in we should be able to understand the depth of reality of “in my name“:
  • From these same words in an earlier verse Vincent tells us that: In my name. The first occurrence of the phrase. See on Matthew xxviii. 19. Prayer is made in the name of Jesus, “if this name, Jesus Christ, as the full substance of the saving faith and confession of him who prays, is, in his consciousness, the element in which the prayerful activity moves; so that thus that Name, embracing the whole revelation of redemption, is that which specifically measures and defines the disposition, feeling, object, and contents of prayer. The express use of the name of Jesus therein is no specific token; the question is of the spirit and mind of him who prays” (Meyer). Westcott cites Augustine to the effect that the prayer in Christ‘s name must be consistent with Christ‘s character, and that He fulfills it as Savior, and therefore just so far as it conduces to salvation⁴. Much of this is doctrinal in nature and not Vincent’s words, his words are from the Matthew reference where we read: In the name (en) has reference to the sphere within which alone true baptism is accomplished. The name is not the mere designation, a sense which would give to the baptismal formula merely the force of a charm. The name, as in the Lord‘s Prayer (“Hallowed be they name”), is the expression of the sum total of the divine Being: not his designation as God or Lord, but the formula in which all his attributes and characteristics are summed up. It is equivalent to his person. The finite mind can deal with him only through his name; but his name if of no avail detached from his nature. When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that he is and in all that he does for man. He recognized and depends upon God the Father as his Creator and Preserver; receives Jesus Christ as his only Mediator and Redeemer, and his pattern of life; and confesses the Holy Spirit as his Sanctifier and Comforter⁴. While we still find much doctrine here we should note the intent of the use of His name and understand that this is no token and is not intended to be a mere designation but, as we say above, must be seen in the view that one is keeping His words and following Him thereby allowing the thing asked, the spiritual thing asked, to flow through one’s Life from the Soul.
  • This is made a bit clearer in Vincent’s remarks on His name from the Prologue where we read “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). Here Vincent tells us regarding His name:
    • Name. See on Matt. xxviii. 19. Expressing the sum of the qualities which mark the nature or character of a person. To believe in the name of Jesus Christ the son of God, is to accept as true the revelation contained in that title⁴.
    • We should KNOW that this is the reference from which we take Vincent’s words on believing in and believing on the Master of which we repeat this part: 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 Saviour, 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 life⁴. Putting these ideas together we should be better able to understand the reality of “in my name” as well.
  • One last reference to His name from Chapter Two of John’s Gospel combines again the two ideas of believing and His name. Vincent tells us His name. See on i. 12. With the phrase believe on His name, compare believe on Him (viii. 30), which is the stronger expression, indicating a casting of one’s self upon Him; while to believe on the name is rather to believe in Him as being that which he claims to be, in this case the Messiah. It is believing recognition rather than appropriation. “Their faith in His name (as that of the Messiah) did not yet amount to any decision of their inner life for Jesus, but was only an opinion produced by the sight of His miracles, that He was the Messiah” (Meyer)⁴. Because of the context here the words are diminished by these writers but the overriding point remains of believing in or on the Master is the same as believing in or on His name and this based upon the other ideas that these same writers put forth above.

We have gone a long way to show that this asking in our original verse above is not an asking for carnal things but that these sayings, all of them, are spiritual in nature as is this believing. In our previous post we did add one additional saying from the writings of the Apostle James who tells us with NO uncertainty that: “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:3). It is in this and the surrounding sayings from James that comprise the purpose for our staying on this subject of asking, a subject that is sorely misunderstood in the world yet today. The entire segment from James goes thus:

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:1-10).

James’ writing is direct and to the point and we should understand that he is speaking to disciples and to aspirants; to disciples to reinforce the Right Way and to aspirants to correct them and set them back on course. His message is that ALL wars and fighting come from carnal desires and this is True of individuals, of groups large and small, and of nations and cultures. Tied to this word lust is the whole idea of self and of selfishness; wanting for one’s self as the focus of one’s Life which can take on such intensity that one’s wanting, one’s lusts, can and do impinge upon the rights of others and again, this is True as we state above; for individuals, groups, nations, religions, and entire cultures. There is a double entendre here regarding the word ask which is the subject of this essay. First we find the idea that “yet ye have not, because ye ask not” and the context here shows us that this is in regard to the things of this world that one desires and cannot have which leads to fighting and war and one still does not have. The asking here is not for the things of God but rather for the things of the word for which first, one asks not and second, when one does ask, the asking is amiss, it is wrong. Here is the second point of the entendre and this is the asking of God for the things of the world and here James tells us that this asking is amiss. We cannot have those things of the world that are desired because we do not ask or rightly position ourselves to possess them as we should understand that asking in a carnal sense can play the same way as asking in a spiritual sense which is that it requires additional action. Spiritual asking requires right living and right focus and in the carnal sense it requires what we are calling right position which would include ideas like if one wants the new luxury car one must have employment sufficient to afford it and perhaps credit with which to take possession.

James is telling us that carnally we do not ask and so we do not receive and in the next thought he is telling us that to ask of the Lord is to ask amiss and the result of this is that one will still not receive because the Lord is not granting carnal things to men. James goes on with some additional poignant thoughts on the behavior of the man in form who is focused upon the carnal Life and we will continue with these in the next post and finish as well with our saying at the top of this essay which we  consider to be on service.

We leave our chart for your review for yet another day as well as the Quote of the Day which is the result of the right kind of asking; asking as right living and right focus.

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Note on the Quote of the Day

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.

This Quote of the Day has now been with us for many days and in this we should be able to see and to understand the two levels of understanding from the perspective of the man in form; the one who sees only those things that are presented physically and the other who is “born of the Spirit” and sees Truth.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? 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. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit (John 3:3-8)

Today’s Quote of the Day is in regard to the new birth which Nicodemus did not understand and which many today do not understand either. The words of the Master tell us of a total commitment to the Lord as the way to the Kingdom and these verses say that as well. This total commitment is being born again. The differences in language aside, we should try to see the relationship between these ideas of being born again which is the essence of discipleship for it is only in discipleship that one can Truly see the Kingdom. These are much misused ideas because they are seen from the perspective of the man in form and no from the perspective of the Soul living through form.

• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888